The video for this week is an oldie but a goodie. RJD2 is an old favorite of mine, an innovative beatmaker signed to Definitive Jux Records whose first couple albums blew apart my conception of hip-hop beats. This song, 1976, is from his 2004 release, Since We Last Spoke. The song was popular, but I hadn't seen the video until now. It's an amazing CGI journey through photographs of Cuba. We've seen these images before, but never like this. The camera swings through houses and fields, and uses modern technology to treat these still photos as 3D movies. Very cool.  Enjoy!   [Devon]

RJD2: 1976 (2004, Def Jux Records)

The video of the week is a corker this time, despite its horrible quality. True-blue Irish fiddle master Martin Hayes, known for his intense "improvisations" on Irish fiddle music, is joined by extreme stepdancer Nic Gareiss. Stepdancing is so often presented as a set pattern of steps that's choreographed to fit loosely with the music, that we sometimes forget that it's always had a deep level of improvisation at its root. Nic's ability to match Martin's phrasing is impeccable and the quality of these two masters playing together is at a level we've never seen.  So, like, wow!

Here's another quick clip of Nic Gareiss' clogging with master old-time fiddler Bruce Molsky.

Just stumbled on a couple cool things we wanted to share. Mainly, that Ed Helms, Andy from The Office and Stu from The Hangover, has been guesting with Old Crow Medicine Show on banjo at some of their 2010 gigs!!

Sadly, no one's got a great full video of this yet, but here's some proof:

Ed Helms & O.C.M.S. at 2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Yep, that's Andy, right next to fiddlin' Ketch Secor onstage.  Need more proof? Here's a shorter video that really shows it:
 
 

You can read about Ed Helms' guest appearance here.  And he's evidently starting to play out more, as this article talks about.  Why's this important, some of you non-Office lovers might ask? Because Ed Helms has boldly snatched the comedy banjo torch (among other things) from Steve Martin's legendary fingers, as this clip from the Office clearly shows:

And speaking of the great banjo-man Steve Martin, check out this sweet video of his brand-new bluegrass tribute to King Tut!

Steve Martin @ 2010 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Here's a fun treat for our friends this week. Dr. Squeeze put together a cool video for Dejah Leger's beautiful song, "Mary D. Hume". Based on the true story of the Mary D. Hume, a harbor tugboat from Gold Beach, Oregon, the song tells the boat's history in the Arctic whaling fleet. This song of Dejah's was picked to be part of an upcoming NW compilation CD of tugboat songs. Stay tuned for more details on that project.  

If you like Dejah's music, check out her new album of traditional lullabies:
 

Frog Went A-Courtin'