Ciao, Baby: The Cult

I can't remember the first time I heard The Cult. It may have been at a dance after a football game; I can remember dancing to "She Sells Sanctuary" and "Love Removal Machine" in the gym at Salpointe Catholic High School, but whether or not that's the first time I ever heard them I can't be sure. I really got into them (as I imagine other people did) when Sonic Temple came out in 1989. For reasons I'm not sure I can entirely explain, "Firewoman" became an anthem of sorts for me and also became my nickname among friends of mine. As much as I loved "Firewoman", I really loved "Edie (Ciao Baby)", and that song still holds some sway over me. The image of Edie that's used on the cover of Edie:  Girl On Fire is also the image The Cult used for the single. I think it's fair to say I would never have had any idea who Edie Sedgwick was without that song...it's still a beautiful melody, great lyrics and epic. There's plenty of other good tracks on Sonic Temple-"Sun King", "New York City", and "Automatic Blues" are some of my favorites.

Over the years I've picked up other albums of theirs, including Electric, which was the album preceding Sonic Temple. When I heard The Cult were coming to the Rialto and that they would be performing Electric in its entirety, I thought,  "Oooh...'Wildflower'? 'Love Removal Machine'? 'Memphis Hip Shake'? The cover of 'Born To Be Wild'? Yes, please!" But, I also thought, "Hmmm. These guys must be in their 50's now. Am I going to be sorry I saw them?" I posted my concerns on  facebook, asking if I should see them, and an old friend of mine said, "YES. You want to see them. They've still got it."

Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas - The Unheralded Jim Henson Gem

There are many Holiday TV classics to enjoy this time of year.  My absolute favorite is Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.  This Jim Henson-produced treasure has somehow managed to fly very much under the radar since its premiere on December 17, 1978 on HBO (which, at the time, we called "Home Box," and there was, in fact, a big unsightly box that went on your TV and a button on that box which one pushed to access "Home Box").  Please read on to learn more about this under-appreciated Muppet masterpiece.

Less Than Zero

Less Than Zero is a 1987 American film based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same title. It stars Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey JR, Jami Gertz and James Spader. The film is a cautionary expose on the 1980'S world of young wealthy college students and drug addiction of Los Angeles. The main draw of the film is that is a perfect time capsule of the music scene at the time. The pop friendly sounds of The Bangles covering Simon And Garfunkel, The headbanging hairband ballads of Poison and David Lee Roth, the classic rock (resurgence) of Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith and The Doors, the hardcore metal of Slayer and Danzig, the alternative rock of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cult and Joan Jett And The Blackhearts, the hip hop and rap of Run D.M.C., Public Enemy, and LL Cool J, and the classic melancholy rock of Roy Orbison. Keep reading to learn more about the film and it's soundtrack.

Rock'n and Rav'n Round the Christmas Tree

It seems that every year, the time frame for the "holidays" expands further than my waistline after gorging on pumpkin pie. According to retailers, Black "Friday" now starts on Thanksgiving night (if not the week before in the online marketplace)! And let's not even start with Christmas time. Santa Claus must enjoy trick-or-treating with all the goblins and ghouls because I definitely started hearing holiday songs around Halloween...

But I cannot really complain because deep down in my electronic/rock loving heart, I have a soft spot for holiday music. The Little Drummer Boy. Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Jingle Bells. Hearing these songs reminds me of carolers in the snow, singing good tidings and cheer as snow gently falls onto the cobblestone streets below. Or at least that's how it looks in those Christmas movies...I live in Tucson, after all!

Because I have plenty of traditional holiday CDs, I decided to do some research on alternative Christmas songs available through the library and Freegal (three free downloads a week)! I found musical gifts for patrons both naughty (death metal Christmas anyone?) and nice, so follow the links below for the fun!

Two Unrelated Genres: Mingus and Five Finger Death Punch?

Two worlds colliding may not even describe the coming comparison - the two worlds might miss each other altogether.
Other than existing in the galaxy of music, the genres of heavy metal and jazz have nothing - reasonably speaking - in common. The chugging breakdowns of the former are about as far as one can get from the
smooth, laid-back trumpet solos of the latter. From what I've seen, jazz proponents laud the difficulty of "their" genre to master and the room for letting loose emotions as the reason for preferring jazz. Metalheads, on the other hand, are busy fending off misconceptions about the "dark" genre they love.
Somehow, I happen to be involved in both. I'm a long-time metal fan who's still trying to wrap his head around the complexities of jazz, as I recently picked up the trumpet to play in one of my school's jazz combos.

PCPL has got the "P"!

P. Funk, that is.

If you ever wondered just what P. Funk is all about, you can find out here at the library. Not only do we own a copy of Parliament's signiture album, Mothership Connection, but we also have two CD collections of P. Funk rarities to boot. If that ain't enough, Freegal has what is far and away my own personal favorite album of P. Funk available as well, Urban Dancefloor Guerillas by the P. Funk All-Stars. So get out your library card, and get ready to "blow the cobwebs out yo' mind."

Thanksgiving - Turkey, Football, and... The Last Waltz

Thanksgiving is nearly upon us, time to pay homage to The Band, Martin Scorsese, and the numerous guest musicians who joined The Band for their final show on Thanksgiving in 1976.  While I have already written about The Last Waltz in a former blog, it is so good (and timely), it is time to recycle some of the praise.

A Musical Autobiography

Those of us of a certain age remember the good old mixtape...these days there are playlists. I've certainly created my share....mixes/playlists for parties, to commemorate ex boyfriends, to share stuff with friends I think they might like. I was reading Martha Stewart's latest book, Living The Good Long Life, and she wrote about creating your own autobiographical playlist and a light bulb went off in my head. What a fabulous idea! Think about it--songs that are about YOU, not songs meant for or about someone else (although if you've lived long enough, it's probably unavoidable that songs that mean something to you don't evoke memories of other people in your life.) I started making a list a few months back, and thought I'd share some songs with y'all and why they're such a big deal in my life...

Graham Nash: Howard Stern Interview

Last month I listened to a wonderful segment on The Howard Stern Show in which he interviewed Graham Nash to promote his new biography which the library now owns. For over an hour, Mr. Nash, w/ his guitar in hand, shared a very endearing lecture on the fantastic musical world that he lived in and witnessed. He played over 6 songs and talked about meeting The Beatles, to leaving The Hollies, to forming Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, to explaining why Joni Mitchell was the love of his life. This was one of the finest interviews I've heard in a long time. Keep reading to learn more.

Foxy Foxes

If you've turned on the radio in the past few months, there’s a good chance you've heard of Foxes. Under her omnivorous stage name, English singer Louisa Rose Allen soared into the international spotlight for her vocals on Zedd's smash hit "Clarity." You know the song: the booming electronic track that features Allen's lovelorn vocals over the heated chanting of an seemingly intense soccer match. It is a testament to Foxes' voice that her words are able to rise above the sonic bass and boom of the track.

On her own, Foxes has released a string of amazing singles on par with the best of Lorde,Florence & the Machine and Feist. Besides their amazing voices, Foxes shares many similarities with these other singers. Like Florence (of the Machine variety), Foxes' lyrics often drift into the realm of mysticism. In "Beauty Queen" Foxes muses, "There’s a house in the forest/Where her days are forgotten/By the lake, she dropped her dreams/Now they've sunk to the bottom." In Echo, "Running in a crypt of a thousand words/Hiding in the dark when violence starts."

Missing NMWG

Maybe 7 or 8 years ago, my friend Dave said, "You have to go check out this band I heard in Plush during the 4th Ave. Street Fair.  Her voice is out of this world and you will love them!"  I have been ever grateful that Dave introduced me to Derrick and Amy Ross, otherwise known as Nowhere Man and a Whiskey Girl (NMWG).  As soon as I heard them, either at Plush or Delectables, I wondered why they weren't known nationally, like Tori Amos or Neko Case.  But I was very happy to see them whenever they drove in from Willcox, and then Bisbee, to play.
Their shows were a mix of originals and covers, obscure and popular.  You were always encouraged to buy a CD for twelve tiny dollars.  And there would often be a time or three when they would look at each other and ask what do you want to play, and the other would respond, I don't know what do you want to play and someone from the audience would ask for Pink Floyd, or Joni Mitchell, or Wham, or Harper Valley PTA and Amy would gladly oblige.  She could play or sing anything, seriously.  It was astounding how many songs were in her head.  And the one time they played at the Main Library, she very adeptly changed the words so her "daddy was a horse loving man" to better fit the all ages audience.

Ghoulish Halloween music galore!

In case you hadn't noticed, and I'm sure you have, the stores are stocked full of Halloween goodies (and Christmas items, too!). Which means one thing: it's time to break out the Halloween music. And where better to start than your local Pima County Public Library, where we have some of the best ghoulish tunes to send shivers up and down your spine.

If you look for these in some branches, be aware they may be on display shelves and not in the CD section. Click on the titles in quotations to follow the link.

Looking for the perfect Halloween party mix, featuring standard favorites like The Twilight Zone theme song, Alice Cooper, and Werewolves of London? Then look no further than "Halloween Party Hits" and crank that party to 11.

Enjoy some "Halloween Fright Night" performed by the 101 Strings Orchestra. Nightmare on Elm Street? The Shining? Frankenstein? Night of the Living Dead? Yes, they're all done in classical form on strings here. Genius.

Audacity

Once upon a time I owned a reel-to-reel tape deck, and I loved to fiddle around with making my own re-edits and mixes of songs I liked and thought should be arranged a little differently than how they were on the LP or CD. Later, I was lucky enough to volunteer at a non-commercial radio station which had a couple of lavish recording studios with soundboards, effect generators, and--of course--reel-to-reel decks. I used to bring vinyl 12" singles into the studio, and using the instrumental or dub version from the flip side of the single, I'd fashion elaborate reworks of my favorite tunes. After mixing these onto a RTR tape for storage, I'd transfer the song to a cassette and BOOM!, my personalized party mixes were mobile.

Still later in life I got into computer games and wasted a lot of time with them. A friend of mine at a local bookstore told me I should put all that computer time into mixing music using software, just like I'd done before with magnetic tape. I was skeptical enough (and sufficiently caught up in games like, say, Sim City) to accept his loaner of a mixing program and then forget it for a few years. However, once I got around to playing with the program I was hooked. Now, I rarely indulge in a computer game, and instead have become a mixing freak like never before. One day here at the library I was assisting a patron in our computer lab when I realized that every one of our public computers features music mixing software (the program is called Audacity) every bit as good as the program my friend had loaned me long ago, yet very few people seemed to know of it. We've offered a few classes in using Audacity over the past couple of years, but not many folks attended them, so it seems to me some promotion is in order here.

Found Treasures in the World Music Collection

Though Pima County Public Library has transitioned largely into digital music distribution through freegal, many treasures are still available in the CD collection at your nearest library.  And because borrowing music from the library is free, why not take a chance on some unknown music, maybe even some unknown music from a distant land?  This is a practice I have begun, and it has broadened my musical horizons in wonderful ways.  Read on to hear about my favorite random finds from PCPL's World Music collection.

The Hot List

Here's a sampling of some of the new stuff we've received over the last few months...

KT Tunstall, Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon:  I've liked KT Tunstall from the start, although I can't quite

pinpoint why. I wouldn't say there's anything particularly unusual about her but I've always liked her voice and song style. I heard an interview with her on NPR discussing this album (side note: are they still called albums?) and knew I would be interested in hearing it, especially after it was mentioned the album was recorded right here in Tucson with none other than Howe Gelb. (Longtime Tucsonans will know Gelb from way back in the day. He played in the legendary Giant Sand and has worked with many nationally known bands and musicians over the years.) Tunstall mentioned that she went through two big losses during the recording of this album, the death of her father and the end of her marriage. There's definitely a sense of melancholy and loss on this album, but I wouldn't call it depressing. My favorite tracks on the album are Feel It All (both versions) and No Better Shoulder.

Chvrches: The Bones of What You Believe

Slicker than the "employee of the year" at a used car lot, Glasglow's synthpop group Chvrches exploded on the internet last year with a string of singles leading up to the September 23rd release of their album "The Bones of What You Believe." From the moment they published their first single, "Lies," a rabid following soon gobbled up everything Chvrches. I understand the obsession. Their sound, a unique whirlwind of electronic hooks and infectious vocals from pixie-esque singer Lauren Mayberry, is dance music with a dark edge. These are songs perfect for car listening or dance parties in equal measure.

(I also appeciate that Chvrches spells their name with a "v" so you can search for them on Google)!

No Nepotism Here: Children of famous muscians who actually have talent.

The other night I caught Ziggy Marley (son of Bob Marley) on Late Night w/Jimmy Kimmel. I was a big fan of his music in the 80's and 90's and then lost track of him. He performed two songs. A new single which sadly, was not my cup of tea. But then he played one of his classics "Tomorrow People" and afterward I ran to my CD collection to find my "Conscious Party" CD by Ziggy Marley And The Melody Makers.
 This got me thinking, how many children of accomplished musicians are out there who are actually talented?
I came up with a short list off the top of my head. Read on to check out the list and hopefully reserve some of the music that our library carries.

Jim James - Regions of light and sound of God

I have written previously about music that triggers emotions or memories (in this post about Trip Hop), but I find myself revisiting this theme again as I ponder why I love Jim James' voice so much.

For those who aren't familiar with Jim James by name he is a songwriter and lead singer for the band My Morning Jacket. The library had recently acquired his solo album Regions of Light and Sound of God, an album which revisits a sound similar to My Morning Jacket's earlier albums. It is calm and methodical, focusing mainly on vocalization rather than intricate instrumentation. In my opinion, this album is more akin to the classic rock contemporaries like Eric Clapton and Van Morrison than to My Morning Jacket's dynamic sound, although Jim James' influence is clear in both.

What would David Byrne say?

As I was shopping at Trader Joe's, my husband texted me to say he bought berries earlier in the day, so I was confused by his next text.

Husband: You better get some nuts and berries.
Me: I thought you bought berries.
Husband: I did. That was David Byrne texting.

Charles Bradley - The Screaming Eagle of Soul

My ticket stub from the August 22 Charles Bradley show at The Rialto is now thumb-tacked to my kitchen wall.  It still makes me smile to walk by and be reminded of the amazing performance he and his band put on last month.  On especially good days, seeing the ticket stub and thinking of the show even makes me attempt a Charles Bradley-like dance move.  I do not, however, possess the incredible dance skills as the 65 year old showman.  This man can sing, dance, and preach the good word, often all at the same time.  He is a prophet, he is a boddhisattva, he is a prophetsattva.  Please read on to hear more about this (already legendary) performance and for a freegal link to his new album.

The Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It?

Why, yes, I can ... and you can too with a click below.

OK. Why listen to a 2 CD compilation of Isaac Hayes's music? No, not because he provided the voice of the Chef on South Park. And no, not because of the "Theme From 'Shaft'," which--while a great song--is more representative of the film's lead character than of Hayes's music catalog.

Chris Whitley: Gone But Not Forgotten

I love being able to just wander the stacks and come across something that catches my eye. While checking on our music collection I saw Dislocation Blues by Chris Whitley and Jeff Lang.  I know I had picked it up before and I guess I didn't love it at the time because I didn't make a copy (shhhh!) or buy my own copy (which I do for the stuff I realllly love.)  I took it home again and put it on the player this weekend and wow....I was just blown away this time out.  Funny how something that didn't really catch your attention before ends up being your new favorite thing...seems to happen to me a lot.  Chris Whitley was a talented guy who left us too soon, passing away in 2005.  I don't pretend to know about his blues "chops" or how talented he was as a guitar player, but a quick Wikipedia search reveals that many musicians considered him to be quite the heavyweight.

Linda Ronstadt: Simple Dreams

Last week we sadly learned that one of our greatest Tucsonans Linda Ronstadt has Parkinson's Disease and it will end her legendary career.  If it hurts this much as a fan, I cannot imagine how hard this is for Ms. Ronstadt. I searched our catalog and was pleased to find that we still own a wonderful assortment of her discography and her new biography that the library will soon be receiving.  As a loving tribute to this Goddess of  Rock and Latin American music, I'd like to share some stories, discuss the importance of her as a rock icon,  and applaud her majestic Spanish records. Please continue reading.

The return of the Red Elvises!

The exclamation mark I placed in the title is for the benefit of a friend who considers the Red Elvises' annual Tucson show one of the highlights of their year. Because I have missed seeing the Russian-American rockabilly-party rockers the past three years, I am very excited that the Elvises are returning to our sun drenched city on Saturday, September 21st, playing at Plush on 4th Avenue at 9:30 PM.

The Red Elvises (formerly Igor & the Red Elvises, but Wikipedia tells me Igor left to join the circus a few years back...I cannot make this up) are a global sensation, hugely popular in Eastern Europe and Russia. By fusing surf-rock, rockabilly, and a whole heap of audience participation, they have earned a cult following of diehard fans. Online reviews of their concerts are unanimously glowing: "skepitcal attendees tranformed into dancing machines," "a room-spanning conga line," and "the best live show I saw in the past six months." That's half a year of live music!

Functional Arrhythmias

I am not a jazz expert, I admit it. I know a few of the greats (John Coltrane, Art Tatum, Thelonius Monk, Billie Holiday) mostly I think because everyone knows them. Jazz is not the genre I generally seek out, particularly contemporary jazz which perhaps unfairly calls to mind terms like 'easy listening' (ugh!). But I was enticed to pick up Steve Coleman and the Five Elements' newest album by the nagging feeling I had heard his name before and the interesting title.
Well go ahead and call me clueless because Steve Coleman is extremely well-known and prolific, having released over twenty albums and collaborating with many others.
Functional Arrhythmias is a great album with a lot of offer even those who perhaps aren't the biggest jazz aficionados. The theme of the album was inspired by the human heartbeat and each song creates an amazing ambiance using a combination of instrumentation and vocalization which is difficult to describe, but very interesting the listen to. My personal favorite track was "Cardiovascular," which simulated the heart and pulmonary system with a resonating beat.
To be clear- this is not as mainstream as the latest rock album. But for those who are wanting to try something new, something different and perhaps even a little strange I would highly recommend that you give Steve Coleman and the Five Elements' albums Functional Arrhythmias a try.

Freegal Update, Freegal 4.0 is here!

Good news folks! Freegal has just been greatly improved.  For those of you who might not know, Freegal is a service to which Pima County Public Library subscribes that allows patrons to download 3 songs a week to keep.  It is a great way to obtain new releases, or CD's which are not available in our library's catalog.  While it was already pretty darn good, this week it was updated, and it is now way better.  Read on to hear about the changes and improvements...

Soviet Sci-Fi

So yeah, this is supposed to be a music blog, but for this entry I'm gonna ramble on about a book which led me to a film which led me to some music.

The book is Roadside Picnic, by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, and it was only by good marketing that I noticed it in the first place.  Along with a line claiming Roadside Picnic was the inspiration for both a movie and a video game, a prominently placed note at the bottom of the cover informed me that the book contained a new forward written by Ursula LeGuin.  I've been a fan of LeGuin's work for many years, so I was immediately intrigued and checked out Roadside Picnic.

Crime and Punishment Down in Tucson

It's the usual story.

This time I'm shelving CDs and lo and behold!, there is one in my hand I recall from years ago.  I pause and say, "Awe, gee, that was a good album."  Then it occurs to me that this record, Wrong Way Up by Brian Eno & John Cale, is forever relevant to those of us living here in the Old Pueblo, if only for the opening line from the ninth track on the disc, "Crime In The Desert":

"Crime and punishment down in Tucson
Back to normal in the sun."

Then I take a closer look and I realize this is a remastered version which includes material not available on the original release back in 1990.  At this point Wrong Way Up becomes a blog item....

Musicians can write books, too!

It's pretty well accepted that when a musician or an athlete puts out an autobiography, one can  assume they didn't write it themself. And take it one step further and you can assume they also didn't read their own ghost written book, either. Not that I'm saying they aren't smart or anything... but musicians writing is usually best kept at the lyric stage.

I have poured through our library system to find some musicians who have written some books of their own- fiction books, books about bicycles; a former Beatle and his book of humorous sayings that could possibly have inspired Monty Python; and even a workout book by a famous rap star.

Click on the title to see the book. The only one not available is "Margaritaville."

Alice Cooper:
"Golf Monster : A Rock 'n' Roller's 12 Steps To Becoming A Golf Addict"

Your favorite song was recorded in Van Nuys

Fleetwood Mac. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Pat Benatar's Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl. Nirvana's  Nevermind. Cheap Trick, Ratt, Guns n' Roses, REO Speedwagon, Neil Young, Carl Perkins, Barry Manilow, Johnny Cash, Dio, Rage Against The Machine...the list goes on and on. What do these artists and songs have in common? The recording studio called Sound City, in Van Nuys, CA., the subject of Dave Grohl's (of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame) documentary Sound City. I  remember as a kid looking at the back cover of Rick Springfield's Working Class Dog album and wondering why he had said, "God Bless Van Nuys", and why so many albums seem to have been recorded there in the 1980's. I remember thinking, "What is it about this Van Nuys place, and why does everyone record their albums there?" Now I know why!

Talking To Girls About Duran Duran

"Growing up in the 1980's, you were surrounded by mysteries." This one of my favorite quotes from Rob Sheffield"s memoir "Talking To Girls About Duran Duran". A hilarious, endearing and relatable memoir about being a teenager in the 80's. It is a follow up to his previous memoir "Love Is A Mixtape." The other favorite quote is "When Michael Jackson, John Hughes, and Patrick Swayze all died, it should have been declared a national day of mourning." The book is a fun assortment of nostalgia. Especially for those who came of age during this time. Read on for a brief description.

Sia Her Everywhere

The first time I heard Sia's voice was during the phenomenal ending scene to HBO's Six Feet Under. To avoid spoilers I will avoid discussing the scene, but this final montage matched perfectly with Sia's "Breathe Me," a song of loneliness and love so pure I consider it her masterpiece. This exposure gained Sia (Australian-born Sia Furler) a ton of deserved attention. At a soldout 2008 concert at Hotel Congress, I stood enchanted with a sold-out audience as Sia performed. And when she performed "Breathe Me" for the final song...wow. The energy of the crowd felt heavy in the air. Besides her megahit, Sia performed a wide array of fun, upbeat numbers, including one song where she wore a neon smiley face costume! Her audience interactions and constant beaming smile showed me that Sia was someone who loved her art! Now if only more people knew about this pixie-sized marvel...



But luckily, you cannot turn on the radio these days without hearing Sia's unique voice. Pop stars, electronic DJs, and music lovers around the world are addicted to her unique sound. From David Guetta's #1 singles "Titanium" and "She Wolf" to Flo Rida's "Wild Ones," Sia is part of a megahit barrage this past year.

Vision and Sound Combined

My last post focused of video game music so I thought I would take a moment to talk about film soundtracks and our collection.

Music and film have always shared a close relationship. While the on-screen action and dialogue provide crucial information on the content of a film, accompanying music can set the tone of a scene and in certain cases provide a narrative without a single spoken word.
In the silent film era movie theaters would hire piano players to help provide audiences with auditory clues about the action on-screen. It seems only natural that the first full length film that was produced with sound was the Jazz Singer, a film about a talented Jazz musician whose ambitions are in conflict with his upbringing.

Friendship and Music

The last time I blogged, I wrote about how I was going to the Psychedelic Furs concert for nostalgic reasons. Now I am going to two shows in one week, not because I am a big fan of the performers, but because I want to spend time with my friends.

Stevie Wonder and Jack Black

Here's cause to offer a sigh of relief: PCPL has in it's catalog the four most important albums Stevie Wonder ever released!  Well, OK, that's "most important" in my opinion, and humility has been left by the wayside....  If you've ever wondered just what Mr. Wonder did back in the 1970s (after "Little" Stevie grew up but before he "Just Called To Say I Love You"), well, the library's got the answer to a question Jack Black poses in the film High Fidelity: Can one bad song invalidate all of an artist's prior genius?

Cyndi Lauper Show Review and... Bring on Vampire Weekend!!

Last month I gave y'all a little heads-up about Cyndi Lauper's show at the Fox, this month I am here to tell you what a good time it was (and reveal the VIP guests in attendance).  I am also going to give you the lowdown on the new Vampire Weekend CD, Modern Vampires of the City.  AND, BONUS... Vampire Weekend is coming to the Rialto this Fall!  Tickets go on sale tomorrow (June 28), and while I do not have a great track record with such predictions, I think the show will sell out.  Cyndi Lauper's show sold out (must have been my blog promoting the show, you're welcome Cyndi!).  Read on to hear about the Cyndi Lauper show and the Vampire Weekend CD and show details...

Pretty Cool, and...Meh. Or: Pat Benatar and Cheap Trick

Hi boys and girls--

I went to the Pat Benatar and Cheap Trick show at AVA on June 16. I had been wanting to see Pat Benatar for years and finally got my chance. A big reason I loved Pat Benatar when I was a kid was that she was a woman singing in a more male-sounding style of music. She sounded so strong, so confident, and so cool, and I thought, "Wow. I wanna be her!" I still remember when Hit Me With Your

Best Shot came out and I just thought it was the greatest song. Here's the funny thing:  Benatar was the opening act for Cheap Trick, and I think most people (myself included) thought it would be the other way around. Benatar walked out onstage and opened with All Fired Up, one of her later hits. Her guitar player (who is also her husband), Neil Giraldo (also known as Spyder) had some really great looking guitars and I really liked his sound. She performed Hit Me With Your Best Shot (of course) and the crowd really got into it. Other songs she performed included Love Is A Battlefield, We Belong, Promises In The Dark, and Hell Is For Children. If you're not familiar with this song, it's a song she wrote nearly thirty years ago about child abuse. As she explained to the crowd, "We will continue to perform this song at every show we do until every child is safe." I had tears in my eyes and chills down my spine while they played this one.

As Benatar's set came to a close, I started to panic. She hadn't done the ONE song I really wanted to hear....

The Show I'll Never Forget:

Last year I came across this wonderful book while I working at the Golf Links Library. This is must reading for any type of music buff as it covers nearly every genre of music. There is nothing better than talking with someone about the music they love and why they love it. Usually, when I hear a fresh perspective through heartfelt and organic words regarding a particular musician, I find myself eager to learn more about that artist. I often ask friends what was the best show they ever attended. This single question often blossoms into some of the finest discussions I've shared with friends. Just listening to someone talk about a great live act they once saw is almost like seeing the show for yourself because the person talking always describes everything so vividly with fondness. "The Show I'll Never Forget" is a collection of such descriptions. Please continue reading to learn more.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

While you're up all night dancing to Daft Punk's single "Get Lucky," please note that the full CD is available for immediate download through the library's Freegal database. Since Random Access Memories' May 20th release, the album has been in constant rotation on my iTunes playlist. I spent a long time digesting the album, a far cry from the other electronic dance music I've consumed this past year (Burial's ghostly dubstep / Kaskade's dance-floor beats). My final opinion: Random Access Memories is a stellar album, a superb mixing of disco, electronic, off-Broadway, and funk. I can see how fans yearning for the rush of Alive 2007 might find R.A.M. shocking in its pacing, but I encourage you to explore Daft Punk's latest for yourself. Here is a simple guide to the tracks to get you started:

Who is Daft Punk - In 1999, a freak studio accident turned Frenchmen Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter into robots bent on making the world dance.

1. Give Life Back to Music - I love this funky opening track. Daft Punk's signature robot vocals, "Let the music in tonight/Just turn on the music" showcase their passion for making timeless music.

2. The Game of Love - Bubbly synth-pop song with sugary sweet lyrics. It straddles a strange line between "too fast for background music" and "too slow to dance to."

3. Giorgio by Moroder - This nine minute epic gives Daft Punk a chance both to pay homage to producer Giorgio Moroder (a pioneer of dance and pop music that worked on the Top Gun soundtrack) by using interview clips as the foundation for the song, while expanding on his influence with electrifying beats on their own.

Video Game Delights

Want to hear a joke?

What fabric are Mario's overalls made of?
Denim denim denim.

It's not so funny when written down. The trick of this joke is that the punchline is sung to the tune of the background music in the underground level of the Super Mario Brothers video game. To people who (like me) grew up playing video games and hearing the music of these games this joke is somewhat hilarious. To those who aren't familiar with it.... maybe not.

Original video game soundtracks, like movie soundtracks, seem to be of growing interest to a certain group of people (myself included!). As video games begin to earnestly take their place in social and cultural consciousness they are also beginning to receive mainstream treatment.

Psychedelic Furs on June 6

Have you ever purchased tickets to see a band that you haven't listened to in 10, 20, even 30 years? For me there is always a mix of emotions. If you want to know all about the Psychedelic Furs' history, read Gene Armstrong's article in last week's Tucson Weekly. I'm just going to talk about feelings.

Fela Kuti -- The Best Of The Black President, vol. 2

So I once was fortunate enough to be working at a used record store in Phoenix when someone traded in 10 CDs by Fela Kuti, each a "two-fer" (two albums on one disc).  I knew enough about world music then to know I needed these, so I bought 'em all ... and then promptly forgot about them for several years.  Fela Kuti was a Nigerian musician active between the 1960s and his death in 1997 whose music was uncompromisingly radical in its socialist, anti-colonial and anti-military politics.  Once I finally got around to listening to Kuti, the experience was every bit as exciting and satisfying as many critics have described his music. I've since gone on to collect several more CDs by Kuti (and I love 'em all), so I was most intrigued by the copy of Best Of The Black President I saw at the library one day....

David Bowie Returns

David Bowie is back. The legendary innovative British musician and actor has a new album and it is available now from the library. It has been nearly impossible to avoid David Bowie's presence as an iconic artist for the past 40+ years- he has been on the radio, on music videos, in movies and in 1995 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Bowie's new album is "The Next Day" and will only add to the some 140 million albums he has already sold

Cyndi Lauper - Coming to a Fox Theater Near You

So get this, Cyndi Lauper's upcoming June 23rd show at Tucson's Fox Theater takes place one day after she turns 60 years old.  How is this possible?  Still, despite her advancing years, according to the name of the tour, she is Still So Unusual.  Read on for more information on her career and her most recent album Memphis Blues.

I'm Lovin' It Right Now...

 After a bit of a hiatus, Pima County Public Library is again purchasing music cds. Yay! Here's some stuff I've been listening to and am excited about...

Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell: First off, some history: I had been aware of Emmylou Harris since I was a kid but always figured she was just a country artist who did some albums with Linda Ronstadt. I picked up Wrecking Ball way back in 1997 because Daniel Lanois was the producer. He also produced two of U2's biggest albums, The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby, so I was interested to see what he had done with Emmylou Harris' sound. Wow!  I loved this album when it first came out and listened to it quite a bit. I went through an Emmylou Harris phase for awhile and picked up some of her releases after Wrecking Ball, but slowly I lost interest....until now. I heard an interview with Rodney Crowell on NPR about Old Yellow Moon and checked in to see if Pima County Public Library had any copies, and we do! I'm really enjoying this one and some of my favorite tracks are Invitation To The Blues, Open Season On My Heart, Black Caffeine (I get the feeling she's not just singing about coffee!) and Bluebird Wine.

Peter Gabriel: New Blood

My parents first turned me on to Peter Gabriel. They had a couple of his vinyls in their record collection and I remember the fear that one particular album cover instilled in me. It was Peter Gabriel's #3 aka "Melt"and features a black and white photograph of Peter Gabriel's face melting. It also stirred such curiosity in me that I had to pick up the record and play it. Songs like the cool and creepy "The Intruder" and the catchy whistle of "Games Without Frontiers" immediately hooked me in. Peter Gabriel to this day stands alone in creating a category all his own in the world of alternative music that never been rivaled.
I noticed that many of the songs from that record are on a recent Gabriel album called "New Blood". The record consists of orchestral re-recordings of past hits from the Peter Gabriel discography.  Please read on to learn more about it.

Daft Punk - Get Lucky!

Daft Punk is one of those musical groups that everyone loves. And for good reason: who can resist two dance-crazed robots who fill our lives with glorious electro-disco-synthpop? As the two members of Daft Punk (French producers Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter) tell it, "We did not choose to become robots. There was an accident in our studio...when we regained consciosness, we discovered that we had become robots." And luckily for us, these robots did not want to enslave the human race in a cycle of pain and misery (I'm looking at you, Skynet)...instead, they only want us to dance. With a dash of disco, a scattering of funk, a pinch of groove, and a whole lot of electro love, Daft Punk have created over sixteen years of dance hits for the world to enjoy.

And after much too long, they are back.

Loving the Local Music Scene

I'm still floating from the great time I had at the Tucson Folk Festival last weekend - so much so that even though I typically write about books I was inspired to write about music! If you have never been, this event is held the first weekend in May every year downtown - this year expanded to 5 different stages ranging from the Courtyard of the Pima County Courthouse to the main Plaza stage, over to La Cocina and then two stages at the Art Museum. The entire event is free - an entire weekend, at least 8 hours each day of fabulous free music - almost, but not quite music overload.  More details can be found by searching for Tucson Kitchen Musicians Association on the web.

Back to the 90's with Trip Hop

There are sensations that always seem to evoke certain feelings or memories when you hear them. It is often surprising what you associate with a certain taste, feel, or sound. Recently I heard "In the Waiting Line" by Zero 7 while listening to Pandora Radio and I was sent back to an afternoon in high school, talking about boys and life as I shared a pair of headphones with a friend. 

Afterwards I reflected on how much I still love the mellow beats of performers like Zero 7, a band riding on the tail end of the music genre known as trip-hop. Trip-hop is an electronica off-shoot which tended to feature slow beats, female vocals and was influenced by soul, funk and jazz. One of the most influential trip-hop groups of the 90's would probably be Morcheeba who featured beautiful vocals and creative (sometimes hilarious) lyrics. Other popular trip-hop groups include Badmarsh & Shri, Moloko, Flunk and Supreme Being of Leisure. The influences of trip-hop can also be heard in more contemporary music groups, like Thievery Corporation and the Gorillaz. 

For those interested in this genre, or want to try something new, I compiled a list of albums in our catalog which were a part of the trip-hop movement, or whose music has been influenced by it:

Le voyage dans la lune, by Air
Further, by the Chemical Brothers
We Are the Night, by the Chemical Brothers
Details, by Frou Frou
The Fall, by the Gorillaz
Plastic Beach, by the Gorillaz
Singles Collection, by the Gorillaz
Heligoland, by Massive Attack
Third, by Portishead 
Culture of Fear, by Thievery Corporation
The Garden, by Zero 7
Simple Things, by Zero 7

Trip-hop is also available on Freegal, which can be found by browsing under the genre tab or by searching for specific bands. I was able to locate music by Morcheeba, the Supreme Beings of Leisure, the Chemical Brothers, Thievery Corporation and Zero 7 with the search bar on the Freegal homepage.

Happy listening!

Children's Music That Won't Make Adults Go Insane

While I've been a life-long music fanatic, a collector of too many LPs, CDs and now mp3 files, it has been something of a challenge to find music my five year-old child enjoys that doesn't drive me out of the room.  Seeking common ground, I tried to get my kid into Larry Levan's disco remix of "C is for Cookie"... but it didn't take.  However, I've been lucky enough to find a few CDs which me and my child enjoy, and some of the best of these are available through the Pima County Public Library.

Dropkick Murphys

The makers of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups may tell you that peanut butter and chocolate is the perfect combination, but really, the perfect combination is when you mix a little punk with your Celtic music.

Roadhouse Blues: a visit with The Doors

This edition is about one of my favorite bands of all time, the Doors. Formed in 1965 out of Los Angeles with four musicians, this band was unlike anything to come out of the 1960s. Dark, moody, and unpredictable, the Doors broke all kinds of molds- they had no bassist, instead option for a keyboard, and lead singer Jim Morrison was a volatile poet who often caused as much trouble on stage as he did off. 

The name of the band comes from a William Blake poem: "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite." (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell).

Fela!

I was at the matinee performance of the Broadway musical Fela! at Centennial Hall on Saturday.  I had been looking forward to the performance since Christmas, when I received tickets as a very thoughtful present from my sister.  Even after eagerly anticipating the show for months, the performance did not disappoint me at all.  The music and dance, inspired by the larger-than-life life of Nigerian musician and social activist Fela Kuti, was wonderfully engaging and compelling.  Read on to hear more about the performance and the dynamic life of the creator of Afrobeat music, Fela Kuti.

Jeff Bridges: The Dude Sings

I'm just going to come right out and say I've sort of had a thing for Jeff Bridges since I was a kid, and I'm not really sure why.  I don't remember seeing any of his movies when I was a kid.  I'm pretty sure the first movie of his I ever saw was The Big Lebowski.

I still remember the first time I saw The Big Lebowski (1998).  I had seen the trailer for it on TV and thought it looked funny.  For some reason I found the scene where Jeff Bridges' character, The Dude, crashes his car into a mailbox while Credence Clearwater Revival is blasting from his stereo hilarious.  I also found his bowling buddies (among them Jeff Goodman in a fabulous performance) reminiscent of guys I had gone to school with.  I'll put it this way:  If my guy friends hadn't gotten their act together I think some of them would be sitting in a bowling alley today discussing conspiracy theories. What does this have to do with music? Ummm, nothing...let's move on to music and Jeff Bridges actually singing....!

Of Monsters And Men

I have been fond of this band ever since I watched them perform "Little Talks" on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Soon after I began to hear the song on constant radio airplay. I caught the music video recently and fell even more in love with this band.
Read on to find out a little more about this incredible band.

Parov Stelar: Groovy Electro Cat

In a moment of serendipity, I discovered the Parov Stelar Band a few weeks before their scheduled show at the Rialto Theatre on April 19th. Usually it works the other way around: I will discover a new artist and think, "I wonder if they are coming to town soon...oh, Tucson is listed on their concert calendar...for last Thursday..." But not this time, fate! This time I am ahead of the game.

One of the reasons I love electronic music is the eagerness of artists to throw genres into a cauldron and create wonderful magic from the ingredients. Consider Parov Stelar, a producer whose music I would label as "electro-swing." Stelar (real name Marcus Füreder of Austria) mixes samples of old-time jazz and swing that have my feet tapping away as I write this post. Blaring horns, groovy sax, soulful lyrics...this is music distilled to its purest form!

Who is Harry Nilsson?

Ah, spring in Tucson...

The days are finally getting longer which means I have more time to get things done- like working through my backlogged Netflix queue! Recently I happened to watch a wonderful documentary about a music industry great you may not have heard of: "Who is Harry Nilsson, (and why is everybody talkin' about him?)"

This documentary explores the roller coaster life and career of Harry Nilsson. Nilsson released eighteen albums of varying popularity, but this isn't the story of an overnight success. In fact he kept a job working nights at a bank for years after working in the industry in order to make sure he could get by

For those who may not be familiar with the name Harry Nilsson or just 'Nilsson,' you have probably at least heard his music. Harry Nilsson was prolific. He wrote many well-known songs for his own albums, and was a lyracist for other bands. One of the most catchy and popular songs would be the earworm "Coconut," but Nilsson also wrote the love ballad "Without You," "One" for the band Three Dog Night, "The Lord Must Be In New York City," and many others. 

Muse!

As my husband and I were walking out of the US Airways Center after the Muse concert on March 16, we both said, "That is the best concert I've seen since...." Neither one of us could finish the sentence. Does that mean this is the best concert we have ever seen? That is saying a lot because we are OLD! My husband has seen the Talking Heads play at the Night Train in the late 70s. I saw the Clash's Combat Rock tour and U2's Unforgettable Fire tour. Really? Muse in 2013. The best concert ever??

The Unforgiving

As I was thinking about what to write about for this month, I noticed a theme developing through my recommendations: aside from my post about Jonathan Coulton back in October, I've been suggesting a lot of groups fronted by female vocalists. I'm pleased to say that I won't be breaking that chain; at least, not this month. Instead, I'm going to recommend to you what was easily my favorite album when it was first released, and continues to show up in my playlist every month or so: 2011's the Unforgiving by Within Temptation

Although Evanescence is more well known in the United States and although they did not create the genre, Within Temptation is largely responsible for the current incarnation of the genre known as symphonic metal. Within Temptation was a pioneer in transforming symphonic metal into a genre distinct from its parental styles of gothic and classical metal. Key traits of the symphonic metal genre are an emphasis on atmospheric sound, lyrics that focus on a wide variety of subjects, and a female lead vocalist.

The Unforgiving is Within Temptation's most recent album and it was released along with a companion three-part comic book series that tells the story of the characters hinted at through the album's music. The best feature of the album is the songwriting itself; you're not going to find the typical grunting, hellfire-and-death paeans of most metal here. Instead, you get songs that are complex and rich with both stories and meaning. It's the kind of album that you listen to on repeat; first just to absorb the sound and then, over and over again to decipher the meaning for each song.

For my money, the centerpiece song is Faster. It is at once both reminiscent of the heart and soul of the 80s while showcasing Within Temptation's current musical and stylistic maturity. It's energetic without being overwhelming, deep without being maudlin, exciting without being exhausting. It's the kind of song you'll keep in your exercise playlist as well as one you'll listen to just for the music itself.

Although the Unforgiving is a marked departure from Within Temptation's previous grandiose orchestral thunder of 2004's the Silent Force, in my opinion, this is their most sophisticated and complex album to date, with Faster being not only my favorite song from their entire body of work, but one of my favorite songs, period.

Give it a listen. See if it doesn't end up occupying your CD player or playlist for a few weeks.

Jimi Hendrix

It's pretty amazing that every few years comes a new album of Jimi Hendrix music. Which is pretty amazing since he has been dead since 1970. But the music industry thrives off finding unreleased songs or alternate tracks. And so this year we have a brand new album of Hendrix music and two new singles. Not bad for a guy who was 27 when he died. 

Jimi Hendrix created music that continues to inspire and influence musicians today which his influential style of electric guitar, recording in rock and roll and blues, and headlining the famous Woodstock Concert of 1969. His music is unmistakably original and his own; often covered by others, but never imitated. Here are some CD's, books, a DVD, and free downloads of Hendrix music for you to enjoy:

The Orb featuring David Gilmour "Metallic Spheres"

 

This little treasure was released a few years back and is cause for much rejoicing among fans of the Orb. As for fans of David Gilmour and Pink Floyd, well I've never been one of them, so I couldn't tell you much there. However, I've been a big fan of the Orb since their first LP appeared back in 1991, and Metallic Spheres is a welcome return to the act's early form.  

Festival En El Barrio

Get ready for a great day of music at Festival En El Barrio, taking place on Sunday, March 24 near the Tucson Museum of Art.  Local crowd-pleasers, Calexico, headline the event, but this blogger is most excited about the two preceding bands, Rebirth Brass Band and Y La Orkesta.  Read on to hear more about this exciting outdoor music event, coming to a Barrio near you!

Local bands of past and present

I'm just going to do a short little piece on some local bands of past and present that you might enjoy.

Calexico:  I'm sure most of us are familiar with this great local band. I think I first became aware of them between ten and fifteen years ago. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I swear they used to hire themselves out for weddings (or maybe just the weddings of some really cool people!) I'm more partial to their older stuff, although I'm really enjoying the new one, Algiers. Some of my favorite albums of theirs include The Black Light (1998), Hot Rail (2000), and Carried To Dust (2008), which is probably my favorite.

Sid And Nancy: Love Kills

"In the late 70's, when I was living in Los Angeles,  there was a strange double murder/suicide in New York.  Sid Vicious, a pop singer, was arrested for the murder of his fiancée, Nancy Spungen.  He committed suicide before he could be brought to trial.  They were both junkies and their lives were pretty bleak.  But why take things to such extremes?  I don't know.  Never mind the bollocks. Watch the film."
                                                                            -Alex Cox (Director of Sid and Nancy)

I was delighted to find that the library owns the soundtrack to the 1986 cult classic Sid and Nancy. An alluring and tragic look at the initial meeting, relationship and ultimate deaths of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and his other half Nancy Spungen.

Read on for track listing,

Kate Boy - Northern Lights

Everything we touch, it turns to gold. A few months back, the first single from Swedish electronic outfit Kate Boy swept the internet with the force of a blizzard. Northern Lights was a fitting name for the track: icy but inviting, distant yet warm all at once. Over a throbbing bass line that beats like a buried heart and chilling synths that could have been cut from a glacier, the lead singer bares her soul to the listener. But it is only those seven words that matter, Everything we touch, it turns to gold. This is Kate Boy confidently declaring their talent to the world. And wow, what a declaration! It is hard to describe the final breakdown of the song, with synths soaring like comets overhead, but it is a glorious thing to hear.

Play Ball!

On Saturday, I went to the first spring training game of the season for the Arizona Diamondbacks. During my time at the ballpark, I thought of the link between baseball and music. There is such a strong connection between music and baseball that the Library of Congress has a bibliography called, "Bibliography of Published Baseball Music and Songs." This bibliography is very complete with "a listing of over 400 musical works and songs related to baseball."

Return of LET'S GO RETRO

Retro: Definition: denoting something associated with or revived from the past: retro dressing ; retro fashion

Prepare to travel back in time with a few modern musicians. I'm looking for artists who embody and sing and play music in the spirit of yesteryear- from crooning lounge singers, jazz singers to rockabilly bop of the 50s.
Put on your poodle skirt and dust off your blue suede shoes!

Diana Krall recorded a Nat King Cole tribute album and records jazz music with the spirit of Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald in her soulful songs. She recently released the album "Glad Rag Doll" and has a large selection of music that will transport you back into time, in another era. Her popularity is recognized- two Grammy awards and 6 million albums sold. Her music sounds like you have walked into a lounge in the 1940's- at least, how I imagine it, or have seen it in movies and standard albums of yesteryear.

Main instruments: Piano.