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Ellis Paul

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May 3 2007 - American Jukebox Fables

Posted: Mar 29, 2005 1:47:50 pm  I packed my car with the remnants of old instruments I had hoarded in my
Maine home, closed the door and left the key under the mat for the new owners. Thecar and I rolled out onto the highway to start an album project in Boston
with Martin Crotty, better known in these parts as Flynn.He laughed as I entered his house with two guitars, a banjo, a mandolin, and
an accordian-- but we had made promises. I was here to combine our two musical
worlds and create something different for me, a hybrid of pop/rock/randb/hip
hop/techno/country/folk a mishmash of American music and American life called
"American Jukebox Fables"...The album is a mish mash of references-- people, places, things... soldiers,
jukeboxes, churches, pickups, graveyards, Alaska, Hollywood, Iowa, bars, mason
jars, motels, seven elevens, Elvis, crime sprees, Marc Chagall, papermills,
highways, cars, cornfields, Jack Kerouac, Buddy Holly, trains, route 66, the
Rockies, Pat Tillman, Lenny Bruce, CNN, oilmen, sunflowers, whiskey, smoke
stacks, the Red sox,
Hank Williams... etc.....A quick trip through...Black Top Train
is about the birth of the westerward American highway and the automobile and
the free flowing western roadtripping Jack kerouac rand mcnally freedom
circus...Kiss the Sun
was inspired by a soldier who is a follower of my music and his experiences,
and outlook... it's about freedom of speech and speaking your mind, so i used
Lenny Bruce and Martin Luther King coming to bat in the same fight...Take all the Sky You Need
escape from the small town let your love go freedom needs a highway...followerTime
reconnection forgiveness time gone like a bird that can't be cagedGoodbye Hollywood
change and pack up the bags and trinkets and go find a nitch the feels right
when you know you are somewhere that doesn't...Marc Chagall
painter of hopeful blues against a world of browns, every time I see one of
his paintings it's like love on a canvas, that there's hope inside a dark worldJukebox on my Grave
a love song to music and musiciansHome
a love song to a home and a womanAlice Champagne Palace
an attempt at capturing the magic of Homer, Alaska where freewheeling
characters gather to redefine there livesShe Was
someone trying to convince themselves that a woman ain't worth itBad, Bad Blood
a crime spree in a tv setMystified
a compliment is deniedClarity
a woman's journey to find her birth fatherI hope y'all enjoy it!
Ellis Quesita1

Posts: 1
Registered:
 2005-03-30
Posted: Mar 30, 2005 10:51:29 pm  I am completely stoked about the new release. I'll be banging down the doors at Woody's in Rock Hill on Tuesday morning! soulcarver

Posts: 5
Registered:
 2003-12-29
Posted: Apr 06, 2005 12:47:56 pm  Congrats Ellis! A fine achievement and advancement of your craft! Ever searching, ever evolving, ever working to pour your connectedness into accessible, thought provoking, soul tickling lyrics and music. Your gift to all of us as fans and admirers is something we should cherish deeply.Say what they may- dyed in the wool traditionalists, critics, fans... whomever. You have a winner on your hands! Quite frankly I hope you do bust open a whole new demographic or two! I hope to hear you a little more often on the radio. I most of all hope you are blessed with the abundance you deserve and not just the money because I know that will be well spent but also the recognition because I know you will reinvest that energy in more gifts of word and melody.Sell out schmell out- keep rockin', rappin', folkin', popin'- whatever moves you to move us. Can't wait to see you at The Somerville Saturday- It is going to be a very special night for you. I pray it is a commencement at which you are granted with your doctorate of troubador arts and an exciting and evolving new fan base... I really think it is about to happen for you... and for all of us who care about you and watched, listened and supported you. Kind of a potentially weird time for those who "knew you when" but like a good friend or loved one we need to give YOU the chance to "Take All The Sky You Need"! I truly hope this is a big hit for you!
Much peace
HS halfcentury

Posts: 2
Registered:
 2005-03-24
Posted: Apr 07, 2005 6:39:10 pm  Fables do leave us with a lesson to learn. A fine composition of words and music. I'll leave the lessons to the listeners!
Marc Chagall- yes, floating hope. I unknowingly went into an old chapel in Chichester, England to feel some spiritual history and was humbled as well as inspired to see Long windows filled with mostly red stain glass Marc Chagall creations. Love is definitely all we need.
Keep painting our world with your words and music.
gunmanx

Posts: 1
Registered:
 2005-04-20
Posted: Apr 20, 2005 9:13:50 pm  Ellis,The musical side of me:My wife and I have been fans of yours for a long time. We really enjoy your music. While the other songs are good, the first two songs on American Jukebox Fables are great!The patriotic side of me:With your song, "Kiss the Sun", you are correct in saying that Pat Tillman was a hero. However, I don't see how you can be confused on what he died for. Pat clearly fought and died in Afghanistan which was not an oil war by any means. He fought bravely to protect us from our enemies to fight them on their ground, to persuade them from attacking the US again, not for oil. I think if he could hear the end of this song, he would be rolling in his grave with disapointment. Remember, that freedom is something that we all have to fight for even though it does not seem right sometimes. You are a good American, I know, I have met you before when you played at Eddie's Attic. Please think about what I have said. I know you have an open mind. If I mis-understood the song, maybe you could explain it to me better over a beer at Eddie's attic.
KarenZ

Posts: 644
Registered:
 2003-10-13
Posted: Apr 21, 2005 1:20:41 pm  Gunmanx,The "sentinel" in the last verse is the one who says he's fighting an oilman's war....and he's questioning whether that's what Pat Tillman died for. I mean, he's simply questioning it. It's already been established that Pat Tillman "came for justice, not for greed, not for ego". And "his truth came through the fog like the home team's marching band". A beautiful thought...a beautiful tribute to his laying down his life for freedom.My 2 cents worth.KarenZ
"Back in school I found the only written truths in bathroom stalls and telephone booths" -- Ellis Paul
richard jela

Posts: 24
Registered:
 2005-01-03
Posted: Apr 22, 2005 11:06:58 am  I understand the song to be about both Pat Tillman and a US soldier, a prison guard serving at Abu Gharaib Jail (who is an Ellis fan and wrote to him from Iraq) so the sentinel in the final verse is the prison guard, who considers that he's fighting an oilman's war.............
Jela
Richard   Jela
theshazz

Posts: 1
Registered:
 2005-04-30
Posted: Apr 30, 2005 12:45:21 pm  This is back to the orginal post a bit... I bought the new CD a little bit ago, and love it. Had a couple other albums and always they blow me away. I'm a lyrics girl, and I've not yet been disappointed. Thanks. Good music makes the world go around.Then! I realized you were playing here in PDX within a week. Long story short, I'd bought tickets for a show in Boston with a friend to celebrate his birthday a few years ago. I got very very sick in the end of 2002 and had to go to the hospital and didn't get to see the concert. Although, I tried to delay going as long as possible because I was so excited... Instead certain songs became the soundtrack to recovery, and I began to write poetry again.So then it was last night and there I was in the Clinton St. Theater. Really, it rocked my socks off! Came home needing some place to send fan mail. :-) It was great to finally see a show. And I love the new music. Thanks again for creating this... cookingsue

Posts: 1
Registered:
 2005-05-01
Posted: May 01, 2005 12:31:50 am  My husband and I just returned home from seeing Ellis at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle. This was only our second Ellis concert and he was once again fabulous!!! He performed many of the songs from his new cd, American Jukebox Fables, which we immediately loved. The cd is playing in the backgroud as I write this. Thank you, Ellis, for another terrific concert and for your evocative and beautiful songs.
  • Edited by cookingsue on: May 01, 2005 12:33:35 am
Cooking Sue
DontheBard

Posts: 1
Registered:
 2005-05-17
Posted: May 17, 2005 1:37:25 am  Ellis,
I first discovered your music with the CD "The Speed of Trees." I thought that CD was a great one. But you've outdone yourself with this "American Jukebox Fables." Every song is a real gem, the perfect match of a great voice with great songs. I love all the songs. It is hard to pick just one or two. Thanks again for a great CD.Just a note to call your attention to another great artist. Dougie Maclean from Scotland. His CD "Tribute" with the songs of Robert Burns, Neil Gow and Robert Tannahill is a favorite of mine.Don from Bardsville
Don from Bardsville
wendy

Posts: 94
Registered:
 2003-10-21
Posted: May 17, 2005 6:51:21 am  Thanks for the reminder, Don!
Dougie McLean is a long-time favorite, as is the work of R.Burns. I'll have to track down that CD.
Have you heard his Andy M. Stewart do Burns? Spectacular! I can't wait to hear Dougie's take on them. (and he'll even be in Maine this September!)
•wendy
truepeacenik

Posts: 4
Registered:
 2005-08-24
Posted: Aug 24, 2005 6:47:14 pm  Kiss the sun and a day's work...
"First post from a long-time listener..."Ellis & company
I had the opportunity to write an article about a Green Beret from the community I cover who died in Afghanistan two weeks ago.
I was on the phone with his father, listening to a man thousands of miles from his home as well (settling the younger brother into college) wail into a cell phone. Blubbering: he'd lost everything, he said.
He called his son, barely of age to drink, a hero.I am solidly against war in concept, and there I was, writing the story of a kid who loved GI Joes and a dad who never saved a penny toward college for this son. A story of another senseless death.
I was out of sorts and really not functioning after writing the piece. So I left work early.
I started the car, hit play on the CD player and Kiss the Sun came on.
I cried. Pull-over-to-the-side-of-the-road cried.
I'd listened many times and been shaken with the song all on its own. Add to this the raw feeling I'd filtered to paper, and I was just blown away.Ellis, your stories hit nerves almost every time. I admire you for that.See you in Colorado
Robyn
(from University of Oklahoma and Blue Door)
If they aren't playing live music, don't go.