The GFOS

So I'm checking in items at the library the other day and the Godfather of Soul stops by....

Well, actually I just looked down and noticed that I had in my hand an excellent compilation of songs by James Brown.  There are a slew of compilations of Brown's music, and a lot of them are pretty suspect.  However, In The Jungle Groove is one of the better collections out there, and we've got it on CD right here at the Pima County Library.  Read on for for more details!

Man Saved By Family Band - Dan Zanes Lives!

How fortunate for us that talented multi-instrumentalist Dan Zanes travelled the path that he did. Dan was born in 1961 in Exeter, New Hampshire and raised by his mother, a photographer who had also operated a number of soup kitchens. He began playing guitar at age 8. When he was old enough to get his first library card, Dan checked out LPs by the legendary Ledbelly and rocker Chuck Berry to start building his chops. "He always loved music", says his mother.

                                                                           
After a childhood in west Texas and on the eastern seaboard, Dan moved away to college in Oberlin, Ohio in 1981. The first morning in the breakfast line, he met Tom Lloyd, someone he knew from high school, and within a year, they quit college and moved to Boston with Dan's brother Warren where they met Steve Morrell and formed the Del Fuegos. They made a splash on the Boston club circuit and then branched out into east coast tours. They began recording and achieved the Best New Band title in 1984 by Rolling Stone magazine, with "Don't Run Wild" and a few other hits. Bruce Springsteen once jumped on stage with the Del Fuegos to sing "Hang on Sloopy"!

Music Therapy

Music lovers know the profound impact a song can have on your mood. One book reviewer listed below wrote, "...playing 'Johnny B. Goode' can transform washing the floor into dancing at a night club." If you are interested in learning more about the psychological aspects of music, check out some of the books below.

7th Symphony

Once again, I'm here to bring you the music that you might have missed (in fact, almost certainly missed). It's the music that you would proudly describe as 'indie' or 'hip,' if those terms were still cool (sorry to say, they've been co-opted and so we have moved beyond them. Alas.)


In short, I'm here to bring you music that's just a little bit weird.

With that said, let's talk about a cello metal band from Finland called Apocalyptica and their album 7th Symphony.

It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke: in 1993, four cellists (that's a fancy word for people who play the cello) walk into a concert hall and decide they want to be a Metallica cover band. Nobody in the group plays a guitar. They call themselves Apocalyptica. What's the punchline, you ask?

Let's go RETRO!

The retro sound of music is making the rounds of modern day music, with an assortment of musicians striving for a sound that takes listeners back to an era of yesteryear. I sought out to find some names and albums that might give you a trip to the past and for melodies and sounds unique and possibly familiar. Many of these albums and songs are available through the Pima County Library website as well as through our free music downloading site, Freegal.

Please feel welcome to add your own contributions to the comments section, I would like to hear about more. The retro sound is a refreshing trip back to sounds of the Rat Pack in Vegas, of Burt Bacharach, Judy Garland, Nancy Sinatra, and beyond. Now, back to the future...

Batucaxe!

Would you like to join a group of musicians and dancers who are inspired by the infectious grooves of Brazil?  Well, you're in luck, here in Tucson we are fortunate enough to have the dance and drum ensemble Batucaxe which provides you with that opportunity.  Drum lessons, dance lessons, performances great and small, Batucaxe does it all!  Read on to hear about their wonderful performance at The Rialto last Saturday, to access a link to their CD in the library's collection and to learn how to join this dynamic group.

OMG! They broke up!

I'm writing this as the news of Justin Bieber's breakup with Selena Gomez is all over the news. By the time I finish writing this up they may have gotten back together, but in the meantime let's talk about some great breakup songs. (Or as one of my coworkers mentioned, "Hey, it's the holiday season...isn't January the peak time for breakups and divorces?  Happy Holidays!")

You can't talk about breakup songs without mentioning Chris Isaak. In this case, however, he may have written an entire breakup album.

Commando:The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone

What can you say about The Ramones that has not already been said? That they forever changed music history by intercepting rock music and injecting it with a heavy dose of adrenaline and attitude. Famous for being contemporaries and friends with fellow new wave bands Blondie, The Talking Heads, The Clash, The B-52'S, Patti Smith, and The Sex Pistols.  Well the library now owns Commando:The Autobiography Of Johnny Ramone. Read on and I will give a brief description  of the book.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings at the MIM!

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings perfoming at the Musical Instrument Museum turned out to be not only worth the trip to Scottsdale, but a sonic and visual feast! Prior to the main course, we strolled the galleries of the MIM, attired in our free headsets, wired to hear the music of the instruments that we were looking at from various regions of the world. This is already an incredible musical experience before we even enter the lovely, acoustically perfect venue in the museum where Gillian Welch and her singing/songwriting partner David Rawlings will perform.