The Incredible Manic Man Post

I am well aware that my taste in many areas is questionable at best,  and well outside the norm. I've never seen the allure of Brad Pitt; with or without shirt, and the  People's Sexiest Man Alive  issues always leave me questioning just what it is I'm missing that all these other ladies are so obviously seeing.  Not that this is a source of angst for me. Simply a point of mental ponderance.

The man-thing knows no pretty face or tight set of abs could ever turn my head. No metro-suave hipster wannabe with bedroom eyes would tempt me from his side. . . . but a manic man might just make me drool a little while. These musical boys brimming over with passion, conviction, and talent; they have the power to make me stop and look, but mostly to listen. So I figured I'd share some manic men I love with you.

New to my list of interesting manic men is Marcus Mumford. Not exactly the kind of pretty faced boy who finds himself on the cover of TigerBeat but man, this guy's for real. Like all the men on this list he's a multi-tasker; singer, song writer, guitarist, drummer, and he plays the freakin' mandolin.



Finding decent live footage of Brent Knopf playing in his Ramona Falls incarnate is not easy. There are so few videos off of Intuit, most of which were shot in seedy little pubs with atrocious sound. Absolute philistines walk around drunken and disrespectfully chatting through his performances; completely unaware of the musical genius being laid before them. Therefore I encourage you to also view the official video for this song. (Unless your one of my FB friends who already had to endure my rant about what a freakin' genius this man is and viewed it last year :P)



On to the original, and arguably most manic man in music today, Damien Rice. This is where the drool wiping really begins to get crazy. This boy should probably charge a nominal fee with every performance for the therapy session he provides. His songs are an absolute catharsis. This extended version live footage for 'I Remember' blows my mind. That boy must be utterly exhausted by the end of every show, he truly leaves it all on the stage.




Lastly, the man whose voice has never been absent from my Ipod over the last five+ years. Whether it be from his solo work, his old band or his new; Glen Hansard has always held my attention. Possibly my first encounter with his work was in the movie The Commitments as Outspan Foster wayyyyy back in '91.  I rarely heard or saw anything of him during the next decade. The Frames have somehow never 'made it' in North America. This suits me just fine though. Being played on popular radio and tarnished by big time record producers might have spoiled my love affair with their music. Though it was exceedingly nice to seem him win the Oscar, even if nobody else even knew who he was.



So unless Glen decides to leave Marketa and wanders aimlessly onto my door step in Saskatoon. . . .I think it's safe to say the man-thing's position in my life is pretty secure. Besides, when the mood strikes and he picks up his twelve-string, he can get a little manic all on his own ;)