Category Archives: Television

Music Journalism A-Z – Alan Light

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Alan Light

I chose Alan Light as the letter L music journalist because the last several PBS fund drive music specials have featured him as “the” music commentator during the pledge breaks. This prompted me to research who is Alan Light? I’m happy to share I was knocked out to discover his competent depth of contribution to our American music legacy.

Alan Light got his start as a fact checker at Rolling Stone. He soon became Senior Editor.  He next became founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe.  He went on from there to become editor-in-chief of Spin Magazine. He has been a contributor for The New Yorker, GQ, Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Mother Jones, and the Oxford American.

Radio and Television Credentials

Alan Light once had a spot as music reviewer on radio station WFUV-FM, He presently serves as music correspondent on the NPR show Weekend America.

Alan Light is the director of programming for the public television series “Live From the Artists Den.”

Books

Alan Light is quite prolific. He has (co)written five books to date.

The Holy or the Broken

  1. Tupac Amaru Shakur: 1971-1996 (with Quincy Jones), 1998
  2. “Vibe” History of Hip Hop, 1999
  3. The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys, 2006
  4. My Cross To Bear (by Gregg Allman, with Alan Light), 2012
  5. The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”, 2012

My Cross to Bear

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Music Journalism A-Z – Jenny Eliscu

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Jenny Eliscu

I am taking a sharp 90 degree turn with the music journalism A-Z series. Today’s music blog post is about Jenny Eliscu. I want to recognize Jenny Eliscu’s integrated music journalism/broadcasting skills which she exercises with natural aplomb .

1) She is a contributing editor and music critic at Rolling Stone Magazine. Jenny had a recurring in the MTV reality television show I’m From Rolling Stone. This limited run (10 episodes) highlighted six aspiring music journalists who were given summer internships in the hopes of earning a contributing editor place at Rolling Stone Magazine.

2) Jenny Eliscu authored and delivered an authoritative college music career guide. The information this RS publication has is highly valuable and complimentary to Rolling Stone Magazine’s publishing mission in the media industry segment. The guide is extremely well-researched, highly factual and concise. It is an eight year old title that could stand a refresh with the all the changes in digital publishing and the cloud music explosion that are feverishly underway.

Schools That Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide

3) Jenny Eliscu also hosts a show on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 35: Sirius XMU, The Spectrum with Jenny Eliscu She’s been indulging her obsession with new music on-air at Sirius XM since 2006.

Find her on Twitter @jennylsq

Image representing Sirius Satellite Radio as d...

Image via CrunchBase

A Song From Sandy Hook – Over The Rainbow

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We are blessed to have such compassionate music neighbors to the south of us in Connecticut. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz (Tom Tom Club, Talking Heads) of Fairfield opened their hearts and studio to produce a special song from Sandy Hook.

A Song From Sandy Hook – Over The Rainbow

Most of the children were students at Sandy Hook Elementary, survivors of the horrific school shooting in December. With guidance from the project’s executive producer, CBGB co-owner Tim Hayes, along with Newtown-based music teacher Sabrina Post, the group recorded “Over the Rainbow,” accompanied by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson on ukulele. The song will make its debut on Good Morning America this morning and is available on iTunes and Amazon. All proceeds from the project will go to the non-profit Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/a-song-from-sandy-hook-20130114#ixzz2Hzthv1Cq Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Tina Weymouth, Ingrid Michaelson and Chris Frantz

Mick Jagger, SNL

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mick5.jpg

I stayed up last night to watch the season ending SNL with Mick Jagger as the host. He did an admirable job in that role. I especially liked his self-parody at the karaoke bar. His poignant rendition of “Satisfaction” closed out that bit with flair.

My other favorite sketch was The Californians which is a hysterical bit about the California fixation with driving  directions intermixed with soap opera drama. Jagger as the Dad was very funny, especially with those over sized glasses and the posing in the mirror scenes.

The musical highlight for me was Mick Jagger performing with The Foo Fighters (who just three hours earlier were playing the Bamboozle Festival in Asbury Park, NJ.). They performed “19th Nervous Breakdown” which segued into “It’s Only Rock n Roll(And I Like It)”. This is the point of the night that Mick Jagger truly hit his stride  The transition to “It’s Only Rock N Roll” was awesome. Jagger then sang and moved as only he can in an amazing combined way. He was so “on” I was totally mesmerized.

Mick Jagger also performed with Arcade Fire and Jeff Beck, which were good song segments but nothing was as powerful and captivating as The Foo Fighters live segment.

The send off for Kristen Wiig was very touching and emotional.

Queen Extravaganza Tour – June 9th, 2012, Oakdale

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We’re going to take a chance on the Queen Extravaganza event. I like what I am reading and seeing about this Queen Tribute Show. It’s rare when original members of a rock superstar group go to this length to arrange for this level of extravaganza. Never having seen Queen when they performed together, back in the day, its nice to have this opportunity to witness this event. Plus the Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford, CT is just a stones throw away so we must attend :)

The pairing of Roger Taylor and Brian May with American Idol proves to be a striking combination. If this segment is just a hint at the 2 hour, 40 song tribute show, then we’re in for a fascinating entertainment experience.

Two of Queen’s original band mates and songwriters—legendary guitarist Brian May and iconic drummer Roger Taylor—are the masterminds behind The Queen Extravaganza. Roger Taylor, Queen’s drummer is the show’s producer and music director.

To guarantee that the touring show matches the fabled design and excitement of Queen at its live best, Taylor has enlisted a heavyweight production team headed by stage designer Mark Fisher. Fisher has been responsible for some of the most memorable rock concerts ever staged, including The Wall for Pink Floyd and every Rolling Stones show since 1989.

“The Queen Extravaganza will not be like a traditional tribute show,” says Taylor. “It is a brand new show specially designed to enable these new fans, together with fans of old, to celebrate the music of Queen in a heart-stopping event. It’s going to be very spectacular, it’s going to be very visual, there are going to be some shocks and some tremendous surprises. It will be a rock celebration in the Royal tradition.”

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It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it

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Publicity photo of Dick Clark from his ABC rad...

Publicity photo of Dick Clark from his ABC radio show. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was sad to learn this afternoon that a major hero in my life passed away. My wife texted me that Dick Clark had died. We owe so much to Dick Clark as a music impressario. We grew up watching and dancing with Dick Clark on American Bandstand. My favorite part of his show was when they would choose audience members and let them rate the latest 45 r.p.m. records. The classic response was, “It’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.”

Much will be written and remembered about Dick Clark in the ensuing days. He deserves much high praise for his vision for music broadcasting, his production efforts and his passionate enthusiasm for music. I loved how courageous he was in spite of his past stroke on national television every New Year’s Eve.

My warmest personal memory of Dick Clark took place one week night in 1976 at Bloomingdale’s in Stamford, Ct. My wife, my sister-in-law and I went to buy his book, Rock, Roll & Remember and get it signed by him. We never anticipated we would get such an exclusive audience with Dick Clark at  Bloomingdales. It was about 90 minutes before closing time when we found Dick Clark’s signing area in the store. We couldn’t believe our luck. Hardly anyone was there. The majority of book purchasers and fans had been in earlier that evening to see him. He was so cordial to us, we found him to be a very genuine and down to earth person. He let me talk with him for over an hour. He was genuinely interested in my college disk jockey experience and what I knew about music. We spoke at length about his shows American Top 40, S10,000 Pyramid, and the music broadcasting field. He was an engaging speaker and I listened to him intently, working actively to keep my hero-worship at bay. Dick Clark treated me as an equal, a fellow broadcaster (I was doing a Sunday radio show on WVOF-FM 88.5 at Fairfield University at that time). He thanked us for stopping in and for buying his book. He had a great smile. We considered ourselves fortunate that we got such quality time with Dick Clark.

Rock and Roll Heaven has the premier music host now. I can hear the echoes of American Bandstand playing as I write…

God Bless You Dick Clark. Our hearts go out to your spirit. We send your lovely wife and family our deep sympathy and prayers.

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Patti Smith, April Fool

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The artistic energy of Patti Smith continues to educate and liberate my consciousness. I received an e-mail from Patti Smith early this morning which shared her thoughts about her first studio recording in eight years, Banga, that will be available on June 5th, 2012.

Banga is Patti Smith’s 11th studio recording. The track list will include:

  1. Amerigo
  2. Fuji-san
  3. April Fool
  4. This Is The Girl
  5. Banga
  6. Maria
  7. Tarkovsky (The Second Stop is Jupiter)
  8. Mosaic
  9. Nine
  10. Seneca
  11. Constantine’s Dream
  12. After the Gold Rush
The first song from Banga, “April Fool” is available for download on iTunes or it can be heard on Spotify.

APRIL FOOL

(Words by Patti Smith)

Come be my April Fool
Come you’re the only one
Come on your rusted bike
Come we’ll break all the rules

We’ll ride like writers ride
Neither rich nor broke
We’ll race through alleyways
In our tattered cloaks so

Come be my April Fool
Come we’ll break all the rules

We’ll burn all of our poems
Add to God’s debris
We’ll pray to all of our saints
Icons of mystery
We’ll tramp through the mire
When our souls feel dead
With laughter we’ll inspire
Then back to life again

Come you’re the only one
Come be my April Fool
Come come
Be my April Fool
We’ll break all the rules

Copyright © 2012 Patti Smith

There was a CBS Sunday Morning Show segment about Patti Smith this morning, Patti Smith an artist never at rest.  The transcript is available here. This was followed by a special CBS Sunday Morning Show Webcast with a studio audience in New York City with Charles Osgood, Anthony Mason and Patti Smith. There are various video clips including the one hour Webcast located on the CBS Sunday Morning Show Website.

It is also Palm Sunday 2012 and I was the Narrator at our parish for the reading of the Passion.

I found this very nice reflection from fellow Catholic Patti Smith on her Web site and wanted to share it with you, :)


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Happy 30th Anniversary – David Letterman

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Tonight marks David Letterman‘s 30th anniversary as a late-night TV talk show host. His shows have brought a lot of laughter into my life.

This is my favorite segment, “Dog Wigs”.

up to thousands…..How drunk do you have to be to spend that kind of money on a hairpiece? – David Letterman

See you tonight Dave.

File:Late Show with David Letterman-Logo.jpg

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