Category: Music

RIP Denis Tomassetti (Esoteric Records)

denisSacramento area music lovers, this is sad news. There’s a nice obituary at least.

I spent a whole bunch of time (and money) in his stores over the years. And he actually bought some of the record bins from our store Obsessed With Music when we closed it. Like I said, some sad news…

I can still remember searching for (and often finding) some elusive music items in his store: a Prince 45 with the then-rare track “Horny Toad” on the B-side, a John Wesley Harding CD promo EP (actually a couple of them), XTC singles, Cure 12″s, and a bunch of other stuff over the years.

Rest in peace, Denis and thanks for having your store, Sacramento is a better place because of it.

Sacramento Bee obituary

SacMusicBlog post

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Happy Birthday To George Harrison

Yes, he was a member of “that group”. But George was a talent in his own right and a pretty interesting person too.

Here’s a video for his song “When We Was Fab”, a light-hearted and humorous look at his days with that other band. Cool video, good song, and a clever idea.

And it’s his birthday too!

 

 

What do you think?

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 56

I just finished watching The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour” and was going to post a Beatles video, but when I was looking around and thinking about it, I decided to post this instead. For now at least. It’s “Gimme Sympathy” by Metric, a modern band with 5 or 6 albums out, all very good, some songs great. Is this one great? Well, it does reference The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Good start, huh? But with a modern sound. And singer Emily Haines is a great vocalist, not sure if that comes through on this track but trust me on this.

Now watch and listen, you will probably want to turn up the volume while you’re at it.

 

 

“Come on baby play me somethin’ like “Here Comes The Sun”….

What did you think?

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Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 55

David Bowie celebrated his 66th birthday recently, by releasing a new single and also a new album (finally) is due soon. Great news for those of us who had heard that he’d retired from music.

So that made me think of his classic songs (there are SO many) and I decided to feature this gem from forty years ago! Is it dated? Well maybe, but not for me. I still love his look back then and it’s a really well-written song. And sung too of course. Enjoy the video, circa 1973, for “Life On Mars”:

 

 

What do you think, feel free to leave a comment…

David Bowie web site | wikipediamusic and video

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Our Latest 48 Music Items

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

Parker, Graham – Three Chords Good CD 5 US with The Rumour

Muse – The 2nd Law CD 5 US

Wombats, The – A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation CD 5 US

Of Monsters And Men – My Head Is An Animal CD 5 US

Passion Pit – Gossamer CD 5 US

Passion Pit – Manners CD 5 US Limited Edition with bonus tracks

Gibbard, Benjamin – Former Lives CD 5 US

A Fine Frenzy – Pines CD 5 US

Shiny Toy Guns – III CD 5 US Autographed

Carlile, Brandi – Bear Creek CD 5 US

Higgins, Missy – The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle CD 5 US Autographed

Herzig, Katie – The Waking Sleep CD 5 US Autographed

LP – Into The Wild CD 5 US CD with DVD

Garbage – Not Your Kind Of People CD 5 US


Four Videos! More Graham Parker At The Catalyst

Yes, I already  posted about this show, but now I am adding four video clips from the show. For the original post click here, and here are the videos:

Graham Parker and the Rumour at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA, December 15th, 2012 – “Watch The Moon Come Down”

 

 

The other three videos are after the “read more”. See you on the other side…


Graham Parker And The Rumour In Santa Cruz 2012

It was December 15th, 2012, and Santa Cruz, California was frigid and rainy. Inside The Catalyst, it was only frigid. Seriously, people wore coats and scarfs through the whole concert. But it was well worth it to see Graham Parker reunited with The Rumour after over thirty years. Their albums from that period are classics, including Squeezing Out Sparks, Howling Wind, and more.

Recently they released an album of new material and the show combined a number of songs from that effort with many of Graham’s best know songs from back in the day. (The full set list follows, plus pictures!).


The Beatles Love, The Rutles Lunch

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”)…


Elvis Costello At The Mondavi Center 2012

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.


Terrific Tunes For Tuesday – Take 54

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?

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Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 Photos Are Here

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

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.


Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 2

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!


Seattle And Bumbershoot 2012 – Part 1

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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