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Category: Music

Happy Birthday, Paul Kantner

So according to my Avalon Ballroom calender today is not only St. Patrick’s Day but also, Paul Kanter’s birthday! Paul was born in 1941 so that makes him 69 years young, just remember 60 is the new 40 so says the man approaching 60! Anyway Jefferson Airplane was always one my favorite bands and 3/5 of a mile in 10 seconds – the live version from Bless It’s Pointed Little Head along with enjoy Grace Slick and Marty Balin’s  vocals I always loved Jorma Kaukonen’s guitar work. I also am a fan of Hot Tuna! A few years ago Jorma got together a bunch of fine bluegrass pickers and put out a great bluegrass album Blue Country Heart. Since then he has put out two more fine albums Stars in My Crown and River of Time. But back to the Airplane has anyone listened to the self-titled reunion album put out in 1989. I really liked that album! Any thoughts? read more

Folk Monday – Carrie Newcomer

I started the day today listening to Carrie Newcomer’s new album Before & After. Before & After is the 12th solo album for the Indiana native and I think maybe her best work ever! The album has a little of everything and it takes more than one or two listens to take it all in. On the first listen, which actually last week the first song that really stood out to me was “Stones in the River” I just loved the symbolism of the chorus:

today I’ll drop stones into the river, read more

Old Friends – Ten Years After

One of my favorite bands from the 60’s and early 70’s was Ten Years After and not just because of Alvin Lee’s guitar wizardry. No, while I liked the overall blues rock feel of the band and loved tracks like “Good Morning, Little School Girl” and “Woke up this Morning”‘ I also liked that the rest of the bands members could play and  the strong  jazz influences on their early  albums particularly on the second release  Undead. I loved the track  “Woodchopper’s Ball”. A cover of the Woody Herman hit. The band was the first band booked by the  Chrysalis Agency and their performance at the Windsor Jazz Festival in 1967 led to their contract with Deram Records.  I have their albums from the first release Ten Years After through Cricklewood Green. Which was their fifth album and contained the hit “Love Like a Man”. After that album the band took a more commercial turn with A Space in Time which contained the song “I’d Love to Change the World and I kinda drifted away.  The band ultimately broke up in 1974 when Alvin Lee embarked on a solo career. read more

Ten Years After – Then and Now

Ten Years After –  Then and Now

One of my favorite bands from the 60’s and early 70’s was Ten Years After and not just because of Alvin Lee’s guitar wizardry. No, while I liked the overall blues rock feel of the band and loved tracks like “Good Morning, Little School Girl” and “Woke up this Morning”

‘ I also liked that the rest of the bands members could play and  the strong  jazz influences on their early  albums particularly on the second release  Undead. I loved the track  “Woodchopper’s Ball”. A cover of the Woody Herman hit. read more

Forgotten Friday Set List

So the first album that came out of the stack of vinyl here next to the old USB record player was Tom Paxton’s 1983 release Bulletin. While Tom is one of my all-time favorites this album never got a lot of spins. I guess because a few other things were happening in those years like Andrew being 1 year old and Nick being 4 and other stuff. Anyway Track 1 was “It’s Only a Game” a song about that wonderful Rubik’s Cube and the way it can frustrate you and leave you shaking your head saying  “It’s Only a Game!”. The album was produced by Tom’s friend Bob Gibson and the second  track I listened to from the album  “Something’s Wrong with the Rain” feature’s background vocals by Anne Hills and Cindy Mangsen. Tom, Anne Hills and Bob Gibson have recorded an album together and Tom and Anne recorded a great album together Under American Skies. read more

Thursday – Mixed Bag Day

I was intrigued this morning when I logged on to Rhapsody and saw that there was a release of a new Jimi Hendrix CD, which I believe means now  he has released more CDs dead than alive or maybe it just seems that way. Anyway I put the album Valleys of Neptune on the mp3 player and gave it a listen and thought it was pretty good but on the second listen my opinion rose to pretty awesome. All of the tracks were recorded in a four month period in 1969  after the release of Electric Ladyland and feature Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. These are the last recordings with these sideman who were shortly to be replaced by the Band of Gypsies, i.e. Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums.  The tracks feature new unreleased versions of “Stone Free”, “Fire” and Red House” and a great cover of an Elmore James’ song “Bleeding Heart” (my favorite on the first listen) and an instrumental version of Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. Other good cuts include “Hear My Train A  Comin'” and “Ships Passing Trhough the Night”. Overall it was a great listen definitely a 4.5 and maybe a 5 out of 5 after a few more listens. read more

Blues Wednesday – Sean Costello

So like Joe Crookston, I’ve always seen the name Sean Costello as a hot new bluesman but I’ve never really sought out his music.  So the other day as I was thinking about what I would listen to today his name popped into my head. So I went to emusic to see what they had there and they had most of his releases. Then I did some research and discovered that he died from an accidental drug overdose on April 15, 2008 the eve of his 29th birthday. His family later revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder and set up The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research. So this morning I downloaded Cuttin’ In his second album released in 2000 when he was let’s see 21! In an obituary posted on Jambands.com on April 16,2008, Tinsley Ellis a favorite of mine called Costello: read more

Mid-day Report Twangy Tuesday

So today we will visit the land of bluegrass. Bluegrass music has one job to set my feet a tappin’ and make me feel good. I first visited the bluegrass charts on  Roots Music Report and looked for names that looked interesting… ah number one Michael Murphey’s new CD Buckaro Blue Grass, yes the Michael Martin Murphey of “Wildfire” fame though my favorite is “Geronimo’s Cadillac” and number 27  Last Train to Kitty Hawk Balsam Range ah Front Range is one of my favorite bluegrass bands so I’ll try this one. So I put both on the mp3 player via Rhapsody “on the go” and have listened to parts of both this morning. Both sound pretty good the first track on the Balsam Range album “Julie’s Train” had my foot a tappin’ so that’s a good start. I’ll listen to the rest of both CDs this afternoon and report tonight! read more

Monday Folk – Joe Crookston

So I have heard his name on Gene Shay’s radio show and heard him in passing but never really listened to Joe Crookston until today and in the words of Christine Lavin “What Was I Thinking!”  This guy is great and his album Able, Baker Charlie and Dog is wonderful and I am not alone in my opinion. The album was   “Album of the Year” by the International Folk Alliance. and  Joe was a 2008 Falcon Ridge Folk Fest Most Wanted Artist and a Rockefeller Foundation Songwriting grant recipient. Joe is originally from Ohio and attended Kent State. He lived in Seattle for several years and now calls  Ithaca, New York home. The Rockefeller Grant was part of the “Fingers Lake Project” and Joe wandered the Finger Lakes area and collected stories and four of those story songs appear on this album. I love story songs and Joe’s story songs are fantastic.  The songs that appear on this album from stories Joe collected  are some of the best tracks on the album and include: “John Jones”  The story of a slave who escaped to Elmira, NY and became part of the underground railroad. “Red Rooster in the Mash Pile” tells the story of a family  making  liquor during prohibition and the roosters who imbided along with the distillers. “Blue Tattoo” tells the story of an Aushwitz survivor explaining to her daughter her blue tatoo and finally “Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog” tells Joe’s grandfather’s story about building the airstrip on Tinian Island that would be used to launch the nuclear attacks on Japan. These songs aren’t the only great songs on this album, heck, I already said the whole album is fantastic! So I am glad that I picked Joe Crookston and if you like good music and like me enjoy good story songs check out Able, Baker, Charlie and Dog. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! read more

New Friends – Hot Buttered Rum

So a couple of months ago I was scrolling through stations on XM Radio and stopped at Jam On. Now I was never a big Grateful Dead or Phish fan, but I did find myself enjoying many of the bands. Unlike my wife I like instrumentals and long jams of good music are fine with me. One of my favorite albums is John Mayall’s Turning Point album, with long solos by Jon Mark and Johnny Almond on” California” and “Thoughts About Roxanne”! Seemed like many times when I heard a band I liked and looked to see who it was, and it was Hot Buttered Rum. So the other day, I loaded the mp3 player with their second and third studio  albums Well -Oiled Machine and Live in the Northeast and yesterday I added their most recent release Limbs Akimbo and I have some new friends! read more