Classic Rock for the Soul

The 14th is upon us

2010-02-14T14:07:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day, my blogsters!
...Or if you're completely opposed to this holiday, then forget I said anything. :)

So do you like V-Day or is it just an annoying Hallmark holiday? Are you better off if you're in a relationship or single on February 14th?

Want to know the seven things to never tell a single person? Head on over to Linda Lou's post about it. She's actually pretty really 110% spot on.

Cheesy love songs that you secretly love? This one's pretty bad. Not to mention it's a stalker's checklist. But it's still somehow cute.

Fallin', fallin', fallin'...

Hi, remember me?

2010-02-10T21:13:00.002-06:00

I'm that girl that neglected her blog because her classes have been neglecting her.
My bad, guys. My bad.

I'm back. Now that all the Grammy nonsense (and that really awk Taylor Swift/Stevie Nicks duet) is over with, let's talk about some news that dropped today... Crossroads Fest 2010!!!!
You guys have to check out that link. This is Eric Clapton's massive gathering of the best guitarists for a huge one day festival. This year it's June 26th (my brother's birthday!) and the lineup is out of this world. Seriously, all of you guys that live in Chicago/are going to go, I'm so jealous.

Extra noteworthy:
-Allman Brothers (!!!!!!!!!!!!)
-BB King
-Jeff Beck
-Clapton himself
-Steve Winwood
-ZZ Top

(I'll just close my eyes when John Mayer approaches the mic because I cannot stand that guy.)

This concert benefits Clapton's addiction treatment center in Antigua-- Crossroads Centre. If you haven't read Clapton's autobio, go pick it up. It's seriously fantastic and he talks about the Crossroads Centre.
Want to relive the power of Clapton & Winwood? Go here to watch some vids and get a recap.

What other guitarist(s) would you like to see at the festival?
For me: DAVID GILMOUR!!!!!! Jimmy Page? Santana?

Call me crazy

2010-02-01T21:25:00.003-06:00

Okay guys, call me temporarily crazy... but there were two performances I actually liked last night on the Grammys.

Good things:
1. Lady GaGa & Elton John's medley of "Speechless" and "Your Song" - I thought this was really cool. And I'm the first to profess my hatred of Lady Gagme. But for whatever reason, this performance got me.
2. Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" and "You Oughta Know" (Alanis cover) - I gotta rep my hometown girl. But really, this performance just rules:

Now onto the bad:
1. The autotune was crampin' my style.
2. The winners. I mean, really?
3. Taylor Swift & Stevie Nicks. I had known about that for a few days (Stevie was supposed to be a "surprise") and Stevie is my girl crush, but ohemgee. That was bad. I think the general consensus was that Taylor was off key for "Rhiannon" and couldn't really get into it, but yeah. I don't know. I don't think those two voices are meant to sing together. Just really awkward for me. But Waddy was holdin' it down alright! :)

Thoughts?

To Grammy or not to Grammy

2010-01-28T14:05:00.001-06:00

Do you watch the Grammys / Are you planning on watching Sunday night?
I usually can't stomach it.

I mean really, how did we go from this...

To this?

Ah, music. It ain't like it used to be.
I digress.

Thoughts?
P.S. Thanks for the sweet comments-- I'm glad you guys like the new look! :)

New look & 100+ posts!

2010-01-26T15:32:00.004-06:00

Well guys, what do you think about the new look here? :)

I've passed up my 100th post without realizing it! This is my 104th post. Woot woo!

With that, I'm pleased to announce that I'll be teaming up with some great people to help contribute to Layla's blog. She's got lots going on right now, so we're going to keep the fun up over there for her! Be sure to keep checkin' it out. I'm excited to be a part of it all, and honored that she asked me. Thanks, Layla!

For today, I'd like to show some "Hallelujah" love. This is from the Hope for Haiti Now telethon:

What was your favorite song of the night? I thought Christina Aguilera's "Life Me Up" was really beautiful.

It's been a sweet love

2010-01-24T13:40:00.003-06:00

Hai, friends!
Hope everyone has been having a good weekend. Is it just me or has January gone by extreeeemely slow?

Did anyone watch Conan's last show? Watch this:

Teary eyed? Me too. Let's pause for a moment of silence.

On a music-related note, here's "Free Bird" from his last show -- good song choice, right?
"I must be traveling on now..."

Will Ferrell makes a good Ronnie/Johnny Van Zant, no? ;)
Kind of an odd mish mash of musicians: Billy Gibbons, Beck, Ben Harper... pretty cool. More cowbell though, right?

What are some of your favorite "Conanisms"? I will miss the Walker, Texas Ranger lever.

Random: Can Aerosmith make it without Steven Tyler?

Off to go work on some homework and watch some football!

It's just a kiss away, kiss away, kiss away

2010-01-17T11:27:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday, Mick Taylor!

He turns 61 today.

Here he is with the Rolling Stones in 1972 -- "Gimme Shelter":

Also, I encourage you to check out this interesting article that talks more about the above solo.

Questions:
1. Rolling Stones with Mick Taylor or without him?
2. Team Coco or Team Leno?
3. Team Brown or Team Coakley?

I'd like to send a shout-out thank you to Mr. Martin Luther King, Jr!! :)
Have a great rest of your weekend, guys! And remember to keep those in Haiti in your prayers. If you can't donate your time or money, prayers are always welcome and effective.

Runnin' on Empty

2010-01-11T23:08:00.002-06:00

I'm exhausted. Drove about eight hours (that includes SIX stops-- no, we usually don't stop that much and no, we weren't having bathroom issues. We just kept getting hungry & thirsty!) back up to school today with my bff.
Loud tunes, snacks, creepy highway friends = fun ways to make eight hours go by fast!

I'm getting to all of your blogs, I promise! I just need a few days to get back into routine, etc. Classes start on Wednesday for me with next week also being a short week (thanks, MLK!).

Leaving you with a tune to sum up how I feel right about now:

<3 Jackson Browne.

Have a great week!

Cold comfort for change

2010-01-06T11:58:00.003-06:00

Happy Birthday, Syd. He would have been 64 today.

I don't think we'll ever really know the whole story on him. What haunted him, what sparked his mental illness (besides the drugs), what drove him away from help.

Who could forget his bizarre (yet great) contributions like "See Emily Play," "Bike," or "Arnold Layne" on Pink Floyd's earliest albums.

Perhaps the saddest of his songs is "Jugband Blues" -- his last published contribution to the band. It's Syd slipping away... "It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here. And I'm most obliged to you for making it clear that I'm not here." Very eerie and disturbing when you know the band's personal history.

Before I started this post, I looked around at all of your blogs- Seems like the majority of you have "SOYCD" as your video choice. So to mix things up a bit, here's "Wish You Were Here," also a fitting dedication to Syd:

2005- before Syd died - Waters, Gilmour, Wright, & Mason:

December 2006- after Syd died - Gilmour & Wright

If you don't know the backstory of the Wish You Were Here album, please click here and read it. It's very interesting.

Shine on, you crazy diamond.

2010 Preview

2010-01-03T13:49:00.002-06:00

Happy 2010 to all of you guys!
I just got back from an exciting day & night in San Antonio. Wreck 'em Tech!! :)

I mentioned last time that I'm pumped for concerts this year.
Mosey on over to this article to check out some other cool rock concerts & album releases that are happenin' soon:

http://www.realrocknews.com/classic-rock-preview-for-2010/

Stones, Faces and Heart, oh my!
What's one dream concert (whether it's happening or not) that you'd like to see this year? Me? Fleetwood Mac & the Eagles. The official announcement is coming within the next two weeks. :)

Have a good Sunday, guys.

2009-12-31T11:47:00.005-06:00

Thanks for all the albums-to-listen-to-through-headphones suggestions!

And a couple new readers... yay! Thanks for stopping by.

Well guys, 2009 (and a decade) is coming to a close.

I'm sooooo ready for 2010!!! :)

I'm really excited for concerts in the new year.

I hope to be able to see Carole King & James Taylor, and not gonna lie... these Eagles with Fleetwood Mac tour rumours make me really happy. I will definitely spare a leg to catch that show.

New Year's resolutions? I don't make 'em. Not because I won't keep 'em, but mainly because I'll forget what they were and I would never keep up with the sheet I wrote 'em on.

What about you?

Listen to the Music

2009-12-27T14:47:00.005-06:00

I hope all of you guys had a great Christmas with your family and friends!

I had lots of fun and got to see lots of family, so it was great.

I got some really great Sennheiser headphones for Christmas-- I'm one of those people who has never had a decent pair of headphones. I listen to music on my iPod or computer via Apple earbuds. Sad story, right?

My dad came to the rescue though and got me really nice headphones.

I've been listening to some albums with them and haven't realized how many instruments/vocals I hadn't heard before. It's outrageous all the "little" stuff you can hear with a good pair of headphones!

So my question for you: What albums sound particularly awesome through headphones?

An obvious one is The Dark Side of the Moon. My dad also told me to listen to some Robin Trower and Jeff Beck. What else?

Tender Texas Christmas

2009-12-21T18:34:00.002-06:00

I'm back, y'all!

I've been listening to this...

(you know you had your awk '80s hair & wardrobe moments, too!)

And drinking some of this...

Bonus: a sweet Christmas card from Linda Lou! She's one of the funniest people ever-- if you're looking for any last minute gift ideas for people, seriously consider Bastard Husband. It's funny, sad and sentimental! You'll love it. Heck, I'm single and know next to nothin' about love, much less marriage and divorce. So if I liked it, you will too!

Lots of family stuff these next few days, so if you don't hear from me...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'll be back soon though!)

I wanna be home again & feelin' right

2009-12-15T20:53:00.003-06:00

Thanks for all of your well wishes on my finals! I think I did just fine and I can't believe I have another semester of college under my belt. Eek!

Road trips are the best. Am I right?!

I freaking love 'em.

T- 15 hours until my best friend/roomie and I hit the road for HOME! Can.not.wait. It's gonna be a nice break.

It takes nine hours to get home. How do we keep ourselves entertained? Jam out, record videos of us singing and dancing (as much as you can while still safely driving, of course!) and take pictures. We're goofballs to the extreme.

Oh, and of course we eat tons of snacks. It's our specialty.

The above-mentioned BFF is a food science major. So I actually eat better at school than I do at home. Which is kinda funny. But I follow her lead (sometimes... most of the time?) on healthy snacks/drinks.

So, with her blessing, here's what will be consumed on that long drive tomorrow:

For me, the driver-- not that I will need any of this because I'll be so happy anyway-- oh yeah, and she didn't give me her blessing on this, but I think that's obvi haha I kinda got addicted to these while studying for finals. Oops?!

And now that I'm nearing the end of typing out this post, I just realized that I'm not on my Wordpress blog! Yikes. I promise this wasn't meant to be a shamless plug! Agh. Sorry, guys.

To try to add some rock and roll in here, here's a song about being home again and feelin' right. :)

Have a great rest of the week, yall!

Happy Birthday to Ted Nugent!

2009-12-13T10:51:00.002-06:00

Uncle Ted celebrates his 61st birthday today!

Whether you agree with his politics or not, he's a pretty badass rocker.
Check out this crazy performance of "Cat Scratch Fever" at Cal Jam II (which apparently was THE place to be on March 18, 1978):

And for those of you who like his "tell it like it is" political views... this interview clip is pretty great. Warning: skip if you do not like the 2nd amendment.

"I don't like repeat offenders. I like dead offenders." -- Right on, Ted!

-------------------------

I hope everyone is having a great December so far! Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I'm workin' on going around to all of yall's blogs and I promise to be back to normal later this week! I've got three finals down, one to go.
Almost there! :o)

Love in Vain

2009-12-07T21:37:00.004-06:00

Hope everyone is staying warm with this cold weather (and snow for some of us)!

Just wanted to post this video because I was listening to this song earlier.

Kind of a depressing song to sing at a concert, granted it was only two days after Brian Jones' death.

Go Hyde Park! :)

Back to studying I go... can't wait until these next nine days are over and done with! Until next time...

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow :)

2009-12-03T17:44:00.002-06:00

This seems very appropriate...

It is chchchillay here! And it's been lightly snowing for the past four hours.

Does the snow know it's in Texas? I think it's as confused as the poor geese were that I heard this morning. They only thought they had flown south for the winter!

Is it snowing where you're at?!

Other random notes:
1. I am really sick of Tiger Woods. He may be the world's "best" golfer, but he's a horrible husband. Hate to tell his wife, but she should've seen all this affair nonsense coming from a mile away. That's what you get when you let your heart win...

2. Why, Ronnie Wood, why? He's looking real bad these days, btw.

My thoughts you can't decode

2009-12-01T21:24:00.002-06:00

Thank you all for the postive thoughts! I appreciate it. :)

I'm taking a little break from classic rock-- shame, I know.

Latest obsession? Paramore.

Why?

I honestly have no idea. I've had the very popular Riot! sitting unlistened in my iTunes since January. The other day, I decided to listen to it and after one go through, I promptly downloaded their first album, All We Know Is Falling, and their newest, Brand New Eyes. I've been listening to all three albums on repeat ever since.

Now I usually don't like these types of bands. Anything where the heavy instruments tend to shadow the voices. You might know this as "emo" or "punk"-- y'know what I'm sayin'! But for some reason I really like this band and I'm glad I gave them a chance.

And the lead singer, Hayley Williams, has an amazing voice.

They do a great job with acoustic sets. I highly encourage you to watch this performance of an acoustic version of "Decode"-- if you know anything about Twilight (shame on you if you don't! No, just kidding.), you probably already know about this song.

But for those of you who don't know the song and haven't heard the album version, what do you think after just watching this??

Tis the Season!

2009-11-28T23:24:00.003-06:00

Well, it's around midnight here on my last night home. :(
Except I'll be back here in two and a half weeks. :)

However... those two and a half weeks are going to be no fun at all. Studying for finals, taking finals, and trying to finish the semester on a positive & strong note. Boo.

Why is it that time flies when you're having fun and it doesn't fly when you're not having fun?
Lame, right?

Anywho, I hope each of you had a fun and safe Thanksgiving with loved ones.
Holiday season is upon us and I couldn't be happier! I absolutely love this time of year. :)

If I'm not too consistent in the next couple of weeks (heck, have I ever been consistent?), don't think I'm dead and gone. I'm just studying. ;)

I'll try my best to keep up with you guys!!

2009-11-25T23:22:00.001-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day with loved ones.

I've got a lotta lot to be thankful for-- I'm blessed beyond belief. :)

Happy [Belated] Birthday to Joe Walsh!

2009-11-22T11:42:00.003-06:00

It's been busy, busy, busy around here. Thanks for all the well wishes, I'm feeling almost 100% back to normal!

I totes forgot about Joe Walsh's 62nd birthday on Friday!!

It's no secret he's not my favorite but nonetheless, he is a great guitarist.

Check out "Walk Away" from 1977 (I think this is a Houston show):

Anyways, if I'm not posting for the next couple of days it's because I'm trying to wrap things up here and then I'm flying home on Tuesday morning! I'll stop in before Thanksgiving though :)

Holiday Road

2009-11-18T20:41:00.002-06:00

I first saw this movie when I was like nine or ten-- good thing I didn't know that it was my hubby Lindsey Buckingham singing this song until, like, a year ago. Cool.
Really though, the four Vacation movies with Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo are hilarious!

I wish there was a Thanksgiving Vacation movie. I hate having to wait til December to watch Christmas Vacation!

"I found out long ago,
It's a long way down the holiday road"

I go home for Thanksgiving in one week. This is going to be the slowest week everrr.

I'm currently ill-- pretty sure I have a little cold. I feel fine and all, but my nose is runny, I'm sneezing and coughing. And my eyes are watery. Too bad my mama isn't here to hold her hand to my forehead and give me a near-perfect temperature reading!
Off to go take some NyQuil...

You've Got a Friend x2

2009-11-15T12:13:00.006-06:00

Thanks for the kind comments-- I'm glad you guys like the new look! I'm still tweaking things here and there, but I'm happy you like it.

Who else is pumped about the upcoming James Taylor & Carole King tour in 2010!?!

Now, I just saw James Taylor this past May on his Down Home tour, but if the dates are in my favor for this duo, I'm gonna do almost anything to catch a show.
They've only got seven dates so far, but more will be announced soon.

I would love to hear Carole go through all of Tapestry and James go through all of Sweet Baby James.

Anyone see Carole recently in concert? Judging from YouTube videos, her voice sounds almost exactly the same as it did forty years ago. :)

Let's hope for small venues! Do we even want to know what the ticket prices are going to look like? ;)

You like?

2009-11-12T21:33:00.003-06:00

Do you guys like my new background/colors? I think it's nice and easy on the eyes. :)

I had to redo my blog list over there --->
So, if I missed you by chance let me know and I will add you!! Hope I got everyone.

Happy birthday to Neil Young today! Not a big fan, but it's better than talking about that silly balloon boy stunt (read: Aerosmith breaking up), right? ;)

I've got nothing for Guest Post Friday tomorrow :( but it was fun while it lasted! Thanks to everyone who wrote and shared their stories. :)

This week is almost over!!! Can I get an "amen"?

2009-11-10T21:12:00.003-06:00

1. Alright, it's no secret I'm a chiffonhead but I still rep Christine! Watch this, in all of its amazing quality (I'm so glad Youtube made the video still be of John... he doesn't get enough publicity!):

Apparently I need to look into this "laser disc" business. Anybody know the lowdown on this?

2. Go check out my giveaway!

3. Check out my other, "personal" blog here!

:)

*New/Additional Blog on WordPress

2009-11-09T19:26:00.004-06:00

Hi, bloggies!

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have started up a "personal" blog over on WordPress.

I'm still keeping up with this blog -- no worries!!

Sometimes I feel like talking about politics, current events, movies, food, and other stuff going on in my life, but I didn’t feel it was fair to my music readers (YOU!) to have to read all that nonsense when you strictly come here for R&R. ;)

So, if you're interested, I'd love for you to come follow me over on WordPress:
Dreams of a Lifetime

You don't have to have a WordPress account to comment, but make sure you let me know who you are by filling out your username/name before you submit your comment.
For now I won't be requiring an email address for comments, so we will see how that goes.

Again, I'll STILL be here!!! :)

P.S. Apparently Steven Tyler quit Aerosmith? Can't say I didn't see that one coming -- I have no sympathy for any of those guys, sorry!

Happy [Belated] Birthday to Glenn Frey!

2009-11-07T10:30:00.003-06:00

Yayay! My favorite Eagle (shh... don't tell Don) turned 61 yesterday!

Yes, please.

Okay so I love the stuff he did with the Eagles, however his solo stuff is a little dodgy. Maybe because it was so '80s, I dunno.

Here's "Peacful Easy Feeling" from 1973 -- I miss Randy and Bernie. This is my favorite lineup!

What's your favorite Eagles lineup? I know everyone loved when Joe Walsh joined, but I'm not all that crazy about him. :shrug:

P.S. Don't forget about my giveaway!

Guest Post: BeARockr

2009-11-06T08:40:00.002-06:00

Morning, bloggies! I don't know about you, but this week flew by. Which is just fine with me! ;)

Today's guest post comes from Arjit at BeARockr -- if you don't read his blog, be sure to go over and say hi! He's always got some cool write-ups and videos. Let's go:

A good guitarist is not the one who can play 50 notes in one second... A good guitarist is that who can play just 5 notes which sound magical!

Hmm... to start with... as I have experienced, a guitar player doesn't need to have any kind of degrees in paper... or advanced formal training... your solos must come from within and reflect what your feelings are. They must talk to the world and express your emotions... now, of course expressing emotions can't be taught, right!

Two most important pre-requisites to be a true guitar player
1) Be unique, Be different, Be innovative
2) Play your emotions on the guitar... play from your heart

Here are some of my views on various guitar gods, taken from my own blog:

Jimi Hendrix-
Jimi Hendrix... the all time greatest guitarist in rock history. Actually to say... even Steve Vai could match his techniques easily and do a better solo than him... but guys, no one could match the originality of Hendrix. He invented his own great riffs and solos and was the first one to revolutionze guitaring... expressive guitaring (so to say).

Eric Clapton-
I really don't have words to describe Mr. Eric Clapton. He has been my greatest inspiration and for the rest of the world too! A really down to earth, simple person with such an immense understanding and extraordinarily unique and skillful guitar playing and really amazing vocals at the same time!
Well, just see Eric Clapton play live and you'll feel that you ain't seeing a full-to-attitude rocker playing, rather you feel intensely pure performer playing so naturally that he has always brought tears in my eyes, because seeing a great old man playing so wonderfully, I feel I could go up and say: "Sir, hope you live forever" (Same was for another great legend: Michael Jackson) "Clapton is God"

Jimmy Page-
If you ask why is he the most versatile, the reason is simple: his riffs and solos are a perfect plent of hard rock to heavy metal to blues and folk rock! With such a beautiful riff in "Stairway to Heaven" to a nice heavy metal kind of riff in "Black Dog" and "Kashmir," and a fascinating, highly acclaimed guitar solo in "Stairway to Heaven." He has done it all!

Also, some of my musician friends once asked me, "Why should we do covers of other songs, since our own originals can only define us better?"

Let me answer this too: Covers are basically songs of an established rock band performed by another band in its own style and understanding of the song! Though I can't say that covers are the ultimate or major way to judge a band, it may just be for only about 20-30% of the total points to a band... but yes, "Covers - A Trailer of What's Yet to Come!" They definitely reflect the band's actual knowledge and understanding of music as a whole...

So, covers are very important for a band to establish itself firmly. A band can also show its originality and creativity by covering other songs since the base OF the song has to remain the same!

My most favorite cover would be "Along the Watchtower" done by Jimi Hendrix!

Have a nice day!
Do check my blog for updates! (BeaRockr)

Have a great weekend!

P.S. Be sure to go check out my giveaway, guys!!! And email me if you'd like to write a guest post :)

GIVEAWAY!

2009-11-04T20:04:00.003-06:00

The kind folks at Sideways Media have generously offered to send me a copy of Clarence Clemons' autobio "Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales" for one of my readers (...you!) :)

Big Man has been a vital part of Bruce Springsteen's very successful E Street Band. He's also worked with tons of other greats, including Jackson Browne and Aretha Franklin. He is a very interesting person and I can't wait to read his book, especially since I love musician biographies anyway.

Here's a little video for you, it's Big Man talking about the saxophone:

Okay, so now you know what you're getting!
How the heck do you win?
Here's three different ways that you can enter:

1) Tell me in the comments of this post your favorite artist autobiography or biography.
2) Tell me in the comments of this post who you would like to see write a book about their years in rock and roll.
3) If you have your own blog, link back to this post and leave the LINK back to your blog post in your comment.

You have a maximum of three entries. I'm going to choose the winner by using Randomizer.org. This website will generate a random number and that number will correspond with the comments. The first person who comments will be number 1 and will continue until the last person who will be n.

You have through Monday, November 16th (all the way up until midnight of that day)!!
I will announce the winner on Tuesday. Your book will then be mailed to you one week later when I am home for Thanksgiving break and am able to make sure everything is done properly.

*U.S. residents only, please!

If for some reason you're hesitating as to whether you want to read this book, please email me at classicrockforthesoul[at]yahoo[dot]com and I will send you a press release with more information!

"Don't carry the world upon your shoulders..."

2009-11-03T20:07:00.004-06:00

I came across this flow chart today and thought it was pretty cool! So I'm sharing it with you guys:

And here's a clip of "Hey Jude" from Across the Universe -- don't freak out because I'm not using the Beatles' version! I just think this is really cool and I haven't seen this movie in a long time, but I remember it being pretty trippy.

Remember... if you ever wanna do a guest blog post for me (featured on Fridays), email me at classicrockforthesoul[at]yahoo[dot]com! :)

Guest Post: Carolina

2009-10-30T09:39:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday, bloggies!!
Today's guest post comes from the blogless Carolina, but she's been a longtime reader of my blog.

It's her story about a lady she knows who has met tons of cool people through her then-husband's job! Here it is:

It was the fall of 1998 in a new subdivision of custom homes nestled in the trees of suburbia just a few miles away from a major metropolitan city. There was an area called an enclave – 3 streets of homes with limited access from the main road. So, it was a very quiet area with no through streets. If you were on one of these streets you either lived here or were visiting someone who did.

Since many of us were moving into our new homes at the same time, we had two factors in common that bonded us right away: we were new to the street and we had kids. So, very quickly several of the ladies decided to have a “ladies dinner” once a month and all women in the enclave were invited and we would break bread together and share some wine. The idea was to rotate hostesses so that eventually, we could all see each other’s home – a very “Martha Stewart” idea.

So, here we all are at Julia’s (her name has been changed) house for our monthly get-together. Part of the fun of these gatherings is getting to see how that particular person decorated their house. Some of these women were fabulously creative. So, someone asks Julia to give us a tour and she agrees. Sometimes these tours were just of the downstairs, but usually involved a quick peek upstairs to see game rooms, theater rooms, etc.

Someone asks if we can go upstairs and Julia hesitates for just a second and then says okay. Up we go.

We walk into the game room and everyone is stunned. The walls are filled with gold records and photographs, lots of photographs. All the records are from Journey. We are glancing at the photos and realize that our Julia (much younger) is in photos with lots of musicians including Boz Scaggs, ZZ Top, Steve Perry and other Journey members, and ohmygod is that Mick Jagger? Yes, it was. The photographs were beautiful, mostly black and white and all candid and intimate shots. Not your typical smile at the camera to prove you had a backstage pass. We were all overcome. We’re a group of soccer moms and we now have one among us who lived with the rock gods in the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Julia shyly explained that her ex-husband was the tour manager for Journey for years and then added, it was a lifetime ago. She suggested we go downstairs and eat. We walked down the stairs in silence and then began to talk about what bonds each of us – our children. It was quite a surreal night in suburbia!

Awesome story, Carolina! Thanks for sharing. :)

Have you had any cool connections to famous people?!
I actually know a friend who is BFFs with Sara Fleetwood (Mick Fleetwood's ex-wife, Stevie's BFF, the namesake of FM's song "Sara") and my friend is moving out to California to LIVE with her! Crazy stuff. I'm expecting some Stevie shawls for Christmas. ;)

Have a great weekend yall!

2009-10-28T21:36:00.002-05:00

It's been a Carole King kind of a day over here.

Raise your hand if Tapestry is near and dear to your heart! *raises hand*
I listened to it four times in a row while studying this afternoon. Loves it.

If you're a big C.K. fan -- tell me, what album do I go to next??

I leave you with this lovely lil video -- "So Far Away":

Don't forget to come back on Friday for a guest post! Woocha!

Essential Christmas Albums

2009-10-26T13:28:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know you guys are looking at that title like, "Whaaaaaat? It's not even Halloween yet! Why is this crazy lady talking about Christmas already?"
Well, my friends, it's about 50 degrees here right now and late last week, while studying for miderms, the hot chocolate was busted out. Along with the Christmas tunes.

Here are some Christmas albums that I've been listening to already:

James Taylor's voice on just his regular ol' albums makes me happy and calm.
Him singing Christmas songs? Pure bliss.

Amy Grant has several Christmas albums which makes it hard to choose just one. So I'm going to say that this one is a must-have since it's a compilation and has all the good ones. "Breath of Heaven" is beautiful.

Ray freakin' Charles. The particuarly amazing song on this one is "That Spirit of Christmas," from Christmas Vacation (the funniest movie ever, in case you didn't know).

Michael Buble needs to make a full Christmas album right now. This EP is only five songs, but it's so good. He's got a great voice for Christmas music -- he's kinda like the Bing of my generation (well, you know what I mean).

Speaking of Bing, Christmas can't be complete without him. This is some top notch Christmas music.

Here's one last one for ya:

I distinctly remember my mom having this CD and I'd always love singing along to Madonna's "Santa Baby" upstairs in our game room.

I always have more room for Christmas albums, so spill.

What are your December essentials?

Guest Post: Seano on Uriah Heep

2009-10-23T10:05:00.004-05:00

Howdy, bloggies!

Today's guest post is from Sean!
I highly encourage you go over and check out his blog -- he just recently finished going through all the Beatles albums, giving very detailed notes and Youtube videos about each one. He has a true talent and you can learn so much from his posts!

Without furthur ado...

I was playing guitar at a backyard BBQ last summer and there was a guy who kept requesting older tunes. Each time he called one out, I was able to reproduce it. He then said, "OK, I'm going to stump you. Play 'The Wizard' by Uriah Heep."

I went right into it, without a pause, and he nearly lost his mind. No one else in the crowd (except him) had a clue what I was playing. He brought me a fresh beer and told me that this was one of his favorite records when he was a kid. So I went one better and told him that the guy who wrote the song sat with me and a friend and showed us exactly how to play it.

"No fucking way!"

Yep.

(Cut to hazy flashback interlude with harp-laden, dream sequence music)

It was 1989, I was in university and mainstream music smelled worse than a rotted carp placed in your disc-player. You say that you don't remember the suckage? Allow me to refresh your memory with the "top songs" from that year:

1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heavan, Warrant
16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna

Ewwwwwwwww!

In the midst of all this crap, my buddy and I would pass the time playing our guitars in the dorm, drinking, smoking and listening to GOOD music, which at the time was anything that was NOT on the list above. (think sixties/seventies, any genre) We were dating two sisters at that time and they violently hated the stuff we were into. They generally left us to our own devices when it came to going to live shows. When we heard that Uriah Heep was going to be doing a couple of nights at a local club, the news seemed too good to be true.

Poor Uriah Heep. They were always knocked as a "second-rate Deep Purple" because keyboards figured prominently in their sound. (which is unfair) Despite some great albums and success in the early 70s, they never really hit it big in North America and were relegated to has-been status by the end of the decade. As a teen metalhead, I got into them in 1983 after hearing Abominog and was advised to go back and check out their "classic" material.

It was well worth it.

To get primed for the show, we drank, smoked and watched an old Don Kirschner's Rock Concert set (on VHS tape) from '74, which featured the "classic" lineup.

We then proceeded to roll over to the the Crazy Horse, ordered more beer and got ready to be blown away. By this time, the band's lineup had drastically changed. Newcomer (and fellow Canadian) Bernie Shaw was now the lead singer, Phil Lanzon was on keys and Trevor Bolder (formerly Bowie's bassist in the Spiders from Mars) had slotted in to replace the dead and departed. Lee Kerslake (drummer on Ozzy's Blizzard of Oz and Diary of a Madman albums) and guitarist Mick Box were the only ones left standing from the early seventies version of the group.

Didn't matter, as Shaw did note perfect imitations of David Byron and the band kicked throughout their sets. They had a new album called Raging Silence that they were promoting and they played a few cuts from that, though they mostly delivered the early material.

It was a devastatingly good show and we were positioned right in front of the stage, catching every nuance, buzzed and hollering so much that we practically lost our voices. All five musicians sang and the harmonies were brilliant. Highlights were "The Wizard", "Stealin'", "July Morning" and "The Way That It Is", though they could have did the alphabet all night and we would have been happy.

The great shame is that there couldn't have been more than 150 people there that night. Being a small club, they came out afterward and we walked up to Mick Box and told him how much we enjoyed the set. Seeing that we knew the tunes, he asked us to come back and meet everyone else. Keep in mind that these guys were my age now (early forties) and were playing music that was out of step with the times. They were genuinely happy to have younger people who knew their stuff note for note. I didn't realize this at the time and figured that we would go back, get a perfunctory "hello" and head home.

We hung out well past closing time. Trevor Bolder and I sat and talked for almost an hour. He told me all about the beginnings of the Spiders and how they came to play with Bowie, who was then virtually unknown, with only "Space Oddity" under his belt. The conversation really got going when I told him that I was a bass player, playing with a local group (we did university pub gigs). Ziggy Stardust and Suffragette City were in our set list, so I had studied and learned the lines he played on the record. He told me a few stories that I can't repeat here regarding some of the people that he played with. Both of us, it turned out, were Jack Bruce disciples. He also, like John Entwhistle (another common influence) played brass instruments as well. He told me that being a bassist, I would likely have to throw the instrument into the air and catch it between my teeth to get noticed on stage. It was quite an educational talk for me. He said that for him starting out with Bowie, it seemed like one week he was playing in a shitty little club and next he was onstage in the US in front of 20,000 people. It happened fast and went by in a blur.

Mick Box, for his part gave us a quick tutorial on how to play "The Wizard" properly. ("tune the E string to D, mate, and pick it like this")and Lee Kerslake went on the best rant that I ever witnessed regarding the music business. He said that he almost came to blows with a record company executive over the lack of attention given to their new record. He also had a few Ozzy stories that I can't print here. He and Bob Daisley (along with Randy Rhoads) played a large role in writing and arranging those tunes on Ozzy's first two (and best) solo LPs and were dumped before the Diary of a Madman tour. Lawsuits flew. Enough said about that.

He rejoined Uriah Heep shortly after.

All things considered, these guys loved to play and were very generous to hang out and share their road stories.

I have never been much for trying to meet famous people, so I don't have a wall of fame in my music room. When I have chanced to meet musicians that I respected, the aim was always to have a conversation and not to force them into a photo op or tell them that "they rocked". Perhaps sensing this, my buddy and I were treated like peers by these guys and, more importantly, they knew that two more kids were going to buy their new album and pass on the word.

Hard to believe that it's been twenty years. You always remember the people that genuinely love what they do and have respect for people that support their work.

Uriah Heep has just released a new disc called "Celebration" It features updated recordings of their 70s material. The lineup we met has remained intact, excepting Lee Kerslake who has left the band recently due to ill health. Check it out, if you like the band.

I'll be the first to honestly say that I had never heard of this band before, but I'm definitely checking them out now.
Have a great weekend, guys!

Oh yeah- if you're interested in writing a guest post here, please leave me a comment or feel free to email me at classicrockforthesoul[at]yahoo[dot]com.

Get up and dance!

2009-10-20T10:19:00.003-05:00

Well guys, this is going to be a short post because I've got toooons to do this week!
Make sure to come back on Friday though for another special guest post! :)

For now, check out what song I woke up to this morning. It never fails to make me wanna get up and dance:

The Rolling Stones ~ Beast Of Burden

Oh, Mick. I love you and all your prissiness.

While searching around Youtube, I found tons of other artists covering this song.
I wouldn't really think a girl would sing this, but here is Colbie Caillat's version -- Colbie is Ken Caillat's daughter and she's kinda like the female version of Jack Johnson in terms of her singing style:

It's different, but I think it's alright.

What's a song that makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning and dance?

Guest Post: Whizkid on Concert Venues

2009-10-16T09:00:00.002-05:00

It's Friday... you know what that means!
Guest blog post time! :)

Today, Whizkid (who, even with his amazing knowledge of R&R and amazing stories, is blogless) shares with us his favorite concert venue. Read on to hear about it and then share your favorite venue. Enjoy and thanks for sharing with us, Whizkid!

I Want To Go Home With the Armadillo…
What’s your favorite concert venue? Is it the place where you saw your favorite band? A place where the acoustics are good? Where you like the ambiance, the people, the intimacy, or for that matter, the adult beverages? Or is it the place where you have that special memory with that special person?

For me, it’s the Armadillo World Headquarters in Austin, Texas. Or as we called it: “The ‘Dillo.” From 1970 to 1980 it was the center of the musical world in the city that has since become world renown as a hotbed for music, new artists, and the annual SXSW festival. For the last half of the ‘70s, I lived in Austin and, in turn, at The ‘Dillo. I was privileged to see literally hundreds of local and national music artists of all kinds… rock, country, jazz, and classical. Bands came from all over the world just to play there. It’s something that just couldn’t happen in today’s music business.

The ‘Dillo had it all…except the acoustics. They were terrible. But no one cared. We had unlimited pitchers of Lone Star beer to drink as we sat on the concrete floor of the old metal-roofed skating rink…a floor covered with a cheap, tattered outdoor carpet. It was uncomfortable and usually hot. But literally ten feet in front of us might be B.B. King wailing away on Lucille or the triple-guitars of Lynyrd Skynyrd or the sweet sounds of Steely Dan. The place oozed ambiance and hipness and pot smoke. It was the place in Austin to see and be seen. It was an Austin icon.

Some of my favorite concerts I saw at The ‘Dillo were: Toto, Journey (before Steve Perry!), ZZ Top, Boz Scaggs, Jeff Beck, Edgar Winter, Gino Vannelli, a local band called Too Smooth, The Kinks, The Police, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Ted Nugent, Golden Earring (remember “Radar Love”?), and AC/DC (their first show ever in the USA). It wasn’t unusual for me to show up there two or three times a week. Tickets were usually $5 or $10 even for the biggest acts.

Another thing that was unique was that The ‘Dillo had several artists on staff to create concert posters. Every single concert had its own unique poster art. They turned out hundreds of posters and flyers and they are collector’s items today, fetching hundreds of dollars. The artwork was terrific and one of the things everyone looked forward to seeing. Here are a few examples, but you can find many more. Just Google “armadillo world headquarters posters.”

So, I want to hear from you. What’s your favorite concert venue? And---if you’re out there---I’d especially like to hear from anyone who got to go to The ‘Dillo.

Have a fabulous weekend, bloggies!

"It Doesn't Matter Anymore"

2009-10-14T16:32:00.002-05:00

Hope everyone had a good weekend!
I was gone for the weekend so I'm working on getting caught up.

For now, check out this lovely video featuring Linda Ronstadt singing the oldie-but-goodie "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" by Mr. Buddy Holly:

Story of my life.

Have a good rest of the week!!

Guest Post: Layla's Classic Rock

2009-10-09T11:55:00.002-05:00

Alright peeps, today I'm proud to present a truly wonderful story brought to you by Layla from Layla's Classic Rock. This lady is fabulous - she was one of my very first blog readers and I ended up winning a saaaweet shirt in one of her contests.

So here she is telling us about when she met LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM. Yes, that's right. Layla has met LB!! How fantastic. Here's what went down, in her own words:

It was a late summer afternoon and I was sitting on the boardwalk with my dog, Scooter. Scooter was one of those dogs everyone stopped to pet, he was just cool. I noticed this guy with wild hair wearing these paisley blue pants and a white shirt walking towards us. He was hot. He stopped and pet Scooter and sat on the bench by me. We introduced ourselves. When he said his name was Lindsey I tried to act cool. I thought he looked like Lindsey Buckingham but what would he be doing here in Laguna Beach? We talked a bit and he said "where can you get a good beer?" I said "The White House" we walked over there but then went to the Saloon instead so we could sit outside with Scooter. He was nice and we talked about Laguna Beach and he never brought up who he was and I didn't want to since he didn't. I gave him the history of Laguna and then he paid for my beer said it was nice meeting me and Scooter and he split. I ran home and told my roomates and of course they did not believe me, but I know it was him. It was like he was avoiding being known but I KNOW it was him.

Super jealous, right?
Bloggies, he was probably lookin' a little something like this that fine day:

Thanks for sharing that cool story, Layla!!

Everybody have a good weekend!! I'm heading home for my 5-day weekend :)

Bye bye, DSOTM

2009-10-08T10:33:00.005-05:00

So we all know that Dark Side of the Moon was on the Billboard 200 for over 14 years. Yeah. Crazy, right? See here:

As you can see, Pink Floyd had a huge lead (almost 5 years) on runner-up good ol' Johnny Mathis! Wow.

Well, this day back in 1988 marks the day of it finally bowing out of the charts.

If you haven't seen the Classic Albums episode of the making of DSOTM, check it out! It's very interesting. Here, I'll help you out. A user on Youtube has up the entire episode in HD. Here's part one:

Oh, stay tuned tomorrow for a very special guest post from one of the nicest ladies around this blogosphere... Layla!

When the lights go down in the city...

2009-10-05T21:20:00.002-05:00

...and the sun shines on the bay
Oh I want to be there in my city...

Alright so I just watched Journey on Oprah today.* So naturally, I've been listening to Journey (Steve's Journey and Arnel's Journey) for the past hour while working on homework.

I love this song... it makes me really want to go back to San Francisco. According to my parents, when my family & I were there one summer when I was young on one of our road trips, I cried when we had to drive away. I want to go back sometime soon!
So, here's "Lights" with Arnel. Close your eyes, and it's Steve Perry. Minus the HUGE ego, of course.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So I was thinking about having a guest post on Fridays. It would be a time for you, my reader, to get a chance to tell a story on my blog. It can be about a concert, an artist, an album, a life-changing music experience... basically anything you want that's related to music in some way. What do you think? Who would be interested? I love hearing everyone's stories - especially anything in the '70s and '80s since I feel I got completely gypped on those decades. Anyway, let me know your thoughts!!

*No, I don't watch Oprah on a regular basis -- this was an exception.

Happy Birthday to Lindsey Buckingham!

2009-10-02T09:17:00.007-05:00

^Look at dem curls! So cute :)
Lindsey Buckingham turns the big 6-0 today!! Fleetwood Mac kicks off their greatest hits tour (round two) overseas in a couple weeks. I know I'm completely biased when I say this, but LB is soooo underrated as a guitarist. This little blog post pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject: LB Underrated

I'mma leave you with some muy fantastico guitar work by Linds:

1976

What's not to love? (Besides all the abusiveness. But there's classes for that kind of stuff! Oh, and the fact that you'd never be able to completely trust him... his poor wife. She is one trusting lady.)

And from the first night of the current tour back in March -- check out this massive solo:

The boy's still got it, wouldn't ya say?

RANT: Rock and Roll Hall of Stupidity

2009-10-01T10:22:00.005-05:00

Thanks, guys for all the positive comments! I'm glad to be back.
I'm still playing with my banner, so I'll let you guys know when it's 100% done.

Okay, I know a lot of you guys have already been biatching about the 2010 R&R Hall of Fame nominees, so now it's my turn. The R&R Hall of Fame has turned into one of stupidity. Here's why:

ABBA
The Chantels
Jimmy Cliff (... who?)
Genesis
The Hollies
KISS
LL Cool J (more on this insanity later)
Darlene Love
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Stooges
Donna Summer

WTH. This hall of fame inducted its first round of artists in 1986, and KISS is just now getting inducted? Twenty-three years later??? I really don't understand how a mega-popular band like that is just now getting inducted.

And LL Cool J? Really? Even rappers don't like this guy. He's horrible.
The only ones that I think truly deserve to be in there are The Chantels (hey, they were a big influence on future black girl groups - don't kid yourself... you know you like some '60s doo wop!), KISS, and The Hollies. Genesis is on the fence.
RHCP should have to wait 15 or 20 years after they become an "inactive" band like so many other big '70s and '80s bands had to.
Unfortunately for those bands, some are still waiting...

Bad Company
Chicago
Deep Purple
Heart
Jethro Tull
Journey
The Moody Blues
Rush
Yes

^And those are just a few. You've got to me kidding me! Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks that those yahoos at the Hall of Fame are complete idiots -- it's turned into a thug and wannabe exhibit over there. Is there something in the water in Cleveland? I demand that we stick to pop rock, classic rock, soft rock, heavy rock, arena rock, blues rock, jazz rock, country rock, prog rock, southern rock...! Let's leave gangsta beats and disco balls outta the equation, capish?

It only took them until 1995 to induct Led Zeppelin -- aren't they like the universally accepted greatest hard rock band of all time? That should have been our first clue that these voters were loonie, folks.

Let's have more of this:

And less of this nonsense:

If y'all will let me take Mr. Peresman's job (he's the president and CEO of this hall of stupidity), I promise I'll put in only legit artists. And find a way to kick Run-DMC and LL Cool J to the curb.

At this rate, they'll be letting in Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lady Gag-Me, and Amy Winehouse any year now. Sheesh.

The blog is back in town!

2009-09-28T20:22:00.006-05:00

Hello, blogsters!
After one month and several "I-miss-my-blog"'s later... I'm back! Finally.
I've got a new look here and I've decided to drop my comment moderation -- nothing bad was going on, guys. I just wanted to moderate there for awhile. But now, come one, come all! I'm still reading everybody's comments so no need to worry about that. Your voice is being heard!

Hope you've been well & I hope your fall is off to a great start. (I love fall!!! Football and cooler weather. Plus the holidays are within reach.)

I know I lost some of you, so I'm going to go back and find you guys. :)
Well, let's get this partay restarted!

Have yall heard about Tom Petty & the Heartbreaker's massive live anthology that's coming just in time for Christmas? Take a look:
http://mog.com/blog_post/content/439/1504914

Wowzers. Tom Petty overload.
I love Tom Petty's greatest hits album, but honestly I could listen to just that and be fine. I just can't get into all of his other songs (which I'm sure are great) that aren't as popular (or accessible, I suppose). There's TONS of them, too.

He was 56 in this -- he's definitely still got it:

So... whaddya think? Do you like Tom? I think his voice is one of those that either you love it or hate it. There's no in between. Kind of like the lovely lady that joined TP&tH on this tour: Stevie Nicks (see, I always manage to relate my thinking back to Fleetwood Mac somehow! Can't help it... all my fave peeps are connected in some way). As well as Bob Dylan or Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison or Bob Marley.

I say: Alright, Tom, grab Mike and Benmont and bust out on another tour!

**UPDATE: What do you guys think of my new header? I just whipped it up in about ten minutes, but I think it came together quite nicely!! Hope you like it :)

Not feeling it...

2009-08-30T15:10:00.004-05:00

Hey guys!

I haven't posted in almost two weeks... I've been settled here for about a week, but I don't know... I'm just not feeling it (the blog) right now.

I'm catching up on all of you guys' blogs and then I'll be deciding what I'm going to do with mine.

Until then...

"The time has come," the Walrus said...

2009-08-19T22:00:00.003-05:00

"To talk of many things..."

Well, this summer is coming (quickly) to a close.
It's been a good one -- I got to see some great concerts (see here, here and here), I got to travel to a foreign country, and I was able to get six hours of college classes out of the way. :)

Friday morning I'll be hitting the road back to school! I've got tons of packing to do until then. Yikes. So more than likely I won't be posting again until early next week since I'll be busy setting up my room and getting all settled in.

Until next time...

1997: The Dance

2009-08-19T14:09:00.002-05:00

On this day twelve years ago, Fleetwood Mac's live reunion album The Dance was released.

If you haven't seen this live performance of "Silver Springs" from the DVD, you need to watch it. Pronto. If you know anything about the history of this band, it will most likely give you chills. :)

Fleetwood Mac Silver Springs
Uploaded by rasc1944. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

If you didn't know, "Silver Springs" was recorded and actually supposed to be on Rumours. There's a great piano demo of SS floating around out there that could possibly break your heart as well as the original recording on a re-issue of the album.

Random note: Has anyone seen that new picture of Steven Tyler? He looks like a little old lady and it's really... yuck!

Elvis Death Anniversary

2009-08-15T22:37:00.004-05:00

I know I don't talk about Elvis much on here (actually come to think of it, I don't think I ever have... oops. My grandmother would disown me if she knew!), but today I am.

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of his death. Nobody can give Elvis enough credit. He is the King of Rock & Roll. He was a great talent that was lost too soon. If you actually look into his journey, he made an incredible mark on music.

I remember this past fall semester when I took History of Rock and Roll, the day we talked about Elvis we watched some footage of his last live performance. The teaching assistant put on this video and stood facing us (in a huge lecture hall filled with 350 people) and she just started bawling:

At the time, I thought "Jeez, this girl is crazy. Why is she crying? This happened such a long time ago and she wasn't even alive."

Well, now I bite my tongue because I watched this late last night:

And guess what? I cried. I don't know why, but I did.

Maybe a few of you guys were old enough to remember his death -- if so, how did you find out and where were you?
Today I encourage you to remember Elvis. Break out that silly Blue Hawaii movie or just randomly search Youtube for some classic live footage.

Les Paul

2009-08-13T21:20:00.002-05:00

I think this quote from Keith Richards pretty much sums up the importance of the late Les Paul:
"It has to be said, we must all own up that without Les Paul, generations of flash little punks like us would be in jail or cleaning toilets. This man, by his genius, made the road that we still travel today. I don't know how he did it, but I'm so grateful he did."

Famous Les Paul Players:
Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Pete Townshend, Slash, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Paul McCartney, Frank Zappa, Don Felder, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Green, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, Neal Schon of Journey, Nancy Wilson of Heart, and the list goes on and on.

There would not have been rock and roll if it weren't for him.

Best Albums of 1973

2009-08-10T18:33:00.005-05:00

I'm glad I'm not the only music nerd out there. :)

To kick off this week, let's list our favorite albums from 1973-
Here's mine:

~Desperado - Eagles

~Brothers and Sisters - Allman Bros.

~Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (Thanks, r&rguru!) Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Wood, Steve Winwood, and Ric Grech all jamming together? Yes, please!

~Goats Head Soup - Rolling Stones

~Pronounced... - Lynyrd Skynyrd's debut album

~Mystery to Me - Fleetwood Mac - Although I prefer "Ebony Eyes" (on Bob Welch's solo French Kiss) over "Emerald Eyes," I listen straight through just to get to Christine McVie's "Why." There's plenty of good songs on there besides "Hyponotized."

So... what new records were spinning on your turntable in '73?

P.S. This just makes me extremely happy:

Nerd Alert: Vinyl Album Frames

2009-08-07T16:46:00.007-05:00

First, on an unrelated note, I'd like to say that I was saddened to hear of John Hughes' passing.
Not only did he help write some classic '80s movies (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, etc), but he was involved with probably my favorite movie of all-time:
Christmas Vacation.

My family and I quote that movie year round, and we've been watching it every Christmas as far as I can remember. The writing in that movie is seriously brilliant. And hilarious.

Moving on...

I had quite a successful day today at my local Half Price Books.
Check out what I left with (each about $4):

You can't make fun of me yet. I know, it's ridiculous. I cleared them out of all their Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks albums.

Here's where you can start making fun of me: I don't have a turntable. I can hear you laughing at me. But all I wanted them for was the covers, which I am going to hang up in my new dorm room in two weeks when I move back to college.

I then proceeded to Target, where I cleared them out of all their 12.5 x 12.5 black album frames (which happened to only be four).

Here's what they look like all framed! Not too bad for used vinyl.

All in a day's work. :)
Oh and if you're wondering why I have them propped up against the windows in my room, it's because my parents didn't see the point in putting holes in the wall for only two weeks. So for now, they stay on my window sills.

I'll be back sometime later this weekend so we can continue our favorite albums discussion!

P.S. Please tell me I'm not the only person that showcases vinyl records?!

Love it or hate it

2009-08-05T21:59:00.004-05:00

Wow, you guys listed some awesome albums from 1968.
I highly doubt that any of us could make such long lists from the music in 2009. They just don't make music like they used to. Simple fact.
Whizkid suggested 1973 for the next round -- any other suggestions?

This afternoon I was reading this article and this part jumped out at me:

Saying Rumours is my favorite album is about as bold as saying that my favorite book is The Great Gatsby or my favorite movie is The Godfather.

Which got me thinking...

What are some stereotypical "awesome" albums that pretty much everyone is supposed to like, but for one reason or another you just don't?

I'm not as "musically open" as most of you are -- for instance, I refuse to listen to Bob Dylan. I won't even try. Call me close-minded. I guess I am. I know what I like and I like what I know.

Just as an example, I can take the top 10 of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" that Rolling Stone magazine put together and I don't like over half of them.

I'm sorry but (in my ears) there's no way that London Calling is superior to Who's Next. And the first time a Led Zeppelin album appears is at number 29? Give me a break. Isn't it pretty much universally accepted that they are the greatest hard rock band ever?

Well I sort of got off topic there, but comment with your opinions on the RS's messed up list or what albums you're supposed to like as a rock and roll fan, but just can't get into.

Best Albums of 1968

2009-07-30T22:02:00.003-05:00

Well like I said, summer school is taking over my life. It's all over two weeks from today, and three weeks from today I will be moving back up to get ready for school to start back up! Eeeek.
Sorry for the short post - it's better than nothing though!

Suggested by Sean, let's list our favorite albums from 1968. What were you listening to back then?
Here's what I've got going on in my music from '68:

-Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones

-CCR's first album!

-Cheap Thrills - Big Brother & the Holding Co.
Not a fan of Janis Joplin, but who doesn't like "Piece of My Heart"?

-"Voodoo Chile" from Hendrix's Electric Ladyland. If you know me at all, you know I just don't like Jimi. But this song is killer.

-The Animals also had a couple albums drop that year too.

-Cream's Wheels of Fire with "White Room" on it.

Speaking of which, here's a cool clip from '68 of Cream at one of their last shows together:

Have a great weekend!!

"Wild horses, we'll ride them someday"

2009-07-26T15:31:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to Mick Jagger!! He's 66 today.

My two all-time favorite Rolling Stones songs are "Angie" and "Wild Horses." Since Rock and Roll History already has "Angie" covered, I'll show ya a live performance of "Wild Horses" from 1976:

On a related note, why did it take me reading this month's Rolling Stone to hear about Allen Klein's death?! He died on July 4th at the age of 77 from Alzheimer's. In case you didn't know, he was most popular as being manager of the Beatles and the Stones. He was somewhat, shall we say, controversial...

Taken from the article in RS:

Mick Jagger chased Klein down the hallway of a London hotel screaming, "Where's my fucking money?" Klein was the subject of a number of scathing songs by former clients... By 1970, the Stones had fired him (the band alleged that, among other things, he had placed its advance cash in his own company's account).

I think we'll take Sean's idea and do albums from 1968 in the next post. Stay tuned! :)

Happy Birthday to Don Henley!

2009-07-22T15:47:00.003-05:00

Would you check out that hair? Happy Birthday to Don Henley!! He's 62 today!

I was going to show you "The Boys of Summer" music video, which happened to win a bunch of awards at the '85 MTV Video Music Awards (you know, back when MTV was actually about the music), but instead I want to show you this:

That right there is the Eagles I know and love! Great music. Great harmonies. And the "Desperado Reprise"? Genius.

"Your twisted fate has found you out
And it's finally turned the table
Stole your dreams and paid you with regret"

Thoughts? Comments? Am I totally crazy? ;)

P.S. I really enjoyed reading everyone's lists of top albums from 1975 -- I think we should do that again with a different year! Let me know what year you would like to do!

My Top Ten Best Albums of 1975

2009-07-18T00:06:00.004-05:00

1975 was a great year for music. (That's what I hear, anyway. Ha.)

So I have a fun little task for you to do - make up a list of what YOUR top ten best albums of 1975 are. Let's stick to studio albums (not live or compilations). If you can't think of ten, then just tell me one or two that you loved listening to over and over again (and maybe still do!).

Based on my tastes & preferences, here's my top ten best albums of 1975 (this is kind of ironic considering I wasn't anywhere near to being alive, but trust me - I've been listening to a lot of this music since I was in the womb):

10. A Night at the Opera - Queen
Because we wouldn't have "Bohemian Rhapsody" if it weren't for this album. And that song is a must. So I'd say it's a pretty important album.

9. Fool for the City - Foghat
Because where would we be without "Slow Ride"?

8. Gorilla - James Taylor
Because of all these big names that helped on this one: Linda Ronstadt, Valerie Carter, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Carly Simon, Danny Kortchmar. Plus, "Mexico" is one heck of a catchy song.

7. Nuthin' Fancy - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Because it's just a good ol' southern rock album. Two years before everything went to hell. Allen Collins is one tall and creepy dude.

6. Toys in the Attic - Aerosmith
Because you have to have Aerosmith on the list. Plus, what's not to like?

5. Straight Shooter - Bad Company
Because Paul Rodgers' voice is awesome. Plus, Bad Company was the first group to have an album released on Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records label. That's pretty great.

4. Physical Graffiti - Led Zeppelin
Because of the way the album cover worked (so I'm told, there's a little insert with different images that come up in the windows). Plus, it's 16x Platinum in the United States.

3. Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Because of the emotions of the band during the recording of it. Plus, the whole thing is a tribute to a guy who isn't even dead yet. (Not literally.)

2. Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Because now the greatness that is Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks have teamed up with the mostly underrated rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, and the lovely Christine McVie. Plus, no one knew it, but the best is yet to come (i.e. Rumours, Tusk).

1. One of These Nights - The Eagles
Because "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes", "Take It to the Limit", and "After the Thrill is Gone". Plus, this is the first album that Don Felder appears. Even though it was Bernie Leadon's last. :(

Your turn!!! :)
I'm interested to know your picks. I know a lot of the big ones I left out, such as Dylan's Blood on the Tracks and Springsteen's Born to Run. But if you know me, you know why. Haha.

Grab your record collection (or more realistically, your iTunes library) and get to work - ready, set, GO!

Happy Birthday to Linda Ronstadt!

2009-07-15T21:11:00.002-05:00

She turned 63 today.
I'm not a huge fan of Linda, but of course I have to respect her for pretty much starting the Eagles! :)

Here she is in 1974, with the Eagles, singing their lovely "Desperado":

If it seems like I'm posting short posts, it's because summer school started last week and it's basically taking over my life. I'm enjoying my classes (an English class and a history class), but there's so much to do in only 5 weeks! Yikes.
I'm trying to get to everybody's blogs though! Thanks for hanging in there.

Happy Birthday to Christine McVie!

2009-07-12T18:03:00.006-05:00

(I have no idea why Christine didn't go back to her maiden name, Perfect, after her divorce from John. Perfect is just such a fabulous last name!)

The oldest member of any of her Fleetwood Mac bandmates throughout the group's forty-plus years, she turned 66 today! As most of you know, Fleetwood Mac has been out on a greatest hits tour (sans Christine) since March. Chris hasn't been with them since their reunion tour, The Dance, which was in 1997.
I think she's perfectly happy living in England, occasionally doing her own music thing, and living a quiet life. Definitely a drastic change from her vodka tonic, cocaine filled days during the '70s and '80s.

She did write some great songs for Fleetwood Mac. Some of my favorites from her are "Why" (pre-Lindsey & Stevie joining), "Over My Head", "Songbird", "You Make Lovin' Fun"... oh heck, I like all of her contributions to FM with the exception of "Don't Stop" - I skip this one when it comes on on my iPod. The Bill Clinton inaugration pretty much ruined it for me. :(

Here's a pretty fabulous video that you should probably check out :)

Oh, and one last picture!!

The past has gone... it went by like dusk to dawn

2009-07-09T22:27:00.003-05:00

^Name that song!

Poor Steven Tyler is injured yet again. Aerosmith is on tour right now with ZZ Top, but they've been having to postpone/cancel shows due to a "band injury."

Joe Perry recently Tweeted (*shudder*): “Sincere apologies out 2 all Aero Fans regarding the canceled shows. It really bums me out too- you have no idea. Pray 4 Stevens speedy return.”
We don't know if it's an illness or an injury, but judging by this Tweet (*shudder*), it could be illness.

So, let's go back to 1997, shall we? Then maybe you'll be able to answer what song those lyrics are from in the title :)

Has anyone seen Aerosmith lately in concert? I just find it hard to believe that Steven Tyler can still sing like that. His voice is so unique and he does those weird noises/screams in a lot of the songs (like this one)... I'm just wondering (due to his age, etc) if he's still able to do all those crazy vocal strains?

It's almost Friday, which means it's almost the weekend! :)

Something a little different...

2009-07-06T21:55:00.002-05:00

I'm going to share with you guys something I recently came across on Youtube. It's Chris Daughtry's acoustic cover of "Poker Face" (Lady Gaga) - pretty cool!

I hope everyone had a fun July 4th weekend! It's way too hot and humid here to even want to be outside unfortunately.

P.S. Is anyone else as sick as I am of hearing about Michael Jackson? I think the media is going to milk this "story" for as long as they can. Just put him in the ground already for crying out loud. Don't even bother watching television on any of the major networks tomorrow.

I heard this crazy rumour going around that Led Zeppelin (and ABBA, too) was asked to consider playing at London's 02 Arena now that, oh, 50 dates have opened up.
Fat chance! I think Zep will reunite when hell freezes over. And I'm talking about when hell actually freezes over (not the kind of "hell freezes over" like in the Eagles' story)!
I suppose that Robert Plant is just happy as a clam singing weird bluegrass songs with that Krauss lady.

Happy Birthday to America!

2009-07-02T22:26:00.005-05:00

Well, Independence Day weekend has arrived!

But before you break out the hot dogs, beer and fireworks, take a moment to think about our military serving around the world.

We wouldn't be here today as a country without past, present & future men and women who fight for our country's freedom on a daily basis.

I won't get all preachy on you. That's all I'm going to say.

Three videos follow. One is for those of you who tend to lean to the right of the political spectrum, one for those who tend to lean to the left of it, and one just for the heck of it!

(I think what I'm talking about will be obvious...)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Red, White & Blue" + Military Tribute:

Bob Dylan - "Blowin' in the Wind" (a classic and one of the most popular anti-war songs):

Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - "American Girl":

Everyone have a safe, fun Fourth of July weekend! =)

It's awfully considerate of you to think of me here...

2009-06-29T21:57:00.002-05:00

It's June 29, 1968. Pink Floyd has just released A Saucerful of Secrets.
Syd Barrett's last PF album.

I'm probably the only one who looks way too into the personal history of bands... (It's kind of my thing though. I find it interesting.)

But this song makes me sad.
It's Syd slipping far, far away into dark places:
"I don't care if the sun don't shine,
And I don't care if nothing is mine"

If you want to be further depressed (or if you just want to see a super young looking Pink Floyd), check out this video.

P.S. Really enjoyed everyone's comments on the Instrumentals post... I looked each and every one of them up on Youtube - you guys have some good tastes!

Favorite Instrumentals?

2009-06-27T22:17:00.002-05:00

I'm sitting here going through my Europe pictures while jamming out to Traffic's "Glad" which got me thinking...

Rock instrumentals... what are some of your favorites?
In addition to "Glad", off the top of my head, I love:
"Eruption" - Van Halen
"Any Colour You Like" - Pink Floyd (from DSOTM)

Pink Floyd has tons more, and there's some good ones by The Who and Led Zeppelin as well.

And, probably my most favorite:

What about you? What's your favorite rock instrumental?

Two living legends... one live experience

2009-06-25T21:38:00.003-05:00

First things first.
As we all know by now, Michael Jackson has died. I'm not going to say much about it. Yes, it's sad. I can respect his music from his Jackson 5 days and during the '80s. Besides that, I don't have much to say about the man. However, no one can doubt that Thriller is the best-selling album of all time.

Another death happened today... Farrah Fawcett. We all knew it was coming, but it's still so sad. Ryan O'Neal never got to marry her. :( If her son wasn't in the position he's in right now (i.e. jail) then he would have been able to have been by her side in her final moments. I really hope he turns his life around, for the sake of his late mother.

Enough depressing stuff, okay?
Onto a concert review... Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood was last night! And it was amazing!! Nothing short of spectacular.

The huge, huge, huge surprise of the night: "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys"!!! This was the first time this tour (which consists of only 14 dates) that Winwood has played this epic song. What did he replace? Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind". When everyone cleared the stage after the rockin' "Forever Man", Winwood took to the piano. I was getting ready for "Georgia." Well imagine the shock when Winwood started playing the opening piano notes of "Low Spark"! Surely this is just a teaser. No, it's true! He's really going to sing "Low Spark"! No freaking way! No one was expecting this. It was quite a performance and honestly, out of the whole night, it got the best response from the audience. Winwood seemed truly pleased that he decided to play it, as he got a standing ovation. He was very appreciative.

"Can't Find My Way Home" was also very, very good. They played a long version of Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile" which was eerily amazing. Very cool song and Winwood's vocals were golden the whole night. Clapton's voice has held up quite well through the years as well.

They came out for the encore, "Cocaine" and "Dear Mr. Fantasy", which were both awesome. What a great night!! These guys still have it.
Winwood talked to the audience a little bit before blowing us all away with "Low Spark", however it was noticeable that Clapton didn't say anything to us (besides, of course, "thank you" after each song) which was kind of strange.

But nonetheless, he's a superb guitar player. Everyone knows about the "Clapton is God" slogan written on London subway walls back in the '60s. Yeah, well those people knew what they were talking about. And Clapton proves it every second he is on stage.
P.S. Winwood is KILLER on guitar! Who knew?

It's so cool to think that when some of you guys were my age, you saw legends such as Clapton and Winwood in concert. And here I am seeing them!

Full set list:
01. Had To Cry Today
02. Low Down
03. After Midnight
04. Presence of the Lord
05. Sleeping in the Ground
06. Glad
07. Well Alright
08. Tough Luck Blues
09. Pearly Queen
10. There's A River
11. Forever Man
12. Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys
13. Driftin' [acoustic]
14. How Long Blues
15. Layla [acoustic]
16. Can't Find My Way Home
17. Split Decision
18. Voodoo Chile
Encore: Cocaine; Dear Mr. Fantasy

I've got several video clips I recorded up on my Youtube. They've got great sound and a really nice, stable picture (if I may say so myself!). Here's some I've embedded for you guys.

"After Midnight":

"Presence of the Lord":

"Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys":

"Layla":

I'm in the process of uploading "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Voodoo Chile" onto Youtube, so if you want to check back later for those, here's my Youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/musicforthesoul08

Sorry for the mother of a blog post... it was just such a great night! I wish you all could see them. If you didn't catch this tour, go get the Live from Madison Square Garden DVD that was recently released. I've got a copy coming on Blu ray and I'm eager to see it.

Back in black!

2009-06-23T09:59:00.015-05:00

Wow! Finally home. I feel like I've been gone for about a month.
Oh how I missed America. It was a great trip and loads of fun, but there's nothing like this country.

Some misconceptions about Britain/Ireland (if anyone reading this lives in the aforementioned area, please skip ahead):

1) "British people are fashionable" - False. They dress just as poorly as we do. They aren't over there wearing the latest and greatest fashions. They're wearing exactly what we are: tshirts, jeans, sneakers; leggings with skirts; gladiator sandals; oversized handbags; oversized sunglasses; skinny jeans. It's all the same.

2) "They have so many more drink options over there" - False. In fact, I believe it to be worse than America. You go into a restaurant over there and they have maybe three different types of beer. And the wine is either red or white. You get what they happen to have available. I guess if you really want a good drink selection, you've got to go to Germany or something. But England, Scotland, even Ireland doesn't have much variety. Don't even get me started on the Guinness...

3) Other random thoughts: There's no English muffins whatsoever. They really like paninis over there. Water is pretty hard to come by. Their bottled water tastes very strange - has lots of minerals that we aren't used to drinking. Ice is even harder to come by. If you're lucky, you'll get two cubes in your Coke. Also, Coke and Dr. Pepper there are made with real sugar which tastes okay but only for awhile. Candy (chocolate especially) isn't good either. Hardly anyone in London speaks English (you hear lots of other languages... it truly is a melting pot of nationalities. More so than even NYC, I think.). I felt like I was living in a mirrored world having to be on the left side of the street/sidewalk.

Okay, I'm not a total Debbie Downer... I did have lots of fun and saw some pretty cool things! Castles, cathedrals, gardens... oh my!

Let's stick to rock and roll though.

In London, we ate at Bill Wyman's Sticky Fingers restaurant. Yum-o! For that type of place, you'd expect the food to be just average. It was actually really good! Lots of cool memorabilia too.

Went to Madame Tussauds - waited an hour and 15 minutes to get in, but it was so worth it. It's kind of creepy how lifelike they all looked! You can touch them/take pictures with them all you want.

Some peeps you may recognize...

At the Dominion Theatre, they're doing a Queen musical (we opted for Wicked instead, which was awesome!)...

Went on a Beatles walking tour of London which was really interesting. For them not actually having their start in London, there sure is quite a bit of history there regarding them.
Paul McCartney's offices in Soho:

Trident Sound Studios, where they recorded "Hey Jude":

Other famous recordings done at Trident:

The crosswalk:

Abbey Road Studios:

It was a fast paced but fun vacation - now I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation! Back to real life and the mountain of laundry is calling my name...
I've decided not to do a review on the .38 Special/REO Speedwagon/Styx concert from a couple weeks ago. It was really good and that's all anyone really cares about anyways. (If you want to see a couple short clips from that concert, check out my Youtube videos here.) However, tomorrow night is Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood, so expect a full review on that! Very excited :)

I'm behind on all your blogs so I'll need to catch up in the next couple of days. Glad to be back, guys!

Goodbye for 2+ weeks!

2009-06-07T23:59:00.002-05:00

Okay everybody, I'm off to the U.K.!

Just got back from .38 Special/REO Speedwagon/Styx concert - it was a pretty good show!
I'll post some short video clips I took on my Youtube when I get back in the country. I'll also try to give a little review!

I'll be back in 2+ weeks! The day after we get back from our trip, my dad and I will be going to Clapton/Winwood. So if you don't see me for awhile, it's not because I've stopped blogging... I'll just be a little busy! But when I get back I'm going to post a mega-blog with 2 concert reviews and all my fun R&R stuff I'll be doing in London!

Hope yall stay happy and healthy while I'm gone! :o)

... Cold comfort for change?

2009-06-05T10:24:00.003-05:00

On this exact day in 1975, while Pink Floyd was in the studio recording Wish You Were Here, they got an unexpected visitor... Syd Barrett.

There have been multiple Pink Floyd specials on VH1 and I think they talked about this in one special called "Which One's Pink?" - In any case, here's what happened at the studio that day...

The band was in the middle of listening back to "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" when an overweight man with no hair (including eyebrows) walked into the studio. He was jumping up and down brushing his teeth. At first they had no idea who he was.

It took awhile to realize that it was their old friend and former bandmate Syd Barrett.

(Talking about it in this TV special, Roger Waters and David Gilmour said they both started crying.)

Syd wanted to know if he could do anything to help, despite the fact that he hadn't seen his bandmates in 5 years plus the album was almost finished.

I think the whole Syd Barrett story is quite disturbing. It's very interesting though. Go look on his Wiki page and you'll get kind of creeped out.

He died just three years ago, however Roger Waters has said that the band had done all their grieving for him back when they kicked him out of the band due to his erratic behavior (primairly due to psychadelic drugs).

P.S. If you want to see a picture of what Syd looked like that day when he roamed into the studio, then check out this link: http://www.neptunepinkfloyd.co.uk/gallery/main.php/v/SydBarrettPhotos/After-Fame/aau.jpg.html I'm not posting the actual picture on here because it is kind of disturbing. Just warning ya!

P.P.S. Here's "Wish You Were Here" from David Gilmour and the late, great Richard Wright (go to :30 if you want to skip the annoying audience applause!):

Beatles Rock Band and an important note!

2009-06-03T11:59:00.003-05:00

For all you gaming people out there who are fans of the Beatles, I'm sure you've already heard of this... they're getting their own Rock Band game! Pretty exciting. I've never played Rock Band... I think that whole thing skipped over me. I was into Nintendo64 and a little Xbox back when, but haven't been interested since.

Anywho, here's the trailer. Looks like they did a great job with details:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGBF6AHaaS0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**On another note... I am leaving for a two-week vacation to the U.K. on Monday!!! With the business of packing, a cousin's graduation and a concert the night before (yes, I'm going to see .38 Special/Styx/REO Speedwagon!), I will probably only be blogging one more time before I leave.

When I return, plan to see a review of the aforementioned concert plus TONS of pictures of the fun rock and roll stuff I go to in London!! We're taking a Beatles tour, going to Bill Wyman's Sticky Fingers Cafe, and going to the O2 Centre's new permanent exhibition called British Music Experience. STAY TUNED!!! :D

Buckingham Nicks, anyone?

2009-05-28T22:33:00.006-05:00

So does anyone besides myself actually like the Buckingham Nicks record? Or even know what the heck I'm talking about?
You might be asking yourself, "Wait, what? There's a Buckingham Nicks record? Since when?"

That's right. Before Lindsey and Stevie even met Mick Fleetwood and the McVie's, they had their own record out under Polydor. It was released in September of 1973. It flopped. Then it was reissued (as you can tell from what the poster is advertising). And today it isn't even available on CD. However, there are bootlegs aplenty and it's fairly easy to track down if you're interested.
It's great. It really is.

The reason I bring this up is because a couple weeks ago on eBay I spotted a very cool BN poster (pictured above - forgive me for the glare!). It was a good price so I snatched it up. It came from the U.K. and finally arrived today!

Here's a close-up of the paragraphs (I think you can click to enlarge):

As the review says, if people had actually known about this sucker (i.e. that it even existed) back when it was released then things might have turned out differently.
Go listen to it!

To make it easy for you, here's one of their songs called "Frozen Love":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vey-TKWYulo
The music, the lyrics, the harmonies. Amazing stuff.

G'night, folks!

Memorial Day & Mama

2009-05-26T14:28:00.003-05:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on cover songs - it was interesting to read all your comments!

First of all, I hope everyone had a splendid Memorial Day weekend. And I hope you all took some time yesterday to think about all the men and women of our military who make the ultimate sacrifice for us every day.
I know this is a day late (it was a very long, hectic & tiring weekend), but I encourage you to take two and a half minutes to watch this video. And don't worry about what news channel this comes from because supporting our troops (past and present) isn't about political parties. I don't care if you're white, black, green or red or Democrat or Republican... we all need to support our troops and remember everything they do for us that we don't do for ourselves. They're risking their lives overseas so that we can live freely (well, for now...) here in the greatest country on Earth (again, for now...). It won't let me embed, but here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGzVkOcJYEM

In other news, it's one of my favorite artist's birthdays soooo Happy Birthday to Stevie Nicks!

She's 61 today and still one of the greatest rock and roll women ever!

Oh and in other (minor) news... Adam Lambert (runner-up of American Idol this season) is apparently joining Queen? But also is considering an offer from KISS? So which is it? Who cares? I for sure don't. This kid doesn't know one thing about what it takes to be frontman, a very important job, for either band and surely isn't talented enough to join them (in my humble opinion, of course). I don't care how good he is.

I think that's about it for now... I feel like I'm behind in R&R news as well as everybody's blogs and I was only gone for four days. I'm going to be so behind when I jet off to London in a couple of weeks! Somehow I think I'll be okay with that though. ;)

P.S. You didn't think I was going to end without a video of La Nicks, did ya? It is her birthday after all. So, without furthur ado, here's a pretty kickass and speeded up version of "Rhiannon" from way back in 1976 on The Midnight Special.
I can't decide which I like better: Lindsey's guitar solo starting at 3:05 or Stevie's last-minute (literally) freakout with her crazy vocal shenanigans (remember, this was only Year #2 of hard drugs for little Stevie).
Again, won't let me embed so go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py3w5fttedA

Have a great day!!

Covers

2009-05-21T21:44:00.002-05:00

So, after seeing James Taylor last weekend (see the post below this one if you don't know what I'm talking about), I started thinking about cover songs. And which cover songs actually did better (on the U.S. charts) than the originals.

Through some "Google"ing and "Wiki"ing, I discovered that Linda Ronstadt is a cover recording machine. Songs from "Ooo Baby Baby" (Smokey Robinson) to "Back In The USA" (Chuck Berry) have topped the originals in the charts.

Other examples:
"You've Got A Friend" - Carole King (didn't chart) - James Taylor (#1)
"Blinded By The Light" - Bruce Springsteen (didn't chart) - Manfred Mann (#1)
"Respect" - Otis Redding (#35) - Aretha Franklin (#1)
"Cocaine" - J.J. Cale (didn't chart) - Eric Clapton (#30)
"After Midnight" - J.J. Cale (didn't chart) - Eric Clapton (#18)
"With A Little Help From My Friends" - Beatles (#71) - Joe Cocker (#68)

On the flip side, songs by Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and also Johnny Cash have been covered by artists.

What's your favorite cover song?

A Concert Review!

2009-05-17T15:48:00.016-05:00

James Taylor - Down Home Tour 2009
James looked great and sounded exactly the same as the first time you listened to Sweet Baby James in 1970. (Well, some of you at least. Not I!) Three things I learned about James last night:
1. I knew he was going to be bald, but I had no idea how TALL he is. He kind of reminds me of Gumby... he has these long legs and lanky arms.
2. He's FUNNY. He was cracking little jokes in between songs all night. Example: Before he started into "You've Got a Friend" he said that when he first started performing it in concert, he didn't realize he'd be playing it every night for the rest of his life.
3. He's got good DANCE MOVES. He shuffled his feet and jumped up & down all night. Very energetic.

After pretty much every song, there'd be a silence which would be filled by: 1) various fans shouting things like "We love you, James!" or "It's my birthday!" and 2) James taking a swig of water proceeded by him throwing the bottle in front of him (one time he accidentally loosened his floor plug-in for his guitar).

The stage: Accompanying James, there were four background singers (one who also played violin/fiddle on several songs), a piano/keyboardist, a lead guitarist, a bassist, and a drummer. James, front and center, would alternate between standing up and sitting on a stool. Overall, the set-up was pretty chill and somewhat intimate.

The setlist:

Kim Taylor (wifey) came out and sang backup for two songs.
Native Texan Shawn Colvin sang with James on the last encore song, "You Can Close Your Eyes". She's from Austin and pretty much a one hit wonder... don't feel bad for not knowing who the heck she is because I didn't know either. (She sang that song "Sunny Came Home" - vaguely familiar.)

All in all, it was a great show by a great singer-songwriter! I'd say the venue was about full capacity. If it wasn't a sellout then it was very close to it.

Couldn't get any decent pictures where I was sitting, but here's a few just for grins... *I think you can click on the picture to see a bigger version!* Last song of the first set: Taking a bow (blonde in the black dress is James' wife): And, last song of the night ("Close Your Eyes") with that Shawn lady. I don't know who let her go on stage looking like that, but she should have looked in the mirror before she came out: And a cute tour t-shirt that I got (I am a sucker for t-shirts): Oh, and "blonde moment of the night" (Heck, I couldn't tell if she was blonde as I couldn't see her, so perhaps it was the "drunk moment of the night") ... in the silence after James came back onstage for an encore (while he was putting his guitar on), some lady shouted "FREEBIRDDDDD!" Definitely got a chuckle out of me. :D

VIDEO CLIP I FILMED:

On the Lighter Side

2009-05-14T23:22:00.004-05:00

I saw these little random sayings today and thought I'd share with all of you... just a little something before you start your weekend.

1. If you can't understand it, it must be intuitively obvious to the most casual observer.
2. Originality is the art of concealing your sources.
3. The English language is strange - skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.
4. Wear a watch and you'll always know what time it is. Wear two watches and you'll never be sure.
5. What do you call the cabs lined up at the Dallas airport? The yellow rows of taxis.
6. Stable relationships are for horses.
7. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

We'll be back to the music tomorrow! :)

Happy Birthday to Steve Winwood!

2009-05-12T17:25:00.006-05:00

Happy birthday to Steve Winwood, who turns 61 today!
Can't wait to catch him and Eric Clapton this summer - sure to be a great show :)

*This day in 1971...

Mick Jagger marries his first wife, Bianca De Macias - they divorced in February 1979. Bianca is later quoted as saying, "My marriage ended on my wedding day." Well that sucks. But that's what you get for marrying a rock and roll star...

Here's the [happy] couple, looking less than thrilled:

"School's out forever..."

2009-05-08T18:32:00.004-05:00

Well, not for forever, but for a loooong time. Three months to be exact! :)
It feels so nice to be back at home for awhile.

So I had a really really really good idea for a post, but I can't remember what it was now. :(

Hopefully it will come back for me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For now... I ran across this article - 10 Concept Albums You Need To Own

So... do you own 'em?

I love how under The Wall, the writer says: "Try watching the movie sometime for a real uplifting treat." <-- Too funny! It's true though, I remember being completely depressed after I watched the movie. What other concept albums do you enjoy that didn't make the list?

For me...

Of course the other PF concept album - Dark Side. It's just awesome. No words for it.

Eagles - Desperado. It's good. Real good.
:)

P.S. If you say Green Day - American Idiot, I might throw up and call you an idiot. Don't judge me. ;)

"I feel summer creepin' in and I'm tired of this town again..."

2009-04-29T20:39:00.007-05:00

Well, I couldn't agree more with the title of my post (taken from "Mary Jane's Last Dance" by Tom Petty).

I love it here, but I'm ready to go home for a few months. Then I'll be refreshed and ready to come back and tackle another semester! Yay for fall weather and football :)

First of all, I want to thank you all for the nice comments! The general consensus is that I have an old soul, which sounds about right.

Onto today's topic... I saw this article from last week, regarding ten "endless songs" -- do you agree/disagree with the picks? What songs would you add?

I agree with putting "Shine On" up there, but I guess the writer has never heard "Echoes" ... as awesome as the latter is, it seems to go on for.ev.er. (It did take up the whole second side of Meddle after all!)

I know a lot of people like radio-friendly, three and a half minute songs and that's it. Most people can't or don't want to just sit there and listen. They have to constantly hear that catchy beat or those catchy lyrics, and won't take the time to actually just listen to the music/words. I, however, can totally just veg out when hearing a song that's 7, 14, or 22 minutes long. Can you?

Back to stu(dying)... have a good night!

P.S. I'm changing around my layout and stuff so don't freak out if stuff looks new to you -- hopefully at the beginning of this summer, I'll make a really cool template and create a new header and all that jazz. But until then...

25 Random

2009-04-26T19:46:00.007-05:00

I got roped into doing one of these 25-random-things-about-myself things.
I figured now's as good a time as any and I need a study break anyways.

We'll return to usual programming (aka the MUSIC!) tomorrow or Tuesday.
I appreciate you hanging in with me here for the next couple of weeks!

1. I'm a business major. I don't know yet what I want to do exactly (I've still got time though to decide).

2. I love dogs. Golden retrievers and labs especially.

3. I've been to the majority of the states. Still to go: Alaska, Maine, Vermont... that might be all.

4. That said, I've been to a ton of national parks/monuments/etc etc.

5. I love driving. Even (read: especially) by myself. I love to crank up the volume, sing obnoxiously loud, and just jam out. Doing all that at night is like a bonus!

6. I'm probably more obsessed with '70s music than I should be. I wish I could've been the age I am now in 1973, minus all the high hippies. I love love love the Eagles (as yall know). I also love: Fleetwood Mac, Journey, Pink Floyd, the Stones, etc etc etc. I could go on and on. But I won't.

7. Case in point: Fleetwood Mac is currently on tour right now. (Have been since March.) I have SEVEN recordings so far of their show. Yes, it's the same exact set list every night. But I like to listen to them all and find the differences. Crazy, right?! But there's actually about 13 shows out there, I just haven't gotten my hands on them all yet.

8. I have the greatest friends ever.

9. I don't like Obama. At all. (Please don't shun me!)

10. I have a strong work ethic. I enjoy to work.

11. I hate when people ride their bikes in the middle of the road. Sorry but you are not Lance Armstrong and you never will be. So get the heck out of my way.

12. I watched the Olympics pretty intently this past August. Maybe it was because of Michael Phelps (pre-pot picture, of course)? Who knows.

13. Some of my favorite foods: cereal of almost any kind, pretzels, Keva! (Google it), steak, mashed potatoes, chicken, Chex mix, Mexican food in general, Italian food in general. Just no Asian/Chinese/Thai and I'm good to go. :)

14. I wear contacts. I can't even see the big "E" on the eye chart (it's blurry) but obviously it's always going to be there.

15. I hate being angry with people.

16. And I hate it when people say they're "disappointed" in me. I hate that word.

17. I have a blue car and his name is Sulley (from Monster's Inc!). He's pretty cool.

18. I try to take things one day at a time, but it's hard most of the time.

19. I worry a lot. I shouldn't, but I do.

20. I'm going to study abroad in the summer of 2010. Either England or Australia. Not sure yet.

21. I love reading. Anything from somewhat-cheesy romance novels (Nicholas Sparks) to musician biographies.

22. I LOVE song lyrics. Most of my Facebook statuses are lines from songs.

23. I've been blessed with a great, close-knit family.

24. I think waaaay too much at night when I'm lying in bed trying to fall asleep. I just get to thinking about lots of different things and then have trouble sleeping.

25. I had over 1,000 kids in my high school class. Yes, the graduation ceremony was neverending.

That's all, folks!

Try, try, try to understand

2009-04-24T20:01:00.006-05:00

Wow... I just noticed that I haven't posted since Monday. Yikes! Sorry guys. Things have been busy around here. This week was the last full week of classes. I've got class Monday and Tuesday, then finals start on Friday (a week from today). I've got finals Friday, Monday & Tuesday. I'll be spending most of Tuesday packing up my room... then early Wednesday morning I'll be hitting the road to make the 9 hour trek back home!
So my guess is that I won't be posting too much these next couple of weeks as I'll be busy studying and moving out! Wish me luck on everything :)

On to the music...

Saw this article about new material from Heart next year, with more lead vocals from Nancy. Interesting. Not sure how I feel about it. I guess we'll all have to wait and see.
Ann's got such a powerful voice! Check out this video from 1976, when they were weren't "big" yet (as you can tell from Ann's intro):

Argg it's not letting me embed, so just click the link - it's worth it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvr3dmptvg

I distinctly remember jamming out to this song with my mom and brother when we would make the 4 hour road trip to visit my grandparents. Timeless!

Have a great weekend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so I got tagged with this "8 Things" thing... here goes:

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To:
-Finish a successful first year of college!
-James Taylor concert in a few weeks :)
-.38 Special, REO Speedwagon & Styx concert!
-Going to the U.K. with my family in June!
-Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood concert!
-Getting my last English class and my last History class out of the way.
-Seeing the new dog that joined our family last week!
-Hmm... basically I'm just excited for an awesome summer!

8 Things I Did Yesterday:
-Woke up far too early (7:15am).
-Went to class.
-Ate some yummy black bean tacos at lunch.
-Met with my Intro to Business group to go over our presentation. I had to present this morning in front of about 300 kids, but it went well and was no big deal!
-Ate yummy pizza for dinner! The guy that owns the little restaurant knows our order and gives us a nice discount/deal since we're there every Thursday at 7:30pm like clockwork.
-Went to the last Paradigm (worship service) of the year.
-Had some mixed feelings...
-Fell asleep to the Food Network. (It's either that or HGTV!)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:
-Carry a note... I try ;)
-Gymnastics like in the Olympics. Always fascinates me.
-Win the lottery!
-Have my own room to myself. (Only 12 more days! Woo hoo!)
-Drive somewhere far away just out of the blue.
-Buy all the coolest bootlegs that I can get my hands on.
-Go back in time and be a teenager in the '70s. (But only for a few important days because I can guarantee you that I'd be creeped out being around a bunch of high hippies...)
-Sleep with lights/noise.

8 Shows I Watch:
-Life on Mars (U.S. version - I know it's over now, but in my opinion it was sooo good!)
-The Office (c'mon... that show is hilarious!)
-Desperate Housewives
-One Tree Hill
-Anything on HGTV
-Anything on Food Network
-Late Night with Conan O'Brien (he just cracks me up!)
-Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - I bawl like a baby every time.

RS: Lunch with Stevie Nicks

2009-04-20T19:47:00.004-05:00

Rolling Stone recently sat down for lunch with Stevie Nicks. And all they can give us is this lame two paragraph write-up:

(Read the whole, whopping three paragraph, article here.)
But it was truly awesome to rap about "Silver Springs," an amazing track that was left off Rumours. The song is about her breakup with Buckingham -- "I'll follow you down till the sound of my voice will haunt you," she sings. "It was me realizing that Lindsey was going to haunt me for the rest of my life," she says. "And he has."

When she performs "Silver Springs" these days -- it's the final number on Fleetwood Mac's current tour -- Nicks resists the opportunity to get up in Lindsey's face: "I don't want fans to walk away in the middle of our argument."

If you check out the comments on the article, someone actually asked whether or not they were playing "Dreams" on this tour... are you kiddin' me?! When have they NOT played "Dreams"? That's a better question to ask.

And since when is that line from SS about Lindsey haunting her? I thought it was the other way around... I think Mama is getting all mixed up in her head. But it doesn't really matter - she's almost 61 and still belting 'em out.
Oh, and P.S., I think fans are still intrigued in their behavior (a la "The Dance" tour) and would thoroughly enjoy S&L's "argument" at the end of the night.

Friday Flick Clip

2009-04-17T15:34:00.002-05:00

To start off your weekend, here's a hilarious clip from This is Spinal Tap.
Probably my favorite part of the whole movie.

Also, for those interested, Spinal Tap is coming to Blu-ray this summer. Check it here.

Top 5 Live Albums

2009-04-15T19:43:00.002-05:00

Here's a top 5 list for ya... what's your favorite live album?

My 5... in no particular order:

The Allman Brothers - At Fillmore East (1971)
~~Stand out track: "Whipping Post" It's almost 23 minutes long! Pure awesomeness.

Eagles - Eagles Live (1980)
~~It's debatable as to how "live" this album actually is. It's not one of my favorites, but the stand out track for me is "Seven Bridges Road" Harmony at its best.

Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive! (1976)
~~Stand out track: "Lines on My Face" Great song.

Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert (1973)
~~Just recently came across this album. What's not to love? This was Clapton's "comeback" concert after he had been encouraged by Pete Townshend to get out of his drug stooper. With Pete, Ronnie Wood, Ric Grech, & Steve Winwood altogether. Very sentimental version of "Presence of the Lord".

Fleetwood Mac - The Dance (1997)
~~Stand out track: "Silver Springs" Check it out on DVD... it's even better when you can see the Stevie/Lindsey interaction on stage. Wowzers.

Rock on!

I'm baaaaack!

2009-04-14T19:36:00.003-05:00

Did you miss me? Didn't think so! ;)

So I saw today that Aerosmith and ZZ Top announced their tour dates.
Anyone plan on catching them this summer?

I'm not a HUGE fan of either band (don't get me wrong, I like some of their stuff), but I bet it's going to be a great show for their hardcore fans.

If you're interested in this act, click here for the list of cities!

What do yall think of the guilty verdict for Phil Spector? He had it coming. Plus, he is CREEPY! This is the guy who created the "Wall of Sound" and produced for so many awesome people way back when?! Scary how some people turn out.

That's all for today, folks! Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter weekend with their loved ones. :)

I'm out!

2009-04-09T10:03:00.004-05:00

Well, later this afternoon I am going into the wild.
Not really... but for the weekend (through Monday) I am going somewhere where there will be no internet, no cell phone signal, and no human contact (besides my family of course).
It's going to be fun/interesting!!
Just wanted to fill you all in since I won't be blogging for a few days.

Also, my birthday is tomorrow! I'm pretty sure I don't share a birthday with anyone cool though.

Everybody have a great Easter weekend and I'll be back in full force on Tuesday :)

P.S. If you're bored, see my post below this one and knock yourself out!

Question time!

2009-04-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

Found this online and thought it'd be fun to mix it up a little--

Using only song names from one artist, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's harder than you think...
Okay, pick your artist - Fleetwood Mac (I've been listening to them quite a bit lately)

Are you male or female - Gold Dust Woman
Describe yourself - Gypsy
How do you feel about yourself - Landslide
Your best friend is - Sara
Your favorite color is - Silver Springs
What's the weather like - Storms
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called - Second Hand News
What is life to you - Dreams
What is the best advice you have to give - Never Going Back Again
If you could change your name, what would it be - Rhiannon
Your favorite food - ...I've got nothing...

Minus that last one, they all turned out pretty nicely!

What would YOUR answers be?

California Jam

2009-04-06T10:57:00.002-05:00

April 6, 1974. Ontario Motor Speedway in California. 200,000 people. Earth, Wind & Fire. The Eagles. Black Oak Arkansas. Black Sabbath. Deep Purple. And the top of the bill, ELP.
CALIFORNIA JAM.

Kind of like Woodstock (except this festival was never intended to be released on film). Or Altamont (minus all the brutality stuff).

Anyways, there's quite a bit of footage on Youtube of this festival, but I've got to share with you this video by my favorite:

Weather Songs

2009-04-03T21:12:00.003-05:00

Well I've been thinking about the weather a lot lately, and how I am absolutely sick and tired of all of this WIND.
The wind here is ridiculous. It blows 25-35 mph and it knocks you down from every direction. Every. single. day. No matter what time of day. Even at 7:45am making my trek across campus for classes.
So speaking of meteorology, here are some songs with titles relating to the weather (in no specific order):

1. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
2. "Blue Sky" - Allman Brothers
3. "Storms" - Fleetwood Mac
4. "Sunshine of Your Love" - Cream
5. "Candle in the Wind" - Elton John
6. "Let it Rain" - Eric Clapton
7. "Fire and Rain" - James Taylor
8. "Winds of March" - Journey
9. "Dust in the Wind" - Kansas
10. "Call Me the Breeze" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
11. "Goodbye Blue Sky" - Pink Floyd
12. "Get Off Of My Cloud" - Rolling Stones

What song title relates to the kind of weather you're having right now?

Happy Birthday to Mick Ralphs!

2009-03-31T20:45:00.002-05:00

Mick Ralphs (of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company) turns 65 today!

Did you know... that Bad Company was the first group signed to Led Zeppelin's Swan Song Records? Yup, the record label launched in May of 1974 and that June Bad Company's debut album was released on it.

I want to share a video with you of "Bad Company" by Bad Company, written by Bad Company (i.e. Paul Rodgers and Mick Ralphs)! :)
Very cool song, by the way!

Happy Birthday to Eric Clapton!

2009-03-30T18:03:00.005-05:00

Eric Clapton turns 64 today!

I know this is the second post in a row about EC and you're all sick of hearing about him, so I'll shut up.
However, I suggest you take 10 minutes to listen to an EC song of your choice today. Just in honor of him being him. And still being alive and well. :)

P.S. That dog isn't doing what you think he's doing. Well okay, he is... but from reading this article, I don't think EC would mind much anymore anyway.

Love Triangle

2009-03-27T22:53:00.003-05:00

This day in 1979, Eric Clapton married Pattie Boyd (ex-wife of one of Clapton's close friends, George Harrison) in Tucson, Arizona. Apparently the wedding ceremony was conducted in Spanish. Hmmm.

Of course, Boyd was the woman behind the songs "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" -- a more in-depth look into the writing of these songs is explained in Clapton's autobiography (which I highly recommend).

Without furthur ado, here's "Layla" from about a month ago when Clapton was in Japan touring. He'll be turning 64 next week, but after all the drugs and alcohol and life crises, the old man has still got it!! Can't wait to see him live this summer! (I suggest you click on the "HD" button on the Youtube video so you get a better picture.)

Happy Birthday to Elton John!

2009-03-25T19:01:00.002-05:00

Elton John turns 62 today! He's currently out on the road with the piano man, Billy Joel. Anyone catch their show? I've heard it's pretty awesome!

I leave you with "Tiny Dancer":

Wowzers!

2009-03-18T16:31:00.006-05:00

Congrats to Rock and Roll on winning the contest!!
You sure do know your guitars and guitarists!

Please e-mail your physical address to me at classicrockforthesoul@yahoo.com so I can mail out your 3 CD set and magazine redemption form to you ASAP!

Nothing too exciting happening today in rock and roll, so I will be back tomorrow :)
Again, congratulations to R&R!

I'm back... with a CONTEST!

2009-03-17T13:12:00.005-05:00

Hey guys!
Sorry I've been MIA for the past few days -- I got home for spring break and just took a few days off. But I'm back in action... with a CONTEST!!!

Here are the rules:
1. You must be a U.S. resident.
2. It's more fun if you don't cheat. :) I don't think you'll need to, but don't be tempted.
3. You must submit your answers by posting them through the comment section on this blog entry.
4. The deadline for this contest is Friday, March 20 at midnight central time zone. I will post the winner on Saturday morning.

Here's what you have to do:
Properly match the guitars pictured with the guitarist. Simple as that. You don't need to tell me the band, but if you want to, then be my guest. :)

You may be asking yourself "What's in it for me? Why do this?"
Here's what you'll receive via mail if you are the first person to correctly match the guitar with its guitarist:
1) a brand new, unopened 3 CD set presented by Rolling Stone magazine called "The Greatest Hits of Classic Rock" which contains 40 hit songs from the greatest genre of music ever! Examples of some of the songs:
~ "All Right Now" - Free
~ "Long Distance Runaround" - Yes
~ "Peace of Mind" - Boston
2) Along with the 3 CDs, you will receive a Redemption Certificate for 12 FREE issues of Rolling Stone magazine. That's right, I said FREE! There are no strings attached. You pay nothing for a year. If you wish to keep your subscription after that, then they will bill you.

Good luck and remember to post your answers as soon as possible! :)

Watch & Be Amazed

2009-03-12T11:00:00.005-05:00

Lindsey Buckingham is an underrated and underappreciated guitar player.

Check out this video of his guitar solo in "I'm So Afraid" from last night in Boston:
(It won't let me embed the video, so just CLICK HERE to see it!)

How awesome is that?!?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other news for the day:
- Happy birthday to James Taylor who turns 61 today! Can't wait to see him in June :)
- Paul McCartney marries Linda Eastman this day in 1969.
- The Allman Brothers begin recording on their album "Live at Fillmore East" this day in 1971.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'll be going home tomorrow afternoon and can't wait to watch some concerts and check out what's on VH1 Classic!
Have a great day!

A Book Review - "Conversations with Tom Petty"

2009-03-10T14:48:00.002-05:00

Last week, I finished "Conversations with Tom Petty" -- not an autobiography, but close to it. Author Paul Zollo conducted a series of interviews with Petty and the book is in a Q&A format (with the As by Tom Petty comprising the main chunk).

I thought it was a fun read. The first part of the book discusses Tom's life: from his upbringing in Gainsville to the experiences of working with his first band, Mudcrutch.
The only thing I wasn't really interested in were the stories about the Heartbreakers... sorry, but I bought the book to read about Petty. I know his band is vital to him and his music, but I just scanned past the parts about managers and bandmates.

The second part of the book focuses on each album and its' songs: how they written, who wrote them, where they were written, etc.

I wouldn't say the book had any really shocking information in it that had never been heard of until published (in 2005). All in all, I give it 4/5. It was interesting, but not a favorite.

Other books on musicians I've read that are really great:
-Clapton: The Autobiography ~ Eric Clapton
-Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles ~ Don Felder
-Stone Alone ~ Bill Wyman
-To the Limit: Marc Eliot

The first three are GREAT reads... very interesting! (I suppose since they're directly from the horse's mouth!)

Have you read any musician biographies lately? Any recommendations?

Happy [Belated] Birthday to Randy Meisner!

2009-03-09T13:25:00.003-05:00

Randy Meisner (of Poco and, most famously, The Eagles) turned 63 years old yesterday!!

Now if you aren't a big Eagles fan, you're probably wondering who the heck Randy Meisner is. He was a part of the original lineup (Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon, and Randy), most notably singing "Take It to the Limit". Nowadays Glenn sings this song live in concert, and while it's not the same without Randy's awesome vocals, I'd rather have Glenn sing it than it not be played at all.
Randy left the group around 1976 after the release of Hotel California and after the HC tour.
Fun fact: Timothy B Schmit had replaced him in Poco when he left to form the Eagles, and then when he left the Eagles, TBS replaced him again!

On a side note... I won the contest that Layla was having! WOO! She'll be sending me this nifty t-shirt so I'm pretty excited about that. Thanks, Layla!
Again, stay tuned for next week as I do some sort of contest/giveaway.

Have a great Monday! Only 4 more days until I get to go home for spring break :)

"Storms" in concert!

2009-03-07T21:42:00.002-06:00

For the first time ever, Fleetwood Mac has decided to add "Storms" to their set list for this tour.

Here it is, sung for the first time ever in concert, on their first night of the Unleashed tour from March 1st:

What does everyone think?

It obviously is a slow, long song... I'm wondering how the audiences are reacting to it. Most people nowadays have such a short attention span that they can't appreciate music if it's over three and a half minutes no matter how great it is.

Happy Birthday to David Gilmour!

2009-03-06T10:25:00.003-06:00

Yay! Today is David Gilmour's 63rd birthday!!

So I encourage all of you today to listen to "Comfortably Numb" turned up real loud -- especially during that guitar solo we all know and love. That solo is #4 on Guitar World's 50 Greatest Guitar Solos (after #3 Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird", #2 Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" and #1 Led Zep's "Stairway to Heaven").
Me and my dad always joke that the mini-solo after the first chorus could easily have put him in the top 10. (In the video below, the "mini-solo" starts at 2:16. The big momma starts at 4:39.)

Here's a video from that Bluray/DVD I was telling you all about, Remember That Night, which is absolutely spine-tingling. However, I am still on the fence about having David Bowie singing the verses... not sure if he does the song justice, but Gilmour's guitar work makes up for it :)

Contest coming up!

2009-03-04T18:26:00.002-06:00

Hey guys!

I've been thinking about having a contest/giveaway, and it's going to happen the week of March 16th (my spring break)! I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to be doing yet... but stay tuned because it's bound to be fun. :)

As for now, Layla is having a contest of her own. Whoever can name all the artists in her new header win a free t-shirt!
I know the majority of them... but there's a few that I'm still trying to figure out. I really want that shirt though, it looks cool!

As for some classic rock news... just heard the other day that Styx, REO Speedwagon and .38 Special are teaming up for a summer tour. Says Tommy Shaw, they've got their "own personal rock & roll stimulus package" with tickets as low as $13.50.
I guess they're trying to get some rock fans out to listen to some good music this summer without having to take out a second mortage. Perhaps The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, etc should take a lesson from them!

Anyways, stay tuned within the next week or so for my contest announcement! And once again, I appreciate all of your comments! :)

Happy [Belated] Birthday to Roger Daltrey!

2009-03-02T17:39:00.004-06:00

Roger turned 65 yesterday!

Later this month, The Who will start a short tour of New Zealand and Australia.

And here's an old school video of The Who for ya:

I got my tickets!

2009-02-28T10:24:00.003-06:00

Yay, tickets went on sale this morning for Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood this summer and I got some pretty decent seats!!
I always have a hard time getting good tickets and I'm no pro at it, but I think I did well: We're going to be on the floor 15 rows back! Now it's not the center section of the floor, it's Floor A (which is, when you're looking at the stage, on the right) but nonetheless, it's the best seats I've ever had for any concert and it's sure to be AMAZING!!

Do you have any upcoming concerts that you're excited for?!

Happy Birthday to Neal Schon!

2009-02-27T15:56:00.002-06:00

Neal Schon, most notably known for his work in Journey, was born this day in 1954.

He joined Santana at the mere age of 15. Ironic story behind this: He was asked by Eric Clapton to join Derek & the Dominos, but since Santana had called first, he decided to join Santana.
Think about if he had joined D&tD instead... he probably wouldn't be where he is today. He obviously would have been overshadowed by Eric Clapton and no one would have truly picked out his talented guitar work.

In 1973, he founded Journey and, after all the Steve-Perry-diva-ego drama, is still rockin' today!