Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe — Philadelphia, PA (3/17/2001)
Who Are You The Bridge The Hen Tenor Man Irish Jig Flute Down Check Out Your Mind
Soul Drifter KDTU Groove On Elephants Are Big As Hell Fallin’ So Satisfied
Spanish Castle Magic Dance Lesson #2 Filler: Okra Filler: Rain Shower Filler: Massamba Filler: Your Lips Filler: Herb Man Filler: Neignborhoods
Frank Sinatra — Through The Years
Perhaps the most celebrated and successful recording artist of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was many things to many people. Lovelorn crooner, Rat-Pack swinger, mob connected Las Vegas performer, friend of Kennedy and Reagan, “Lucky” Luciano and Sam Giancana, Academy Award winning actor and humanitarian. A regular of New York bar Toots Shor’s and a man who saw more sunrises than sunsets, Sinatra knew how to live, and live he did. Sinatra loved and lost and loved again and again. He performed at too many charitable causes to list and recorded 15,000 songs over almost 60 years in the business. His was a life many envied, yet one that will never be matched. Rest in peace, Francis.
The first Academy Award Sinatra won was for the short, “The House I Live In”. This was to promote racial and religious tolerance. This is a gem:
In 1946 in ‘Til Clouds Go By, singing “Ol’ Man River”:
“That’s Life” from one of Sinatra’s many television specials:
Sinatra/Antonio Carlos Jobim from 1967:
“My Kind Of Town” from Sinatra: Live In Vegas:
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” from 1980:
Frank Sinatra — Sinatra At The Sands
The Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, James Brown’s Live At The Apollo, the Grateful Dead’s Europe ’72, Hendrix’s Band Of Gypsys, Phish’s Live At MSG, these are all understood to be great live albums. Another one that fits nicely into that category, for me personally, is Frank Sinatra’s 1966 live release, Sinatra At The Sands.
To me, Sinatra was at his last peak in the mid-1960′s. His voice was still in excellent form, he was working with Count Basie’s swinging band and young prodigy Quincy Jones was arranging. At this point, Sinatra, who had just reached his 50th year, had amassed an incredible catalog of music. He was a pre-WWII bobby soxer idol who was still swinging and knocking it out of the park. This was Sinatra pre-epitaph, “My Way”, but on the heels of “Fly Me To The Moon”. Pre-New York City anthem, “New York, New York,” but also on the heels of his hipster cool association with JFK and The Rat Pack. The man built and grew Las Vegas for Pete’s sake (not Pete Lawford, mind you).
Prowling on the stage with ease and confidence, Frank could still hit all of the notes. He could captivate and thrill, while simultaneously disgust and anger those he criticized from his position at center stage. Always a controversial figure, Frank had adoring fans (save 1951-1952) and could always stir things up. Here we find an electrifying performance with Frank running through his wide repertoire seemingly effortlessly with maximum results. The amazing fidelity on this release captures everything from silverware rattling at stage side tables to every last member of Count Basie’s Orchestra. I own the DVD-Audio, which is supreme.
You feel his elation in “My Kind Of Town,” his ode to mob-boss Sam Giancana and his agony in “Angel Eyes,” his personal ode to the gal that got away, Ava Gardner. “Come Fly With Me” contains Rat Pack slang substituted for pal Jimmy Van Heusen’s original lyrics and gets things going. “One For My Baby” makes you want to join him at the bar and let him tell you more about the broad that split town. The rest of the set is just as great as the songs already mentioned. This album is a gasser and if you don’t at least give it a spin, you are truly missing out.
Galactic — Norfolk, VA (6/21/2008)
NOLA funkmeisters, Galactic tears the roof off on this recording of their Toen Point Park show from June.
Bongo the Dog, Sunday araq, Go-go, My favorite mutiny>> (boots) Gunsmoke (boots), We are the ones (boots), FEMA, Linthead, Ride the fence (boots), Busterismology (boots), Baker’s dozen
The Grapes — Atlanta, GA (1/4/1991)
Now this is straight out of my past. The Grapes were an Atlanta based band back in my late high school- early college days. I actually saw Widespread Panic open for them on a couple of occasions. Here’s a show from The Masquerade in Atlanta. Listen to them and let me know what you think.
Trey Anastasio — Records With Fab Faux’s Rich Pagano
From Jambands.com
This past May, Trey Anastasio performed with the Fab Faux at the 2008 Jammys. The appearance has led to further collaboration with Fab Faux drummer Rich Pagano, who will release his eleven song debut recording later this year. Anastasio guests on Rich Pagano and the SugarCane Cups, a disc that also features Pagano’s Fab Faux bandmates (Will Lee, Jimmy Vivino, Frank Agnello and Jack Petruzzelli) along with GE Smith, David Johansen and some additional artists to be announced in the coming weeks. A three-song EP sampler will be given away at The Fab Faux’s 10th Anniversary Concert at Radio City Music Hall on September 20th.
42 Years Ago Today…
The Beatles Revolver was the #1 album. It goes without saying that it’s one of our (and many others!) favorites, but do you know how they got the title? Wiki does:
The title “Revolver”, like “Rubber Soul” before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the “revolving” motion of the record as it is played on a turntable. The Beatles had a difficult time coming up with this title. According to Barry Miles in his book Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now, the title that the four had originally wanted was Abracadabra, until they discovered that another band had already used it. After that, opinion split: Lennon wanted to call it Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle and Starr jokingly suggested After Geography, playing on The Rolling Stones‘ recently released Aftermath LP. Other suggestions included Magical Circles, Beatles on Safari, Pendulum, and, finally, Revolver, whose wordplay was the one that all four agreed upon. The title was chosen while the band were on tour in Japan in June–July 1966. Due to security measures, they spent much of their time in their Tokyo Hilton hotel room; the name Revolver was selected as all four collaborated on a large psychedelic painting.
Phish — November ’94
It was almost 14 years ago, I was a college junior and Phish was rolling through the country playing a mixture of their originals from their first 5 albums and Gamehenge, the odd random cover and their brand bluegrass. It was blissful, hypnotic, intoxicating and wonderful. It was a multi-talented band at one of their peaks. Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts has the scoop:
Posted in Uncategorized on September 10, 2008 by Mr.Miner
If assessing best-ever eras in Phish history, Fall 1994 has to be thrown into the ring. In particular, November 1994, will always be remembered as one of the creative peaks of the band’s career. November of 1994 will never be recreated in its cacophonous psychedelia, deep raucous exploration, and style that made it seem like Phish was constantly playing for their lives. They had a sense of urgency and mania never before seen in a quartet. As the band’s fan base continued to grow, slowly drawing more attention from coast to coast, their tour remained mostly in college towns while beginning to expand into bigger venues on the east coast. Yet, as they grew in underground stature, Phish consistently maintained their stage pranks and humor; never taking themselves too seriously as they left a burning wake of fire on stage each night.
Puff Daddy — Full Of It
I suppose the thread title could have an SH in front of it, but we don’t roll like that. Apparently Puffy or Diddy or Seany Johnny ain’t got no plane after all. He had previously talked about how he was now flying the friendly skies on commercial airlines because flying his own plane was too damn expensive. Well it turns out there never was a Diddy plane. The Palm Beach Post reports.
When rap mogul Sean Diddy Combs told the world via video that he quit flying in his private jet because fuel’s too darn expensive, dude forgot to level with his peeps.
There is no private jet!
A thorough review of federal records shows that no plane in this country is registered to a Sean Combs or any of the part-time Miami Beach resident’s numerous companies, including clothier Sean John and his music company, Bad Boy Entertainment. Continue Reading…
James Brown — Get Up (I Feel Like Being) A Sex Machine
In 1976 with his fantastic band, the JB’s:
From Wiki:
“Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” (usually known as just “Sex Machine“) is a song recorded by James Brown in 1970 and released as a two-part single on King Records. It is considered one of his hardest funk recordings. (Brown’s Sex Machine double album, also released in 1970, contains a different, 11-minute-long performance of the song rather than the version released as a single.)
“Sex Machine” was one of the first songs Brown recorded with his new band, The J.B.s. In comparison with his 1960s funk hits such as “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and “Cold Sweat“, it is notable for the de-emphasis of the horn section. Instead, the song centers on the insistent riff played by brothers Bootsy and Catfish Collins on bass and guitar and Jabo Starks on drums, along with the call and response interplay between Brown and Bobby Byrd‘s vocals.
Apple — New iPods
Yesterday at Apple’s “Let’s Rock” conference in San Francisco, the company announced a whole slate of new additions for iTunes and iPods. On the iPod front, the non-touch versions will find the 80GB models upgraded to 120GB, but the 160GB model is being discontinued. There’s also a new style iPod nano, an aluminum, monolithic-looking device that was called “the thinnest iPod ever.” You can still load photos and videos, but now you can view them horizontally on the nano in the new “landscape” mode, which also allows it to do the Cover Flow. It’ll be available in a whole rainbow of colors (except white) starting today. On the iTunes front, iTunes 8.0 will be available today, which introduces an in-window sidebar called “Genius,” which is like a smarter Party Shuffle with a hint of On-The-Go and and Pandora thrown in. Also, for fans of NBC, Apple and the network are once again friends, meaning you will once again be able to view your 30 Rock on a seven-centimeter screen soon. And last but not least, Apple have finally altered their in-ear headphones, with two drivers in each bud. Says Steve Jobs: “They finally got it right.”
Guns N’ Roses — New York, NY (10/30/1987)
You’re Crazy
One In A Million
Used To Love Her
Patience
Mr. Brownstown
Move To The City
Interview
We’ve had a good amount of response from our earlier G N’ R posting, so we thought we’d add another. Here’s Slash, Axl, Duff, Stephen & Izzy (did I fail to mention any of them?) with “Mr. Brownstone” from The Ritz in 1988.
For good measure, here’s a GNR cover band called, Mr. Brownstone.
20 Years Ago Today…
Guns N’ Roses hit #1 with “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. From Wiki:
The song is credited as being written by Guns N’ Roses as a band; more specifically it contains Slash’s riff, Izzy’s chords, Axl’s lyrics, McKagan’s bass line, and Adler’s drum line. The subject of the song is lead singer Axl Rose‘s then-girlfriend and eventual wife, Erin Everly.[1]
Former Guns N’ Roses’ lead guitarist, Slash, has been quoted as having a disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a ‘string skipping’ exercise and a joke at the time.[citation needed] In a VH1 special, it was stated that Slash played the riff in a jam session as a joke.[citation needed] Drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a “circus” melody while making faces at Steven. Izzy asked Slash to play it again, and added chords to play with it. Steven Adler also added a drum part, and thus the core of Sweet Child O Mine was born. The lyrics of the song were originally a poem/love letter to Axl’s girlfriend at the time, Erin Everly. Originally, there was a third verse to the song. However, this verse was later cut from recording as the band’s producer, Spencer Proffer, felt the song would carry on for too long. The final dramatic breakdown was not added until Proffer suggested the band add one. They agreed, but weren’t sure what to do. Axl started saying to himself, “Where do we go? Where do we go now?” Spencer suggested that he sing that, and “Sweet Child o’ Mine” was born.[1] In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, bassist Duff McKagan noted:
“ The thing about ‘Sweet Child,’ it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, ‘What is this song? It’s gonna be nothin’, it’ll be filler on the record.’ And except that vocal-wise, it’s very sweet and sincere, Slash was muckin’ around when he first wrote that lick.[2] ” Slash found it difficult to record his guitar part as the song begins with a long guitar intro before the rest of the band comes in, but the backing track had been recorded without a high-hat or click track for reference. Slash had to play the intro and hope that when the drums came in he was in time with what had already been recorded; this took many tries before he managed to get it right.
