Heart at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Tues. Aug. 3. Tickets on sale Fri. Apr. 16 at 10:00 a.m. (Live Nation Event)
Phish at Jones Beach on Tues. & Wed. Aug. 17 & 18. Tickets on sale this morning at 11:00 a.m. $50. Also appearing at the Comcast Theater on Fri. & Sat. June 17 & 18. Tickets on sale today at 1:00 p.m. $45.50
Jack Johnson at Madison Square Garden on Wed. July 14. Tickets on sale next Sat. Apr. 10 at 10:00 a.m. $35 – $70.
John Mayer at Jones Beach on Wed. July 21 and at PNC Bank Arts Center on Tues. Aug. 3. Pre-sale tickets for Citi card holders begins on Wed. Apr. 14 at 10:00 a.m. General public on sale Sat. Apr. 17 at 10:00 a.m. More information to follow.
Green Day with AFI at the Comcast Theater on Thurs. Aug. 12. Tickets on sale this morning at 10:00 a.m. Lawn: $20-$35; Rear Pavilion: $49.50 – $59.50; Mid Pavilion: $59.50; Lower Pavilion: $69.50; Pit Area-SRO: $85
The Black Keys at the Central Park Summer Stage on Wed. July 28. Tickets on sale today at noon. $35
Tears for Fears at The Wellmont Theater on Sat. Aug. 21. Tickets on sale today at noon. $45, $75 and $95.
Earth Wind & Fire at Borgota Event Center in Atlantic City NJ on Fri. & Sat. June 11 & 12. Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.(Live Nation Event).
Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Sat. May 22. Tickets on sale today at noon. $30.
Delta Spirit at the Bowery Ballroom on Wed. June 30 and at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thurs. July 1. Tickets on sale today at noon. $16 ($18 day of show)
They Might Be Giants at the Town Hall on Sun. Sept. 26. Tickets on sale today at noon. $27 ($100 for family 4 packs)
Metric at Terminal 5 on Sun. May 16. Pre-sale tickets for American Express cardholders on sale now until 11:00 a.m. this morning. General public tickets on sale today at noon. $25.
Taylor Hawkins & The Coattail Riders at the Gramercy Theater (formerly “The Blender”) on Thurs. May 6. Tickets on sale today at noon. (Live Nation Event).
Buzzcocks at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza on Thurs. May 13. Tickets on sale tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. $29.50
Nas and Damien Marley at the Brooklyn Waterfront in Williamsburg Brooklyn on Sat. July 31. Tickets on sale today at noon.$39.50
Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Wed. Aug. 11. More info to follow.
Other items:
Janet Jackson’s new single-“Nothing”- from the movie “Why did I get Married Too” (which is out today) was released this past Tuesday and I like it. Her vocals are eerily similar to those of her late brother Michael and I immediately thought of him when I heard this track, very soothing song.
Christina Aguilera’s new single “Not Myself Tonight” is a definite “club” song and sort of reminds me of something Lady GaGa would do. (Ouch I know that hurts Christina but it sounds like that to me) Just picture walking into a NYC club with the dark room but with lights circling the room while the people are just dancing all over the place, this is that song. In the immortal words of Randy Jackson-“This is the bomb.” Check it out, I like it. Not for the kiddies though, especially with the moans and groans towards the end.
Have I mentioned how good the new Scorpions album-“Sting in the Tail” is? According to Billboard, it’s their biggest selling album ever as far as first week sales.
If you are an ‘80’s rock fan, you may want to head out to Oklahoma City for the weekend of July 23- 25 at the “Zoo Amphitheater” where The Scorpions, Ratt and Twisted Sister will headline the 3 day event. It is called the RockNAmerica.com and other bands featured are Warrant, Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns (yes with Tracii), Dokken, Bullet Boys and others. Tickets go on sale next Sat. April 10 at Tickets.com
My favorite “new song” of the week belongs to Peter Frampton and the song is-“I Want It Back”- from his upcoming album-“Thank You Mr. Churchhill”-which will be released on April 27. Recently I have been on a Frampton kick, especially with his early days with Humble Pie, this man has the skills on guitar and this new song will rock your socks off. Buy it now!!!
Phish will appear on TV for the first time in 6 years on Thurs. May 13 when they will perform on the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” covering one of the Rolling Stones songs from Exile on Main Street. This will be part of a week long tribute to the Stones, whose “Exile” will be re-released on May 18 and will include 10 songs previously unreleased. Phish has not stated what song they will cover for the Fallon show.
My other favorite “new song” of the week belongs to Amy Grant with her beautiful “Better Than a Hallelujah” from her new album-“Somewhere Down The Road.” What a perfect song to be released this special week as we head into Easter weekend. I can picture looking out a window on a rainy day as the rain drops slowly make their way down the glass.
My favorite “old school R&B” song of the week is the “blist-a-fying” “funk-a-fied” “25 Miles” by the late Edwin Starr. How great is this song? Man I can’t get enough of music like this, “they” don’t make music like this anymore. It sort of has this James Brown feel to it but Edwin clearly makes it his own. “I‘ve got fifteen miles to go now and I can hear my baby calling my name…” Awesome tune.
Duff McKagan (former bassist for G&R and Velvet Revolver) has officially joined Jane’s Addiction. They are now writing new material for an album to be released next year. I don’t know but that seems like a weird match to me, I always had the feeling that Perry Farrell wanted nothing to do with the “big rock star type” and with McKagan coming from Guns-arguably one of the biggest bands ever- I would think that goes against his grain. But maybe he’s changed and I’m wrong. And from Duff’s vantage point I would think that he likes the “heavier” stuff than what Jane’s Addiction has to offer, but again what do I know?
I-Tunes actually has another pretty cool free single of the week and it belongs to Paper Tongues and their song “Trinity.” It feels like a mixture of U2, Oasis and The Killers with a splash of dance music.
The first solo album by Slash is out next Tuesday and unbelievably you can listen to the entire CD already on AOL in the “new releases” section. Even though it goes against every bone in my body I quickly listened to samples of the album and I have to tell you I am real impressed with the range of music that Slash exhibits. He can totally “metal” it out with the likes of Lemmy but then take it down to the “pop ballad” with Adam Levine. You have to check out his unbelievable riffs on “Nothing to Say” featuring M. Shadows. Or “Watch This” the instrumental with the seemingly everywhere Mr. Dave Grohl and Duff McKagan. And the forever young Iggy Pop is all over the “We’re All Gonna Die” track with his usual badself. Looks like a definite buy on this one. Nice job Slash!!!
Album Review: “Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3” by The Traveling Wilburys released on Rocktober 29, 1990
This week’s I-Pod shuffle landed on “You Took My Breath Away” by the Traveling Wilburys so I had to go back and listen to the whole Volume 3 (as well as Volume 1 but I’ll stick with 3, although you can’t go wrong with either). Now I feel terrible that my focus is on Volume 3 as Volume 1 contained the incomparable Roy Orbison (also known as “Lefty” Wilbury). Now before I head into Volume 3, you need to familiarize yourself with their first collaboration with specific focus on “Not Alone Any More,” “End of the Line,” “Handle With Care,” “Last Night” and “Rattled” as these songs all contain parts/solos by the legendary voice of Mr. Orbison. (The other songs of course contain Orbison’s background vocals). Now their first album was released in October 1988 but unfortunately “Lefty” passed away that December. I believe there was some talk to replace Lefty but how do you replace a Roy Orbison? With that, they decided to make one more album without a new Wilbury and recorded Volume 3 (even though it was the second volume, “Spike”-George- decided to mess with people’s minds by naming it “3” with four of the original five members-Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty.
Now take yourself back to late 1990… MTV was at its all time popularity still playing all the “hairband” video’s… (this was right before Nirvana came along the following year and wiped them out)… bands like Poison, Warrant, Winger, Billy Idol and the Damn Yankees ruled the airwaves.. on the “pop” side of things Madonna was at the top of the world, with Mariah not too far behind… Paula was known for her singing and dancing instead of her “Idol” fame…The New Kids on the Block were taking young girls breath away… Rap was not at its “gangsta” stage just yet, except for Public Enemy but a lot of it was MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice and what I would call “fun” rap…Salt N Pepa and En Vogue were blazing a trail for women’s vocal bands.. even Celion Dion and Yanni (remember him?) were popular at that time.. and then along comes this rock, country rock and folk band which contained four of the arguably greatest influences on music (five when you include “Lefty”) but yet at that time, they all seem to be “in the background.” Yes we all know about Harrison and Dylan-these two alone could be considered part of the premier acts of all time, with Dylan being the greatest writer ever. Mr. Petty had already put his dent into the rock music world and Mr. Lynne has flown circles around most with his experience in ELO but for some reason they were.. dare I say… almost ignored? There was not much fan fare that I remember and it wasn’t popular at the time but in a weird way I guess I was still OK with that because I was still kind of young at 25 with part of me not wanting the music that I listened to be considered “part of the masses.” But on the other hand, it drove me nuts that they weren’t put out there for all to see, so that we all could do the Wayne’s World “We Are Not Worthy” bow to four of the world’s best artists. Now don’t get me wrong, I realize that their albums sold over 4 million copies combined-which is nothing to sneeze at-but I feel that number should be at least doubled. So what I am saying is- you need to own both volumes of one of the greatest collaborations of Icons ever assembled.
Side one starts off with the blistering “She’s My Baby”- how great is this song? It is a fast paced mesh of rock and blues which will have you “air-strumming” the acoustic guitars and just for good measure there is an electrifying guitar solo by a special guest-Gary Moore. All four Wilbury’s take turns singing their parts-which is what made every great Wilbury song special-to hear each talented voice on most all of their songs is what makes this so pleasing to the ear. We used this song in our boot camp class at MBIA from 2003-2005, if this song doesn’t move you, well then I don’t know what to say. This is the heaviest I have ever heard Dylan, it’s almost like he’s out of his element but it suits him very well. (Many of you know that I am not the hugest Dylan fan but I love all his contributions to the Wilburys). Track # 2- “Inside Out”-just may be my favorite song on the album. Starts off with the melancholy voice of Dylan but when Petty comes in with the chorus, well it just puts me over the top. “Look down your dream pipe.. what color do you see?.. It’s got to be yellow.. don’t try and fool me…” Then when Harrison takes the bridge, you have to ask yourself-“Why didn’t these guys make more volumes?” This is pure perfection folks. “Ain’t no shadow of a doubt… and your downsides up, yeah your upsides right… when you’re inside out..” “If You Belonged to Me” definitely has Dylan’s footprint all over this one, especially with the harmonica (but then again Petty utilizes the harmonica). This is Boo’s (Dylan) baby with a little help from Jeff on vocals. This is a nice sing along song which also could be shouted out as a suggestion to your next visit to the local pub for that person taking requests while playing the acoustic guitar with the harmonica attached. “The Devil’s Been Busy” is a fast paced acoustic classic which espouses visions of sitting around the campfire on a nice summer night, with each one of your friends taking the separate parts by Clayton, Spike Boo and Muddy. My favorite part is when Clayton (Jeff) breaks in with “… they’re coming down Picadilly… dripping at the dash…wasting stick Willy..” These are the best sing along songs ever. “7 Deadly Sins” is not one of my favorites on this album but it’s not that bad because it champions the long lost art of “doo-wop” and I can picture these four guys on a corner in the Bronx singing a cappella to this track. This definitely has that Dion & The Belmonts feel to it. The last track on side 1 is “Poor House” and I forgot that this is my favorite song on this album. This is knee slapping, “rock-abilly” at its best. Next time you’re on a farm just grab some jugs and anything else that you can find to tap away and put this song on somehow and dance around like you never have before. If you listen closely towards the end of the song you can hear like this “scratchin’ effect” that makes it that much easier to move and slide your neck up and down as you try to have your chin touch your chest. This is AWESOME!! I can remember that my mother loved this song and she would always say “Turn it Up!!!” Great advise Mom, I just did!!! “They’re gonna put me in the poorhouse and throw away the key..”
Side two starts off with the ever cool “Where Were You Last Night?” The groove is super stupendous and I could picture this being played at Woodstock with all the “tie-dieds” dancing around in one big circle arms entwined with each person kicking their right foot, then their left foot, then the right and so on. Spike (George) has the coolest vocals, I’m sorry. The guitar work is flawless. The coolness continues with “Cool Dry Place” as this seems to be Muddy’s (Petty) baby because he does the majority of the vocals on this song. Folks you have to listen to this song just to hear the amazing guitar solo (I’m not sure who is playing-could be George) but it is lights out. For some reason, I feel like playing the accordion when I hear this track. “New Blue Moon” is Clayton’s baby as the sound takes you back to the 1960’s again with that doo-wop or a cappella style of yester-year. Nothing spectacular about this song but still a nice track. The aforementioned “You Took My Breath Away” is nothing short of spectacular. This could be one of the best “ballads” ever recorded. When I listen I can’t think of any other song where Petty sings the way he does, it is different from anything he’s ever done but my favorite part is when Lynne breaks in with “One day when the sun is shy—ahh—ing… there will be a silver lieeee-ning..” This is their masterpiece in my opinion. This fantastic album ends with the very energetic “Wilbury Twist.” How much fun is this song? Boy do I remember playing this song for my boys when they were much younger and dancing around the living room like a maniac-trying to emulate the words that were sung by Boo, Spike, Muddy and Clayton-especially George’s part where he says-“Lift your other foot up.. fall on your ass…” which I promptly did and they would laugh at their Dad. This was another song we used endlessly at MBIA with our early morning boot camp class for like three years. It is really hard not to move something when you hear this one. Again it’s weird to hear Boo singing something so brisk and fast but it works for him.
If not for any other reason than “Volume 3” was dedicated to the memory of Roy Orbison, you need to own this Traveling Wilbury classic as you know the four remaining members did their best to honor their family member. For some reason after 1990, these guys did not create more of their superb sound and after 2001 when Harrison passed away you knew this would be it, so folks this has to be in your music library. If not, run out and get it!!!
“TOP TEN”:
Since this week’s American Idol theme was “R&B” I decided to focus on two of the women bands (no offense to “The Pips”) who I feel blazed a trail for many women R&B artists to follow (as well as men). So this week’s top ten will be a combined Top 5 from Gladys Knight & The Pips and The Marvelettes. What else can be said about Gladys Knight [and The Pips- her brother Merald Knight and their cousins-Edward Patten (who passed away in 2005) and William Guest] that hasn’t been said already? She has been an American Icon for so long it is hard to believe that she has been performed in seven decades since the late 1950’s. Her legendary voice has made some of the best songs ever recorded in the history of music. She and The Pips were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Vocal Hall of Fame in 2001. For those of you who do not know The Marvelettes, they were really the first successful female vocal band that paved the way for later acts such as The Supremes and Martha and The Vandellas. Their origin began in Michigan in the early 1960’s and they were initially called The Marvels-five women which included Gladys Horton, Georgia Dobbins, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart and Katherine Anderson. Berry Gordy renamed them the “Marvelettes” and their first hit was “Please Mr. Postman” and the rest they say is history. From 1961 to 1969, they placed 25 singles on the pop charts. Gladys Horton left the group in 1967 and was replaced by Anne Bogan. Unfortunately today since Motown sold rights to their name none of the original members can use the name The Marvelettes-which is a travesty. But with the help of Mary Wilson (The Supremes) who fought hard to pass legislation that artists can not use the name of a band if not one of the original members are not part of the act. So now Gladys Horton, the only member still performing, may finally be able to use “The Marvelettes.” So I am on an island and am informed that I can have 5 songs from Gladys Knights & The Pips and The Marvelettes- “these are them:”
The Marvelettes
5. Too Many Fish In the Sea– This has Smokey Robinson all over this track as the beat is reminiscent of something that he would record. I grew up in a household that was filled with Doo Wop, Rock and Roll and of course Rhythm and Blues- this song serves as a perfect example of R&B. This upbeat song can be used at your next Spin class or at your next party to get folks out on to the dance floor. The story behind this song indicates that the Marvelettes may have gone with the wrong song choice because they were approached by the legendary writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland to sing the song-“Where Did Our Love Go”- which eventually landed in the hands of The Supremes and went on to be a #1 song on both the R&B and Pop charts, while “Too Many” was a minor hit. And as the rest of the story goes, the Supremes remained supreme after that…
4. Don’t Mess With Bill– I can remember that WCBS FM, the NY “oldies” radio station would play this song all the time and that’s another thing that occurred during my upbringing which was the fact that you could lose a finger or two if you tried to change the radio station. It was forever fixated on CBS and I actually find myself going back to this station to hear songs just like this. Folks this is classic stuff right here.
3. Playboy-This 1962 classic starts out very similar to their biggest hit “Please Mr. Postman” but takes a different turn and it resulted in this track being one of their finest successes of their career. It has the obligatory hand claps, which is better than the cowbell in my book (next to whistling). I can picture my Mom and my Aunt sitting at the table singing along to these R&B classics, pure perfection
2. Please Mr. Postman-OK how can anyone not like this song? In this “virtual” world we live in now it is virtually impossible to not like this tune. This song reached number one on both the “R&B” and “Pop” charts back in 1961 and when I listen to it today, the recording is so clean and clear that it stands the test of time. This has to be considered one of the best songs ever recorded during the 1960’s.
1. Forever– Even though this did not do so well in the charts (you know that makes no difference to me by now, right?) it is a very moving song sung in that “doo wop” style that gets me all the time. (Yes Dad I really like Doo Wop even though you don’t think so). This is a song of unconditional love for that someone special no matter how hard they take you for granted. “I play the part of a fool… just to be with you forever..” Folks this is where it all started, they blazed the trail for the Supremes and so many girl groups that followed and deserve your respect.
Gladys Knight & The Pips
5. Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)– Gladys has this way of putting you into a trance when she sings those slow beautiful classics and this one is no different. She always commands my complete and utter attention when she sings songs like this. This song spent four weeks as the number one song on the Soul charts back in 1973 and was a “cross-over” hit on the Billboard Pop charts as it reached # 2. They won a Grammy for this song as well, ‘nuff said!!!
4. Nitty Gritty– Now I would assume that if you ask most people they would assume that Gladys would say that she is a “ballad” singer but on this track (along with lots of others) she proves the point that she could rock and groove out with the best of them. Or should I say “funk”- James Brown had to have a smile on his face when he heard this song, are you kidding me? This is unreal-if this song doesn’t move you- you’ve no “soul” or “funk” for that matter. This is like your favorite pancake syrup spreading across your hot stack of cakes and I do mean this is HOT!!!
3. Every Beat of My Heart– This was her (their) first hit back in 1961 (a cover tune) and sometimes the effort that goes into your first song or album has so much “hunger” that it usually turns out to be some of the best stuff that an artist will ever record. It sort of has that Etta James feel to it (not a bad thing to be compared to Ms. James, right?). This also has that classic “doo wop” sound and her vocals are absolutely stunning, I am completely mesmerized by this song. Folks, you need to own this song as it is absolutely and positively a flawless masterpiece.
2. Midnight Train to Georgia– I just recently saw a piece on the mother of the young woman-Gabourey Sidibe-who portrayed “Precious” in the movie where Mo’Nique won an Academy Award last month. The mother-Alice Tan Ridley- is a soul singer and actually sings on the platforms of subway stations around New York City. Well, she was profiled on Good Morning America back in February and was asked what was the biggest “tip” that she ever received and Alice stated that a woman gave her $1,000 to keep singing the song-“Midnight Train to Georgia.” How cool is that? Anyway this has to be considered one of the greatest recordings ever in the history of music. This is another absolute stunner. Just jaw dropping on how friggin’ phenomenal this song is. “They” don’t make songs like these anymore.
1. I Heard It Through The Grapevine– With no disrespect to the late great Marvin Gaye or Creedence Clearwater Revival, there is no better version of this song than done by Ms. Knight and her family. My oldest son just told me this week that he is tired already of this song as he says he hears it almost every time I turn on my computer and go to my I-Tunes collection. No other song gets me flaying my arms over my head while snapping my fingers, this has the greatest groove of any R&B song ever recorded-again just my opinion. I can listen to this song over and over-to me this is the best song that Gladys & her Pips ever recorded-of course with all due respect to the aforementioned songs (and other songs that I did not list here)-again in my opinion. Unbelievable what a timeless classic this song is and will always be.
Trivia Questions
Answers from last week:
1. Randy Hogan
2. George Martin
3. False- Lauper was born in Queens N.Y.
4. True- she was part of both “We are the World” recordings
This week’s trivia (Gladys Knight; Marvelettes and Traveling Wilburys)-
1. True or False: Gladys Knight was the first person to suggest to Motown Mogul Berrry Gordy to sign a certain rising 5 boy band from Gary Indiana.
2. Which Marvelette song was the most popular phone number up until Tommy Tuton’s 1982 pop song “867-5309?”
3. True or False: In the original five member Traveling Wilburys band, there were three from England and two from the U.S.
4. True or False: Traveling Wilburys Volume 1 landed in the top 100 albums of all time according to Rolling Stone Magazine.
Name That Tune
Answers from last week:
1. “ Turn It On Again”- Genesis
2. “Turn The Page”-Bob Seger
3. “Turn to Stone”-ELO
4. “Turn The Beat Around” –Vicki Sue Robinson
Can you guess the title from the following lyrics from part of the song?
1. “… And the car came to a stop..she cried when she saw that baby in the backseat sleeping like a rock…and for the first time in a long time she bowed her head to pray…”
2. “…I’d pour my heart out on each page…I’d ask for war to end… for peace to mend this world…I’d say…I’d say…I’d say… give us the strength to make it through …”
3. “…Now I have been smiling lately… dreaming about the world as one…And I believe it could be…some day its going to come …”
4. “…I really want to see you… I really want to be with you… really want to show you…”
Back on this Day
Sadly back on this day in 2003, Edwin Starr-[“War” (War!! What is it good for?) and “25 Miles”-great songs] passed away at the young age of 61 from a heart attack.
Back on this day in 1964, The Beach Boys finished recording “I Get Around” and Brian Wilson gets so fed up with his father’s criticism of the band that he fires him as their manager.
Back on this day in 1967, Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group to form Traffic.
If it is your birthday today you share the same birth date with Leon Russell and the late great Marvin Gaye.
Errols Weekly Music Update. 