Video of the Week: Silver Threads and Golden Anniversaries–The Seekers Celebrate 50 Years

27 Jun 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags:

In the Seekers’ appearance on ’60 Minutes’ from 2012, the only 60’s band still together with its original lineup intact look back at their heyday and a time when earnest, well-performed folk music had a place in the charts right beside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

This group was a favorite in my house when I was growing up, and I passed on a love for them to my son as my dad did for me.

If you remember or appreciate the genre, you’ll find the 1968 farewell performance linked below a real treat. Also, enjoy Judith Durham’s crystalline vocals leading a typically ebullient performance on “Love is Kind, Love is Wine”, their final U.S. chart entry (#135) from 1968. This joyful tune deserved a wider audience

 

See also: https://edcyphers.com/2012/10/28/9601/

Video of the Week: The Best Pop Song Ever Written?

27 Jun 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in Video of the Week Tags: ,

Bob Dylan obliges annoying fan in Berkeley by actually playing ‘Free Bird’

24 Jun 2017 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

(via SFGate)

You’ve seen that guy.

He emerges from some dark corner of the audience, maybe drunk, gawkily shoving his way through the crowd as the audience stands contented, mesmerized by the rock god onstage. He leans forward next to your ear, brutishly disturbing your daydream with a shrill, piercing shout:

“FREE BIRD!”

Eyes roll in the audience. The man’s face snarls with wretched delight. He is the only one laughing.

But just before your disgust impels you to jam your elbow into this troll’s ribcage, a guitar rings out. Everyone turns to the stage.

Holy hell, Bob Dylan is actually playing “Free Bird.”

To the shock of a Berkeley audience, Dylan closed out his set at the Greek Theater last week — which featured covers of some of Frank Sinatra’s most famous songs from his newest album “Fallen Angels” —  with a take on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1973 hit “Free Bird.”

The Death of the Electric Guitar

24 Jun 2017 1 Comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

(via The Washington Post) By Geoff Edgers June 22, 2017

The convention couldn’t sound less rock-and-roll — the National Association of Music Merchants Show. But when the doors open at the Anaheim Convention Center, people stream in to scour rows of Fenders, Les Pauls and the oddball, custom-built creations such as the 5-foot-4-inch mermaid guitar crafted of 15 kinds of wood.
Standing in the center of the biggest, six-string candy store in the United States, you can almost believe all is well within the guitar world.
Except if, like George Gruhn, you know better. The 71-year-old Nashville dealer has sold guitars to Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift. Walking through NAMM with Gruhn is like shadowing Bill Belichick at the NFL Scouting Combine. There is great love for the product and great skepticism. What others might see as a boom — the seemingly endless line of manufacturers showcasing instruments — Gruhn sees as two trains on a collision course.
“There are more makers now than ever before in the history of the instrument, but the market is not growing,” Gruhn says in a voice that flutters between a groan and a grumble. “I’m not all doomsday, but this — this is not sustainable.”

The numbers back him up. In the past decade, electric guitar sales have plummeted, from about 1.5 million sold annually to just over 1 million…

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/the-slow-secret-death-of-the-electric-guitar/?utm_term=.471017b5534a

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