Archive for July, 2009.
The Jack-o death is still holding some of the top headlines in the country. It’s getting to be one of the most interesting stories of the year. Michael Jackson is dead and cannot be brought back. But this week we have been hearing stories from the chef and about the doctor who apparently gave him too much of one medication. According to a lot of people, this is what might have killed him. This situation keeps getting stranger. The doctor didn’t think to call paramedics until more than a half hour later. Gave him too much medication. The chef didn’t think to call, and trusted the decision of this doctor. The doctor’s records are being combed and it will be interesting to see the next twist in this story. Get ready!
Philip Glass was the headliner at the Hollywood Bowl last week during his first performance there in his life. They were worried back when Glass was younger that some of their more typical fans would get angry and walk out. But now it’s all ok, with Glass not presenting a major threat to the normal classical world. In the performance, they played a couple of Glass’s famous pieces, two from Glassworks and one from Einstein on the Beach. The highlight of the evening was Koyaanisqatsi, the film about life out of balance and the hectic side of modern life. You may not agree with what it states, but you can enjoy the formulation of the film itself. It’s an interesting film to watch and to hear the music performed live. There is no speaking and almost no sound otherwise in the film. So to hear Philip Glass and the ensemble perform it in person is one of the best experiences. Take a look at the film if you can!
The Decemberists are still touring around the country in support of their newest album “The Hazards of Love”. The album has been described as a rock opera, as it follows a full story from beginning to end, about a woman falling in love with a creature that lives in the taiga and comes into conflict with several characters from that forest. The Rake is the villain and it’s a lot of fun to hear the whole thing from beginning to end complete with love story and big conflict. You might also want to have a dictionary when you’re listening to their songs, because they begin to use quite a few words that you have probably not heard nor used before. Or if you have, then you know you’ve found the right band for you! You should see if they’re on tour near you this year!
At the Musicbarge, a popular New York hangout for music lovers of all kinds, you can see a lot of different performers throughout the year. Recently, the Flux Quartet played at the venue and it was a very different kind of quartet from what you might usually think of. It was definitely modern music with a great twist. There was nothing old or old style in this performance and, for those who aren’t familiar with newer kinds of music, it was easily a very complicated and perhaps inaccessible concert. At the same time, it was a really impressive show with a lot of music that you don’t get to hear performed frequently. Be sure to catch some future performances of this group, because they’re bringing a lot of other interesting piece onstage for the first time in years!
When you want to laugh, you can see a show called “Flight of the Conchords.” If you’re like me, you probably thought “what a weird name” the first time you heard it. But this New Zealand comedy-music group is one of the best and most entertaining things that I can remember. I saw them on TV last night and now I’m practically committed to seeing them play in person sometime soon. It was a fantastic show. They have great patter and funny songs that leave you laughing in the aisles. Sometimes they have a kind of smart-aleky style of humor, but that’s ok, since it’s a really smart kind of humor most of the time. It’s stone-faced, relaxed and funny as anything! And if I can enjoy them that much on TV, their show has to be even funnier in person. Make sure to check out their show schedule frequently, because they might come to play near you sometime soon.
The people who hold copyrights on music and lyrics were able to come to an agreement with online music broadcasters last week. The issue had been whether they would be able to get royalties for certain things. The problem being that for those things, regular broadcasters aren’t required to pay for them at all. This makes it a challenging situation for everyone. But they came to an agreement that both sides feel is equitable. Programs like Pandora will charge a dollar for more than 40 hours listening in a given month in order to cover this fee. This isn’t so bad, so we’ll be watching other internet broadcasters to see what they come up with to take care of this stuff.
If you get Black Crowes concert tickets, you will be able to see one of this year’s best bands in action. This band has been promising ever since they began back in 1990, when they were voted the Best American Band of the year. Since that time, they have sold 20 million albums and toured with a variety of great bands, including Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones and many others. There have been several changes in the members of the band over the last few years, but that hasn’t hurt the great quality of the music that they play. Clearly they have been working on new material, because they released a double album earlier this year called “Warpaint Live” including a full live performance of their album of the same name as well some other miscellaneous songs. Later this year, there will be a DVD of that performance released as well as yet another double album, called “Before the Frost Until the Freeze”. This is due to hit stores in September. It’s been a great year so far for the Black Crowes and it can only get better! Make sure you catch one of their concerts in person.
Michael Jackson passed almost two weeks ago already, but the tributes continue. Last week had information about the autopsy, though no final results were released as yet. Towards the end of the week there were rumors about a memorial first at Neverland, though this was debunked. Then it was announced Friday that there would be a memorial held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday this week. There are about 17,000 seats available and the tickets for those are being offered based on the results of a lottery that hasn’t apparently been conducted yet. But this has quickly become one of the hottest tickets around because the registration site for the lottery received 500 million hits and more than a million and a half people actually registered over the weekend.
When you think of Paul Simon, do you think of the music? Or do you think of a former senator? Do you think of solo music or the duets of Simon and Garfunkel? Art and Paul don’t sing together very much anymore, only on random occasions, but they are at least on good terms now. They had a big fight a long time ago, it seems but they have found a way out of that difficulty. Paul Simon released a book of his lyrics that sold very well since it came out last fall. Meanwhile, he’s been on tour and on a lot of TV shows over the course of the last few months. We really like his music still and it’s going to be hard to beat him in that style of music. Make sure you don’t miss his shows!
