tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10467024813434701612024-03-05T17:41:24.984-05:00So Much Music, Not Enough TimeFree Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-2934431191463441262009-07-20T10:25:00.003-04:002009-07-20T13:18:00.190-04:00William Topley Concert Report - Mauch Chunk Opera House (Jim Thorpe, PA)So those of us who were there last Saturday, July 18 were of course wondering why this great talent isn't recognized more on the east coast. I was so honored to finally get to see this soulful Brit and his great group. Showing such wonderful British manners, Topley thanked the Opera House sponsors, not once, but five times over the course of the evening, for bringing him to Jim Thorpe, showing unexpected grace and gratitude for this small audience of perhaps 50 people. The group, a woman singing harmonies, his lead guitarist and Topley were as <span style="font-style: italic;">tight</span> and together as a group could be. No woman could sing with this guy and not have a strong set of pipes, and she's fabulous. His lead guitarist was a treasure. The three of them sang everything from his most recent wonderful CD <span style="font-weight: bold;">Water Taxi,</span> and many songs from previous albums. <br /><br />The two 'standout' things about William Topley are his voice, and the incredible melodies he sings. Topley has a range that takes him from 'growling' to 'howling' when he sings. That made me fall in love with his sound <span style="font-style: italic;">straight off</span> when I first heard him four years ago.<br /><br />Watching him sing last Saturday, I was thinking about the kind of crushingly romantic lyrics he writes about women and love. It's the closest thing to Dylan's kind of passionate poetry I've heard yet. As a rock and roll loving woman, it makes me melt.<br /><br />The CD <span style="font-style: italic;">Feasting With Panthers</span> was my first taste of William Topley. Yikes. I'll provide a snapshot of several of Topley's CD's, but this remains <span style="font-style: italic;">by far</span> my favorite, and it blew me out of the water right from the get-go. He's got the blues thing down, and he sounds like he grew up on the bayou playing guitar as a youngster. (How do these Brits do it???) There's a lot of 'growling' and 'howling' on this stunning CD. <span style="font-style: italic;">I Can't Wait </span>has an angry-about-love reprise "...I know it's bad, but if I can't have you, anyone will do!". He delivers it <span style="font-style: italic;">so </span>well. <span style="font-style: italic;">Los Largos</span> is possibly the most musically brilliant piece he's ever done...ever. There's a dreamy set of melodic transitions and key changes, with Spanish dialogue behind it while he intones "I want to hold you by my side, I want to make you laugh, I want to make you cry", and the unforgettably 'cool' (my favorite) growled reprise, "What you gotta do to get ahead these days it seems, you gotta rock Manhattan and Staten, the Bronx, Jamaica and Queens". Do not miss this particular CD.<br /><br />Other CD highlights for Topley include:<br /><ul><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sea Fever</span> - Song of a Seabird, Sophia, I Don't Wanna Go Uptown, Drink Called love</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Black River</span> - The Ring (listen to him growl), Drink Called Love, Black River, You Don't Love Me Anymore (great harmonies)</li><li><span style="font-weight: bold;">Spanish Wells</span> - Ten Ten (more growling!),Walk Like I Do </li></ul>Topley grew up in Britain, and is heavily influenced by Van Morrison, The Stones, Sting, Dire Straits ... but more than anything, the best of American soul and southern rock. Go to his website and listen to the sound bytes there, the first of which right now is 'Sixteen'.<br /><br />That's it for now. I wanted to report on this artist and his concert in Jim Thorpe (good concerts there by the way, and great place to visit during the day!). Let's try to get him back to the east coast soon! As I'd mentioned, the next entries will be about Daniel Lanois and Papa Mali ... two artists <span style="font-style: italic;">well worth </span>reviewing.<br /><br />Over and out,<br /><br />Free Fallin' KristinFree Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-18044554606963392222009-06-26T12:49:00.000-04:002009-06-26T13:45:12.104-04:00A Moment of Silence for Jacko...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7C8Nv5F7NU3Fj7u8boA9VP0TEoFbGSeplUrTyd6jbDQW1n3qxLz3vJfxC6PoRXYkJAnKzsi9h57Ds0og5pplTkFAhZDzDxFupNZcc8ryGUtOGtIev_kdnpd6j7uWfr2GFWx5E2isc_cs/s1600-h/Michael+Jackson+on+Rolling+Stone+Mag.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 344px; height: 344px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7C8Nv5F7NU3Fj7u8boA9VP0TEoFbGSeplUrTyd6jbDQW1n3qxLz3vJfxC6PoRXYkJAnKzsi9h57Ds0og5pplTkFAhZDzDxFupNZcc8ryGUtOGtIev_kdnpd6j7uWfr2GFWx5E2isc_cs/s400/Michael+Jackson+on+Rolling+Stone+Mag.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351688157887695074" border="0" /></a><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kristin/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-4.jpg" alt="" /><br /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kristin/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kristin/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kristin/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-2.jpg" alt="" /><img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Kristin/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-3.jpg" alt="" /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The inimitable Michael Jackson has left us. I don't own a piece of his music, but that's probably about to change. What I DO know is that ANYTIME I've heard most of his better known songs, I've been movin', dancin' and singin'. 'Thriller' alone was electrifying, and the video itself was a historical event.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">A couple of memories struck me in the last 24 hours, looking back on Jack-o. The first is learning years ago that the late, and very great Fred Astaire, not long before he died, gave a </span></span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:arial;font-size:78%;" >monumental nod</span><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-family:arial;"> to Michael's dancing skills, describing him as the only person as good as he (Fred) was. Damn! Fred, we were seeing it too.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br />The other memory I have is of a night around 10 years ago watching TV in a hotel on a business trip. Flipping around, I found Michael Jackson kicking off what might have been (not sure here) his last 'Return Tour'. By then he had no place in my musical consciousness, except 'talented, strange and getting stranger'. Jackson came out onstage, postured completely still, centerstage, with the hat and signature glove, and proceeded to THRILL me for the next hour or so. I'd expected to flip away from the show, not be more than passingly interested, and not want to be gawking at this odd man with almost no bone structure left in his multiple-plastic-surgery-re-arranged face. What I 'saw' instead was a performance that left me cheering alone in my hotel room. The artfulness with which he incorporated the use of his hat to shade his face, in conjunction with clever dance steps to keep him from frontally facing the audience ... ALL THE WHILE dancing and singing with his renowned energy and magic, that I was hypnotized. Later on I found fellow non-pop-music world friends who'd also seen this performance, as overjoyed to see it as I was. I'll never forget it.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;">Jacko, you were a weird and at times sad guy, but you left us a cultural pop legacy that reached around the world. You were part of this great country's stars. Thanks.</span></span><br /></span></span>Free Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-90993940646034607522009-06-22T14:40:00.000-04:002009-06-23T13:43:28.521-04:00Sonia Dada & the Late Rory Gallagher<span style="font-family:arial;">Sonia Dada has been on my list of favorites for years now. I first heard them coming home from work in my car, on Philadelphia's 88.5 WXPN. I bought and owned their music by that evening. Side note: in that same car ride I also heard cuts from Lindsey Buckingham's then-new CD, 'Out of the Cradle', which I also owned by that night! We'll talk about the great Lindsey in another post.<br /><br />I've seen Sonia Dada 3 times in the Philly area. People don't sit down, even if there are seats. They are a rockin' gospel-blues music genre group, based in Chicago. One day in 1990, songwriter-guitarist Dan Pritzker got off a subway train and heard the three-part harmonies of Michael Scott, Paris Delane and Sam Hogan. Pritzker had already been working with a group with long time friends, guitarist Dave Resnik, drummer Hank Guaglianone and bassist Erik Scott. The three singers joined the quartet, and Sonia Dada had a new lineup with keyboardist Chris "Hambone" Cameron.</span><p style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-family:arial;">The CD I heard that night in the car was '' A Day At The Beach". Yowza. It's still one of my favorite sounds, and they are GREAT live...really great. Get yourself to iTunes or Amazon and listen to some of the cuts. In fact, go to YouTube and listen to <span style="font-style: italic;">Screamin' John</span>. It's great for openers (sold me!), but the whole album is killer. Sail Away, Crazy Jane and Lester's Methadone Clinic are masterpieces. If music had not become so <span style="font-style: italic;">crushingly</span> competitive, these guys would be headliners ... my opinion of course! They're stars in my book, anyway. Look 'em up or comment here.<br /><br />Rory Gallagher. Man, I don't even remember when I stumbled across him. He died in the '90's, sadly of liver failure and you-guessed-it, a fatal love affair with alcohol. What an insane GIFT to the music world was this guy! Eric Clapton apparently once stated that Gallagher gave him a whole new understanding of the blues. The best albums are the live ones, if you can get them. My first 'hard listen' was on a business trip by car, and I remember driving across a big bridge to our state capitol, and listening to <span style="font-style: italic;">As the Crow Flies</span>. I almost went off the road with excitement. This guy probably outdid Springsteen onstage for frenetic, insane dedication to kicking out the jams for his audience. Some of the great albums: "The Irish Tour" (As the Crow Flies is on this), "The BBC Concert", and "Stage Struck". Go to YouTube and watch him play <span style="font-style: italic;">Goin' to My Home Town</span> (give this a good 50 seconds of intro to KICK IN to the good stuff...love it!), <span style="font-style: italic;">Cradle Rock, Messin' With the Kid</span> (give this 50 seconds of intro too), Bullfrog Blues (great googely-moogley as Frank Zappa used to say!!!!), Rory Gallagher and Stevie Ray Vaughan ... oh and much, much more.<br /><br />What a terrible, terrible loss to the music world that Rory isn't with us anymore. One of his songs I listen to, <span style="font-style: italic;">Too Much Alcohol</span>, portends with creepy accuracy, this artist's demise. Our boy apparently drank with the same dedication that he so passionately played his music onstage.<br /><br />That's it for today. I could write forever about the music I love, and hence the title to this blog.</span></p><p style="font-family: arial;">Next time: we'll talk about Papa Mali and Daniel Lanois. Over and out ...</p><p style="font-family: arial;">Free Fallin' Kristin<br /></p>Free Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-36832960436732860132009-06-17T11:45:00.000-04:002009-06-23T09:59:31.920-04:00New Blues Discoveries<span style="font-family:arial;">It always stuns me when I browse musicians I like, and follow the 'if you like so-and-so, look at these artists'. So I was following Walter Trout the other day (now there's a treasure), and discovered a couple of pretty awesome people -- Albert </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" style="font-family:arial;">Castiglia</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> (</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" style="font-family:arial;">Walkin</span><span style="font-family:arial;">' Blues, Hurricane Blues), and </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-family:arial;">Aynsley</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> Lister (holy mother of good slide blues...Aeroplane Blues, Running Out on Me, Sugar Low, As the Crow Flies).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Post comments if you can about these guys!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This is a short post today, but upcoming will be posts about Sonia Dada and the ever-ever astounding and late Rory Gallagher from Ireland. Teaser: Listen to Rory doing 'As the Crow Flies' to get your ya-</span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-family:arial;">yas</span><span style="font-family:arial;"> on!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Peace,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Free Fallin' Kristin</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">PS William Topley is STILL performing in Jim Thorpe, PA July 18. Go to his website and just listen...the guy has a rich blues and soul vibe, and I love him.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Free </span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" style="font-family:arial;">Fallin</span><span style="font-family:arial;">' Kristin</span>Free Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-13585289075503674842009-06-12T11:00:00.000-04:002009-06-12T11:09:59.016-04:00William Topley! Playing in Jim Thorpe PA - yay!!!!William Topley! Playing in Jim Thorpe July 18<br /><br />This wonderful Brit sounds like he grew up on the bayou along the Mississippi. How do the Brits do that???? Anyway, he's wonderful. I never would have discovered him, if it weren't for volunteering at WXPN a few years ago. Volunteers are allowed to look over sample and demo CD's to take home, as a 'thank you' for their efforts on a fund raising shift. I plucked out a CD entitled 'Feasting With Panthers'. Whoa! Outstanding...the whole thing.<br /><br />So I got interested and started looking him up. This guy deserves WAY more attention. Check out his website for some of the music (plays right off the bat).<br /><br />If anyone's going to Jim Thorpe for this, say 'hey'. This should be a great concert and I'm thrilled to see him around here.<br /><br />More later!<br /><br />Free Fallin' KristinFree Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1046702481343470161.post-8172126711715798772009-06-09T12:42:00.000-04:002009-06-09T14:23:09.859-04:00Summer Music Schedules Are Out!<span style="font-family: arial;">This is my first blog entry. Tune in, local </span><span style="font-family: arial;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">PennJerDel</span> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">music lovers!<br /><br />Every year I go through the same thing. The summer concert schedules come out, and I start trying to talk people into going to events with me. This is like herding cats!!!! Can I go my myself? Sure. Half the fun is, sharing the fun, the comments, and the whole experience with other music lovers. Your music friends come and go. Sometimes you have a built-in 'music buddy', and sometimes they go off into another world, and either don't have time, or lose interest.<br /><br />In April-May for instance, my annual <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">pilgrimage</span> to New Orleans and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">JazzFest</span> happens. For a while years ago, we had a whole group. Little by little it dwindled, until the year before last, I pretty much went by myself. You do meet people there, and sometimes make plans to hook up later at selected events. You can stay in touch long after that, which is cool.<br /><br />But one of the things I started thinking about this year was starting a blog to find people in the Philly area (Jersey and Delaware of course!) who love this stuff, follow music, and maybe go to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">JazzFest</span> folks. This year in New Orleans I did spot a number of Philly peeps at the fairgrounds, and it's great to greet one another. But it would be wonderful to kind of have a group of people with whom one had discussed the upcoming schedule, who's playing, write musical reviews, and other cool things to look for in New Orleans.<br /><br />So back to the subject at hand: the 2009 summer concert events. This is purely through my eyes, and reflecting my taste, but here goes with what I thought looked WELL worth paying attention to:<br /><br />May 29 - (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Trocadero</span>, Philly)<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">JJ</span> Grey & Karl <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Denson's</span> Tiny Universe</span> - OK, this one's over, but wow...what a great show I missed. Did anyone out there see this? I've seen <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">JJ</span> Grey at the World Cafe, and this is a musician's musician!!!! I've also seen him at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">JazzFest</span> in New Orleans. Ditto Karl <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Denson</span>. Grey is tight, cool, sophisticated, and way not-boring. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Denson</span> is a little jazzier but kind of fits the same description.<br /><br />June 12 - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Appel</span> Farm<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Subdudes</span></span> - Who doesn't love these guys? I saw them in New Orleans 2 years ago. They love 'em there, and we love 'em anywhere. I think they are from NOLA, correct me if I'm wrong. But the locals there certainly love them.<br /><br />June 19 - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Longwood</span> Gardens<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Boz</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Scaggs</span></span> - I was listening to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Scaggs</span> in the '70's. What a treasure. What a cool musician.<br /><br />July 26 - Pocono Blues Festival Day 2 (Jack Frost) WHAT A DAY!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ruthie Foster</span> - holy cow, has anyone seen this all-girl band from Austin? I confess to being a tad sexist with women in the rock world, because most of them don't rock enough for me, nor do they play instruments with <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">outstandintg</span> skill (small handful: Chrissie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">Hynde</span>-Pretenders, Bonnie <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Raitt</span>, Anne <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">McCue</span>-awesome Aussie girl who plays with Lucinda Williams a lot, and my list of women sort of peters out there). I saw Ruthie Foster in the Blues Tent at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">JazzFest</span> in 2008. Yikes! Brought the house down with her Blues-Rock laced with gospel revue. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">Yowza</span>. Austin be proud!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials</span> - Looked them up and sampled them on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">iTunes</span>. Yes!!!!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Buckwheat Zydeco</span> - don't need to explain this do I?<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Harrison Kennedy & <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">Fruteland</span> Jackson</span> - also looked them up in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">iTunes</span>. Yes!!!<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chris Thomas King</span> - didn't know him, listened on <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">iTunes</span>. Yes! Yes! Yes!!!!!!<br /><br />So that's it for now. I'm really interested in hearing from music lovers, finding out who's going to some of these events, finding out who's new and noteworthy out there in the funky-rock-blues world, or who wants to go to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">JazzFest</span> and share 'buzz' and information, and just exchange music info.<br /><br />Peace.<br /><br />August 6 - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">Longwood</span> Gardens<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rufus <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">Wainright</span></span> - <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">WXPN</span> made much of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">Wainright</span> about 10 years ago with the release of <span style="font-style: italic;">Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk</span>. It's not usually my kind of music, but I liked it a lot. Then, I had the pleasure of seeing him live at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">Appel</span> Farm a few years ago. Blew everyone right out of their socks. A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">mindblowing</span> concert, and what fun it was to experience him onstage. I'll be going to this one.<br /></span>Free Fallin' Kristinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06447140721308425087noreply@blogger.com1