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"