Echoes of Laurel Canyon

Echoes of Laurel Canyon is a 2018 documentary about the musicians of the 1960s who congregated in the Laurel Canyon neighborhood of the Hollywood Hills. It is now streaming on Netflix. 

This was the time of The Byrds, The Mommas and the Poppas, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, CSN, and many others.

Jakob Dylan conducts interviews with several of the original musicians from that era and some contemporaries influenced by them. These are mixed with archival footage. There are also some redos of the old songs by Jakob and others mixed in. 

It comes through that there was a lot of cross-pollination and influences among the groups. The fact that many of these folks were neighbors facilitated that. Musicians also moved from one group to another.

One interesting factoid relayed by Brian Wilson is that Rubber Soul begat Pet Sounds. The Beatles say that Pet Sounds begat Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Each pushing the other.  This confirms what I had heard before and have always thought. Three pretty good albums.

This is far from a perfect documentary. Some early influencers and neighbors like Joni Mitchell are completely ignored. The revivals of the old songs by Jakob Dylan and company are not always very good. That opinion may be because I grew up with the originals and they are hard to improve on. I would have preferred more original music and in-depth interviews with those who inhabited Laurel Canyon back in the day. 

Still, if you are a fan of this music, it is a worthwhile look. You will probably learn something plus there is some good music. I rate this documentary a B. 

wjh

Bedford BluesFest 2019

Another Labor Day Weekend and another Bedford Blues Festival. As usual, it did not disappoint. It was hot, but not unbearable. It is summertime in Texas. 

Saturday night we slummed it with general admission tickets. That meant watching from a blanket spread on the hill. We first checked out the craft vendors, nothing exceptional. Amazingly, no jewelry was purchased although it was checked out. We also checked out the food vendors. It is always heavily weighted to BBQ although there are some "fair food" choices too like corn dogs, funnel cakes, even fried Oreos. We stuck with Green's Texas BBQ, a local Euless food trailer and a spinoff of the famous North Main BBQ. I had a pulled pork sandwich that was fine. Nothing special with average sauce. My companion had a brisket plate with beans and potato salad. The brisket was tender, moist, and flavorful. The sides were not great. The potato salad was very bland and the beans were about like canned pork & beans. 

Then it was on to the music. We saw part of Charlie Musselwhite's set.  He is an old-time blues musician, in the Blues Hall of Fame, who sings and plays guitar and harmonica. It was a solid set by an old pro. Charlie has been at BluesFest before and hopefully, he'll come back again. 

The Saturday headliner was JJ Grey & Mofro. This band is from my hometown of

Jacksonville, FL. Their origins go back to the '90s with their first recordings in the early 2000s. JJ is the lead singer and songwriter. He also plays guitar and harmonica. They play a mixture of music, some blues, some southern rock, some soul. The band includes brass which is a change of pace at a blues festival. Many of their songs are about places I am familiar with. One song is about Lochloosa, a small town, and a lake between Ocala and Gainsville. Another was about the St. Johns River which flows right through Jacksonville. JJ has a very powerful voice and the volume was turned up to "11". Probably too loud. He also has a tendency to talk a lot between songs. Cut the volume and cut the talking and the set will be better. They were good, but not outstanding. 

Sunday we got there early because some friends we were meeting were taking part in the BBQ sample/vote event. We passed on that. BTW, Green's won the event. After some food, we migrated to our preferred seats. We were in the first five rows in front of the stage. We watched Nikki Hill's set. She was good, if not exactly the blues. She is a good singer backed by a good band. It was an energetic performance. 

The Sunday and festival headliner was Boz Scaggs. Boz grew up in Plano and attended school in Dallas where he met Steve Miller when he was around 15 years old. Boz was in good voice even hitting the falsetto notes. Of course, he had a good, tight band. He played all the hits except Look What You've Done To Me. What's with that omission? Boz did rely on some prerecorded help on the background orchestration like the horns and the backup singers on some songs. He definitely wasn't lipsyncing. He did about a five-minute version of his big hit Lowdown.  It was a very good performance. Boz still has it after all these years. 

I have been going to this festival for years and have never been disappointed. There is always plenty of good food, cold beverages, and often great music. The price is right too. 16-ounce beers are $5 or $6, food is reasonable. General admission has been $10 for the past few years. That includes eight to ten acts per day on two stages. They always manage to get a name headliner. If you missed the 2019 version, make plans for Labor Day weekend 2020. You won't be disappointed. See you there. 

wjh

Music

I have been a music fan since before I hit double digits in age. I remember my Mom playing Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra records on the giant console record player. It was the biggest piece of furniture in our living room. Of course, that is completely understandable since the console also played 78, 33 & 45 rpm vinyl plus had a built-in radio. I'll confess, I don't remember if it had FM radio, I would guess not. But not to worry, it did have built-in storage for maybe 10 or 15 LP albums. I also don't remember if it had stereo capabilities. I again guess not. 

That old hunk of furniture, AM radio, a 45rpm record player, and jukeboxes were my instruments of music in my youth. I did get a transistor radio, AM only, in my early teens. It had a one ear earphone which was fine in the pre-stereo days. A battery-powered, small, portable radio was quite a breakthrough in the early '60s. That transistor radio lasted well over 10 years. My dad used it for years after I left home for college and work. 

OK, those real early years of music were probably the Elvis years. I was never a big fan. He was OK but I liked many of the early rock no-white artists more. Of course, I was also exposed to the Sinatra, Como, Crosby stuff my folks listened to. In the early '60s, it was all Beach Boys and surf music. That was mixed with the folk revival somewhat. A shoutout to the Kingston Trio and the local Coachmen. Again I was not a huge Beatles fan although I did enjoy much of the British invasion. The Zombies, Stones, Animals, Dave Clark 5, etc. more than the Beatles. There were also some American bands besides the Beach Boys at that time. A couple that stick out are Jan & Dean, The Sir Douglas Quintet, and a great Mississippi garage band, the Gants.  Motown had a few stars too. 

I didn't listen to a lot of music during my college days at USF. I don't think I even had a radio plus I was busy with other activities. We did have campus concerts and frat parties so some music seeped in. Pet Sounds during the first year or so sticks in my feeble brain. 

When I left college and moved to Atlanta, my only music came via radio. Atlanta had a couple of great new FM stations. This was at the infancy of FM and there were few if any commercials. The DJs were laid back and low keyed and would play whole albums, deep cuts, and very long songs. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida was played every night when the DJ needed a break. Those were the mellow psychedelic music years.

After that, I was caught up in work, marriage, and parenthood. That pattern pretty much continued for 10 or 15 years. Hardly any proactive music consumption, just what I heard passively on the car radio, TV, or a few live events. 

In the mid-'80s, I found myself single and living alone. I also discovered CDs. I bought a good CD player and then spent a couple of thousand dollars on music. There were reissue CDs of much of the music of the past. I bought the music of my youth, the surf stuff, the British Invasion, the folk revival stuff, plus some old classics like Nat King Cole, Dave Brubeck, and others. Whenever I was home, the music was playing. I listened to enough music outside my home to find other stuff I liked and would add those CDs. 

Somewhere in the early '90s, I found a partner who was also a music fan. We combined our music libraries, homes, and a few other things. We wound up with hundreds of CDs which were almost always playing. We took CDs and a player when we traveled. Our tastes were not identical but we could mostly at least tolerate the other's music. 

After that, I went through another fallow music period when I took care of my elderly parents. I spent a lot of time at their place and they had no music equipment. They did have a TV and faithfully watched The Lawrence Welk Show. 

After Mom died and dad moved in with me, I still didn't have much free time. When dad passed, I began to rebuild my music library and listening habits. 

I have ripped all my old CDs plus those of my Ex to MP3s It was a pile of Cds consisting of hundreds of songs, I loaded them to Google Play Music and/or USB drives for the interested parties. I just checked I have over 13,000 songs uploaded to Google. I also have A YouTube Music subscription plus Pandora, Spotify, and Amazon Prime Music accounts. I can listen to almost anything. 

For the last several years, I have my music playing almost constantly. I watch sports with the sound muted and music playing. I listen to music on my phone when I walk and sometimes when I bike ride. Tom Petty is playing right now as I write this. 

So, what kind of music do I like? The answer is probably yes. Mostly '60s stuff is at the top. You can't beat the Beach Boys, Motown, and British Invasion. But, I also like the early '60s folk stuff, some of the big hair/glam rock of the '70s and '80s. Think Journey, Heart, and Fleetwood Mac. The Eagles were pretty good too. Being raised in the South .and living in Texas, I have to like at least some country. I'm a big fan of Dwight Yokum. 

Bottom line is I like good music. Good songs and good singers come in all genres, Good musicians too. I can appreciate good stuff from the big band era through today. I'll admit, I do have somewhat of a disconnect with Hip Hop and Rap. Some are OK, much is not. I also have a problem with the overuse of  Auto-Tune. It was originally intended to smooth out a few rough spots. Now singers completely depend on it and purposely use it to change their sound. Think horrible singers like Taylor Swift. 

What is your music preference?

That is how I got to my current eclectic music taste. Glad I did, because it sure is enjoyable. 

wjh

Bedford Blues & BBQ - 2018

A short review of another outstanding Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival. I have been going to this event for years and have never been disappointed. The food is always good, the beer is cold and reasonable and the music outstanding. It is always a fun crowd. Every year I wind up in a conversation with friendly strangers. The crowd ranges from infants to old geezers like me. 

Sunday is the big night and has the top headliner. A couple of years the star has kind of coasted through. Some years the Saturday night closing act has been better than the bigger name Sunday star, sometimes it's the Sunday early evening act that shines. This year, everybody was really good. In addition to the main stage, there were several pretty good lesser known bands who perform on the secondary stage. Nonstop music from around 2:00 until close to midnight
. 

On Saturday we got there around 6:00. Lil Ed was OK but to be honest, we were still checking out the craft and food vendors during some of his set. The laser show was something new this year. They had big smoke machines to help highlight the lasers, but it is Texas and the wind blows. Still, pretty cool. Ted Benoit did not disappoint. He did a solid set. 

I got there around 5:30 on Sunday, early enough to hear part of Buddy Whittington's performance. He is a local guy who spent 15 years playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, a band Eric Clapton once played with. He rejoined Mayall in 2013 at the Bedford BluesFest for Mayall's appearance. Buddy plays the festival every year and is always very good. For me, the very pleasant surprise of the weekend was Samantha Fish. I had never seen her live but had heard her music and seen some YouTube videos. I thought she was OK, a better guitarist than singer. She has certainly improved. Her voice was much stronger, more on key, and less screaming. She has also beefed up her band. It had a couple of horns, congo drums, backup singers, an organ, and a violinist in addition to the normal bass and drums. Her performance was outstanding. The song selection and execution had the crowd rocking. I was talking to a guy before her set began and we agreed that her voice and presentation needed work. Then she started and we both looked at each other in amazement. Samantha was way above expectations. The second stage band, Wallace and Branch, was good too while we waited for the headliner. Kenny Wayne Shepherd had a couple of tough acts to follow but he was up for it. The guy can sing and he can certainly play a little guitar. Go see Samantha and Kenny Wayne if you have the chance. 

So, another enjoyable weekend at Bedford's premier event. I'm already looking forward to next year. For about 10 hours of music per day, it is $10 admission, $7 in advance online, and $5/day for a weekend ticket. Beers are only $5 or $6 and decent vendor BBQ and other food is reasonable. You can also buy tasting/voting deals for BBQ samples. There were 125 entrants competing this year, mostly professionals. This is not your backyard Weber grill competition. Beat that deal.

Come join us in Bedford next Labor Day Weekend. We'll have fun.

wjh 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Why is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland called the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Why is it in Cleveland? The Hall was established in 1983 and opened in 1986. There are certainly rock & roll artists, groups, and contributors in the Hall but there are certainly other genres represented too. More so recently.

Most of the performers in those other genres were outstanding and I have no problem with them being recognized for their achievements, but they were not rock & roll performers.

I also realize that rock and roll does not have a specific definition. In general, rock, soul, blues, and derivatives are OK. It's probably a given that your definition of rock an roll does not match mine. I consider blues, 50's rock and roll, doo-wop, surf, most British invasion, soul/Motown, psychedelic, Southern, glam, hard, long-haired, metal and a couple of other branches of rock and roll. It comes from many places, Memphis, Detroit, Liverpool, San Francisco, southern California, Jacksonville and Macon, Atlanta, and many others. I also have no problem with influential non-performers being inducted. Alan Freed, a DJ, belongs. Berry Gordy, founder of Motown belongs. Songwriters belong. Studio musicians belong.

In my opinion, folk, country, and rap do not belong in a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame any more than classical or big band music does.   

Members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame include many of the early greats like Chuck Berry, James Brown, Buddy Holly, Elvis and more. The hall has continued to add great performers. 

The Hall stayed pretty true to rock and roll for the first several years although I probably wouldn't have chosen some of them, at least not in the same order. Others may not belong at all. Johnny Cash in 1992 is a stretch for me. Brenda Lee and Chet Atkins were also stretches in 2002. Miles Davis, a great Jazz musician, is in the Hall. Then in 2013 Public Enemy was inducted. A real rock and roll stretch. In fact, a real music stretch. NWA and Run-D.M.C. are in. This year Tupac Shakur got in. Yet, the Doobie Brothers are not in or nominated. LL Cool J has been nominated again year. This year, Dire Straits and The Zombies are nominees. How is it that they are not already inductees?

There are currently 317 members of the Hall, including non-performers such as producers, record executives, songwriters, etc. 

One other bitch. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland yet the induction ceremonies usually take place in NYC. Either move the museum to New York or move the ceremonies to Cleveland. To be honest, neither New York or Cleveland is famous for spawning rock and roll.

Truth in advertising. I do not like or listen to rap (music?) and very little hip-hop. I'm sure some of it is wonderful. So let's celebrate it in the Rap and/or Hip-Hop of Hall Fame. Folk music should be celebrated in the Folk Hall of Fame. Jazz in the Jazz Hall. Country music already has their Halls. If someone wants to start an all-inclusive Music Hall of Fame, that's fine too.  

We have two choices here in my opinion. Either rename the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to the Some Music Since the Second Half of the 20th Century Hall of Fame, quite a mouthful, or create a Rap/Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. I really don't care which as long as we correct the Hall's misnomer title. My preference is to keep the Rock and Roll name and charter. 

I love rock & roll or whatever we call it now. It is the music of my youth and still plays in my ear and head several hours a day. 

BTW, how in the hell does Tupac get in before The Doobie Brothers or Dire Straits?

Long live Rock and Roll!

wjh 

Bedford Blues & BBQ -2017

I spent the last two evenings at the Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival. I’ve been going to this festival for several years. Thankfully, I usually get to share it with great friends. The music is always great, top line acts and always good openers. This year turned out like most others. Sunday night is the climax of the three day Labor Day weekend festival and is supposed to be the biggest name. On Saturdays and Sundays, there are acts starting around 2:00 and continuing onto about 11:00. That will cost you whopping $10 at the gate, a couple of bucks less in advance online. No better music bargain around. The mild weather was a bonus this year.

This year, Buddy Guy was the Sunday headliner. Buddy is an icon of blues and guitarists. He has influenced many of the Rock/Blues era greats, including Clapton, Hendrix, Page, etc. As has been the case for several years, the Sunday headliner is not the best performance. Buddy is good, but he is old and has tricks to extend his performance. I think he may have had a few beverages or other substances prior to going on stage. He was pretty profane and spent much time rambling and talking about the who, what, where, and when of his career. When he decided to play, it was fine, although others in his band often led. At best a good, not great performance. I've seen Buddy several times and this was probably his worst. 

Now let's get to the really good stuff. Prior to Buddy Guy on the main stage, was Marcia Ball. She is a born in Texas, raised in Louisiana musician, a solid Blues singer, and pianist. Her set was very good and probably my companion's favorite performance of the weekend. She had a solid backing band. I have seen Marcia before, as has my festival mate. She put on a great performance.

My favorite performance was the night before. Ronnie Earl was the co-headliner. His set was good. I'm not sure who she was, but the featured vocalist was great. She had a Janis Joplin quality on some songs, a little gospel on others. Good stuff.

My favorite of the weekend was Delbert McClintock. He wrapped up the Saturday lineup. As I wrote in a brief post, Delbert's voice was a little rough for the first couple of songs. Then he found his stride. His band was outstanding. A piano, two guitars, bass, drums, sax, and trumpet. Delbert added harmonica on some songs. The set was tight, very little if any talk between songs. This good ole Texas boy can still bring it. Glad I got to see this performance.

This year's BluesFest pretty much matched the other years I've been going. The Sunday night "headliner" has always been good, but never the best performance. Sometimes the highlight comes from the Saturday headliner, sometimes it comes from the Saturday of Sunday 7:00 act. 

There was one new wrinkle this year, around 8:30 on Sunday, the food vendors began to run out of food. Worse yet, a couple of the beer stands ran out of beer. That is serious. For our last round, I had to walk across the festival grounds for the only beer stand with product. It was a very good crowd on both Saturday and Sunday, but it didn't seem that much larger than other years when food and beer were not in short supply. Did I underestimate the crowd or did everybody just drink and eat more? Glad to see the vendors did well.

The Bedford Blues & BBQ Festival is always a great weekend. The music, food, and beer are always good. The crowd is friendly. Just don't only go see the Sunday headliner. Besides missing the best performances, you may have a limited choice of food and beverages.

Hope to see you there in 2018. 

wjh

Glen Campbell - RIP

On August 8, 2017, we lost Glen Campbell. RIP Glen, you were a consummate musician and performer. You entertained and brought joy to millions of fans. Most of us have a favorite song of his, there are a lot of choices. 

I will admit that I never bought a Glen Campbell album or record. He was never the coolest or hottest (funny they mean the same thing) singer or recording artist. His songs were most definitely popular but never cutting edge. That is unless you actually listened to the lyrics. Glen didn't write his most famous songs, but he certainly put his mark on them. 

I was always more impressed by Glen's ability as a virtuoso guitarist. That talent became somewhat obscured when he became a popular vocalist. Just to remind those who pay attention to real musical talent, I have one fact to remind you of how good Glen was. He was a member of The Wrecking Crew. They were the premier studio session musicians of the 1960's and 70's. They were the musicians on the recordings of everyone from Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra to Phil Spector and the Beach Boys. If you ever have listened to a hit song from the 60's or 70's, the odds are very good that The Wrecking Crew were the musicians on the record. They recorded hundreds of songs each year. When Brian Wilson decided to stop touring with the Beach Boys, Glen was recruited to take his spot on the road. Glen played bass and sang some of Brian's vocal parts for about four months. My guess is that having Glen play bass was a waste of his talents since he most surely was the best guitarist of that touring group. He did play guitar on the iconic Beach Boys album Pet Sounds. 

In 1967, Glen had the breakout hit Gentle On My Mind. From then on, he was a successful solo artist. Campbell had great success on the Country charts although he never considered himself a Country singer. As evidenced by his time with The Wrecking Crew and the Beach Boys, he just loved music and good songs. He certainly recorded several good songs. 

I won't try to document his career and discography in detail. Those interested can look up all that. In summation, Glen was a consummate musician, a popular singer, a TV star, and a movie actor. He was around for several decades. 

He had a roller coaster personal life. He battled drugs, alcohol and had some less than harmonious relationships. He seemed to have found some solace since the 80's until the devastating diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease in 2011. 

I hope he didn't suffer and that he didn't remember the last few years. 

RIP Glen Campbell. You left your mark on the world and it is a joyful and musical mark.

wjh

Steve Perry & Journey

Another one of the recent PBS pledge drive shows was Journey In Concert: Houston 1981. 
The title says it all. I had two main takeaways from the program. First, Journey was a terrific live band. Second, I am pissed at Steve Perry for disappearing from the public stage.

Steve Perry

In 1981, Journey was at the top of their popularity. They had just released Don't Stop Believing which has become a Rock anthem and a required song for every Rock cover band. It's often sung by female singers because few males can sing like Steve. They had the #1 album, Escape. It was a riveting performance. One version of their Best of albums contains several cuts from the Houston live concert. I have that album.

The band was formed in 1973 but didn't become popular until they hired lead singer Steve Perry in late 1977. By 1987, the band had pretty much gone their separate ways. There was a brief reunion in 1995 but that didn't last long. 

Perry did a few solo ventures while still with Journey and after '87. Unfortunately, there has been no substantial output since the mid 1990's. He occasionally shows up at a Giants baseball game or at a performance by a band he likes. Still, no new music although he has promised a new album for several years. 

The Perry/Schon version of the band is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Journey has sold almost 50 million albums and 90 million records. Most of those during the Perry era. They have been through several personnel changes, mostly at lead singer. 

So why am I pissed at Steve Perry? Well, because he has or at least had one of the greatest voices ever in the Rock genre. He has power, range, a unique tone, soaring high notes that are not a falsetto. He is also an accomplished songwriter, having co-written such hits as "Oh Sherrie" for his solo career that reached #3.  "Who's Crying Now" (#4), "Open Arms" (#2), "Separate Ways" (#8), "Don't Stop Believing" (#9), and others while with Journey. 

Founding member Neil Schon, lead guitarist, and songwriter, recently said publically that he thinks he will reconnect with Perry. There is some tension within the current Journey lineup, so maybe a Perry/Schon reunion is in the cards. They were the two drivers during Journey's most productive and popular years. Schon recently said “It’s mutual we will reconnect. I know without talking to him.” 

With or without Schon, I want Steve Perry back on the music scene. Until then, I still have my recordings of all the Journey hits.

wjh 

Johnny Mathis

During the latest pledge drive by my local PBS station, they aired Johnny Mathis: Wonderful! Wonderful! as part of the My Music series. He burst onto the music scene in the 1950's. Although he was a little old fashion for my Rock & Roll tastes, I always thought that he was an outstanding singer. The fact that he still performs today pretty much proves my young ears were right. 

I can still remember one night watching The Ed Sullivan Show at home with my parents. Johnny was a fairly new upcoming artist at the time. I don't remember what song he sang, but my Mom and I thought it was pretty damn good. Then my dad chimed in that he wasn't impressed. He stated that Johnny's voice had no "tone", whatever that means. To be fair to my dad, Mathis had a few strikes against him. He was young and new, he wasn't Frank Sinatra, he was Black, and my father was half deaf. The reason that night sticks in my mind is that "tone" is one of Johnny's trademarks. He's one of those singers who's voice is instantly recognizable. 

My musical tastes ran through Folk, Surf, British Invasion, Blues Rock, Psychedelic, Big Hair Rock, and many others. Hardly ever did I listen to the old standards and jazz that were Mathis' forte. Still, his music showed up on the radio and he made TV appearances. 

He has had some very big singles and albums which have sold over 100 million copies. I admit that Misty is one of my all-time favorite songs of any genre. The original Erroll Garner, who wrote the music, instrumental version and Johnny's vocal version. It's a 1959 hit single that enjoyed a big revival when it was featured in the 1971 movie Play Misty For Me. I liked the movie too. 

The PBS program primarily features a 2004 Mathis concert. He would have been 68 or 69 at the time of the performance. He was still hitting the notes. I was struck watching the concert of a few thing. There was very little banter or filler. He just went from one song to another. There was no glitz, just Johnny, and an orchestra. I didn't detect any auto-tune enhancements. I also noticed that singers from his generation controlled the volume of songs and phrases with their voice and the position of the hand-held microphone. They didn't depend on the sound engineer to mix it properly.

Mathis sang all his biggest hits during the concert plus there were a few flashbacks to his earlier career and biography segments. It was an enjoyable watch. I think it would be worth your while to dig up some of his songbook and give a listen. 

Johnny Mathis was and is a great talent and seems to be a pretty decent human being too. He is now 81 years old and still performs. The last time I saw him on TV a couple of months ago he looked and sounded pretty damn good. 

wjh

Music 2016 - Better or Worse?

Is Music in 2016 better or worse than 1956, 1966, 1976, 1986, 1996 or 2006? I'm a child of the 60's so I would vote for the 60's and 70's music with maybe a little late 50's foundation. Of course, the answer is dependent on how old you are and what music you grew up with. I have friends who are my age but grew up listening to Country music. My parents listened to the Pop and Jazz standards of the 30's, 40's and 50's so I was exposed to Ella, Frank, Bing, Perry, Duke, Count, Glenn, the Dorsey's, and many others. I still like that music on occasion. I listened to the early Rock 'n' Roll guys like Bill Haley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and of course Elvis. I liked it, but never fully embraced it. I liked the Doo Wop stuff more. My real love of music came in the early 60's with a combination of the Beach Boys and Surf music along with some Folk music and Soul music which was really made popular with the advent of Motown. There was the occasional Country song or artist that got my attention too. After the Surf craze, we had the British Invasion led by the Beatles. To be honest, there were several British groups I like more than the Beatles. The Rolling Stones, Gerry and the Pacemakers and The Zombies are a few of them. 

Now we get to the differences in music and it's consumption today vs then. We listened to AM radio for most of our music. We might have a couple of 33⅓ LPs and some 45 singles, but none of my friends had an extensive music library. In the 60's, the AM radio dial (there was little or no FM) was divided into pop standard/big band, classical, country and top 40 along with maybe a kind of news/NPR/public affairs station. I guess there may have been religious/gospel stations, but I don't remember them. The top 40 stations played whatever was on the charts so a Frank Sinatra song might be followed by The Miracles followed by the Beatles followed by Johnny Cash, followed by... It eventually was dominated by Rock, but it took several years. The good part was that we were exposed to all kinds of music and artists. The bad news was that we had to listen to stuff we didn't like and maybe wait a couple of hours for that song or two we really wanted to hear. 

I was lucky in that there were always at least two and sometimes more very good Top 40 stations in my town. We were experts at switching between the stations either with the pushbuttons on the car radio or the dial on our transistor radios. We could avoid the commercials and the songs we didn't like. 

Back then, you listened to what was on the air with limited choices. Today, there are a million choices. If you want to listen to only 1998 Rap, you can find it, although why would you. Radio stations are very specific now including pay/satellite radio. You don't just have Country, you have modern Country, classic Country, 70's Country and maybe Texas Country. You also have a plethora of streaming choices, some free and some subscription. That's all great but it can limit your exposure to new and different types of music if you let it. I have built 10 or 12 fairly specific Pandora stations but I usually shuffle all of them together when listening. I don't know if I fit the norm for my quest for variety or if most folks stick to a specific genre and/or time span. 

I have friends who only listen to Country or only Rock Oldies or young friends who only listen to Rap and Hip Hop. Seems very limiting to me. There is lotsa good music out there, also lotsa crap. Our options are so much better now. I can pretty much have music with me whenever I want and wherever I go. In fact, I do have all the music in the world with me all the time since I can get to it on my phone. I have about 800 of my songs downloaded on my phone so I can listen to them anytime, anywhere even without wi-fi or a cell signal. I also have over 7,500 songs that I own in the cloud. That's amazing for someone who once owned maybe 10 albums and an AM radio. That doesn't even include the streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, Google Music, Amazon and others that have millions of songs available.

So while there is no doubt that there is more music more easily available now, that does not necessarily mean it is better. The fact that anyone can easily record a song and make it available on the internet guarantees that much of it will be crap. Some of those folks have no talent. It also means that a diamond in the rough can more easily be discovered.

Every era and genre has had its outstanding music and also its terrible and ridiculous music. No doubt, there is more music more readily available today than in any time in the past. It is also far less expensive, much of it free. Yes, back in the day we had free radio but you had to listen to what the DJ played.

The good news is that music continues to be important. The next generation has to find their own sound. They often think the prior generation's (AKA parent's music) music is old fashioned. Sometimes as they get older they realize there was some good stuff in that old music collection mom & dad had. 

Like many things in life, there is no definitive answer to which era or generation had the best music. The only thing we can say for sure is that it was different. Different doesn't mean good or bad, it just means different.

wjh

The Kingston Trio Celebration

I watched the PBS fundraising concert by the Kingston Trio and friends. I was looking forward to it because back in the 1960's I was a big K3 fan. I was also excited because the promo showed Bob Shane, a founding K3 member, singing Scotch and Soda, one of my all-time favorite songs.

Well, to say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I haven't seen the New Kingston Trio since Bob Shane Retired a few years ago. Since then, there are no original members still with the group. There is also no outstanding singer and maybe only one outstanding musician. When they are singing harmony together, it is OK. Unfortunately, none of the new members can replicate the voices of Nick Reynolds or Bob Shane on the solo or lead parts.

The Kingston Trio is not the only group that has deteriorated. The Limelighters were on the bill and if anything were worse than the new K3. I don't think any of the Limelighters are the originals either.

I also had forgotten that folk groups need to explain the origin and meaning of a song before they sing it. 

Barry McGuire, originally from The New Christie Minstrels, sang his song Greenback Dollar. He didn't appreciably upgrade the performances. 

Trini Lopez joined the K3 for a song. No improvement there either.

Bob Shane was joined by Al Jardine and Timothy B. Smith for a rendition of Scarlett Ribbons. Shane's voice was rather weak and the other two didn't contribute much. Bob stuck around to join the new K3 on a rendition of Tom Dooley. Just OK and Shane was better than the new guys. He showed some power and volume.

Then came the highlight. The Great Bob Shane walked onto the stage carrying his portable oxygen tank, with tubes and cannula in place. He stepped up to the microphone and nailed Scotch and Soda. None of the weakness in his voice from the previous songs. 

After that, Bob and his oxygen tank left the stage rather unceremoniously.

The last tribute was a rendition of M.T.A. by the new K3 and Nick Reynold's son, Josh. Again, the new generation didn't measure up to the originals. Josh is no match on vocals with his father. He did sport a similar four string tenor guitar like his father played. 

To end it all, the guests, except for Bob Shane, joined the new K3 onstage to close out the evening. Not very inspiring.

I still like the Kingston Trio (the old K3). If you do too, skip this concert and listen to an original CD, vinyl or YouTube video. 

We still have our memories and they are good ones.

wjh

The Grammys - 2016

The 2016 Grammy Awards were presented Monday night, February 15th in a marathon 3½ hour TV show. According to my count, they only presented eight awards during the show although I may have missed some. They did recognize some others who had received their trophy earlier. Here is my review of the show and a comment or two about some winners. LL Cool J was the host once again although he really didn't have much to do. This is a list of winners if you really care.

Full disclosure here. Most music today is not aimed at my demographic and I can't stand some of it. Still, I have been listening to music since the days of AM radio and 45's. You kids can ask your parents or grandparents what those things are. I also try to keep up with the current music and at least sample the new stuff. I have a very eclectic and varied music library of over 6,000 songs plus Pandora, Spotify and other streaming services. So, let the review begin.

I almost changed the channel right off the bat but decided to power through. The reason is that one of my least favorite performers (I refuse to refer to her as a singer) opened the show. That would be Taylor Swift and she lived up to my expectations. I wasn't sure if there was a problem with the sound or just a lack of talent. Turns out that it was the latter. Even with all of today's audio technology, Swift still sounds off key and weak-voiced. At least, the show had nowhere to go but up.

Next was a duet by Country singers Carrie Underwood and Sam Hunt. Not great, but OK. She was better than him and their voices didn't really compliment each other.

Then The Weeknd did a fair job although his falsetto doesn't sound that great to me. I'm probably spoiled by Brian Wilson, Frankie Valli and Smokey Robinson.

The show improved with a duet by Ellie Goulding and Andra Day. Followed by the presentation of the first Grammy 40 minutes into the show, no rush.

Next up was a tribute to Lionel Richie who received some kind of lifetime achievement thing. It was pretty good. John Legend kicked it off with Easy, then was joined by Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor, Tyrese and eventually Lionel himself. It was enjoyable, of course, they had good songs to work with.

Little Big Town performed their hit song Girl Crush. I'm a fan of LBT and they did their usual stellar performance.

Another tribute was for the late Maurice White, founder of Earth Wind & Fire. This one was done by Stevie Wonder and a bunch of others doing an a capella version of That's The Way Of The World. Always good to see Stevie.

Following another award presentation, the remaining Eagles and Jackson Browne sang Take It Easy in tribute to recently deceased Eagle founding member Glenn Frey. Browne's inclusion was appropriate since he co-wrote that song with Glenn and was a friend even before there was an Eagles band. Good song, good group.

Tori Kelly and James Bay did yet another duet. Not bad, she was the better half of this effort.

Switch to New York for a performance by the cast of the Broadway musical Hamilton. This was OK, but I don't think excerpts of plays translate very well to TV. This musical is also mostly rap which is not my favorite.

Unfortunately, that was followed by more rap crap from Kendrick Lamar. That was two too many rap numbers in a row for me. 

Miguel and Greg Phillinganes did a Michael Jackson song. It wasn't really a tribute since Michael has been dead for some time. They did mention something about 35 years since his first Grammy. OK. Then another award presentation, I think the fifth of the evening.

It was then time for one of the performances I was looking forward to. That would be Adele singing All I Ask. So of course her mic crapped out at the beginning of the song. They seemed to fix it, but I still thought the sound was somewhat off for the whole song. I don't know if it was all technical or whether Adele was a little off. Either way, it was not her best performance. Of course even when Adele isn't at her best, she is far above most singers.

Then we went from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was time for Justin Bieber. I put him in the same category as Taylor Swift although he does sing a little better. To make it even worse, he sang (kinda) two songs. Actually he mostly ran around the stage and posed. There was also a large contingent of frantic extras on the stage. At this point, Justin is mostly famous for being famous. After another award, it got better again.

Lady Gaga did her tribute to recently departed David Bowie. It was a near perfect choice. David and Gaga both pushed the boundaries and played characters. She had the outrageous hair and outfit plus some strange stage props. Carlos Alomar, a longtime contributor with Bowie, joined Gaga on stage. I am often at a loss about some of Lady Gaga's choices, but she does have talent. Listen to her duets with Tony Bennett or her rendition of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. This was a fitting tribute to David Bowie.

The enjoyment continued with a tribute to B. B. King. Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark, Jr. and the great Bonnie Raitt sang The Thrill Is Gone. Good guitar work and vocals. Bonnie and Gary are excellent blues artists, Chris a little more country.

Alabama Shakes was up next. Some of their music is OK with me, but I find it hard to watch lead singer Brittany Howard perform. Some of her facial and body movements look painful.

Time for a downer. In a sort of tribute to Motorhead and the late Lemmy Kilmister we got the manufactured group, Hollywood Vampires. It consists of that famous rock star Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper and Joe Perry from Aerosmith. Terrible. I don't much like hard metal rock, too much screaming and noise. Alice Cooper did his normal solo shtick with the makeup and cane, Perry played loudly and Depp proved that he can't sing and is a pretend rocker.

The seventh (I think) award of the night was for Album of the Year and unfortunately it went to Taylor Swift's 1989. Then she gave some BS acceptance speech. This was a low point in the proceedings. There was one more award and then the finale, finally.

The last act was Pit Bull and Robin Thicke. It was more rap stuff with many dancers backing up the singers. Sofia Vergara was a surprise dancer. It was a lame segment to end the up and down presentation.

Like most of these type shows there were highs and lows. This one seemed very heavy on tributes. I will never like rap or most of hip hop so those segments will never get my vote. I also don't have much use for performers who don't have any real talent. I already named two, but there were others. I'll give this particular program about a 50-50, kind of a middle C.

So enjoy the music you like and in another year we'll see how the music industry rated your choices at the 2017 Grammys.

wjh

The Year In Music - 1965

As we come to the end of 2015 we also come to the end of the 50th anniversary of 1965. That was a very important year in my life. I had the first true love of my life, I graduated from high school, started college away from home and had to register for the draft. There was one other important element in 1965 and that is the music from that year. That's what this post is about, not my love life, high school graduation, college initiation or draft status.

It was a very good musical year. Top 40 radio was thriving. It was still AM radio that ruled. FM was really just getting started. There were other music radio stations. The Oldies stations of the day mostly played big band stuff. There were easy listening stations that played pop music by Perry Como, Andy Williams, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Sinatra, etc. There were also Country-centric radio stations. Even some classical music spots on the radio dial. Those Top 40 stations really did play whatever songs were on the music charts. That meant that there could be a rock song followed by country followed by Sinatra followed by folk followed by Soul. Rinse and repeat. I'll get into some of the specifics of that diversity shortly. Many of the pop stars of the 40's and 50's were still performing live and selling records. Country moved toward pop and rock and had several crossover stars and songs. The British Invasion was firmly entrenched. Motown was spitting out new groups and new hits every week. The Surf/Beach music wave was breaking on the charts. The Folk explosion of the early 60's was still hanging on. I am grateful that I was exposed to many genres of music. Although I primarily listen to the various forms of rock music, I enjoy mixing it with the other genres. My normal way to listen to Pandora is to shuffle several stations together. My music library is made up of numerous types of music. I usually shuffle that too and build diverse playlists.

So on to some specifics. I will be citing Billboard and Tunecaster music charts from 1965. The first #1 song of the year was either I Feel Fine by The Beatles or Come See About Me by The Supremes depending on which chart you look at. The last #1 hit of 1965 was Over and Over by The Dave Clark Five or We Can Work It Out by The Beatles. So the Beatles opened the year and wrapped it up. They had a few other hits in the middle too. There is a dispute about what was the top song of the year. Billboard says it was Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. Tunecaster picked (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones. Another poll selected I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) by The Four Tops. All good but I think the Stones' song has proved to have much more staying power. There were some surprises to me in the year's top 100. Herman's Hermits has five songs on the year-end chart and The Beatles had four. Gary Lewis and the Playboys had three entries. The Beach Boys and Rolling Stones only two each. In retrospect, I think The Beatles, Stones and Beach Boys contributed way more to our song catalog than Gary and Herman. 

You can peruse the charts yourself. Tunecaster's year-end Pop 100 is here. Billboard's year-end Hot 100 is here. The list of weekly #1s on Tunecaster can be found here. Billboard's list of #1s is here. You will notice that the two weekly charts start on different days of the week. That explains some of the discrepancies. 

There were a few one hit wonders in 1965 too. Boy From New York City by The Ad Libs, Land Of 1000 Dances by Cannibal and the Headhunters reached #2 in May, Liar, Liar by The Castaways, and Keep On Dancing by The Gentrys climbed to #3,

The top-selling album of the year was the soundtrack from Mary Poppins. Looks like moms were buying most of the albums. This is also somewhat misleading since many of the top artists released multiple albums in a year. The Beatles released four. Most teens probably couldn't afford to buy all four. It didn't take long to produce an album back then. Singers or groups went into the studio with all the supporting musicians assembled and sang the songs. The tracks weren't all recorded individually in separate locations and then run through several computer programs, synthesizers, cut, spliced, rearranged, enhanced, etc.

1965 was a very good year for music and not a bad year for me. I still listen to a lot of the songs from that year. For most people, the music of our teens becomes our favorite. I like some of the contemporary music but I always go back to the songs of the 60's. Music brings back memories and 1965 was mostly good times so listening to that music is also mostly memories of good times.

So crank up the volume on the old AM radio, cruise the burger joint and enjoy some very good music from 1965.

wjh