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music just performed | music in preparation | tales of the echo beach band | music from the laptop | music from the stereo | music at large | as seen on tv |
Monday, November 17, 2003 9:23:24 AM
Yesterday's Echo Beach gig at Borders Santana Row: A new single-gig CD sales record; two hours of playing that were finished too quickly.
Sunday, November 16, 2003 9:48:58 AM
It's almost time to leave to play our next gig but before loading the van, a note about Dolores Park Cafe two nights ago, where cafe patrons and the staff gave us a warm welcome. A great place to be on a rainy evening, or anytime they're open. Frank Ellis and Scott Mason -- thanks once again; we'll see you later!
Monday, November 03, 2003 10:28:28 AM
Echo Beach played: "Girl From Ipanema", "Key West Intermezzo", "Delicate Creature", "Morning/Midday", "Sharkbeat", "Merengue", "Killer Joe", "Wave", "So What", "Viva Tirado", "Afro Blue", "Place To Be", "Vagabond Virgin", "Tune Up", and "Cal's Pals" -- two nights ago at Borders Union City. A busy Saturday night, many live jazz fans in the cafe. We did a live marimba demonstration for "Peggy" by cell phone too.
Sunday, November 16, 2003 9:51:47 AM
The band returns today to the cafe at Borders Santana Row and I've just written the setlist (subject to change while we play, as the band knows): "Jamaican Sun", "Girl From Ipanema", "Key West Intermezzo", "Blue Bossa", "Wave", "One Note Samba", "Footprints", "Delicate Creature", "Sharkbeat", "Merengue", "Morning/Midday", "Killer Joe", "So What", "Viva Tirado", "Afro Blue", "Place To Be", "Vagabond Virgin", "St. Thomas", "Tune Up", "Cal's Pals".
Thursday, November 13, 2003 11:47:57 AM
Last night from 9 - midnight the band rehearsed (the beginnings of) my tune "Mr. Coaster" (we have a rhythm -- guaguanco -- and a chord progression); Justin's funk jazz tune "Furious George"; and we traded fours for about 45 minutes on "Footprints".
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 1:55:30 PM
Echo Beach plays Dolores Park Cafe this Friday at 7:30 p.m. I've begun ordering the tunes for the setlist as I practice them in my studio. Today I've been working on new material too specifically the guaguanco rhythm for my tune "Mr. Coaster", which I'm co-writing with John of Echo Beach. Guided by a transcription by Sue Hadjopoulos (Saturday Night Live Band, Joe Jackson, etc.) in DRUM! magazine, today I've played most of the parts (clave, cascara, bombo, and shekere) into my synthesizer. Yet to be recorded are the tumba and segundo parts. Tomorrow night at rehearsal I'll have the synthesizer play the loop of this rhythm for the band to hear, as we work on this song. I'll have some other rhythm and melodic loops to play for the band too...more on that later.
Monday, November 24, 2003 7:24:44 PM
Seen on Launch
Monday, November 24, 2003 10:05:36 AM
Seen on Launch
Thursday, November 13, 2003 2:17:41 PM
Crosspulse - "Come Together" in Real Audio from their page at CDBaby.com. Bay Area drum / dance / vocal group led by Keith Terry.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 7:19:46 PM
Mad and Eddie Duran (with Mark Levine, Mark Van Wageningen, Raul Ramirez) - "Symphony Sid Samba" from the from here to the moon CD; Joshua Redman (with Pat Metheny, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins) - "Blues For Pat" from the Wish CD
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 5:12:57 PM
Monday, November 10, 2003 11:18:51 AM
"Andmoreagain", "Old Man", "The Red Telephone", "Live And Let Live", "Bummer In The Summer" from Love's 1967 forever changes CD
Friday, November 07, 2003 11:18:12 AM
Marimbist Naoko Takada - "Primrose" in mp3 from Naoko's website. She's performing a concert tonight at Cal State Northridge and later this month she's performing at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Louisville, KY.
Monday, November 24, 2003 8:32:52 PM
Richard Thompson - guitar, vocal, side A on vinyl ("Time Will Show The Wiser", "Throwaway Street Puzzle", "Mr. Lacey", "The Ballad Of Easy Rider", "Poor Will And The Jolly Hangman")
Friday, November 14, 2003 2:44:26 PM
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - The Impossible Dream, side 2 on vinyl.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:00:50 PM
Yesterday: David Bowie - Pinups side two on vinyl ("Friday On My Mind", "Sorrow", "Don't Bring Me Down", "Shapes Of Things", "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere", "Where Have All The Good Times Gone"); Brinsley Schwarz (the band not the singer/guitarist) - The New Favourites Of side 1 on vinyl ("What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love And Understanding", "Ever Since You're Gone", "The Ugly Things", "I Got The Real Thing", "The Look That's In Your Eye Tonight"). This album (produced by Dave Edmunds) is filled with gems; Vladimir Horowitz - The Sound Of Horowitz from 1963, on vinyl (could be called the "S" Album - he plays pieces by Schumann, Scarlatti, Schubert, Scriabin. A one-man orchestra -- Pacing, dynamics and tone are majestic. This album won a Grammy).
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 5:03:54 PM
Television - from CD, the songs of Side 1 of Marquee Moon
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 2:07:00 PM
Yesterday: The Mamas and the Papas: Papas and Mamas on vinyl. As a songwriter John Phillips in the '60s captured emotional experience clearly and cleverly. It didn't matter whether the experience was good or bad. On this album, some songs ("Mansions", "Too Late", "Rooms") are about failed relationships. Brutal observations, little blame is placed. These compositions about pain are offset by the joyous vocals in "Midnight Voyage" (somewhat in the style of "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" but a much more interesting performance, which used all four singers to the max), the New York-to-California storytelling of "Twelve Thirty", the ode to frustrated love "Nothing's Too Good For My Little Girl". Compared to Deliver and If You Can Believe Your Eyes And Ears this album is dark and hesitant (many of the songs halt and change meter several times -- very different from the steamroller momentum in most of their early hits). But despite the fracturing in the group and the fact that they no longer wrote with naive optimism, they invested themselves in the recording and set down a few of their best songs (kind of a '60s Rumours). Compared to People Like Us released about three years later, Papas and Mamas shows the group still wanting to demonstrate the best parts of its gifts (by pushing themselves hard in front of the microphones, Phillips playing taskmaster until they got it right). When Phillips recorded The Wolfking of L.A. as a solo in 1970 he was able to ease up on some of the emotional pain that infuses this record, using a higher degree of wit, self-deprecation, and musical warmth. Papas and Mamas sounds cold in places but the group's talents (along with Hal Blaine's, Joe Osborn's, Larry Knechtel's and Eric Hord's playing) make the best moments very good.
Friday, November 07, 2003 10:38:51 AM
Andy Summers and Robert Fripp - "Parade", "What Kind Of Man Reads Playboy", "Begin The Day" from the Bewitched LP. One of my favorite sides of instrumental music from the '80s. Summers and Fripp find a middle ground of sound that differs in many places from the usual palettes they use. There's humor, introspection (the middle section of "Playboy" has loads of both, I love it!), and celebration (the first and last tracks of the side). The drum machine and guitar synth sounds (Roland gear galore) betray the era in which the recording was made but to me that's not bad. Tech gadgets are very well applied here (something these two have done over and over again in their careers).
Thursday, November 06, 2003 1:49:44 PM
Wednesday, November 05, 2003 9:39:39 AM
Wayne Shorter (with Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez) - the Footprints Live CD
Monday, November 03, 2003 3:38:22 PM
LOUD - Toots and the Maytals - Funky Kingston, side A on vinyl; Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band - The Wild, The Innocent, And The E Street Shuffle, side 1 on vinyl; over the weekend: Todd Rundgren - Acapella, side 2 on vinyl.
Monday, November 03, 2003 1:47:15 PM
10cc - 100cc side B on vinyl; Sheet Music, side A on vinyl.
Monday, November 24, 2003 7:54:56 PM Chabot Panhandlers
More about the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Louisville, Kentucky from which I just returned --
Wednesday, November 19, 2003 6:58:40 PM Eastern Time
From Louisville, Kentucky where I'm attending the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, or PASIC. This day of PASIC '03 is New Music Day. I've seen live performances of the dance / percussion pieces Edgard Varese In The Gobi Desert by Paul Elwood (in which Elwood himself danced); Ffloid by Neil Dunn performed by Dunn on electronics (Octapad, sound module, small cymbal) accompanied by choreography and dancing by Julie Pentz; and Black Shogun For Tap Dancer And 3 Percussionists by Michael Udow. My favorites were the latter two but all three had innovation both in their music and dancing. Observing new percussion pieces being performed at this convention has inspired me for 18 years.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 4:38:23 PM
Concord Records last month released a Cal Tjader 2-CD set entitled Cool Fire. I've just listened to Cal's tune "Mambo Mindoro" played by The Different Drums, as I typed this. A sound clip of Cal's rendition of "Mambo Mindoro" in all its great urgency can be heard here.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:10:59 PM
In September last year a reunion of sorts occurred -- in tribute to singer Frankie Miller -- by members of Glasgow's own Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Here are some pics and commentary about the event. I saw the SAHB twice in the '70s. They had it all -- stage presence, total engagement with the audience, musicianship, great songs (irony, comedy, wisdom all in one), great albums. These pics are on an excellent website about Alex and his band, who to my mind demonstrated the power and potential of rock music as clearly as Springsteen or U2.
Thursday, November 06, 2003 1:23:32 PM
When I was a kid and only beginning to enjoy rock 'n roll, two events showed me the undiluted joy that great music-making could bring into a family. First I saw The Beach Boys in concert at the Hollywood Bowl before Brian first exited the group (this concert was in '63, I think, maybe later). And a couple of years after that I visited the dry cleaning store in Anaheim which was run by Bobby Hatfield's family. There were posters of the Righteous Brothers on every wall as I remember it, but mostly I remember Hatfield's mother speaking of being very proud of Bobby's success. He and Bill Medley - two people definitely deserving of their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Friday, November 14, 2003 2:45:23 PM
Bela Fleck on Charlie Rose.
Thursday, November 13, 2003 11:50:30 AM
A couple of early Police videos on DVD; Tom Jones on Live With Regis And Kelly. Still the big voice, still the pop star, still the Welshman who seems of the earth, singing "Mama Told Me Not To Come" and "It's Not Unusual".
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 7:22:50 PM
Larry King and CNN did a great public service with their Johnny Cash tribute tonight.
Monday, November 03, 2003 6:02:20 PM
Victor Wooten & Carter Beauford - Making Music on VHS. It's only occasionally that I listen to the recordings by the respective bands of which these guys are members. Aside from that, I really dig this video. Victor and Carter have it goin' on in their attitudes, their approach to composing and analyzing music, their execution of ideas and their methods of working in the studio.
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