Sunday, September 28, 2008

Blue Turns Black The World Over



Well today is the day. After months of overcoming technical difficulties with my digital distributor, my new CD - Blue Turns Black - is officially available at every major digital download site including:

Joe Nolan - Blue Turns Black
Amazon
eMusic
Rhapsody
Napster

If you've been following this e-lectronic ramble - as many of you have - thanks! - you know that the CD has been completed for some time now. If you haven't already given it a listen, make use of the handy dandy player at the right side of the screen. You can listen to the enitire CD, not just the clips on the download sites.

BTB is my best CD to date, and the one I was most personally involved in. This project is the result of a lot of hard work over a long period of time, involving about 15 musicians who consistently pulled the magic from the madness. Also Jerry Hager - my long time engineer - stepped up to co-produce this one, and he did an amazing job.

We've been getting a lot of rave reviews in Nashville, on Facebook, and MySpace, and I am currently soliciting a bunch of reviews. If you have a suggestion for a venue I should play, or a reviewer or DJ I should contact, please let me know.

In the meantime, enjoy the CD and help me spread the word about this exciting new project.

Thanks!

Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Check out my profile at Reverb Nation to see my updated press and bio.

Listen to Joe's earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The Sleepless Film Festival Presents - Tea and Oranges: Leonard Cohen on Film

To most readers of this blog, Leonard Cohen is no exotic commodity. An award-winning poet, recognized as a national hero in his native Canada, Cohen was a young man with the world on a string when he decided to return to his original love and try his hand at music. On his way to Nashville, TN, Cohen got waylaid by New York City, the 1960's, the Chelsea Hotel, and Columbia Records.



Cohen is now recognized as one of the most important singer/songwriters of his generation. He has an unparalleled knack for combining the profound and the profane, and - while Dylan may have brought poetry to music - no one has brought music to poetry as effectively - or as movingly - as Mr. Cohen.

A few years ago, the awkward documentary I'm Your Man failed to give us enough of the man himself, and instead featured other artists performing in lieu of the Canadian Cantor. Luckily, there are two earlier documentaries that shed much light on the dark heart of Cohen's music.



Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen catches up with a young Cohen on poetry tour/holiday vacation in a snowy Montreal. This is at a time when Cohen is already recognized as a young genius, an enfant terrible, and a brooding romantic with a mischievous sense of humor. Indeed, it is Cohen's wit that steals the show in this illuminating film.

(Cohen's ruminations on "refusing to sleep" as a revolutionary act, are particularly satisfying to the small, pink-eyed elves who are responsible for this humble luminoscript (text of light) ...)











Leonard Cohen - Songs from a Life

The next program in our double-feature is a BBC Omnibus documentary, originally produced in 1988. This great follow up to Ladies and Gentlemen' tracks down Leonard in the full-flush of the relative success that came his way with the release of I'm Your Man.



This same period would find Cohen honored by a top-selling album of his songs recorded by his back-up singer Jennifer Warnes. Famous Blue Raincoat was a unique recasting of Leonard's music by an amazing vocalist. I'm Your Man also found Cohen himself transforming from a reedy singer in an organic/acoustic setting, to a groaning prophet, descending from the sky on a column of electronic fire. This new album defined the style of music Cohen has continued to make, and it also marks the beginning of an important new stage in his commercial career.





















If you are inclined toward a liking of song/poems and music/words, please take the time to check out the following links to preview my new CD Blue Turns Black, enjoy free downloads from my previous releases, and explore this site.


Be gentle in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love,
Joe Nolan

Open this browser-based player and preview Joe's entire new CD "Blue Turns Black"

Listen to Joe's earlier releases, and enjoy free downloads here!

Support this site! Buy Joe's Music! ...

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