I am not a fan of The Byrds. However, they do have one album I enjoy. It is unique in their catalog and the artistic direction was abandoned, never to be touched upon again in their body of work
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
It is largely informed by the artistic leanings of new member Gram Parsons. Stylistically, it is the nascent version of alt country-rock. During the recording there was a lot of infighting within the band and a jockeying for control which is in contrast to the overall sweetness to the music.
Listening to it now, whether you like it or not, it does not come across as something which would be controversial. In 1968 though, it was. The brief tour was disastrous, made worse by some of the personalities in the band. This version of the band imploded and the countrified direction jettisoned.
Gram Parson would form The Flying Burrito Brothers with Byrd bassists Chris Hillman. The ‘Burritos would be influential, echoes of what they did rippling out to later groups such as the Eagles, Wilco and many others.
I have always followed the maxim of Duke Ellington, there are only two kinds of music, good & bad. I have big ears and although jazz & classical are my main things I have many things I enjoy which would surprise people. ‘Burritos being one of those things.
The latest birthday cake from the Cakettes is a masterpiece. I would like to point out, nothing was molded. Every little piece was done by hand. The cowgirl & figures were constructed of individual pieces.
More info on cake:
Almond joconde
Grand Mariner Italian meringue buttercream
Dark chocolate ganache
Cowboys made from grand Marnier royal icing
Sweetheart and band label are thyme shortbread cookie
Flowers are meringue and homemade marzipan
Written tablets are homemade marzipan
Album title is meringue
Addendum: I know having my name on image sort wrecks effect. Generation Instagram has no problem taking images they like for content w/out attribution. To take something someone worked hard on for your site and write “I don’t know who did this” is not a get out of jail free card. I would say to anyone, if you see an image you like and dont have info on who created it, if it is not public domain then it is stealing.
It’s that time a year again. I am lucky enough to get a birthday cake from The Caketts. Music remains my main source of inspiration and outside of serving the creative process, my main passion.
Every year the cake is musically themed. I have no say in what it will be, although obviously it’s music I like.
The first cake I ever got was reproducing The Rolling Stone’s Let It Bleed album cover but with cats replacing the lads.
One eats with their eyes first. Aside from that obvious pleasure, the cakes themselves are very good. The flavors are always unique. This year’s (Miles Davis/Gil Evans Sketches of Spain album cover) was a Manhattan flavored cake. With the bits of bourbon macerated cherry to be found within combining with everything else going on, the cake was patisserie-decadent enough to easily be expected to be found in Vienna.
Everything is made from scratch, no prebought sheet cakes, no stencils. Even all frostings are made by hand, nothing shooting out of plastic tubes, aisle five thank you kindly.
These are all the cakes over years so far, in order. (W/later cakes my name is watermarked on photo. This might seem overly cautious but w/first photos i Put up of a cake, people just put it on their Instagram w/no attribution where it garnered thousands of views. Insult to injury, in one case, person who reposted knew me but w/pic put that they forgot where they had come across this. In general, if you didn’t create it ask person who did. Or at very least, link to their site. It’s basically stealing other wise.)
Paper Life Painting 