Paul Hipp
Blog Of War
© 2008 Paul Hipp (796873030922)
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
SPECIAL: 10% discount if you buy more than one copy of it today!
Rock and Roll to soothe the war-news-election-blues-world-weary mind. You'll dance and sing and cry and swing.
tracks
try this
genres you will love
By Location
Recommended if you like ...
notes
BLOG OF WAR
The genesis of “Blog of War” began when Paul, like many Americans, found himself increasingly frustrated and angry about the direction the country was being led. He found an outlet for his feelings when Arianna Huffington asked Paul to “blog about it” for a new venture she was starting called The Huffington Post.
Paul picked up his guitar and started ‘blogging.’
Hipp’s “Cheney Plays Folsom Prison,” a Johnny Cash-like tune that imagined
a desperado gun crazed Vice President singing about shooting his friend in the face,became a viral internet sensation. Paul’s next Huffington Post release “I’m The Decider (Koo Koo Ka Choo)” (based on The Beatles “I Am The Walrus”)was an international hit with over 2 million “uniques” and was immediately picked up by major news outlets and radio stations around the country, and became a regular feature of Randy Rhodes Air America Broadcasts.
Paul knew he had found his audience, and while continuing the occasional
“bricolage” recording, he started writing and performing original ‘blogs’ – Instant topical songs sung live to a laptop computer in simple fashion with acoustic guitar, a la Woody Guthrie.
“Something happens on the news that gets my attention, I go and write a song about it, sing the song to the computer, e-mail the file to Arianna in the middle of the night and by the time I wake up the next afternoon, thousands of people have heard the song. Real time musical response,” comments Hipp.
Paul’s audience grew larger with each “blog” and eventually requests started
coming from fans for a CD.
From Huffington Post favorites like Hipp’s Gospel-tinged take on the hypocritical homophobic Reverend Ted Haggart “Meth and Man Ass,” to the heartbreaking story of a promise broken “Pennsylvania Stars,” to brand new songs like the thought provoking rocker “Happy Bomb Maker,” “Blog of War” is a chronicle of a country beat up and sold out, lied to and left out to dry. It is a collection of some of Paul’s blogs, plus brand-new unheard material fleshed out and rocked up. Standout tracks include “All American Boy,” “Hey Baby Hey,” “Honor and Dignity,” “Fearless,” and the haunting “3,800 Souls.”
Arianna Huffington says: “Paul Hipp is ridiculously talented. He’s smart, funny, politically astute, a terrific writer, a wonderful singer, a gifted musician – and very easy on the eyes. If I didn’t love him so much, I’d probably resent him. The songs on “Blog of War” are at once blisteringly satiric, laugh out loud funny, and hauntingly moving. Outrage has never sounded so good. If Jonathan Swift and Bob Dylan got together and cut an album, it would sound a lot like “Blog of War.”
Paul also wrote and produced three songs performed by Hilary Duff (including the new viral buzz performance of the controversial politically/sexually charged “I Want To Blow You Up”) featured in the upcoming film “War, Inc,” also starring John Cusack, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Dan Aykroyd and Ben Kingsley, which is scheduled to open Friday, May 23rd in New York and Los Angeles.
Born in Philadelphia, Paul moved to New York City as soon as the bell rang on his last day of high school. Paul spent a couple years busking on the streets of Greenwhich Village before eventually landing indoor heated gigs at various clubs on Bleeker Street. Joints like Kenny’s Castaways, The Red Lion and The Rock And Roll Café were jumping and Paul could be found most nights on stage, on bar, on tables... on any surface that would hold him and his guitar. It was during this time that Paul met and started writing songs with Carole King. The two collaborated on songs for her Capitol Records release “City Streets” which featured a blistering appearance by Eric Clapton on the title track.
It was also while playing Bleeker Street that Paul’s acting career took off when he met legendary independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara. Paul would go on to collaborate on several film and music projects with Ferrara including “China Girl” (Paul’s first film acting role) for which Paul wrote the end credit theme “Midnight For You”, " The Funeral” (opposite Chris Walken, Isabella Rossellini and Benicio Del Toro), “Body Snatchers” ( song: “I Want You Back”) and “Bad Lieutenant” in which Paul plays Jesus Christ to Harvey Keitel's troubled gumshoe and provides the end credit theme along with Ferarra. Paul combined his love of music and acting by originating the role of Buddy Holly in the blockbuster London West End musical “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story”, a performance that earned him a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for Outstanding Performance By An Actor In A Musical. The following year Paul took "Buddy" to Broadways Shubert Theater where he opened to rave reviews. Paul was nominated for The Tony Award and won The Theater World Award for Best Broadway Debut.
The next several years saw Paul continue to write music while focusing most of his energy on acting, appearing in over 30 film’s and approximately one billion TV shows. Clint Eastwood cast Paul as “The Sentimental Gentleman From Georgia” Joe Odom, in his film “Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil”, a film in which Paul also performs his original composition “Dumpster Love”.
Paul spent a few years learning to surf and play gypsy jazz guitar (spot the tip on the hat to Django on “Blog Of War”) while writing songs for films he appeared in and playing the occasional live gig.
2007 was a busy year musically that started with Paul writing and producing several songs for Hilary Duff, which she performs in the upcoming feature film “War, Inc.” starring John Cusack, Morissa Tomei and Sir Ben Kingsley. Paul ended the year by performing with Les Paul in New York City.
2008 promises to be Paul’s most musical year to date with the release of BLOG OF WAR.
reviews
Please log in to review this album.
Protest Song Hero
author: Steve H.Even if he wasn't the gifted musician that he is, Paul Hipp stands as an important agent of change. It was folks like Paul that raised the consciousness of millions back in the sixties to the horrific realities of Vietnam. Paul does this persuasively in his emotive lyrics on the travesty of Iraq and the despicable, dangerous Bush administration. His passion is crucial to nudge a narcissistic, ignorant electorate back to consciousness so we can realize what's at stake here. 3,800 Souls does this so concisely, so poignantly, and the sizzle of sarcasm makes it very potent to listeners of any ilk. Pennsylvania Stars hits the same vein, and is really quite a woderful melody. I get my kid to sit with me and listen to this stuff, explaining why we are so upset and promising him that we'll fix it and learn how to elect better leaders. Thank you Paul, I hope you make a load of dough. But whether you do or don't, know that you are talented and critical musician for our times. I'm delighted to have you in my collection.