Random Music Thoughts

Unsomnambulist said:
www.stereophile.com

The Clash: Still Calling

It's not just the gray hairs or the expanding waistline that suggest one is getting old: it's also when the albums you love so much, and so vividly remember hearing for the first time, have become a part of the rock heritage industry. So it is with London Calling by the Clash, which celebrates...
www.stereophile.com www.stereophile.com

Good retrospective on London Calling on its 40th anniversary.
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Good article!

(Representing only a small snippet of) Things I liked:
I remember the frisson of the stylus touching the vinyl when I heard the opening salvo of guitar and drums on the new album's title track.
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A few years later, [Guy Stevens] helped form Procol Harum, whom he named after a friend's cat (he got the spelling wrong), and is credited as the person who uttered to the band's lyricist, Keith Reid, "she's turned a whiter shade of pale," planting a seed for the famous song. Later still, at Island Records, he helped form Mott the Hoople by discovering singer Ian Hunter (through a classified ad in Melody Maker). Stevens also named that group (after the title of a novel he had read during an eight-month drug-offense sentence as a guest of Her Majesty) and went on to produce three of their first four albums.
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Things I didn't like:
Still, with a pedigree like that, Guy Stevens and his work impressed me and my record-buying mates. (We ignored his part in producing recordings by Free: Our musical horizons may have been expanding back then, but there were limits.)
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Ojai Sam said:
jacobinmag.com

In Defense of Kenny G

Our first piece of 2020: a defense of the great Kenny G.
jacobinmag.com jacobinmag.com
I will be back later with my Kenny G story.
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Kenny G Is Bad “Because I Said So”
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Kenny G has been savagely maligned for decades and this seems to be the reason. Well, that and the fact that sometimes success breeds contempt.

He's not a favored musician for me, but he's nothing close to being a bad musician. If someone gave me tickets, I would go.

Which reminds me of a Celine Dion story. When she first became popular, I liked her first couple of radio hits. REALLY liked them. So much so I bought an album or two. After a while, she either went too far in a direction that I didn't like enough to keep buying, or my tastes went in other directions. Either way, I stopped listening to her albums. Then, as it because popular to dislike her and make fun of her for being a cute young(ish) singer married to an old rich man, I admit that in my less-enlightened young adulthood I laughed along a little. Then a friend asked me to go to a show with him because he had an extra ticket and no one wanted to go. I figured why not, it's free. I nearly backed out in the last couple of days, but I went. Walking up to the arena, surrounded by either very old people or various groupings of mothers and daughters and grandmothers, I seriously considered walking away. The audience was sending me a message that I was not going to enjoy the show.

It turned out to be a great show. From presentation to singing to everything, it was a top-class, grandly presented spectacle. It changed my mind about judging art/music/literature/etc based on "popular" opinion. It reinforced that the crowd really does get a lot of things wrong.

Can't wait for the Kenny G story!
 
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JazzyRandy said:
Kenny G has been savagely maligned for decades and this seems to be the reason. Well, that and the fact that sometimes success breeds contempt.

He's not a favored musician for me, but he's nothing close to being a bad musician. If someone gave me tickets, I would go.

Which reminds me of a Celine Dion story. When she first became popular, I liked her first couple of radio hits. REALLY liked them. So much so I bought an album or two. After a while, she either went too far in a direction that I didn't like enough to keep buying, or my tastes went in other directions. Either way, I stopped listening to her albums. Then, as it because popular to dislike her and make fun of her for being a cute young(ish) singer married to an old rich man, I admit that in my less-enlightened young adulthood I laughed along a little. Then a friend asked me to go to a show with him because he had an extra ticket and no one wanted to go. I figured why not, it's free. I nearly backed out in the last couple of days, but I went. Walking up to the arena, surrounded by either very old people or various groupings of mothers and daughters and grandmothers, I seriously considered walking away. The audience was sending me a message that I was not going to enjoy the show.

It turned out to be a great show. From presentation to singing to everything, it was a top-class, grandly presented spectacle. It changed my mind about judging art/music/literature/etc based on "popular" opinion. It reinforced that the crowd really does get a lot of things wrong.

Can't wait for the Kenny G story!
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Many years ago, my wife's sister took us to Las Vegas for their 40th birthday celebration, which included tickets to see a Celine Dion show. I said "you've got to be kidding". But, we went. And we were easily the youngest people in the hall by two decades.
She was a bit goofy, but overall the show was great. It didn't hurt that it was all performed along with Cirque du Soleil actors, but fun never the less. I never thought I would have said that.
And I will save my Sting and David Spade stories for later (both in Vegas. not together).
 
JazzyRandy said:
I'm not lawyer, but I both appreciate and detest the effort. It was a smart move, but if they haven't found a way to use it in the past 50 years, why do this now? Easy for me to say when it's not my possible profits on the line.
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Because maximizing shareholder value means not letting anything potentially money-making (now or in the future) slip out of your hands.
 
^^^^
My wife and I have at times just said "What the hell" and gone to random shows which music purists would definitely scoff - have seen Barry Manilow, The Beach Boys, and Air Supply and both concerts, after I dismissed my skepticism, were indeed fun concerts by performers who (at this point in their careers) just want to give enjoyable shows to their loyal fans. Definitely something nice in that.
 
So here is my Kenny G story. It’s in much the same vein as Nick’s tale of Celine Dion.

A couple of years ago, I finished a long Court battle that made a lot of money available to fund new facilities at Torrance Memorial Hospital. The widow of my late client, the donor, invited me and Mrs. Ojai to a big celebratory soirée at the nearby “campus” of Honda:

https://www.torrancememorial.org/Ne...ist_Kenny_G_to_Perform_at_32nd_Annual_Ho.aspx

When I saw that Kenny G was the headliner, my heart sank. Mrs. Ojai shrugged (she also happens to be a huge fan of Celine) but I put forth a never-ending stream of highbrow criticism of Smooth Jazz, The Wave and Kenny G.

When we arrived, the evening started looking better immediately. Our table mate was none other than Miss Guatemala World. :oops:

66359274.cms


I don’t recall ever meeting anyone else who could get away with wearing a low cut leopard print jump suit and matching stilettos. ;)

Stunning as Miss G was, Kenny G turned out to be the big surprise of the evening. From the first note, he held the audience in the palm of his hand. Working with a cordless mic, he wandered all over taking selfies with old and young alike. His crack road band has played with him for many years, offering the perfect foil for Kenny’s self-deprecating humor. After working through his many lightweight hits on soprano sax, Kenny announced that his true love was hard bop. He then proceeded to haul out an alto for a nonstop 30 minute closing medley that would not have embarrassed Jackie McLean.

I left as a fully converted fan of this thoroughly professional, hardworking entertainer. Go see Kenny if he comes to your area. You won’t be disappointed.
 
Got my Last.fm Year in Review Email:
I know many don't scrobble anymore but I still like looking at listening trends; plus it helps me reviewing artists I haven't heard in awhile.
Overall, it's incredible by year end how consistent my listening is - over the past 4 years, I have been between 16,774 and 17075 tracks spun. I average 46 tracks/day, small potatoes compared to some here but in the grand scheme of things, damn it, still a LOT of listening (apparently 41 days, 4 hours).
Granted I listened a lot more 10 years ago, but still happy I haven't lost much of that verve for my first love ;)

Jeez 41 days of music listening. Got me thinking how much music lovers like us listen compared to the average Joe.
 
Zeeba Neighba said:
Got my Last.fm Year in Review Email:
I know many don't scrobble anymore but I still like looking at listening trends; plus it helps me reviewing artists I haven't heard in awhile.
Overall, it's incredible by year end how consistent my listening is - over the past 4 years, I have been between 16,774 and 17075 tracks spun. I average 46 tracks/day, small potatoes compared to some here but in the grand scheme of things, damn it, still a LOT of listening (apparently 41 days, 4 hours).
Granted I listened a lot more 10 years ago, but still happy I haven't lost much of that verve for my first love ;)

Jeez 41 days of music listening. Got me thinking how much music lovers like us listen compared to the average Joe.
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We scrobblers gotta stick together. :hug:

Here’s my report:

Scrobble stats
SCROBBLES
22,829 down8%
Previous best: 24,738
SCROBBLES PER DAY
62
TOTAL LISTENING TIME
55 days, 12 hours

Let’s not tell Mrs. Ojai that I spent nearly 2 months listening to music, shall we?:nunja:
 
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