Art is the music we make from the bewildered cry of being alive. ~Maria Popova
23 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: paul is dead hoak, the beatles
23 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: paul is dead hoax, the beatles
In 1969, the Northern Star newspaper of Northern Illinois University ran a story claiming that Paul McCartney had been killed in a car crash in 1966 and had been replaced by a look-alike. Russell Gibb of WKNR-FM in Detroit picked up on the claim and the story went worldwide. By late October 1969, the hoax was so well entrenched that McCartney came out of seclusion at his Scottish farm to deny the story. When McCartney was asked to comment by a reporter visiting Macca’s farm, he replied, “Do I look dead? I’m as fit as a fiddle.”
Read more: http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/pages/paul_mccartney_death_myths
22 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: the lick
(via Open Culture)
by Josh Jones
“…there is one lick in particular, as you can see and hear in the supercut above, that…has managed to seed itself everywhere. “The Lick,” it seems, “pervades music history.” It shows up in Stravinsky’s “Firebird,” Player’s “Baby Come Back,” Christina Aguilera’s “Get Mine, Get Yours.” Writes Santa Maria, “Everyone from Coltrane to Kenny G has put this hot lick to the test.” It even has its own Facebook page, where users submit example after example of appearances of “The Lick.”…
…no one seems to know where exactly “The Lick” came from. At some point, its origin ceased to matter…“The Lick” seems to have worked itself so deeply into our musical unconscious that many players and composers likely have no idea they’re reproducing a musical quotation. For whatever reason, and your guess is as good as mine, “The Lick” has become a genuine musical meme, a “unit of imitation” that propagates musical culture wherever it lands.
Read more: http://www.openculture.com/2015/09/a-great-supercut-of-the-lick.html
20 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: jim croce
One of the great voices in the history of music left use 42 years ago today. Jim Croce along with 5 others lost their lives when the plane they were riding in hit a treetop on take off from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
Maury Muehleisen Jim’s long time friend and music partner was also killed along with charter pilot Robert N. Elliott, comedian George Stevens, manager and booking agent Kenneth D. Cortose, and road manager Dennis Rast. Croce …had just completed a concert at Northwestern State University’s Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches and was flying to Sherman, Texas, for a concert at Austin College. The plane crashed an hour after the end of the concert. Croce was 30 years old.
Jim had finished recording the album “I Got a Name” one week before his death. During his tours, Croce grew increasingly homesick, and decided to take a break from music and settle down with his wife and infant son after his “Life and Times” tour was completed.
In a letter he wrote to his wife, which arrived after his death, Croce stated his intention to quit music and stick to writing short stories and movie scripts as a career, and withdraw from public life.
(via The College of Rock and Roll Knowledge)
18 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: most influential song
(via The Almanac)
Clive Davis, chief creative officer, Sony Music
Who will ever forget Joan Baez’s leading a crowd of 300,000 singing “We Shall Overcome” during the March on Washington, or Martin Luther King Jr.’s reciting the lyrics in his final sermon? Whether fighting for civil rights in South Africa or in Ireland or in the U.S., can any song be more inspiring?
Alex Ross, music critic, The New Yorker; author, Listen to This
Claudio Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, first performed in Mantua in 1607, was the first opera to endure. The Italian master used a dazzling array of styles—fanfares, dances, arias, laments—to retell the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. Four centuries later, it still holds audiences transfixed.
Marin Alsop, music director, Baltimore and São Paulo Symphony Orchestras
In 1967, Aretha Franklin made the Otis Redding song “Respect” thoroughly her own. It not only became her personal anthem, winning her two Grammy Awards, but also came to represent the feminist movement. She added the refrain “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.” What more needs to be said?
15 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in General Posts Tags: the smothers brothers, the who
Recorded 48 years ago tonight on September 15, 1967 (for airing two days later) here is the performance that introduced much of America to the band who had the reputation for smashing their instruments on stage.
Their performance of “I Can See For Miles” and “My Generation” is capped by a pyrotechnic finale that included an explosion so great it caused Pete Townshend permanent hearing loss.
Every Moment Has A Song 