What was really neat was that when she was taking it out of the box to show it to me, SiriusXM played this song.

I thought it was most appropriate.

Thank you my sweet.

Peace,

Your Husband

XOXO

I just discovered SpotOn Radio from reading Spotify’s Blog. Pandora Internet Radio you’re on notice more than ever now, trust me.

SpotOn Radio is an innovative Apple iPhone music app. SpotOn Radio is developed and supported by the dynamic duo known as Springworks and Rebel&Bird.

SpotON Radio is free, but you need a Spotify Premium membership to use it. I just so happens I have a Spotify Premium account.

SpotOn Radio provides personalized radio stations which springboard off Spotify’s streaming technology. It seamlessly integrates an online music service(Spotify) with the Echo Nest’s song recommendation and discovery engine.

What’s awesome about SpotOn Radio is that it adds value and dimension to my Spotify social music experience.  I recently cancelled my Pandora One account. I had  a twinge of regret breaking away from the music genome experience Pandora has patented.

My anxiety turned out to be a momentary concern. The Echo Nest Music API engine with 30 million songs in its database (and growing) gives SpotOn Radio a superior advantage over Pandora Internet Radio. 

The song by Chicago comes to mind here, “Only the beginning, only just the start….”

Keep your eyes and ears on SpotOn Radio and Echo Nest. The Semantic Web, Web 3.0 is in full-scale music interaction now. I think that’s so cool

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“There is no tale so tall I cannot tell it, nor song so sweet I cannot sing it.” Guy Davis

The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed with the Blues features a number of Guy Davis original compositions, as well as songs by such blues icons as Robert Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell and Big Bill Broonzy. The album is a “road story” in the truest sense. Guy Davis performs the stories and songs in character as “Fishy Waters,” who traveled throughout the south meeting a host of vivid characters and creating a lasting impression that is at times humorous and playful, at others mysterious and sometimes intensely powerful

The Adventures Of Fishy Waters: In Bed With The Blues is a story containing several smaller stories: a mixture of stories, tall tales and music.  The subjects are survivors, not victims.  The culture is Black.  The music is Blues.  The message is human.

Guy Davis will celebrate the release of his new album with a special run of performances of the one-man play in February at the famed Crossroads Theatre in New Brunswick,New Jersey.

Special Contest

Order your copy and your name will go into a drawing for the Grand Prize: two tickets to see Guy do that very same show live at the Crossroad’s Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ, on a date of your choice! The show runs the last two weekends of February.

Your order must be received by midnight on January 30th in order to be entered in the drawing.

You can purchase Guy Davis’s CD, The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With the Blues here.

Please take a few minutes to watch why we must show more compassion towards our fellow-man. We must all help to defeat the winter of our discontent.

Bill,

Your new music video speaks for justice. Your trumpet is the voice that draws our attention to the winter of our discontent that is all around us in this nation. Poverty is the cause we must all help to end.

The vocals by Tony Lindsay and The Grouch accentuate the message that “Winter In America” is the plight of the human condition in our society we must eradicate.

I feel that Gil Scott-Heron is smiling down at how you extend his music to show the message of how we must all collectively help to defeat “Winter In America”.

I tip my hat to Ari Berger and domoarifoto for their wonderful visual abilities used in this video.

Peace, from the music of our heart,
Ed & Rosemary Jennings

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I am always looking on the radar screen for new music that generates more than a blip on the screen. The radius of the signal strength emanating from Howlin Rain‘s third album, The Russians Wild is commanding my attention.

Part of this has rapt attention has to do with the midas touch of Rick Rubin. The Russians Wild will be released on Rubin’s American Recordings label. Rick Rubin is the producer of The Russians Wild.

I’ve been listening to The Russians Wild player on the Howlin Rain’s Facebook page. I especially like the sonics I am hearing. The sound is fresh, vibrant and exciting to the senses. The track  that garners my interest the most is the first single, “Phantom In The Valley”.  It is seasoned with intricate changes and segues that support your interest throughout. Check out the salsa coda on the end

Their tour is coming close by my door, they are playing Cafe Nine in New Haven, Ct. on February 11th. Strongly considering this show

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I was thankful to stumble upon Jon Pareles NY Times article about  Jeff Magnum’s concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It has given me the opportunity to add Neutral Milk Hotel to my Spotify playlist today. So I sit in my home office this morning, witnessing the marvel of the snow falling across the cul-de-sac, back dropped by Neutral Milk Hotel.

In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

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The Pearl Sessions brings together, for the first time in one package, the original mono versions of the album’s 45s alongside the original LP tracks as well as the revelatory newly discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes of Pearl‘s classic tracks.

The Pearl Sessions includes newly discovered recordings of Janis in the studio, joking with producer Paul A. Rothchild and her Full Tilt Boogie bandmates as they work through what would become an essential part of Janis Joplin’s core catalog. Paul A. Rothchild is best known as the producer of the first five albums by The Doors. He also produced LPs and singles for John Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Tom Paxton, Tom Rush, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Lovin’ Spoonful,Tim Buckley, Love, and Rhinoceros.

Disc One of The Pearl Sessions includes the original album as well as the original mono singles from the album.

Disc Two is a collection of behind-the-scenes recordings illuminating the Pearl sessions with highlights and insights revealed in candid studio dialogue, song demos and alternate takes including nine previously unissued tracks.

Columbia/Legacy Recordings recently announced the release of Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968, a previously unavailable live concert recording of Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, recorded June 23, 1968 by legendary sound man Owsley Stanley, a/k/a “Bear,” who supervised the mastering of this release before his fatal car accident on March 12, 2011, in his adopted homeland of Australia. Dedicated to Bear, the album will be released on March 13, 2012, marking the one-year anniversary of his passing.

The Pearl Sessions Track List:

Disc One

The Pearl Album
Move Over
Cry Baby
A Woman Left Lonely
Half Moon
Buried Alive In The Blues
My Baby
Me and Bobby McGee
Mercedes Benz
Trust Me
Get It While You Can
Bonus Tracks – The Mono Single Masters
Me and Bobby McGee
Half Moon
Cry Baby
Get It While You Can
Move Over
A Woman Left Lonely

Disc 2 – The Pearl Sessions & more…

Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 5) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Move Over (Take 6) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 13) (Previously unissued)
Move Over (Take 17) (Previously unissued)
Me and Bobby McGee (Demo version)
Me and Bobby McGee (Take 5 – Alternate – Previously unissued)
Cry Baby (Alternate version)
A Woman Left Lonely (Alternate vocal)
Overheard in the Studio…
My Baby (Alternate take) (Previously unissued)
Overheard in the Studio…
Get It While You Can (Take 3) (Previously unissued)
My Baby (Alternate take)
Pearl (Instrumental) – Full Tilt Boogie Band
Tell Mama (Live – June 28, 1970 – Toronto)

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The first song from Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Wrecking Ball was released this a.m. on amazon.com*, “We Take Care of Our Own.” I picked it up from the Amazon Cloud. (Its also available for direct play on Spotify too

Here is the video of “We Take Care of Our Own” with lyrics.

Said longtime manager Jon Landau in a press release posted at brucespringsteen.net, “Bruce has dug down as deep as he can to come up with this vision of modern life. The lyrics tell a story you can’t hear anywhere else and the music is his most innovative in recent years. The writing is some of the best of his career and both veteran fans and those who are new to Bruce will find much to love on ‘Wrecking Ball.’ “

There will be a special edition of Wrecking Ball available on March 6th. It has two bonus tracks and exclusive artwork and photography.

Track listing:

1. We Take Care of Our Own
2. Easy Money
3. Shackled and Drawn
4. Jack of All Trades
5. Death to My Hometown
6. This Depression
7. Wrecking Ball
8. You’ve Got It
9. Rocky Ground
10. Land of Hope and Dreams
11. We Are Alive
12. Swallowed Up
13. American Land

Expect information about the Bruce Springsteen North America tour dates to take place soon. We’re eager to see Bruce and the E. Street Band again.

Rosemary and I attended the last show at Giants Meadowlands Stadium in New Jersey by Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street band in 2009 . The ones before the Wrecking Ball. As a matter of fact we saw two shows that week, show #2 and show #5 that week.

Here is Wrecking Ball from the first night we attended (Friday October 2, 200), brings me to tears to see him give Clarence a kiss and start the show, so miss Clarence….

* and digitally elsewhere

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Maria Schneider is embarking on a new Spring 2012 artistShare commission project. Her new orchestral work will have its world première at the Newport Jazz Festival on August 5, 2012.

My wife and I are planning to attend the Newport Jazz Festival for the first time in 2012. It is karma that we will be able to witness the Maria Schneider Orchestra performing live at that event.

Thank you for the opportunity to help you in your new project Maria.

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“We occupy Wall Street, we occupy the dream, and we occupy the future for our children.” - Former head of the NAACP, Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr.

Occupy The Dream achieves its impetus from combining the messages of Occupy Wall Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I love the solidarity between the two organizations as this unification strengthens the cause and the message that must be heard.

An important step in the unification strategy between Occupy Wall Street and Occupy The Dream took place in New York City on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 83rd birthday.

Several hundred people packed into the historic Riverside Church in the Morningside Heights section of New York City on Sunday night, January 15, 2012 for an Occupy Wall Street vigil honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  The event featured performances by Patti Smith, Steve Earle, Stephan Said, Global Block, and St. Christopher’s Gospel Choir, among others. Russell Simmons, civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, Dr. Benjamin Chavis, Jr. and Sumumba Sobukwe addressed the crowd.

A powerful moment occurred when Patti Smith took the pulpit and brought tears to the hearts with her moving presentation of solidarity. She poetically combines her poetic song Peaceable Kingdom with People Have The Power then meshes this with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words.

The Occupy movement has gained new momentum.  Never doubt for a minute that people have the power because we do!

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Stevie Wonder , social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known.

I am a student of non-violence and peace who is incensed about the state of poverty in the United States. The division between those who have and those who have-not has never been such a chasm. Today more than 46 million Americans are living below the poverty line the most ever in U.S. history.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his book, “Where Do We Go From Here, Chaos or Community”, a book I was studying from on the day he died, reached out to the issue of impoverishment. I share his words with you in the hopes that we together can Occupy Poverty and wipe it from the face of the earth.

Where We Are Going

from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 1967 book
“Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”

In the treatment of poverty nationally, one fact stands out: There are twice as many white poor as Negro poor in the United States. Therefore I will not dwell on the experiences of poverty that derive from racial discrimination, but will discuss the poverty that affects white and Negro alike.

Up to recently we have proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils: lack of education restricting job opportunities; poor housing which stultified home life and suppressed initiative; fragile family relationships which distorted personality development. The logic of this approach suggested that each of these causes be attacked one by one. Hence a housing program to transform living conditions, improved educational facilities to furnish tools for better job opportunities, and family counseling to create better personal adjustments were designed. In combination these measures were intended to remove the causes of poverty.

While none of these remedies in itself is unsound, all have a fatal disadvantage. The programs have never proceeded on a coordinated basis or at a similar rate of development. Housing measures have fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies. They have been piecemeal and pygmy. Educational reforms have been even more sluggish and entangled in bureaucratic stalling and economy-dominated decisions. Family assistance stagnated in neglect and then suddenly was discovered to be the central issue on the basis of hasty and superficial studies. At no time has a total, coordinated and fully adequate program been conceived. As a consequence, fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.

In addition to the absence of coordination and sufficiency, the programs of the past all have another common failing — they are indirect. Each seeks to solve poverty by first solving something else.

I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.

Earlier in this century this proposal would have been greeted with ridicule and denunciation as destructive of initiative and responsibility. At that time economic status was considered the measure of the individual’s abilities and talents. In the simplistic thinking of that day the absence of worldly goods indicated a want of industrious habits and moral fiber.

We have come a long way in our understanding of human motivation and of the blind operation of our economic system. Now we realize that dislocations in the market operation of our economy and the prevalence of discrimination thrust people into idleness and bind them in constant or frequent unemployment against their will. The poor are less often dismissed from our conscience today by being branded as inferior and incompetent. We also know that no matter how dynamically the economy develops and expands it does not eliminate all poverty.

We have come to the point where we must make the nonproducer a consumer or we will find ourselves drowning in a sea of consumer goods. We have so energetically mastered production that we now must give attention to distribution. Though there have been increases in purchasing power, they have lagged behind increases in production. Those at the lowest economic level, the poor white and Negro, the aged and chronically ill, are traditionally unorganized and therefore have little ability to force the necessary growth in their income. They stagnate or become even poorer in relation to the larger society.

The problem indicates that our emphasis must be two-fold. We must create full employment or we must create incomes. People must be made consumers by one method or the other. Once they are placed in this position, we need to be concerned that the potential of the individual is not wasted. New forms of work that enhance the social good will have to be devised for those for whom traditional jobs are not available.

In 1879 Henry George anticipated this state of affairs when he wrote, in Progress and Poverty:

“The fact is that the work which improves the condition of mankind, the work which extends knowledge and increases power and enriches literature, and elevates thought, is not done to secure a living. It is not the work of slaves, driven to their task either by the lash of a master or by animal necessities. It is the work of men who perform it for their own sake, and not that they may get more to eat or drink, or wear, or display. In a state of society where want is abolished, work of this sort could be enormously increased.” We are likely to find that the problems of housing and education, instead of preceding the elimination of poverty, will themselves be affected if poverty is first abolished. The poor transformed into purchasers will do a great deal on their own to alter housing decay. Negroes, who have a double disability, will have a greater effect on discrimination when they have the additional weapon of cash to use in their struggle.

Beyond these advantages, a host of positive psychological changes inevitably will result from widespread economic security. The dignity of the individual will flourish when the decisions concerning his life and in his own hands, when he has the assurance that his income is stable and certain, and when he know that he has the means to seek self-improvement. Personal conflicts between husband, wife and children will diminish when the unjust measurement of human worth on a scale of dollars is eliminated.

Two conditions are indispensable if we are to ensure that the guaranteed income operates as a consistently progressive measure. First, it must be pegged to the median income of society, not the lowest levels of income. To guarantee an income at the floor would simply perpetuate welfare standards and freeze into the society poverty conditions. Second, the guaranteed income must be dynamic; it must automatically increase as the total social income grows. Were it permitted to remain static under growth conditions, the recipients would suffer a relative decline. If periodic reviews disclose that the whole national income has risen, then the guaranteed income would have to be adjusted upward by the same percentage. Without these safeguards a creeping retrogression would occur, nullifying the gains of security and stability.

This proposal is not a “civil rights” program, in the sense that that term is currently used. The program would benefit all the poor, including the two-thirds of them who are white. I hope that both Negro and white will act in coalition to effect this change, because their combined strength will be necessary to overcome the fierce opposition we must realistically anticipate.

Our nation’s adjustment to a new mode of thinking will be facilitated if we realize that for nearly forty years two groups in our society have already been enjoying a guaranteed income. Indeed, it is a symptom of our confused social values that these two groups turn out to be the richest and the poorest. The wealthy who own securities have always had an assured income; and their polar opposite, the relief client, has been guaranteed an income, however miniscule, through welfare benefits.

John Kenneth Galbraith has estimated that $20 billion a year would effect a guaranteed income, which he describes as “not much more than we will spend the next fiscal year to rescue freedom and democracy and religious liberty as these are defined by ‘experts’ in Vietnam.”

The contemporary tendency in our society is to base our distribution on scarcity, which has vanished, and to compress our abundance into the overfed mouths of the middle and upper classes until they gag with superfluity. If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity. It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. We are wasting and degrading human life by clinging to archaic thinking.

The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.

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Gil Scott-Heron will be honored at the 2012 Grammy Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award. You can learn more here at this micro-site established by his son, Rumal Rackley, his family and the Gil Scott-Heron estate.

I am energized to connect once with the spirit of  urban poet Gil Scott-Heron through the online Web site and the vibrant pages of  his new book, The Last Holiday: A Memoir. 

I applaud the efforts of Tim Mohr in his editorial capacity for this volume. The book lives and breathes Gil Scott-Heron. Thank you Tim for the collaborative respect you evidence throughout the book.

The book cover displayed below is the edition published in Great Britain by Canongate Books Ltd. Canongate has a long history in earnest with Gil Scott-Heron. I encourage you to visit the Gil Scott-Heron Canongate TV Book Channel to view a video interview and gain more insight into the artist’s spirit.

Oscar Wilson’s dust jacket illustration art is richly compelling. Oscar’s vivid portfolio is published on Debut Art here.

Illustration by Oscar Wilson - Debut Art

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It’s a poster of Buddy Miles that has a couple of his signatures. I was corresponding with Buddy Miles and his wonderful wife, Sherrilae Chambers in 2004. He signed this poster and the CD cover of Buddy Miles Bluesberries I sent him. Buddy Miles surprised me by including a pair of signed Vic Firth drum sticks in the return package.

If you zoom closer you can see his signature on the mounted drum sticks.

I love the shadow box technique that Jason of Framer’s Edge Gallery & Frame did for this piece. He frames our music art and we love his attention to detail.

I especially love the color green he and Rosemary chose for the frame, isn’t it cool

I was very fortunate to see Buddy Miles with Poco on December 6, 1970 in the Fairfield University Gym. We sat in the second row that night. He was in rare form getting the gymnasium on their feet saying “Hell Yeah” to the song “We Got To Live Together”. I’ll never forget the energy he gave us that night.

The song I liked the best by Buddy Miles and his band that  evening was “Dreams” a powerful soul cover of The Allman Brothers. Of course they played “Them Changes” which was great to hear as well.

Gil Scott-Heron

Bill Ortiz‘s EP recording Winter In America is a heroic attempt that helps us to avoid despair. The music and the message push us safely back from the precipice of the winter of our discontent.

The opening track  is an ingenious remix of Gil Scott-Heron’s ”Winter In America”. It commences with Bill Ortiz’s horn compelling us to take heed and listen. The track is gutsy and edgy. It crystallizes our attention on what is really going on in the streets across America.

“Winter In America” smartly acknowledges the Godfather of Hip-Hop, Gil Scott-Heron with lead vocalist Tony Lindsay (Santana) trading off lyrics with “The Grouch” on vocals and rap.

Well they say it’s a cold world

But we got a cold play my man

Rest in Peace, Gil Scott

Without you the revolution would not

What makes this EP even more full circle is the track, “I Still Believe”, a Phoenix Black remix with the eloquent spoken word voice of Linda Tillery and “Zumbi” from Zion I accenting with spoken word/rap. “I Still Believe” contains excerpts from Rev. Martin Luther King’s Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo.

The co-operation of Gil Scott-Heron’s revolutionary spirit lives on in his recently published posthumous memoir, “A Last Holiday“. There is a chapter in the book which details the tour that Stevie Wonder and Gil Scott-Heron were on to together where they lobbied for a national holiday for the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Gil Scott-Heron draws the correlation between the assassination of John Lennon and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. two great men of peace struck down by violence. As I write this review we are on the edge of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s  birthday and U.S. federal holiday. It just so happens that the Winter in America EP drops on Martin Luther King Day, January 16^th, 2012 direct to fans.

Bill Ortiz states the purpose of this recording best when he says, “I try to bring all these elements of who I am musically into one voice.” You’ve done all that and more Bill with your fine achievement, Winter In America.

Winter In America
Bill Ortiz
Released: January 16, 2012
Label: Left Angle Records

Produced By Ali Zandinejad aka Phoenix Black, Bill Ortiz and Steve Heithecker

Track Listing:

1. Winter In America
2. I Still Believe (Remix)
3. Word Play (Remix)
4. I Still Believe (Instrumental)
5. Winter In America (Radio Edit)

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An interesting multimedia application for the Apple iPad for Beatles fans is available from Rolling Stone Magazine and Apple iTunes. The Beatles: The Ultimate Album by Album Guide. With a little help from their friends at Managing Editor Inc. MEI, an Adobe^® premier development partner and a leading provider of software solutions for publisher.

MEI is playing a key role as a gold level reseller for Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite solution. It also helps that MEI supports and resells the vjoon K4™ Cross-Media Publishing Platform. The vjoon K4™ Cross-Media Publishing Platform is a versatile, powerful system that lets you deliver content to any output channel — print, online, iPad, iPhone and other digital formats. The vjoon K4™  is the major solution that is driving the digital publishing direction for leading publishers today.

I purchased The Beatles: The Ultimate Album by Album Guide for my wife, Rosemary. Rosemary is the most devout Beatles fan in the family. She is also the most avid iPad user. We looked at the app while playing The Beatles Stereo Box Set (Audio CD). The combination adds a vivid dimension to the listening context.

The track by track listings are pointed and helpful. The vital stats in the insert box provide a quick reference for each recording. I especially love the photographs that accompany each album.

My favorite section is “The Beatles Albums by the Numbers” its an infographic that is thought provoking.

I believe this technology to be the early adopter edition of how Rolling Stone Magazine will be utilized on an Apple iPad. I anticipate more innovation including interaction with digital publishing when Apple releases the iPad 3 this year. Perhaps that is when Rolling Stone Magazine will go live with their cloud subscription. Stay tuned as we all have more to discover in 2012. All together now…

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I first saw Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez a few years back outdoors in Meriden, Ct. at the Daffodil Festival. They were the opening act for Eric Burdon and the Animals on April 26, 2008. I liked their set and their sound.

I have noticed they have been hard at work in the last three years. They have three live dates scheduled for CT so far. Their first Connecticut concert is scheduled for January 28, 2012 at The Maple Tree Cafe in Simsbury, Ct. They also have a club date closer to my home in New Haven at Cafe Nine on February 25, 2012. The third date is later in the year at Bridge Street Live in Collinsville on June 16, 2012.

Her day job is vocalist for the Saturday Night Live Band. I really appreciate Christine Ohlman’s role as a music scholar. She makes a strong contribution to the music selected and played on SNL.

Her latest studio recording is The Deep End released in 2010. Ohlman recruited a stellar group of artists to contribute to that CD, including Marshall Crenshaw, Dion DiMucci and Ian Hunter as duet partners, as well as an all-star list of accompanists: G.E. Smith, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel from the Del-Lords, NRBQ veteran Big Al Anderson, Catherine Russell, and the Asbury Juke Horns (Chris Anderson and Neal Pawley).

There is also LIVE HIVE, Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez’s premier concert DVD, recorded January,16  2011. It was filmed right down the street from where I live.

Live Hive contains 17 tracks plus bonus interview segments, the electronic press kit for The Deep End, and the video for “Love Make You Do Stupid Things.”

It’s available for pre-order at the hyperlink above.

Amnesty International is a cause I have supported since 1979 when I purchased The Secret Policeman’s Ball vinyl LP as an import. I have made many contributions over the decades to this vital cause. I plan to do so again with “Chimes of Freedom”.

Will there be a “Chimes of Freedom” concert? Karen Scott, Amnesty International’s manager of music relations, expresses hope for such an event.

“We would love for there to be a tour or concert behind this album,” she says, pointing out that Amnesty’s incredibly successful Human Rights Concerts in the ’80s and ’90s featuring the likes of U2, the Police and Bruce Springsteen were led by the artists themselves. “We’ve found that the most successful concerts happen when the artists stand up and say they want to do this for Amnesty.”

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This unique gem was found by co-producer Bruce Botnick when he was reviewing the L.A. Woman session tapes for the upcoming reissue.

The Doors L.A. Woman 40th Anniversary merchandise will start shipping on or about January 20th, 2012.

There will be a two CD re-issue of the original album, remastered, with an extra disc of bonus material. Disc two has previously unreleased alternate versions of songs featured on the original album along with studio chatter by the band from the recording sessions. Liner notes written by David Fricke, Sr. Editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and original album producer Bruce Botnick.

There will also be a DVD, Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman. Eagle Rock Entertainment has created this documentary detailing how The Doors created their last studio album. Mr Mojo Risin’ goes into detail of how the album came about, its recording and what was happening to the band at the time. The story is told through new interviews with the three surviving Doors: Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krieger and John Densmore plus contributions from Jac Holzman, founder of their label, Elektra Records, Bill Siddons, their manager, Bruce Botnick, engineer and co-producer of the album and others associated with the Doors at this time. The show includes archive footage of the Doors performing both live and in the studio, classic photographs and new musical demonstrations from the Doors.

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Image via Wikipedia

I watched the Pearl Jam Twenty rockumentary film last night. My goal was to absorb as much as I could about the evolution of Pearl Jam. The film exceeded my expectations as I experienced a total immersion with Pearl Jam.

I have a long time respect for Cameron Crowe as a rock music journalist, film director, producer, and screenwriter. I have relished his unique music journalism ever since I first encountered his articles in Rolling Stone Magazine in 1973. His passion for the culture of music is infectious as it is enlightening. My favorite music film of his is the semi-autobiographical movie,  Almost Famous. 

Cameron Crowe has put his best foot forward with Pearl Jam Twenty. His role as a long time fan and advocate presents a polished dimension one rarely witnesses in a rockumentary. His insight into the artistry of Pearl Jam takes the viewer far and wide in its global view of Pearl Jam live. He also zooms in on the details of each band member so we learn about the sum of the parts known as Pearl Jam.

I must also give credit to the members of Pearl Jam and their team who pieced together lots of personal film and memorabilia to underscore the strength of a twenty year partnership.

I am impressed with the magnetism Pearl Jam exudes. Most notably this is represented in the identity of Eddie Vedder. We learn of his beginnings as a surfer in Southern California who soon mounts the waves of grunge rock success in Seattle. I had no idea Eddie Vedder was such a risk taker launching himself way above  the stage into the waiting audience to catch and break his fall below. We see what heights and depths Pearl Jam assumed in their first 10 years of the 20 year journey.

I gained a strong appreciation for Pearl Jam’s commitment to their fans by taking on the Ticketmaster monopoly. I love their activism and dedication to their beliefs in the integrity of music and their fans.

Pearl Jam Twenty increases my need to see them live some day soon, hopefully when they announce their 2012 North America tour plans. The film elevates their live performances in correlation to my want to witness their incredible energy and sound.

Related articles

• Seattle, Washington and Pearl Jam Twenty Years On (musicofourheart.me)
• Cameron Crowe Directed a Video for Pearl Jam’s ‘Not For You’ (moviefone.com)
• Cameron Crowe’s Best Musical Moments (spinner.com)

Photograph by Dean Fox, Photolibrary

Twenty years ago this summer I was working for Microsoft Corporation. I experienced Seattle, Washington as a beautiful sprawling metropolis for the first time in the fall of 1992. Little did I realize it would become the most visited city (exclusive of New York City) I would travel to and cherish in the United States. I have been to Seattle 14 times in the past 20 years. Seattle is an exciting and vibrant place to experience. I developed an affinity for Pearl Jam that year as their album, Ten was gaining momentum in parallel to my new career. The city was living and breathing a unique music art form that Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden were evidencing to the world.

I love travelling back to Seattle and visiting the Experience Music  Project, a Rock and Roll Museum in Seattle Center, next to the Space Needle and Seattle Center Monorail. The architecture of the building is amazing. The exhibits give extensive information about the Seattle music scene. It cements the understanding and the linkage Seattle, Washington has with rock music history. We are members of this museum and love the affinity we have with the art and pop culture it expounds.

I have spent time with the music and history of Pearl Jam. We had intended to attend the premier of the Cameron Crowe documentary Pearl Jam Twenty but Snowtober disrupted our plans by knocking out the power to the theater in our market. Biding my time I took advantage of my Barnes & Noble Christmas gift card that my loving wife gave me. I purchased the Pearl Jam Twenty book(at a 60% discount!) and the companion DVD. This will be my weekend music sojourn. I look forward to digging in deep to learn more about the musical evolution of Pearl Jam and the music of related groups in Seattle.

It’s time!

Photograph by Charles Sykes/Associated Press

I’m setting my sights on trying to get tickets for the Mohegan Sun March 3rd concert. Live Nation is handling the tour so I will need to use my account  with them to purchase seats. I like that Kool & The Gang will be the opening act.

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• New VAN HALEN Album To Be Titled A Different Kind Of Truth? (bravewords.com)
• Van Halen Rocks Cafe Wha? in New York City (noisecreep.com)
• Reunited Van Halen Prep A Different Kind Of Truth, Tour (stereogum.com)

Rosemary bought us tickets to see the Jefferson Starship Paul Kantner 71st birthday gala at the Ridgefield Playhouse on Thursday March 15th, 2012. This secures our first concert for calendar year 2012.

Jefferson Starship today consists of Paul Kantner, David Freiberg, Slick Aguilar, Donny Baldwin, Chris Smith, and Cathy Richardson.

There will also be a tribute to the late Papa John Creach who we saw play with Hot Tuna in 1970 and 1971.

I have listened to Blows Against The Empire and Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra the past few days.

Nona Hendryx is listed as a special guest star. You may remember her from Labelle who had the hit “Lady Marmalade“.

The concert listing also indicates there will be other guest stars appearing with Jefferson Starship that night. My personal wish is that it will include Marty Balin but I’m not confident he will be there.

Mimi Page is the opening act.

Related articles

• Jefferson Starship – Blows Against The Empire (musicofourheart.me)
• Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna Announce Partnership with Wolfgang’s Vault (billboardpublicitywire.com)

The title track swirled about the sound system in my car and I must admit I immediately liked the groove that they possessed. I found myself tapping the steering wheel and dancing about in my seat. I made it a point to listen more in-depth to them on Spotify today and beyond.

Give a listen to Ithaca‘s own, Boy with a Fish. You’ll like what you hear, trust me

http://www.whymusicmatters.org/take-the-survey

Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate – Ray Charles