HAIM - Days Are Gone

2013 was a big year for the HAIM sisters (Alana, Este, and Danielle Haim...you might guess how they named the group). They released a critically acclaimed debut album, Days Are Gone, performed on Saturday Night Live and Austin City Limits, played some of the world's biggest festivals (Glastonbury, Treasure Island), and performed with huge names like Phoenix and Mumford and Sons. So why the sudden rush of popularity? In my opinion, HAIM produces stellar pop rock in the vein of Fleetwood Mac and Genesis, but with the smiling, no-drama persona of the Von Trapp family. Another critic wrote how refreshing it was to review a mainstream band so "uncool." The girls seem to just love playing music and asking you to sing along. I would agree: the music video for lead single, "The Wire" has the girls leaving groups of heartbroken men in their wake, consoling each other with manly three-way calls and scattered bottles of wine! Silly, toe-tapping fun for everyone.

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!

The ABC'S Of Rock!

Here is a little treat for those of you who have children and would like to get them interested in rock music at an early age. The ABC'S Of Rock by Melissa Duke Mooney and The Print Mafia is a dynamite little picture book that has an A-Z listing of some of Rock music's finest talent.