Saturday Sessions: Cinco de Mayo

Saturday Sessions: The John Butler Trio

The John Butler Trio is an award winning Australian folk and jam band from Fremantle, southwest of Perth. Formed in 1998 by John Butler, Jason McGann, and Gavin Shoesmith. They will be touring in the US this summer including the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (June 18) and Belly Up Aspen (June 19).






And since this season of The Walking Dead is over and I need a Zombie fix...

Saturday Sessions: Swing & Big Band

As an old Air Force guy I have to start off with Major Glen Miller, founder of the Air Force Band... well, Army Air Forces band actually.

Artie Shaw is recognized of one of the leaders of a genre known as third stream, a fusion of jazz and classical.

And of course the King of Swing, Benny Goodman.  The story is Benny started the Swing craze, booked at the Palomar Ballroom in 1935 the band was playing a stock arrangement to an indifferent audience.  Gene Krupa, the drummer supposedly remarked to Benny "If we're gonna die, let's die playing our own thing" and the audience loved it.

Saturday Sessions: Plagiarism ?

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were just ordered to pay $7.4 million to Marvin Gaye's children.  So the question is it musical plagiarism?  And even better, is a jury of 12 random people qualified to judge?

Tom Petty and Sam Smith came to an amicable arrangement without the use of the courts, Petty calling it a musical accident.

Although a judge ruled that it was subconscious plagiarism on George Harrison's part, it still wound up costing him $587,000

With Ghostbusters Roy Parker Jr. settled out of court with Huey Lewis for a confidential sum.

So what do you think?

Saturday Sessions: Singing Nuns

Now I still have no idea why, but someone was listening to this at work yesterday... over and over again, thought I'd share it and see if anyone remembers her.

There is however a modern equivalent of Sister Luc-Gabrielle (Jeanne Deckers) a.k.a Sœur Sourire, and that would be Sister Cristina below who won the 2014 Voice of Italy television competition (the Italian version of The Voice):

Saturday Sessions: A Different Kind of Love Song

Kjetil Lenes

Update:

Saturday Sessions: Sixpence None the Richer

Saturday Sessions: The Middle Eastern Influence

There was a time, not too long ago, in which things middle-eastern were celebrated and romanticized in the West.  

Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade celebrates the Persian Queen and storyteller of 1001 Nights

Led Zeppelin's Kashmir is based upon middle-eastern modal tuning and musical patterns common in Moroccan and Middle-Eastern music.

From the serious to the silly...

Kiss Kiss is actually an English cover of a popular Turkish song Simarik by Tarkan Tevetoglu, both versions appear below:

 

Saturday Sessions: Dave Matthews

Saturday Sessions: Bing Crosby

Saturday Sessions: The Grateful Dead

There is such a large body of work by this band I'll just throw up some of my favorites.

One thing that the Grateful Dead is famous for is their musical improvisation, illustrated below by the studio version at 4:46 and a live version at 9:18, almost twice as long.

In all the Grateful Dead discography encompasses 140 albums and innumerable bootleg recordings, so I'm sure I've missed your favorite... let us know what it is.

 

Saturday Sessions: Just to get you in the mood - Christmas Music!

Saturday Sessions

Music to contemplate Obama's

Speech by.

Sorry to you old school fans out there, 

I decided to toss in a few covers.

Saturday Sessions: Clara Ann Fowler

The Singin' Rage,

Miss Patti Page

 

Traditional Pop singer Clara Ann Fowler who went by the stage name Patti Page was the best selling female artist of the 1950's.

Starting with the 1948 hit "Confess", Patti Page was one of the first pop artists to overdub her own voice due to a strike that made background singers unavailable.

Her signature song, "The Tennessee Waltz", first recorded in 1950 was one of the best selling singles of the 20th century.

Patti Smith continued to top Pop charts through the mid-sixties and remained a chart topping performer in adult contemporary and country music into the early 1980's.  Patti continued to perform, recording her first live album in 1998; Live at Carnegie Hall, and performed up until 2012.  She passed away on January 1st, 2013.

Saturday Sessions: Gordon Lightfoot

Photo: Greenmars

Photo: Mikerussell

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank sometime after 7:10 pm on November 10, 1975 with the loss of 29 souls.

Saturday Sessions: The Silent Comedy

An interesting band out of San Diego

and their song All Saints Day

A WESTERN HERO
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

It's the 1st of Movember

1. Sign up,  begin today - clean shaven.

2. Grow and groom a moustache this month.

3. Don't fake it, no beards, no goatees.

4. Use the power of the Stache to create conversations about men's health and to raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancel, and mental health.

5. Each Mo Bro must conduct himself as a true gentleman.

What kind of Stache can you grow?

 

Photo: Mr Azed

 

Saturday Sessions: Music for Halloween (Part II)

A bit more contemporary selection.

Donovan: Season of the Witch

Warren Zevon: Werewolves of London

Rob Zombie: Dragula

Bonus Ebola Track:

Eric Burdon and the Animals: Black Plague

 

And yes, I do believe that is an old black and white television

Saturday Sessions: Music for Halloween (Part I)

Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta

Franz Liszt: Totentanz (Dance of the Dead)

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead

BONUS EBOLA TRACK:

André Caplet: The Masque of the Red Death

Come on, every plague needs a cool yet ominous name.

 

Saturday Sessions: Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd has announced it's first album in twenty years The Endless River.  They also announced that this will be their last album.

Although an unconfirmed made up rumor has it that their last official performance will be headlining the 2016 DNC Convention with this number:

Others say they'll be playing the RNC Convention instead:

Some say they'll simply do both gigs and play the same song at each:

Saturday Sessions: The Tower Theater

Photo: Mtruch

I grew up in this neighborhood, my family shopped on this street, and I saw a movie or two here before it returned to its musical past (vaudeville and burlesque) and became a springboard for contemporary musicians.  In 1970 the theater was showing 3rd run movies for the price of $1, in 1972 it showed its first revival concert under the Midnight Sun banner, Dave Mason and Buzzy Linhart.

Also in 1972 it showcased some relatively unknown artists:

Genesis  also had a midnight show here in 1972, tickets were $4

In 1974 a local artist unveiled his new backup band here... The E Street band. It was Springsteen's biggest show yet: $5000

In 1975 the owners of the theater sold to Electric Factory Concerts.  Regulars at The Tower included Jackson Browne, Lou Reed, Steve Miller, and Jerry Garcia. David Bowie returned to record his David Live album. In 1980 Paul Simon performed here as part of his One Trick Pony tour, the concert at The Tower was to become the video Paul Simon in Concert.

The theater continued to showcase both up-and-coming and established artists.

And the theater is still going strong today

The Tower Theater was built in 1927 by John H McClatchy (I grew up in a McClatchy home, he built more than 40,000 and is perhaps most famous for The McClatchy Building) for William Freihofer (of bakery fame), and the interior design was by  Erte; Romain de Tirtoff the noted Art Deco designer.  It opened in 1928 just before the great depression.  Less than a block from the Philadelphia suburban transit hub, the 69th Street Terminal, making it convenient for both suburban and urban concert goers. Contrary to popular belief, the theater is not in Philadelphia.

The Tower Theater