The Beat Below The Street

"May your home always be too small to hold all your friends.."

2011-03-17T12:05:00.000-04:00

Happy St Patrick's Day.

'With innocence within ourselves, we sing the same old song..'

2010-12-16T06:36:00.020-05:00

Stuart Adamson, an amazing songwriter, died nine years ago this week. this has always been one of my favorite songs, and I just heard it by chance - no pun intended - today in a bar on West 54th.

There are plenty of versions of it on YouTube but not many show him having as much as fun as this one. So, thanks a lot, big man.

'It's just a Grand Illusion..'

2010-10-28T23:58:00.207-04:00

The wife and I went to see Styx tonight at the Beacon Theater. They were one of her favorite bands growing up and she last saw them 27 years ago in Hamburg, Germany. I have to admit I never really got into them as a teenager. I was a big fan of Rush when I was 17 but that was primarily because I was a bass player and Geddy Lee was one of the most amazing musicians I'd ever seen - all three of those guys, actually.

I first lived in the US in 1982 and 1983, when Styx were probably at the height of their popularity, driven by radio-friendly power-ballads and songs that were largely inoffensive and lyrically forgettable. When they released their "Kilroy" album it turned me off for good. I grew to despise the "Mr Roboto" song because it was everywhere all the time, and I thought the "concept" was nothing more than a watered-down version of "2112".

So for me, seeing them after so many years of not really caring that much was always going to be interesting.

Did you know Styx have their very own coffee blend now? No, neither did I. And I guess I could have gone here tonight for a third of the price and with marginally less irony; but in the end, I'm really glad we went to this show.

Firstly, because the wife clearly loved every minute. And that's always a good thing.

Of course, for non-diehards there was always going to be a Spinal Tap-ish element, but the band to their credit have embraced it and put on a hell of an entertaining evening. It was a tight, well-rehearsed production, as they played two of their classic albums from the late 70's back-to-back: "The Grand Illusion" and "Pieces of Eight". They sounded just as good as they maybe ever did, with no sense that they were at all burnt out or not having a good time.

Tommy Shaw - who according to the wife "looks a hell of a lot better than he did 25 years ago - and James Young are very decent guitar players and I was particularly impressed by drummer Todd Sucherman. Great technique and he made it seem effortless.

It was also good to see original bass player Chuck Panozzo ("the band started in this guy's basement") come on for a few songs, since health issues prevent him from appearing more.

It's hardest on real fans when the band they love breaks up acrimoniously and it's tough to watch people argue in court over the use of a name; especially when the opposing sides used to be the band's creative force. And I guess Styx will always be seen in the context of Shaw and Young on one side and former frontman Dennis DeYoung on the other. There's an interview with James Young here that fills in some of the blanks and explains why the current line-up is re-recording some of its classic material.

Starting with a nice tongue-in-cheek homage to vinyl, tonight's video backdrop was pretty good: complementary but not too distracting, apart from a jarring and particularly creepy clown montage that accompanied a circus-themed song called "Lords of the Ring".

Overall, I genuinely had a much better time than I was expecting, but I'll leave the last - and my favorite - word to the wife. Keyboardist Lawrence Gowan, who replaced DeYoung in 1999, has a passable prog-rock voice but "dances a bit like Bill Nighy", she said.

'Ninety miles an hour girl, is the speed I drive..'

2010-09-18T10:52:00.052-04:00

Today is the 40th anniversary of the death of James Marshall Hendrix, who lived, died & found fame an ocean away from home. Almost as a reminder that he had to come to England to kickstart his career, there's a pretty cool painting of the man as icon in the Virgin Atlantic departure lounge at Heathrow.

I recently saw a great documentary called Rock Prophecies on PBS about rock photographer Robert M. Knight, whose ongoing legacy contains a portfolio of some great Hendrix photographs.

'Bells ringin' filled the air..'

2010-09-11T10:44:00.002-04:00

'With your invisible radio cracklin'..

2010-09-06T23:48:00.071-04:00

I first saw Canadian guitarist Chris Velan play a couple of times earlier in the summer at the River to River festival downtown and I enjoyed his sets a lot. He's a clever songwriter and good musician.

He's been working on a new album the last few weeks - he's had another favorite of mine James Maddock come in to play with him. The recording sessions have been in Brooklyn (the wife and I even bumped into him at our local thai place one night) and he's using a few Monday gigs at the Rockwood Music Hall in the city to try out some of the new material, which sounds great.

Here's one of his new songs: very much in his style, infectious and melodic. Looking forward to hearing the album in its entirety.

There's also nice page for his music here at CBC Radio3, where you can read about his travels to Guinea and work with Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.

I got to the Rockwood about 45 minutes before Chris was due on, and I'm glad I did. The act on stage when I arrived was really a wonderful surprise. Singer-songwriter Christie Lenée from Philly was captivating.

She's been described as sounding a bit like Ani DiFranco and that's a good comparison; there's also echoes of Tracy Chapman or Joni Mitchell and - if it doesn't sound too incongruous - instrumentally she reminds me of Pat Metheny, Gordon Giltrap or Jon Gomm (check out the video below). I picked up her album "Set It Free" as well as an EP and really enjoyed what I heard. I'm looking forward to seeing her play again, either solo or with one of her bands. You can sample her tracks here at ReverbNation - try "Daylight Comes".

'It don't amount to nothing if together we don't stand..'

2010-09-06T06:56:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day.

'My eyes are half-asleep and so's my head...'

2010-09-03T18:28:00.003-04:00

I haven't been able to get this out of my head since I heard it. Paul Shevlin is another greatly promising talent from home. Please check him out, and buy his new single "Lift Up Your Head" on iTunes. (You can hear it, and other tracks - particularly listen to "You Won't Last The Night" - on his MySpace page)

'Schooldays..'

2010-09-02T12:18:00.003-04:00

We're all very happy to have the opera-rocking, roundabout-shocking, party-frocking, eye-popping stepdaughter back home from Europe, where she was taking part in the Vianden International Music Festival and summer school. This is a clip of her performing "Ave Verum" by Gounoud at the Trinitarier Church in Vianden last week. (She's up there, in the balcony... honestly).

Glad she's back for a while. We're driving her southwards for another year of school next weekend. At her age, parents aren't supposed to know much. But there's three things we know for sure:

We're proud of everything she does,
time flies,
and
nothing ever changes.

'Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time..?'

2010-08-31T21:26:00.002-04:00

Happy 65th Birthday today to the Belfast Cowboy, the one and only George Ivan Morrison.

From Hyndford Street, to Cyprus Avenue; from Orangefield to Coney Island, the geographical and linguistic references to our shared hometown that permeate his poetry are always superbly evocative, while his melodies are soulful perfection.

Here's a great song from a great album: "Days Like This" from 1995, with just a terrific band, including Brian Kennedy on vocals and Nicky Scott on bass. (I played in a band with Nicky's younger brother Tony a long time ago.)

There's a wonderful book by Clinton Heylin called "Can You Feel The Silence" which is a nice portrait of Van's work, while there's just a great video here of the excellent Greil Marcus talking about "When That Rough God Goes Riding", his book on listening to Van's music.

I've seen Van live several times, at home and in London; the first time in 1979 at the Whitla Hall on the campus of Queens University in Belfast, the first time he'd played in the city for some years. The next occasion was the following year at an open-air show at the Balmoral Showgrounds, where I got first-hand experience of how temperamental a performer he could be.

His songs have been covered extensively, by the likes of John Mellencamp, Glen Hansard and of course, Patti Smith and a million garage bands the world over.

From his 40-odd album catalog, these are my favorites:

Live At The Grand Opera House
Wavelength
Into The Music
Astral Weeks
(Bootleg) Live At The Waterfront Hall
Enlightenment
Beautiful Vision
Avalon Sunset

Here's a video interview "Ten Questions from Time Magazine":

and here's part of a CBS Sunday Morning interview - with some great archive footage - where he describes himself, understatedly, as "an introvert in an extrovert world".

Whatever's happening in his personal life, Van's a musical genius and a Belfast treasure. And for his fans and his kinfolk, there's never any doubting how he makes us feel.

'Runaway American dream..'

2010-08-30T14:36:00.006-04:00

I can take it or leave it (some nice musical numbers, though I find it all a little too repetitive) but my wife and teenage stepdaughters are huge fans of "Glee", so it's probably no surprise they loved this opening segment from last night's Emmy Awards show.

I have to say I went back and forth from thinking "sacrilege!" to "er, nice job" and to be honest I'm still not sure how I feel about it. The Chicago Sun-Times described it as "muppetlike" and I guess that's pretty accurate.

But hey, you can't deny joy. I confess it made me smile. And although he occasionally gets a bad rap, I do have a lot of time for Jimmy Fallon.

UPDATE: There's a nice LA Times piece here on how it all came together, and who it was that approached Springsteen about permission.

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In 'serious' Bruce news, the classic 1978 album "Darkness On The Edge Of Town", one of my favorites - and one of those we saw played in their entirety at the Giants Stadium shows last year - is set for a deluxe re-release on November 16.

The movie of the making of the album will debut at the Toronto Film Festival on September 14, and will air on HBO on October 7. Here's a trailer:

According to the press release, the package "..comprises over six hours of film and more than two hours of audio across 3 CDs and 3 DVDs. The media contents are packaged within an 80-page notebook containing facsimiles from Springsteen's original notebooks from the recording sessions, which include alternate lyrics, song ideas, recording details, and personal notes in addition to a new essay by Springsteen and never-before-seen photographs.

Containing a wealth of previously unreleased material, 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' offers an unprecedented look into Springsteen's creative process during a defining moment in his career. 'The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story' will additionally be released as a 3CD/3 Blu Ray disc set.

The set will be available as 'The Promise,' an edition which consists of only the unheard complete songs on two CDs or four LPs, along with lyrics and the new essay by Springsteen."

In the meantime, here's something from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, on Sept 19, 1978.

'If they can keep us fighting..'

2010-08-28T07:33:00.001-04:00

A very sad weekend here. Hard to believe it is the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

Please take a moment to listen to this simple, powerful song written by Catie Curtis and Mark Erelli.

And then ask yourself, what have we really learned about compassion?

'When the stars align..'

2010-08-26T10:15:00.001-04:00

A decade or so ago, one of my favorite albums was "Songs From Stamford Hill" by a band called Wood, led by singer-songwriter James Maddock from Leicester.

I thought the album's opening track, "Stay You" was one of the most perfect pop songs I'd ever heard. I still do.

But then, after such an outstanding debut and with the world seemingly at his feet, Maddock fell off rock and roll's radar screen.

Until last year, when he released what is simply a sublime collection of music, called "Sunrise on Avenue C". Full of beautiful, mature songwriting with pristine melodies, there is not one makeweight track on this record, while some of the songs, like "When You Go Quiet", "Fragile" and "Ruins" are just timeless. If redemption has a sound, this is it.

We went along to the Rockwood Music Hall last night to see him play a short solo set which included a handful of new songs just as clever, just as infectious, as any in his existing catalog. There's a live album - recorded at the Rockwood - upcoming, and the positive industry buzz around Maddock is again growing.

It's great to see him getting the sort of respect he deserves as a songwriter. If you get a chance to see him play, drop everything and get along.

Check out this show he did - with band - for the World Cafe, broadcast by NPR towards the end of last year.

And here's a nice acoustic version of 'Stay You'.

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On a sadder note, twenty years ago tonight, Stevie Ray Vaughan played his last show, an open-air festival in Wisconsin with Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy in front of 30,000 people.

I remember being on the desk at the paper in London the following day and reading the news of his helicopter crash on the wires. I was compiling the front page digest column that day and had to pull together a couple of paragraphs saying what had happened. Even as I was writing it, I couldn't believe it.

Here's a great promotional video later produced by Fender, using Stevie's amazing version of Hendrix's "Little Wing".

'High fidelity..'

2010-08-25T13:14:00.000-04:00

The relationship between artists - especially those who made their name in the 'old media' world - and emerging digital distribution techniques has probably never been more contentious and in a state of flux. Just as figuring out the relationship between young listeners and their music is a constant challenge.

So it's always interesting, at a time when there's so much uncertainty about business models, to hear the opinions of established sources in the music industry about how their products will be consumed in the future. Here's a good interview Mashable did recently with Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records, in which he talks about the role of YouTube, music blogs and how the playing field is changing.

And a happy 56th birthday to Declan Patrick McManus...

'It's late, but please just sing it again..'

2010-08-22T10:24:00.154-04:00

Finally got a chance last night to catch a performer that I'd been wanting to see live for more than a year. Peter Bradley Adams plays in town quite a bit, but I've never seemed to be around when he does. Fixed that with a trip to the Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side.

First, a quick shout-out for the act who was playing as we arrived, Annekei: she was accompanied by some very good musicians and has a beautiful, pure voice reminiscent of Shawn Colvin. Definitely worth a listen.

The Rockwood's a very cool little venue indeed, with a nice balcony area - not unlike the 12-Bar Club in Denmark Street in London, except with a better view. It's an intimate room and perfect for someone like Adams, whose haunting melodies wash over you and fill any space - in much the same was as songs by say, Damien Rice or Nick Drake would do.

He had a great band playing with him as well, including singer Molly Parden, as well as a guest vocal spot by Garrison Starr. (In the weird realm of 'hey, there's a coincidence', my band at the FT played a gig a few years back and as usual we hooked my iPod up to the desk while the crowd was coming in. The last track that shuffled through as we came on stage was her song 'Hey Girl').

Last night they sang a great new song called "I May Not Let Go" which Adams said they'd both be including on their respective new albums.

Overall, it was a compelling, often moving show, in front of an attentive and appreciative audience; definitely worth waiting for. Adams' record company Sarathan has done a pretty good job of promoting his music recently and for the rest of this month, you can download his excellent latest album 'Traces' from Amazon for just $5.

You can also listen to a live show he did a couple of months ago on NPR's Mountain Stage here.

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I came across a great new - or at least, new to me - blog the other day, called Cover Lay Down which looks at folk music and performers. The site has some excellent writing and I love the philosophy behind it - "music belongs to the community" - as well as the fact that the links to tracks are there with the aim of encouraging readers to buy the music and support the artists.

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The other night we stayed home and watched a movie on HBO that I'd kinda wanted to see when it came out but never got around to. 'The Rocker' turned out to be a delightful little film: part 'School of Rock', part 'The Commitments'. It's a lot of fun.

The role of the band's young frontman is played by Teddy Geiger and there's a sweet cameo by former Beatle Pete Best.

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With the kids getting ready for a new academic year, school supplies company Five Star is running a contest to give some exposure to new artists. Always a good thing, and the Music Insider lets you redeem product codes to download music and offers prizes if you vote for your favorite new act.

'Right now I need a Telecaster, through a Vibrolux turned up to ten..'

2010-08-20T12:49:00.004-04:00

Happy 58th birthday, John Hiatt.

Great, great songwriter and live performer; a genuine American voice who always surrounds himself with outstanding musicians, from Sonny Landreth to the North Mississippi All-Stars. I've seen him play many times in both New York and London over the last couple of decades - perhaps most notably at the Hammersmith Odeon in London on a double-bill with Robert Cray, but there was also a wonderfully intimate gig at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on the Little Head tour.

There was recently an excellent contest on No Depression - one of those ultimately futile quests to decide Hiatt's "best" song (actually, the contest was to come up with the song that was most meaningful to you). Here's what I wrote:

"It's impossible to choose one. And all of the songs already mentioned would stand as fine representations of the best of a brilliant catalog. But I'm going to choose a song I don't think John ever recorded and I only heard him play once. In November, 2001, John gave a great show at the Town Hall in midtown Manhattan, as part of the Tiki Bar tour.

The city was still putting itself back together after 9/11 and he sang an amazing song called "New York Had Her Heart Broke". It was a really moving moment. I've seen him many times, but that's the song that sticks with me."

I've never been able to find a recorded version of that song, but the lyrics are here and to my knowledge it only appears on one Hiatt bootleg.

On the off-chance that anyone has a copy of the song or of that New York show, please get in touch?

Thanks.

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Today's also Robert Plant's 62nd birthday. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see his Band of Joy project with Buddy Miller and Darrell Scott on a more extensive tour in the next few months.

and in case you forget what real rock and roll sounds like...

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Shocking and sad scenes last night in Saratoga, CA at a Swell Season show. Sympathy and support to anyone involved or affected.

'There's no-one above you..'

2010-08-18T21:32:00.031-04:00

Today is my third wedding anniversary. Every day I'm humbled that my amazing wife has chosen to be with me.

For everything you put up with, thank you.

'To hit the ball and touch 'em all, a moment in the sun..'

2010-08-17T23:47:00.001-04:00

Sorry to hear today of the death of Bobby Thomson, the Scot who hit what might be the most famous - or at least the most romanticized - home run in baseball history.

I've been a baseball fan since I first came to the US in 1982 and I love the game's history; the sense that every season and every player is connected to those who went before, and that history is especially rich here in New York.

The fact that Thomson and Ralph Branca subsequently made a career of telling their respective stories - together - on the after-dinner circuit shows the power of that moment, and its place in the collective national psyche, as something much bigger, even, than them as individuals.

(I also have a ball autographed by former Dodger and Cub Andy Pafko, over whose head Thomson's drive soared that day before leaving the field; as well as an autographed photo of the player waiting on deck to bat behind Thomson, a young man by the name of Willie Mays)

The event was so dramatic and resonant and so perfectly of its time - after all it is the call on radio, not TV, that is remembered - as to define these two mens' lives for the rest of their days. It was clearly the stuff of epic tales, and it deserved a master storyteller to truly bring a version of it to life for those of us who obviously weren't there.

Nearly a half-century later, Don DeLillo's expansive and brilliant "Underworld" perfectly captured a fictional, but very real, drama of that day in its jaw-dropping introduction.

It might be as close to the "great American novel" as it's possible to get, and it's still, by some measure, the best book I've ever read.

************************************

And talking of slowing things down, here's a very cool way to make Justin Bieber just a little more palatable...

When I first listened to this, I have to admit I was completely spellbound. It reminded me immediately of Sigur Ros, or Terry Riley, or Hans Zimmer's remarkable score for 'Inception' or of something Rhys Chatham might do. But, whale sounds or not, I couldn't turn it off.

'Saw the ghost of Elvis on Union Avenue..'

2010-08-16T11:32:00.004-04:00

"Before Elvis there was nothing..." - John Lennon

Thirty-three years ago today, Elvis Presley died.

One of my earliest memories of album covers is seeing the distinctive "50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong" at my aunt's house. She was in the Elvis Fan Club and used to have books and pictures, especially of him in Army uniform, all over the place.

She'd also play his records constantly, even though my then great-grandmother who lived with them would clearly disapprove. Luckily the old woman, who - hard life or not - I never remember having a good word for anyone, was deaf. She must have been able to feel the vibrations of the sound across the floor from her chair by the fire. Then she'd throw up her arms and shout "Bah!"

In the opposite corner of the room, my aunt - who was twelve years older than me and thus, by default, terminally cool - had a red Dansette record player just like this, and there were always sleeves for 45s strewn around it. One song I always remember her playing a lot was "It's Now Or Never" and its brilliant B-side, "A Mess Of Blues".

I sometimes think it's sad that my kids may never know the simple anticipation of the 'clunk' as the changer drops a single onto the turntable and, as if by magic, the arm moves across and falls into the lead groove with a reassuring "scratch".

Even though I lived in Tennessee for a year in the early 80s and visited Memphis a couple of times, I never went to Graceland, in part because I thought it might turn out to be something of a tacky circus. I guess I'd still prefer to think about Elvis's influence on the generations of artists who've followed him and how that timeline continues.

'Somewhere trouble don't go..'

2010-08-10T23:36:00.000-04:00

Nice piece here in The Tennessean, about one of my favorite songwriters and performers, Buddy Miller, who officially becomes the 'Artist in Residence' tonight at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

As well as tonight's Nashville show, he's also playing the following two Tuesdays at the Hall. It's great to know that he's fully recovered from the heart trouble that kept him off the road - and meant I missed seeing him on the 'Three Girls' tour - last year.

And he's keeping busy: as well as the tour with Robert Plant's Band of Joy, Miller will be back in Nashville next month, at the Ryman Auditorium, to play in the house band for John Mellencamp's lifetime achievement award by the Americana Music Association.

(Incidentally, Mellencamp will have a new album, 'No Better Than This', out next Tuesday.)

On behalf of the many fans who can't make it to Tennessee, I hope the Hall will be able to record Miller's residency shows and release a DVD of what are sure to be some very special performances.

'Close one there..'

2010-08-09T23:12:00.005-04:00

We're down in Florida on vacation this week, at Marco Island, somewhere we've been coming for the past few years. It's a great getaway, but my problem is I hate to fly - my family won't let me sit with them on the plane anymore - and I particularly hate turbulence. The only way I can deal with it is to hold on to the seat in front for dear life and crank up my iPod. And it's no good listening to soothing stuff, I have to have something loud that rocks as the plane rolls.

So this week's Turbulence Playlist was: 'Master of Disaster' by John Hiatt; 'Sultans of Swing' and 'Tunnel of Love' by Dire Straits, 'American Girl' by The Goo Goo Dolls, 'My Old School' by Steely Dan and 'Rock and Roll' by Led Zeppelin. Just about 25 minutes back-to-back, and usually enough to get me through a bit of rough air.

We were on JetBlue out of JFK, usually a nice ride and efficient service. That's why this story is such a blast. Don't know about anyone else, but this just makes me want to fly JetBlue every single time.

And credit where it's due, whatever I might think of the Journal, they got the one awesome detail in the story that neither the New York Times (although the Times did win the prize for photos) nor NPR managed to snag.

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Everyone's got a good story and sometimes it comes completely out of the blue. The kids were going parasailing yesterday, so I was down on the beach and I got to talking with another couple of folks waiting for the boat.

Turned out they were from Michigan and when I mentioned that I'd lived in Ann Arbor for a year, she told me one of her late relatives had been a professor at the music school. She also said that he had helped develop the double-reed system for bassoon and later worked with the musical phenomenon that is Mannheim Steamroller (Chip Davis, the band's founder, graduated from Michigan in 1969).

When we were back at Michigan for stepdaughter's audition at the music school two years ago, there were probably more bassoons in one place than I'd ever seen. It was like a bassoon preserve. We still joke about it.

And speaking of bassoons, if you haven't seen this, it's really very cool:

'Slide on over here..'

2010-08-04T09:41:00.002-04:00

There's a very cool discussion on the best slide guitar players going on at the moment over at No Depression. Quite a few of the names folks have mentioned so far are new to me, so I'm enjoying finding out about them.

The three best slide players I've seen play live are undoubtedly Ry Cooder, Sonny Landreth and Rory Gallagher (David Lindley is also brilliant). And by far the best dobro player I've ever seen is Jerry Douglas.

Here's a great clip of Sonny Landreth playing with Mark Knopfler:

And here's Rory at the Montreux Jazz Festival, amazingly, 35 years ago. Truly timeless.

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Happy Birthday. Lets hear this again.

'Sometimes I need a revelation...'

2010-07-31T18:48:00.003-04:00

It was a beautiful evening in Brooklyn last night, just the perfect weather for an outdoor show at the Bandshell as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series of summer performances.

And the music was just as beautiful; in fact, it turned out to be absolutely one of the best gigs I've been to for years.

Opening was The Low Anthem, the fascinating group of musicians out of Rhode Island whose latest album, "Oh My God, Charlie Darwin" is intoxicating and compelling. Even though their music has been described as "apocalyptic", there's so much about their accessible melodies that's fundamentally uplifting.

And they also have a saw player, more of which later.

During the intermission, as if the groove couldn't get more mellow, John Martyn's "Small Hours" played over the PA.

He's come a long way from Outspan Foster, but right now Oscar-winner Glen Hansard may well be Ireland's finest singer-songwriter. He certainly brings something of the best of everything to the table: a little of the passion and righteous anger of Christy Moore, a little of the songcraft of Paul Brady or Freddie White, and a lot of the melodic perfection of Van Morrison.

And in collaboration with the beautiful voice and piano of Marketa Irglova - whatever tensions may surround their personal relationship - his own music frequently makes the leap to the heavenly, while his musical references onstage show the breadth of his musical path. Their version of Morrison's "Into The Mystic" was stunning. Exactly the sort of life-affirming five minutes Van always wanted it to be.

In the end, the latest Swell Season album, "Strict Joy" could hardly be better named. But if there's a more perfectly melancholy song than this, I can't think of one right now:

The Brooklyn audience was with them all the way, through the silence and the storm that makes up their brilliant live show. The rest of the band are a perfect complement and it was also a highlight to have Clarence Clemons' son Jake on sax and Curt Ramm on trumpet in a great horn section.

I'd also forgotten what a simply outstanding rock and roll song The Frames' "Revelate" is. Thank God Glen reminded me last night.

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Two of the world's great annual folk festivals were taking place over the weekend - in Newport, RI and Cambridge, England.

NPR did just a wonderful job streaming the performances from Newport, including, brilliantly, The Swell Season and The Low Anthem.

Cambridge always has a great and varied roster of artists and is always an excellent weekend. You can catch up with podcasts from Cherry Hinton here.

There's a couple of other 'mini-festivals' coming up in New York City this week: for Jazz guitarists in Greenwich Village from Monday, while next Saturday in Astoria, you can attend the the eighth annual Musical Saw Festival.

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Like, it seems, everyone else in the country I went to see Inception earlier this week. Enjoyed it a lot. But here's something I have to admit I never expected...

'Tilting on my axis, leaning towards the sun..'

2010-07-29T22:07:00.015-04:00

It's never easy to play a lunchtime gig outdoors.

Especially somewhere like the World Financial Center plaza. There's the sound of helicopters buzzing overhead, there's bankers having a loud lunch, there's the elegantly-attired nannies of well-heeled local residents killing time with their crying charges; and of course there's the guys with trash carts who seem to need to empty the bins every five minutes.

It must be like playing in a high school cafeteria sometimes.

But rising - no, soaring - above all that today was Chris Velan, a singer-songwriter from Montreal who was playing as part of the River To River Festival.

Velan looks a little like a young John Gorka and rhythmically sounds a bit like Johnny Clegg - understandable since Velan spent some time in Sierra Leone and a couple of his songs might be perfectly at home on Paul Simon's 'Graceland' - or Jon Gomm, because of his use of taps.

His latest album - his third - is called "Solidago", but he's working on a new record at the moment. Some of his songs, like "Same Clothes", "Hunting Season", "Out Of Range" or, particularly, "A Year Can Change A Lot" will just blow you away.

He closed out the set with his song "Oldest Trick" - which has echoes of Mark Knopfler - just as the heavens opened. But by the end of the 90-minute show, the folks who were left didn't care about getting caught in the rain.

The last time I saw a live act - whose music I'd never heard before - that caught my attention the way this guy did today, was in the mid-90's when I saw Ezio open for Shawn Colvin at the Hanover Grand in London. But Velan pressed all my buttons: compelling, smart songs with catchy hooks, nice guitar work, great use of loops - the whole package.

A little bit Jack Johnson, a little bit Ben Harper or Amos Lee - even a little bit Marc Cohn, Velan is a clever songwriter and a very fine musician.

He's playing downtown again tomorrow lunchtime, at One New York Plaza, Baltimore on Sunday, and Cambridge MA on Tuesday, then is back in New York in September for a series of shows at Rockwood Music Hall.

If you get a chance to check him out, you won't regret it.

* UPDATE: Friday's show at One New York Plaza was even better - nicer weather and a good, appreciative audience with some enthusiastic dancers of all ages. Only different song from yesterday was a very cool version of "Billie Jean" - if Carlos Santana had recorded it - which made me think of the great cover of "I Want You Back" by KT Tunstall.

The song that got people moving today was "Inez" - a melody Velan says he got from working with the Sierra Leone Refugee All-Stars. It's simply a great groove.

Here's a clip of a new song called "You Don't Know What You're Asking Me":

'Here's hopin' we all pull through..'

2010-07-28T16:16:00.002-04:00

Today's slice of brilliance from the legend that is Pete Seeger.
(Via Folk Radio UK)

'Raise your voice, make a joyful noise..'

2010-07-28T02:52:00.013-04:00

Went to the Lower East Side last night for a "secret" show by one of my favorite singer/songwriters, Marc Cohn, thanks to some imaginative advance work on Twitter by his management.

Turned out it was a beautifully intimate performance at The Living Room, maybe forty people in total, and it was a nice ambience for him to run through some of the songs from his newly-released album "Listening Booth - 1970", a collection of covers of songs from that year.

Flanked by his longtime collaborator and producer of the new record, John Leventhal, and by the brilliant former Springsteen sideman Shane Fontayne, Cohn tenderly re-invented classics like McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed", Cat Stevens' "Wild World", and Badfinger's "No Matter What" - strangely, one of the first songs I ever remember hearing on the radio.

I'm a couple of years younger than Cohn, and although I obviously came to the same music at a tangent geographically - I guess Belfast and Cleveland aren't that far apart in the grand scheme - I can totally relate now to the importance of that particular point in time, and exactly why that year is so noteworthy.

There were just some truly game-changing albums released that year: "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Tea For The Tillerman", "Layla", "Deja Vu", "After The Gold Rush" and "Let It Be" among them.

1970 is the year of the Beatles' break-up and Hendrix and Joplin's deaths, of My-Lai, Apollo 13, Joni Mitchell's environmental shout-out in "Big Yellow Taxi"; the Kent State shootings and social unrest (although "Ohio" didn't appear on a CSNY album until the following year. Likewise, Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" was recorded in June of 1970, but not released until the following January).

And it's the year Belfast's own Van Morrison released his classic "Moondance", which Cohn acknowledges was hugely influential in his own musical development. (Of all the tracks on Cohn's album, "Into The Mystic" is probably the most faithful to its original.)

What Cohn's getting at is that songs from that very specific period, while they may have been tremendously important and socially relevant when they were first heard, are simply timeless as music and deserve to be re-imagined, and continuously celebrated.

His versions last night of "The Only Living Boy in New York" (which maybe owed a little more to Everything But The Girl's arrangement than Paul Simon's original) and, especially, Burt Bacharach's "Close To You" were so perfect for his voice they could even have been his own songs.

In a couple of weeks, rather amazingly, it'll be five years since the incident in Denver which - thankfully - led to Cohn's resurgence as a songwriter with "Join The Parade" and his rediscovery of the sheer joy of making music.

In a way, with this retrospective album - just his fifth - he's also celebrating songs that are still as vibrant, still as alive as when they were first heard. It's like making a full circle connection, a pause on the path to look back at how far we've come before stepping out again on a new trail.

On NPR, you can listen to a one-hour show Cohn did recently for Mountain Stage here; and a previous WXPN live show to promote "Join The Parade" here.

And he's playing two shows later tonight, Weds 28th at Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street before heading out on tour. If he's coming to your town, please don't miss him.

'I'm young again, even though I'm very old..'

2010-07-26T21:32:00.009-04:00

So... I recently started writing songs again, maybe ten years after doing it seriously last time. I'm still re-learning the process - and obviously it's different for everyone - but I'm finding that more than anything it reflects how focused my mind is on any given day.

For example, I sat down the other morning determined to finish one song by the end of the day, but because I couldn't really concentrate I couldn't close it out. My head was all over the place and I ended up with melodic structures for four others. And no lyrics for any of them.

Lyrics used to be what came easy to me. When I played in bands in the past, I ended up one of the main songwriters by default because I wrote lyrics, but anytime I brought a melody idea to rehearsal it always turned out to be a collaboration, with everyone else throwing in ideas on tempo, key, rhythm of the lyrics, whatever. Very often by the end of a couple hours rehearsal, the only thing that would be the same might end up being the title. And the song was better in the end because of it.

There are two big things that are different now from the last time I sat down to seriously write a song. The first is GarageBand. My God, where were you when I really needed you thirty years ago?

At the moment, my relationship with Apple's app is very much more love than hate. The great thing is it lets me collaborate with myself; it's like having another guitar player there who knows exactly what I want on a particular track. The slightly less great thing is it's been stalling out on me and I've lost a couple of tracks I was trying to save. But overall it's just amazing for laying down live demos and then revisiting them days later.

If the melodies still "work" a couple of days on, they're worth persevering with.

Over the past week I've recorded seven or eight raw demos on GarageBand, out of which I might end up with two or three decent songs. But just being able to pick up a guitar and click a button when inspiration strikes is simply priceless.

There are other technologies, of course, that make writing and collaborating easier - SoundCloud, for example, which I've signed up for but haven't uploaded anything to yet.

But the second, and infinitely cooler, thing for me that's different is that my stepson plays guitar and - assuming I can distract him from his XBox - I can always jam riffs with him whenever I feel like I need to work something out and see if it plays ok.

He's actually a much better guitarist than I was at 16; he has an excellent one-on-one teacher, and it's only a matter of time before he finds a band that he can have some fun with. But the fact that I get to jam with him and watch him develop is just great fun for me.

So for now, songwriting's a puzzle and I'm just enjoying trying to put the pieces together. It's time to start thinking about lyrics again. That will be interesting. I realized today that the last time I wrote lyrics that got performed in public, I was 20 years old.

I might be the same person, but my idea of what makes a "good song" has probably moved on.

We'll soon find out.

***************************************

Talking of songwriting, one of my absolute favorite songwriters is the late John Martyn. And now it turns out there's going to be a tribute album later this month. Although the list of artists sounds great, I have to admit I'm nervous about hearing some of my favorite songs "re-interpreted".

But maybe I'm just being too precious. For example, there were some tracks on this I could have done without, but then again, some others were magical. If the songs are strong enough, they'll hold up no matter what anyone else does to them.

And deep down, to keep a songwriter's music relevant and meaningful beyond the moment it was written, it should be constantly covered by new artists.

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Happy Birthday to one of Rock's most charismatic figures, Sir Michael Philip Jagger, who turns 67 today. And if you believe the papers, he may be close to calling it quits on the touring front. Not sure I buy it. As the piece says, the Stones' first "farewell tour" was exactly 39 years ago.

And the public's demand for Mick and the band seems as strong as ever.

This is one of the first rock autographs I ever collected, about 25 years ago. I'm sad to say I didn't get it in person, but rather through a dealer. I just knew I wanted a Mick Jagger autograph, and this is a great photo of him (it wasn't signed contemporaneously).

I've only seen the Stones play live once, at Wembley Stadium on the Voodoo Lounge tour in July 1995. Great, great show. I also saw Mick sing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary show at Madison Square Garden, where he just blew the house down.

But since we're on a songwriting theme today, and thinking about the merits or otherwise of cover versions, here's what might well be my favorite Stones song to play live, covered the other night at the Stone Pony by two of my favorite artists.

'When you see a chance, take it..'

2010-07-25T10:10:00.003-04:00

Back up to Caramoor last night for a performance of 'Maria di Rohan' by Donizetti. Really nice work again by conductor Will Crutchfield and the excellent Orchestra of St Luke's.

And there was an unexpected bonus - the chance to witness an emotional performance by a last-minute stand-in lead. Jennifer Rowley took over the role and despite having just one full rehearsal handled the occasion with confidence and grace.

It wasn't the easiest of circumstances to be thrown such an opportunity. It was just unbelievably hot and humid, while the cicadas - or whatever knee-rubbing insects they are - were at their noisiest.

But Rowley's fellow performers, the orchestra and, especially, the crowd responded to her; and at the end of an extended ovation after the opening aria, I'm sure I noticed her wink at the conductor before continuing. She was more than entitled to do so. She was tremendous.

The AP thought so too.

The other principal singers were also excellent - particularly Scott Bearden and Luciano Bothelho as the love rivals. Needless to say, the story doesn't end well, but you kind of already knew that. Nice touch to finish when Crutchfield held up the score during the applause.

Stepdaughter was again in the chorus, and also had a chance earlier in the evening to take part in one of the young artists' pre-performance contextual concerts, held in the lovely little courtyard.

She's had a terrific time at Caramoor this year, and her poise and confidence as a singer has clearly improved as a result of being around other talented and committed performers. What a great way to spend a summer.

I rode up to Westchester on the 'Caramoor Caravan,' the - thankfully - air-conditioned coach that runs there and back from Grand Central.

On the way back, the orchestra's bus broke down so they had to ride with us in the seats available on the three other buses. Some of them sat behind me and it was great fun listening to their banter about the show and other gigs they've played.

I miss hanging out with musicians. There's no substitute for passion. It's times like this that I really miss being in a band and feeling that beer and adrenaline-driven high that comes inevitably at the end of any performance.

Yeah, I really miss being in a band. Maybe I should do something about that...

'Tonight's the night..'

2010-07-22T15:40:00.001-04:00

'Twice if you're lucky..'

2010-07-21T10:21:00.000-04:00

Lovely performance by Crowded House on Jimmy Fallon's show last night (via SlicingUpEyeballs).

Not entirely convinced about Neil Finn's mustache, though. Especially with that pinstripe jacket, makes him look a bit like the cad in a GK Chesterton story.

The band are playing the third of three nights at the Bowery Ballroom tonight, then Montclair and Atlantic City at the weekend before heading south.

***************************************

What looks to be another great show on the road at the moment is Robert Plant's edgy/Americana project Band of Joy (a revival of the name of Plant's original band before he joined Led Zeppelin).

This incarnation includes legendary players Darrell Scott and Buddy Miller, while the wonderful Patty Griffin takes the role of Alison Krauss from Plant's previous dalliance in the country arena, 2007's 'Raising Sand'. The Band of Joy album will be released in September, but in the meantime, they're playing a select few dates in the south until the end of this month.

From all accounts it sounds like the concerts are all you'd expect from exceptional talents like these. Here's Jim Fusilli's piece from the Journal yesterday.

And here's some nice footage of the band performing a Zep classic:

***************************************

Hot Press magazine has a 'world exclusive' today, revealing what may or may not be the name of the next Snow Patrol album. Gary Lightbody talks about how the Tired Pony project has rejuvenated him and says: "..the songs at the moment are the best we’ve ever written by some considerable distance," so that can't be bad.

And talking of clever titles, Hot Press also tells us that Eleanor McEvoy's new album will be called "I'd Rather Go Blonde". Check their story for a nice clip of her playing "A Woman's Heart" on a radio gig.

'The best things in life are free..?'

2010-07-20T18:19:00.010-04:00

Following on from the discussion recently over the models for funding of new music in a culture of "free", at both Simon Jones and Nick Tann's blogs, there's been a couple of interesting stories the last few days:

The Root has an interesting stats breakdown on how much musicians make in a traditional distribution model, and looks at a Neilsen report that makes pretty grim reading - both in terms of sales and in the numbers of new albums being made.

Only 2.1 per cent of the 97,751 albums released in 2009 – or about 2,050 unique titles – reached the 5,000 sales mark. And that 97,751 is down from the 105,000 new releases that came out in 2008.

But all is far from lost. This week in New York is the New Music Seminar, where musicians and folks involved in the new music distribution industry get together to share success stories and come up with strategies for making it in the "next music business".

One of the best sites I've come across for keeping up with developments in the whole area of music distribution in a digital/social media environment, is Sandbox.

They have an interesting story today about the teen appeal band McFly whose record company is launching a monthly subscription service - I guess a step further than the common fan club set-ups, which usually have a one-off payment and give the member priority ticket ordering and various other benefits.

Obviously there are different approaches in dealing with that sort of younger fan base, where you might have a shorter window for connecting with and monetizing them, but it will be interesting to see what Island will include as benefits, as well as what sort of revenues and member numbers they can generate off this scheme.

I still think established artists and labels are missing a trick, but that's further down the road..

Sandbox also pointed me towards this nice piece from the New Yorker I'd missed earlier in the year about Suzanne Vega and how she has been reclaiming her back catalog by recording acoustic versions of her own songs, while at the same time her career has brought her back full circle to life as an independent artist.

And on the subject of artists taking control of their musical histories, there was a story in The Guardian about Fugazi planning to put an archive of "hundreds of live shows" online as a possible prelude to a reunion tour.

Bruce Hornsby, Paul Brady and other acts have shown that there is definitely a market to be embraced among existing fans for digital recordings of artists' archive shows, and it might also be that there's a chance of reaching a whole new audience as well.

Now, I have a huge number of bootlegs I made in the early 1980s. Where's the cassette-to-USB converter...?

****************************************

After the good news for his hometown the other day, it looks like Derry's own Feargal Sharkey could be in line for elevation to the House of Lords, according to the Daily Mirror (subsequently rehashed by The Guardian).

Since he stopped performing, Sharkey has, perhaps ironically, been a figurehead for the corporate side of the British music industry as CEO of UK Music.

And of course the Mirror, in one of it's typical anonymous quotes, manages to work in the title of an Undertones song, "It's Going To Happen". (Incidentally, the first web version of the story had the headline "My Peerfect Cousin" - not bad, but maybe they thought it was a bit obscure, so ended up going literal.)

****************************************

Finally , a singer-songwriter I've liked a lot since discovering him a year or so ago is Ben Glover. Here's a new video of him performing "Grounded" at McHugh's in Belfast.

He's playing a gig at one of my old haunts, The Bedford pub in Balham - of course, it's a bit more classy now than when I used to go there - on Wednesday July 28. If you're in London, please go along and check him out, you won't regret it.

'Tis you must go, and I must bide..'

2010-07-15T18:24:00.010-04:00

Congratulations to Derry/Londonderry/Stroke City or whatever you might call it, for being chosen today as Britain's inaugural "City of Culture".

Here's the announcement (and the BBC style guide clearly favours the 'London' prefix, whereas, unsurprisingly, RTE doesn't..). Culture minister Ed Vaizey rode the fence.

This is a big deal for Ulster's second city, and as well as the financial and infrastructure boost in preparing for the events of 2013, there are sure to be some very cool festivals and concerts that might make it well worth planning a trip to the North-West of Ireland, especially with Derry's close proximity to the beautiful coastline of Donegal.

And the timing is historically significant too. We're currently in the midst of the 400th anniversary of the Plantation of Ulster, which forever altered the nature of what it meant to be "Irish", and the building of the walled City of Derry - and 2013 marks the changing of the name of the city by the Livery Companies of London.

But, musically, there is one reason above all others - yes, even above the best pop song ever written - why this city's cultural heritage deserves to be celebrated; and that is the 'Londonderry Air' or, in its best-known lyric form, "Danny Boy"; simply one of the most beautiful and stirring pieces of music ever composed.

Like all the best musical stories, there's some dispute over its parentage, but the traditional melody had quite likely already been adapted in various forms by the time the building that would become the city’s first major concert venue, the Exchange on Diamond Square, opened in 1692.

We're all here for such a short time, whatever we call the city we live in, whatever language we choose, or whichever government we pledge allegiance to.

But truly perfect music lasts forever.

'One more cup of coffee..'

2010-07-15T01:12:00.005-04:00

Last night I went to Gizzi's coffee house in the Village to hear a friend of mine, Luke Weiss, play mandolin with a couple of musician friends of his, Chris Murphy and Jay Buchanan. It was a nice vibe, very mellow.

All three are very good players and the room had a pretty crisp sound - apart from the occasional gastric-flu gurgling of the espresso machine. They played some clever original songs and there was a nice loose feel to their set. Lot of fun. They'll be at Roots Cafe in Park Slope next Friday, so check them out if you can. Here's their closer:

(as always with the embedded clips, if it looks like the video is bigger than the frame, just double click on it to break it out to its YouTube page.)

'Summer's here and the time is right..'

2010-07-13T21:10:00.003-04:00

..For opera overload.

After a great time on Saturday night up at Caramoor, we went along to the Met Opera recital at SummerStage in Central Park last night and it was just brilliant. A great show, with singers Nathan Gunn, Michael Fabiano and Susanna Phillips, and pianists Jonathan Kelly and Julie Gunn.

Here's the New York Times' review of the show.

We met some nice people in the line, and when we got in to the performance area, there was plenty of seating with good views and people had picnics on the fake lawn area - although I gotta tell you, one thing New Yorkers seem to hate? Sitting next to other New Yorkers. It was a very well-run production, the sound was perfect and the audience was mostly respectful of the performers. Overall, its just great to have access to free events like this in the middle of the city.

Here's a couple of extracts from duets by Michael Fabiano and Susanna Phillips:

And here's Nathan Gunn finishing the main program with "Brother Can You Spare A Dime"

Sorry the video quality's not great because I was so far back, but the decent sound system means the audio's pretty clear. Here are a couple of great photographs of the principals taken by one of those nice people we met in the line, Mark Abramowitz from Pittsburgh:

The next Met outdoor recital is at Crotona Park in the Bronx on Thursday night. Details of that and the other borough summer shows are here.

On the way home we caught NPR's Soundcheck show, which is consistently good but last night had Angela Meade in the studio performing the amazing Casta Diva from Norma that got such a great reception on Saturday night.

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My friend and fellow blogger Natalia Paruz, the Saw Lady, is organizing the 8th annual Musical Saw Festival next month in Queens. Here's what they got up to last year:

'You're the voice, try and understand it..'

2010-07-11T06:16:00.000-04:00

This summer, like last year, my brilliant stepdaughter has been working at the Caramoor music festival, which is held in a beautiful garden estate about two hours north of the city.

The Bel Canto program there is run by Will Crutchfield and Che says she's learning a tremendous amount from him and the other young artists.

Last night was this year's opening performance of "Norma" by Bellini, with the amazing Angela Meade - who also performed last year in Rossini's 'Semiramide' - in the title role and Keri Alkema as Adalgisa. Some of their duets were fantastic and Norma's 'Casta Diva' was out of this world. There's a nice interview with Angela Meade here, where she talks about the role, describing it as a "mammoth night of singing".

And while the jauntiness of the score can be deceptive, it's certainly a deeply intense piece of work which, like all good operas, ends with a lovers' death pact.

Being part of the chorus, and just getting to be around such wonderful artists, to witness their preparation and performance, is invaluable for young singers like Che at the beginning of their own careers. It also means that while we're supporting her we get to increase our own operatic knowledge - the pre-performance activities at Caramoor always include a talk on the piece - by hearing some of the finest singers of their generation.

Next week it's another performance of "Norma", then "Maria di Rohan" by Donizetti, before she heads off to summer school at the Vianden Festival in Luxembourg ahead of classes starting up again in Cincinnati.

The most important thing is that she's waking up every day and doing something she loves. But did I mention how proud we are of her...?

'So you want to be a rock and roll star..?'

2010-07-06T20:35:00.003-04:00

I just became aware of this new product available at Walgreen's, which apparently was launched at the beginning of this month.

Sounds like it might be a step towards this... but I'm not getting excited just yet.

On an industry-related note, Simon Jones has another good blog post where he asks "So is music free now?" - it's a debate, as he points out, that's been alive since the 'home taping is killing music' warnings thirty years ago, and is even more important now that downloading, both legal and illegal, is having a significant effect on how we learn about new music and how those musicians are rewarded.

I wrote a bit about this a little while ago, but its not going to go away, and its always good to revisit an issue that will have such a fundamental impact on how music will be created, and paid for, in the future.

'Will you still feed me..?'

2010-07-05T17:58:00.043-04:00

We were down in Pennsylvania with family for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, like we were last year. One of the cool things about going down there - simple pleasures, I know - is going to WaWa for sandwiches.

So it was a bit of a surprise when we were in one of their stores to see the posters for their current "Hoagiefest" promotion, that looked just a little too much like it was a "Yellow Submarine" outtake.

I don't pretend to know what the image rights situation is these days for the Beatles or John Lennon's estate, but apparently this isn't a new thing and WaWa have been using a Fab Four theme for their annual promotion for a while now.

Anyway, in other Beatles-related news, it's Ringo's 70th birthday coming up this week and he's playing on Tuesday night at Radio City Music Hall.

If you can't make that gig, you can still catch The Meetles down in the subway.

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And if you're looking for a good July 4th tune, you can hardly beat this one...

'Tell me more, tell me more...'

2010-07-01T04:44:00.000-04:00

Accompanied the women of the house to Pier 1 tonight for a singalong "Grease".

Great fun. Really.

It reminded me that in every musical, there are actually some great songs, even if they're waiting to be unearthed. So, many thanks to the Beautiful South for redeeming this one...

'Mystery train..'

2010-06-30T22:54:00.062-04:00

I was on my way uptown last night and came across a blues guitar player called Delta Dave Johnson playing in the 42nd Street Subway. He was rocking an old Danelectro and harmonica and it sounded great. Listened for a while and bought one of his two CDs, 'Mean Bus Driver'.

There's more footage of Delta Dave playing over at the StreetMusicSounds blog, and a couple of photos on Flickr. One here has a bit of information, and there's a nice b/w shot here. But his web site doesn't seem to be working, so I can't give any more of a picture, except to say that his CD is well worth hearing.

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On the subject of great blues, every so often I get to go through the DVR and burn to disc some shows that I want to save. There were some good ones this time, including a Mountain Stage broadcast from a couple of years back with John Hammond (son of the legendary producer who signed Springsteen to Columbia Records). He's playing next week at Lincoln Center as part of the Blind Boys of Alabama's mini-festival.

'Draw me like a magnet, to the sea..'

2010-06-24T04:41:00.001-04:00

'Takin it to the streets..'

2010-06-22T04:41:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was Make Music New York day, a pretty cool idea in its fourth year, designed to celebrate the connection between musicians and open spaces across the city.

On Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn - outside Aunt Suzie's restaurant - in fact, I found Elissa Spencer and Samuel Stein, who together are The Great Republic of Rough and Ready. They sounded dive-bar-ishly mellow and I wanted to hear more, though maybe indoors might be more conducive. Their label describes their sound as "..lonesome, quiet and incisive. It delights in small silences."

I apologize to them for the sound quality here - the result of traffic noise and what was either a generator or air conditioner buzzing away on the sidewalk next to them, but even if this clip doesn't do them justice the folks watching, including me, were definitely appreciative.

'A thousand pictures fill my head..'

2010-06-16T18:59:00.117-04:00

Last night we went to Carnegie Hall, since a couple of friends of my stepdaughter's were in the chorus for a concert staging of Eric Whitacre's manga-inspired musical theatre piece "Paradise Lost: Shadow and Wings."

It was eye-opening. I'd never heard his music before, and it was certainly compelling stuff and melodically infectious. His work with choirs, both live - there were 425 singers on the stage last night - and virtual, is fascinating.

We met up with Che's CCM friends in the huge, excited crowd of performers and relatives outside after the show. It was a great, fun experience for them and it's easy to see why Whitacre's fans idolize him.

He has a new album coming out later in the year and will performing in London on August 2nd, at one of my favorite venues: the Union Chapel in Islington, which, while just a bit smaller than Carnegie Hall, has wonderful acoustics.

The New York Times review compared 'Paradise Lost' to work by Andrew Lloyd Webber, "with hints of Bernstein and Sondheim", but in its scope, structure and melodies, it reminded me a lot of an album that had blown me away when I was a kid, Rick Wakeman's 'Journey To The Centre of the Earth' from 1974. And happily so.

It might be too much to hope, but maybe with the sort of young audiences Whitacre is bringing to his shows, that Rick's work might get a new lease of life?

Here's a real blast from the past, Rick performing in Poland last year (this is an instrumental version of part of 'Journey' - the vocal parts on the original album along with David Hemmings' dramatic narration really brought it to life as a brilliant escapist vision).

'If you're the praying kind, turn this song into a prayer..'

2010-06-15T17:02:00.004-04:00

Justice delayed is justice denied, a British Prime Minister once said.

When the current incumbent apologized today for events 38 years ago, overdue as it was, it could never be an "end", but rather one step toward a recognition of injustice.

Better late than not at all.

'Captains of the old order, clingin' to the reins..'

2010-06-11T11:02:00.159-04:00

We went to the new Meadowlands Stadium last night to see what's already one of the big tours of the summer, a triple-bill headlined by The Eagles, with the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban. I'd never seen any of the acts live so was looking forward to it, as well as checking out the new stadium (almost antiseptically comfortable, as it happens).

I've always had a big soft spot for the Dixie Chicks, liked them a lot musically anyway and then supported and respected them tremendously for how they dealt with the vicious reaction to their opinions about the war in Iraq.

They played a nice set at the Meadowlands, with an unexpected highlight being a version of Train's 'Hey Soul Sister'. As Natalie Maines said, "sometimes a song just comes along that you wish you'd written" (this clip is from the previous show, in Toronto). I've also been listening to Emily and Martie's album as the Court Yard Hounds at home and its really been growing on me.

To be honest, for the first half hour, The Eagles sounded like a really good Eagles tribute band - every note, every harmony in those instinctively familiar west coast songs was perfect, but there wasn't much soul. But when the set turned to some of the great songs by the band's individual members, the show really started.

I've always liked Don Henley's 'Boys of Summer' 'End of the Innocence' or 'Dirty Laundry' - accompanied last night by a great backdrop montage - better than pretty much any Eagles song, and then there's Joe Walsh, just a genius guitar player. How can you not rock out to 'In the City' 'Rocky Mountain Way' or 'Life's Been Good'? (A respectful nod also here to veteran sideman Steuart Smith who shared the guitar duties).

(*update - a couple of days after the show, I literally bumped into Joe in the lobby of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. He was very gracious, even when I told him that the first time I'd seen him play was twenty-eight years ago.)

But without doubt the show-stealer of the night, it has to be said, was Keith Urban. Just as the guy came on stage, the heavens opened and he played his opening couple of songs to the few hundred people who braved the downpour. But then the sun came out and he proceeded to rock the house. Very tight, accomplished band, who gave their frontman every opportunity to interact, and the crowd responded.

My wife had seen him play last year at Madison Square Garden and knew he put on a great show. But as he wandered around the stadium floor, shredding and high-fiving with fans, you could tell he was enjoying it as much as his audience.

Even if you don't consider yourself a "country" fan, he really puts on a show. I'd definitely go back to see him. I haven't been able to find any decent clips of last night's show, so here's a couple of recent acoustic versions that help show what a good all-round entertainer the guy is.

'Another year older and deeper in debt..'

2010-06-08T21:51:00.037-04:00

Today a year ago, I started my busking project. I learned a lot and enjoyed the experience. I've particularly had a good time connecting with the huge community of journalists, musicians and music-lovers on Twitter. They've definitely made life a lot more fun.

Did I think, though, that I'd still be in the same leaky boat job-wise a year later? I honestly didn't.

The other day I got a standard rejection letter from the BBC for a job I'd forgotten I'd applied for. But at least they bothered to write back, most places don't.

The media industries are still in the throes of re-organizing themselves, but I've been starting to sense that maybe some big shops may have cut back a little too much and there might be some spots opening up where there's a need for experience, rather than just enthusiasm. I certainly hope that's the case, since any decent organization that's building for the future rather than just protecting its past needs a mix of both.

One thing I have noticed recently though, is that people generally - and not just in journalism - seem significantly more disillusioned with their personal work lives. When I overhear conversations on subway platforms, in the pub or at dinner parties, there seems to be a deeper, more profound dissatisfaction than just the usual bitching about the boss.

I went for a job interview a few weeks ago at the invitation of a former colleague. (The new position was subsequently taken off the table because they weren't quite as ready to expand as they thought, so it turned out a wash, but it was good interview experience).

But a few days beforehand, we met for a drink and the harder he tried to sell me on the company, the more I knew he was trying to rationalize his own situation. I used to do the same at one of my old shops. People know times are tough, they know they're often stuck in jobs they probably wouldn't choose, and they know that, for the immediate future at least, anything still might happen. And usually that's anything bad.

Another former colleague - who had also tried to get me an 'in' with his editor which ended up a one-way conversation - saw his job disappear in a 'restructuring', only to reappear, he told me, with a slightly different title and occupied by someone he'd helped train, at a lower salary. Hardly an unusual development these days. He has a wide range of skills though and subsequently did OK, hooking up pretty soon after with a big competitor - ironically the one media company that always seems to be hiring but the one that out of principle I won't work for.

My bottom line is I never forget how fortunate I am to be able to have a conscience. But it's time to move on and maybe try to do something worthwhile that may have nothing to do with journalism. I still believe I have some talents that could help make a difference to the right people.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, an old boss of mine just couldn't take it any more and walked away. I'd done the same, but for him that step was always going to be much less of a no-brainer. I met up with him soon after, and the thing we shared was, overwhelmingly, relief.

Now we're both out of work, but most likely with different approaches as to why.

Anyway. Enough doom and gloom. Here's a listicle of '25 Great Songs About Work' I did a while ago. Back to music tomorrow.

'What the people need, is a way to make them smile...'

2010-06-07T08:58:00.056-04:00

My wife and I took advantage of the new ferry service from Brooklyn and spent a nice morning over on Governor's Island yesterday. They're gearing up for some decent concerts over the summer, including a July 4th lawn show headlined by Rosanne Cash.

I've always liked open-air summer shows - the first one I remember going to was at Dalymount Park in Dublin in 1979, which was headlined by Status Quo and - would you believe - Judas Priest, but also had Nick Lowe, Christy Moore and The Flamin' Groovies on the bill.

Last summer, we went up to Tanglewood to see James Taylor; an altogether different experience.

To top off a great morning, we stopped in at one of our local pubs on the way home, where there's a regular lunchtime traditional session.

When we were married in Ireland three years ago, we were very fortunate that music was a huge part of our experience and whenever we come across a session like this it helps to bring back some great memories, and it's great to know that there's a healthy traditional session community here in Brooklyn and all over the city.

By way of an update on the thriving local Northern Irish music scene, Aaron Shanley is gigging in California at the moment and has a great new single, 'Somebody To Take Care Of', which is available for free download here.

Also, via the blog Secret Fireworks comes a new - or at least new to me - band called Maguire and I who sound really good (and filmed here in the Botanic Gardens, where I spent many happy days long ago). Look forward to hearing more from them.

'They say it's your birthday, we're gonna have a good time..'

2010-05-29T23:11:00.007-04:00

Thanks, among other sources, to the daily updates from Paul Shaffer's Day In Rock, I was struck that this past week was quite an amazing one for musical birthdays...

On Monday, Robert Allen Zimmerman celebrated his 69th birthday. I've only seen Bob play live once, at Wembley Arena in London in October 1987 on the Temples In Flames tour, with Roger McGuinn and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. (I've also heard him once, in Prospect Park in Brooklyn two years ago, like thousands of others who couldn't get near the bandshell.) The London show was a great gig - even for a venue as cavernous as Wembley. There's a movie of a show from Melbourne, Australia, which I think was shot later in the tour.

The same day, the beautiful - and generously social Tweeter - Rosanne Cash marked her 55th birthday. Her 1993 album 'The Wheel' is one of my all-time favorites and this is a particularly lovely version of the title track.

Talking of great female voices, on Wednesday Stevie Nicks turned 62, but to many people she'll always be ageless. I saw her in 1982 at the Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, TN. She had the sort of stage presence that meant you couldn't take your eyes off her for a second, but her band was just brilliant - the great guitar player Waddy Wachtel, drummer Russ Kunkel, Bob Glaub on bass and Professor Roy Bittan on a vacation from E Street on piano. (I know Tom Petty's keyboard player Benmont Tench played some shows on that tour but I can't remember if he was there that night).

Tuesday saw the birthday of one of the most influential figures in the last three decades of British popular music: Paul Weller turned 52. Through his work with The Jam, The Style Council and his subsequent solo career - his latest album is 'Wake Up The Nation' - he has delivered sharp, clever observations of British life that have resonated with and inspired a successive generation of songwriters. Here, he plays a 1980 Jam classic with Noel Gallagher of Oasis - who incredibly also had a birthday this week.

Two other great songwriters from opposite ends of the globe were celebrating: New Zealand's own Neil Finn is now 52 - his band Crowded House have a new album, 'Intriguer' out on June 11 and are playing in Dublin this weekend.

At 65, Canada's national treasure Bruce Cockburn's career has been characterized by a commitment to musical integrity and activism in the pursuit of justice. Now he's going to finally write a book about his remarkable life. There's also some new recordings and a solo tour on the way next year, it appears. He's one hell of a great guitar player and probably the only person to have written a song about the International Monetary Fund.

Here, he performs one of his best-known songs at a 2001 benefit, along with Steven Page of the Barenaked Ladies.

The amazing Levon Helm, drummer with The Band and inspiration for the Midnight Ramble, turned 70 and is currently in the middle of a nationwide tour - including Radio City in New York on July 28 and the Newport Folk Festival on August 1st - as well as having been nominated for 2010 Artist of The Year by the Americana Music Association.

On Friday, former Creedence frontman John Fogerty turned 65. I've seen him a couple of times in recent years - 2004 in Orlando on the Vote For Change tour with Bruce and REM, and then again last year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Anniversary show. The guy sure wrote some great tunes and still rocks the house.

Friday was also the birthday of Dobro-meister supreme Jerry Douglas who is 54. I saw him play with Allison Krauss at the Beacon Theater in New York a couple of years ago, and he was just incredible. He did 'A Tribute To Peadar O'Donnell' and it brought the house down.

As if all that wasn't great enough, today is the 49th for the beautiful and courageous Melissa Etheridge

as well as the 43rd for the aforementioned Noel Gallagher, one of Britain's greatest pop songwriters (who, for what it's worth, thinks next month's England-US World Cup game will end up a draw..)

Among others, there were also birthdays this week for Jewel, Ramsey Lewis, Gary Brooker of Procul Harum, Gladys Knight, and Mike Porcaro of Toto, as well as an appreciative nod to Dr Robert Moog, inventor of the synthesiser.

And just to round things off properly, tomorrow rockin' Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine turns 46.

Next week is looking a bit thin by comparison I guess, but nevertheless many happy returns to Johnny Paycheck and Corey Hart...

'Strange as it may seem, I once had my football dreams..'

2010-05-22T09:08:00.015-04:00

So, in the unlikely even that you haven't seen this yet, Nike's new viral ad for the upcoming World Cup is pretty remarkable:

And it's all the more cool for a soundtrack that includes 'Hocus Pocus' by the Dutch prog-rock band Focus, from the early 1970s, featuring their much under-rated guitar player, Jan Akkerman. It's a great track that, when you're eleven years old and see them performing it on the OGWT, sounds, honestly, like nothing you've ever seen before...

In any case, I can't wait for the World Cup to kick off in a couple of weeks. And it gives me a chance to play my absolute favorite football-related song:

(I'm just guessing, but it's possible the German host is saying something about losing on penalties..?)

*************************************

Pete Townshend celebrated his 65th birthday this week. When I was just getting into "serious" music, maybe the album that blew me away more than any other at the time was "Tommy". Here, Pete talks about the filming of the movie, which is coming up to its 35th anniversary.

The Who will always be among my favorite bands, and Pete will always be one of my favorite songwriters. A real visionary.

************************************************

I mentioned the other day about two gigs that Victor and David, were playing this weekend under the name Passport Without Nation. Turns out their Saturday night show has been cancelled, but they're still on for Sunday at the National Underground.

'Gonna get on up and fly away..'

2010-05-18T11:44:00.002-04:00

Music Matters - John Martyn (23-3-10) from Music Matters on Vimeo.

I came across this little animation the other day on the Folk Radio UK site - an excellent read and well worth checking out. And it got me thinking about and listening again to John Martyn, a truly great guitar player who died last year and is sorely missed.

I first heard of him through Eric Clapton's cover of 'May You Never' on the 'Slowhand' album in the late 70s, but when I subsequently found John's original it was like a different world. It was one of the most enjoyable songs to play last year while I was busking, but I could only ever dream of doing it like he did:

There was an excellent BBC documentary a few years back, 'Johnny Too Bad' that chronicled his work and difficult life, which is well worth seeing if you get a chance. But my all-time favorite song of his is the amazing 'Small Hours' from the wonderful album 'One World'.

***********************************

A couple of weeks ago, I met Victor and David, two young guitar players in the subway. They're playing a couple of shows in the city this weekend under the name Passport Without Nation: Saturday night at the Recoup Lounge and Sunday at the National Underground. Go along and take a look.

'Hold on to that feeling..'

2010-05-14T08:31:00.004-04:00

As the kids today say, OMG..!

This amazing clip is from the Rainforest concert at Carnegie Hall the other night. Sadly, I didn't take it, but nothing says 'save the environment' like dancing dudes in speedos...

And just as jaw-droppingly surreal as that was, this is awesome. Have a beautiful weekend.

'These songs of freedom..'

2010-05-11T10:20:00.002-04:00

Today is the 29th anniversary of Bob Marley's death. He lived a fascinating musical life - that continues through his kids and associated performers - and left a remarkable artistic and cultural contribution.

He performed his last concert in Pittsburgh on September 23, 1980, during his 'Uprising' tour (which incidentally had included his first-ever appearance in Ireland). Two days earlier, he had collapsed while jogging in Central Park after two shows at Madison Square Garden on Sept 19 & 20 (setlist here) when he and The Wailers had opened for The Commodores.

'There's hope for me yet..'

2010-05-07T18:43:00.006-04:00

The wife and I went to see Dierks Bentley the other night at the Highline. It's always a good venue, with decent views no matter where you end up on the floor. We'd seen him play about four years ago at a small venue in London and that was definitely a rocking show. I remember almost immediately learning two of his songs: 'Hope For Me Yet' and 'The Heaven I'm Headed To' and playing them has never gotten old.

We were blown away by his voice that night and I remember thinking he had much more to offer beyond the formulaic country-rock genre. So the Highline show was very different, and brilliantly so: bluegrass was the order of the day, with the backing of a couple of Del's offspring in the Travelin' McCourys and a support slot from Hayes Carll.

After the sad events in Nashville recently, I've been thinking back fondly on the time I got to spend in Tennessee, and how great it was - especially on my first visit to the US - to be surrounded by such an outstanding regional musical heritage, and this show helped rekindle some of those emotions.

Good playing and a good time.

Finally, it was my wife's birthday recently and she happened to be away on a 'girls weekend' in the Napa Valley on the day so we celebrated when she got back, with a bit of karaoke at our friends bar. They have a very cool and imaginative installation on at the moment, featuring toy pianos and a video montage of subway buskers. Definitely check it out if you're in Manhattan.

For some reason. I just adore this particular photo... full of energy and mystery in equal parts, just like her. Happy birthday babe!

'This summer I hear the drumming..'

2010-05-04T09:37:00.004-04:00

Today is the 40th anniversary of the deaths of four students at Kent State University in Ohio, during a protest over the war in VietNam, an event often described as a 'wound in the nation's history'.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is hosting a panel tonight on the Kent State campus examining the relationship between music, the war, and protest.

(*there's a stunning live version of Neil Young's 'Ohio', recorded by CSNY in 1970, here via Wolfgang's Vault - it's as powerful and melancholy as Young's solo version above)

'Lost in the flood..'

2010-05-03T23:24:00.005-04:00

In the early 80s I lived in Tennessee for a year, in the foothills of the beautiful Smoky Mountains, and while I unfortunately only managed to visit Nashville a couple of times, it was always a special experience rolling in there. What's been happening over the last couple of days has been just heartbreaking to watch.

The tragic situation has already seen several deaths and according to the AP tonight, the Cumberland River crested at nearly 12 feet above flood stage and at its highest level since 1937.

Local musical institution the Grand Ole Opry has moved its shows to other venues in the city. As Peter Cooper writes at the Tune in Music City blog, for the musical community the city's losses are still untold. Meanwhile, local singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters will have a 'tip jar' at her upcoming gigs in the UK for British friends who want to help.

There has been some dramatic footage and images - look on Twitter under #nashvilleflood - and it's impossible not to be moved by the extent of how nature has ravaged the city.

Check out this this video montage by Michael Deppisch (via Mashable), or this Flickr series of stills via Barry Walsh.

To donate to the relief efforts, visit the Middle Tennessee chapter of the Red Cross, or to volunteer go to Hands On Nashville.

*********************************

Talking of Americans who go the extra mile to help their neighbors, today is the great Pete Seeger's 91st birthday. I was lucky enough to be at Madison Square Garden last year for his 90th birthday tribute concert, celebrating a remarkable life filled with music and a pursuit of justice.

One of the standout performances at that show was, unsurprisingly, from Bruce Springsteen, who had a few months previously joined Seeger to sing 'This Land is Your Land' in Washington during President Obama's inaugural weekend.

Now, Columbia Records has announced that Bruce's open air show with the E Street Band at Hyde Park in London last summer will be released on DVD next month. Here's a taster...

Also, on this day in 1972, Springsteen recorded a series of demos for Columbia after famously auditioning for John Hammond the previous day.

There was another interesting Bruce-related story this week by ProPublica looking at the number of members of congress who attended fundraising events with DC lobbyists at Springsteen shows in the nation's capital last year.

*********************************

Today was also James Brown's birthday. The Godfather of Soul would have been 77.

This is a pretty remarkable piece of footage I'd never seen before:

*********************************

Finally, after what happened in Times Square at the weekend, a sincere note of thanks to the NYPD, emergency services and everyone who keeps us safe. Thanks for doing what you do. My heart also goes out to those affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As if Louisiana hadn't suffered enough...

'Crazy..?'

2010-04-17T11:20:00.004-04:00

Not so long ago, I thought I likely wouldn't be busking again, since last year's project was very much an enjoyable one-off, and I was thinking that it wouldn't be the same if I went back over old ground.

Then I got an email from Rebecca Huval, a journalism grad student at Columbia, who's doing a radio piece on busking for a class assignment and wanted to talk to me about my experiences.

We met for a chat and despite being a bit reticent initially, I agreed to go out on the subway with her yesterday, with the idea of giving her some ambient sound for her piece and maybe bumping into some of the performers I'd met before.

So I played for a while at the 72nd Street station - since I remembered that the acoustics there were pretty good, there's a decent amount of time between trains, and the crowd is usually good-natured. I played a couple of songs I hadn't for a while (like this one - now I can't get it out of my head..)

Then we headed downtown, first to 42nd, then 34th, and then to 14th Streets. There was no-one playing at the first two, but at the mezzanine at Union Square, we met Victor and David, two young guitar players who told us it was their first time playing underground.

They were warming up for a show Saturday night at the UC Lounge in Ludlow Street, and definitely had a nice, mellow groove going.

As I told Rebecca after we watched them for a while, bumping into guys like this was exactly what I enjoyed the most about busking last year - you meet folks who are into the music and are doing it for the love of playing. It's what makes the city's subway musicians a real treasure.

So who knows, maybe I might end up playing underground again here and there this summer.

(By the way, I made $8 at 72nd Street before Rebecca showed up. I ended up giving most of it away to other buskers and beggars on the train home)

-------------------------------------------

Today is Record Store Day, so if you can, support your local vinyl retailer. I'll be dropping by my local here in Brooklyn, which inside is like a treasure trove of musical history, and remembering the record stores I went to as a kid, including Good Vibrations in Belfast, which did so much to encourage the city's music scene in the late 70s and early 80s.

My favorite record store in New York is Bleecker Street Records in the Village, partly because I can usually combine going there with a visit to Matt Umanov Guitars on the same street.

'Blue is the color of grass..'

2010-04-16T09:51:00.001-04:00

Suddenly, over the last week or so, there seem to have been a lot more people playing out in the subways and on the trains. It's like the 'spring season' has kicked off. I'll start taking my Flip camera out with me again and catching some performers.

Yesterday I was coming through 34th Street and MUNY regulars The Ebony Hillbillies were playing. I've seen them around for quite a long time, but have never had a camera with me. They're always full of energy and it's almost impossible not stop and toe-tap with them for a few minutes. You can see from their site that they have a pretty full gigging schedule, and you can read more about them here.

Check them out if they come to your town.

I don't think I'll be back underground busking myself this summer. Hopefully though, there'll be a couple of interesting musical developments, and I wouldn't rule out the odd weekend appearance since I had such a good time last year.

'So nice to play pretend..'

2010-04-06T11:07:00.003-04:00

Ok, I haven't learned any new songs for a while. Here's a couple I've been humming recently, so they're lined up to work on today - lets see how they go:

Hopening Day

2010-04-05T15:27:00.005-04:00

I've been a Cubs fan since 1982. I've been out to spring training in Arizona and even when I was living in London I'd make one trip to Chicago every year for a home stand.

Their first game of the season has always been a complete emotional stew of optimism and realism; but always seasoned with the joy that baseball itself gives me and the reassurance that, win or lose - and yes, insert 'it's usually lose' joke here - I'd never feel quite myself rooting for another team the way I do for the Cubbies.

My wife's family are Red Sox nation through and through, and up until 2004 we had something in common.

Living in New York, I go see the Mets - and their single A Brooklyn Cyclones - a lot and want them to do well - except in the obvious games - because there seems to be a sort of self-deprecating, fatalist connection between Mets and Cubs fans the way there just isn't with Yankee fans.

Here's an example: I was at Shea for a July 4th doubleheader about ten years ago, and in between innings Mr Met and his cohorts were going round with the microphone asking little kids questions about American history, and showing their answers up on the big screen.

They asked one little kid "why are there 50 stars on the stars and stripes?" and before he could answer, the drunk guy behind him leans in and says "It's the number of games the Mets are gonna win this year.."

During the seventh-inning stretch at Cub games, I'm afraid I've never gotten out of the habit - much to my son's annoyance - of singing "..If they don't win it's the same."

Anyway, whoever you cheer for, happy opening day. As the late great Jeff MacNelly put it, it's the one day when everyone's in first place.

Shoe (wearing Cubs cap): A good Cubs fan accepts defeat and disappointment in the belief that tomorrow will be a better day. Do you know what that’s called, Skyler?

Skyler: Self-delusion?

Shoe: Optimism is the word I was looking for.

Jeff and I, and millions of other diehards everywhere, would love a good season this year, please.

Let's Go Cubs!

*Update... So...that went well, didn't it?

The most opening day runs given up since 1900? Wha..?

Yes, the blown call on McLouth's "catch" was a joke. But even so, we played so poorly all round it probably wouldn't have made much difference to the outcome - although the players were clearly deflated by it immediately afterwards.

Bright spot? James Russell's pitching debut in relief, handing Jason Heyward his first big league strikeout. And the fact that, opening day or not, it's only one game. Only 1/162nd of the season. And I guess you can't have a Tuffy Rhodes moment every year.

(And incidentally, despite Tuffy's three HRs off Doc Gooden on opening day, 1994 - I remember I was watching on TV in a bar at Dulles Airport - the Cubs went on to lose the game.)

'It's a steady job, but...'

2010-03-30T14:09:00.000-04:00

'Thousands are sailing..'

2010-03-17T08:46:00.004-04:00

From Belfast to Brooklyn, and all places in between, Happy St Patrick's Day.

'Bop 'til you drop..'

2010-03-15T14:47:00.008-04:00

Happy 63rd birthday, Ryland Peter Cooder, and thanks for some great, great music, onscreen and off.

I saw Ry just once, at the Kiel Auditorium in St Louis in 1983, on a double-bill with Eric Clapton, and always hoped I'd have a chance to see him play live again. His entire career has been the epitome of creative talent and musical integrity.

Many happy returns.

'Give me some music..'

2010-03-14T20:46:00.008-04:00

Went to the Metropolitan Opera today for the National Council Grand Finals Concert, and heard some remarkably talented young singers - a useful benchmark for where stepdaughter might aspire to be in a few years.

The next step for her is the undergraduate production of "Gianni Schicchi" next month, then all being well, a return to the Caramoor Festival this summer for "Norma" by Bellini, one of their Bel Canto productions.

It was a great show today; the orchestra was in fine form and the day was capped with a performance by Frederica von Stade which, it turned out, was announced as her final appearance on the Met stage, forty years after she launched her career by becoming one of the winners in this same competition.

The contest has become somewhat more well-known since the movie "The Audition" documented the 2007 final concert, and the place was packed.

The kids sang brilliantly and their repertoire selection was just the right mix of crowd-pleasers and more unusual choices.

It will probably always amaze me that Samuel Barber - the centenary of whose birth was last week - could write something as dischordant and challenging as "Give Me Some Music" from his opera "Anthony and Cleopatra" as well as composing what is possibly the single most perfect piece of music I have ever heard....

'I want my... holographic karaoke'

2010-03-11T21:52:00.017-05:00

I've just been at a conference on the future of media. I met some cool, smart people and it was an entertaining couple of days. I first started going to these sort of gatherings in the mid-1990s, and even if the players and the technologies have changed, the fundamental challenge is still the same - monetizing content.

The creative industries are perpetually wrestling with three basic questions: what is the audience prepared to pay for, will they pay enough (or will enough of them pay) to make producing it worthwhile, and if so, what's the best way to deliver it to them?

Meanwhile, notoriously fickle consumers have become complacent that something newer and better is always around the corner and, increasingly, they're expecting not to have to put their hand in their pocket for it.

I worked in 'conventional media' for nearly a quarter century, and one thing I know now is that the landscape is, more than ever, less about protecting what you already create and more about finding what you will need to create five or ten or twenty years from now.

There's a track record of innovation through functionality driving demand – look at models like Netflix, Shazam, Pandora, mp3ify, or even the iPod itself, for not just changing how consumers purchase content, but the very way they discover and interact with it.

Above all, the key is being able to admit that the 'model that's always worked' only worked because consumers were used to doing things that way. That's not going to be the case for much longer - as one panellist said at the conference, "we're not at a moment of transition, we're at a moment of destruction" - and the companies who can adapt to an environment where they're more responsive to consumer needs, and less dependent on their dying, so-called 'core' products, are the ones who will thrive.

Anyway, here's my totally bluesky wishlist for something that's 'next generation' as opposed to just 'next upgrade'. And it's something I'd willingly pay for if someone - Disney, EA, NewsCorp, whoever - can deliver it to me. I suspect I'll be waiting a while, though.

The original Guitar Hero game launched five years ago - and Rock Band two years later - and even now, in spite of tremendous improvements, and regardless of the artist catalogs they're able to sign up, and the more sophisticated on-screen avatars they can offer, their model seems stuck.

It needs something more, well, real. And I think there's a crucial demographic they're missing - people who can actually play an instrument rather than just manipulate a controller.

I want to plug in a real guitar and be able to play alongside holograms of my favorite artists. When I sign up for a performer's 'channel' I'll be able to jam with their images or, crucially, with other members of the channel, with social/community functionality wrapped around the content (and of course any advertising and merchandising opportunities that go along with that).

Imagine tapping into the highest-grossing concert tours worldwide on an annual basis: currently, performers like:

- U2
- Bruce Springsteen
- Rolling Stones
- Madonna
- Taylor Swift
- Jay-Z
- Britney Spears
- Dave Matthews Band

as well as archive or back catalog material - even from artists who may no longer be with us.

There were apparently more views for the streamed U2 concert online last year than tickets sold for all other rock concerts put together in 2009, and you only have to took at the popularity of the 'Met in HD' series, to see the appeal of an experiential combination of quality and exclusivity. It's only a matter of time before we see widespread concerts in HD at movie theaters then at home – an intermediate step to a fully immersive, holographic platform.

While there is effectively 3D functionality in a lot of existing game environments, the next wave of gaming will be around 3D control – increasingly, using your body as the controller, something that the Nintendo Wii has set in train, and which Sony recently moved forward.

So, looking way beyond that, what would you get with the holographic gig - what I call "Playalong"?

* It's both participatory and passive: you can either watch or take part – there might be different pricing plans for both, but it's designed to encourage people who start off just watching to do it themselves.

* It's incentivized – there'd be a ‘best performance of the day’ award – voted by members of the community who can view past performances of songs they play on video – and those are rewarded with points and/or merchandise.

* Advertising can either follow the content or the audience, but has to always have some relevance to the performer – ie – merchandising or rare downloads. You could also have a 'premium' subscription level option that removes advertising altogether and includes exclusive content: artists already do that with online 'fan clubs' whose primary function for the subscriber is pre-sale concert tickets.

Of course there are structural commercial problems - aggregation of rights is probably the biggest non-technical hurdle, but once the artists realize how much there is to be made from what is effectively a new platform for content distribution, they'd make it work. Technically, we'd be looking at something like a Home Theater system, only with sensors/projectors instead of speakers. But the important thing is the networked capability.

Research seems to show that people currently have a tolerance for only two boxes in their living room - a cable/satellite receiver box and a game system. There are roughly 125m US TV households (about 99 per cent market penetration). But we are looking at a globally networked environment. Microsoft's XBox has about 39m consoles worldwide – crucially, 23m of those are subscribing to the XBox live service.

So this service would likely initially piggyback on an existing game system. But growth of any 'new, new thing' can be dramatic and rapid, and force users to re-evaluate what they previously thought of as standard. There are other potential applications for the platform based on existing and new proprietary content, for example, experiential part-game/part-movies, where players affect outcomes by triggering alternate plot routes.

And of course, the concept is scalable and upgradable; every time there's a new album, the user can download both the 'rehearsal' version and the 'studio' version of the tracks, as well as live options once the tour begins. This way, the artist can monetize multiple individual performances of their content, as well as just the recorded staple.

Maybe charging for the service might work best on a Netflix model – unlimited usage for a monthly subscription - maybe with a joining fee and premium add-ons for things like tutorials, but what you'd get as the consumer would be:

- A compelling user experience
- Offers exclusivity of access
- Has many options to choose from (you can sing, play guitar, bass, keyboards whatever, and play in a 'rehearsal studio' or live)
- Play that's potentially different every time (you can choose things like arrangements; do you play solo or with the full band, or even venue; do you play at the Ryman Auditorium, Maxwell's in Hoboken or Wembley Stadium?)

Tracks would be recordable, so you can relive your triumphs and replay them, or you can use the studio option to put together demos, either on your own, or in collaboration with other members of the channel, which in turn could be uploadable for others to sample.

Is there a mobile app? No. it‘s fundamentally a home entertainment, multi-player living room experience. But you will be able to use your mobile phone to connect with the communities you're a member of in order to schedule jams / performances etc. or download new tracks. Or your phone can alert you to newly released content, or about other performers you might also be interested in, given your profile.

Of course, we're a long way away from working out the economics, and the existing technology is probably very much in its infancy. The audio technology's already available in karaoke versions of songs with tracks stripped out. It's the visual, interactive platform that will provide the all-round experience. For public performance, existing karaoke bars wouldn't need any additional space than they already use.

For the home version, we're probably looking at a post-3D intermediate stage involving a body suit or wrap-around glasses, but the key thing is that you'd be creating real music, with real instruments; not just mindlessly replicating some emotionless sequence of colored buttons.

And that's what will make it worthwhile, and worth paying for.

So, like my idea a couple of years back for a reality TV show, if I can help make this come about in any way, drop me an email.

'And out the door I went..'

2010-03-09T09:40:00.007-05:00

It's still cold in New York, but it's sunny. And something happened the other day that proves the seasons are changing. No, it wasn't the start of Spring Training, but rather that for the first time in months I saw people drinking outside in the beer garden at my local bar. There might still be snow piled on the sidewalk, but like - appropriately enough - the swallows of Capistrano returning from their winter exile, the seasonal return of al fresco drinking is the source of great celebration and joy.

'After all, I'm forever in your debt..'

2010-03-08T07:58:00.006-05:00

Take a moment to celebrate someone special in your life today, for International Womens Day - appropriately enough the morning after Kathryn Bigelow became the the first woman to win a Best Director oscar, for her movie 'The Hurt Locker'.

So with simple gratitude, here's some great women writers and their beautiful songs:

'I can spin you a yarn, it's as long as my arm..'

2010-03-04T10:59:00.052-05:00

Although I grew up in Belfast and visit a couple of times a year, I haven't lived there for twenty-six years. But I try to keep current with local music as best I'm able. As well as the Alternative Ulster site, I follow a blog by local BBC DJ Stuart Bailie and occasionally catch online broadcasts by another BBC presenter, Ralph McLean, both of whom do a good job promoting local performers.

The Belfast-Nashville Songwriters Festival has become a highlight of the city's musical life over the last five years, and encourages the transatlantic exchange of talents between the two sister cities. This year's has just finished and again sounded like it was another great success. Some of my current favorite young songwriters from home took part:

Aaron Shanley won the Katherine Brick Award for young songwriter of the year and will be in Nashville for some gigs next week.

Ben Glover has just released his second album. "Through the Noise, Through the Night." This is a track from his debut album with his band The Earls, "The Week The Clocks Changed"

Iain Archer won an Ivor Novello songwriting award for his contribution to Snow Patrol's album "Final Straw", including co-writing their classic song "Run". There's an interview with him here. He's also gigging in Nashville this month.

I've just discovered John D'Arcy but I like what I hear.

Even in difficult times, Belfast has always had a vibrant live music tradition. So apparently now to go along with the bus tour of notable musical spots in the city there's a new mobile phone app that connects you with venues and gigs, as well as having a "hall of fame" feature, hosted by the aforementioned Stuart Bailie.

if you find yourself in Belfast and are looking for a good night's musical entertainment with a decent bit of craic, you can do worse than head over to The John Hewitt in the half-bap area near the Cathedral.

Another of my favorite writers, Foy Vance is playing two shows in London on March 14th - one at lunchtime in Trafalgar Square for the St Patrick's Day celebration. If you're in town, go along and hear him. You won't regret it. Meanwhile, one of my all-time musical heroes, Strabane's own Paul Brady, has a new album coming out soon, called "Hooba Dooba" and a UK tour follows in April (he's playing the 02 in Shepherds Bush on the 25th).

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On the subject of wonderful songwriters, Mark Erelli has just completed his new album, "Little Vigils" and is streaming it at his site. The tracks all sound amazing; I especially liked "Everything In Ruin" and learned it after a couple of listens.

Here's a nice video of Mark and his band during recording:

The album will be available on March 16th and Mark's touring to promote it, kicking off in Portland Maine tomorrow (Friday March 5th). Unfortunately I'll be away when he plays New York, at the Rockwood Music Hall on March 27th. But if you're in town, please go see him.

Luckily I will be at the Rockwood this coming Thursday though, March 11th, to see Peter Bradley Adams a great singer-songwriter I've liked for a while now. If you're in the city, check out the show.

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It seems today was World Book Day (although apparently, somehow only in the UK? In the rest of the world it's on April 23rd - what's up with that?)

So here are some great music books - in no particular order, just some that I've enjoyed reading and thought you might too. I read pretty much anything and everything on Springsteen, so I've made a point of not including any books about him here, just to have a bit of a change.

Reviving the Belfast theme, "Can You Feel The Silence" is a great biography of Van Morrison (responsible for today's post title, incidentally) by Clinton Heylin, who also wrote a really compelling book called "Bootleg" about the culture of pre-digital illegal recordings, as well as lots of other good stuff.

"Heart And Hands" is a beautifully-illustrated coffee-table type book looking at traditional instrument makers across the United States. Great to dip into.

Another great visual volume is the series of portraits "American Music" by Annie Leibovitz, probably the pre-eminent rock and roll photographer. I went to the touring exhibit for this collection in London and seeing these images close-up shows how she's able to capture the character of her subjects.

Here's a double-dip from Peter Guralnick - I love his writing, and these two, "Lost Highway" and "Last Train To Memphis" are just brilliantly researched and narrated. Entertaining and educating with every page.

Like any other "list" of someone else's choosing, Nick Hornby's "31 Songs" has some songs you'd pick yourself, some you wouldn't and some you needed to hear for the first time. But as always with Hornby, the writing itself is smart and rewarding.

The late Timothy White's biography of James Taylor is a comprehensive and revealing look at one of AOR's most fascinating individuals. Also, check out "Hotel California" by British writer Barney Hoskyns, about that whole west-coast world.

"The Last Party" by John Harris is a great account of 'Cool Britannia', and how we all started to confuse Blur and Blair.

Will Bunch is one of the wittiest newspaper writers around. His 1994 book "Jukebox America" is a brilliantly evocative travelogue of the sort that most guys my age wish they'd written.

"I Hate Myself And I Want To Die - The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard" by Tom Reynolds is (sigh) hilarious....

Finally, about ten years ago a Scottish friend of mine, Stephen Walsh, wrote a terrific, bitter-sweet tale called "Heartache Spoken Here" about Britain's love affair with country music. I'm biased, but It's brilliant. Here's the Amazon description:

"After his wife left him, Stephen Walsh took to the road in his camper-van in search of Britain's "Country and Westerners". What he found was a world of quirky characters, sharing the tales of lost love, country music and big hats, and how to find the place where broken hearts are mended."

If you get a chance, read it, and you'll get an idea of what's really important.

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On the subject of books, the New York Public Library is promoting its rock and roll collections - brilliantly titled "Twist-n-Shhhout".

'Face off against each other out in the street..'

2010-03-02T08:42:00.023-05:00

Really, New York magazine? Really?

Not even on the list?

Not even a single Bruce song? Did you read your own criteria?

"..a playlist of the most [sic] New York songs written since 1965 (caveats: no instrumentals, no movie theme songs) that get at the city's romance — the sex, the grit, the wit, the skyscraper-size ambition."

I know it's just linkbait, but I can't resist.

You could probably come up with ten or so brilliant New York City tracks by Bruce alone, but I'll post my own list of songs that aren't on their list later today.

UPDATE: Ok, so like any other listicle, the New York magazine piece was designed to provoke reader responses, comments and page views. It's a decent idea, everyone who lives in the city or has even visited will have an opinion.

The Huffington Post also has a potentially very cool 'Map The City In Song’ project going on at the moment, which seeks readers’ contributions of geographically specific lyrics related to the city.

But even so, it’s kind of hard to believe the New York list didn’t have any Bruce songs and only one – “Visions Of Johanna” by Bob Dylan.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great songs on there, but ranking them, apart from the top five, is probably too tough a call. I mean, Ryan Adams only sneaks in at 35 out of 40? WTF?

Also, I think you’d probably have to amend the criteria to have songs related to 9/11 separate. That would pretty much cover any of the key songs from ‘The Rising’ including the title track, “Into The Fire,” “You’re Missing”, or “My City Of Ruins” (even though it was originally written about Asbury Park ) but of them all, this one is probably my favorite:

There are some great songs in that corner from other artists too, of course, compelling narratives like Lucy Kaplansky’s “Land Of The Living” or Mary-Chapin Carpenter's “Grand Central Station”. But for me, there’s a special place for John Hiatt's “New York Got Her Heart Broke”. John never recorded this song, and I heard him play it just once, at the Town Hall on 43rd Street, on November 17th 2001. It was haunting, sincere and deeply moving.

There have also been lots of songs specifically about immigration from an incomer’s perspective, so I won’t go into them at length, except to pick out Marc Cohn’s beautiful “Ellis Island”, which finds its resonance in a generational connection and continuation.

So, here’s a quick list: no rankings, just great music with this great city as its theme. Most of these are just off the top of my head, so I’m always open to your suggestions.

Since it’s not my field I’m not going to venture into the City’s rich jazz tradition beyond standards like Duke Ellington’s “Take The A Train” written by Billy Strayhorn, or “Autumn In New York” covered by pretty much everyone. Same with rap, but you totally have to hat-tip The Beastie Boys and kick off with “Open Letter To New York”

Ian Hunter – “Central Park And West”
Kiss – “Back In The New York Groove”
10CC – “Wall Street Shuffle”
James Maddock - “Sunrise On Avenue C”
Brian Kennedy - "Christopher Street"
James Taylor - "Up On The Roof"
Joan Baez – “Diamonds And Rust” (also successfully covered by, er, Judas Priest)
Nils Lofgren - "Yankee Stadium" (written to commemorate the closing of the old park. You can download it for free from Nils' site)
Sting – “Englishman in New York”
Willie Nile - "The Day I Saw Bo Diddley In Washington Square"
Sarah Harmer - "Basement Apartment" (I know she's Canadian, and the song's about any city, but when I first heard it I thought it was about NYC until I saw the video)

Steve Earle – “Down Here Below”

U2 – “Angel Of Harlem” and “New York”
Fountains of Wayne - "Red Dragon Tattoo"
Velvet Underground – “Waiting For My Man”
Graham Parker and the Rumour – “New York Shuffle”
Billy Joel – “52nd Street”, "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" or “Miami 2017 – I’ve Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway”
Rosanne Cash – “Seventh Avenue”

Bob Dylan - Apart from the obvious “Positively 4th Street” (although it’s been argued that this song is meant to contrast Dylan’s two worlds at the time, of New York and Minnesota) there are plenty of songs to choose from here - for a good overview, check out the excellent New Pony site, while reading a blog post by Adam Masterson reminded me of "Joey" the story of a notorious Red Hook gangster.

Tyrone Wells – “Dream Like New York”

Don Henley - “New York Minute”
Joni Mitchell – “Big Yellow Taxi” - maybe, maybe not specifically about NYC, but definitely “Chelsea Morning”
Tom Waits – “Downtown Train”
Simon And Garfunkel – “Bridge Over Troubled Water” – again, I know it might not be specifically about the City but at the R&R HoF show their backdrop while singing it was the Manhattan Bridge, while there's always the “59th Street Bridge Song”.

I’d also include Everything But The Girl’s cover of “The Only Living Boy” (despite the slightly bizarre video with its “Bill and Ted” windmilling visual reference).

As I said, you could easily compile a Springsteen-only playlist with tracks like “Meeting Across The River”, "41 Shots", “New York City Serenade”, the afore-mentioned “Jungleland” or “Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?”

But when it comes to capturing the very essence of the city on a steamy summer night, this track just walks away with it…

For tapping into the universality of poverty; urban or rural, young or old, there are few songs as powerful as Stevie Wonder’s “Living For The City”. And what a version this is, alongside Ray Charles.

And finally, here’s something that always, without fail, makes me smile. Sorry, Jay-Z, but the kids from PS22 got your number…

'Darkness alive with possibilities..'

2010-03-01T10:57:00.008-05:00

Last night's Winter Olympics closing ceremony turned into a brilliant self-parody of every imaginable Canadian cliche. It was an almost surreal spectacle that had me pretty much in hysterics all evening - most of it intentional, some maybe not. Congratulations to the organizers for having the ability to laugh at themselves while at the same time making Canada even more endearing.

Like at the opening ceremony, a range of Canadian musicians and artists took part, with a special 'live' spot reserved for elder statesman Neil Young, who sang "Long May You Run", the great song he also played at last month's final Conan O'Brien show and - depending on who you believe - is about either his first car, his last girlfriend or Stephen Stills.

In the US, NBC cut away at 11.30 to go to its new heavily-hyped Jerry Seinfeld show just as the concert part of the ceremony was about to start - but judging from some of the less than enthusiastic tweets thereafter it might have been a relief that I ended up watching neither. Apparently there were some interesting choices for Vancouver's musical line-up: Nickelback but not Rush? Hedley (?) but not The Barenaked Ladies?

But whatever. I couldn't help think that my favorite Canadian singer would have been perfect for such an auspicious occasion. And this - in any of its versions - would have been the perfect song...

And as if to prove that Canadian musicians have a great sense of humor, check this out:

(Thirty-two years ago this week, I saw Rush play at the Liverpool Empire on their "Farewell To Kings" tour. Brilliant show.)

'As sure as night is dark and day is light..'

2010-02-26T09:45:00.018-05:00

Today is the birthday of a true giant of American music. Johnny Cash would have been 78.

My dad was a fan and I remember being very young and hearing songs like "Folsom Prison Blues", "Walk The Line", "Ring Of Fire" or "A Boy Named Sue".

Cash's immense catalog, from the early groundbreaking recordings in the late 1950s, through the classic albums of the 1960s and 70s and the rejuvenating American Recordings series produced by Rick Rubin from the mid-90s, continues to grow this week with the release of "Ain't No Grave"

For me, though, it was a song that he didn't write or originally record that poignantly encapsulates the man's pain, heartache and mortality. Trent Reznor's "Hurt" reaches across the years and is perfectly brought to life in this video by director Mark Romanek.

In a piece of synchronicity so perfect it was almost scripted, Apple announced the other day that the ten billionth song downloaded from iTunes was Johnny's "I Guess Things Happen That Way" - evidence that his legacy endures regardless of how his audience engages with him.

And his influence on American music and musicians - and not just in the country genre - has been profound. Here's Bruce Springsteen with a version of Johnny's "Give My Love To Rose" from a tribute show in 1999.

Last year Johnny's daughter Rosanne released "The List" - including a duet with Bruce on "Sea Of Heartbreak" - which originates from a list of "essential" songs that her father passed on to her in the 1970s.

Here, she shares stories and other family remembrances.

(Rosanne also recorded two of my all-time favorite albums, "Seven Year Ache" in 1981 and "The Wheel" in 1993: and this is one of my absolute favorite songs from the latter)

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Details were released this week of a new Tom Petty album. called "Mojo" and tour - it kicks off in Raleigh on May 6 (with Joe Cocker as support) and rolls into Madison Square Garden in New York on July 28.

You can sign up for pre-release ticket notifications and hear one of the new tracks, "Good Enough", at TomPetty.com

The Heartbreakers provided the backing band for Johnny Cash's third American Recordings album "Unchained" in 1996.

I first saw Tom and the band play in 1983 at the Rosemont Horizon outside Chicago, on the "Long After Dark" tour (the support was Nick Lowe - who was then, I think, still Johnny Cash's stepson-in-law) and they're one of the best live acts I've ever seen. The other night I re-watched Peter Bogdanovich's brilliant movie chronicle of the band, "Running Down A Dream". If you haven't seen it I'd heartily recommend.

In the meantime, here's the haunting "Southern Accents":

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Very sorry to hear that the BBC has decided to axe 6 Music.

Phill Jupitus writes in The Guardian about his time as a 6 Music DJ, as well as the station's value and what would be lost.

For example, he says: "We also played two brand new artists on the show every day. Even three years after leaving 6 Music, bands still come up and thank me for giving them their first national airplay. I once bumped into one of my main competitors from commercial breakfast radio on a train. As we chatted, I bemoaned the fact that we only got nine free choices per show. He looked at me somewhat crestfallen and said "I get one … a week."

Opposition is growing to the BBC's move, and you can follow the latest on Twitter using the hashtag #savebbc6music

'For you and me..'

2010-02-23T13:07:00.008-05:00

According to Today in Labor History (with a HT to Tom Morello) today 70 years ago, Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land'. You can see the original handwritten manuscript at woodyguthrie.org

Today in Labor History says: "Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” following a frigid trip – partially by hitchhiking, partially by rail – from California to Manhattan. The Great Depression was still raging. Guthrie had heard Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” and resolved to himself: “We can’t just bless America, we’ve got to change it."

Here, Pete Seeger and Friends perform the song at Pete's 90th Birthday Concert.

You can see Bruce Springsteen play the song here, while Bruce and Pete Seeger play it here for President Obama's inauguration.

Here's one of my favorite versions, by Steve Earle:

'Can you hear the spirit calling, as it's carried across the waves..'

2010-02-22T21:32:00.010-05:00

On the way home this evening, we had the radio on and unexpectedly came across the fifth installment of NPR's '50 Great Voices', a list of "influential singers around the world — living or dead, famous or not".

I'd heard about the project a while ago when they first announced it, but I didn't know when it was starting and it turned out I'd missed the first few episodes - Iggy Pop, 'Afghanistan's Elvis' Ahmad Zahir, Mahalia Jackson and Maria Callas were the first artists profiled - so I was happy to catch this one, featuring Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

Like a lot of other people in the West, I'd heard his work with Peter Gabriel and Eddie Vedder, but not much of his earlier material. This really nice NPR piece highlights what a great performer he was and the degree of his influence, both at home and among the Pakistani and Sufi communities around the world. If you get a chance, it's well worth a listen.

The rest of the series will unfold over the coming year, revealing a list that will doubtless provoke plenty of debate.

For example, I don't think I noticed Woody Guthrie on the list of "nominees" but I may have been mistaken. Although Dylan is on there.

Also although Van Morrison makes the list, I was sort of hoping that someone like Tommy Makem or Christy Moore might have been considered to represent Ireland's musical contribution (and not that I've anything against John McCormack of course, but, really, how "unique" was his voice, and wasn't he more famous for interpreting Italian music?)

In all, though, the show is a very cool idea indeed and I'll be catching up with the episodes on the NPR site from now on.

'Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall..'

2010-02-18T18:42:00.004-05:00

One of the cool things I get to do every few weeks is go through the TV shows I've stored on the DVR and burn the ones I want to keep onto DVD. And since I have to burn the discs in real time, I've had some great shows to watch over the past couple of days.

Apart from big setpiece events like the Grammys, the Hope for Haiti fundraiser - with some truly remarkable performances - or the Civil Rights commemoration at the White House, here are some of the shows I've been looking at:

'Three Girls and Their Buddy' featuring Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin in concert with their longtime sideman and one of my favorite guitarists and songwriters, Buddy Miller. I've been a fan of Buddy (and his wife Julie) for years, so this show is just great, and goes some way towards making up for the disappointment that Buddy was ill when we went to see the tour at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The girls still made it a great night, though.

'Ramble at the Ryman' is a film featuring the drummer of The Band, Levon Helm, with a show of his in Nashville with guests like Buddy and John Hiatt among others.

'Jimi Hendrix - American Landing', part of Ovation TV's series on 'American Revolutionaries - Rock and Soul' for Black History Month. The film looks at how the Jimi Hendrix Experience made the transition from being a huge act in 1960s Britain to breaking the US market. A big part of that was their appearance at the Monterey Pop festival in 1968, and this movie documents that performance.

'No Journey's End' is a short film about the work of Canadian singer Loreena McKennitt, whose distinctively ethereal voice complements many indigenous instruments and styles and can transport you to any corner of the earth.

I had also stored a bunch of episodes of 'Later With Jools Holland' with some terrific spots by an eclectic mix of artists, including one show with the reunited Joe Jackson Band who I remember seeing in 1979, and whose first two albums - 'Look Sharp' and 'I'm The Man' were just brilliant examples of a combination of new wave energy with clever songwriting. Really glad he's still gigging.

Finally, 'You're Gonna Miss Me' on the Sundance Channel, is a sobering and unsettling look at the challenging life of Roky Erickson. A compelling, voyeuristic film, so much of it is not really what you'd call uplifting, but in the end it has something of a bitter-sweet redemptive quality that rewards you for persevering with it.

More video treasures in a few weeks.

"My my my my wooo.."

2010-02-15T15:05:00.009-05:00

On behalf of every bar band, everywhere, who ever played this - a genuine can't-miss song - thanks and RIP Doug Fieger.

According to the NME, "Sharona Alperin, the muse for 'My Sharona' and now apparently a Los Angeles real estate agent, paid tribute to Fieger, explaining: "Doug changed my life forever. He left on Valentine's Day, a day of heart and love, and that was Doug, all heart and love."

Here's an item from NYT Artsbeat which celebrates the reach of 'My Sharona' - a song apparently written in 15 minutes that lasted a lifetime - while the always entertaining PopDose has a very nice piece about the band beyond their iconic hit.

In Fieger's NYT obituary Ben Sisario recalls that "The band’s cocky behavior was interpreted as hubris by the rock press, and many critics called its lyrics misogynistic or worse. “Compared to Doug Fieger, Rod Stewart is a paragon of sexual humility,” Dave Marsh wrote in a Rolling Stone review of the band’s second album, “... But the Little Girls Understand.”

And I actually did not know until I read his obit, that he was Geoffrey Fieger's brother.

'This is the ride I'm on, this is the ride I want..'

2010-02-14T00:48:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to my wife and to all of you. I hope you're able to spend time with someone you love today, if that's what makes you happy.

Everyone seems to be doing a list of Valentine's songs, or even great break-up songs - i particularly liked the readers' lists over at NPR.org: Valentines here, BreakUps here.

So before you grab your boombox and Peter Gabriel tape and drive over to your ex-girlfriend's house, what follows are just some of my favorite "love" songs - incorporating, it has to be said, varying degrees of joy - that might inspire you or help you get through today.

Catie Curtis - Magnolia Street

Damien Rice - The Blower's Daughter

Marc Cohn - One Safe Place

James Taylor - Shower The People

Peter Bradley Adams - Always

Mark Knopfler - Romeo and Juliet

Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night

finally and apparently incongruously, The Puma Hardchorus - Truly Madly Deeply (by Savage Garden)

'Who has the words to close the distance between you and me..'

2010-02-11T10:03:00.009-05:00

I remember this like it was yesterday.

And I remember thinking at the time that whatever emotions I had as an outsider - primarily happiness that justice could eventually prevail - were insignificant compared with the feelings among the people of South Africa amid the uncertainty over how their future would unfold.

The challenges they have faced since then have been great, and continue. But the joy of that day was momentous, and the inspiration of the man as a human being remains undiminished.

"It is music and dancing that makes me at peace with the world."

'I try to find the key to fifty million fables..'

2010-02-09T06:12:00.019-05:00

I was never lucky enough to see The Who live. I'm nearly 50 years old and it's probably the one real regret of my musical life. The closest I came was the night I first saw Bruce Springsteen, at the Birmingham NEC on 7 June 1981, when, as if life couldn't get any better at that moment, Pete Townshend showed up to jam.

(I also walked past John Entwistle as he was waiting for his car outside a hotel in New York, the day after the band had played at the Javits Center in the summer of 2000, but I don't think that counts, since I was too speechless to actually say anything to him.)

But the whole band - the real band - sadly no.

When I was about 12, I heard "Tommy" and, along with The Beatles' "Abbey Road" around the same time, it changed how I thought about music. This wasn't "pop", this was literature. They're still two of my favorite albums and are as clever and magnificent today as they were then.

So, Pete and Roger got some tough press over their SuperBowl show the other night. Not all of it completely undeserved - the sound mixing at the start of the set wasn't great, but the staging was as impressive as is possible in such an impersonal performance - but to a certain extent the reaction the next day seemed to reflect a generational understanding of what the band means and their place in history.

"Live At Leeds" is possibly one of the best live albums ever made. My friends who were at The Valley in '74 or '76 will always argue that those shows - dysfunctional and acrimonious as they were - may have embodied the height of the band's powers as a live act. That may be and certainly after Keith Moon's death, things were never the same.

That's why I found myself sadly nodding in agreement at pretty much everything Caryn Rose wrote over at Jukebox Graduate.

I think what resonated with me the most was the realization of what's been lost and what we're in the process of losing.

When she mentioned that U2 are the only band in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that still has its original members, the value of what I'd missed out on with The Who was crystallized.

Every live performance is special because it is, by its very nature, unique. Some will be good and some will be bad. That's how it is with live performances; you know that's the gamble when you buy a ticket, and you know it when you've seen a band a few times that some days they're on, some days they're off.

But when part of them isn't there, by definition, they're always "off". Even when they're "on", it's someone else, it's something different.

I said earlier that the closest I came to seeing The Who live was when Pete Townshend jammed with Bruce. Strictly that's true, but in my heart, it's a different story.

On the evening of October 20, 2001, I was working the overnight shift at my paper's office in midtown Manhattan. I was alone in the office while ten blocks away at Madison Square Garden, the Concert For New York City was being broadcast live, and The Who were doing this:

With "Baba O'Riley" I was up and dancing around the desks. As "Won't Get Fooled Again" blasted into the empty office with the volume up as high as it would go, I was windmilling frantically in front of a glass window looking onto The Avenue Of The Americas. And I didn't care who saw. For me, still a relative stranger in this city in the wake of September 11, this was my old country talking to my new one; it was our musical history putting an arm round everyone here and saying: "we're the same," at the same time as we're singing: "I don't need to fight to prove I'm right."

To all intents and purposes, I "saw" The Who that night, because I got The Who that night.

So before you judge anything by those twelve corporate minutes on Sunday night, just think of what you've missed. God knows, I do.

And if you've any lingering doubts that this band has an enduring relevance beyond just the CSI crowd that hears the band as some kind of FM ambient noise, then just take a look at the recent VH1 tribute. Yes, there were cheesy parts, but it was real, and it was sincere. And this was just one part of it, a part that made me feel young again:

This is music. This is our life. This is Who we are. From my generation to the next.

*********************************

Thanks to the brilliant Rock and Roll Today we learn that today, 49 years ago - and a whole month and a half before I was born - The Beatles made their first appearance at Liverpool's Cavern Club.

Then, exactly three years later, Beatlemania came to America with the band's first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and subsequent appearances at Shea Stadium.

Who'd have ever thought we'd end up writing something like this?

*********************************

And rounding off this 'British Invasion' edition, this is just great...

I love The Kinks. Go get 'em, Geoff!

'The city's aflood, our love turns to rust..'

2010-02-07T17:52:00.003-05:00

SuperBowl tonight. Without a dog in the fight, will be rooting for the Saints.

As a mark of how assimilated we all are, the wife and I are going to watch it with some English and Russian friends.

Looking forward to seeing The Who. For now, though, this is still the best halftime show I can remember.

'It's not as though my life ain't hard enough to do..'

2010-02-05T09:03:00.004-05:00

The New York Times today has a genuinely sad story about someone who by all accounts was a good man.

He was certainly a wonderful guitar player. My favorite album of his is "Spirit World", which opens up with a track called "YoYo" - one of those songs that you hear once and instantly wish you were able to play, let alone write.

This is another favorite:

'I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance..'

2010-02-03T10:55:00.011-05:00

On this day in 1959, a small plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper crashed in a frozen field in Iowa.

It became "the day the music died" and there's a nice collection of appropriate video links on Roger Ebert's blog, as well as a great playlist at Wolfgang's Vault.

It was Buddy Holly and the Crickets who helped popularize both the twin guitar image for bands and the Fender Stratocaster - a lineage that would stretch through players like Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix, Ry Cooder, Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Mayer; and - on the other side of the Atlantic - Hank Marvin, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler.

That's quite a legacy right there.

But as if to prove that even those who break new ground in rock and roll aren't always appreciated, take a listen to this phone conversation between Buddy and an executive at Decca Records from February 1957 about his contract release and what happened to his recordings from the previous summer.

Here's "That'll Be The Day", the only one of The Crickets' singles that topped the charts in both the US and the UK.

'Life's Been Good To Me So Far..'

2010-01-28T14:48:00.007-05:00

Great story today about a row between guitarist Joe Walsh (The Eagles, The James Gang) and candidate Joe Walsh (Republican Congresssional aspirant from Illinois) over the latter's use in his campaign of a rewritten version of one of the former's songs.

Parody? Copyright violation? Might end up being left to a judge.

You can watch Candidate Joe's version at The New York Times piece, which has the letter from Guitar Joe's lawyer, which says:

"Under that same United States Copyright Act, you’re not allowed to take someone’s song and change the lyrics. This is not to say you’re not allowed to write silly lyrics, you just have to write them to your own music. Now, I know why you used Joe’s music — it’s undoubtedly because it’s a lot better than any music you or your staff could have written. But that’s the point. Since Joe writes better songs than you do, the Copryright Act rewards him by letting him decide who gets to use the songs he writes."

But the Republican pushes back, saying:

"I thought our song was perfectly fine music and I actually don’t think you’re even close to correct on the law. Copyright laws protect expression, they don’t protect ideas. The lyrics for the song were entirely ours, and that included everything that was said in the video, not just sung. … This video is a parody, protected by the Supreme Court."

Hmmmm. Let's see, shall we.

Greg Mitchell at HuffPo tells the tale with a nice anecdote about an early morning James Gang gig back in the day.

I saw Joe play live just once, in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982 and on his day he's a great, great rock and roll player. His tunes are completely timeless. The first band I ever played in used to cover Joe's "Turn To Stone" after we all saw him play on the Old Grey Whistle Test one night and were blown away; while thirty years later my band at the FT would rock out with a knockout version of his classic "Rocky Mountain Way". Never, ever gets old.

He's always had such a cool sense of humor. He introduces this clip with: "If I knew I'd end up playing this song for the rest of my life, I'd have written something else." And he's no stranger to politics, of course. He ran for President in 1980 on a platform of "free gas for everyone" and a pledge to make his song "Life's Been Good" the new national anthem.

But it sounds like he's not laughing much about having his work appropriated, and who can blame him. Candidate Joe has already got the publicity he wanted and if he were to 'cease and desist' he'd probably get away with having to apologize and take the video down.

Guitar Joe should at least sue him for the price of a new Maserati.

'In History's Page, Let Every Stage..'

2010-01-26T09:00:00.010-05:00

Happy Australia Day.

Some people can make the guitar sound like an orchestra. Some can make it sound like a gospel choir. This guy can pretty much make it sound like everything at the same time. I've only ever seen Tommy Emmanuel on video (with the advantage of being able to rewind and say "wow, did he just do that?") but the man is amazing, is driven by a pure love of music and is on tour in the US this month.

And here's my favourite Australian band - yes, I know the Finn brothers are from New Zealand, but hey, any excuse to hear a great, great song. (Update: just today it was announced that Crowded House are releasing a new album in March and touring to support it.)

Finally, and not Aussie-related at all, it's Lucinda Williams' 57th birthday today. My wife's a big fan, so this is for you...

'Was it something I did in another life..?'

2010-01-24T19:20:00.005-05:00

Today would have been Warren Zevon's 63rd birthday.

Wonderful voice, brilliantly witty songwriter and just an excellent musician and performer.

He's one of my absolute all-time inspirations and is sorely missed. I had the extreme good fortune to see him play at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1985 and I love his songs as much today as when I first heard them.

If you get a chance, check out the heartbreaking documentary VH1 did about the recording of his final album and how he kept going to complete it as his friends and collaborators rallied round. In the meantime, I'll let his music speak for itself.

Here's an acoustic 'Lawyers Guns And Money' from a BBC show 15 years ago:

Here's 'Johnny Strikes Up The Band' from the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, 1982:

And here's his famous final TV appearance, recorded following his diagnosis, with a clearly emotional David Letterman.

Goodnight and thanks.

'Hallelujah..'

2010-01-22T22:26:00.006-05:00

If you ever doubted music's power to reach within our soul, whoever we are, whichever our station in life, or whatever our fortune by an accident of where we were born, then listen to this.

Tonight's Haiti telethon was reverential, respectful, and, at least in part, with Wyclef Jean's spirited finale, redemptive.

There were many remarkable performances - Bruce sang 'We Shall Overcome', Sting and The Roots blew the roof off with 'Driven To Tears', while Stevie Wonder's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' was damn near perfect.

But this - this - version of Leonard Cohen's signature anthem by Justin Timberlake and Matt Morris, was simply breathtaking.

God bless music.

(You can download all of tonight's performances through iTunes in support of the disaster relief efforts in Haiti)

'May your dreams be realized..'

2010-01-18T16:04:00.001-05:00

'When Scooter and the Big Man bust this city in half..'

2010-01-11T10:34:00.006-05:00

Happy 68th Birthday, Clarence Clemons.

Over the holidays I read his book "Big Man" which came out towards the end of the Working On A Dream tour. The sub-title is "Real Life and Tall Tales" and it's just that - a collection of true recollections and narratives which fall into something of a grey area, hence they're printed on grey pages in the book.

Clarence's co-author Don Reo introduces one of them with "Most of Clarence's stories are only partially bullshit. It's only fair to tell you that I think the next one is complete bullshit."

The book's great to dip into and well worth reading, especially for E Street fans. As he says himself, it's impossible to tell his story without talking at length about Bruce. Here's Clarence's recent appearance on The Daily Show, and below, he talks about getting his first saxophone:

********************************

Tonight at 9pm on PBS is the debut of the American Masters documentary on the life of Sam Cooke. Here's Ken Shane's review for PopDose. (On my local station, WNET, it's being followed by the one on Marvin Gaye)

********************************

Tickets went on sale today for the Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band show next month at BAM. Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and Martha Wainwright are on the bill.

'All our words are written down in chalk..'

2010-01-07T17:24:00.001-05:00

'Nothing more important than to know someone's listening..'

2009-12-23T12:43:00.001-05:00

'I've got a real good heart, I just can't catch a break..'

2009-12-13T23:53:00.001-05:00

'In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make..'

2009-12-08T22:25:00.007-05:00

Today was the 29th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon.

So incredibly hard to believe it has been so long, but if there is such a thing as true immortality, it is in an unparalleled musical legacy like this.

My dad gave me copies of 'Abbey Road' and 'Let It Be' for - I think - my 12th birthday, just as I was seriously getting into 'real' music (I remember seeing the Sgt Pepper album cover in our house when it came out, but I was too young to get why it was important).

And I remember dad waking me up that morning in 1980 with the news of Lennon's death. Teary-eyed, he was just shaking his head with the senselessness of it all.

Perhaps the saddest thing about losing John when we did was that he seemed to be so re-energized about the music he was making, and may have been on the verge of a new phase in his creative and personal life. Who knows what was really taken from us.

What he left, though, in addition to the music of a generation, was a lesson in humanity and a reminder that, truly, all you need is love.

I was saddened to hear recently about the passing of Thom Manno, guitar player for The Meetles, Eric Paulin's Beatles tribute band. I had the pleasure of running into the band during my stint on the subway, and here's what I wrote about them at the time, including a couple of video clips of the band. My sympathies go out to Thom's family and friends.

'Hail Hail, Rock And Roll..'

2009-11-30T23:12:00.012-05:00

I've been speechless for a while now, to be honest. And with good reason. I've been working on a couple of things that have taken some time and I wanted to re-vamp this blog a little (partly since it's clearly no longer "summer") and the broadcast last night on HBO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary party is a pretty good way of getting back in the groove.

Everyone who played over both shows were icons of the modern music world, and the short films that knitted the performances together were just perfectly pitched. It was like watching your personal soundtrack unfold, with a reminder of how your own musical life is unbreakably connected to everything that came before.

Many of the acts I'd seen in concert previously, but just having them all under one roof was staggering. Seeing Simon and Garfunkel was very cool indeed and Paul's band - we'd seen them last year at the BAM anthology series he did - are brilliant musicians.

But the highlight of the first night was, surprise surprise, Bruce and the band, with their guests. A great, rockin' set - maybe even the best "Jungleland" I've ever heard, and an amazing "Tom Joad" and "London Calling" with Tom Morello, as well a great cover of Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" with John Fogerty. Bruce and Fogerty had played together on the Vote For Change tour in 2004 and again they did a high-energy version of "Fortunate Son" rather than one of my favorite CCR songs, which Bruce used to play live, "Who'll Stop The Rain?"

After hooking up with Billy Joel for a "Bridge and Tunnel summit", the E Street Band finished the set with a joyous "Higher and Higher", with pretty much everyone back on stage, as well as J Geils frontman Peter Wolf who climbed over the guardrail with Jackson Browne at the urging of Steve Van Zandt. Bruce must have liked how the song turned out too, since he started including it in his encores when his own tour resumed.

We originally just had tickets for the first night, but ended up going along for the second night too, thanks to the generosity of our friends. Tom Hanks gave the same opening speech from the other side of the stage, presumably for cut purposes, and the impressive intro film was the same. After Aretha Franklin introduced all twenty-odd members of her group, many of whom seemed to be related to her, the second night got distinctly bluesy.

Eric Clapton had dropped out with illness and Jeff Beck took his place. He was effortlessly brilliant, but it was his young bass player Tal Wilkinfeld, a striking 23-year-old Australian, who stole the show. There was a moment where Beck motioned to her for a solo; she ripped one off then turned away with a huge, genuine grin. It was perfect.

Then, the unexpected highlight of the night. "We're Metallica and this is what we do..." with guest spots from Lou Reed, for a brilliant "Sweet Jane", Ozzy Osborne, who greeted the crowd with "Come on you fuckers..!" and an energetic and ageless Ray Davies of The Kinks.

But I have to say that Metallica blew me away. These guys can play.

After a couple of songs by U2, Bruce and Patti Smith came out for a somewhat embarrassing "Because The Night", then, after rocking the house into the wee hours the previous evening, Bruce stayed onstage with U2 to play "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

U2 launched into the opening of "Gimme Shelter" and Mick Jagger strode onto the stage looking thirty - no, maybe thirty-five - years younger than whatever age he actually is these days. Fergie from the BlackEyed Peas did her best with the Merry Clayton lines that originally made this one of the best songs in the Stones' catalog. Tonight, though, despite Mick, it was a bit pedestrian and the addition of a string quartet didn't help.

After that, Bono and Mick dueted on "Caught In A Moment" but somehow it seemed devoid of any real electricity - maybe an odd thing to say considering the volume of both charisma and ego onstage, but then U2 did "Beautiful Day" and it was all over. No singalong, no communal feelgood like last night.

Sure, there were some moments that jarred - the technical problems as Stevie Wonder and U2 began their sets, or Patti Smith screwing up her own song (the upside was they played it again and it was even more powerful) and also seeing the lyrics for the next song being cued up on the TelePrompTer somewhat diminished the element of surprise.

In all honesty, not having Dylan, or Paul McCartney, or The Who did leave a hole in the encyclopedic nature of the bill, but that's a churlish criticism. Everyone has their favorites. I'm sure there were some folks who were hoping Elton John would show up.

For me personally, though, probably the only missing Hall of Famer who could have made the night even better than perfect was Tom Petty.

The challenge for HBO was always going to be in the editing. They had a four-hour show. The first night alone was in excess of six hours and I guess they wanted to get in as many of the "special guests" as they could. But whatever they came up with would be a great reminder of something very special indeed.

Here's the first night's setlist, via Jon Pareles at the New York Times

Jerry Lee Lewis :
“Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On”

Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Woodstock”
“Marrakech Express”
“Almost Cut My Hair”

Bonnie Raitt with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Love Has No Pride”

Bonnie Raitt and Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Midnight Rider”

Jackson Browne with Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“The Pretender”

James Taylor with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Mexico”

Crosby, Stills and Nash with James Taylor:
“Love the One You’re With”

Crosby, Stills and Nash:
“Rock and Roll Woman”

Crosby, Stills and Nash with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and James Taylor:
“Teach Your Children”

Paul Simon:
“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”
“Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”
“You Can Call Me Al”

Dion DiMucci with Paul Simon:
“The Wanderer”

Paul Simon with David Crosby and Graham Nash:
“Here Comes the Sun”

Paul Simon:
“Late in the Evening”

Little Anthony and the Imperials:
“Two People in the World”

Simon and Garfunkel: “The Sounds of Silence”
“Mrs. Robinson”/”Not Fade Away”
“The Boxer”
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”
“Cecilia”

Stevie Wonder: “Blowin’ in the Wind”
“Uptight (Everything’s Alright)”
“I Was Made To Love You”
“For Once in My Life”
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”
“Boogie On Reggae Woman”

Smokey Robinson with Stevie Wonder:
“The Tracks of My Tears”

John Legend with Stevie Wonder:
“Mercy Mercy Me (the Ecology)”

Stevie Wonder with John Legend:
“The Way You Make Me Feel”

B.B. King with Stevie Wonder:
“The Thrill Is Gone”

Stevie Wonder:
“Living for the City”

Stevie Wonder and Sting:
“Higher Ground”/”Roxanne”

Stevie Wonder with Jeff Beck:
“Superstition”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“10th Avenue Freeze-Out”

Sam Moore with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Hold On I’m Comin’”
“Soul Man”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
“The Ghost of Tom Joad”

John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Fortunate Son”
“Proud Mary”
“Oh. Pretty Woman”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“Jungleland”

Darlene Love with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“A Fine, Fine Boy”
“Da Doo Ron Ron”

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello:
“London Calling”
“Badlands”

Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“You May Be Right”
“Only the Good Die Young”
“New York State of Mind”
“Born To Run”

Darlene Love, John Fogerty, Tom Morello, Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band:
“(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher”

And here's the second night:

Jerry Lee Lewis:
“Great Balls of Fire”

Aretha Franklin:
“Baby, I Love You”
“Don’t Play That Song”
“Make Them Hear You”

Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox:
“Chain of Fools”

Aretha Franklin:
“New York, New York”

Aretha Franklin and Lenny Kravitz:
“Think”

Aretha Franklin:
“Respect”

Jeff Beck:
“Drown in My Own Tears”

Jeff Beck and Sting:
“People Get Ready”

Jeff Beck:
“Freeway Boogie”
“Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers”

Buddy Guy with Jeff Beck:
“Let Me Love You”

Jeff Beck:
“Big Block”
“Rice Pudding”

Billy Gibbons and Jeff Beck:
“Rough Boy”

Jeff Beck and Billy Gibbons:
“Foxy Lady”

Jeff Beck:
“A Day in the Life”

Metallica:
“For Whom the Bell Tolls”
“One”
“Turn the Page”

Metallica and Lou Reed:
“Sweet Jane”
“White Light/ White Heat”

Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne:
“Iron Man”
“Paranoid”

Metallica and Ray Davies:
“You Really Got Me”
“All Day and All of the Night”

Metallica:
“Stone Cold Crazy”
“Enter Sandman”

U2
“Vertigo”
“Magnificent”

U2, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith with Roy Bittan:
“Because the Night”

U2 and Bruce Springsteen with Roy Bittan:
“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

U2 and Black Eyed Peas:
“Mysterious Ways”/”Where Is the Love”/”One”

U2, Mick Jagger, Fergie and Will.i.am:
“Gimme Shelter”

U2 and Mick Jagger:
“Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”

U2:
“Beautiful Day”

In short, those two nights at Madison Square Garden were pretty much the musical equivalent of a quick visit to heaven, and so reliving them here gives me a chance to draw something of a line under this extended summer and my busking project. For years now, music has been a central part of my life; something I hope never changes as I move into the next seasons and whatever they bring.

'Even better than the real thing...'

2009-10-25T23:36:00.007-04:00

U2 bring their amazing and extravagant stage show to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena tonight, and the show will be streamed live on YouTube.

You can see it here.

So far, the quality of the stream is excellent. After the live show ends, YouTube will rebroadcast it at the U2 channel page.

Update: Apparently the show generated 10million live streams.

Tonight (Oct 30) the Foo Fighters will stream a show via Facebook. Details and links here.

These are the early days of what seems to be a groundbreaking new potential revenue model.

'Bring on your wrecking ball..'

2009-10-01T10:51:00.004-04:00

So, we make the trek out to the Meadowlands for the first two of the run of "final" shows at Giants Stadium. I thought last summer's shows here would take some beating, but the second night this time around turned out to be probably the best Springsteen stadium performance I've seen in the 28 years since my first show.

A big part of the reason for that was 'Darkness on the Edge of Town', the album Bruce and the band were playing in its entirety. The first night, they ran through 'Born To Run', but it's eight iconic songs are staples within the setlist in any case, so the novelty was hearing them in order.

With 'Darkness' though, there are tracks you rarely hear live, but which are among some of the most powerful and beautiful songs he's written. It was a wonderful timewarp. The songs sounded as fresh as ever and the band were clearly relaxed and into the show as much as the Friday night crowd.

The opener on the first night was brand new. 'Wrecking Ball' spoke to the unique connection between band, audience and place. It was great. And it was the first time in thirty-odd shows that I'd witnessed the debut of a new song. There was a bit of a glitch with the lyric teleprompter, which was displayed on the backdrop behind the band, but no-one minded.

The second night was perfect.

(There's a cool video - not the one below - on iTunes now, which strangely has edited in Bruce's wife Patti Scialfa, who didn't play at either night, and edited out Curt Ramm's trumpet solo).

Here's the first night's setlist, including 'Born To Run' straight through...

Wrecking Ball
Seeds
Johnny 99
Atlantic City
Outlaw Pete
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Night
Backstreets
Born to Run
She's the One
Meeting Across the River
Jungleland
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Into the Fire
Lonesome Day
The Rising
Badlands
No Surrender

Encores:
Raise Your Hand
E Street Shuffle
Growin' Up
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Hard Times
Rosalita

Here's the second night, with 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' straight through...

Wrecking Ball
Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out
No Surrender
Outlaw Pete
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Badlands
Adam Raised a Cain
Something in the Night
Candy's Room
Racing in the Street
The Promised Land
Factory
Streets of Fire
Prove It All Night
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Waitin' on a Sunny Day
Raise Your Hand
I'm Goin' Down
Be True
Jailhouse Rock
Thunder Road
Long Walk Home
The Rising
Born to Run

Encores:
Cadillac Ranch
Bobby Jean
American Land
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita

And this - this - is simply the music of the Gods. Unsurpassable. It's one of my absolute favorite Bruce songs anyway, but tonight it was just magical.