Hi. I saw the post about the Fab Farquahr on your blog. My dad, Ed Hayden, was best friends w/ Doug Lapham, the leader of the group. My mom also grew up and was best friends with his wife, Sue. The band actually wasn't from Cape Cod as stated on your blog, they all lived in the Guilford/Branford area of Connecticut. I forgot the town Doug's house was in, but i spent a lot of time there growing up. The Macgowans lived nearby there too and I remember they were antique car collectors and used to drive them around a lot. I even saw the band once when I was a teenager in New York City. They were great. Anyway, enjoyed reading about them and thought I'd just throw my two cents of memories in. -Ned Hayden
johnnykmusic- Thanks for writing, Ned. I have received dozens of emails during the past year asking for more information about the beloved Farquahr. previous post
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
The Sawtelles....hot off the presses
I'm not knowledgable about the Sawtelles. Saw them at this year's Daffodil Festival and liked them, so it's on my to-do list to see them again. And they are from Plantsville - GET OUT! (Elaine Benes shove)... But where? Here are some December dates per their monthly emails:
| Friday, December 1st- Jitters Coffeehouse in Southington, CT Friday, December 8th- TRASH AMERICAN STYLE/ GEROSA RECORDS JOINT CELEBRATION at the MONKEY BAR in Danbury, CT: Saturday, December 9th- Artwell Gallery in Torrington, CT - 7pm, $5/ all-ages - the SSP open the show. We finished work on our Two-Tone Tarpaper Fantasy record and it is available for $5, as is the SSP disc. We still have Here Is.... and Yellow. Pretty soon you'll be able to stock a jukebox with just our tunes. We've got ideas about doing our own new haven covers record; we'll see how long that takes to shore up. Have you been listening in on Independisc radio Wed nites? Go to independisc for details. The show is over at Cygnus internet radio. Gary has a great show with occasional in-studio guests. Thurs afternoons on 88.1 wesu from 5:10pm-6pm, the ThinMan has his Homegrown show. If you have not sent him your music to play, you've been missing out on at least a billion people tuning in via the radio dial or by computer. Buy your jukebox yet? |
Sunday, November 26, 2006
gettin' a dusty groove on.....
I was searching the internets (series of tubes 'n pipes) for previous James Hunter CDs; found one on Dusty Groove America and couldn't resist grabbing a few others:
Believe What I Say (James Hunter) - $14
Christmas (James Brown) - $6
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Gil Scott-Heron) - $9
New Moon Daughter (Cassandra Wilson) - $4
In concert...a matter of taste
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Those oldies but goodies remind me of you (but not me)...
Old and in the way....NY Times article about AARP's efforts to tap the aging boomers' music thirst....
Rock of Ages by JEFF LEEDS (Published: November 26, 2006)
AT 52, Martha Stinson is not quite sure where to turn when it comes to new music. The local Tower Records in Nashville, where Mrs. Stinson is an owner of a general contracting company, is going out of business, and she never did figure out how to load music onto the digital-music player she bought a couple of years ago. But she may soon receive an overture from a source not known for its musical savvy: AARP. She is the kind of consumer that the association is targeting with a sweeping marketing campaign that it hopes will entice millions of new members, as the first kids weaned on rock ’n’ roll turn gray.
And if Mrs. Stinson is any indication, the group faces an uphill battle. She has repeatedly thrown out AARP membership solicitations, after all. “It’s going to be tough,” to market to those like her, she said. “Our generation has always been a little revolutionary. We feel like we’re in middle age. Were out bike riding, running businesses. Our kids are fully grown, and we’re kind of footloose and fancy free.”
Older consumers (along with children) represent one of the few reliable markets in the music business these days, and AARP, the organization for older Americans, is keen to capitalize on that. On Tuesday the group announced that for the first time it will sponsor a national concert tour, by Tony Bennett. And that’s just a start. Other sponsorships will follow, and from those, AARP hopes, many new members. With plans in the works for an alliance with a major retail chain, a Web-based music recommendation service with Pandora and even a music blog, AARP is looking to graduate from advocate of the shuffleboard set to the ranks of cultural concierge.
“I hope that we make this thing so relevant and so cool,” said Tena Clark, a music consultant helping to devise the group’s marketing strategy. “I would hope that one day in the future that my 20-year-old daughter would want to borrow my AARP card to get into a concert just like she tries to borrow her sister’s I.D.” Consumers like Ms. Stinson may not be the only skeptics however. For musicians, a deal with AARP is a different matter than a deal with a hip coffee house or a fashion retailer. No matter how hard the group may try to change its image — even with the likes of Paul McCartney and Susan Sarandon on the cover of its magazine — some people still associate it with the Saturday-night-bingo set. And many musicians may want to keep their distance, even if it means sacrificing enormous sales. -complete article
Rock of Ages by JEFF LEEDS (Published: November 26, 2006)
AT 52, Martha Stinson is not quite sure where to turn when it comes to new music. The local Tower Records in Nashville, where Mrs. Stinson is an owner of a general contracting company, is going out of business, and she never did figure out how to load music onto the digital-music player she bought a couple of years ago. But she may soon receive an overture from a source not known for its musical savvy: AARP. She is the kind of consumer that the association is targeting with a sweeping marketing campaign that it hopes will entice millions of new members, as the first kids weaned on rock ’n’ roll turn gray.
And if Mrs. Stinson is any indication, the group faces an uphill battle. She has repeatedly thrown out AARP membership solicitations, after all. “It’s going to be tough,” to market to those like her, she said. “Our generation has always been a little revolutionary. We feel like we’re in middle age. Were out bike riding, running businesses. Our kids are fully grown, and we’re kind of footloose and fancy free.”
Older consumers (along with children) represent one of the few reliable markets in the music business these days, and AARP, the organization for older Americans, is keen to capitalize on that. On Tuesday the group announced that for the first time it will sponsor a national concert tour, by Tony Bennett. And that’s just a start. Other sponsorships will follow, and from those, AARP hopes, many new members. With plans in the works for an alliance with a major retail chain, a Web-based music recommendation service with Pandora and even a music blog, AARP is looking to graduate from advocate of the shuffleboard set to the ranks of cultural concierge. “I hope that we make this thing so relevant and so cool,” said Tena Clark, a music consultant helping to devise the group’s marketing strategy. “I would hope that one day in the future that my 20-year-old daughter would want to borrow my AARP card to get into a concert just like she tries to borrow her sister’s I.D.” Consumers like Ms. Stinson may not be the only skeptics however. For musicians, a deal with AARP is a different matter than a deal with a hip coffee house or a fashion retailer. No matter how hard the group may try to change its image — even with the likes of Paul McCartney and Susan Sarandon on the cover of its magazine — some people still associate it with the Saturday-night-bingo set. And many musicians may want to keep their distance, even if it means sacrificing enormous sales. -complete article
Friday, November 24, 2006
Carolyn B & friends piss off Jack White in Boston.....
CB email: - Last weekend I saw/met Jack White and his other 3 band members at Whiskey Park (bar in the Park Plaza hotel). Actually pretty funny, we got up to pay the tab, when he and his buddies took our seats, so my friend turned around and said, hey..Jack White just stole our seats! So Jack, really tall guy, gets up and says, oh, sorry man...and offers to move, and my friends assure him that he can stay and that they were just joking around. It was fun, made for in interesting Friday night.At least he didn't punch her out - story 2003
Who is this guy? We must find out more....
Peter met up with Barrence Whitfield (also Peter Wolf of J. Geils/Fay Dunaway fame) at the James Hunter show at the Paradise in Boston Wednesday night. He had previously seen Whitfield perform and was raving about his singing.Per his AMG profile - A Boston-based singer of what one might refer to as "traditional" R&B (i.e.,'50s- and '60s-style), Barrence Whitfield is the owner of one incredible pair of lungs and limitless energy and enthusiasm for his music. A soul screamer in the spirit of Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and early Don Covay, Whitfield & the Savages, though never breaking big nationally, are a great cult act, a triumph of substance over style, with a bunch of terrific records to boot.
Seems like a guy we need to check out. His schedule shows him playing in the Netherlands the next couple weeks, but then he's back in the Boston area for some shows. If you catch him, let me know.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Thanks to Peter for the heads up on this....
Over the years, a fine-tuned Iron Horse
By Jane Roy Brown, Boston Globe Correspondent November 20, 2006
NORTHAMPTON -- It was a very '70s idea: Open a little club, serve some simple food, bring in some folk musicians, some folk - rock and blues, maybe. But the music would be more for atmosphere. At night, candlelight would illuminate the faces of people talking earnestly across tiny tabletops. Loners, scribbling in their journals, would look up every so often to signal a waitress for another espresso.
Speaking to a reporter for Northampton's alternative weekly newspaper, the Advocate, in 1989, 10 years after he started the Iron Horse Music Hall , Jordi Herold humorously recalled his dream of opening a "Bohemian cafe, with candles and wine and cheese and breadboards with little peasant loaves on them." It was, well, a simpler time.
Herold, then a recent graduate of Hampshire College in neighboring Amherst, abandoned his romantic notion for a time to teach in the Amherst public schools. When he found he couldn't shake his dream, he and a business partner bought what would become the Iron Horse in Northampton. The music was tame, in keeping with its role as backdrop -- strictly classical, jazz, and folk. As the owners discovered their true passion, the peasant loaves and cheese melted into the background and the music took center stage, literally. The club started to gain a reputation as a breakout venue for national talent. Tracy Chapman, Wynton Marsalis , Suzanne Vega, Stanley Jordan, George Winston, Michelle Shocked -- all honed their chops at the Iron Horse before moving into the big time . Herold's intuitive ear for new talent, his willingness to research the business and talent sides of the music scene, and his keen appreciation of all kinds of music gave him the kind of feelers that have built recording empires. "It's like some of the same sense you got when Tracy Chapman played here," Herold recalled in his 1989 interview. ". . . As soon as she went on stage, the buzzer went off. It's like that woman sang just four notes and I knew what was happening. You remember those moments."
So do the patrons of the Iron Horse, who, 27 years after the doors opened, still line the sidewalk in front of the club on Center Street to check out little-known performers who have generated an insider buzz or to hear new sets by established favorites like Leon Redbone and Roomful of Blues . Seating is first-come, first-served, even for ticket holders, ensuring those lines. For those who attended live shows in their youth, stamping your feet to keep the blood flowing on a frigid February night may bring on flashbacks of waiting for the Byrds to open at Fillmore West or the Allman Brothers at Boston Garden, or even Bob Dylan or Joan Baez at Club 47 (now Club Passim ) in Harvard Square . The stage is busy on weekdays (Tuesdays through Thursdays and the occasional Monday) as well as weekends, sometimes billing two shows a night .
Inside, it's a time warp -- little tables with candles, a mezzanine, a menu harking back to a time when nachos were exotic to college kids. The only things missing are cheese fondue and cigarette smoke. Nobody seems to miss the smoke, and, as one blogger recently replied to a patron who had the nerve to dis the Iron Horse menu online, "Dude -- it's bar food!" As for the cheek-to-elbow intimacy of the place, Herold's wisdom on the subject is: "There might be a bigger, padded seat at the civic center, but you're not going to be 10 feet away in a room the size of a big living room, from who could very well be the same [caliber of] artist."
Herold wound up building his own sort of empire, Iron Horse Entertainment Group, which books live music and other performing arts at Northampton's top concert stages: the Calvin Theatre and Performing Arts Center, Pearl Street Nightclub, and an outdoor summer series at the Pines Theatre in Look Park. A division called Iron Horse Presents produces concerts at other New England venues, including Boston's Berklee Performance Center and the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.
Meanwhile, the music bookings have stayed eclectic, mixing flower-child faves with brash newcomers. November's lineup, for instance, features both Aztec Two-Step , a band popular in the '70s, and Enter the Haggis (punk-folk bagpipe). These are the kinds of acts that are hard to come by outside of bigger cities, and the arts-minded emigres to the hill towns around Northampton show up for a lot of them. As one gray-haired patron said on a brisk night while waiting for doors to open for the early show, "Thank God for college towns."
Jane Roy Brown, a writer in Western Mass., can be reached at janeroybrown@verizon.net.
By Jane Roy Brown, Boston Globe Correspondent November 20, 2006
NORTHAMPTON -- It was a very '70s idea: Open a little club, serve some simple food, bring in some folk musicians, some folk - rock and blues, maybe. But the music would be more for atmosphere. At night, candlelight would illuminate the faces of people talking earnestly across tiny tabletops. Loners, scribbling in their journals, would look up every so often to signal a waitress for another espresso.
Speaking to a reporter for Northampton's alternative weekly newspaper, the Advocate, in 1989, 10 years after he started the Iron Horse Music Hall , Jordi Herold humorously recalled his dream of opening a "Bohemian cafe, with candles and wine and cheese and breadboards with little peasant loaves on them." It was, well, a simpler time.
Herold, then a recent graduate of Hampshire College in neighboring Amherst, abandoned his romantic notion for a time to teach in the Amherst public schools. When he found he couldn't shake his dream, he and a business partner bought what would become the Iron Horse in Northampton. The music was tame, in keeping with its role as backdrop -- strictly classical, jazz, and folk. As the owners discovered their true passion, the peasant loaves and cheese melted into the background and the music took center stage, literally. The club started to gain a reputation as a breakout venue for national talent. Tracy Chapman, Wynton Marsalis , Suzanne Vega, Stanley Jordan, George Winston, Michelle Shocked -- all honed their chops at the Iron Horse before moving into the big time . Herold's intuitive ear for new talent, his willingness to research the business and talent sides of the music scene, and his keen appreciation of all kinds of music gave him the kind of feelers that have built recording empires. "It's like some of the same sense you got when Tracy Chapman played here," Herold recalled in his 1989 interview. ". . . As soon as she went on stage, the buzzer went off. It's like that woman sang just four notes and I knew what was happening. You remember those moments."So do the patrons of the Iron Horse, who, 27 years after the doors opened, still line the sidewalk in front of the club on Center Street to check out little-known performers who have generated an insider buzz or to hear new sets by established favorites like Leon Redbone and Roomful of Blues . Seating is first-come, first-served, even for ticket holders, ensuring those lines. For those who attended live shows in their youth, stamping your feet to keep the blood flowing on a frigid February night may bring on flashbacks of waiting for the Byrds to open at Fillmore West or the Allman Brothers at Boston Garden, or even Bob Dylan or Joan Baez at Club 47 (now Club Passim ) in Harvard Square . The stage is busy on weekdays (Tuesdays through Thursdays and the occasional Monday) as well as weekends, sometimes billing two shows a night .
Inside, it's a time warp -- little tables with candles, a mezzanine, a menu harking back to a time when nachos were exotic to college kids. The only things missing are cheese fondue and cigarette smoke. Nobody seems to miss the smoke, and, as one blogger recently replied to a patron who had the nerve to dis the Iron Horse menu online, "Dude -- it's bar food!" As for the cheek-to-elbow intimacy of the place, Herold's wisdom on the subject is: "There might be a bigger, padded seat at the civic center, but you're not going to be 10 feet away in a room the size of a big living room, from who could very well be the same [caliber of] artist."
Herold wound up building his own sort of empire, Iron Horse Entertainment Group, which books live music and other performing arts at Northampton's top concert stages: the Calvin Theatre and Performing Arts Center, Pearl Street Nightclub, and an outdoor summer series at the Pines Theatre in Look Park. A division called Iron Horse Presents produces concerts at other New England venues, including Boston's Berklee Performance Center and the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.
Meanwhile, the music bookings have stayed eclectic, mixing flower-child faves with brash newcomers. November's lineup, for instance, features both Aztec Two-Step , a band popular in the '70s, and Enter the Haggis (punk-folk bagpipe). These are the kinds of acts that are hard to come by outside of bigger cities, and the arts-minded emigres to the hill towns around Northampton show up for a lot of them. As one gray-haired patron said on a brisk night while waiting for doors to open for the early show, "Thank God for college towns."
Jane Roy Brown, a writer in Western Mass., can be reached at janeroybrown@verizon.net.
I ain't no senator's son, y'all....
John Fogerty's appearance at halftime of the Lions/Dolphins game - what's your take:Wednesday, November 22, 2006
James Hunter at Iron Horse on Tuesday night....
I'm such an ass, procrastinating about getting a ticket to James Hunter at the Iron Horse Music Hall on Tuesday night and now it says online that it's sold out! Fuck it, I'm going. Once in Northampton, I cruise past the venue on Center Street - no one around. Next stop is Turn It Up, where I ask if they knew the procedure for sold outs. They didn't, but directed me to the ticket venue around the corner where a young lady pleasantly told me she had no idea, but that the doors opened at 5:30. Okay, fine. With some time to kill, I scooted back to TIU to grab a few discs - Velvet Underground (Banana), Mamas & Pappas (California Dreamin') and Eric Clapton (Slowhand) - a retro cache.Anyone got an extra ticket? Yep, someone always cancels when you grab tickets for a big group, so I'm in luck. "Does this mean he has to sit with us?" Fuck you, lady, just give me the ticket. No, actually she was kidding - or not, for I ended up at a 'table for uno.' Oh yeah, now how to look thoughtful for the next hour and a half until showtime. Sam's Winter Lager and a chicken/black bean burrito help.
Opening for James hunter is Milton, a three-guitar band from NYC. Actually, their website says the band also has drums and backing vocals, but I guess they didn't make the travel squad. They appear regularly at The Living Room in NYC. Only played about four or five songs, but I liked them. Perhaps I can catch them for a longer show in NYC.
The crowd is buzzing, everyone relating just how he/she discovered James Hunter, who, as if on cue, makes his way down the aisle and then downstairs to the dressing room. A few minutes later the band files past us, instruments in hand, toward the stage .....and we're off! Hey, that's Derek Huston, sax player for The Iguanas, playing baritone sax in Hunter's Band! The drummer, looking something like Jim McKay circa 1970's, is from Dublin (if I heard correctly), while the keyboard player is from Brooklyn. Didn't catch the names/locations of the upright bass player or the other sax player. The show meets our high expectations - Hunter and the band are tight and energetic, stretching out on his People Gonna Talk songs and throwing in a couple new ones, notably Jackie Wilson's Lonely Teardrops. Great show! The boys are playing at the Paradise in Boston on Wednesday night.
alt="" />Pollstar article 11/26/06 on James Hunter - here
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Sarah, Bob Dylan and Jack White.....a brother-in-law perspective......
Email from Peter G, he of excellent music taste....
Sarah Borges at Johnny D's in Somerville, MA: I met up with Andy and his friends there. Good show, some new songs. Johnny D's is a great place to watch music. Not too loud, an enthusiastic crowd, people get up and dance. She is a very smooth performer, I think very professional. She had her minimum band....no guest stars like at the Lizard. She didn't go on until about 11:30, but I had paced myself with football, so it wasn't bad. Said hello to Sarah after the show, mentioned that my brother in law is her number one fan...."Oh yeah, Johnny K" (photo set from snowriderguy)
Bob Dylan/Reconteurs at Boston University: Last weekend saw Bob Dylan and the Raconteurs (Jack White) at BUs new hockey arena. It's a really nice venue.....but the Raconteurs were unbearably loud and completely un-interesting...just awful, just plain noise....isn't that what they said about Stravinski? It's a generation thing....I think Jonathan is a big Jack White fan, and Ron and Ned and Aidan loved it....Carolyn, however, arranged to not even come to the concert until after the Raconteurs were finished...a wise move. Anyway, I enjoy the club experience much more.
johnny k response: Sarah, I'm not your number one fan, that would be kinda creepy.....but I am a SB evangelist.....and I like the club venue also. Sarah and her Broken Singles will perform at Cafe Nine in New Haven on Saturday, December 9. Be there!!
Sarah Borges at Johnny D's in Somerville, MA: I met up with Andy and his friends there. Good show, some new songs. Johnny D's is a great place to watch music. Not too loud, an enthusiastic crowd, people get up and dance. She is a very smooth performer, I think very professional. She had her minimum band....no guest stars like at the Lizard. She didn't go on until about 11:30, but I had paced myself with football, so it wasn't bad. Said hello to Sarah after the show, mentioned that my brother in law is her number one fan...."Oh yeah, Johnny K" (photo set from snowriderguy)Bob Dylan/Reconteurs at Boston University: Last weekend saw Bob Dylan and the Raconteurs (Jack White) at BUs new hockey arena. It's a really nice venue.....but the Raconteurs were unbearably loud and completely un-interesting...just awful, just plain noise....isn't that what they said about Stravinski? It's a generation thing....I think Jonathan is a big Jack White fan, and Ron and Ned and Aidan loved it....Carolyn, however, arranged to not even come to the concert until after the Raconteurs were finished...a wise move. Anyway, I enjoy the club experience much more.
johnny k response: Sarah, I'm not your number one fan, that would be kinda creepy.....but I am a SB evangelist.....and I like the club venue also. Sarah and her Broken Singles will perform at Cafe Nine in New Haven on Saturday, December 9. Be there!!
Hangin'.......
Just hanging out, reading the newspaper and listening to Eddie Jefferson's Letter To Home while waiting to play golf (frost delay until 9am).
G-Man stopped by the Salty Dog Bar & Grill in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Thursday night and caught a set of The Dirty Stayouts.
Brownies vs. Steelers today in a marquee matchup of 3-6 teams. Will catch the end of it at Sliders with JK. Go Brownies!
G-Man stopped by the Salty Dog Bar & Grill in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn on Thursday night and caught a set of The Dirty Stayouts.
Brownies vs. Steelers today in a marquee matchup of 3-6 teams. Will catch the end of it at Sliders with JK. Go Brownies!
But I lost my class notes, professor....
Interesting MySpace jazz blog:
My name is Greg Pagel, and I am an adjunct instructor at UW-Green Bay, teaching a class in Jazz History. I have a Bachelor of Music Degree with an Emphasis in Jazz Studies from Lawrence University, and a Master of Music Degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory. This MySpace page is intended for students of my Jazz History class. Here, I will post my notes from each class and keep you posted regarding what you need to know in order do well. This is not a substitute for class attendance. If you want a good grade from me this semester, you will need to come to class regularly. But I hope to use the magic of MySpace to help keep things clear. I hope you will also use this forum to ask me any questions or comment on anything we have discussed or listened to in class. I will also provide links to other resources for those interested in exploring this topic in more depth. Thanks!
My name is Greg Pagel, and I am an adjunct instructor at UW-Green Bay, teaching a class in Jazz History. I have a Bachelor of Music Degree with an Emphasis in Jazz Studies from Lawrence University, and a Master of Music Degree in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory. This MySpace page is intended for students of my Jazz History class. Here, I will post my notes from each class and keep you posted regarding what you need to know in order do well. This is not a substitute for class attendance. If you want a good grade from me this semester, you will need to come to class regularly. But I hope to use the magic of MySpace to help keep things clear. I hope you will also use this forum to ask me any questions or comment on anything we have discussed or listened to in class. I will also provide links to other resources for those interested in exploring this topic in more depth. Thanks!
James Hunter....should I stay or should I go?....
Yeah, it's a Tuesday night, but I've got to make myself go up to Northampton to catch R&B sensation James Hunter at the Iron Horse Music Hall or I'll be kicking myself for being such a wuss. I'll probably make the hour+ trek north alone, but hope to get some good photos to share. For Beantown fans, Hunter will appear at the Paradise on Wednesday night.Previous James Hunter post
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Thursday....Brooklyn bound
This Briarcliff Manor High School Class of 1956 to 1960 Juke Box website, containing 420 songs from that era, was forwarded to me by Stevie P (very good friend of Tiger Woods)! Some good stuff. To hear them, I had to download/save, then play with Media Player. There is language on the site urging you to purchase music after listening. I suppose they feel it covers them from legal harrassment, but does it cover us?
Got my weekly email from Ticketmaster ordering me not to miss Josh Groban at the Mohegan Sun Arena on March 8, 2007!!!....Sorry, I must disobey....Also passing on Andy Williams' Christmas Show (didn't realize Andy was still with us) and Smuckers Stars on Ice (didn't realize Smuckers had any stars - well, the grape jelly is pretty special, I guess)
Drivin' that train.....A new album that seems full of promise is The Road to Escondido, a blues collaboration between Eric Clapton and JJ Cale. Cale wrote After Midnight and Cocaine, two of Clapton's hits.
Got my weekly email from Ticketmaster ordering me not to miss Josh Groban at the Mohegan Sun Arena on March 8, 2007!!!....Sorry, I must disobey....Also passing on Andy Williams' Christmas Show (didn't realize Andy was still with us) and Smuckers Stars on Ice (didn't realize Smuckers had any stars - well, the grape jelly is pretty special, I guess)
Drivin' that train.....A new album that seems full of promise is The Road to Escondido, a blues collaboration between Eric Clapton and JJ Cale. Cale wrote After Midnight and Cocaine, two of Clapton's hits.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Those oldies but goodies...
We're getting ready to move Garrett to Brooklyn tomorrow morning and I've got my iPod on 'oldies' shuffle....a sample:
Bristol Stomp....no matter that it was about Bristol, TN, this was really cool in Bristol, CT in HS
Sixteen Candles....everyone has had his own Molly Ringwald
Until I Kissed Ya....Everly Brothers are SO underrated
I Need Your Love Tonight...Elvis
Try Me (I Need You)....James Brown & His Famous Flames
Sleep Walk....Santos & Johnny
Sea Cruise....Frankie Ford
Lonely World...Dion & the Belmonts
Hey Little Girl....Dee Clark
Raindrops....Dee Clark
The One Who Really Loves You...Mary Wells
Midgie....Jack Scott
Walkin' To New Orleans....Fats Domino...sure wish he played at Jazz Fest last year
Matilda...Cookie & the Cupcakes
Dancing In the Street....Martha & the Vandellas....STILL sounds great!
He Hit Me (and it felt like a kiss)...The Crystals....this is VERY weird; a Phil Spector (at least he didn't shoot you!)
Hey Baby....Bruce Chanel...harmonica by Delbert McClinton....one of my all-time favorites
Monday, November 13, 2006
Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world....
Cat Stevens (okay, really Yusuf Islam), whom George W treats as a terrorist, has just released his first pop album in almost thirty years, but if you believe the reviews, you won't be hearing any new Peace Train. - NY Times reviewCat Stevens discography
Cat Stevens lyrics
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Sunday morning, praise the dawning,
It's just a restless feeling by my side....
Toad's Place, the once-great rock venue in New Haven hosting the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Lucinda Williams (she got pissed at Red Sox fans cheering a post-season victory during her encore), has been shut down for 90 days on an underage alcohol charge. This was foreshadowed in an observation by the Courant's Eric Danton in an 8/11/06 blog post. - story hereStayed up to catch the beginning of SNL last night and predicted that the opening skit would be Nancy Pelosi....some pretty good lines and she worked the 'eye thing' pretty good throughout......SNL is pretty lame these days, I see.....Paul McCartney in a gratuitous cameo with Steve Martin and guest host Alec Bladwin.... Yes, they dragged in Tina Fey for an opening 30 Rock tie-in....Christina Aguilera was musical guest. Strange, I was very distracted during her energetic dance/sing routine wondering if she was really singing. Can't imagine anyone faking these days. Like her or not, her talent blows Britney away....
Mick Jagger's dad died at 93....
Saturday, November 11, 2006
The Soul Express with Dean Farrell...
If you're homebound on Saturday night and want some great music while you read that novel, then try tuning in to The Soul Express with host Dean Farrell from 9pm to midnight on UConn's WHUS (you can program it through iTunes). In addition, his website is a great resource for a variety of music listings with lots of information and links to the artists. Check it out.For example, he has a listing of his Top 300 60's Soul
1. DARK END OF THE STREET – James Carr (2/67) R&B #10, Pop #77
2. BRING IT UP – James Brown & The Famous Flames (1/67) R&B #7, Pop #29
3. THINK – Aretha Franklin (5/68) R&B #1 (3 weeks), Pop #7
4. I CAN’T TURN YOU LOOSE – Otis Redding (12/65) R&B #11, Did not chart pop
5. A CHANGE IS GONNA COME – Sam Cooke (1/65) R&B #9, Pop #31
6. WISH SOMEONE WOULD CARE – Irma Thomas (3/64) Pop #17, Cashbox R&B #2
7. HOLD ON! I’M A-COMIN’ – Sam & Dave (4/66) R&B #1 (1 week), Pop #21
8. PEOPLE GET READY – The Impressions (2/65) R&B #3, Pop #14
9. BERNADETTE – The Four Tops (3/67) R&B #3, Pop #4
10. AIN’T NO MOUNTAIN HIGH ENOUGH – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell (6/67) R&B #3, Pop #19
11. (I KNOW) I’M LOSING YOU – The Temptations (11/66) R&B #1 (2 weeks), Pop #8
12. THERE IS – The Dells (2/68) R&B #11, Pop #20
13. PAPA’S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG – James Brown & The Famous Flames (7/65) R&B #1 (8 weeks), Pop #8
14. RESPECT – Aretha Franklin (5/67) R&B #1 (8 weeks), Pop #1 (2 weeks)
15. (YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME) HIGHER AND HIGHER – Jackie Wilson (8/67) R&B #1 (1 week), Pop #6
16. THE TRACKS OF MY TEARS – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (7/65) R&B #2, Pop #16
17. LAND OF A THOUSAND DANCES – Wilson Pickett (8/66) R&B #1 (1 week), Pop #6
18. DANCE TO THE MUSIC – Sly & The Family Stone (1/68) R&B #9, Pop #8
19. YOU’VE LOST THAT LOVIN’ FEELIN – The Righteous Brothers (12/64) R&B #3, Pop #1 (2 weeks)
20. ONE MORE HEARTACHE – Marvin Gaye (2/66) R&B #4 , Pop #29
Friday, November 10, 2006
It's early in the evening....
Late afternoon, listening to Aretha, Live at the Fillmore West, waiting for the UConn/Quinnipiac hoops opener....she actually makes Bread's I Wanna Make It With You sound good.....The Queen of Soul performs Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main Street in Waterbury, CT. Tickets are $50, $60 and $80. Information: 203-755-4700.
The Who, if you believe that missing Keith Moon and John Entwistle (dead and unavailable to contribute) still constitutes The Who, are getting good press on their new release Endless Wire, but I just can't bring myself to try it....
The Who, if you believe that missing Keith Moon and John Entwistle (dead and unavailable to contribute) still constitutes The Who, are getting good press on their new release Endless Wire, but I just can't bring myself to try it....
But Amy, I was soooo tired......
Despite good intent, I could not get my ass out the door and down to Cafe Nine in New Haven to catch Amy Rigby and her band. Settled for watching a great University of New Jersey vs. Louisville football game. Which brings up the frustrating issue of college football playoffs. How deep into the pockets of the NCAA must some people be to keep this from happening? The interest in an eight-team, three weekend playoff would blow March Madness out of the water. Sad. Here is a very good format as presented by Terry Bowden in Yahoo Sports. -
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Lone star state nixes the wild man from Borneo....
Pawnshops itching for your old guitar. Where you're going, god only knows, The sequins have fallen from your clothes. Once you heard the opry crowd applaud, Now you're hanging out at fourth and broad On the rain wet sidewalk remembering the time When coffee with a friend was still a dime. And everything's been sold american, The early times is finished and the want ads all are read. Everyone's been sold american In dreaming dreams in a rollaway bed. |  Our boy Kinky Friedman is not the next governor of Texas after all, having been soundly spanked at the polls. He'll survive. - story |
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Maybe they've already a-changed.....
In 2002, Twyla Tharp produced a Broadway play, Movin' Out, featuring the music of Billy Joel. It was a hit. One Bobby Zimmerman saw this and approached Ms. Tharp about doing the same with his catalog. She accepted. Apparently she shouldn't have, for reviews of the just-opened The Times They Are A-changin' (excepting those on the official website) are awful. The New Yorker's Joan Acocella killed it, citing Twarp's use of singers rather than dancers worked against her strength, and feeling that Twarp's perspective on the "Times" was "the sock-hop generation of the late fifties/early sixties" while "Dylan belongs to the real sixties, to sit-ins and drugs and apocalypticism, the world of what? Of him.".Perhaps another way to know Bobby is "Bob Dylan: The Essential Interviews" a compilation assembled by Jonathan Cott and reviewed in the New Yorker by Louis Menand - BOB ON BOB
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
North to Alaska (or hampton)...
For today's trip to Turn It UP in Northampton, I had lists from GFK (Beatles, Stones, comedy) and JFK (Clash, Yeah Yeah Yeah's, Stooges, Bad Brains, Circle Jerks). I was only able to get Abbey Road. But all was not lost, I was able to get some good stuff for ME! The whole list:Sunday, November 05, 2006
Music for you (and you know who you are).....
Wharf jazz
A promising new jazz series started last night at the Long Wharf Theatre, in New Haven, where "The Ag (Mom)" and I used to have season theatre subscriptions for many years. All performances are Fridays at 9 pm at Stage II. - Long Wharf site
November 3, 2006: Wayne Escoffery, saxophone, featuring vocalist Carolyn Leonhart.
January 19, 2007: Shawnn Monteiro, vocalist
February 2: Steve Davis, trombone
March 9: Harry Allen Quartet, saxophone
May 18: Phil Bowler, bass
June 1: Artists TBA
Amy Rigby
Amy Rigby will be performing (with full band) the songs from her terrific album, Diary of a Mod Housewife, on Thursday at Cafe Nine in New Haven (tourdates. I know you are too old to do that on a weekday night, but it would be worth your while. Terrific album.
James Hunter
"James Hunter is one of the best voices, and best kept secrets, in British R'n'B and Soul. Check him out."- Van Morrison. Well, you heard Van, check him out. Please forgive my evangelical preaching, but you will have your chance to see him on Tuesday, November 21st at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA. Hear tell from my sources that Trish/George were dancin' around the house to Mr. Hunter's cd! - NPR story
Sarah Borges
And don't forget that Sarah and her Broken Singles (featuring former Southington resident, Binky, on bass) will be at Cafe Nine on Saturday, December 9th. Do not miss her as she will be playing some new stuff from her album-in-progress-due-out-sometime-in-the-Spring!
A promising new jazz series started last night at the Long Wharf Theatre, in New Haven, where "The Ag (Mom)" and I used to have season theatre subscriptions for many years. All performances are Fridays at 9 pm at Stage II. - Long Wharf site
November 3, 2006: Wayne Escoffery, saxophone, featuring vocalist Carolyn Leonhart.
January 19, 2007: Shawnn Monteiro, vocalist
February 2: Steve Davis, trombone
March 9: Harry Allen Quartet, saxophone
May 18: Phil Bowler, bass
June 1: Artists TBA
Amy Rigby
Amy Rigby will be performing (with full band) the songs from her terrific album, Diary of a Mod Housewife, on Thursday at Cafe Nine in New Haven (tourdates. I know you are too old to do that on a weekday night, but it would be worth your while. Terrific album.
James Hunter
"James Hunter is one of the best voices, and best kept secrets, in British R'n'B and Soul. Check him out."- Van Morrison. Well, you heard Van, check him out. Please forgive my evangelical preaching, but you will have your chance to see him on Tuesday, November 21st at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA. Hear tell from my sources that Trish/George were dancin' around the house to Mr. Hunter's cd! - NPR story
Sarah Borges
And don't forget that Sarah and her Broken Singles (featuring former Southington resident, Binky, on bass) will be at Cafe Nine on Saturday, December 9th. Do not miss her as she will be playing some new stuff from her album-in-progress-due-out-sometime-in-the-Spring!
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Saturday morning and it's growing light.
I look out my window and remember the night.
The story is starting or the story ends
And I feel like I need you again.
Saturday Morning by Harry Chapin
Currently groovin' to the Rev. Al Green's greatest hits...."I I I I I....I'm so-o in love with you....."
Due to illness (mine), I was unable to catch Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez last night at Cafe Nine.
Van Halen out front in the "who is worthy' poll of 2007 R&R Hall of Fame nominees. Wonder which lead singer (David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar or even that Gary Cherone guy) gets inducted? That should be a real love fest.
Did I mention that I LOVE the James Hunter CD, People Gonna Talk? Oh, I did?
The Sawtelles, whom Bones Jones and I enjoyed at this year's Daffodil Festival, are from Plantsville!!!!! I'd tell you where they are playing next, but I'm too inept to find their gigs on their websites. I shall persist.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
D'Vinyl.....
Occasionally I will get guilty feelings about ignoring my record album collection, a collection crafted over decades at obscure record stores around the Northeast during lunch breaks, on vacations, or filling lazy Saturday afternoons before kids. Not that there's anything you've never heard of, but it's not half-bad. Some are easily replacible, some, like old jazz albums from Integrity 'N Music's cutout bins, are not. And some are just cool to have in your collection, but not that cool to hear often. John Prine Live (2 album set), Andy Pratt Shiver in the Night, The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, a Mort Fega-produced Bobbi Rogers, Bette Midler's Divine Miss M, The Sons of Champlin....There has been for years technology to convert albums to a digital format, but every time I explored the possibilities, I came away, in my technically-challenged universe, overwhelmed. But now things are getting closer. A recent Reuters article, Vinyl Vaults into Digital Age, gives examples of equipment/software that will do the trick at reasonable levels of expertise and cost.
For example, "...INport, designed by Xitel, a company based in Canberra, Australia... comprises a cable and a converter box the size of a credit card that connects a computer to a stereo. It also includes computer software to adjust sound levels and cut album sides into tracks once they are transferred."
Or, maybe I'll wait a little while before embarking on such a project...
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