Video - Bob Dylan - Blood In My Eyes

For some reason I'm in the mood for this song to set the tone for today.

Bob Dylan at the White House - Video

Ron's Music Stuff 8 Tracks Mix for February 2010

Photography Exhibit

The Monroe Gallery of Photography in Santa Fe is holding and exhibit entitled "The Art of Sound."

From their website: "(the exhibit is) an extensive survey of more than 50 classic photographs portraying iconic personalities from the field of music as captured by renowned photographers. All genres of music are represented including opera, pop, jazz, classical and rock."

This looks to be an excellent exhibit with a very nice cross-section of artists and images. Check it out online or in person in Santa Fe. Man, I wish I was in Santa Fe...


Bob Dylan, 1975, Ken Regan

Dylan at the White House

Bob Dylan performed The Times They Are A-Changin' as a part of "In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement."

In performing The Times They Are A-Changin,' Dylan's chose to convey one of his most direct messages to those in political power.

Today as the United States sits at a political crossroads, Dylan singing this song in the White House, the symbol of the world's greatest political power, is relevant, poignant and appropriate. The only problem is that many of the politicians that heard the message probably think Dylan is singing about somebody else...

Audio - Bob Dylan - White House 2010

Super Bowl Sunday - The Who!

Being a native Hoosier and living all but nine months of my life in the greater Indianapolis are, one would think that I'd be writing all about the Colts and today's Super Bowl.

But rather than that I thought that I'd write a little about the halftime entertainment. Pete and Roger have their hands full of playing up to last years twelve minutes of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's powerhouse. I think they can handle it.

The Who are iconic. Nobody has done more to stretch the art form of Rock and Roll than has Pete Townshend. Roger Daltrey's vocal prowess is beyond compare. Entwistle's playing has inspired generations of bassists. Keith Moon's controlled wild abandon gave rock and roll drumming a dimension bigger than just holding down the beat. Many claim The Who cannot be The Who when half of the original members are gone. I say balderdash. Pete and Roger have carried on and made great music, much of it underrated by the "critics."

The story goes that Pete wasn't too keen on reforming The Who after they "retired" back many years ago. He had plenty of dough coming in from song writing royalties but Roger and John were hurting financially. And, Pete had a small string of excellent solo albums under his belt. Finally Pete agreed to give the band a go and they've been going at it, albeit off and on since. This is just a guess, but I believe that after Pete heard and felt the power of The Who and their music he realized the importance of what they had created. And, pre-recession, the big money major acts were bringing in wasn't bad either.

This evening, for twelve minutes, on arguably the world's biggest stage, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey will defy their age and deliver the message and promise of Rock and Roll.

From a Billboard article, here is Pete Townshend on the Super Bowl setlist:

"We're kinda doing a mashup of stuff," the guitarist tells Billboard. "A bit of 'Baba O'Riley,' a bit of 'Pinball Wizard,' a bit of the close of 'Tommy,' a bit of 'Who Are You,' and a bit of 'Won't Get Fooled Again.' It works -- it's quite a saga. A lot of the stuff that we do has that kind of celebratory vibe about it -- we've always tried to make music that allows the audience to go a bit wild if they want to. Hopefully it will hit the spot."

Bob Dylan Covers The Rolling Stones

Here's Dylan covering Brown Sugar from the early show at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana on November 5, 2002.

This was an amazing evening of music where Dylan played two shows and only six songs were repeated.

Charlie Sexton was pretty sick that evening but gave it everything. The band from this leg of the "Never Ending Tour" is still my favorite contemporary Dylan back-up band. Charlie and Larry Campbell were a guitar tour de force.

Making this evening even more memorable, we were actually able to briefly meet Dylan after the show. Even scored an autograph!

Bob Dylan - Brown Sugar

Doubt Cast on Survival of EMI

Financial Times publishes an article about the dire situation in which EMI finds itself...

It looks like the music industry is meeting the fate that has been predicted for many years. If, by June 14, 2010, £120 million is not raised by investors believing in a new strategic plan, all may very well be lost.

It is, finally, time for these music behemoths to fail. For years and years they haven't been effective purveyors of product and artist discovery and development. Not to mention how they continue to screw artists out of royalties.

It is time, finally, for a new structure, one that cares about the art of making music, and those that make it, to be reconstructed. It will probably take a generation or two, but it needs to happen.

In my lifetime I've seen record companies go from an artist, and fan, centered business to a bunch of creepy suits and bean counters who really think Lady Gaga et al is their answer. I've witnessed the best and the worst; and it's time for the worst to go away.

Somebody forgot to throw the Auto-Tune switch to "On" for Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift's performance with Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac's Rhiannon was pathetic. I guess somebody forgot to turn on the auto-tune for her mic. I fear that her real talent was on display for all to see, and unfortunately hear. This auto-tune thingy has been helping artists for the last several years achieve vocal tonal accuracy on their recordings and concerts, even if their ability is marginal. Ever wonder why the pop music of today sounds so perfect and devoid of any soul? Auto-tune, and other digital technologies, have a lot to do with it.

Last year Time Magazine blew the doors off this scandal with this article.

Wikipedia has more about auto-tune.

I'm sure the current crop of music executives love this as now they can find the person with the right look and the willingness to do whatever they think will sell and make their talentless vocals perfect thereby manufacturing a pop superstar, you know, like Lady Gaga... Zappa warned us about this.

It's been a while...

Yep it has been a long time since I posted anything.

Here's a great John Hammond live recording from 2007.

Stream and enjoy!

Geeshie Wiley-Last Kind Words

Recorded circa March 1930 in Grafton, Wisconsin. Don Kent has described "Last Kind Words" as "one of the most imaginatively constructed guitar arrangements of its era...."

MIckey Rourke - Hosed by "The Academy"

First Bruce gets snubbed, then Rourke's amazing portrayal of Ram, the tragic figure of excess, is not recognized by the "The Academy." This is more than a shame, but I guess Rourke's movie was too gritty for the lightweight glitterati of the "The Academy." Will Smith had it right when he made the comment that at least action films have fans, unlike this year's nominees. Rourke got hosed. Period.

Bruce Springsteen Live1981 Indianapolis

I thought it might be fun to post a few rare tracks... Enjoy!

Boss - Sherry Darling - Indy 1981

Springsteen Interview 1978

Here's an incredible interview with Springsteen from July of 1978. It starts out a little slow but doesn't take long to get very interesting.

Neil Young Live Track

Reinstate Hank Now!

Sign the petition to reinstate Hank Williams into the Grand Ole Opry.

He was the first Grand Ole Opry artist to be called back for six encores. In 1952 Hank was booted out of the Grand Ole Opry for being too drunk to perform. Hank made a promise to sober up and make amends so he could make his return to the Opry, but his life was tragically cut short and he never had the chance to make things right.

Click here to go to the website to sign the petition. And, click here to access a Rolling Stone article where, Hank's grandson, Shelton (aka Hank III) makes the case to reinstate Hank Williams into the Grand Ole Opry.

8 Tracks Mix

Another site with a way to make music available on the net.  We gave it a try.  Here is our 8 Tracks Mix:

I'm Depressed - Record Stores

Well crap. My days of going to the record store appear to be pretty much over. For years, well since 1974 for Pete's sake, going to the record store has been one of my priorities and joys of my life. In the last couple of months the price of new LPs have gone way up and are now even more expensive than overpriced CDs. There is no way I can justify $18.99 and up for a new LP. I really wanted the new Lindsey Buckingham LP but the price is $24.99 for the new LP including a bonus CD. Please. How many of these do you think the record company is going to sell? I realize that the price of oil is a factor in all of this and the LP is on 180 gram vinyl and the packaging is nice, but a music nut needs to buy more than just one LP every month.

For example, let's say I purchase, at my local independent record store, new LPs from Buckingham, Mudcrutch and U2 (the four newly pressed, remastered reissues), I'm doling out around $170.00 for SIX records!!! Add in the cost of gas to and from the store and the total eats into the grocery budget.

Vinyl LP sales were on the upswing as an alternative to high priced CDs. I cannot get myself to believe anything other than the idiotic record companies noticed this and raised prices trying to cash in on loyal customers that actually care about music. The record companies seem to intent on ruining their own industry. I've never seen anything like it.

So, it looks like I'll be sticking to emusic for new and obscure tunes and scrounging around for used LPs in various dark and dank locations, which is actually kind of fun. But I really will miss the trips to the record store and all of the socializing that went along with it. I'll probably still go now and then, but the last time I visited one, going through the records just made me cringe.

Seperate rant - The price of a music CD is outrageous. Right now I can purchase the last James Bond movie, Casino Royale 2006, on DVD for $16.00. The production cost of the movie was $150,000,000. The new Replacments reissues, with one exception are $17.00. The production cost for the reissues was probably no more than $10,000. What's wrong with this picture is obvious. Price the Replacements reissues at $7.99 and I buy them all. At the current price, I buy none of them.

Until next time, whenever that might be,

Peace

Update on the rant - now the going rate for new vinyl has gone over $20.00 per LP. 2-19-2010

Snoop, etc. Remix The Man in Black?

Holy mixing desk Batman!

From FMQB:

After giving a shout-out to the late Johnny Cash on his new song, "My Medicine," Snoop Dogg is getting further involved in the world of the Man In Black. Comprade Records/Music World Music has announced the release of Johnny Cash Remixed,
which will contain bold new interpretations of Cash classics from top
music remixers and producers. Snoop will executive produce the album
and appear on a remix of "I Walk The Line." When asked about what his father would think of the remixes, Cash’s son John Carter Cash
said, "He would have loved this remix record. While it stays true to
the original recordings, this CD touches on undiscovered ground. This
is what my father was about: staying true to tradition while creating
groundbreaking new music." The album will be released October 14.

Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash