Turn and face the strange.
This song keeps running through my head. Life has held many changes lately. They say it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you react to it that matters. Do you think that is true? Anyway, here’s the fantastic David Bowie. Check it out!
You could always leave a comment below…????
Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…
This is the twenty-fourth in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice (XTC!). And yes, we are both still obsessed with music!
You might also notice that XTC is one of my favorite bands in the world…
Artists are listed as last name, comma, first name. If it is a band then it is just the band name. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Leave me a comment below the list!
Name – Title – Format – Size – Country – Comments
XTC – Helium Kidz cass na unk Early incarnation of XTC – .
XTC – 3D EP vinl 12 UK
XTC – Go+ vinl 12 UK Rare UK-only issue.
XTC – Making Plans For Andy cass na unk Dub of Bootleg.
XTC – At The Edge – Toronto 78 CD 5 UNK CD-R Bootleg
XTC – Go 2 cd 5 US One bonus track.
XTC – White Music CD 5 Jap Special album-sleeve package
Have you read this book?
Elvis is King. That’s the message he inserted oh-so-cleverly over and over on the cover of his first album. Of course, there was that other Elvis too, but Costello burst on the music scene full of himself and full of potential. His uber-catchy songs and stunning way with lyrics made him famous and infamous overnight and his fame took off despite his occasional efforts to derail that train. This book details his early years and rise to fame as well as many of the things that he did to mystify and sometimes alienate his listeners from then on, as well as his loves and likes along the way.
He is one of the most talented singer-songwriters ever. There, I said it. He’s made a few mistakes in his life and in his music choices, but overall the depth and breadth of his amazing career is matched by very few. This book tackles both the life and the music chronologically, and unfortunately ends too soon in the early 00’s with the somewhat forgetable North album. But each album from My Aim Is True up through North is discussed and matched with the corresponding events in his personal life (along with his bands and backup musicians). Sometimes the life part goes a little light but there is still insight into the personality and into the music.
Yes, I already posted about this show, but I am adding a couple video clips from the show. For the original post click here, and here are the videos:
Concrete Blonde at Ace of Spades “True”
The second video is after the “read more”. See you on the other side…
Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…
This is the twenty-third in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice (Tom Waits!). And yes, we are both still obsessed with music!
Artists are listed as last name, comma, first name. If it is a band then it is just the band name. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Leave me a comment below the list!
Name – Title – Format – Size – Country – Comments
Wagner, Jack – All I Need vinl 7 US
Wainwright III, Loudon – Unrequited vinl 12 US Promo.
Wainwright III, Loudon – Attempted Mustache vinl 12 US
Wainwright III, Loudon – Album III vinl 12 US
Waitresses, The – Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful? vinl 12 US
Waits, Tom – Beautiful Maladies CD 5 US
Waits, Tom – Nighthawks At The Diner CD 5 US
Waits, Tom – Blue Valentine vinl 12 US
Waits, Tom – Heartattack And Vine vinl 12 US
Note: for photos from the show and the full set list, click on the “continue reading” below…
Another note: I had this posted at SacMusicBlog too.
Veteran rockers Concrete Blonde were at Sacramento’s Ace of Spades last night and brought down the house with an energetic and spirited show that had the audience cheering and yelling for more.
Singer-songwriter Jim Bianco opened up the show with an entertaining set of originals. One audience member called him “a young Tom Waits”, but that’s not exactly true. He does have an offbeat style in both performance and lyrics but is at least a little closer to the mainstream. And was that a nylon string classical guitar that he was playing the crazy heck out of?
Time for the headliners: Concrete Blonde have been together since the late 80s and have broken up and retired more than a couple times. But they are back again and haven’t lost a beat. The show had only a couple numbers that were not immediately recognizable (Rosalie, The Damage I’ve Done). Very early on they played a blazing cover of Beds Are Burning (the Midnight Oil protest song) which was a definite highlight. But most of the show was classic song after classic song. Joey, True, Mexican Moon (acoustic), Someday, Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man, Tomorrow Wendy, God is a Bullet, Caroline, 100 Games of Solitare, Everybody Knows (acoustic), and more. And of course, for the encore, Bloodletting (The Vampire Song).
Finally! And only a few weeks late! Here are my picks for the best albums of 2011. Well, at least for the moment. And by “best” I mean that I liked them best! What did you like?
The Cars “Move Like This”
Death Cab For Cutie “Codes And Keys”
The Decemberists “The King Is Dead”
Eisley “The Valley”
Robbie Robertson “How To Be Clairvoyant”
Tom Waits “Bad As Me”
And also good…
Jack’s Mannequin “People And Things”
Adele “21”
Gavin DeGraw “Sweeter”
Jimi Hendrix “Winterland”
Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 2-CD reissue
Paul Simon “So Beautiful Or So What”
So what do you think? What did I miss? Leave me a comment.
Here is the latest update. Some we bought, some were gifts, a few we burned. Do you love any of these? Hate any of them? Or are you just confused?
Read all the way to the end and then leave me a comment!
ARTIST – TITLE – FORMAT – SIZE – COUNTRY – COMMENTS
Waits, Tom – Bad As Me CD 5 US 2CD Ltd Edition
Bush, Kate – 50 Words For Snow CD 5 US
Jethro Tull – Aqualung CD 5 US Two CD 40th Anniversary Special Edition
Cars, The – Move Like This CD 5 US
Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line CD 5 US
Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting CD 5 US 20th Anniversary Edition, six bonus tracks
Gabriel, Peter – Us CD 5 US
Heap, Imogen – Speak For Yourself CD 5 US
Young, Neil – International Harvesters – A Treasure CD 5 US
Cure, The – The Only One CD 5 US
Cure, The – The Perfect Boy CD 5 US
War is over, if you want it. Happy whatever-you-celebrate, hope you find peace and love in the coming year.
And a happy new year. Let’s hope it’s a good one, without any fear.
John Lennon wanted to change the world. He did change mine.
Thirty one years ago today was a tragic day. We lost a great man and a great artist.
From Wikipedia:
John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the founders of The Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. He was shot by Mark David Chapman at the entrance of the building where he lived, The Dakota, in New York City, on Monday, 8 December 1980; Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono.
Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where it was stated that nobody could have lived for more than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennon’s death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital and in front of The Dakota.
And one more video. Let’s “continue”…
Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our San Francisco 2011 anniversary trip are now online! We had a great time.
Any questions, just ask. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….
Wow. Our 25th anniversary. Damn, that’s a long time, Petra B! I don’t regret it at all though.
And yes, there will be pictures here soon. But not yet!
We decided to take a short trip to San Francisco for our anniversary. We left Friday early afternoon and arrived a couple hours later at our first destination, a reuse/recycle store called Scrap. We found a few things there but not much, but it was still fun to look. Then we made our way through the traffic and rain to our hotel, the Galleria Park. It’s in a great location and close to a lot of things. We checked in, just in time for the free daily wine reception (translate: free wine). We were getting pretty hungry and luckily we had brought with us
Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…
This is the twenty-second in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice. And V/A means “various artists”. And yes, we are both still obsessed with music!
Artists are listed as last name, comma, first name. If it is a band then it is just the band name. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Leave me a comment below the list!
Name – Title – Format – Size – Country – Comments
V/A – Grammy Nominees 1999 CD 5 US
V/A – A Very Special Christmas Live CD 5 US
V/A – American Idol Greatest Moments CD 5 US
V/A – Billboard Top Rock ‘N Roll Hits – 1972 CD 5 US
V/A – Music Express Productions – DJ To Go CD 5 US Prince and others
V/A – A Motown Christmas CD 5 US
V/A – Wild And Wooly CD 5 US
V/A – Funk Blast! CD 5 US
V/A – A Holiday Wish CD 5 US
V/A – Hear Music – Waking CD 5 US
V/A – Chestnuts CD 5 US Promo
V/A – Double Shot Pop Alternative CD 5 US Beth Hart, Jill Sobule, Morrissey, etc
V/A – The Concert For New York City CD 5 US Bowie, Etheridge, Mellencamp, etc
V/A – Just Say Noel CD 5 US XTC, Aimee Mann, Michael Penn, Beck, etc
Earlier this year I posted about going to see Elvis Costello in Reno (read about it here and more here). Well, I finally got around to posting more of the videos that I took at the show.
Check out the links below for video of Elvis doing four more songs from the great Spinning Songbook Tour in Reno Nevada.
Last weekend we drove up to Reno, NV for a quick getaway and a concert. Sure, we gambled a bit too but mainly we were there for the music. Petra likes both the artists and so we went to check them out. First on the bill, and starting 20 minutes early (!) was Carolina Liar. They were ok but the singer had some problems staying on tune. Not sure what that was about. Next up was singer-songwriter Gavin DeGraw. Turns out he’s quite a performer too. He put on a great show and should easily have been the headliner, performing most of his songs from his first album (Chariot) and his latest (Sweeter). Those are his best two albums anyway IMHO. Then last up was David Cook, from American Idol. He put on a decent rock show, but there’s a sameness to almost all his songs that makes him better in small doses. More variety might help. Overall, though, it was an entertaining show and Gavin was by far the high point. I took some cell-phone videos that you can watch, click on the “continue reading”…
