All Tomorrow`s Parties` Rock Festival Raves This Weekend!
Boy oh Boy! I`m listening to some smokin` tracks of `90s slow-burn metal band Sleep. Just heard The Druid, and it practically tanned my hide and left it out to dry. Sleep will playing at the All Tomorrow`s Parties` Rock Festival,
which will be happening in Monticello, N.Y. this Labor Day weekend. This event is slated as an ‘independent music festival,’ and from the looks of the lineup, it has ALTERNATIVE ROCK signposts written all over it.
The festival will showcase Iggy and the Stooges, Sonic Youth, and the Aquarian occult riffs of the inimitable metal-grinders, Sleep. Sleep`s 1993 effort, Sleep`s Holy Mountain is a must have, in case you don`t already own it. YouTube has a keen black and white video of Dragonaut, with long-haired bassist, Al Cisneros, jamming out with his flowing hair and thumping bass, in case you`re interested.
Sunday night`s bill for All Tomorrow`s Parties will include some interesting acts that I would like to check out. There`s the Black Angels, White Hills, Wooden Shjips and Dungen. The festival will be held at Kutcher`s, an old Catskills estate, and looks like an intimate setting with an actual focus on the artists and their music. That`s a rarity!
“It`s not music, it`s a disease.” Mitch Miller on Rock `N` Roll
I completely missed it! I apologize. Mitch Miller passed away on Saturday, July 31st, in Manhattan. Mitch made it to 99. I am going to be honest here, I never much DUG Mitch when I was growing up. He seemed to me to be a musty,
moldy, BLAST FROM THE PAST, who was incapable of comprehending the dramatic changes that were sweeping our nation.
My assessment is fair, I do believe. Mitch was opposed to Rock `N` Roll! Oh no, Mitch was strictly SQUARESVILLE. But now that I`m older, I can see more clearly what MM did for the music industry. He helped to build up the Columbia record label. Not a small thing. Mitch`s strength was in the category that we know today as LOUNGE. In the late `50s and early `60s it was called something different, as best I can remember.
Easy listening or just plain Pop, I don`t exactly remember? This morning I picked up Tony Bennett`s 1951 No. 1 hit, Because of You, with the Percy Faith orchestra`s beautiful backing. MM convinced Tony to record this one. I love it now, but would have rejected it ferociously when but a rebellious youth. But there are lots of other stories of what Mitch did for some of our favorite crooners, like when he convinced Rosemary Clooney to record Come On-a My House.
I will link for you the obituary in The New York Times, Mitch Miller, Maestro of the Singalong, Dies at 99 by Richard Severo. Good summary of his long, productive career. I enjoy reading it, because it`s a good summary of the entertainment industry back in those days. Mitch rejected the new R & R on moral grounds. You may remember the payola scandal when disc jockeys would take bribes to play R & R records. Follow the bouncing ball, my friend. “It`s not music, it`s a disease.” MM
Taio Cruz a Symbol for Newly Emerging Dynamics in the Music Market!
Taio Cruz`s new video Dynamite packs a punch. Nothing all too original. Rather, the usual display of beautiful girls that follow him around as he sings his song about partying. This sort of thing has been around for a million years as a
marketing tool! Sex sells every time, if it`s packaged right. And Dynamite has garnered 16, 749,870 hits on YouTube.
Another single from his newest album, Break Your Heart, has managed to be viewed 35, 975,048 times already. Not bad, but the album Rokstarr has sold only 93,000 in its first 12 weeks. An article in The New York Times was an eye-opener, especially for us old-timers. It`s titled: Platinum Is So Passe. In itunes Era, the Singles Count. By Joseph Plambeck.
Album sales are no longer an accurate measure for the popularity of an artist. Single sales, especially on itunes, and customer counts of their video can be better harbingers for how they fare in the marketplace. Therefore, the Billboard 200 is not such a great gauge these days. A new service has come along called Ultimate Chart, created by BigChampagne, that is a more accurate barometer of the current music marketplace.
If you use Ultimate Chart, Taio Cruz is the No, 2 artist, right behind Eminem. This is starting to make sense for me. When we go over to itunes we just buy one song off the album, probably the one with the biggest popular bar next to it. Then we race over to YouTube and pick up a freebie video viewing of the rising star`s megahit. This helps us test the waters, to see if we want to continue to support this artist.
But who knows, this new formula could be dumped overnight, and the album format, that witnessed a meteoric rise in the late 1960s, could return. And history repeats itself; you might remember that the single format was tops in the mid-1960s. What comes around, goes around, to use a popular cliche.
Composer of “What A Wonderful World,” George David Weiss Dies
The co-composer (with Bob Thiele) of What A Wonderful World, George David Weiss, 89, died on August 23rd. George David Weiss also composed the ballad Can`t Help Falling in Love for Elvis Presley, for the 1961 film, Blue Hawaii.
Weiss made a small contribution to the hit The Lion Sleeps Tonight, which was a No. 1 hit for the Tokens. David wrote the line, “In the jungle, the mighty jungle.”
What A Wonderful World got off to a slow start, but was recorded by Louis Armstrong and did well in England. A music executive here in this country thought the lyrics were too corny. Lines like: “I`ve seen babies cry, I watch them grow, they`ll learn much more than I`ll ever know, And I think to myself, What A Wonderful World.”
This was 1968. The song didn`t really take off until 1987 when it was used in Robin Williams hit comedy Good Morning, Vietnam. The optimistic song is often played against footage of warfare, which creates an irony that raises questions in the mind of the audience. “I`ve seen friends shakin` hands, saying how do you do, they`re really sayin` I Love You.”
The song has been covered by hundreds of artists, I even did it with The Bubbles many years ago, but I still prefer Satchmo`s original version. George David Weiss wrote a classic that will live forever. “I see trees of green, red roses too, I see `em bloom, for me and you.” The tune makes ya happy and forget your problems for a few minutes. What more can you ask for?
Frontline`s “Law and Disorder”-The Case of Henry Glover
If you haven`t seen Frontline`s Law & Disorder yet, you should certainly make a point to do so. You can watch it online and I will link it for you here (Law & Disorder). 11 civilians were shot by the New Orleans police in the days
after Katrina. The Frontline special mainly reports on the case of Henry Glover, but also covers the shooting of six civilians at Danziger Bridge.
You may have to watch this several times before it will completely sink in. On the link that I`m giving you there are a number of excellent articles that will spell out for you what happened in New Orleans right after Katrina. Reporters from Frontline, The New Orleans Times-Picayune and ProPublica worked together to bring us this shocking news.
A few of the important questions addressed in Law & Disorder are: was Martial Law ever declared in New Orleans?
Were the NOPD told to shoot looters once things starting getting crazy after Katrina? The New Orleans Police have a history, and much of this is documented under Timeline.
If you don`t mind getting some cold water splashed in your face, you`ll want to study up on this. I`m so in disbelief about this, that I`m focusing all the more on this. Katrina obliterated New Orleans. Once it did this, it looks like the NOPD lost it. At this point the police become the criminals. I can think of nothing as scary as this reality.
Spike Lee`s “If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don`t Rise”
Five years later, the devastation that is Katrina, its lasting effects on New Orleans, are obvious when watching Spike
Lee`s If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don`t Rise. I`ve seen and recorded hour two, three and four, but still need to see the first hour. If God Is Willing is essentially a sequel to When the Levee Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts.
Spike Lee covers many topics, but attempts to trace the complex developments of New Orleans from August 29, 2005 up to the present. He initially intended on painting his documentary update with an optimistic brush, but the BP spill came along to snuff that out. So, the last hour takes up the BP spill as if it was a part of the Katrina story; somehow, the two are connected.
I will link for you two pertinent documents that will help you begin to get a grip on this sweeping new documentary of Spike Lee`s. Dave Itzkoff with The New York Times conducted an interview with Spike Lee, where he talks about his experience in making If God Is Willing. The other great piece I would like to link for you, is the only full-blown review that I could find on this documentary. It`s a review by Hank Stuever in The Washington Post.
Scratch that, I`m now finding some good reviews, like The Whole Damn Crew by Cynthia Fuchs for Pop Matters. My personal take is this is a wonderful follow-up to When the Levees Broke. We sink into the mire of the controversy, how can we rebuild New Orleans? I`m sorting through these problems now. Spike Lee spells out these issues and allows you take a fresh look with equal measure of hope and despair.
Hurricane Katrina: This Perfect Storm Still Gets Our Attention!
Five years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf coast (Monday, August 29, 2005), I`m still not
completely sure exactly what happened. And so we go back through the plethora of data, galleries of photographs, meteorological records, news footage and personal testimonies in search of answers to the mysteries of this Perfect Storm.
My favorite data source for Katrina is the documentary film by Spike Lee, When the Levee Broke. I`ve seen it at least three times, and will view it again later this week. And now Spike Lee has a new one that aired last night on HBO and a second installment can be seen tonight, If God is Willing and Da Creek Don`t Rise. Some of the older footage is included, but much of this is about the rebuilding of New Orleans.
An NPR story covers many of the excellent television specials that are out this week on Katrina. One that I missed last night, but which maybe will be shown again, is the National Geographic Channel`s Witness: Katrina. This two hour special gathers images and video recordings from Gulf citizens, who have their own personal account to tell. Wednesday (8/25) PBS`s Frontline will have one called Law and Disorder, which concludes that the shooting of a young man was probably done by the New Orleans police.
Yes, I feel a need to study Katrina, and this week is a good time to hit the DVR button or to collect articles from the internet. One fascinating site, that comes from the scientific perspective, is the NASA archive on Katrina. The satellite images of Katrina, as it evolved and progressed, give you data on rainfall, flooding and storm surge. Katrina literally altered the physical shape of the Gulf coast. These maps capture the metamorphosis as it happens.
Lady Gaga is now the Queen of the Internet!
So Lady Gaga is bigger on the internet now than Barack Obama? But Gaga is in entertainment, while Obama is in the political arena. Lady Gaga`s attraction is a mystery, but is a reality that we must consider seriously. And now
she is toppling Britney Spears on Twitter. The stats are staggering.
As of last Friday (August 20th), Spears had 5,659,701 followers on Twitter, and Lady Gaga had 5,655,299. THE LADY probably passed up poor Britney sometime that day. Gaga had gained 600,000 new followers just last month, while Spears had picked up a measly 200,000. In a slump, girl.
What`s doing it? Must be the Fame Monster Tour. Another factor is that Gaga dominates the music video scene too. Lady Gaga is a gifted musician and songwriter, but marketing on social media is her real forte. She has 16 million Facebook Friends. She`s the most powerful person in the world!
I have 190 friends on FB and will feel like a social media big shot when I bust 200, if that`s possible. Gaga ought to run for president of Haiti, not Wyclef Jean! I`m going to do some marketing research on Gaga to see if I can tap into her secrets. Understanding her PR Machine could be my ticket out of Dodge! For starters, check out her witty little Twitter video in the fairy queen get up. *(sources-CNN and YouTube)
Hawaii Becomes the 50th State-August 21, 1959! Aloha and Happy Anniversary, Hawaii!
On August 21, 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the proclamation that made the Hawaiian Islands the 50th state of the Union. It wasn`t until July 4th, 1960, however, before the official flag with 50 stars was 
publicly unveiled. I`ve been studying up on Hawaii`s history and culture this morning, and am making a little headway, as far as soaking in its fascinating traditions.
It`s not all surfing, pineapples and slack key guitar playing, my friend, but a good amount of that can be factored into your research. There`s a good bit of sugar plantation activity (starting in the 1830s) that you will have to brood over also. And as far as initial Western contact goes, you need to peruse the explorations of the English Captain James Cook in 1778 and 1779.
Captain Cook called them the Sandwich Islands, in honor of his sponsor, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. And don`t forget to read up on Queen Lili Uokalani, who was the last of the monarchy for Hawaii. Lili wrote the most famous song for the Polynesian Islands, Aloha `Oe. I`ve been listening to some slack key guitar by Leonard Kwan today.
I`m grooving to two of the most soothing tunes of Leonard Kwan (1931-2000), Ke`ala`s Mele and Slack Key Serenade. I need to mellow out this morning and these slack key songs are helping a lot. I`ve never been to Hawaii before in my entire life, but boy will I be ready to go when that time comes. Let`s see here, that pic of Honolulu looks enticing! *(sources-Wikipedia and The History Channel)
Miles Davis` “Bitches Brew” Sessions Begin Today-August 19, 1969!
Today marks the day (in 1969) when Miles Davis and friends began their studio sessions for the landmark double
record, Bitches Brew. These experimental sessions occurred over a three day span (August 19, 20, and 21st, 1969) at Columbia`s 30th Street Studio. The very face of Jazz changed with this record; it becomes electrified and assumes many of the characteristics of Rock.
Bitches Brew is often credited as being the first Jazz/Rock record and is considered to be a beginning point for the Jazz/Rock Fusion Movement, that would take flight in the Mid-Seventies. I only have one song for now, John McLaughlin, which is a mere 4 minutes, 23 seconds long. There are so many things about this record that are innovative, but one notable characteristic is use of an expanded rhythm section.
Miles employs 2 bassists, 2 or 3 drummers, 3 electric piano players and an added percussionist. The producer, Teo Macero, used many editing tricks also, when the mix-down was happening, splicing the tape to create new textures and structure. The opening track, Pharoah`s Dance, is usually cited in this regard. And check out the cover art, done by Mati Klarwein. We will definitely need to add this classic title to our collection. *(source-Wikipedia)