Category: Music

The Beatles Love, The Rutles Lunch

October 14, 2012
ComedyMusic

As you probably know, The Beatles music was used by Cirque Du Soliel for a show in Las Vegas called “Love”. It’s a great show and I highly recommend seeing it. The Beatles music was remixed and mashed-up, overseen by Beatles producer George Martin, so that the music is both familiar and fresh.

The Rutles (learn more), on the other hand, were NOT asked by Cirque Du Soliel to do anything. They are always in the shadow of the other fab four, it would seem. So there is no Rutles Vegas show. But what if? Luckily, some enterprising person DID remix and mashup their music and it’s now the soundtrack to their non-existent production, “Lunch”. Ah, if only it were meant to be. But we DO have these (click “continue”)…

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Elvis Costello At The Mondavi Center 2012

September 29, 2012
MusicMy Life
3 Comments

Press photoThis was a lucky week. Between Petra and me, we won tickets to four movies. But the big prize was that we won tickets (thanks to the web site Sacramento365.com) to see one of the master artists of our time, Elvis Costello. If you know me, you know I have been a big fan of his for about 35 years, since his first album My Aim Is True came out. Holy crap, 35 years?!

Well, I’ve seen him in concert maybe 10-12 times over the years and am convinced that he is a great showman and this show was more proof of that. Over the years, I’ve seen him solo, and also with various bands (Attractions, Imposters, Confederates, etc) and it has always been a top-notch quality show. This time it was solo, with a sparse stage with a couple chairs, a keyboard, and maybe a half dozen guitars.

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 54

September 18, 2012
MusicTerrific Tunes

It’s back.

A while back I posted a “Terrific Tunes for Tuesday” video every Tuesday for a year. Well, 53 weeks to be exact. You can find those other videos here. Recently I was thinking about these videos and how much fun it was to post them. So, I decided to post more. Not every week, just when I feel like it. And I feel like it today.

So, todays video is… Kina Granis “In Your Arms. What’s special about this? Well, I like the song, but the video itself is just great. It was made using:

288,000 jelly beans, 22 months, 1,357 hours, 30 people, 2 ladders, 1 still camera

Yes, it is made using jelly beans. Lots of ’em. Check it out:

 

 

Want to see how it was made? Here is “the making of…”

 

 

Have an opinion? Why not leave me a comment?

Other “Terrific Tunes for Tuesday” videos

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 Photos Are Here

September 14, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Hello again, family, friends, and everyone else too. The pictures from our Seattle 2012 trip are now online! We had a great time as usual. There are Seattle pix, Bumbershoot Festival pix, and just some other weird pix we took on the trip.

Any questions, just ask. Besides Petra and me, you will see some pictures of our friends Karl, Betty, Mama O (Linda), and Sam. Even Karl’s brother Ron and his son Antonio are in a few. Take a look! Leave a comment if you want, I’ll be waiting….

Seattle/Bumbershoot 2012 photos

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 3

September 11, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Part 1 | Part 2

The third and final installment in our exciting vacation saga. And soon I will post the pictures too! Oh be still my beating heart!

Monday September 3

Of course Happy Birthday to the daughter. Meanwhile , back to our vacation. We headed out to the last day of the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival. As per our routine, we first went and got a free Starbucks drink then went straight to the VIP hospitality area for some food and to finish planning the day. Petra’s first destination was a dance-related performance called Maximum Velocity, while I went to watch Seattle-based Seapony. I liked the band, they were pretty young but have potential. Then I watch a stripped-down mini-set (was it four or five songs?) on the Toyota Free Yr Radio Stage by England’s The Wombats. They were really likable and really good, ending with a highly-modified (with banjo) version of their song Let’s Dance To Joy Division. Petra meanwhile caught the end of rocker Reignwolf’s set, and we met up after at the “secret stage” for a performance by Low. They are aptly named, the music was very downbeat and while it was ok it was not really that interesting for either of us. That changed soon, though, since the next show in that stage was Passion Pit. They are getting radio play and a lot of press for their new album Gossamer so we were curious. This show was three of the members in a stripped down session, three keyboards/synths. The main guy opened the set with just an acoustic guitar for one song and the rest were the three of them. This was a great show, with enough electric to be cool but still fairly intimate. We both liked it a lot.

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 2

September 8, 2012
ArtBumbershootCoffeeComedyFoodFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravelVegetarian

Looking for part 1 – click here

Saturday September 1

Today was the first day of the happiest place on Earth. No, not Disneyland, sheesh! This is way better. Three long days of music, comedy, dance, and most of the other arts. We discovered the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival in 2001 and attended that year and every year since, making this our twelfth year. Some people travel with us, sometimes different people every year and then again some come year after year. We certainly do and hopefully this will continue. Heck, we already have a room reserved for the 2013 Festival and so does our friend Linda!

By the way, best improvement ever, this year: giant video screens at almost all the outdoor venues, so everyone can see!

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 1

September 7, 2012
ArtBumbershootComedyFriendsMusicMy LifeSeattleTravel

We just got back from our annual trek to Seattle for the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival (and more). I’ll post some pictures soon, but in the meantime here is a short overview of what we did. This year our friends Karl and Betty went too, first time for them. And of course our friend and festival veteran Linda Orozco went again with her friend Sam (first time for Sam too).

Maybe we’ll see you there next year…!!

Wednesday August 29

As usual we arranged for the Blue Van to pick us up. Karl and Betty came to our house to leave with us. We always allow for plenty of time to get to the airport in case something doesn’t go as planned. And this year, sure enough, the van was supposed to arrive between 7:25 and 7:40. Well, finally at about 8:10 the van finally showed up. This still let us catch our flight but it was more rushed than it should have been and pretty stressful. Shame on you Super Shuttle, I will be writing a separate letter to you. But anyway, it worked out and we had a smooth and quick Southwest Airlines flight to the Emerald City of Seattle. Did I mention that I love Seattle?

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Our Latest 46 Music Items

July 1, 2012
MusicMy Life

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

Michaelson, Ingrid – Human Again CD 5 US Deluxe edition with four bonus tracks

Michaelson, Ingrid – Live From Laurel Canyon CD 5 US Autographed

Bowie, David – Ziggy Stardust CD 5 US 40th Anniversary Edition. Title is The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars

Awolnation – Megalithic Symphony CD 5 US

Metric – Synthetica CD 5 US

Hutchinson, Eric – Moving Up CD 5 US

Spektor, Regina – What We Saw From The Cheap Seats CD 5 US

Death Cab For Cutie – Keys And Codes Remix EP CD 5 US

Lennon, John – Watching The Wheels CD 5 US Bootleg

Beatles, The – Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 2 (1964-1965) CD 5 US Bootleg

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Music We Own: The “Z” Stuff (as of today)

June 16, 2012
MusicMy Life

Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…

This is the twenty-sixth in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice. 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

Z,Bobby – Bobby Z. CD 5 US

Z, Bobby – Lie By Lie vinl 12 US

Zappa, Frank – Stairway To Heaven vinl 12 UK

Zappa, Frank – Apostrophe/Overnite Sensation CD 5 US Two albums on one CD.

Zappa, Frank And Moon – Valley Girl vinl 7 US

Zevon, Warren – Reconsider Me – The Love Songs CD 5 US

Zevon, Warren – I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (An Anthology) CD 5 US

Zevon, Warren – Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School CD 5 US

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Music We Own: The “Y” Stuff (as of today)

May 30, 2012
MusicMy Life

Hello again friends, family, and music lovers…

This is the twenty-fifth in a series of posts about the music we own. We sort-of collect items by certain artists, as you may notice (Neil Young maybe?). 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

Yaz – You And Me Both vinl 12 US

Yazbek – Damascus CD 5 US

Yazbek – Welcome To My World cass 5 US Promo sampler.

Yazbek – The Laughing Man CD 5 US

Yazbek – The Laughing Man cass na US

Yazbek – Tock CD 5 US

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show your Bones CD 5 US

Yello – You Gotta Say Yes… vinl 12 US Actual title is You Gotta Say Yes To Another Excess.

Young, Neil – Weld cass na US

Young, Neil – This Note’s For You CD 5 US Promo. Three versions.

Young, Neil – Time Fades Away vinl 12 US

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Ingrid Michaelson At The Fillmore In San Francisco

May 2, 2012
MusicMy Life

Ingrid Michaelson

Last week we went to see singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson at the Fillmore in San Francisco. The venue is famous, from the 60s until now, but it’s not really the best place to see a show. It’s basically a general admission open area except for a bar on the side and a very few balcony seats that fill up really fast. I’d rather have a seat, but they don’t do it that way. This show was pretty civilized, though, no mosh pit or anything. Everyone was pretty cool and having a great time.

My review of the show and some pictures too after the “continue reading…”

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Record Store Day – The Aftermath

April 21, 2012
MusicMy Life

Today was one of my favorite holidays, Record Store Day. It’s a celebration of local, independent record stores and you know I am really big on music. So I visited about four or so local stores: The Beat, two Dimple locations, well three really since Dimple Vinyl is separate. I didn’t make it to Phono Select or Esoteric or the other Dimple locations or all the other local stores or those in nearby towns or, well, what do you think I am a music fanatic?!?

OK, so maybe I am. You know what they say, once Obsessed With Music, always OWM. This year, I didn’t spend a fortune but I did find a bunch of nice items, some of which were released special for Record Store Day. Some were bought for Petra too.

Check out this list of what I got, and then leave me a comment below telling me what you think…

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Fifth Annual Record Store Day Is April 21st

April 14, 2012
MusicMy Life

Yes, I did get most of this from the Obsessed With Music web site 😉

I love records. I love music. And I love Record Store Day. It’s a celebration of the coolest places on the planet, namely record stores. So, on Saturday April 21st, go and shop and buy something from your local indie store! And there are lots of special releases just for this day, check out this list.

About this special day, from the official web site:

The original idea for Record Store Day was conceived by Chris Brown, and was founded in 2007 by Eric Levin, Michael Kurtz, Carrie Colliton, Amy Dorfman, Don Van Cleave and Brian Poehner as a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.

This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and on and on. Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008 and Record Store Day is now celebrated the third Saturday every April.

Record Store Day web site

Sacramento area record stores

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The 2012 Sonoma Trip Pictures

March 26, 2012
AlcoholCoffeeFoodMusicMy LifeTravelVegetarian

2012 Sonoma Trip picture collageAs I blogged recently, we won a free (mostly) trip to the Sonoma wine country. You can read all about it here. But now it’s time to show and tell, so here are some pictures from the trip. As usual we didn’t take pictures of everything but I think you will get the idea…

First, to see the collage on the right at a bigger size, just click on it! I downloaded a free “collage” app for my phone and used it to group a few of the trip pictures that I took with the phone’s camera. Very cool and free too. I love technology (usually).

Second, click here to see the trip pictures. Take a look and then leave me a comment!

Thanks!

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A Quick Trip To The Wine Country

March 23, 2012
AlcoholFoodMusicMy LifeTravelVegetarian
1 Comment

Vintner's Inn in Santa RosaRecently, we won a FREE trip to the Sonoma wine country. Yeah, that IS cool! It was a free night at the Vintner’s Inn in Santa Rosa (see picture), along with tasting passes at three nearby wineries, a small bottle of wine in our room, a $100 credit at the high-end restaurant, and a breakfast. We went earlier this month.

The hotel was really nice, including cookies in the room at bedtime, a fireplace in the room, large-screen TV, nice big tub, balcony, cushy bed, and more.But on the way there we stopped in Petaluma for a vegan lunch at The Sunflower Center that was pretty good even though it was in an office building. You never know, do you? Then, after checking in at the hotel, we headed to one of the wineries that we had passes for, Kendall Jackson. The wines were very good and the woman

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