Scott's music & art journal

Lenny Kravitz + Trombone Shorty

2010-05-26T11:31:00.001-07:00

Lenny Kravitz and Trombone Shorty? Hot!!

Brent Spiner to be scanned for Yellow Submarine remake

2010-01-11T19:35:00.001-08:00

Brent Spiner + crowd at Atomic Museum
Originally uploaded by scottmace2005

Just back from the Consumer Electronics Show with a scoop of sorts. I met Brent Spiner, otherwise known as Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was a featured guest at the blogger party It Won't Stay in Vegas. I only chatted with him long enough to ask him if he had been "data captured" for motion-capture parts in movies, and he revealed that he would soon be scanned for a possible part in the Disney remake of Yellow Submarine. Brent was gracious and good-humored despite the crush of admirers. (I was able to snap this photo of Brent to give you an idea of the crowd.)

Craigslist, baby!

2009-06-16T09:48:00.001-07:00

Grace

2009-04-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

Grace to me is the difference between those who can appreciate the remaining Moody Blues in concert, such as last night in Oakland, and those who, like a gentleman I met today, still moan about the departure of Mike Pinder, an event now 21 years in the past.

May I grow old gracefully!

Alice Cooper, DeMolay alumnus

2008-09-17T13:49:00.000-07:00

Fun fact (according to Wikipedia): Shock-rock musician Alice Cooper belonged to the DeMolay when he was growing up (that is, if you think he ever did grow up.)

Brian Wilson delights (again)

2008-09-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

Jim Harrington: Brian Wilson delights lucky, small crowd. I was one of them.

That Lucky Old Sun preview at USA Today

2008-08-27T00:56:00.001-07:00

If I hadn't been in Las Vegas yesterday morning, I probably wouldn't have noticed that USA Today was preview-streaming Brian Wilson's new CD, That Lucky Old Sun, in its entirety. I just finished listening to it, and it's far more satisfying than I first thought it would be when I heard snippets of it months ago. Brian sounds stronger and more soulful than he has in years.

The Moody Blues, reconsidered

2008-07-07T23:34:00.001-07:00

For the past week or so I've been unable to get the songs of the Moody Blues out of my head. The Moodies probably were more vilified than any other rock band in the pages of Rolling Stone (the one exception being an album review by apparent fan Steve Ditlea) but damned if their tunes weren't catchy. Anyway, my head wouldn't have been filled if not for the fascinating documentary, The Moody Blues: Classic Artists, that reveals such juicy bits as the revelation that the producer of Days of Future Passed, a classical music A&R man named Tony Clarke, was in mid-production when he realized that they were making a psychedelic record! The subsequent breakup of the group is in its way as disheartening as the breakups of many other groups of the day, and the Moodies do not deserve the pillorying that Rolling Stone ended up giving them. It's not enough to make me cancel my lifetime RS subscription, but I just thought I'd have my say, while I'm waiting for Amazon to deliver Every Good Boy Deserves Favour.

1980s ELO videos appear

2008-06-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

Electric Light Orchestra videos surface! Sony's opened the vaults. I'd never seen these before. Nice mashup lets me drop them in here.

Burning Woman at Sunday Maker Faire, shut down by SMFD

2008-05-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Remember the closing scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail? King Arthur's knights were locked in battle with their mortal foes...when a bunch of police cars swoop in and break it up. I was reminded of that yesterday when at the Maker Faire, and sighted this sculpture aflame. I assume they weren't supposed to fire it up again after Saturday night, because the next minute a San Mateo Fire Department truck was on the scene, the crew hopped out and started calling for an end to the Sunday afternoon flamefest, and the crowd rapidly dissipated. But just before that happened, my wife snapped this photo.

(Photo by River Abeje)

Reluctant Witness

2008-05-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Caught the new band Reluctant Witness at the Satyricon in Portland last weekend. This band didn't suck. It also didn't exist four days earlier, and my lovely wife River played bass and wrote the lyrics to this tune, Step Into Your Power. Pretty impressive debut for these four newcomers to the rock 'n roll biz.

Updating the classics

2008-04-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

It looks like we'll all be on the hook to purchase new versions of classic 60s music once the digital remastering and stereo separation wizards have their way. For instance, why does this recording of Build Me Up Buttercup sound so much better than anything you can buy currently on iTunes?

Carlene Carter comes roaring back

2008-03-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

An instant classic is Carlene Carter's return album, "Stronger." A great album, and right now you can listen to it all at the Carlene Carter Fan Club Web site.

Stevie Riks: Talented pop music mimic

2008-01-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

Stevie Riks brilliantly imitates all four Beatles, Jeff Lynne, and a host of others. I'm now subscribed to his YouTube channel.

Lenny Kravitz

2007-11-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

Gigged at Oracle's customer appreciation party at the Cow Palace last night -- woke up the neighbors. Check out two new trax from his forthcoming album. Guitar Hero!

How to Speak Hip

2006-08-19T09:03:00.000-07:00

Del Close's How to Speak Hip, online, for free.

Elvis Perkins

2006-08-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

And how about a shout-out to World Party's opening act Aug. 12, Elvis Perkins. There's a new generation of kids out there with some fine musical chops. (Jackie Greene, who opened for Mavis Staples, is another example.) Perkins' band made "ancient" music cool again. The drummer stepped out from behind his kit to strap on a big marching-band drum, and proceeded to rock out. Another band member played a harmonium, first time I'd ever seen one used in a live performance. What a cool sound.

World Party...whoo hoo!!

2006-08-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

Absolute bliss. That's what I felt experiencing World Party at the Great American Music Hall last Saturday night. So what if the sound system sucked! Karl Wallinger is the master of melody. His songs stick in your head for weeks and months. I even forgave his ramble about Bertrand Russell between songs. To hear Vanity Fair, It is Time, Message in a Box, She's the One, Sweet Soul Dream, Is it Like Today?, Is it Too Late?, Way Down Now, winding up with the great Ship of Fools...live with a kick-ass backing band...whoo hoo!!

Glide Magazine just published a great interview with Karl. It's full of lots of usually unspoken truths about both the music and technology businesses.

Mavis Staples

2006-07-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

My family and I caught Mavis Staples at Stern Grove on Sunday. She still sounds terrific and her band certainly brings the funk. A special treat was her rendition of The Weight, a song most people associate with The Band. Now I have to rent The Last Waltz where the two groups perform it together.

The disappearing constant

2006-04-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Oddity discovered while playing my iTunes library by song name, in alphabetical order: INXS and R.E.M. both have songs titled "Disappear" and they're both 4 minutes and 10 seconds long. Otherwise, two completely different songs.

Wikipedia brings sense to DC comics continuity

2006-01-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

When I started reading DC Comics' Infinite Crisis, my first question was, what happened to hypertime? That's when I discovered that the authors of Wikipedia were doing a great job of explaining the reasons why DC's continuity is what it is.

Allan Sherman limited edition box set

2005-12-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

Attention Allan Sherman fans! I just found out about My Son, the Box, "An individually numbered, limited edition of 4000 copies from Rhino Handmade" released last month. I placed my order. I hope I can copy the tracks to my iPod, but there's more and more copy-protected CDs these days, so who knows?

Kennedy's "Your Mama"

2005-09-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

This video really cracked me up. They've out-Becked Beck.

The Beatles launch a Flash-based magazine

2005-07-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

Over at The Beatles' Web site, there's an interesting Flash-based magazine known simply as "Words," the first issue of which is just out this month. Among the goodies are the "unused" video of "Come Together" from 2001 -- pretty trippy animation; as well as news of the Cirque du Soleil planned 2006 show based on The Beatles' music.

Milk and cereal

2005-03-17T13:26:00.000-08:00

Milk and Cereal make for one goofy homebrewed music video.

Congratulations to Brian Wilson

2005-02-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

Congratulations, Brian, on receiving your first Grammy.

Up! The Blue CD

2005-02-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

Some accuse Shania Twain of being responsible for everything that's wrong in Nashville. I disagree. Her Up! CD from 2002 was ingeniously packaged with two CDs, with rock mixes on the "Red CD" and country mixes of the same songs on a "Green CD." Who can argue with choice? More importantly, the songs "work" either way. Now, after a two-month wait from Amazon, I've received the International Version of Up!, with the Red CD plus a Blue CD containing Bollywood (Indian) remixes of the tracks. It sounds great, and makes an interesting statement about the globalization of music. If you have the U.S. edition, you can see the cover of the Blue CD, with Shania appropriately in Bollywood garb, inside the CD artwork. Judging by how long it took my Blue CD to arrive, the International Version may be getting hard to find, so if you have any interest in it, I recommend buying it now.

SMiLE live: Blissed, blessed

2004-11-07T21:32:00.000-08:00

The Oakland Tribune's review of Brian Wilson performing SMiLE live seemed to miss the point: This was an incredible event filled with brave and beautiful music, and a spirtuality rarely seen outside of church performances.

The Nov. 4 event was appropriately held at Davies Symphony Hall, apparently sold out, drawing together a mix of young and old. While a bit heavy on the old Beach Boys hits, there were fabulous obscure gems, such as Marcella, Sail on Sailor, Add Some Music to Your Day, and even a new song, Gettin' in Over My Head.

But the centerpiece, SMiLE in its entirety, was in another league. Whether you focused on the obvious delight Brian showed in seeing this piece performed yet again (this concert concluded a U.S. tour), or on the fascinating mix of odd instruments used (theramin, megaphone, power drill, many others), or the amazing vocals, it was a unique experience, not to be repeated.

I also had the good fortune of meeting several other aficionados via the message board at BrianWilson.com, which made the concert the starting point for several friendships.

2004-10-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ralph's World: The new album is The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro.

Ralph's World live: Bravo!

2004-10-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ralph Covert, the creator of the Ralph's World series of CDs and DVDs, is surely the most talented writer and performer of kids' songs today. His songs speak right to kids, and it's delightful to find out that he's even better in concert. My family saw him today at the Community School of Music and Arts' Finn Center in Mountain View, California. He had the kids doing a choo-choo train conga around the theatre, and invited all the young ones up on stage for a boffo finale featuring his "Sunny Day Rainy Day Anytime Band" which is catchy to all ages in that Beatles sort of way it suggests. If you get a chance to see Ralph, take your kid or borrow someone else's, and go.