Tesoro, Duran Duran at The Loft and U2's Latest

Hi kids!

Just a general re-cap this time of various musical goings-on the last few months.

I caught Tesoro (finally!) in September at Crossroads Park. For those of you not familiar, Tesoro is a local band that describe themselves as Latin Gypsy pop. (Think Gipsy Kings). They did a 90 minute set for about 200 of us that fortunately didn't get rained out. Great music, talented guys, and a great look too. (And I'll just add that I've harbored a crush on the bass player for some time.)

I also caught Duran Duran at the Loft in September as well. Not in person, mind you, but a concert film directed by the one and only David Lynch (Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks, etc.) Hmmm, not exactly impressed. I think part of the issue is that this was filmed in 2011 and at least for me, already seems dated. Some other people in the audience apparently thought so as well because I heard someone say, "How old is this?" Much of the film consisted of material from an album they released in 2011, All You Need Is Now, and I think most of the audience were not familiar with the songs. Of course, the film also had some of their hits, such as "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Girls On Film", "Ordinary World" "Rio", and a nice re-imagining of "A View To A Kill", probably the best part of the set. The film was entirely in black and white, and much of the time the band members were obscured with various images that Lynch superimposed on the film. Terribly distracting at first but I guess I got used to it as the film went on. They also had several guest stars sing with them, including Kelis and Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, which again, gave the film a dated feel. To be blunt, not worth my time. Duran Duran are WAY better in person.

There Goes Gravity

Lisa Robinson has been on Led Zeppelin's private plane, in Mick Jagger's hotel room, had Lou Reed hanging out in her apartment and had Lady Gaga cook pasta. She went to CBGB's and Max's Kansas City nearly every night. She's interviewed John Lennon, Michael Jackson, and Bono. She currently writes a column for Vanity Fair and oversees the photo shoot for Vanity Fair's annual music issue. She's written about music for over 40 years and has just written There Goes Gravity:  A Life In Rock and Roll. I read good reviews of it and decided to give it a try and wasn't disappointed.  

Robinson starts off in 1975 with her joining the Rolling Stones' tour of the U.S and ends with her getting to know Eminem. Reading the book is like taking a historical tour of popular music. I'll be honest here and admit I skipped ahead a bit (although I went back and read the whole book) to the chapter on U2, my favorite band. As she does in the rest of the book, she pulls no punches and offers up what I think are valid criticisms of my "boys". (So, yeah, WHEN is that new album coming out again? Or as she says, "The more successful bands become the longer it takes between albums.") She also offers some very pointed criticism of Madonna (no real talent, only ambition.)

MUSE!!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am about the Muse show in Phoenix on March 16. I was pretty late to the Muse party--I didn't hear their music until 2011 but when I heard them I was hooked. Better late than never, I say. We have several of their albums in our collection at the Pima County Public Library (although we don't have the latest one, The 2nd Law). The first cd of theirs I picked up is Absolution (2003), and it blew me away. I really liked the entire cd, which isn't something I say too often, but my favorite track off of this one is Hysteria. I liked it so much I bought the ringtone for my cell phone. Ha!

War Child Presents: Heroes (An Album To Benefit Children Affected By War)

The library recently acquired a wonderful new benefit compilation album entitled  War Child Presents: Heroes(An Album To Benefit Children Affected By War).  The purpose of the album is to bring awareness to the enormous amount of children who in some way have been affected by the brutality of war. This CD is loaded with excellent musicians all providing covers of classic bands. Read on to learn more about the album.

Literary Rock (or, just pretty pictures)

I'm having writer's block at the moment when it comes to actual music and Fred's post about the book The ABC's of Rock got me to thinking about some books I've enjoyed recently by various musicians and bands. So, here's a list of some titles you might enjoy....

U2 by U2:  I'll state right off the bat here that I've been a HUGE fan for over 25 years now and if the ability to time travel ever becomes a reality one of my first stops would be their show in 1985 at Compton Terrace outside of Phoenix (anyone remember THAT venue?) I was only 12 at the time and there's no way my parents would have allowed me to go, but I remember wanting to go see this band that I didn't know a whole lot about but that I was very intrigued by. I'll have to share the story of how I first heard them some other time (and no, it was NOT Bono who got my attention at first.) Anyway, about the book....

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.

From The Sky Down (or, a brief history of U2)

"We have to go away and dream it all up again..." said U2's Bono at the band's famous 1989 New Year's Eve shows in Dublin. The band had spent the previous 2 years in the hurricane that was the Joshua Tree album and tour, during which time they became the world's most famous rock and roll band. From The Sky Down documents both this time period and the recording of Achtung Baby. The band members talk about how difficult aspects of this time were and that they became the band "too stupid to enjoy their own success." They also were dealing with changes in their personal lives, most notably The Edge's disintegrating marriage and subsequent divorce, which affected the band members deeply since they had all grown up together.

After taking some time off the band reconvened in 1991 to start recording the follow-up to The Joshua Tree, which became Achtung Baby, considered by many to be U2's best album, although I consider it a toss-up between it and The Joshua Tree. (I'll digress here and explain why...if I'm in an "American" mood, it's The Joshua Tree, and if I'm feeling more "European" it's Achtung Baby.) From The Sky Down documents the recording process, both with archival footage and with recent interviews with both Bono and The Edge. As a long-time fan, most of what's discussed in this DVD isn't news to me, but seeing the archival footage is pretty cool. If you're a casual fan or don't know much about the band at all it may come as news that there was serious internal strife within the band during the recording of Achtung Baby, enough that the band nearly broke up.