One of our era's most infamous musical recluses is out on a solo tour through mid-December. Souther is touring in support of his first new release in 25 years, "If The World Was You".
Our crack research staff found a few Souther solo live performances worth watching, including this version of "Doolin' Dalton", a song he co-wrote with the Eagles for their "Desperado" album.
We also came across this recent performance taped at Dingwalls, a small club in London. The clip features two songs, "All I Want Is You" is first up, followed by one of Souther's better known compositions which he introduced by noting that it, "sounds better with the (Eagles') four part harmonies, but you didn't pay $300 and you don't have to walk two miles to your car!"
Friday, October 31, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Lowell George's Daughter, Inara
Recently, Little Feat released “Join The Band”, on which they enlist some big-name friends who join up for some Feat classics and more.
The album has some interesting moments, most notably an early Little Feat ballad "Trouble", which features Inara George, daughter of Little Feat founder Lowell George.
If, like us, you were totally unaware of Inara George until now, you'll be surprised to know that Inara, now in her thirties, is a recording artist in her own right both as a solo artist and part of the indie-rock duo The Bird and the Bee.
One of the many reasons Little Feat has always been a musician’s band is that Lowell George’s vocals were often unique both in phrasing, syncopation and melody. One would be doing quite well to capture the overall feel a ballad like “Trouble”, which laments about a bad day to end all bad days and describes a pretty bizarre series of events. One would think that capturing Lowell’s phrasing, as he twisted and bent his way through the melody hardly ever singing along with the accompanying musicians would be next to impossible.
Yet Inara manages to do all that and more on "Trouble", accompanied only by Bill Payne’s delicate and emotive touch on acoustic piano. Perhaps Inara succeeds handily because, as Bill Payne recalls, her mother Liz used to sing “Trouble” to her as a bedtime song when she was a little girl. Or, perhaps it’s just simply in her genes.
Inara and Bill Payne recorded “Trouble” in Los Angeles at Ocean Ways studio, formerly known as United Western, where Little Feat recorded their debut album in 1970.
Payne explains, “it's just her and I, and I was on the acoustic piano and she sang it. I had tears in my eyes at the end. I was there at the studio, which was the first place that Little Feat recorded for Warner Brothers. We were there the day Inara was born. Now it's almost 40 years later and I'm recording with Lowell's daughter.”
To hear an excerpt from Inara George's version of "Trouble" from Little Feat's "Join The Band", click here.
The album has some interesting moments, most notably an early Little Feat ballad "Trouble", which features Inara George, daughter of Little Feat founder Lowell George.
If, like us, you were totally unaware of Inara George until now, you'll be surprised to know that Inara, now in her thirties, is a recording artist in her own right both as a solo artist and part of the indie-rock duo The Bird and the Bee.One of the many reasons Little Feat has always been a musician’s band is that Lowell George’s vocals were often unique both in phrasing, syncopation and melody. One would be doing quite well to capture the overall feel a ballad like “Trouble”, which laments about a bad day to end all bad days and describes a pretty bizarre series of events. One would think that capturing Lowell’s phrasing, as he twisted and bent his way through the melody hardly ever singing along with the accompanying musicians would be next to impossible.
Yet Inara manages to do all that and more on "Trouble", accompanied only by Bill Payne’s delicate and emotive touch on acoustic piano. Perhaps Inara succeeds handily because, as Bill Payne recalls, her mother Liz used to sing “Trouble” to her as a bedtime song when she was a little girl. Or, perhaps it’s just simply in her genes.
Inara and Bill Payne recorded “Trouble” in Los Angeles at Ocean Ways studio, formerly known as United Western, where Little Feat recorded their debut album in 1970.
Payne explains, “it's just her and I, and I was on the acoustic piano and she sang it. I had tears in my eyes at the end. I was there at the studio, which was the first place that Little Feat recorded for Warner Brothers. We were there the day Inara was born. Now it's almost 40 years later and I'm recording with Lowell's daughter.”
To hear an excerpt from Inara George's version of "Trouble" from Little Feat's "Join The Band", click here.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Brian Wilson: Lucky Old Son
By completing his long dormant SMiLE project, Brian Wilson gave us a glimpse of where he was headed musically in 1967. His vision took the concept album and the rock opera and combined them to conjure up his own unique quasi-symphonic concoction. Three movements...recurring musical themes...the works.
Like us, you may have thought completing SMiLE probably took everything Brian Wilson had left - especially if you saw the "making of" video. Yet several years later, we're listening to "That Lucky Old Sun".
"That Lucky Old Sun" is not SMiLE but, despite being a bit uneven, it's enchanting and powerful in its own way. It is most definitely a concept piece, following a similar structure to SMiLE, with the chestnut "That Lucky Old Sun" apparently sparking Brian's nostalgia for the life he has lived in California.
While not Wilson's best work, when "That Lucky Old Sun" is good, it's amazingly good.
Two sections in particular stand out, the first includes "Can't Wait Too Long", Midnight's Another Day" and a reprise of "That Lucky Old Sun". "Midnight's Another Day" evokes the same mood and feel as "Til I Die", Wilson's only new contribution to "Surf's Up". "Til I Die" was a powerful and disturbing "state of Brian" update he issued in 1971. It was his first attempt to describe what it was like for him trying to deal with his psychological issues and despair after he lost his way in 1967. "Midnight's Another Day" is a present day look back at the ordeal of a man who was, "Swept away in a brainstorm/Chapters missing, pages torn" and has come out the other side, albeit understandably worse for the wear. It's nearly as beautiful a song as "Til I Die", with equally strong lyrics and a brighter outlook.
The other memorable segment concludes the work on an upbeat note or two. It kicks off with "Going Home", a nostalgic upbeat reassurance that Brian has "Found peace of mind/One piece at a time". "Southern California" wraps up the project both literally and figuratively. Brian waxes nostalgic for everything California, especially his brothers, and acknowledges his accomplishments, which is summarizes by singing, "Fell asleep in the band room/Woke up in history."
That lucky old son.
To see and hear Brian Wilson and his band performing several tracks from "That Lucky Old Sun" live in front of an audience on Yahoo! Music! "Live Sets", click here.
If you're interested in Brian Wilson and his band's AOL Sessions live in the studio performances of several tracks from "That Lucky Old Sun", click here.
Like us, you may have thought completing SMiLE probably took everything Brian Wilson had left - especially if you saw the "making of" video. Yet several years later, we're listening to "That Lucky Old Sun".
"That Lucky Old Sun" is not SMiLE but, despite being a bit uneven, it's enchanting and powerful in its own way. It is most definitely a concept piece, following a similar structure to SMiLE, with the chestnut "That Lucky Old Sun" apparently sparking Brian's nostalgia for the life he has lived in California.While not Wilson's best work, when "That Lucky Old Sun" is good, it's amazingly good.
Two sections in particular stand out, the first includes "Can't Wait Too Long", Midnight's Another Day" and a reprise of "That Lucky Old Sun". "Midnight's Another Day" evokes the same mood and feel as "Til I Die", Wilson's only new contribution to "Surf's Up". "Til I Die" was a powerful and disturbing "state of Brian" update he issued in 1971. It was his first attempt to describe what it was like for him trying to deal with his psychological issues and despair after he lost his way in 1967. "Midnight's Another Day" is a present day look back at the ordeal of a man who was, "Swept away in a brainstorm/Chapters missing, pages torn" and has come out the other side, albeit understandably worse for the wear. It's nearly as beautiful a song as "Til I Die", with equally strong lyrics and a brighter outlook.
The other memorable segment concludes the work on an upbeat note or two. It kicks off with "Going Home", a nostalgic upbeat reassurance that Brian has "Found peace of mind/One piece at a time". "Southern California" wraps up the project both literally and figuratively. Brian waxes nostalgic for everything California, especially his brothers, and acknowledges his accomplishments, which is summarizes by singing, "Fell asleep in the band room/Woke up in history."
That lucky old son.
To see and hear Brian Wilson and his band performing several tracks from "That Lucky Old Sun" live in front of an audience on Yahoo! Music! "Live Sets", click here.
If you're interested in Brian Wilson and his band's AOL Sessions live in the studio performances of several tracks from "That Lucky Old Sun", click here.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Who Was Jerry Wexler?
Good question.
Unfortunately, it's a question not enough people can answer. Which is precisely why we’ve excerpted Bruce Weber’s excellent obituary, which appeared in The New York Times.
Jerry Wexler, who as a reporter for Billboard magazine
in the late 1940s christened black popular music rhythm and blues, and who as a record producer helped lead the genre to mainstream popularity, propelling the careers of Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and other performers, died at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 91.
Mr. Wexler was already in his 30s when he entered the music business, but his impact was immediate and enduring. In 1987, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognized his contributions to American music by inducting him in only its second year of conferring such honors.
Mr. Wexler actually didn’t care for rock ’n’ roll, at least as it evolved in the 1960s and ’70s. Though he signed Led Zeppelin and eventually produced records for Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Dire Straits and George Michael, his main influence came in the 1950s and ’60s as a vice president of Atlantic Records, working largely with black artists who were forging a new musical style, which came to be called soul music, from elements of gospel, swing and blues.
“He played a major role in bringing black music to the masses, and in the evolution of rhythm and blues to soul music,” Jim Henke, vice president and chief curator for the Hall of Fame, said in an interview. “Beyond that, he really developed the role of the record producer. Jerry did a lot more than just turn on a tape recorder. He left his stamp on a lot of great music. He had a commercial ear as well as a critical ear.”
Mr. Wexler was something of a paradox. A businessman with tireless energy, a ruthless streak and a volatile temper, he was also a hopeless music fan. A New York Jew and a vehement atheist, he found his musical home in the Deep South, in studios in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Ala., among Baptists and Methodists, blacks and good old boys.
“He was a bundle of contradictions,” said Tom Thurman, who produced and directed a documentary about Mr. Wexler in 2000. “He was incredibly abrasive and incredibly generous, very abrupt and very, very patient, seemingly a pure, sharklike businessman and also a cerebral and creative genius.”
The title of Mr. Thurman’s documentary, “Immaculate Funk,” was Mr. Wexler’s phrase for the Atlantic sound, characterized by a heavy backbeat and a gospel influence. “It’s funky, it’s deep, it’s very emotional, but it’s clean,” Mr. Wexler once said.
Though not a musician himself, Mr. Wexler had a natural rapport with musicians, who seemed to recognize his instinct for how best to employ their gifts. He presided over the 1954 recording session of Ray Charles’s breakout hit, “I Got a Woman.” He said later that the best thing he had done for Charles was to let him do as he pleased.
Mr. Wexler wasn’t always a mere listener. In the mid-1960s, at a recording session with Wilson Pickett, Mr. Wexler wanted more of a backbeat in the song “In the Midnight Hour” but couldn’t explain in words what he wanted, so he illustrated it by doing a new dance, the jerk.
In the late 1960s and ’70s, he made 14 Atlantic albums with Ms. Franklin, whose musical instincts had been less than fully exploited at her previous label, Columbia. Mr. Wexler gave her more control over her songs and her sound, a blend of churchlike spirituality and raw sexuality, which can be heard in hits like “Respect,” “Dr. Feelgood” and “Chain of Fools.”
“How could he understand what was inside of black people like that?” Wilson Pickett said. “But Jerry Wexler did.”
Gerald Wexler was born in New York City on Jan. 10, 1917, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan at a time before the building of the George Washington Bridge, when swimming in the Hudson River was a summer pastime.
His work at Billboard attracted the attention of Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, then a small independent label focusing on black music. Mr. Ertegun asked Mr. Wexler to join the company in 1953.
Over the next decade Mr. Wexler’s drive, his sales and promotion skills, and, according to the business practices of the day, his indulging in payola — the bribery of disc jockeys to play a company’s records — helped make Atlantic a leader in the recording industry. In the 1950s the company produced records by the Drifters, the Clovers, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown and, in partnership with the songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the Coasters.
In the 1960s, however, Mr. Wexler and Mr. Ertegun began to take different paths. Mr. Ertegun gravitated toward rock ’n’ roll, while Mr. Wexler — was drawn to the niche sounds he found in places like Memphis, where a small label, Stax Records, its principal studio located in a former movie palace, had gathered a mix of black and white musicians and produced a sound based on spontaneity and improvisation.
In the early 1970s Mr. Wexler helped resurrect the career of Willie Nelson with two albums for Atlantic, but he left the label in 1975. (It had been bought by Warner Brothers in 1967.) Later he produced Bob Dylan’s 1979 album “Slow Train Coming,” a celebration of the singer’s embrace of Christianity, for Columbia. When Mr. Dylan accepted his first Grammy Award for best male rock vocal performance, for the song “Gotta Serve Somebody,” he first thanked God and then Jerry Wexler.
In the 1980s Mr. Wexler helped Linda Ronstadt with her career-changing album of Sinatraesque standards, “What’s New,” a project begun when she spent an afternoon with Mr. Wexler listening to records and for the first time heard the 1930s singer Mildred Bailey.
“When I said I wanted to sing like that, Jerry said the best way was to get a pianist and learn how those songs are done,” Ms. Ronstadt told The New York Times in 1983. She added, “One thing Jerry Wexler taught me was that if you’ve got a sexy or torchy song, you mustn’t attitudinize on top of it, because it sounds redundant.”
Given the chance, Mr. Wexler would have produced to the end and beyond.
“I asked him once,” said Mr. Thurman, the filmmaker, “ ‘What do you want written on your tombstone, Jerry?’ He said, ‘Two words: More bass.’ ”
Unfortunately, it's a question not enough people can answer. Which is precisely why we’ve excerpted Bruce Weber’s excellent obituary, which appeared in The New York Times.
Jerry Wexler, who as a reporter for Billboard magazine
in the late 1940s christened black popular music rhythm and blues, and who as a record producer helped lead the genre to mainstream popularity, propelling the careers of Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and other performers, died at his home in Sarasota, Fla. He was 91.Mr. Wexler was already in his 30s when he entered the music business, but his impact was immediate and enduring. In 1987, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognized his contributions to American music by inducting him in only its second year of conferring such honors.
Mr. Wexler actually didn’t care for rock ’n’ roll, at least as it evolved in the 1960s and ’70s. Though he signed Led Zeppelin and eventually produced records for Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Dire Straits and George Michael, his main influence came in the 1950s and ’60s as a vice president of Atlantic Records, working largely with black artists who were forging a new musical style, which came to be called soul music, from elements of gospel, swing and blues.
“He played a major role in bringing black music to the masses, and in the evolution of rhythm and blues to soul music,” Jim Henke, vice president and chief curator for the Hall of Fame, said in an interview. “Beyond that, he really developed the role of the record producer. Jerry did a lot more than just turn on a tape recorder. He left his stamp on a lot of great music. He had a commercial ear as well as a critical ear.”
Mr. Wexler was something of a paradox. A businessman with tireless energy, a ruthless streak and a volatile temper, he was also a hopeless music fan. A New York Jew and a vehement atheist, he found his musical home in the Deep South, in studios in Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Ala., among Baptists and Methodists, blacks and good old boys.
“He was a bundle of contradictions,” said Tom Thurman, who produced and directed a documentary about Mr. Wexler in 2000. “He was incredibly abrasive and incredibly generous, very abrupt and very, very patient, seemingly a pure, sharklike businessman and also a cerebral and creative genius.”
The title of Mr. Thurman’s documentary, “Immaculate Funk,” was Mr. Wexler’s phrase for the Atlantic sound, characterized by a heavy backbeat and a gospel influence. “It’s funky, it’s deep, it’s very emotional, but it’s clean,” Mr. Wexler once said.
Though not a musician himself, Mr. Wexler had a natural rapport with musicians, who seemed to recognize his instinct for how best to employ their gifts. He presided over the 1954 recording session of Ray Charles’s breakout hit, “I Got a Woman.” He said later that the best thing he had done for Charles was to let him do as he pleased.Mr. Wexler wasn’t always a mere listener. In the mid-1960s, at a recording session with Wilson Pickett, Mr. Wexler wanted more of a backbeat in the song “In the Midnight Hour” but couldn’t explain in words what he wanted, so he illustrated it by doing a new dance, the jerk.
In the late 1960s and ’70s, he made 14 Atlantic albums with Ms. Franklin, whose musical instincts had been less than fully exploited at her previous label, Columbia. Mr. Wexler gave her more control over her songs and her sound, a blend of churchlike spirituality and raw sexuality, which can be heard in hits like “Respect,” “Dr. Feelgood” and “Chain of Fools.”
“How could he understand what was inside of black people like that?” Wilson Pickett said. “But Jerry Wexler did.”
Gerald Wexler was born in New York City on Jan. 10, 1917, and grew up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan at a time before the building of the George Washington Bridge, when swimming in the Hudson River was a summer pastime.
His work at Billboard attracted the attention of Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records, then a small independent label focusing on black music. Mr. Ertegun asked Mr. Wexler to join the company in 1953.
Over the next decade Mr. Wexler’s drive, his sales and promotion skills, and, according to the business practices of the day, his indulging in payola — the bribery of disc jockeys to play a company’s records — helped make Atlantic a leader in the recording industry. In the 1950s the company produced records by the Drifters, the Clovers, Joe Turner, Ruth Brown and, in partnership with the songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the Coasters.
In the 1960s, however, Mr. Wexler and Mr. Ertegun began to take different paths. Mr. Ertegun gravitated toward rock ’n’ roll, while Mr. Wexler — was drawn to the niche sounds he found in places like Memphis, where a small label, Stax Records, its principal studio located in a former movie palace, had gathered a mix of black and white musicians and produced a sound based on spontaneity and improvisation.
In the early 1970s Mr. Wexler helped resurrect the career of Willie Nelson with two albums for Atlantic, but he left the label in 1975. (It had been bought by Warner Brothers in 1967.) Later he produced Bob Dylan’s 1979 album “Slow Train Coming,” a celebration of the singer’s embrace of Christianity, for Columbia. When Mr. Dylan accepted his first Grammy Award for best male rock vocal performance, for the song “Gotta Serve Somebody,” he first thanked God and then Jerry Wexler.
In the 1980s Mr. Wexler helped Linda Ronstadt with her career-changing album of Sinatraesque standards, “What’s New,” a project begun when she spent an afternoon with Mr. Wexler listening to records and for the first time heard the 1930s singer Mildred Bailey.
“When I said I wanted to sing like that, Jerry said the best way was to get a pianist and learn how those songs are done,” Ms. Ronstadt told The New York Times in 1983. She added, “One thing Jerry Wexler taught me was that if you’ve got a sexy or torchy song, you mustn’t attitudinize on top of it, because it sounds redundant.”
Given the chance, Mr. Wexler would have produced to the end and beyond.
“I asked him once,” said Mr. Thurman, the filmmaker, “ ‘What do you want written on your tombstone, Jerry?’ He said, ‘Two words: More bass.’ ”
Monday, August 18, 2008
J.D. Souther Is Alive
J.D. Souther, a songwriting recluse who could have been a founding member of The Eagles if he'd wanted to, is about to release his first new recordings in 24 years.
Founding Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey are Souther's close friends, with Souther and Frey having started out as a duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle. Linda Ronstadt, who was Souther’s girlfriend at that time, needed a backing band. Souther encouraged Frey to go on the road with her and that band went on to become the Eagles.
There were discussions about Souther joining the Eagles — he even acknowledges rehearsing with them. “But we were not essential to each other,” Souther has explained. “They didn’t need me in the band and I didn’t particularly want to be in a band.” Instead he helped write some their biggest hits, and despite their monumental success, he stayed detached. “I was a part of it in a way that suited us all best. I didn’t want to be answerable to four or five other people. I think democracy is a swell way to run a country, and not so swell a way to make art.”
While J.D. Souther isn't exactly a household name, Don Henley gushes about Souther’s talents, saying, “J.D. was the primary creative force behind Eagles songs such as ‘The Best of My Love’ and ‘New Kid In Town’.” Glenn Frey has said that Souther “gave away all his best songs. He would start things and we would finish them."
Souther’s eponymous 1972 debut was well received, but met with little commercial success. It included the original version of "How Long", which the Eagles re-recorded 35 years later and included on "Long Road Out Of Eden".
It wasn't until 1979, when "You’re Only Lonely" hit the charts, that Souther achieved the commercial success his old friends had been experiencing throughout the preceding decade.
"If The World Was You", is a project Souther has been working on for years. The songs were recorded live in the studio with a five-piece jazz ensemble.
Souther explained, "The best way for me to cut, it turns out, is to really learn the songs with a band and just go in and play them". The new CD is scheduled to be released on October 14th.
Track listing for "If The World Was You":
1) I'll Be Here At Closing Time 3:38
2) House Of Pride 3:16
3) Journey Down The Nile 4:46
4) One More Night 4:18
5) In My Arms Tonight 4:22
6) Rain 5:03
7) A Chorus of Your Own 6:19
8) The Border Guard 4:26
9) Brown (Osaka Story) 5:49
10) Come On Up 4:20
11) The Secret Handshake Of Fate 12:56
If you're curious, you can hear "The Border Guard" on J.D. Souther's MySpace page.
Founding Eagles Don Henley and Glenn Frey are Souther's close friends, with Souther and Frey having started out as a duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle. Linda Ronstadt, who was Souther’s girlfriend at that time, needed a backing band. Souther encouraged Frey to go on the road with her and that band went on to become the Eagles.
There were discussions about Souther joining the Eagles — he even acknowledges rehearsing with them. “But we were not essential to each other,” Souther has explained. “They didn’t need me in the band and I didn’t particularly want to be in a band.” Instead he helped write some their biggest hits, and despite their monumental success, he stayed detached. “I was a part of it in a way that suited us all best. I didn’t want to be answerable to four or five other people. I think democracy is a swell way to run a country, and not so swell a way to make art.”
While J.D. Souther isn't exactly a household name, Don Henley gushes about Souther’s talents, saying, “J.D. was the primary creative force behind Eagles songs such as ‘The Best of My Love’ and ‘New Kid In Town’.” Glenn Frey has said that Souther “gave away all his best songs. He would start things and we would finish them."
Souther’s eponymous 1972 debut was well received, but met with little commercial success. It included the original version of "How Long", which the Eagles re-recorded 35 years later and included on "Long Road Out Of Eden".
It wasn't until 1979, when "You’re Only Lonely" hit the charts, that Souther achieved the commercial success his old friends had been experiencing throughout the preceding decade.
"If The World Was You", is a project Souther has been working on for years. The songs were recorded live in the studio with a five-piece jazz ensemble.
Souther explained, "The best way for me to cut, it turns out, is to really learn the songs with a band and just go in and play them". The new CD is scheduled to be released on October 14th.
Track listing for "If The World Was You":
1) I'll Be Here At Closing Time 3:38
2) House Of Pride 3:16
3) Journey Down The Nile 4:46
4) One More Night 4:18
5) In My Arms Tonight 4:22
6) Rain 5:03
7) A Chorus of Your Own 6:19
8) The Border Guard 4:26
9) Brown (Osaka Story) 5:49
10) Come On Up 4:20
11) The Secret Handshake Of Fate 12:56
If you're curious, you can hear "The Border Guard" on J.D. Souther's MySpace page.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Joe Cocker: "With A Little Help From My Friends"
This has been making the rounds and is worth a few minutes of your time. It's Joe Cocker's 1969 Woodstock performance of "With A Little Help From My Friends" close-captioned for those who always wondered just what he was singing.
Monday, June 30, 2008
It's Official: We're Trendy!
Study Shows Workplace Radio Listening Going Online Very Fast
According to a recent Internet & Multimedia study the percentage of people who said they listen most frequently listen to radio stations through a computer/the Internet has grown from 12% to 20% in just one year. At the same time, the percentage who said they listen to a regular radio has dropped from 88% to 80%.” That’s a pretty big change in just twelve months. Among college graduates, the percentage who listen via the Internet is even higher: 30%!
Congratulations...we're all ahead of the curve!
According to a recent Internet & Multimedia study the percentage of people who said they listen most frequently listen to radio stations through a computer/the Internet has grown from 12% to 20% in just one year. At the same time, the percentage who said they listen to a regular radio has dropped from 88% to 80%.” That’s a pretty big change in just twelve months. Among college graduates, the percentage who listen via the Internet is even higher: 30%!
Congratulations...we're all ahead of the curve!
Monday, June 23, 2008
George Carlin 1937-2008
George Carlin's comedy ran the gamut from silly thoughts like, "Is a vegetarian permitted to eat animal crackers?"...to a Lenny Bruce-inspired rant against Pro-Life zealots. His comedic range was unparalleled.
The actor Ben Stiller called Carlin “a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy. He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats.”
While recounting how George Bush's ranting about how the endless "war on terror" is a battle for freedom, Carlin echoed James Madison's thinking with a simple question: "Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?"
George Carlin has more than 20 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, numerous TV and movie roles, and three best-selling books to his credit.
The best way to honor the man is to simply say what you mean and mean what you say and question any authority figure who gets in your way.
Ken Levine said it best, "We have lost a genius -- comic and otherwise. We have also lost our greatest Bullshit Detector."
To illustrate his genius, here is a favorite Carlin routine - the previously mentioned scathingly funny examination of Pro-Lifers. The routine is in two parts. Click on the second screen below to view the concluding segment.
This segment picks up where the previous one ends, and completes George Carlin's rant on "The Sanctity Of Life".
The actor Ben Stiller called Carlin “a hugely influential force in stand-up comedy. He had an amazing mind, and his humor was brave, and always challenging us to look at ourselves and question our belief systems, while being incredibly entertaining. He was one of the greats.”
While recounting how George Bush's ranting about how the endless "war on terror" is a battle for freedom, Carlin echoed James Madison's thinking with a simple question: "Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?"
George Carlin has more than 20 comedy albums, 14 HBO specials, numerous TV and movie roles, and three best-selling books to his credit.
The best way to honor the man is to simply say what you mean and mean what you say and question any authority figure who gets in your way.
Ken Levine said it best, "We have lost a genius -- comic and otherwise. We have also lost our greatest Bullshit Detector."
To illustrate his genius, here is a favorite Carlin routine - the previously mentioned scathingly funny examination of Pro-Lifers. The routine is in two parts. Click on the second screen below to view the concluding segment.
This segment picks up where the previous one ends, and completes George Carlin's rant on "The Sanctity Of Life".
Friday, June 20, 2008
Steve Winwood Joins Tom Petty & Co. For "Gimme Some Lovin" Encore In Philly
Steve Winwood joined Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for an encore performance of his Spencer Davis Group classic, "Gimme Some Lovin'" at their June 6th show in Philadelphia. Winwood has been the opening act on this Heartbreakers tour.
Paul McCartney Celebrates 41st Anniversary Of Sgt. Pepper Release
Paul McCartney celebrated the 41st anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's June 1, 1967 release date by performing "A Day In The Life" for the first time ever. The performance took place at Liverpool's Anfield Stadium.
There were other memorable moments during the show, including Dave Grohl joining in on drums for "Back In The USSR".
There were other memorable moments during the show, including Dave Grohl joining in on drums for "Back In The USSR".
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Bruce Springsteen Remembers Danny Federici
While we don't want to make it a practice to post memorials to musicians and others, we're making an exception for Bruce Springsteen's must-read eulogy for Danny Federici, which Bruce delivered at Danny's funeral on April 21, 2008 in Red Bank, New Jersey:
FAREWELL TO DANNYLet me start with the stories.
Back in the days of miracles, the frontier days when "Mad Dog" Lopez and his temper struck fear into the band, small club owners, innocent civilians and all women, children and small animals.
Back in the days when you could still sign your life away on the hood of a parked car in New York City.
Back shortly after a young red-headed accordionist struck gold on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour and he and his mama were sent to Switzerland to show them how it's really done.
Back before beach bums were featured on the cover of Time magazine.
I'm talking about back when the E Street Band was a communist organization! My pal, quiet, shy Dan Federici, was a one-man creator of some of the hairiest circumstances of our 40 year career... And that wasn't easy to do. He had "Mad Dog" Lopez to compete with... Danny just outlasted him.
Maybe it was the "police riot" in Middletown, New Jersey. A show we were doing to raise bail money for "Mad Dog" Lopez who was in jail in Richmond, Virginia, for having an altercation with police officers who we'd aggravated by playing too long. Danny allegedly knocked over our huge Marshall stacks on some of Middletown's finest who had rushed the stage because we broke the law by...playing too long.
As I stood there watching, several police officers crawled out from underneath the speaker cabinets and rushed away to seek medical attention. Another nice young officer stood in front of me onstage waving his nightstick, poking and calling me nasty names. I looked over to see Danny with a beefy police officer pulling on one arm while Flo Federici, his first wife, pulled on the other, assisting her man in resisting arrest.
A kid leapt from the audience onto the stage, momentarily distracting the beefy officer with the insults of the day. Forever thereafter, "Phantom" Dan Federici slipped into the crowd and disappeared.
A warrant out for his arrest and one month on the lam later, he still hadn't been brought to justice. We hid him in various places but now we had a problem. We had a show coming at Monmouth College. We needed the money and we had to do the gig. We tried a replacement but it didn't work out. So Danny, to all of our admiration, stepped up and said he'd risk his freedom, take the chance and play.
Show night. 2,000 screaming fans in the Monmouth College gym. We had it worked out so Danny would not appear onstage until the moment we started playing. We figured the police who were there to arrest him wouldn't do so onstage during the show and risk starting another riot.
Let me set the scene for you. Danny is hiding, hunkered down in the backseat of a car in the parking lot. At five minutes to eight, our scheduled start time, I go out to whisk him in. I tap on the window.
"Danny, come on, it's time."
I hear back, "I'm not going."
Me: "What do you mean you're not going?"
Danny: "The cops are on the roof of the gym. I've seen them and they're going to nail me the minute I step out of this car."
As I open the door, I realize that Danny has been smoking a little something and had grown rather paranoid. I said, "Dan, there are no cops on the roof."
He says, "Yes, I saw them, I tell you. I'm not coming in."
So I used a procedure I'd call on often over the next forty years in dealing with my old pal's concerns. I threatened him...and cajoled. Finally, out he came. Across the parking lot and into the gym we swept for a rapturous concert during which we laughed like thieves at our excellent dodge of the local cops.
At the end of the evening, during the last song, I pulled the entire crowd up onto the stage and Danny slipped into the audience and out the front door. Once again, "Phantom" Dan had made his exit. (I still get the occasional card from the old Chief of Police of Middletown wishing us well. Our histories are forever intertwined.) And that, my friends, was only the beginning.
There was the time Danny quit the band during a rough period at Max's Kansas City, explaining to me that he was leaving to fix televisions. I asked him to think about that and come back later.
Or Danny, in the band rental car, bouncing off several parked cars after a night of entertainment, smashing out the windshield with his head but saved from severe injury by the huge hard cowboy hat he bought in Texas on our last Western swing.
Or Danny, leaving a large marijuana plant on the front seat of his car in a tow away zone. The car was promptly towed. He said, "Bruce, I'm going to go down and report that it was stolen." I said, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."
Down he went and straight into the slammer without passing go.
Or Danny, the only member of the E Street Band to be physically thrown out of the Stone Pony. Considering all the money we made them, that wasn't easy to do.
Or Danny receiving and surviving a "cautionary assault" from an enraged but restrained "Big Man" Clarence Clemons while they were living together and Danny finally drove the "Big Man" over the big top.
Or Danny assisting me in removing my foot from his stereo speaker after being the only band member ever to drive me into a violent rage.
And through it all, Danny played his beautiful, soulful B3 organ for me and our love grew. And continued to grow. Life is funny like that. He was my homeboy, and great, and for that you make considerations... And he was much more tolerant of my failures than I was of his.
When Danny wasn't causing chaos, he was a sweet, talented, unassuming, unpretentious good-hearted guy who simply had an unchecked ability to make good fortune and things in general go fabulously wrong.
But beyond all of that, he also had a mountain of the right stuff. He had the heart and soul of an engineer. He learned to fly. He was always up on the latest technology and would explain it to you patiently and in enormous detail. He was always "souping" something up, his car, his stereo, his B3. When Patti joined the band, he was the most welcoming, thoughtful, kindest friend to the first woman entering our "boys club."
He loved his kids, always bragging about Jason, Harley, and Madison, and he loved his wife Maya for the new things she brought into his life.
And then there was his artistry. He was the most intuitive player I've ever seen. His style was slippery and fluid, drawn to the spaces the other musicians in the E Street Band left. He wasn't an assertive player, he was a complementary player. A true accompanist. He naturally supplied the glue that bound the band's sound together. In doing so, he created for himself a very specific style. When you hear Dan Federici, you don't hear a blanket of sound, you hear a riff, packed with energy, flying above everything else for a few moments and then gone back in the track. "Phantom" Dan Federici. Now you hear him, now you don't.
Offstage, Danny couldn't recite a lyric or a chord progression for one of my songs. Onstage, his ears opened up. He listened, he felt, he played, finding the perfect hole and placement for a chord or a flurry of notes. This style created a tremendous feeling of spontaneity in our ensemble playing.
In the studio, if I wanted to loosen up the track we were recording, I'd put Danny on it and not tell him what to play. I'd just set him loose. He brought with him the sound of the carnival, the amusements, the boardwalk, the beach, the geography of our youth and the heart and soul of the birthplace of the E Street Band.
Then we grew up. Very slowly. We stood together through a lot of trials and tribulations. Danny's response to a mistake on stage, hard times, catastrophic events was usually a shrug and a smile. Sort of an "I am but one man in a raging sea, but I'm still afloat. And we're all still here."
I watched Danny fight and conquer some tough addictions. I watched him struggle to put his life together and in the last decade when the band reunited, thrive on sitting in his seat behind that big B3, filled with life and, yes, a new maturity, passion for his job, his family and his home in the brother and sisterhood of our band.
Finally, I watched him fight his cancer without complaint and with great courage and spirit. When I asked him how things looked, he just said, "what are you going to do? I'm looking forward to tomorrow." Danny, the sunny side up fatalist. He never gave up right to the end.
A few weeks back we ended up on stage in Indianapolis for what would be the last time. Before we went on I asked him what he wanted to play and he said, "Sandy." He wanted to strap on the accordion and revisit the boardwalk of our youth during the summer nights when we'd walk along the boards with all the time in the world.
So what if we just smashed into three parked cars, it's a beautiful night! So what if we're on the lam from the entire Middletown police department, let's go take a swim! He wanted to play once more the song that is of course about the end of something wonderful and the beginning of something unknown and new.
Let's go back to the days of miracles. Pete Townshend said, "a rock and roll band is a crazy thing. You meet some people when you're a kid and unlike any other occupation in the whole world, you're stuck with them your whole life no matter who they are or what crazy things they do."
If we didn't play together, the E Street Band at this point would probably not know one another. We wouldn't be in this room together. But we do... We do play together. And every night at 8 p.m., we walk out on stage together and that, my friends, is a place where miracles occur...old and new miracles. And those you are with, in the presence of miracles, you never forget. Life does not separate you. Death does not separate you. Those you are with who create miracles for you, like Danny did for me every night, you are honored to be amongst.
Of course we all grow up and we know "it's only rock and roll"...but it's not. After a lifetime of watching a man perform his miracle for you, night after night, it feels an awful lot like love.
So today, making another one of his mysterious exits, we say farewell to Danny, "Phantom" Dan, Federici. Father, husband, my brother, my friend, my mystery, my thorn, my rose, my keyboard player, my miracle man and lifelong member in good standing of the house rockin', pants droppin', earth shockin', hard rockin', booty shakin', love makin', heart breakin', soul cryin'... and, yes, death defyin' legendary E Street Band.
TheRadioStation's Favorite New Release in May: Sonny Landreth's "From The Reach"
This month's pleasant surprise has been the latest release from Louisiana slide guitarist extraordinaire Sonny Landreth, "From The Reach". The CD features guest appearances from some noteworthy friends including Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Vince Gill and Mark Knopfler (sounding more like the Dire Straits guitarist we remember than he has in quite some time).The music is all-original roots rock tinged with some blues and New Orleans soul. Landreth says he wrote the songs specifically for each artist in hopes of "catching their vibe and their magic".
This is Landreth's first disc on his own imprint, Landfall Records. "From The Reach" can be purchased on Sonny's web site, and electronically from iTunes and other digital media outlets.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Having Trouble Listening?
Well, you live and you learn!
By far, the most frequent comment about TheRadioStation.org we've received is:
"Looks great...how do I listen???"
So much for our best laid plans!
To hear the audio stream, you'll need to download the free version of Real Player, Winamp or you can use iTunes. It seems Windows Media Player isn't playing nice with our streaming audio, even though it's supposed to.
We recommend Winamp. It's the smaller program, seems a bit more reliable, and has a built in equalizer (in case you're into tweaking things, or are listening quietly at your desk and need to boost the bass a bit).
Download and install your choice of software above (make sure you go for the free version, not the trial versions of the bloated version they charge for). Then go back to TheRadioStation.org and click on "Click here to listen" again. It should ask you which program you wish to use, with the one you installed as the default (or it will just start up). If not, select the software you installed (Winamp or Real Player/RealOne) from the choices displayed.
To use iTunes:
Go to "Tools" -> "Open Stream"
Cut & paste in: http://tinos.broadstreamer.com:7300/listen.pls. Click OK and the music stream will start. To re-start later, look for TheRadioStation.org in your music library listed as a song name with an antenna symbol next to it.
If none of this works, please let us know and we'll be glad to help. We're gonna make this easy even if it kills us!
By far, the most frequent comment about TheRadioStation.org we've received is:
"Looks great...how do I listen???"
So much for our best laid plans!
To hear the audio stream, you'll need to download the free version of Real Player, Winamp or you can use iTunes. It seems Windows Media Player isn't playing nice with our streaming audio, even though it's supposed to.
We recommend Winamp. It's the smaller program, seems a bit more reliable, and has a built in equalizer (in case you're into tweaking things, or are listening quietly at your desk and need to boost the bass a bit).
Download and install your choice of software above (make sure you go for the free version, not the trial versions of the bloated version they charge for). Then go back to TheRadioStation.org and click on "Click here to listen" again. It should ask you which program you wish to use, with the one you installed as the default (or it will just start up). If not, select the software you installed (Winamp or Real Player/RealOne) from the choices displayed.
To use iTunes:
Go to "Tools" -> "Open Stream"
Cut & paste in: http://tinos.broadstreamer.com:7300/listen.pls. Click OK and the music stream will start. To re-start later, look for TheRadioStation.org in your music library listed as a song name with an antenna symbol next to it.
If none of this works, please let us know and we'll be glad to help. We're gonna make this easy even if it kills us!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
We're finally streaming!
We are now officially on-line and streaming! We kinda snuck on-line May 1st and worked some of the bugs out. Now we're good to go. Give it a listen and feel free to leave your comments here or e-mail 'em to us.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
WNEW Lives!...sort of
The defunct legendary New York rock station WNEW-FM marked its return on-air (102.7 HD 2 in New York) and online (www.wnew.com) this past Monday.
WNEW.com's web site says the station has been "reborn" for the passionate rock music fan in the spirit of WNEW-FM's commitment to exposing the best new artists. They explain they will feature recordings from the dawn of the album era in the late 60s and early 70s through today, as well as music from the most promising emerging artists yet to be discovered by the masses. Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spoon, and Vampire Weekend will be among those featured along with the likes of REM, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.
In addition, thousands of hours of archival interviews by former WNEW-FM hosts Scott Muni, Dave Herman, and Richard Neer, among others, with such artists as John Lennon, The Who, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie are being integrated hourly throughout the station's on-air and online programming. Also finding a home on WNEW.com's lineup will be exclusive live performances from artists who contributed to the station's storied history.
At the helm of this project is Norm Winer, CBS Radio Vice President of Adult Rock Programming, and, for more than 25 years, the Program Director of the landmark WXRT in Chicago. Norm is a self-described music fan and radio geek who grew up in Brooklyn listening to the original WNEW-FM.
When asked about WNEW.com recently, former WNEW-FM Program Director and long-time air personality Richard Neer said he hadn't seen it, had not been consulted, and he'd leave it at that.
WNEW.com's web site says the station has been "reborn" for the passionate rock music fan in the spirit of WNEW-FM's commitment to exposing the best new artists. They explain they will feature recordings from the dawn of the album era in the late 60s and early 70s through today, as well as music from the most promising emerging artists yet to be discovered by the masses. Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Spoon, and Vampire Weekend will be among those featured along with the likes of REM, Foo Fighters, The White Stripes, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd.
In addition, thousands of hours of archival interviews by former WNEW-FM hosts Scott Muni, Dave Herman, and Richard Neer, among others, with such artists as John Lennon, The Who, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie are being integrated hourly throughout the station's on-air and online programming. Also finding a home on WNEW.com's lineup will be exclusive live performances from artists who contributed to the station's storied history.
At the helm of this project is Norm Winer, CBS Radio Vice President of Adult Rock Programming, and, for more than 25 years, the Program Director of the landmark WXRT in Chicago. Norm is a self-described music fan and radio geek who grew up in Brooklyn listening to the original WNEW-FM.
When asked about WNEW.com recently, former WNEW-FM Program Director and long-time air personality Richard Neer said he hadn't seen it, had not been consulted, and he'd leave it at that.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Preparing To Launch...Soon
The staff of TheRadioStation.org is busy preparing to launch our internet radio station soon.
What is TheRadioStation.org? Well, if you're tired of FM rock stations playing the same songs over and over again...this is the place for you!
We'll play songs you haven't heard in ages, some you'll know well, and others you may never have heard at all.
What you won't hear, are the same tired, focus group-tested tunes you're so tired of you could scream!
TheRadioStation.org...the place where rock still lives!
What is TheRadioStation.org? Well, if you're tired of FM rock stations playing the same songs over and over again...this is the place for you!
We'll play songs you haven't heard in ages, some you'll know well, and others you may never have heard at all.
What you won't hear, are the same tired, focus group-tested tunes you're so tired of you could scream!
TheRadioStation.org...the place where rock still lives!
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