The siren and the sage of the Woodstock festival has been on a career revival of late -- one that probably kicked off in 2007 at the Meltdown Festival and includes the raves and word of mouth for her 2009 tour -- and this latest release will only continue to remind the world that a major talent is doing some serious explorations.
It also underscore how sexism continues to reign as you realize Van Morrison can be a "mystic" but so many critics actively seek out terms to dismiss Melanie with. She's just as much a mystic and seer and, these days, even more so. "Loka Samasta Sukhino Bhavantu" she chants on "Motherhood Of Love" -- a song inspired by the Hindu guru and the "hugging saint" Mata Amritanandamayi. Mysticism and wisdom populate the album: "destiny lies in the fools who refuse to give up on the dreams" and "reason to the heart is a message undelivered" being only two examples. And her creed is outlined in the song she and her son Beau Jarred Schekeryk wrote, "Smile," whose refrain is "I love people who smile, If everybody smiles, we'll have a hometown all over the world." The song first appeared on her 2002 album Crazy Love and it's since become one of the anthems [like her "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and "Ring the Living Bell"]. This one's a toe-tapper and highly infectious.
And Melanie? She's a rock and roll survivor.
I tried to die young
Boy, did I try
But the voice deep in side
would not let me succumb
And I laughed at the things that I'd done
When I tried to die young
But she survived and lived to share on this final album featuring Peter Schekeryk with a production credit. Longtime collaborators and spouses, Melanie and Peter got together before Woodstock, had a family and saw the world. But he passed away this fall from a heart attack. And for many listeners, that probably adds another level to an already rich and textured album.
Death's not a topic a mystic can avoid and it winds in and out of the thirteen songs. "Working Legend," for example, has been reworked as a tribute to Johnny Cash. And there's "Life Without You" whose lyrics include, "I've read all those books on letting go, You're on every page it seems, But in sleep you're the place I go, Why do they call them dreams?"
Yesterday, at the age of 76, Melanie passed away.
Melanie's first pop hit was "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," a gospel-flavored collaboration with the Edwin Hawkins Singers that reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1970. It was followed in 1971 by "Brand New Key," an inescapable hit that was taken as a sort of children's tune by some and full of sexual innuendo by others. It reached No. 1, and was her only other top 10 hit in the U.S. In the UK, she also reached the top 10 with a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday."
"It was the bane of my existence for a few years," Melanie told the Guardian of "Brand New Key," which was perceived by many as a novelty song, due to its childlike tone. The singer said it was composed as a blues tune, but she sped it up in search of greater commercial appeal.
Think about those lyrics:
For sometimes when I am feeling as big as the land
With the velvet hill in the small of my back
And my hands are playing the sand
And my feet are swimming in all of the waters
All of the rivers are givers to the ocean
According to plan, according to man
Well sometimes when I am feeling so grand
And I become the world
And the world becomes a man
And my song becomes a part of the river
I cry out to keep me just the way I am
According to plan
According to man, according to plan
According to man, according to plan
Oh there's a chance peace will come
In your life, please buy one
Oh there's a chance peace will come
In your life, please buy one
-- "Peace Will Come" words and music by Melanie
They meant a lot to me in real time. Life and other things distracted over the years. Then you look up and Bully Boy Bush is declaring an illegal war on Iraq. They were noting this song all the time at The Third Estate Sunday Review and, decades later, it was like hearing it for the first time for me.
That reminded me of Melanie and how vital and important she was. And remained.
"Till They All Come Home." It was a new century, with new wars and Melanie was running to hide. She was exploring the era she lived in and making what artists used to call "real contributions." In September 2010, Kat put Melanie into context:
If you've listened to music for more than four years, you've probably
had a number of favorites you've enjoyed and then, sometimes for reasons
you can no longer even remember, you stop listening to someone. I've
been listening to music forever and there are many artists I've enjoyed
in the past that have fallen away.
I can't, for example, imagine
anything that would induce me to buy another Paul McCartney album. (He
last tricked me out of cash when he teamed up with Elvis Costello for a few songs on 1989's Flowers in the Dirt.)
I'm more inclined to listen to a number of female singer-songwriters
than most of the men. That's due to the fact that artists like Carly Simon grew and continue growing. They're not trying to pretend they're Natalie Wood in Rebel Without A Cause
while most of their male contemporaries -- despite receding hairlines,
my vain darlings -- still think they can pose as teenage James Deans. Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian
and other female artists are women who've never stopped exploring,
never ceased to find new meanings and levels. Their songs continue to
reach out to listeners. Laura Nyro is part of that class of female singer-songwriters but she passed away in 1997. Melanie's part of that class as well.
The
star out of Woodstock. "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)." Melanie had a
run of hits including "Peace Will Come (According to Plan)," "Ring the
Living Bell," "The Nickel Song," "Bitter Bad" and her number one "Brand
New Key." Even without including album tracks, for a large number of
people, reading those titles results in melodies playing in the brain.
But Melanie fell off my playlist.
Why? I'd guess it was leaving
Buddha Records for her own label then ending up at Atlantic then
elsewhere. It was difficult to follow all of that. Back in 2004, I
bought Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits of Melanie at Tower Records. They also had, in a plastic sleeve, a copy of Photograph
(Melanie's 1976) album and I thought, "I'll grab that next time." I
also thought how great it was that, all these years later, Tower was
stocking Melanie. "Next time" was a few days later and Photograph was gone but there was a live Melanie CD for $5.99 that I grabbed instead. I really enjoyed that but Maggie grabbed it and it's been years since I've heard it.
And
thinking back a few months ago, I would be remembering Tower Records
and the fall of Tower Records and how that destroyed everything. But it
really didn't. That was driven home with the August 3rd snapshot which included the following:
What a great set of lyrics.
Man,
Melanie really could nail it better than anyone. And how amazing of
C.I. to reach back to that song from the Vietnam era and use it in one
of the snapshots . . . .
"Uh, Kat," C.I. replied, "that's from this decade."
And there was Melanie back in the game, still in the game. Doing wonderful songs. Here she is performing one of her later offerings "Smile" and performing it with her son Beau (her only son, she also had two daughters Leilah and Jeordie).
Here's a fan made video for the song she and Beau wrote, "Motherhood of Love."
Here's "Angel Watching Over You."
She continued making so many wonderful songs. And there would have been many more. Back to the Variety article:
In early January, according to her label, Melanie recorded a cover of Morrissey's "Ouija Board Ouija Board" for a forthcoming tribute album, as well as a version of and Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt," for the planned covers album, "Second Hand Smoke."
Other songs she had recorded for the new re ord included Radiohead's "Creep," the Moody Blues' "Nights In White Satin," Depeche Mode's "Enjoy The Silence" and David Bowie's "Everyone Says Hi."
It would have been great to hear those covers. Hopefully, there's enough for an album to be pulled together to give her the send-off she deserves. Kat's right, Melanie was a mystic.
And she was the queen of the music festivals. She performed at Woodstock and continued performing at music festivals. From Wikipedia:
Later in 1969, Melanie had a hit in the Netherlands with "Beautiful People". She was one of only three solo women[12] who performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and the inspiration for her first hit song, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", apparently arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set.[13] The recording became a hit in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States in 1970. The B-side of the single featured Melanie's spoken-word track "Candles in the Rain". "Lay Down" became Melanie's first top ten hit in America, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard singles chart and achieving worldwide success. Later hits included "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".[14]
In 1970, Melanie was the only artist to ignore the court injunction banning the Powder Ridge Rock Festival scheduled to be held on July 31, August 1 and 2, 1970.[15] She played for the crowd on a homemade stage powered by Mister Softee trucks. Shortly following this performance, she played at the Strawberry Fields Festival held from August 7 to 9, 1970, at Mosport Park, Ontario.[16] She also performed at the Isle of Wight Festival held between August 26 and 30, 1970, at Afton Down, where she was introduced by Keith Moon and received four standing ovations (she also appeared at the 2010 Isle of Wight festival). She was also the artist who sang to herald in the summer solstice at Glastonbury Fayre (later the Glastonbury Festival) in England, in June 1971. She performed again at Glastonbury in 2011, the 40th anniversary of the original festival.[17]
[. . .]
Also in 1976 Melanie appeared at the tribute concert for Phil Ochs, who had committed suicide on April 9 that year. Held on May 28 at New York City's Felt Forum, Melanie performed an emotional version of Ochs' song "Chords of Fame" and his "Miranda". She had appeared with Ochs on stage in 1974 at his Evening with Salvador Allende concert (also held at the Felt Forum), along with Dave Van Ronk, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan and others.
In 1983 Melanie wrote the music and lyrics for a theatrical musical, Ace of Diamonds, with a book by Ed Kelleher and Seymour Vall, based on a series of letters written by Annie Oakley. Though never fully produced, several staged readings were performed at the Lincoln Center starring Melanie as the narrator and pop singer and actress Annie Golden as Oakley.[25]
In 1989 Melanie won an Emmy Award for writing the lyrics to "The First Time I Loved Forever", the theme song for the TV series Beauty and the Beast. With one exception, her albums were produced by her husband, Peter Schekeryk, who died suddenly in 2010.[26] Her three children – Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred – are also musicians. Beau-Jarred is a guitarist and accompanied his mother on tour.
One of Melanie's later albums, Paled By Dimmer Light (2004), was co-produced by Peter and Beau-Jarred Schekeryk and includes the songs "To Be The One", "Extraordinary", "Make It Work" and "I Tried To Die Young". In early 2005 most of Melanie's back-catalog was re-released on the internet-only music label ItsAboutMusic.com. After a series of disagreements, the relationship between the artist and the label was severed.[citation needed]
[. . .]
.JPG)
In 2007 Melanie was invited by Jarvis Cocker to perform at the Meltdown Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Her sold-out performance received critical acclaim, with The Independent saying, "it was hard to disagree that Melanie has earned her place alongside Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell and Marianne Faithfull in the pantheon of iconic female singers. Meltdown was all the better for her presence."[27] The concert was filmed for a DVD titled Melanie: For One Night Only, which was released in October 2007. She recorded "Psychotherapy", sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which parodies aspects of Freudian psychoanalysis. It has been played on The Dr. Demento Show. In 2012, Melanie headlined at the 15th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, along with Arlo Guthrie and Judy Collins. The festival is held annually in mid-July to celebrate the life and music of legendary singer-songwriter and folk musician Woody Guthrie.
She performed at the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock. She did one festival after another. The Queen of the Music Festivals.
Melanie and Miley
Miley Cyrus recognized and celebrated Melanie and, in the video above, they perform one of Melanie's cherished hits "Look What They've Done To My Song."
She was a mystic, she was queen of the music festivals and as both a singer and a songwriter she could tell her story in a way that made it our story. I will miss her greatly.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:
A Louisiana man who was arrested for allegedly attacking police officers during the January 6 Capitol riot was previously convicted of manslaughter for killing a bound Iraqi civilian during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Edward Richmond Jr, 40, has been charged with felony civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding police officers, according to the Department of Justice.
He was also charged with several misdemeanours, including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence inside a restricted building or grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct.
Richmond was arrested in Baton Rouge on Monday, reported WAFB.
A decade ago, Richmond faced charges that could have put him away for life, according to Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
In 2004, the then 20-year-old was convicted for shooting a handcuffed Iraqi civilian in the back of the head. His initial charges of unpremeditated murder would have landed him in prison for life, but the panel reduced his charge to voluntary manslaughter, according to the Associated Press.
Richmond was ultimately demoted to private, dishonourably discharged from the US Army, forced to forfeit all of his pay and allowances, and sentenced to three years in prison.
Iraqi no-frills carrier Fly Baghdad has condemned Washington's imposition of sanctions, saying the US Treasury provided no proof of its allegation the airline had assisted Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
In a statement on Monday, the US slapped sanctions on Fly Baghdad and its CEO, Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani, accusing them of "providing assistance to the Quds Force", the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guards, "by delivering material and personnel throughout the region" including weapons.
Responding in a statement late Monday, the airline said the US decision was "based on misleading and unreal information that cannot stand up to the law".
Fly Baghdad demanded that the US Treasury provide evidence that could "convict the company or its management".
Pope Francis has issued a new plea against all wars as he evoked the horror of the mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Nazis ahead of Saturday’s Holocaust Memorial Day, reports Reuters.
“The memory and condemnation of that horrible extermination of millions of people … may help everybody to not forget that the logic of hatred and violence can never be justified,” he said during his Wednesday weekly audience at the Vatican.
“Let us not get tired of praying for peace, for conflicts to end, for weapons to stop, for relief for exhausted populations,” Francis added. He mentioned the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the bombing of civilians in “martyred Ukraine”.
He repeated his assertion that “war is always a defeat” in which “the only winners, so to speak, are weapons manufacturers”.
People fleeing the vicinity of Nasser hospital in Khan Younis have been shot at by Israeli tanks as well as attack drones, says Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud reporting from Rafah, southern Gaza.
“Entire families are being surrounded by Israeli military tanks and armoured vehicles. They are ordered to evacuate from their homes and to get outside. Women are separated from the men with their hands on top of their heads,” writes Mahmoud. He adds that civil defence crews “are trying to collect the bodies and identify the dead”.
Al Jazeera is one of the few news organisations with a functioning bureau in Gaza
Mahmoud also reports that there has been a “surge” in aerial attacks and artillery shelling in the western part of Khan Younis, while the compound of al-Aqsa University, where thousands of people have been sheltering, is “effectively under military siege”.
“No one can get out of that area,” writes Mahmoud. “Anyone who tries to leave risks losing their life as there is constant shelling and attacks by land and by air.”
In one video, an Israeli soldier dressed in a dinosaur costume loads artillery shells into a tank and dances as the shells are fired in the direction of Gaza. In another video, a soldier is filmed dedicating an explosion to his two-year-old daughter for her birthday. Seconds later, a Palestinian residential building behind him is blown up. Other videos show Israeli soldiers setting alight Palestinian food supplies during a starvation campaign and mocking stripped, rounded-up and blindfolded Palestinian civilians.
There has been shock and outrage over the videos on social media platforms by Palestinians and their allies with many noting that the videos should be used as evidence in the case against the Israeli regime for genocide before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Indeed, this latest aggression on Gaza has been one of the most visually documented atrocities in history. And genocidal intent has never been so blatantly expressed by both soldiers and political leaders.
Even those who support the Israeli regime seem to be shocked at the brazenness with which Israeli soldiers are sharing these videos. British broadcaster Piers Morgan, for example, asked on X, formerly Twitter: “Why do Israeli soldiers keep filming themselves doing this kind of crass, insensitive thing? Why don’t their commanders stop them? Makes them look callous when so many children in Gaza are being killed.” For Morgan, it seems, the problem is not what the soldiers are doing but rather that they are filming themselves doing it.
People less informed on the context might find it strange that these soldiers are implicating themselves in such horrific crimes without a second thought. But those with deeper knowledge of the Zionist settler colonial project in Palestine know that decades of impunity not only for the Israeli regime but also for Israeli individuals guilty of war crimes has led us to this point.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Israel intends to fully demolish all buildings in a 1,000-meter “buffer zone” along Gaza’s border with Israel, citing Israeli officials.
The move, which is a war crime under international law, would significantly reduce the size of the Gaza Strip.
The plan came to light after 24 Israeli soldiers were killed Monday as they were laying explosives in a building in the area to be demolished. As the soldiers were laying the explosives, they were attacked by Hamas fighters, leading the explosives to go off during the firefight.
The Times reported that “Israel wants to demolish many of the Palestinian buildings close to the border in order to create what they describe as a ‘security zone,’ according to the three officials.”
The Times also reported that “Two of the officials said that Israel’s goal was to create a buffer of up to roughly six-tenths of a mile along the entire length of Israel’s roughly 36-mile border with Gaza. At its narrowest point, the territory is less than four miles wide.”
In a news conference, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that Israel was seeking to “create the security conditions for the return of the residents of the south to their homes.”
The vast majority of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged or destroyed since Israel launched its assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 25,000 Gazans and left over 7,000 missing.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We turn now to the acclaimed Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. In November, he had an exhibit in London canceled after he wrote a social media post where he criticized the United States for its longtime financial support of Israel. Ai Weiwei has previously expressed support for Palestinians. He made a 2016 documentary, that includes Gaza in the global refugee crisis, called Human Flow.
Ai Weiwei is one of the world’s most acclaimed artists. In 2011, he was arrested at the Beijing airport, held for 81 days without charge. He’s been living in exile since 2015. He’s joining us here in New York City ahead of his event tonight at Town Hall that’s part of PEN America’s PEN Out Loud series, when he’ll discuss his new graphic memoir, Zodiac.
Ai Weiwei, welcome back to Democracy Now! Let’s start with that canceled London exhibit. What happened?
AI WEIWEI: Well, after I post, you know, a single line on Twitter, I never noticed people really become so sensitive or so crazy about my posts. Basically, post described the situation about the Israelis’ relations with U.S., and which is very, very — you know, it’s very subjective. It’s not from my point of view, but it’s really general facts.
So, then, you know, the galleries— actually, not one gallery, but galleries in Paris and in London — they got very worried. And I still don’t know exactly the reason why they have to worry about an artist’s single line, you know, but, rather, they said they want to avoid this kind of argument, and they’re trying to protect my interest, so they postponed my shows — not one, but altogether four shows.
So, I guess that proved what I’m saying on Twitter is correct, because there is all over the world, you know, this strong censorship about different voices towards these kind of conflicts, and the conflict continues getting so massive and also seems it’s not going to stop. So, by doing that, yes, many of my shows have been canceled, so…
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Were you surprised by the reaction, given that you’ve been — not only are you one of the most celebrated artists from China in the West, but also you’ve been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians for years?
AI WEIWEI: I am surprised. I think we are — should live in a more free society and which carry a lot of different opinions and voice. But to have this kind of devastating case in dealing with the art community, not only art community, but also films or literature, I think it shows a really very bad and a backwards in terms of freedom of expression, human rights and, you know, all those issues.
AMY GOODMAN: You know, there are not many Chinese artists as celebrated and embraced by the West as you are, Ai Weiwei. Were you surprised by the swift retaliation against your position, which is really critiquing the West, in London, Britain and the U.S., when it comes to supporting the Israeli government, when it comes to the assault on Gaza?
AI WEIWEI: I think maybe I was celebrated for the wrong reason. But still, as the artist, I have to fight for the human dignity and also basic human rights, freedom of speech. And that’s why I’m here, so…
AMY GOODMAN: Can I ask about your graphic novel, Ai Weiwei? Talk about Zodiac and the message you’re conveying in this graphic memoir.
AI WEIWEI: Well, thanks for asking that. I came to New York to be part of this graphic novel — how do you say? — the promotion. And the novel take us about two, three years, with two other persons involved. And so, we made the drawing and the storyline, and, you know, it’s very — I think it’s pretty unique and also charming in telling my personal stories in relating to Chinese classic stories, but also in relating to current events both in China and in the West. So, it’s very detailed and, you know, very visual narratives about the stories.
AMY GOODMAN: Ai Weiwei, your message to the world right now? You are a dissident when it comes to China. You cannot live inside China. You’re in exile. And now, when you come and are embraced by the West, you find yourself canceled again and again. Your thoughts?
AI WEIWEI: Well, I think we are living in a very crucial time globally. We have to rethink about our values or what we are really defending for. It’s not only a challenge for individual artists, but also for the states. And we are gradually losing the ground of democracy or personal freedom, or even we are still facing crisis — economic crisis, immigration crisis. Also, we are possibly at the edge of the World War III. You know, this is not an exaggeration. It can happen. And I’m afraid this is the facts. But that would calling for every individual to defend the humanity and human rights.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you so much for being with us, Ai Weiwei, world-renowned Chinese artist and activist, has a new graphic memoir called Zodiac. He’ll be speaking tonight at Town Hall in New York.
Anne Hathaway walked out of a Vanity Fair photo shoot Tuesday morning in support of the Condé Nast Union walk out.
Nearly 400 union members who work at Condé Nast are currently holding a 24-hour work stoppage to protest negotiation practices they claim are unlawful.
Hathaway was unaware of the work stoppage when she arrived at the New York City photo shoot. She was still in hair and makeup when her team was notified by a staffer from SAG-AFTRA to advise Hathaway to support the work stoppage.
“They hadn’t even started taking photos yet,” a source tells Variety. “Once Anne was made aware of what was going on, she just got up from hair and makeup and left.”
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