Ickmusic Live: Bruce Cockburn, 1993
“Wow”, I say.
As a lover, yes lover, of Bruce Cockburn‘s music, coming across this crystal clear show from 1993 – the year I discovered his music – is a godsend. My very favorite Cockburn tune, “All the Ways I Want You”? Check. Second favorite, “One Day I Walk”? Check. Pissed off activist Bruce? Check (“Stolen Land”, “Maybe the Poet”, “Rocket Launcher”). Great sense of humor in the between-song banter? Double check.
Just a great show. If you’re a Cockburn fan and you haven’t heard this, prepare for your head to spin. If you’re not familiar with Bruce’s music, spend some time with this show, and it’s likely you’ll end up a fan.
BRUCE COCKBURN
Fox Theatre
Boulder, CO
August 28th, 1993Introduction
Maybe the Poet
Wondering Where the Lions Are
Tibetan Side of Town
Train in the Rain
All the Ways I Want You
Southland of the Heart
Soul of a Man
The Blues Got the World by the Balls
Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse All Night Long
Stolen Land
Mighty Trucks of Midnight
If I Had a Rocket Launcher
If a Tree Falls
All the Diamonds in the World
One Day I Walk
Tie Me at the CrossroadsAlso check out:
Bruce’s Official Site
A nudge in the right direction
Just wanted to pass along a couple of nice sites I recently happened upon…
First, A Deeper Shade of Soul. Ben and I are on the same wavelength on a lot of stuff, it seems. I mean, killer live Boss from ’75, live Arcade Fire in Portland, a Bootleg Friday debut with classic Otis Redding, and the kicker – an Amy Winehouse post tonight, the night I was sitting down to do my own Winehouse post. And he used the same image I was planning on using – the cover of the latest Rolling Stone. Ben said it a lot better than I could. Go check out his open letter to Ms. Winehouse.
And finally, Radio Free Wohlman. Mr. Wohlman is a Bay Area radio guy who regularly posts quite tasty podcast “transmissions”. His most recent includes Badfinger, the Beastie Boys, the Klaxons, and m.f.’in Grace Jones (among others).
The Wilburys Collection released Today
Attention Wilburys fans… Today, Rhino released The Wilburys Collection, a 2-CD / 1-DVD set which contains both Wilburys albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), four bonus tracks (“Maxine”, “Like a Ship”, Nobody’s Child”, and “Runaway”), and a DVD of five videos and a 24 minute documentary “The History of the Traveling Wilburys”.
Here’s a little snippet from the press release about how the Wilburys came about:
George Harrison needed a B-side song to accompany a European single release from his widely regarded Cloud Nine album. While in Los Angeles, George approached Jeff Lynne for help with the B-side, since he had co-produced the album. It happened that Jeff was working with Roy Orbison on the upcoming Mystery Girl album. Roy readily agreed to lend a hand in the musical effort. As fate would luckily dictate, George’s guitar was at Tom Petty’s house, and he too offered to join in and make some music. When the group showed up to record, Dylan also lent a hand to help complete the half-finished song George had written. George has often been quoted as saying, “And so everybody was there and I thought, I’m not gonna just sing it myself, I’ve got Roy Orbison standing there. I’m gonna write a bit for Roy to sing. And then, as it progressed, then I started doing the vocals and I just thought I might as well push it a bit and get Tom and Bob to sing the bridge.” The final result was a song called “Handle With Care.” George later said, “I liked the song and the way that it turned out with all these people on it so much that I just carried it around in my pocket for ages thinking, well what can I do with this thing? And the only thing to do I could think of was do another nine. Make an album.”
Both albums are fantastic, as many of you know. Have a listen to the eCard, check out the album on the Rhino site or iTunes, join the Listening Party … do your thing….
Traveling Wilburys eCard | MySpace | Rhino’s Listening Party
Check out the collection on
![The Traveling Wilburys - The Traveling Wilburys Collection (Remastered) [Bonus Video Version]](http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif)
or Rhino (Deluxe Edition or Standard Edition).Prince’s Planet Earth – A Track List
Here is what’s alleged to be the track listing from Prince’s new album, Planet Earth, due out July 24th on Columbia Records. Even song names can make Prince geeks like us salivate.
1. Planet Earth
2. Guitar
3. Somewhere Here On Earth
4. The One U Wanna C
5. Future Baby Mama
6. Mr. Goodnight
7. All The Midnights In The World
8. Chelsea Rodgers
9. Lion Of Judah
10. RevelationAnd just to confuse things, an alternate listing appears…
1. The Prophets
2. Somewhere (Here On Earth)
3. U Love Me
4. The Day 2day
5. Gia
6. If U Were Here
7. Guitar
8. 2 Fall In Love
9. Paradise
10. Here And There
11. NastyNasty
12. Planet EarthWho’s right? Who’s wrong? Who cares (besides me)?
sources:
http://www.jpc.de
http://www.wom.de
http://www.earthtimes.orgGrappelli and Grisman’s Gypsy Jazz, or Hot Violin Action Part Deux
Speaking of violins, you can’t mention the instrument and the 20th Century in the same sentence without talking about Stéphane Grappelli. Mr. Grappelli, together with jazz guitar legend Django Reinhardt, founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, the single hottest and most influential European jazz band of the first half of the 1900’s. They played their style of gypsy string jazz between 1933 and 1939, when World War II forced the group to hang it up.
Grappelli stayed very active in music for the rest of his long life (he died in 1997 at the age of 89). He played with many musicians spanning across many genres of music; artists like Jean-Luc Ponty, Oscar Peterson, Yo-Yo Ma, and mandolin player David Grisman.
This brings us to 1978. Grappelli was in San Francisco playing the Great American Music Hall. He and his group showcased Grappelli’s unique style, ripping through many old standards and classics. And joining him for the last few tunes were bluegrass-ers David Grisman and guitarist Tony Rice. Nice show, great sound, and a nice introduction to Stéphane Grappelli.
Stéphane Grappelli –
Golden Green(mp3)Stéphane Grappelli w/ David Grisman & Tony Rice –
Tipsy Gypsy(mp3)Stéphane Grappelli Group
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco, CA
April 25th, 19781. It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing
2. Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans
3. Tiger Rag
4. The Man I Love
5. I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
6. Golden Green
7. After You’re Gone
8. Chattanooga Choo-choo
9. St. Louis Blues
10. Unknown
11. Someone To Watch Over Me / I’ve Got Rhythm
12. Pent-Up House
13. Night And Day
14. Pennies From Heaven
15. Grappelli Piano Solo
16. Grappelli Intros Grisman & Rice
17. Tipsy Gypsy (Fisztorza) *
18. Gypsy Swing *
19. Gypsy Baptism tune (Fulginiti) *
20. Limehouse Blues *
21. Sweet Georgia Brown ** with Tony Rice (guitar) and David Grisman (mandolin)
Check out Stéphane Grappelli’s music on
or the Amazon links below…Hot Violin Action: Chris Murphy
For those of you itching to start your work week with a double shot of hot violin action, you came to the right place. First of all, a bit of trivia: in what year was the earliest documented violin (in its current four string form) constructed? Answer: in 1555, by Italian Andrea Amati. Previous to then, more primitive violins had only three strings. The Amatis were a dynasty of violin makers, lasting generations until the death of Girolamo Amati in 1740. Girolami was outmatched in his day by a rival violin maker, Antonio Stradivari.
The first post in this hot violin action focuses in on L.A. violinist, composer, and band leader Chris Murphy. Chris has been active in music for the last 15 years. He fuses jazz, blues, ethnic, and classical music, and the results are nice. He currently heads up a trio playing around southern California. Check out his site for tour dates. “Blues for Bukowski” features the inimitable Mike Watt on bass.
Check out Chris on Amazon.
Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts
It’s always nice to hear some contemporary jazz that harkens back to the classic age of Miles, Coltrane, Parker, Mingus, etc. I’m sure there’s a lot of great stuff out there, it’s only that I don’t expose myself enough to it. Thanks to the Music Choice Jazz channel that my wife plays during my kids’ nap time (dodo music, they call it – “dodo” is creole for sleep), I came across Matt Wilson recently. Wilson is a jazz drummer and bandleader who has played for Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, and Dewey Redman. For his Arts & Crafts project, he brought in trumpet player Terell Stafford, organ and piano man Gary Versace, and Dennis Irwin on bass.
Their third release, The Scenic Route, was released earlier this year. On this record, they offer their take on tunes by the likes of Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, and Pat Metheny, while offering up some fresh originals like “25 Years of Rootabagas” (check out Versace’s killer Hammond B3) and the title track, which was the tune that caught my ear during a mid afternoon nap with my kids (ah naps, so rare and precious). There’s some great, unique sounds in this track, including Stafford’s trumpet (or is it a flugelhorn in this one?).
Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts – The Scenic Route
Pick up The Scenic Route on Amazon
Matt Wilson’s Official Site
Calling out to the Old 97’s
Where are the Old 97’s? I know they have some tour dates scheduled, but we haven’t seen any new studio stuff since 2004, when they released their debut on New West Records, Drag It Up. The formerly Dallas-based band has released some gems over the years, my favorite still being 1997’s Too Far to Care. Fusing country, punk, rockabilly, and later on more of a pop-oriented sound, the Old 97’s really shine on the stage. These guys put on an amazing live show. An energetic and spastic live show. A late 90’s Old 97’s show at Nita’s Hideaway in Tempe is one of my live music highlights.
The guys are apparently still together, though I need to figure out if a new album is in the works. They left Texas a while ago. I believe lead singer Rhett Miller still lives in NYC (Rhett lived right near ground zero with his girlfriend on 9/11/2001), and bassist and singer Murray Hammond lives in L.A.
Though they have an arsenal of barnstorming, shit-kicking songs that will knock your pants off and have you hopping around like Hee Haw’s Grandpa Jones, I especially enjoy the slowed down Old 97’s. Here are a couple of great down-tempo Old 97’s tunes…
Old 97’s: Salome – from Too Far to Care
Old 97’s: In the Satellite Rides a Star – from Drag It Up
Old 97s Official Site.
De La Soul – Say No Go
It’s a quick random flashback to the spring of 1989, where hours were spent entertaining friends in my dorm room with this album. A stroke of genius it was (and is). Here’s my favorite cut, complete with samples of Hall & Oates’ “I Can’t Go For That”…
De La Soul – Say No Go
Prince turns 49, and a look back at 27
I just got done watching Prince, Sheila E., and Grupo Fantasmo tear up the stage at the ALMA Awards, which aired last night on ABC. I tell you, time after time of watching Prince perform live, he never loses a step, never loses his edge. He can transform any room, any event, into a Prince show.
Songs played: The Word / Get On The Boat / The Glamorous Life / A Love Bizzare (as Prince and Sheila walked up the aisle through the crowd and out of the auditorium)
“Get on the Boat” is as ubiquitous as P.’s high-heeled boots these days, and I have to admit, while it wasn’t one of my favorites when 3121 came out, it has grown on me quite a bit. The fact is, it’s a great tune live. As for the “Glamorous Life”, it was great to see Sheila and Prince singing it. Was it just me, or did Sheila’s voice sound a little hesitant and weak at points? But they pulled it off. A great performance all around.
The video of the performance is available for download on this French blog post.
Happy 49 – So believe it or not, Prince turns 49 years old tomorrow (June 7th). Wonder what he’ll be up to? [Update: as DDay pointed out in the Comments, Prince and his Jehovah Witness comrades don’t choose to celebrate birthdays. Well, the rest of us can, yeah?] He always
seems toused to commemorate the event somehow. When he turned 27 back in ’85, he rented out the Prom Center, and called up his friends Sheila E., some members of his new group The Family (St. Paul Peterson, Susannah Melvoin – Wendy’s twin sister and his lovah at the time, I believe – and Jerome Benton), and a few members of the Revolution. A party ensued, and some serious jamming took place.Personal highlight for me: the ‘Purple Rain’ tour dynamic duo of “Irresistible Bitch” and the James Brown homage “Possessed”. And for some good comedy relief, the improvised “Drawers Burnin” is worth the price of admission alone.
Happy 49thHave a good normal day, purple man.Prince’s 27th Birthday Party
Prince, Sheila E., members of the Revolution and the Family
The Prom Center, St. Paul, MN
June 7th, 1985A Love Bizarre
Mutiny
Drum Solo
Sometimes it Snows in April
Irresistible Bitch
Possessed
The Bird
Drawers Burnin’
Holly Rock
