Monday, August 04, 2014

August 2014 #1 D-Men, #2 Guardians of the Galaxy, Slambovia Orchestra, Maxx 12, Richie Parsons

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THE JOE VIG TOP 40 IS EDITED BY 6 YEAR OLD INTERNET PRODIGY JOE VIGLIONE, HERE HE IS.


write to Joe V    visual_radio {@} yahoo.com 

some quotes on our work can be found here:

PLEASE NOTE:

The #1 concert on our review list is Aerosmith from July 16th. Simply exquisite, superb and terrific. 

The D-Men is the best reissue with spectacular liner notes from Joe Tortelli, a co-host of Visual Radio (full disclosure.)  This vinyl release is the best disc we've received since Armand Schaoubroeck last month.   Great stuff arriving in the mailbox.
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Upcoming reviews: new Steve Holley disc
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1)  THE D MEN  I Wanna Shout
abel: BREAK-A-WAY
Release date: 10/06/2014
Barcode: 2090504023405
Catalog no.: BREAK0000039
Item ID: 402340
http://www.clear-spot.nl/item/402340/d_men_i_wanna_shout.html


D-MEN was a '60s US garage/beat band from Stamford, Connecticut. This is a painstakingly remastered collection of rare 1964-'66 singles and unreleased recordings. Includes a great LP-sized full glossy 4-page insert with pics and history by Goldmine writer Joseph Tortelli. Take the 14 tunes of this platter, add a band named The D-Men, and you've got a driving, shaking demonstration of US mid 1960's British invasion influenced Garage'n'Roll. The D-Men are best remembered today for their minor hit success with 45s such as 'I Just Don't Care' or 'So Little Time'. Their biggest success and recognition though, came in 1967 under their new name 'The Fifth Estate' when they charted nationwide with their baroque rock adaptation 'Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead'. But the 1964-'66 recorded tracks on this platter were the ones which got first played to the neighbourhood kids and then to wild fans which often brought the house down. Included are 'Boom Boom', 'Hi Heel Sneakers' and their unreleased demo recording of The Stones' 'Empty Heart'.
Side A -
1. I Just Don't Care - Single A-side 1965
2. Hi-Heel Sneakers - Unreleased 1964
3. Love Could Show Me - Unreleased 1964
4. Don't You Know - Single A-side 1964
5. No Hope For Me - Single B-side 1964
6. Like I Love You - Single B-side 1966
7. Every Minute of Every Day - Single B-side 1965
Side B -
8. So Little Time - Single A-side 1965
9. Boom Boom Boom - Unreleased 1965
10. When I'm Gone - Unreleased 1965
11. Empty Heart - Unreleased 1965
12. It's Cruel - Unreleased 1966
13. Night On Fire - Unreleased 1967
14. I Wanna Shout! - Unreleased Live 1967

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2)Box of Everything
The Slambovian Circus of Dreams

THIS TREMENDOUS CD IS INCREDIBLE.
WORKING ON A REVIEW.  IT'S A 'BEST OF' THE GROUP PLUS TWO BONUS TRACKS.  AMAZING STUFF, TRULY A 'BOX OF EVERYTHING" ...STAY TUNED FOR A FULL REVIEW





http://slambovia.com/2014/02/23/a-box-of-everything-to-be-released-april-1/


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3)





The Guardians of the Galaxy
Star-Lord Gamora Drax Rocket and Groot

By Joe Viglione

Guardians of the Galaxy is a great movie, and is important because the relatively unknown characters allow the filmmakers at Marvel and Disney  to stretch without endangering their pride and joy personalities from other properties: Mr. Fantastic, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, Peter Parker, Professor X and Marvel’s (not Disney’s, not yet…) other flagship characters.   
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In Guardians you’ll find  Zoe Saldana going from her blue skin in Avatar to her normal look in Star Trek into this green skin for her Guardians of the Galaxy part.  Remember Susan Oliver as “the green girl” in what is arguably the best of the original Star Trek films, the pilot known simply as The Cage  http://thegreengirlmovie.com/susan-oliver/   It’s not a stretch to think that Marvel and Star Trek borrowed ideas from each other, though little green men and green skin is somewhat of a cliché in everyday science fiction.
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Vin Diesel has three words in Guardians, “I am Groot.”  Didn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger have just 64 in the first Terminator film and 700 words in Terminator 2?   Vin’s got Arnold beat with this one - and reportedly the actor behind Mr. Riddick said these three words in multiple languages for the dubbed versions!   The CG characters are very appealing, more so than one would think. And after a summer of very poor 3D facsimile, this epic really has extraordinary 3D that adds to the story and the visuals.    
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    The treat is Rocket Raccoon, the little genetically mutated rodent voiced by, of all people, Bradley Cooper.  Cooper is arguably and perhaps the most recognizable leading man in Hollywood these days, and it doesn’t even sound like the Bradley Cooper we know.  Cooper isn’t even known for this genre of flick, which makes his addition all the more appealing. The closet thing to it is his stint in The A-Team.  Michael Rooker as Yondu and Lee Pace as Ronan won’t be as remembered as their characters, this is a character driven movie and no actor puts his or her brand on it the way Jack Nicholson’s Joker was more Jack Nicholson than Joker (giving Heath Ledger the golden opportunity he took full advantage of, creating a Joker for the ages.)  Even Glenn Close, with her overpowering presence, takes a back seat to her film persona, La Prime Nova “Nova Prime.”   This is a team effort with director James Gunn (he who wrote the 2004 screenplay to Dawn Of the Dead; no, he’s not the villain, Jaime Gumm from Silence of the Lambs) making the best of it, as Heath Ledger did in The Dark Knight, and being announced as director for the 2017 sequel.
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Now all this perspective aside, the film is a welcome roller coaster ride that, my word, is so different than the Iron Man/Thor/Captain America plots, as creative as they are, permeating the silver screen these days. Yes, there are explosions in space, yes there are even Riddick moments as the orb of everyone’s affection is the primary motivation for this cast of questionable characters from different parts of the universe – or galaxy – to converge, join up and proceed to throw the monkey in the wrench.
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These relatively unknown entities, though we Marvel comic fans of long ago certainly know Thanos and the villainous Kree, have participated in an intriguing epic which – like the Planet of the Apes reboot, was more of a surprise than one expected prior to walking into the theater.  And both the new Apes and this new Guardian series are more popular than even the wizards of the movie industry thought they would be.  Zoe Saldana as Gamora here still has her Neytiri identity from Avatar sitting inside the #1 worldwide film of all time.  And she’s scheduled for Avatard 2 (2016), Avatar 3 (2017), and Avatar 4 (2018.)
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Saldana, like Will Smith, is amassing a huge science fiction resume that would make 1950s/1960s character actor Whit Bissell blush with envy – Bissell, found in I Was A Teenage Werewolf, I Was A Teenage Frankenstein, Star Trek: The Trouble With Tribbles, Soylent Green – (side note: this writer meeting Bissell at a Science Fiction conference in the 1970s.) was ubiquitous in the genre when it wasn’t cool to be so. Now it’s a new era where being in a “sci fi” movie isn’t typecasting the actor as a second class citizen.  Saldana, Halle Berry and other A-list actresses enjoying the legitimacy – and notoriety – of being chosen for these blockbuster films of the new millennium.  When a Will Smith 1996 flick Independence Day is in the Top 50 worldwide gross all time http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/ on a list flooded with fantasy and science fiction (from the #1 Avatar to #3 Avengers to 007 and Batman and Harry Potter and the rest,) it is certainly an interesting time for a Chris Pratt to blast into that select group on a film I peg to do at least a billion dollars.  
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The image of Pratt riding in his spaceship on the internet as Guardians of the Galaxy smashed the opening record for August is a far cry from his overweight slob that had to drop 60 pounds to become a handsome leading man. You can Google the “before and after” picks to see the extraordinary transition that would be hard for a true changeling to muster.   http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/chris-pratt-says-he-wants-to-do-jurassic-world-comments-on-getting-in-shape-for-guardians-of-the-galaxy
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From director Gunn:
“Chris came in probably 60 pounds overweight, completely out of shape, did not look like a superhero,” says director James Gunn. “But within 20 seconds, I turned to the casting director, Sarah Finn, and said, ‘He’s the guy.’”
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It’s inspiring for any fellow who wants a model of how to lose so much fat and turn it into muscle – and go from sloppy to attractive. But Pratt did it, and in doing so, Is set to become a film star of giant proportions.
So that’s my take on Guardians of the Galaxy, but it opens the door to look at why these lesser known stars are more appealing in these roles, generally, than the Jack Nicholson types, who are too well known to be resilient enough to even attempt to be chameleon like anymore.  When you get a Nicholson or a Ben Affleck, that persona is first and the part they are playing will always take a back seat.
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Robert Downey Jr. being the exception to the rule as, like Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Downey Jr. was born for the part.
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The main problem is this: Ben Affleck as Daredevil (he a better Daredevil than Batman, we know THAT in advance,) didn’t do what Robert Downey Jr. did as Iron Man/Tony Stark.   Affleck wasn’t bad in the film, but he also didn’t give the 2nd string Marvel hero any real bite. Shame on Affleck for that. He could have made Daredevil and his blind attorney alter ego his own, and Affleck just didn’t even try.  Good does not translate into great, no matter what Woody Allen says about just showing up.

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 Experimenting with a string of actors playing an iconic figure – and we go to the competition – DC Comic s for the comparison -  George Clooney, Val Kilmer, the insufferable Michael Keaton all playing the Caped Crusader, was forcing “New Coke” on a market that wanted the real thing - the Coca Cola original formula.  My point is that by doing a “color by the numbers” and being too careful with the Fantastic Four, it resulted in absolutely zero chemistry between Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards) and Jessica Alba (Sue Storm.)  Go back to that movie and note, Victor Con Doom, as played by Julian McMahon, and Richards, the protagonist vs the antagonist, the super brain vs the super brain, was the real chemistry at play, and it wasn’t exploited enough. The forced romance destroyed the two films in the franchise released by 20th Century Fox.   
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Sure, the 2005 feature made 330 and a half million on a budget of 100m according to BoxOfficeMojo.com while Rise of the Silver Surfer pulled in 289 m on a budget of 130m, according to that same source. Both films turning a profit, but nothing near the staggering returns made on the Christian Bale Batman series or Roger Downey Jr. as Iron Man. 
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Which brings us to the relatively unknown Chris Pratt, now in a movie as big as Aaron Johnson’s Godzilla.   Pratt and Johnson are two new leading men that have pretty much come out of nowhere to the mainstream, perfect for the parts they have to play. But keep in mind,   it is each franchise that has given them this platform to establish their talents in a way lesser projects failed to do. Put Oliver Stone’s Savages against Godzilla to see what I mean.


Post Script: The soundtrack is like a science-fiction BIG CHILL


 http://agentpalmer.com/3020/media/movies/agent-palmers-top-ten-must-own-movie-soundtracks/
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4)Elton John - The Million Dollar Piano

http://www.walmart.com/ip/37323187?wmlspartner=wlpa&adid=22222222227024983021&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=44416866859&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=75587204059&veh=sem
 


MILLION DOLLAR PIANO
ELTON JOHN

Eagle Vision’s dominance of the DVD market with high quality concerts/documentaries of major artists continues with this dazzling event from Elton John’s residency at the Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace in Vegas.  A song that is a true period piece, “Philadelphia Freedom,” was great for the 70s but feels kind of dusty in the new millennium. On this DVD it takes on new life with the splashy, classy use of quick cuts, aerial shots, exquisite musicianship, all captured and reinvented for this brilliant time capsule.  USA Today had a February 13, 2014 article which noted that the film would “go to nearly 700 theaters across the country for a premiere at 7 p.m. local time on March 18 and an encore screening on March 26. (2014)” so the concert translated to theaters before hitting YouTube and the Blu ray /DVD market.  As the work is amazing on the small screen, it must have been magnificent at a theater showing.   Check out “Circle of Life” to see how Elton keeps reinventing his well-known material making it contemporary and compelling and worth watching repeatedly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bRuh9cNgl8

The lighting and the dreamscapes behind the band create an amazing, mood-altering experience with the audio and the visuals. During these times of the YouTube jungle and media overload, where a terrific Aerosmith concert (July 16, 2014, Boston/Mansfield) has multiple screens making the rock stars larger than life, with our musical veterans – from Elton John to Aerosmith – delivering some of the finest concerts of their careers (I’ve been following both since the early 70s, and have seen Elton and Aerosmith perhaps more than any other two major artists save Lou Reed)  it creates the dilemma for the director of how to make a disc so vital that you need to add it to your collection.   The entire July Aerosmith show referenced above was available on YouTube the next day, including the guest appearances by Johnny Depp (“Train Kept A Rollin’) and Slash on “Mama Kin.”   The cellphones are sophisticated enough to pick up the live camerawork – sometimes with a focus on the screens rather than the actual performance – how’s that for double exposure – which begs the question, what’s the point in having an expensive director when the technology is such and the data stream so immediate that sitting down with a DVD might be a foreign experience for the younger generation?

But in the appreciation of art having a high end capture of the monologue - from Elton on the creation of “Your Song” and the beautifully filmed “piano man” rendition of it - is something to behold, something more than just good for the collectors. Additional thoughts regarding my philosophical take on capturing the magic of concerts in my review of that Aerosmith concert.
With Elton we are talking about one of the most consistent rock artists still on the scene continuing to deliver, and this package becomes an instant keeper for those of us who enjoy a home library more than being dependent on YouTube.  Look at an older video of “Are You Ready For Love” from the exquisite Thom Bell Sessions for comparison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6uzgGzM9NE  Elton is as enthusiastic and energized on this German TV moment with sweeping cameras and a tight backing unit.  

It’s the solid direction on Million Dollar Piano, and the lovely extras, which give this a thumbs up and a high rating on my August 2014 JoeVigTop40.blogspot.com



Elton John’s own website has background info on the Vegas show worth checking out

ARE YOU READY FOR LOVE studio video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QSA7pSvh-o


USA Today article


Press Release
Elton John's "The Million Dollar Piano" is a residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. DVD:http://smarturl.it/EltonJohn1MPianoDVD Blu-Ray:http://smarturl.it/EltonJohn1MPianoBlu Itunes: Coming Soon. The show has been running since September 2011 with the most recent leg being 16 shows between March 29 and April 26 2014. The concerts are the culmination of Elton John's decades long partnership with Yamaha pianos. This film features classic Elton John tracks from across his extraordinary career performed either with his band, with percussionist Ray Cooper or solo. The multimedia staging is extraordinary with vast screens behind the stage illustrating the songs and the piano itself acting as a screen for graphics and animations. Elton John is the ultimate live showman and this is the definitive Elton John concert experience.

TRACKLISTING:
1) The Bitch Is Back 2) Bennie And The Jets 3) Rocket Man 4) Levon 5) Tiny Dancer 6) Your Song 7) Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters 8) Better Off Dead 9) Indian Sunset 10) Blue Eyes 11) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 12) I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues 13) Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me 14) Philadelphia Freedom 15) I'm Still Standing 16) Crocodile Rock 17) Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting 18) Circle Of Life 19) Song For Guy (credits)

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#5  DICK WAGNER

5)Dick Wagner
http://www.wagnermusic.com/ebook.htm
Read Reviews NOT ONLY WOMEN BLEED: 
http://www.notonlywomenbleed.com/reviews.htm

Written by Dick Wagner
Edited by Susan Michelson
Foreword by Alice Cooper
Cover Art by T.D. Barckholtz, The Barckholtz Group
Cover Photo: Margaret A. White
©2012 Desert Dreams Productions, LLC
 

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6) Sydney Green Street Band

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7)Frank Dello Stritto

JV Review forthcoming.  Full disclosure: Mr. Dello Stritto co-hosts Visual Radio Live on Thursday nights with this writer.  The show will return either August 28 or September 4, stay tuned!

http://www.scarymonstersscarestore.com/I-SAW-WHAT-I-SAW-WHEN-I-SAW-IT-by-Frank-J-Dello-Stritto-ISAWbook.htm

Frank J. Dello Stritto's latest hardcover book is finally available!  Frank is the co-author of VAMPIRE OVER LONDON BELA LUGOSI IN BRITAIN and the author of A QUAINT & CURIOUS VOLUME OF FORGOTTEN LORE THE MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY OF CLASSIC HORROR FILMS. This dust-jacketed hardcover book is loaded with MONSTER MEMORIES of "Growing Up in the 1950s & 1960s With Television Reruns & Old Movies" and features both illustrations and photos.


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8) HONEY AND TEARS
RICHIE PARSONS


http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/richieparsons
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9) Super Duper Alice Cooper





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10)The Real Kids

http://www.goner-records.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=12926



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11) MAXX 12
Review on TMRZoo
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63047/music-review-maxx-12





https://www.youtube.com/user/MAXX12music


Maxx 12
MAXX 12
Review by Joe Viglione
The hard-hitting song titled after the band Maxx12 itself opens up the 16 track wonderfully packaged eponymous CD, Maxx12.  Lead vocalist Albert Mendez has a voice that reaches into the Brad Delp/Steve Perry/Lou Gramm heights, and he shows it off well on the quick two minutes and thirty-eight seconds of the opening tune.    The album itself crosses hard rock genres, “Headed for the Sun” utilizing a clever guitar riff and plodding rhythm a la Deep Purple’s “Perfect Strangers” or Roxy Music’s “Manifesto,” with Mendez again leading the charge on another composition that borders on anthem, the group two for two in that regard.
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The sixteen titles span sixty-three minutes over the CD,  “Headed for the Sun” splashed on the back of the packaging in a little ball of sun, “Lord of the Flies” (track 15) promoted on the inside cover, which holds the booklet.    “I’ve Got The Music” is exactly the son of Foreigner’s “Juke Box Hero” similar in structure, tempo, and theme.   Followed by the ominous “Revolution”  the musicians switch hats again following Ratt and updating that 80’s sound for the new millennium.   It grooves and drives and zips in and out at 3:17.  It’s a highlight on a disc full of good moments.  
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   “Rockbound” also drives, though the style moves sideways again, perhaps into Def Leppard land; it features a guest appearance by Kevin Manion on lead guitar.   The 4:28 of “Boy” mellows things out, a “Wish You Were Here” from Pink Floyd moment while the 3:14 of “Unbroken Chain” adds a little magic from The Hobbit or Harry Potter at the opening into a wonderful instant climbing chorus, a very commercial song deserving of hit radio airplay.
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Animals starts the second half, another succinct three minute and a half tune,  a highly sexualized chant with all sorts of intriguing chord changes and sounds creating a very appealing moment on the disc that goes into a number of directions, lively guitars leading back into the energetic theme.  The hard ballad  “Lonely 2 Lonely” follows the previous assault, with a chorus as effective as the two superb prior selections.   It leads directly into the onslaught of S.A.M. – Secret Agent Man – breathing new life into the chorus created by P.F. Sloan and owing quite a bit to the Johnny Rivers’ hit – “pretty face can hide an evil mind” morphs into   “beware of pretty clouds” – there are a number of references to the Sloan classic,  with  “drones in the sky” marking the era in no uncertain terms.  “There are a lot of bodies in that swamp” precedes very sexy guitar that balloons out of proportion while the mesmerizing rhythmic stomp continues.  It’s a four and a half minute spy vs spy Orwellian play that cascades down its different avenues very nicely.  The “We are watching you”  ending perfect for director Will Eubank’s recent Laurence Fishburne flick, The Signal.   1:51 of Hell’s Heroe’s prelude then takes the stage, a segue into the lengthiest track of the disc (even without the prelude) and yet another superb hook.  Maxx12 knows how to get a song into your head with strong melodies and relentless musicianship.   Mendez goes into a tender Aerosmith/Steve Tyler voicing, though the music is geared more towards 70’s progressive rock than the hard sounds of “Smith.    The bass of Jonny “Mongoose” Hampton and drums of Chris Sepulveda keep it all in check as the chorus drives on.  Engineer Duane Hayes and producer Aaron Leigh get great sounds throughout the extended album. “Fool’s” – Track 13 – is close to four and a half minutes that again follows the Foreigner formula to good effect.    
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“Burnin’ Down In Paradise” takes things up a notch, with an Alice Cooper riff (think “School’s Out” backwards, perhaps) and slithering T. Michael Riddle guitars, back into Ratt’s territory.  The second to last track, “Lord of the Flies” is not a nod to Aerosmith’s “Lord of the Thighs”  - it’s got a more snappy tempo, mafia-music-bordering-on-genocide rock.  The finale, “MONGOOSE,” is produced by Ronnie Montrose with Montrose as the voice of Rikki Tikki Tavi.  It clocks in at nearly six minutes, 5:56 to be exact,  and goes in a bit of a different direction.  Jungle pounding on the rhythm, a minute and forty seconds before Albert Mendez’ vocal comes in with authority.  It’s a hard-driving dive into the depths that charges along at a nice pace.
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63047/music-review-maxx-12
  
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12)Gregg Tirmer




Gregg Turner Plays the Hits
review by Joe Viglione


 This writer knows Gregg Turner from Back Door Magazine, but a press release states he is also a “veteran of the Angry Samoans & New Mexico’s garage-rockin Blood Drained Cows.”  What you get on the 11 tracks on Gregg Turner Plays the Hits is another dimension tribute to the Velvet Underground and Modern Lovers, the Lovers being, of course, the direct sons of the V.U.

The fun that Turner imparts into his three minute and fifty one second “I Dreamed I Met Lou Reed” is an amalgam of Armand Schaubroeck’s “Ratfucker” with the V.U.’s own “I Heard Her Call My Name” / “Sister Ray” and a dash of the elements of “European Son” from the V.U. debut with a touch of the “Black Angel’s Death Song” tucked inside some Jonathan Richman talk-it/walk-it.
“I Lost My Baby to the Guy at the Bobcat Bite” and “Starry Eyes” take on the fifties with tongue-in-cheek parody, a bit of doo wop in both.  The dissonant “Eve of Destruction” is timed perfectly for all the madness going on about a half a world away, stylistically Turner pushing the three-chord rock routine to the limit. 
“Santa Fe” takes things into a different direction, nice wet guitars – both rhythm and lead – like an outtake from Jimmy Webb via Glen Campbell.  Too bad Glen is in no shape to take this to his audience, but maybe Webb can.
“Satan’s Bride” at 2:45 would make a nice flip side to the Unnatural Axe’s “They Saved Hitler’s Brain.”  It’s some rockabilly with a sci-fi edge and catatonic splintered leads somewhere in the back of the mix that explode just when the time is right.  “Tombstone” is the longest track at 4:49, a gunslinger epic that brings an old world (go a hundred years or so back) feel to this otherwise Proto-punk excursion.

Now being someone who HAS met Lou Reed (along with Jo Jo Laine, when I reunited Jo Jo the cover gal from Nelson Slater’s Wild Angel with the producer of that epic backstage at the Orpheum in the 1990s) Lou and I both agreed that his early composition “Cycle Annie” is a good tune.  Turner agrees with Lou and this writer by covering the lost Reed classic and it is a highpoint of Gregg Turner Plays the Hits.
The 3:49 of “Another Lost Heartache” appropriately closes out this 39 minutes of Gregg Turner, and it is a good one for college radio at 2 AM.  A nice segue for those young d.j.’s who find and adore Andy Mackay’s In Search of Eddie Riff.
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Gregg Turner plays Club Bohemia, downstairs at the Cantab, Central Square Cambridge this Thursday, August 14, 2014

“The Pharmacist from Wallgreens” could be directly from the Jonathan Richman Songbook, it’s kind of like Richman in search of medication after having been rejected by the New Teller
Pharmacist from Wallgreens
The New Teller  Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers

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14) LUCY

TERRIFIC FILM, MY REVIEW WILL BE UP SHORTLY




http://sciencefiction.com/2014/07/25/movie-review-lucy/
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15)SUPERMENSCH



https://www.grammypro.com/los-angeles/event/san-diego-supermensch-legend-shep-gordon-film-screening
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#16 AEROSMITH LIVE AT XFINITY CENTER

Look, this concert was so phenomenal it should be at #1, but after the review of their superb Japanese DVD last month I'll place the review here @ #16





part of the review of Aerosmith here:

ROCK JOURNALIST JOE VIG
http://rockjournalistjoevig.blogspot.com/




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#17  Robert Greenfield  
AIN'T IT TIME WE SAID GOODBYE

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18) Fancy Pop  Nadia Ackerman

'Fancy Pop' is Nadia Ackerman's latest album

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19)  Bob McDonald's Violet Intent
8 song CD
http://www.violetintent.com/#!media/ct74




VIOLET INTENT
CHANT EP – We are Psych Rock

By Joe Viglione


    Like a cross between Syd Barret and Prince “Light the Night” opens up the Chant EP by Violet Intent, Bobby McDonald’s project from Cape Cod’s version of the Bermuda Triangle.   With dense production the song oozes across its four minutes and eleven seconds of trance-rock and displays Violet Intent’s mission in no uncertain terms.

   "The Fear, the Love, the Sky" pulls back and goes a bit darker resplendent in fuzz-tone guitar and what feels like a news broadcast.  The 3:26 has an added 1:26 as a sort of reprise / instrumental redux with sound effects on F, L, S Part II, an underground version of George Harrison's "Isn't It A Pity" Version 1 and 2 or maybe John Lennon's multiple "Revolution" versions on the White Album.  The entire EP coming in at 35:06 is actually the length of a vinyl disc, this music lending itself well to vinyl.

The one minute and eighteen seconds of the instrumental, “Pause” nicely segues into  “Daydream,” which comes in like Steve Winwood’s “When You See a Chance” but actually evolves into Klaatu.



Tribal drums underline “Darkly Shining” which pushes and pulls like tide waves, creatively adding drama with wonder, like a spacecraft that should have found itself tumbling into Sandra Bullock in Gravity..indeed, this collection would have made a nice soundtrack to that celebrated motion picture.  The instrumental one minute and eighteen seconds of “Pause” is but a prelude to track 6, “Daydream,”  which, after a bit of ocean noise or static, comes in like Steve Winwood’s “When You See a Chance” but actually evolves into Klaatu.  Think “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft.”

"Dr. Kyte's Gravity Shop"  emulates Kratwerk more than a mirror look at Sgt. Pepper's Mr. Kite, while track 8, "Pink Moon," concludes the set with controlled cacophony and intentionally layered fuzz production to put the vocals into a Rolling Stones "2000 Light Years from Home" mood.  All in all, a very nice package for those of us who like to hear trippy music that expands the mind without strange substances.


Bobby McDonald's Violet Intent
8 song CD

Release date: July 12, 2014


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5.
01:18


6.
05:14


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8.
03:29


http://www.violetintent.com/#!media/ct74

BOBBY MCDONALD LIVE AT CLUB BOHEMIA WITH APOLLO BLUE
http://musicbusinessmonthly.blogspot.com/2014/08/bobby-mcdonald-with-apollo-blue-at-club.html

Syd Barret's Pink Floyd  Interstellar Overdrive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHNQCdWOfdM

Blue Cheer's "I'm The Light"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8lBTU23fwU

Klaatu  "Calling Occupents' compare to track 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9URM_5R-vWk 

Rolling Stones  2000 light years from home
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6o2ZpHZWos
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20)  BILL MEDLEY   
THE TIME OF MY LIFE


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#21  Green Tea U.K.




Sunny from new CD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvq5jeS-fbQ


http://www.greenteaband.co.uk/



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22)The Big Takeover Magazine


Features a fantastic interview with Kaleidoscope U.K.'s Eddy Pumer! by Elizabeth Kilisiewicz

http://bigtakeover.com/site/contact-the-big-takeover
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23) Jethro Tull Live in Iceland


Jethro Tull’s famous concept album “Thick As A Brick” was originally released in 1972 and featured one continuous track spread across two sides of an LP telling the story of a young boy called Gerald Bostock. 40 years later in 2012, Jethro Tull’s founder and leader Ian Anderson created “Thick As A Brick 2: Whatever Happened To Gerald Bostock?”. Following this release Ian Anderson took both albums on the road to perform the complete story of Gerald Bostock and this concert from the tour was filmed in Iceland. The show combines music, video screens and mime to bring Gerald’s tale to life as never before and create the definitive presentation of “Thick As A Brick”.

Bonus Features
Interview with Ian Anderson / Workshop performance of “Someday The Sun Won’t Shine For You” with Montreux Jazz Festival founder Claude Nobs / “Banker Bets, Banker Wins” filmed live at Montreux 2012

http://www.spincds.com/weird-scenes-inside-the-gold-mine-cd-42228 


http://www.eagle-rock.com/
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24)Justin Hayward   Spirits Live



Justin Hayward live at Buckhead in Atlanta

SPIRITS...LIVE  Justin Hayward
Live at the Buckhead Theater, Atlanta


http://dvdandblu-rayreleasereport.blogspot.com/2014/07/justin-hayward-spirits-live-at-buckhead.html


http://www.moodybluestoday.com/new-dates-justin-haywards-spirits-live-tour/
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25)Suzanne Vega

SOLITUDE STANDING LIVE MVD
ROBERT BARRY FRANCOS' REVIEW
http://ffanzeen.blogspot.com/2014/06/dvd-review-suzanne-vega-live-solitude.html
________________
25 1/2  
SOLITUDE STANDING 25th Anniversary

Joe V incomplete review


25th Anniversary of Solitude Standing, Suzanne sings the entire disc from beginning to end on SOLITUDE STANDING LIVE AT THE BARBICAN,, October 16, 2012  on CD (or for download on iTunes, even a YouTube of the entire disc)  while MVD has Solitude Standing: Suzanne Vega Live.  The two titles could confuse non-fans (and fans of Suzanne’s as well,) so – hopefully – this review will give a little clarity.


The Barbican CD is stunning, it is eloquent, it is perfectly recorded, the balance between band, Suzanne and the audience is primo.  The artists talks  about Prince writing to get on the guest list, showing up after the audience is seated and, rising to dance for Luka, then getting up and leaving the building.  Bassist Mike saw him but Suzanne didn’t, but she relates the story and it works.

In Ray Davies’ Storyteller style she talks aboout Lenny Kaye who wanted to help her with lyrics that Vega proclaims “were so terrible” she was inspired to write the last verse for the resulting “Iron Bound/Fancy Poetry” which is just played beautifully,  brilliantly and shows Vega’s mastery of the medium.

Bruce Eder has a helpful review of Vega’s Live at Montreux 2004 which also has other takes from a 2000 concert, is also important to get your brain around the materials and put them in the proper context for those of us who like to collect everything available by an artist  See AllMusic.com for details

So the Barbiclan CD gets a huge thumbs up, very nicely done and essential as a look at the singer outside of the recording studio.

SOLITUDE STANDING LIVE  DVD 
MUSIC VIDEO DISTRIBUTORS

Solitude Standing has Vega  looking youthful, happy and flanked by her trusty group  which just by showing up display how extraordinary they are, and as a team, how powerful the result is.

SOLITUDE STANDING live


have fun on YouTube finding takes on the same tour after the Barbiclan CD was taped.
It's fascinating.



PRESS RELEASE on MVD
Filmed at the Rome Auditorium in July 2003, Suzanne Vega performs some of her greatest hits at this intimate concert, including Tom's DinerLuka and Marlene On The Wall. The songs are interspersed with moving poetry readings. The DVD includes a candid interview with singer/songwriter Valerio Piccolo about Vega's life and career. This DVD is released shortly following her world tour and new album.
"Widely regarded as one of the most brilliant songwriters of her generation," (Biography Magazine) Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk-music revival of the early 1980s when, accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, she sang what has been labelled contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs.
Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has performed at sell-out concerts in many of the world's best-known venues. She'll be touring the UK, Europe, the USA, Japan and Australia throughout March, April and May 2014 - a full list of dates can be found HERE.

Songs / Poems:
1. Marlene On The Wall 
2. How To Make A Poem (poem) 
3. Small Blue Thing 
4. Caramel 
5. Italy In Spring (poem) 
6. Some Journey 
7. Penitent 
8. When Heroes Go Down 
9. Anti-hero (poem) 
10. Gypsy 
11. Left Of Center 
12. Solitaire 
13. The Queen And The Soldier 
14. In Liverpool (poem) 
15. In Liverpool 
16. Luka 
17. Tom's Diner
Product Details:
Format: DVD
SKU: WNRD2582
UPC: 5018755258213
Street Date: 05/06/14
PreBook Date: 04/01/14
Label: WIENERWORLD »
Genre: Folk
Run Time: 62 mins
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: STEREO
Year of Production: 2003
Box Lot: 30
Territory: NORTH AMERICA
Language: English
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/330472-mvd-press-release-suzanne-vega-solitude-standing-dvd/
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26), Star Trek: Axanar. 


Yahoo movies reports on a significant fan-supported “interim” release, if you will, of a new Star Trek parallel film, Star Trek: Axanar. Star Trek: Axana is the brainchild of writer/producer/star/fanboy Alec Peters. The 90-minute, crowdfunded production (due out in 2015) will at long last, reveal the full story behind the pivotal Battle of Axanar, an event initially referenced in a season 3 episode of the original series, “Whom Gods Destroy.” I would love to rave about this attempt, but the first twenty minutes – which must blow people away to truly succeed, comes off as a stiff, uneven, badly scripted use of key Star Trek words “Klingon,” “the Federation,” “Starfleet,” “Andoria,” and the reliance on those words to pique interest during the monotonous back and forth discussion. So obvious and kind of insulting.  Imagine this “sci-fi epic” without any reference to Star Trek and you have just another attempt at filmmaking without any cohesion, with no reason to tune in. “There will always be detractors who will think you’re taking the initiative too soon, that you’re rushing the offensive” says one actor in this mountainous collection of paragraphs which could have been taped at any access TV station in America.  And he has a point!  The fans who made this are actually stating the obvious, but not the way they intended it. With too heavy a use of narration to tell the story and some nice, slick CGI (hey, in this day and age a teenager can generate better visuals than found on the original Last Starfighter,) the color-by-numbers prelude to this “epic battle” only confirms the nerd-aspect of sci-fi fandom, and that’s a shame with science fiction now the predominant film genre in the world.
As of this writing, there are 19 films that have made over one billion dollars worldwide, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com #1 being Avatar with The Avengers at #3, Harry Potter/Deathly Hallows 2 #4, Transformers: Dark of the Moon #7, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King #8, James Bond Skyfall #9 and Batman’S The Dark Knight Rises at #10.    The audience wants film perfection, at least in the presentation.   The Top 20 all-time moneymakers are hardly perfect films.  Avatar’s script took a back seat to the special effects and the theme, but it was so ground-breaking, full of wonder and captivating that who cares if the acting was over the top and the lines delivered were far from memorable. It’s a terrific film despite its flaws and, perhaps I’m missing something but, that James Cameron was able to fascinate the entire planet earth with his out of this world film experience – islands floating in the air (simply superb) and the indigenous people flying on reptiles, says to me that Cameron knows how to market to people of all different cultures.
Filmmakers are going to have to address “virtual reality” sooner than later, and that will mean solid scripts with few holes and lots of reason to stay tuned.  At some point the comic book spree has to evolve into something even bigger and even better.  As violent as a series like The Godfather is, there is no denying that the script, the acting, the texture of the film and Francis Ford Coppola’s direction make for one of the most beautifully made, if totally vulgar, movies in history. Martin Scorsese’s Casino also has staying power, yet it is more vulgar and more violent than the Godfather.   Mafia movies hold interest, and certainly reach a wider audience than slasher films, but gratuitous violence has its mainstream appeal while something less offensive, but still a hot-button topic:  pornography is pushed into the closet. Go figure.

Pornography is much like fan-based Star Trek movies.  Rather than craft a great script with some real-life passion and drama the multi-billion dollar porno industry is content to grind out drab product so out of touch and lacking in chemistry that a well-known homosexual actor appears in multiple heterosexual flicks.   A handsome man does not always a great actor make and porn stars combining without chemistry is about as exciting as doing your Sunday laundry. I think I’ve stumbled upon a number of Star Trek attempts on YouTube many years ago, fan-based escapades  You can find Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols and Alan Ruck in Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

READ MORE HERE
http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63112/axanar-star-trek-fan-based-stories



________________________________________________________________
27  A Minor Revolution
 

 ___________________________________________________________________
 28)The Wayoutz

Appeared at Club Bohemia August 23, 2014 under the name Cigar Shaped Objects




http://www.allmusic.com/album/something-now-mw0001329076



___

29)Hug The Dog   People Don't Change

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emcybAYo8g8

55 minutes in you can watch Hug The Dog's interview with Joe Viglione June 2012
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmRZaJX6Dy4

____________________________________________________________________

30)The Brains - Money Changes Everything
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CygU9b7XU0

The Brains - MISERY Official Video from 2014 CD The Monster Within
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr3wKkebrN8

_________________________________________________________________________
31)  PSYCHO BOSTON   CD

https://www.facebook.com/Psychoboston

___________________________________________________
32)Rise of the Planet of the Apes vs. Lucy vs Boyhood vs Wish I Was Here

A Foursome review and why the two violent movies blew away the two family flicks, and this critic abhors violence.  So those who make good family flicks better get crackin'!


I sat through 3 hours of Boyhood and 2 hours of Wish I Was Here back to back two days in a row and it was work!  Both films are lacking and when my review publishes, you'll know why

Boyhood
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=boyhood.htm

and
Wish I Was Here
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=wishiwashere.htm _______________________________________ 33)Wounds to Bind
The Story of Jerry Burgen and The We Five

________________________________________________________________________
#34  Safer Bombs
"Get Yourself a Southern Bride"
http://ministryoflove1.bandcamp.com/album/southern-bride-ep

Follow on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Safer-Bombs/118806061786


___________________________________________________________________________
#35 Interview with Danny Garcia
LOOKING FOR JOHNNY




 Johnny Thunders was the legendary hard-living rock'n'roll guitarist who inspired glam-metal, punk and the music scene in general. 'Looking For Johnny' is a 90-minute film that documents Thunders' career from his beginnings to his tragic death in 1991. When Johnny Thunders died in New Orleans on April 23rd 1991, he left behind a mystery. Though MTV and international broadsheets reported the guitarist's demise, for many in the mainstream, Thunders was perceived as an enigmatic outlaw. He was adored by a legion of devotees and cited as an influence by at least three successive generations of musicians. Thunders refused to play the corporate game and was both elevated and damned for it. 'Looking for Johnny' is the creation of Danny Garcia ('The Rise & Fall of The Clash'). The young Spanish filmmaker was seized by a question that wouldn't let go - "just who was Johnny Thunders?" He spent 18 months travelling across the USA and Europe, filming interviews with fifty of the people who were closest to Johnny, building a compelling narrative drawn from first hand testimonies. The film examines Johnny Thunders' career from the early 70's as a founding member of the (read more here)

http://mvdb2b.com/s/JohnnyThundersLookingForJohnnyTheLegendOfJohnnyThunders/MVD6544D

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2974068/
_____________________________________________________________________________
#36  THE SIGNAL
Interview with director Will Eubank
http://www.fandango.com/thesignal_172211/movieoverview 
________________________________________________________ #37 The Rolling Stones  ROCKS OFF
by Bill Janovitz

___________________________________________________
#38  James Bond  License to Kill

#39  James Bond  Her Majesty's Secret Service


40)The Fifth Estate


_________________________________________________________________
THE JOE VIG TOP 40 IS EDITED BY 6 YEAR OLD INTERNET PRODIGY JOE VIGLIONE, HERE HE IS.


JOE also edits  Community Media Medford.com
http://www.communitymediamedford.com/?p=160

ROCK JOURNALIST JOE VIG
http://rockjournalistjoevig.blogspot.com/

Music Business Monthly
http://musicbusinessmonthly.blogspot.com/

Send discs and BOOKS TO:

Joe Vig Top 40
P.O. Box 2392
Woburn, MA 01888 U.S.A.


JOE VIGLIONE'S TOP 40 is an internet institution

Quotes

BONUS TRACKS
IN SEARCH OF EDDIE RIFF

http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-search-of-eddie-riff-mw0000061308



COMING IN SEPTEMBER

Gallagher has a release on MVD Here's my interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20QmC7riojE   
Gallagher on Visual Radio! with Joe Viglione
____________________________________


GALLAGHER
I AM WHO I PRETEND TO BE (MVD)
http://mvdb2b.com/s/GallagherIAmWhoIPretendToBe/UP3937

Say the name Gallagher and the image of smashing watermelons immediately comes to mind. However his roots are in Stand-Up Comedy, and this is where he returns in this, his final album. Recorded live at the legendary Ice House Comedy Club, where he recorded his very first, and only, stand-up album in 1978, Gallagher treats his loyal fans to his unique observations about life. By his own acknowledgment, the smartest person around, he offers solutions to problems between the sexes, between countries and even with religion, just to name a few. Sprinkled in between these astute and hilarious observations are jokes-yes, actual jokes- that will have you chuckling long after the show is over. Gallagher virtually invented the television stand-up comedy special. He's had 14 Showtime specials as well as 3500 live shows to capacity crowds. Before him, no one had exhibited his level of audience interaction. For 15 years he was a #1 comedian in both ticket sales and ratings. He was an inspiration for the creation of Comedy Central. Gallagher has led an extraordinary life and a spectacular career. He has a loyal fanbase and he rewards them every chance he gets. "I Am Who I Pretend To Be" is the  Read more here:  http://mvdb2b.com/s/GallagherIAmWhoIPretendToBe/UP3937

Read more here:
A youthful Andy Mackay along with saxophone and cat stare out from the front cover of this compelling instrumental LP recorded between February of 1974 and June of 1975. Opening with a cool cover of "Wild Weekend," the Top Ten 1963 hit for the Rebels, this is fun stuff from the artsy realm of serious U.K. musicians. With less complexity than listeners have come to expect from Roxy Music alum, an innocent ballad like Skeeter Davis' "The End of the World" becomes transcendent by way of simple instrumentation -- Mackay's sax as the lead instrument, tasty guitars, and keys filling in nicely. There is a definite '60s feel to this album, perhaps a testimonial along with the reinterpretation of the four covers included in this mix of originals and traditional songs. Mackay's "Walking the Whippet" is like some rave amendment to the number one surf rock hit from 1962, "Telstar" by the Tornadoes.   Read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/in-search-of-eddie-riff-mw0000061308


Songs / Poems:
1. Marlene On The Wall 
2. How To Make A Poem (poem) 
3. Small Blue Thing 
4. Caramel 
5. Italy In Spring (poem) 
6. Some Journey 
7. Penitent 
8. When Heroes Go Down 
9. Anti-hero (poem) 
10. Gypsy 
11. Left Of Center 
12. Solitaire 
13. The Queen And The Soldier 
14. In Liverpool (poem) 
15. In Liverpool 
16. Luka 
17. Tom's Diner
Product Details:
Format: DVD
SKU: WNRD2582
UPC: 5018755258213
Street Date: 05/06/14
PreBook Date: 04/01/14
Label: WIENERWORLD »
Genre: Folk
Run Time: 62 mins
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: STEREO
Year of Production: 2003
Box Lot: 30
Territory: NORTH AMERICA
Language: English

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/330472-mvd-press-release-suzanne-vega-solitude-standing-dvd/__________________________________________________________________________________ 
#16  Get On Up: The James Brown Story
Official Trailer 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm-wQh664iI 


 The James Brown Story






Watch: Chadwick Boseman Channel James Brown In 'Get On Up' Trailer

VIBE Posted March 13, 2014

http://bobbyhebb.blogspot.com/2014/07/james-brown-covered-sunny-many-times.html 





sutter cd cover



Repeat Offender is Sutter Zachman’s 4-track EP that Modern Roots Music Co. has set for release directly after the Labor Day weekend. The EP includes “Back To Sleep,” a song that has become something of an airplay staple in Ireland (see below) and parts of the UK over the summer.  Repeat Offender was produced by Modern Roots’ founder Jimmy Sloan who has worked with a broad range of artists including The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Fishbone, Weezer and Dave Alvin as  producer and/or recording engineer. Dave Jerden (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane’s Addiction, Talking Heads) mixed three of the EPs four songs, all of which were recorded earlier this year at  Seahorse Sound in downtown LA.  

Zachman, 26, a Southern California native, wrote all of the Repeat Offender material. A student of the songwriting of Nick Lowe, Van Morrison, Robbie Robertson and Ron Sexsmith, he signed his first major music publishing deal when he was barely out of his ’teens.  One UK pundit said of Zachman that he is “blessed with a warm and woodsy voice that would have been right at home in 1970s Laurel Canyon…”  

Sutter Zachman has developed his own sound while working at odd jobs in small towns across the country from Lawrence, KS to California’s Coachella Valley.  Now that he’s based back in Los Angeles, he’s reconnected with his roots and has been working with a group of top players who collaborated on the recordings including these Repeat Offender “co-conspirators”: Janson Mandell (bass, vocals), Cameron Meshell (drums, vocals, bass), Angela Russell (violin/vocals), Wallflowers/Foo Fighters’ Rami Jaffe (keyboards) Fishbone’s John Norwood Fisher (bass) and Gap Band veteran Victor Orlando (percussion).

While those who feel compelled to categorize music might call his efforts folk-oriented or Americana, Sutter is ambivalent about such labels commenting, “I try to stay open to the words and feelings that move me,” he explains, “and I try not to over-analyze what comes out.”  

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http://www.musicnewsnashville.com/leading-music-retailer-jon-habers-dec3-premieres-new-single-86/

It’s been a long time coming, but Jon Haber has  finally managed to achieve a goal he’s had since he was six years old, when he first picked up a guitar, releasing his debut album, DEC3 through his own Raddist label, on Sept. 30.

 
The man who owns the successful New York-based Alto Music instrument retail chain has now come full circle and is back on the other side of the counter, as a musician, songwriter and producer, a lifelong dream come true.

Gary Sohmers Roar's Back March 8 with Collectibles Show, To Jah Nature Ellis, Tom Hambridge New CD, Keith Richards Waiting for the Man, Sean Walshe American Son, Clive Davis with Anthony DeCurtis

Top 10 1)Gary Sohmers 2)Tom Hambridge 3)Nature Ellis  4)Keith Richards "Waiting for the Man" Lou Reed's Birthday 5)Sean Walshe...