Tommy & the Tall Girls

Monday's I'd Like to Dedicate This Song to All the Ladies Out There was "Friends Only." It was a really fun show because I got to play things that you probably wouldn't ever get to hear otherwise. I try hard to support my friends in their musical endeavors, and I've really enjoyed watching their different styles change and mature over the past few years.
I'm sad to say that before the show I hadn't checked out Tommy & the Tall Girls, my cousin Tom's band. Had I gone to their MySpace page when Tom put the word out a while back, I might have played some of their stuff on my show.
So Tom (who I am fully capable of beating up, just to set the record straight) is in this band, Tommy & the Tall Girls, in Toronto. I don't want to give Tom a big head, but I really respect him for his musical efforts, and I really love most every song of his I've heard. He's got a good sense of humor and an appreciation for very classic-sounding love ballads with quirky pop elements. Maybe I am just a sucker for songwriters who do that [this is where I admit that I should probably expand my musical horizons beyond the Magnetic Fields, but the truth of the matter is that I just don't feel like it].
Back when I was at Pratt (worst art school ever) I had to make a music video for my film class. Tom was coming to visit me around that time, so I used one of his songs, "Antarctica," and filmed him lip syncing to it. I think the aforementioned humor in Tom's lyrics can be exemplified in my favorite line, "And the bars don't close, 'cause they don't exist, won't have to stumble home drunk and delirious."
Anyway, Tommy and the Tall Girls has Tom on lead vocals, guitar and mandolin. I probably should have left this for later, when I could hear more than the recordings on their Myspace page, but I felt it was an appropriate posting following the "Friends Only" show. "Sad Drunk Broken Heart" was probably my favorite, as a charming song from the intoxicated and lonely heart (with some really pretty trumpet and saxophone). "Brass Tacks" and "Come Out" also offer really great brass backings and both appeal to me in the same way that so many of Tom's other songs have in the past. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to see a live performance and listen to more recordings. But seriously, check these guys out, I endorse them fully.



much love,

Ali