Music Before the Money

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On January 20, T-Mobile USA and Eric Clapton teamed up to promote a cell phone and it is now appearing in commercials around the T-Mobile’s world.

The hook is a Fender Stratocaster sunburst-finish design from the guitar that made Clapton famous and, conversely, was made a household name by him.

As for the mechanics the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Fender Edition has a 3.5mm headset jack and a 16GB MicroSD card. Another hook is that the unit will come loaded with Eric Clapton’s hit songs like “Wonderful Tonight,” “Layla,” “Rock ‘N’ Roll Heart” and “My Father’s Eyes.” There will also be other songs from stars such as Avril Lavigne, Wyclef Jean and Brad Paisley.

In addition, the phone will feature applications like Guitar: Solo and Musical Light, and a customized multimedia sync solution from doubleTwist, offering an intuitive interface for syncing and managing music as well as other media when linked with a Mac or a Windows PC.

The myTouch 3G Fender runs the Android 1.6 program but can be upgraded to Android 2.1 in a few months.

Many people having been posting negative comments about Clapton. The scuttlebutt is that Clapton is “selling out.” Well, sure he is. Everybody does. But at least Eric didn’t dress up in gambler’s outfit in his last tour or put out a cheesy Christmas record like Bob Dylan. And if he did, all the power to him. He’s Eric Clapton and he looks like he had fun making the commercial.

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Kate McGarrigle, one-half of the great Canadian folk duo, The McGarrigle Sisters, died on January 18th of sarcoma, a rare cancer that affects connective tissue such as bone, muscle, nerves and cartilage. Not only were they Canadian icons Kate was the mother of Rufus and Martha Wainwright, two impressive singer-songwriters.

The McGarrigle Sisters began their career in the coffee houses of Montreal in the early 1960′s. After leaving a folk group called The Mountain City Four their act was given a great bost when Lind Ronstadt used their song “Heart Like a Wheel” as the title song of her best-selling album of the same name in 1974. Other songs by the sisters were covered by Elvis Costello, Judy Collins, Emmy Lou Harris and Billy Bragg.

Their biggest Canadian hit came from a song by Wade Hemsworth called “The Log Driver’s Waltz.” This was later made into an animated feature by the National Film Board of Canada in 1979, a couple of years before videos became popular.

Later came a self-titled album that featured “The Work Song,” Cool River,” and “The Lying Song.” Although they were folk singers the McGarrigles drew their influences from all genres including rock which prevented them from being pigeon-holed in the music business.

Another attribute that the sisters had was that, although they were “Anglos,” they drew heavily from their French Canadian province and were popular in both cultures. Quebec Culture Minister said of them, “They were Anglos, in the middle of many people who were singing in French. And they were interested in singing to them in French, and to show to francophones in Quebec that English people were interested in Quebec culture, and our identity.

Kate McGarrigle was married to famous folk singer, Loudon Wainwright III famous for songs such as “Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.” In 1994 she was invested with the Order of Canada for her music and her contribution to Canadian heritage.

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Thanks toThe Museum of Culture and Debi Brophy