Wednesday, March 15, 2006

 

NEW TALKING HEADS DUALDISCS MAKE CLASSIC ALBUMS EVEN BETTER

by Don Rose

Love Talking Heads? Whether you want to rediscover the discs you loved, or are discovering TH for the first time, the new DualDiscs from Rhino shine. Highly recommended.

As you may know, DualDiscs feature two sides -- regular CD on one side, DVD with enhanced content on the other. What enhanced content, you ask? For a start, all the songs in better audio. Plus, extras like videos and photos.

On "Talking Heads 77", one of their very early efforts, the music sounds fantastic, but the video of "Pulled Up" hooked me completely, you will love it. For one thing, it was filmed amateur style, with no cuts, just one long slightly-shaky take, at a college show (apparently their encore, since they left the stage once it was done). Seeing all the young heads in the audience bobbing up and down to the tune was great fun, and the sound of this live recording is amazingly clear and crisp. Of course, it also helps that it is a great song, simply stellar timeless pop. The DualDisc also has another rare video treat, an early song featuring David Byrne singing shyly and no Jerry Harrison, and drummer Chris Frantz on vibes rather than drums. A rough song, sounding like it still needed some work, yet delightful in its roughness and strangeness. What gems!

On the "Speaking In Tongues" dualdisc, there are also nice bonuses in addition to all the original songs -- 2 bonus tracks on the CD side, and an alternate 5.1 mix of "Burning Down the House" on the DVD side -- which also contains two videos ("...House" and "This Must Be The Place").

In short, go explore the new Talking Heads dualdiscs, you will have fun. And if you are ever in a down mood, just put on "Pulled Up"; you will feel better, guaranteed.

# # #

Sunday, March 12, 2006

 

MAR.14: THE NEW CARS, LIVE AT HOB SUNSET TUES MORN?

Are the Cars reforming, and playing live at the House of Blues on Sunset this Tuesday morning? It certainly seems so. The rumors appear to be fact. And Todd Rundgren seems to be the new frontman. I was also told that Jay Leno is having "The New Cars" on "The Tonight Show" Tuesday night.

Here are the highlights of what I've found on the Web about all this (mainly from Deaconlight.com and KasimInfo.com -- all of the following is from these other websites):

=====================================

New Cars Live Performance Tuesday Morning

Deaconlight.com received this bulletin:

Go to the House of Blues in Los Angeles (Sunset Blvd) this coming Tuesday, March 14th at 9:15 a.m. to watch one of the most successful bands of the late '70s and early '80s perform for the first time in 17 years.
Be the first to find out who it is and hear some of your favorite songs.
This legendary band heavily influenced hot acts like The Killers and The Bravery who are leading the worldwide new wave revival. But now, fans young and old will get to see true pioneers of this sound perform LIVE in concert!

Are the Pretenders on Board?
There have been some suggestions floating around online that the Pretenders will be included on this tour or part of it. Perhaps it is just chance the new Pretenders 5-disc Box Set Pirate Radio will be released the same day of the press conferenced mentioned below.


Press Conference Scheduled for "Let the Good Times Roll Again" at House of Blues in LA

Well, to paraphrase Todd Rundgren's quote, it looks like the Model 2006 New Cars will officially roll off the lot Tuesday, March 14 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, CA.


You can see the full press release - where else? - KasimInfo.com/Blog.html .

New Cars 2006 Model to Hit the Road in May with Todd Rundgren Behind the Wheel
Deaconlight.com, March 5, 2006

Forget the Rumours - The New Cars are Bona Fide!

I just got this link (below). ................. Now although there is nothing that explicity announces the new lineup (that I found on my first visit), if you dig around you will find enough evidence pointing to what's coming. You can sign up for alerts, buy stuff, listen to the juke box. It's obvious there will be some fun stuff to do on this site.
www.thecarszone.com
THIS IS THE OFFICIAL CARS WEB SITE!

More About the New Cars

The New Cars to appear on Jay Leno March 14.

for more info see:

KasimInfo.com/Blog.html

Todd Rundgren Deaconlight.com Page
The Cars Deaconlight.com Page
Blondie Deaconlight.com Page '

And...
www.thenewcars.com
www.thenewcars.net


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Thursday, March 02, 2006

 

MAR.2 - CHUTZPAH LIVE AT KNITTING FACTORY, L.A./HOLLYWOOD

Don Rose recommends................CHUTZPAH..................
I saw these guys at the hot Spider Club here in L.A. a few weeks back, and they were a blast. They even had star actor Gary Oldman introduce them! And what's this -- George Segal as hip hop star? Yep. Takes a lotta chutzpah to pull it off, but he does, somehow... hence he and his cohorts really do live up to their name. And check out the press release below, what chutzpah to challenge the all-consuming Oscars! Love it. Check 'em out at the Knitting Factory... before they get too big for their britches (or is it bitches?)...
...........................................................................................

OSCARS SCHMOSCARS!
I know they're coming up soon but...
You're just letting the manic media mavens misdirect
your attention away from what's really important....
CHUTZPAH!
Come to the show tomorrow night...
whether you just wanna have fun or
you wanna catch the fast ascent of your local Hebrew Homeboys
before they split for the HBO Comedy Arts Festival on March 8
...whatever your deal, don't cheat yourself out of
THE PLEASURE THAT IS
CHUTZPAH!

***********

Thursday, March 2, 2006 - 9:00pm

CHUTZPAH
"THE WORLD'S FIRST EVER
JEWISH HIP HOP SUPERGROUP"
Makes life worth living with
another LIVE performance in LA
at
"Hip Hop a Licious"
with CHUTZPAH
and Special Guests...
...a once-a-month
'dream come true (for you!)'
residency at
The Knitting Factory
the First Thursday of Every Month!

This Thursday's Bill:
Etan G
CHUTZPAH
The Q Brothers
and
DJ Mondo!
Only $10!

Catch CHUTZPAH before they take off for
HBO's Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen
for the World Premiere of "Chutzpah, This Is?"


Click link to see Chutzpah on Fox11 News!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=klFidbPj1kQ




Monday, January 09, 2006

 

VH1 VAL DAY QUOTES: MUSICAL INSPIRATION TO PREPARE FOR FEB.14


VH1.com has a webpage that collects some choice quotes about Valentine's Day, from a wide range of musical artists. (Sure, it's January, but can it ever be too early to prepare to please your partner? Okay, don't answer. It's rhetorical, Mr. Cynic. One of my resolutions was to stop procrastinating, so sue me if I'm a tad early.) Here are some highlights:


Al Jourgensen - Ministry
My wife and I have two songs that are "our" songs. There's Buck Owens' "Excuse Me, I Think I've Got a Heartache." It's just your basic Bakersfield sound from the early `60s. It's got a skiffle train beat and a lot of pedal steel. I wouldn't do Buck justice to sing it for you! Then at Graceland, while we were getting married, they were blasting "Can't Help Falling in Love With You." Two schmaltzy, corny songs.

David Crosby
You know what we do on Valentine's Day? We sneak off by ourselves, and...Well, this is how I do it. I go get crayons and scissors and glue. And I make a valentine for her. They're usually pretty elaborate; they've got a lot of colors. And they're kind of corny. And we've been doing that for a long time, we make Valentine's for each other.......

Jeffrey Gaines
I've got the very best intentions for Valentine's Day. All I want to do is love everyone! I used to love it when we were in elementary school and you'd get that box of Valentine's and hand them out to everyone. Now everyone says, "Well, what did she get? And what did she get?" It's like a love competition! I'm like, "It's like a family. It's nothing. Don't be that way, because life's too short." As far as songs go, there's a Byrds track called "Triad" where David Crosby sings, "Why can't we go on as three?" That's a good song for Valentine's Day.

Andy Bell - Erasure
I just bought my Valentine's card today. It's got a 3D baby on the front and it says, "Whenever I'm near you, I get all hot and flustered. For you I would dance all day in my pants and swim through a river of custard." I don't really get into it. I love roses and I love receiving flowers, so I love sending them. ....... As far as physical romance goes, the first sign of lust is looking into someone's eyes and really wanting to kiss their lips.

Gaz Coombes - Supergrass
Our Valentine's song is "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones. It's quite nice, but it's a bit cheesy. It's not really our song because of the content, it's because we always played it in my girlfriend's bedroom when we first got it together!


To see the rest of the quotes, from many more artists, click here.

And if you can't dream up a unique experience, musical or otherwise, for your special someone, there is always flowers. The one Val Day gift that's always music to a mate's ears.

Even Mr. or Ms. Cynic.



Sunday, January 01, 2006

 

JAN 11-FEB26: Remembering Ricky Nelson at MTR

Remembering Ricky Nelson at MTR, Museum of TV and Radio

January 11 to February 26, 2006
Wednesdays to Sundays at 2:00 p.m.

The rarely seen documentary, It's All Right Now Rick Nelson, which was produced by acclaimed filmmakers Lynne Littman (Testament) and Taylor Hackford (Ray), will screen along with an original 1966 musical, On the Flip Side, that stars Nelson and includes songs by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

www.mtr.org

Saturday, December 24, 2005

 

2005 BEST-OF PICK: DICK CAVETT SHOW DVD TRIO

Ray Charles? Rock Icons? even John Lennon and Yoko Ono?
Yeah , yeah , yeah!

OK, maybe I regret that last line, but you won't regret getting these discs. Those names above are the subjects of 3 new 2005-released DVD's from the vaults of "The Dick Cavett Show", one of the great TV talk shows of the 60s-70s era, or any time for that matter. What other guy could talk to Groucho one minute, then have the Stones or Bowie bowing the next?

Wonderful collections... guaranteed regifting-proof.
Take a trip back to when music actually had melody. You will dig it.

Friday, December 09, 2005

 

BACK DOOR CROWES OFFER FREE DOWNLOAD, NOT IN STORES


THE BLACK CROWES recently took time out from their tour to record a cover of an R&B holiday song, "Back Door Santa." This marked the band’s first visit to the studio since the recording sessions for 2001’s LIONS album. They rejoined forces with producer George Drakoulias, who worked with them on their first two albums. Don’t look for “Back Door Santa” in stores, as it won’t be sold commercially; instead it will be available as a free download on their website (www.blackcrowes.com), and you can bet the band will play it at their first-ever headlining show at Madison Square Garden on New Year’s Eve.