• Live,  Local

    Upcoming Shows – Los Lobos

    Seeing Los Lobos live should be on the Lifetime To-Do List of every music lover out there. Well into their fourth decade of making music together, with the same core lineup of friends / musicians since their start in East L.A. – David Hidalgo, Cesar Rojas, Louie Perez, Steve Berlin, and Conrad Lozano – these guys are as talented, tight, and dynamic as ever. They dip into several genres: blues, roots, latin, folk, traditional Mexican, and others. And if you haven’t heard their take on the Dead’s “Bertha”, you’re cheating only yourself, my friend.

    Los Lobos – Bertha (mp3)

    Los Lobos is kicking off a tour on Friday night at Royce Hall at UCLA. Saturday night, they’ll be at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA. I’ll be catching them in a couple of weeks at the Mesa Arts Center in my neck of the woods (I’ll have a review up soon after).

    Check out the tour dates, and go check out these legends when they come to your area. That’s an order. You’ll thank me.

    Another Los Lobos classic…

    Los Lobos – I Got Loaded (mp3)

    Links: Los Lobos Official Site | Los Lobos on LastFM | Hear their version of Bob Dylan’s “Billy 1” from the I’m Not There soundtrack (LastFM)

    Buy: Amazon MP3 Store | Los Lobos

    Tour Dates
    02.01.08 – Friday – Royce Hall, UCLA – Los Angeles, CA
    02.02.08 – Saturday – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA
    02.15.08 – Friday – Abraham Chavez Theater – El Paso, TX
    02.16.08 – Saturday – Ikeda Theater – Mesa, AZ
    03.05.08 – Wednesday – Ithaca State Theatre – Ithaca, NY
    03.06.08 – Thursday – McCarter Theater – Princeton, NJ
    03.07.08 – Friday – William Patterson University – Wayne, NJ
    03.08.08 – Saturday – Shubert Theater – New Haven, CT (Michael, represent!)
    03.09.08 – Sunday – Strom Auditorium – Rockport, ME
    03.11.08 – Tuesday – The Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, CT
    03.12.08 – Wednesday – Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
    03.13.08 – Thursday – The Grand Opera House – Wilmington, DE
    03.14.08 – Friday – Lehigh University / Zoellner Arts Ctr Bethlehem, PA
    03.15.08 – Saturday – Bardavon 1869 Opera House – Poughkeepsie, NY
    03.16.08 – Sunday – Calvin Theatre – Northampton, MA
    03.21.08 – Friday – Columbus Palace Theatre – Columbus, OH
    03.25.08 – Tuesday – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA
    03.27.08 – Thursday – Jack Singer Concert Hall – Calgary, Alberta CANADA
    03.28.08 – Friday – Northern Alberta Jubilee Aud. – Edmonton, Alberta CANADA
    03.29.08 – Saturday – Bowness Hall – Calgary, Alberta CANADA
    03.30.08 – Sunday – Eric Harvie Theatre – Banff, Alberta CANADA
    04.01.08 – Tuesday – Vancouver Centre For The Arts – Vancouver, B.C. CANADA
    04.02.08 – Wednesday – Royal Theatre – Victoria, B.C. CANADA

    Check out their tour page for more dates extending into the summer.

  • Live,  Rock

    Live Earth Moment: Gimme Shelter

    So I spent many a minute yesterday clicking around, checking out the different Live Earth performances around the globe. Kudos to MSN for their webcast coverage. They even made it user friendly for us Mac users (though you did need IE to be able to click around from city to city). One of my favorite moments yesterday was a Keith Urban / Alicia Keys performance of the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” during Keith’s set. Color me impressed, they rocked hard…. (and Alicia, you weren’t lookin’ so bad either).

    By the way, did you guys see the Police play “Message in the Bottle” with John Mayer, and – uh – Kanye West? “Uh! Yeah! Uh. Uh. Uh. Yeah.” Um, no.

  • Live

    Ickmusic Live: Bruce Cockburn, 1993

    bruce cockburn

    “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, 1993

    Download a ZIP (mp3’s)

    Introduction
    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 Crossroads

    Also check out:

    Bruce’s Official Site

  • Live,  Punk

    Live: Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, 1999

    cover of the book Redemption Song

    I. Am. A. Slow. Reader.

    I’ve always enjoyed reading books. But damned if it doesn’t take me an eternity to read one. Especially over the last decade, as the internet has consumed any free time I previously devoted to books. And maybe it has something to do with reading right before bed. Four, five pages and I’m too tired to go on.

    So my intent is to do my first book review, since I was just sent Chris Salewicz’s new book, Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer. But since it may take me while to get through it, I wanted to at least make you good people aware that this book is out there. Chris Salewicz was a music journalist in the seventies, covering the exploding punk scene for several publications, and befriending many of the bands, including the Clash – so he has a unique insider’s perspective on Joe Strummer.

    Joe’s been gone for more than four years now. He left us too early at the age of 50. Shitty thing is, he was just hitting his stride again with the Mescaleros. After a long hiatus, he had formed the band in the late 90’s, and released Rock Art and the X-Ray Style, their debut album, in 1999. A tour followed, and as you’ll hear, Joe was back in prime form. With healthy doses of Clash favorites, old reggae songs, and new Mescaleros tunes, the live shows were great.

    Interspersed between the songs is the classic Strummer stage banter. Before launching into Toots & the Maytalls’ “Pressure Drop”, he introduces it this way:

    “We’re doing it by a Clash arrangement where we fuck the whole song up completely. But what can you do? I’m a great believer in tradition.”

    Enjoy the show. I should have a quality book review to you by, oh – let’s say, Christmas.

    Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
    Theater of the Living Arts
    Philadelphia, PA
    November 24, 1999

    Download ZIP (mp3)

    Intro
    Shouting Street
    Diggin’ The New
    X-Ray Style
    Rock The Casbah
    Ishen > Brand New Cadillac
    Tony Adams
    Trash City
    Nitcomb
    The Road To Rock n’ Roll
    White Man In Hammersmith Palais
    Safe European Home
    Yalla Yalla
    Rudie Can’t Fail
    London Calling
    Pressure Drop
    Tommy Gun
    Island Hopping
    Forbidden City
    Junco Partner
    Straight To Hell
    I Fought The Law
    Bankrobber
    White Riot

  • Live,  Punk

    The Clash rage at the US Festival

    Joe at the US Festival

    Joe Strummer was not happy when he hit the stage at the US Festival in 1983. There’s different stories about what was pissing him off so much. But the gist of it was that the Clash were upset when they heard that Van Halen took a million dollars to headline the third and final night of the festival. The Clash, by contrast, refused to go on stage until US Festival organizer Steve Wozniak (of Apple Computer) agreed to donate a large sum of money to charity. There was even a backstage shouting match between Joe Strummer and David Lee Roth, if you can believe that. Oh to be a fly on the wall on that day.

    Well, what resulted was a very spirited set, with Joe Strummer taking some time between songs to rant and rave against consumerism and the American way. This is also guitarist Mick Jones’ last performance with the Clash.

    RIP Joe Strummer: 1952-2002

    The Clash / “Clash Calling”
    Saturday, May 28th, 1983
    Glen Helen Regional Park
    San Bernardino, CA
    US Festival ’83

    DOWNLOAD (ZIP)

    * The only imperfection of this show is that “London Calling” cuts out about half way through and jumps about halfway into “This is Radio Clash”. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it quickly.

    London Calling / This Is Radio Clash
    Somebody Got Murdered
    Rock the Casbah
    The Guns Of Brixton
    Know Your Rights
    Koka Kola
    Hate and War
    Armagideon Time
    Sound of the Sinners
    Safe European Home
    Police on My Back
    Brand New Cadillac
    I Fought the Law
    I’m So Bored with the USA
    Train In Vain
    The Magnificent Seven
    Straight to Hell
    Should I Stay or Should I Go?
    Clampdown

  • BritPop,  Live

    Shriekback live at the Paradiso

    shriekback

    It’s an 80’s triple assault! First Journey, then Prince’s ’88 aftershow, and now the circle is complete with a 1984 Amsterdam set by Shriekback. I posted a year ago about my fondness for their 1986 record ‘Big Night Music‘. This show comes a couple years before that release.

    Made up primarily of Barry Andrews, Dave Allen, and Carl Marsh, this British group formed in 1982. Andrews was originally in XTC, and Allen came from Gang of Four. Put together Allen’s strong presence on the bass, Andrews’ synthesizer and whispered vocals, Marsh’s rhythm guitar and more melodic vocals, and a mix of cool drum programming and live percussion, and you have a funky, ethereal, and very unique sound.

    Shriekback got together again in 2004 after a long hiatus and recorded their 2005 release, ‘Cormorant’. You can hear a couple tracks from every one of their albums on their web site. When this Amsterdam show took place in October of 1984, they had an EP and an album under their belt (‘Tench’ and ‘Jam Science’).

    This is a short set, and I’m not sure if there was more to their set this evening or not, but it’s a neat glimpse into Shriekback’s world, circa 1984.

    Shriekback
    Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam
    August 10, 1984

    DOWNLOAD

    1. Flayling
    2. Hand On My Heart
    3. Feelers
    4. Mothloop II
    5. White Out
    6. Suck
    7. My Spine (Is The Bassline)

    Lineup:
    Barry Andrews: keyboards, vocals
    David Allen: bass, backing vocals
    Carl Marsh: guitar, vocals
    Martyn Barker: drums
    Pedro Ortiz: percussion