R.I.P. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, who passed away Friday (Sept. 16) at his home in Chicago after suffering a stroke. He was 75.
Even if you never saw Smith play, you may have heard of him if you're a follower of the local blues scene in Madison. He was father to Cash Box Kings' drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith.
Best known as the drummer for Muddy Waters, Smith started out on harmonica and played harp for Bo Diddley and other groups back in the 1950's.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith received a Grammy in 2010 for his work with Pinetop Perkins for Best Traditional Blues CD for an album called "Joined at the Hip." (Perkins died this March at age 97.)
The blues world is mourning the loss of David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who died early yesterday at his home. The last of the original delta blues performers has died, just shy of his 96th birthday.
I was lucky enough to see "Honeyboy" when he played the Belleville Blues Festival a couple of years ago, to introduce him and to shake the hand of a man who was a contemporary of Robert Johnson. It was an incredible honor.
This is a guy who was respected by every one from Robert Cray to Keith Richards, and was still a helluva performer almost until the very end. He played his last shows in April of this year.
There's a documentary available on DVD that tells his life story. Check out the trailer here and click here for more info.
Back before anybody ever heard of "singer-songwriters," there were very talented folks who wrote the songs, but rarely sang them where any one could hear.
We lost two greats on Monday when Jerry Leiber died of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 78, and Nick Ashford died of throat cancer at age 69.
Leiber, along with his writing partner Mike Stoller, came up with some songs that were something more than "classic," if there were a word for that.
Leiber was barely out of high school when he co-wrote Hound Dog for Big Mama Thornton, that Elvis eventually made a hit. Leiber said it was written in 12 minutes flat! Other songs with the Jerry Leiber credit include Stand By Me, Jailhouse Rock, Spanish Harlem, On Broadway, and even a novelty hit or two, including Yakety Yak for the Coasters.
Nick Ashford was one-half of the songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson. He and his wife Valerie wrote lots of great Motown hits, including Aint No Mountain High Enough and Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) for Diana Ross. They had a hit that they sang in the in the 1980's. Remember Solid As A Rock?
Do you think maybe Leiber and Ashford will team up and write some songs for a new demographic, on the other side?
After Amy Winehouse died last weekend, a lot of people rushed to their computers to download her albums. In fact, she's back on Billboard's Top Ten.
In the sales cycle ending on Sunday, 50,000 copies of her two albums were sold. Compare that to 1400 the week before..and 44,000 so far this year (according to Nielsen Soundscan). More than 46,000 of the albums that sold (mostly from Saturday to Sunday, I'm sure), were sold as downloads.
Makes sense, since most of us probably found out about Winehouse's death online. I found out on facebook. One more click..and I would have had the whole album!
The surge in the sale of Amy Winehouse albums has got me thinking about the whole concept of rock stars' music becoming more popular after their death. I guess it seems like a natural way to mourn..to appreciate the artists' work and realize that their music will live on. What I don't get is the bandwagon people..who really had no interest in an artist until they died.
I'll have to admit, I got more interested in Elvis after he died in August of 1977. I didn't run out and buy any albums, but I did cut a lot of articles out of the paper and make a scrapbook.
And despite the fact that I was a John Lennon fan before his death, I didn't even go out and buy Double Fantasy, but millions of people did. I just couldn't get past the Yoko factor on that one, so I just threw some Beatles on the turntable and let that music help me heal.
But you know record companies have mixed feelings when their artists die. Sure it cuts down on the long range sales projections, but in the short term, it means big bucks.
This concept was the topic of a Smiths song that came out in the 1980's on the album "Strangeways Here We Come."Â The song "Paint a Vulgar Picture"Â starts out like this.. "At the record company meeting, on their hands a dead star, and oh the plans they weave, and oh the sickening greed..."
But greed is good, right?
The Madison Area Music Awards nominees were announced over the weekend..and what's this? Jonathan & Kitty are nominated?
Why yes..yes, we are. And herein lies the dilemma. In the radio personality category, Jonathan and I are joined by two of our colleagues..Gabby Parsons and Pat Gallagher.
The 4th nominee is Rockin' John McDonald, host of "I Like it That" on WORT.
Now it seems to me that the Triple M votes will be split, and the obvious winner will be Rockin' John. And I've no problem with that. He's a great guy! Not that I'm trying to sway anybody's votes or anything.
As I make a quick glance through all the nominations, I notice a lot of familiar names, including the names of past and current Project M contestants. And there sure are a lot of categories covering a wide variety of genres, including rock, pop, country bluegrass..and even a category called "unique."
Click here to see the list of nominees and to vote. You must be a Madison Area Music Association Member to vote. This requires a minimum donation of $5 which goes to support music in schools and put instruments in the hands of kids.
The awards will be handed out in a ceremony/concert in June.
Today marks the 68th birthday of George Harrison, the lead guitar player of the Beatles..and the man who inspired many of today's top guitar players to pick up the instrument.
As a tribute, the entire 2002 Concert For George is being streamed live today at www.concertforgeorge.com.
You can watch some of the same folks that are on the Concert for George on this video as well. Can you figure out who every one is?
Will the Rolling Stones be going out on tour this year? Not unless Mick Jagger and Keith Richards can kiss and make up.
There have been reports that the Stones have a new album in the works and the they were planning to tour in 2011. But now it looks like reports of the tour have been exaggerated. This is what the band recently posted on facebook:
Some of you may have been made aware of the news stories concerning us touring and Live Nation. We wanted you to know directly that we have no current dealings with Live Nation and to date no news on touring. We can however confirm that you will be amongst the first to know if there is any tour news.."
Now contactmusic.com says the tour is threatened because Mick is still furious about something Keith wrote in his book Life. You got it, the "tiny todger" line, in which Keith alleged that Mick's girlfriend had no fun with Sir Mick because of his..well..you get the idea.
I think maybe Mick didn't read the whole book. He called it "tedious," so that probably means he missed the part where Keith said his bandmate was a control freak and had LVS (Lead Vocalist Syndrome), accused him of wanting to call the band "Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones," made fun of his solo work, slammed him for being knighted, and the list goes on and on.
It will be interesting to see what the latest volley in this little war will be--after Sunday night when Mick appears sans Stones on the Grammies. I think Keith will be less than impressed, and Mick will get mad about that "tiny todger" comment all over again.
But will the Stones tour this summer? I have no idea..but if they do..the guitar playing and the singing might seem a little angrier than usual.
Sad news among all the Super Bowl excitement yesterday..as we learned of the death of Irish guitar player Gary Moore. According to press accounts, Moore was found dead in a hotel room in Spain, where he was on vacation. No cause of death has been released.
I first heard of Gary Moore in 1990 when he released an album called "Still Got The Blues." It featured his soulful bluesy voice, incredibly expressive guitar playing..and some heavy hitters helping him out. Not only are Albert King and Albert Collins in the credits, but even George Harrison lent his voice and guitar playing to the record.
In Ireland, Moore was best known for his work with Thin Lizzy (although he was not on their biggest hit "The Boys Are Back In Town") and also released 15 other solo albums. He was also in an Irish band called Skid Row..but it's important to note it was not the U.S. hair band of the same name.
You may have heard of the passing of Gerry Rafferty, the Scottish singer songwriter who had solo hits in the 1970's, and earlier in the band Stealers Wheel. (He died Tuesday of liver failure at the age of 63).
When I heard the news I got stuck on the long and winding road of youtube, and stumbled on some songs I'd heard before but had forgotten about, and discovered some new ones as well.
Do you remember this song? It was on the album Ferguslie Park, the one that was the follow up to the self-titled debut that included "Stuck in the Middle With You."Â It made it up to #29 on the U.S. charts in 1974, and I remember hearing it on the radio. It's obvious they're lip synching here, and it's fun to watch Gerry's facial expressions.
And Mike and I thought this one sounded a little like solo John Lennon..and Mike thinks he looks like him a little bit too.
And here's the song he was best known for....
There was a brief heavy downpour during La Fete de Marquette yesterday-- but that didn't ruin any of the fun.
If you haven't caught this fun community event...mark it on your calendar for next year. It's a French themed festival..with Cajun and Louisiana music mixed in with more traditional French and Acadian tunes.
I was really looking forward to seeing Sonny Landreth again..even though I just saw him two weeks ago at the Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago. Of course he did not disappoint. He even got a little wild to get the crowd fired up.. "I wanna hear ya yell! I wanna hear you holler!" He's usually so mild-manner that seemed a little odd to me. I saw a lot of Madison musicians in the crowd..so maybe they were picking up some pointers from Sonny. And Trombone Shorty was amazing as well.
Earlier Sunday morning, Jonathan and I hosted the Acoustic Cafe breakfast at La Fete. We enjoyed music from two groups--Vishten, from Prince Edward Island, Canada, and the Red Stick Ramblers from LaFayette, Louisiana.
You may have heard that Ringo Starr turned 70 yesterday..and his birthday wish was to have every one in the world flash the peace sign at noon and say "Peace and love."
I'm sure a lot of people did that (including me)...but I really wish I could have been in the audience for Ringo's birthday concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
A special guest...and old pal..showed up to sing a little ditty called "Birthday" to him.
Yup...it was Paul McCartney, for a reunion of the Beatles' rhythm section. Watch the video and you'll see the guitar player is none other than Tom Petty!
Peace and love is great...but this is music history.
The Broadway musical Wicked has flown back into town, thrilling fans at the Overture Center now through June 9th.
I got a chance to see the production for the 2nd time last night, and once again was blown away. Even though I saw Wicked in 2010, I had...
Today we traveled back to 1975 for a Rendezvous with The Hudson Brothers. This song didn't make it to high on the charts, but Kitty enjoyed it. Her favorite brother was Brett. She also loved their television show. We've included a skit from...
I'm not sure why Pete Yorn decided to name his new music project after a European cave dwelling aquatic salamander, but if he stops by to play us some songs in Studio M, we'll have to ask him.
The Olms is a collaboration between Pete Yorn and...
Today's song was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was inspired by the 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago. No one was inspired by the song this morning. It was rejected by almost all the listeners.
Today is World Goth Day, a day to celebrate the post-punk, anti-establishment, dark clothes-wearing subculture.
I'm pretty sure I was a Goth for at least for little while, for two reasons.
1) I almost hardly ever wear pastels.
2) I used to...
Hello to all from Nfusion. Another round of challenges has moved beyond us all. Congrats to those of us lucky enough to have survived to this point. Sad to see the others eliminated as they were all very creative and talented. Good Bye to our new friends...
This morning it seemed like just about everyone was in the mood for some Funky Cold Medina...except Kitty. This ridiculous song made it all the way to number 3 in 1989. Jonathan says any song that references advertising dogs from the 80's has got...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
The Broadway musical Wicked has flown back into town, thrilling fans at the Overture Center now through June 9th.
I got a chance to see the production for the 2nd time last night, and once again was blown away. Even though I saw Wicked in 2010, I had...
Today we traveled back to 1975 for a Rendezvous with The Hudson Brothers. This song didn't make it to high on the charts, but Kitty enjoyed it. Her favorite brother was Brett. She also loved their television show. We've included a skit from...
I'm not sure why Pete Yorn decided to name his new music project after a European cave dwelling aquatic salamander, but if he stops by to play us some songs in Studio M, we'll have to ask him.
The Olms is a collaboration between Pete Yorn and...
Today's song was written by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary. It was inspired by the 1957 novel Doctor Zhivago. No one was inspired by the song this morning. It was rejected by almost all the listeners.
Today is World Goth Day, a day to celebrate the post-punk, anti-establishment, dark clothes-wearing subculture.
I'm pretty sure I was a Goth for at least for little while, for two reasons.
1) I almost hardly ever wear pastels.
2) I used to...
Hello to all from Nfusion. Another round of challenges has moved beyond us all. Congrats to those of us lucky enough to have survived to this point. Sad to see the others eliminated as they were all very creative and talented. Good Bye to our new friends...
This morning it seemed like just about everyone was in the mood for some Funky Cold Medina...except Kitty. This ridiculous song made it all the way to number 3 in 1989. Jonathan says any song that references advertising dogs from the 80's has got...
Madison's summer music festival season kicks off this weekend with Brat Fest at Willow Island, where there are more bands than you can shake a bratwurst at! Check out the Brat Fest website to plan your itinerary.
Next up is the Marquette...
