Hallelujah

Covered here by Jeff Buckley (1966 – 1997) It sometimes seems only the good die young. He drowned in Memphis... perhaps on purpose.

This is probably my favorite song. It was written by Leonard Cohen and released on his 1984 album (CD) Various Positions. It's been covered by K.D.Lang, John Cale, Kate Voegle, Alison Crowe and many others including Bob Dylan, Bon Jovi and Willie Nelson

Hallelujah Lyrics by Leonard Cohen

If you like the song, check out these other two renditions. I like them all.

Another good cover version sung by Rufus Wainwrght

The Photography of Ruadh DeLone

Photographer DeLone, working in Rheden, Netherlands, shoots a wide variety of subjects. Those in which he achieves the look and feel of 17th century paintings in the style of the Dutch Masters are far and away my favorites. Nota Bene: The whimsical milk mustache on the first photo.

Click on for an enlarged look.

Meet Seasick Steve

Steven Gene Wold, aka Seasick Steve, is knocking them out in the UK and much of Europe. The music videos of him at the bottom of this post are at the Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium which, since 1974, has been called the world's premier music fest, lasting 4 days each year. In the UK, he's thought to be the world's coolest pensioner.

"Man From Another Time"

Click on and move your cursor over the screen to check him out:

Diddley Bo

Dog House Boogie

Born in Oakland, California in 1941 (68 years old), Wold left home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, and lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. At various times, Wold worked as a carnie, cowboy and a migrant worker. Of this time he once said: "Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don't look for work, and bums are people who don't move and don't work. I've been all three."

Even More Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Best Books of the Month

Discover our editors' picks for January--available at 40% off all month long--plus more new releases not to missed.

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

Bloodroot is that rare sort of family saga that feels intimate instead of epic. Set in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains, it’s told largely in tandem voices that keep watchful eyes on Myra Lamb. She is a child of the mountain, tied to the land in ways that mystify and enchant those around her. There’s magic to Myra--perhaps because she has the remarkable blue eyes foretold by a nearly-forgotten family curse--but little fantasy to her life. Bloodroot is as much about the Lambs as it is about a place, one that becomes ever more vivid as generations form, break free, and knit back together. Its characters speak plainly but true, they are resilient and flawed and beautiful, and there's a near-instant empathy in reading their stories, which--even in their most visceral moments--are alluring and wonderful. --Anne Bartholomew

Bloodroot to publish on Tuesday, January 12th, 2010.

Amazon price: Hardcover, Deckle Edge $14.97

"Crazy Heart" movie

Don't miss this one:

I'm am a sucker for movies about redemption.

The movie's full theme song: "The Weary Kind".



I think this one will compete for best picture in 2010.