Attic Lights & the Beach Boys' Drummer

Last night my friend and producer Craig Levy and I toasted to the reissue of Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue. (This link will bring you to Amazon where there is a short video about the record.) The one and only solo album from the Beach Boys drummer. I still have it on vinyl and love this record. It's great to have it back. In a coincidence, I was looking at the myspace site of Attic Lights, a Glasgow band, who have a Beach Boys related sound. Their debut record comes out this August, produced by Francis MacDonald (Teenage Fanclub, Camera Obscura and Shoeshine Records). Bring You Down which is from the soon to be released record has Beach Boys harmonies and production all over it. There on their Myspace blog is a reference to purchasing the Dennis Wilson album. It always puts a smile on my face (as well as makes me seek out their music) when young musicians revere and reference the music that I hold dear and sacred.

Disney Tween Machine Moves On

Disney is grooming Demi Lovato to be the heir apparent to Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana. Demi is 15, slated to open on the sold out Jonas Brothers tour and has the lead in the new Disney Channel movie "Camp Rock". The movie premiers this Friday. As is usual with Disney deals, she is also signed to Hollywood Records, Disney's label. She's enlisted the Jonas Brothers as co-writers and co-producers on the album. She refers to her own writing as dark and said "I'm more of a writer whose stuff wouldn't make it on a Disney album," therefore Jonas inc, will help pop things up. The record comes out in November. I'll be curious to hear this album. It seems to me a big leap of faith on Disney's part to let the 15 year old participate in the creative process, which is usually tightly controlled by Disney.

This leads me to another TV creation, the Monkees. Why do I find myself revisiting those old albums as much as I do "Pet Sounds" or "London Calling"? It's all about the songs. How can you go wrong when you have Carole King, Neil Diamond and Boyce & Hart penning tunes for you. Eventually the band members were able to share in the songwriting, although Mike Nesmith always got a tune in there. Papa Gene's Blues from the debut is a standout. I wonder if Demi can have a hit, without proven songwriters behind her.

The Police and New York Public Television

Both WNET and WLIW, New York public television stations will be the beneficiary of proceeds from the final Police date August 7th at Madison Square Garden. The only way to get tickets is through a pledge to the stations. Tickets will be available beginning Saturday, June 14 at 7:30pm. There will be a broadcast of a Police special at that time on both channels. Pledges start at $150 for a pair and go as high as $750 a pair. There are also higher priced VIP tickets. As expected, the higher the donation, the better the seats. There will be an additional Ticketmaster and facility charge. It did note this: *Ticketmaster is donating their event service charges to New York Public Television. This is a very creative way to help public television, whose funding seems to dwindle each year. I applaud the Police's commitment. The B52's will be opening the show. It's 1979 all over again.

A Musican can be an Actor, but An Actor Cannot be a Musician

If there is a successful actor who has made the transition to successful musician, I'd like to know who it is. I'm talking about the actor whose first career is acting. This eliminates Rick Springfield who I know a lot of people think started on General Hospital. Long before he was a doctor on that show, he had a top 40 hit with Speak To The Sky. Sure John Travolta and David Soul had hits, (Can you name them?*) so did Shelley Fabares and Leif Garrett. But did they ever have a follow up hit? Remember Eddie Murphy's My Girl Like To Party All The Time? Most people don't.

It is with great interest, that I wanted to hear Scarlet Johansson's new album which is mostly Tom Waits covers. Yesterday they previewed a few tracks on the Howard Stern show. While I only heard about a minute each of a few songs, I am stumped by it. It is over, over produced by TV On The Radio's David Andrew Sitek. Was that done to mask her vocals? The vocals sound like they were recorded at 45 and played back at 331/3, backwards.

There are many musician who have had successful film careers, but never the other way around and it looks like that spell won't be broken with Scarlet's latest.

* Let Her In and Don't Give Up On Us

Another Music Exec Bites the Dust

Jason Flom who is for the moment Chairman of the Capitol Music Group, seems to be headed the way of Tony Wadsworth and company. He might be the last of the execs who actually listened to music. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that EMI is negotiating his exit. My one and only record company job was at Atlantic Records, when I was just out of college. Jason was there also and had just signed Zebra. His enthusiasm was over the top for that band. That was also the time when Yes had just completed Owner Of a Lonely Heart. Everyone was playing that song at 11. It's all you heard at Atlantic for weeks. I'm sure now at Atlantic or Capitol you can hear a pin drop.

AC/DC Coming to a Wal-Mart Near You

So AC/DC is going the way of the Eagles, in this case with the blessing of their record company, Sony BMG who brokered the deal. According to today's Wall St Journal, their next album of new material will be sold exclusively by Wal-Mart; therefore, excluding the remaining record retailers who have supported the band for years. Being that I work with Amoeba (3 record stores in CA, including the record store of all record stores in LA), I find this to be disheartening to say the least. Here's another artist that relied on these same stores in the past to get their music out there. I guess they feel that by putting the album exclusively in Wal-Mart, they'll be in front of more eyes and therefore, generate more impulse buying. Granted there are fewer and fewer record stores, but the ones that remain are dedicated to music. Can you say that about Wal-Mart? The article also mentioned that Wal-Mart is cutting back on CD shelf space in the stores. When Wal-Mart eliminates CD's where will these artists turn to? I'm surprised that AC/DC is taking this tactic. I felt they were a band of their fans. I'm sure their touring brings in plenty of dollars and CD sales are a slim margin of their profits, then again they did do a huge deal with Epic Records, which may be the reason for the sell out. How far will artists move away from the core of what made their careers? How important is it to alienate the believers to sell a few more units?

Copyright Holder Vs Performer

In an interesting twist in the world of copyright, Radiohead the writers of the song Creep are telling YouTubers to repost Prince's version of their song. Prince performed it at the Coachella Music Festival, fans recorded it and posted it. Prince is holding dear his own copyrights by asking everyone to cease posting unauthorized video of him, including his performance of Creep. In this case, he doesn't own the copyright. Lead singer of Radiohead Tom Yorke was quoted by the AP as saying "Tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."

Brandi Shearer in Austin at ME Television

As part of the Amoeba Presents Tour, Brandi Shearer along with tour mates Quincy Coleman and Kate Walsh, paid Austin a visit. Is Is it possible to have a bad show in Austin? i think the same thing about Chicago. Two great music towns. Brandi stopped by ME-TV studios to chat with Josh Shepherd and play 4 songs. Here's Heaven. I wish more cities had ME TV!

Suzanne Vega on Songwriting

There is a nice piece Suzanne Vega wrote about her song Pale Cowboy in the NY Times and how she pondered over the lyrics.

If your friend is an orchid then you are a rose.
Upright and thorny against your horizon.
Still solitary with all petals closed.
In the heat when the heart’s desert sun is arising.

In the song she refers to men as a rose and an orchid. It's a delve into a songwriter's psyche and an enlightening read.

JIM BOGGIA

Seeing Jim Boggia live is always a treat. You're never quite sure the turn the show will take, but you will be entertained, the banter will be lively and you may even hear a reference to Pete Barbutti. During his set Monday night at the Living Room he played a few new songs from Misadventures In Stereo which is coming out this August. More about that later. He started the show off with his take on Meatloaf, took requests from the audience, covered the Kinks, Waterloo Sunset and then proceeded to do something which seemed old school and refreshing. He told a story about opening a show that Jill Sobule headlined. Before her set, he met up with her, said he was a big fan and he performed her songs live. She invited him on stage with her that night, warning the audience that I've never heard this guy, so he may suck. On Monday night while getting to the gig, Jim sat next to a woman named Kate on the bus. She told him she played, they talked about Laura Nyro and he invited her to perform with him that night, also warning the audience, she may suck. They turned Stoned Soul Picnic into a smilefest. Kate at the piano tackling lead vocals and Jim on guitar and harmonies. It was a lovely, spontaneous jam. She left the stage and he immediately brought her back to add a lamentable keyboard riff to No Way Out.

Boggia's album comes out on bluehammock August 5th. I think it's his Something/Anything. It's a mix of styles, all songs are well crafted, it has some needed talking in between tracks and there are jump out pop tunes. He worked with some great people on this record. Al Anderson lends his guitar to Listening to NRBQ and he co-wrote Chalk Up One For Albert's Side with Tony Asher - Yes that Tony Asher from Pet Sounds! There is a hint of homage to Brian Wilson's production. The album, which was mastered at Abby Road, closes with the epic Three Weeks Shy. If radio stations programed like the old WNEW-FM, this album would be in heavy rotation. Vinyl is making a comeback, maybe FM radio will too and more people will be turned on to a talent like Jim.

Amoeba Presents Tour Kicks Off Tonight!

The tour starts tonight in the Northwest. Get out to see Brandi Shearer, Kate Walsh and Quincy Coleman. The fun begins in Portland, OR: In-Store at Music Millennium tonight at 5pm, followed by a show at The Doug Fir.
Amoeba Presents three amazing artists. They cover the country, so they're probably in a city close to you.

5/12 - Douglas Fir - Portland, OR
5/13 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA
5/15 - Café Du Nord - San Francisco, CA
5/16 - Roxy - Los Angeles, CA
5/20 - Lamberts - Austin, TX
5/22 - Eddies Attic - Decatur, GA
5/24 - Iota - Arlington, VA
5/25 - Johnny Brendas - Philadelphia, PA
5/26 - Mercury Lounge - New York, NY
5/27 - Middle East - Cambridge, MA
5/29 - Club Café - Pittsburgh, PA
5/30 - Schubas - Chicago, IL
5/31 - Café Montmarte - Madison, WI
6/01 - Duck Room - St. Louis, MO
6/03 - Soiled Dove - Denver, CO

StubHub and Madonna Deal to Resell Tix

I guess any news that is music business related should not surprise me, but it still does. Years ago you would not see the artist getting into bed with the scalpers, but I guess Madonna feels if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

According to an article in today's Wall St Journal, Madonna will get a a percentage of sales as well as a flat fee from StubHub. This is her first tour under her new $120 million deal with Live Nation. She is doing 18 dates in the US this fall. Several of them will be stadium shows including Dodger Stadium. I've only seen Madonna once and it was at Radio City. It might have been the Like A Virgin tour. I can't image her show translating to a big stadium where she has to connect with at least 45,000 people. Even though Madison Square Garden isn't intimate by any means, you can still see the dancers. I could be wrong, but I have a feeling her fans will not want to see her in a major league ballpark. So Madonna plays bigger venues than ever, gets into the scalping business and is releasing her last record on Warner Brothers. It was also reported in the Journal that the Warner Music Group's losses widened. Some things will still surprise me, others won't.

Sam Beeton

Sometimes I pay attention to the Record Of The Day, sometimes I'm too busy to click on it or I don't have my headphones handy. Sam Beeton was featured today. His record comes out this summer. I scoured his website and was pleasantly surprised that I like all the songs I heard. I'm assuming he's written the songs. It is hooky well-constructed pop. I'm a sucker for a good pop song. Note my enduring love for Nick Lowe. Nice production. He is 19 and from what I've seen on his videos, he's charming. Just from his blogs I can tell the record label is spending some solid money. A New York photo shoot with the master, Danny Clinch, an LA video shoot with Tony Petrossian and another photo shoot in Malibu.
Talent and charisma: I have a feeling this guy will do very, very well.

Does your shoe have a boy inside? What a funny place for a boy to hide! Does your shoe have a dog there too? A boy and a dog and a foot in a shoe. Well, the boy is Buster Brown. And the dog is Tige, his friend. And they're really just a picture but it's fun to play pretend. So look look look in the telephone book for the store that sells the shoe, with the picture of the boy and the dog inside so you can put your foot in too. Buster Brown Shoes!

I'm not quite sure what precipitated the conversation, but my mother and I were trying to figure out the Buster Brown song. It was used by the shoe company as I remember in the early 60's. Apparently in 1902 Buster Brown and his dog Tige made their debut in a Sunday comic strip in the New York Herald, so I'm sure they made their way into the shoes long before the 60's.

The internet is either a great source of reference for people like me with pop trivia on the brain or takes us away from the matter at hand. I found the lyrics to Buster Brown in seconds and also stumbled upon another pop culture website where you can waste away hours. TV Land has posted trailers for 1000 movies from the 50's to the 90's. I of course couldn't stay away from Beach Party with that wonderfully joyous song Beach Party Tonight sung by Annette and Frankie. Here's the link and happy clicking.

Passing Strange

REFRESHING is the word that keeps coming to mind when I think of Passing Strange, the new Broadway musical I saw this week. This production was originally developed at The Public Theater. It's a collaboration of Stew: the Narrator, book, lyrics and co-composer, Heidi Rodewald: co-composer, bass, vocals and Annie Dorsen: director. I had heard about this play during it's inception as Bill Bragin, who at the time was Joe's Pub's beating heart, was also involved. Because of his persistence in getting the word out, I bought tickets. Passing Strange is a powerhouse of a performance. The four piece band act as a guardian surrounding the actors on stage. I use the term actors loosely as their performance goes way beyond just acting. They dance, sing, gyrate, jump, pontificate-it's all there. It was the Broadway debut for Rebecca Naomi Jones. She's amazing. Also outstanding were Daniel Breaker as the young Stew and De'Adre Aziza. The music is so finely integrated with the show that you don't realize the musicians have been playing for about 90% of the time.

Stew discovered the phrase "Passing Strange" while reading a comic book version of Othello. It has come to mean stranger than strange. Strange can be good. Great show, great energy, refreshing !

Record Store Day a Success?

Looking at the week ending 4/20 Soundscan, I was realizing that it included Saturday's Records Store Day sales. The number of physical music purchased was up slightly from last week, but continues to take a dive from the abysmal numbers of last year. Overall albums were up 1.9% (+ 141K units) vs. last week and down 8.1% (- 659K units) vs. week 16 of 2007.

Digital albums were up 1.6% (+ 19K units) vs. last week and up 33.9% (+ 306K units) vs. week 16 of 2007. Not sure that digital units being up 34% from this week last year is reason to open the champagne, as last years numbers were not exactly overwhelming. It does show there is some willingness to still purchase digital albums. Digital tracks on the other hand, were down 3.6% (- 731K units) vs. last week and up 30.4% (+ 4.5MM units) vs. week 16 of 2007.

Mariah Carey came in with impressive numbers: 464,000 units sold. 10 years ago, first week sales probably would have translated to an easy platinum record. The surprise has to be the Juno Soundtrack. Still holding it's own at #12 with close to 12,000 units sold. Rounding out the #19 and #20 spots on the album charts are American Idol loser and winner, Daughtry and Jordan Sparks. Daughtry is closing in on 4 million records sold. WOW!

WNEW Where Rock Lives Again

This weekend I found an old T-shirt that had the WNEW-FM logo on the front and on the back, David Johansen live at the Bottom Line. Two great (New York) music institutions of the 70's, 80's and 90's: WNEW and the Bottom Line. WNEW has been revived on HD radio as well on online. Norm Winer, the longstanding Chicago radio guru is the "ringleader" of this revival.

For those of you who grew up listening to WNEW and having it be a big part of your life, you'll have fun navigating the site. Right now there's Led Zeppelin interviewed by Scott "Things from England, English Things" Muni. The DJs were knowledgeable, had the inside track and were there to let you in on it. I felt like part of a community. I even participated in a few bike-a-thons in Central Park they sponsored. It's nice that I can still listen to Dennis Elsas, Pete Fornatale and Vin Scelsa on WFUV and Meg Griffin on Sirius (as well as Vin there too). You never know if you're recollections are accurate, but in my mind, I recall a few defining moments: Pete Fornatale playing the entire Pet Sounds album one Easter, Scott Muni announcing that Elivs Presley had just died, filming in Super 8 a portion of the Central Park Beach Boys shows with Brian Wilson. There were countless times I relied on WNEW to find out anything about music, whether it be upcoming shows going on sale, a new release date, why Randy Meisner left the Eagles.... It was a big part of my life and my love for music. It's nice to have an old friend back.

Records Store Day April 19th

Tomorrow is Records Store Day. Hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate “Record Store Day.” Please visit a record store and buy something.

To quote Paul McCartney
There’s nothing as glamorous to me as a record store. When I recently played Amoeba in LA, I realised what fantastic memories such a collection of music brings back when you see it all in one place. This is why I’m more than happy to support Record Store Day and I hope that these kinds of stores will be there for us all for many years to come. Cheers!

The End of Music As We Know It?

3 events have occurred in past few weeks that make me think it might be the end of music as we know it.

1. Bob Dylan wins a Pulitzer Prize
2. Keith Richards appears in a Louis Vuitton Ad
3. Led Zeppelin: The Ride is unveiled at the new Hard Rock amusement park in South Carolina.

This is a roller coaster and it's movements are choreographed to Whole Lotta Love. It takes some clicks to find the rides, but photos of it are there in all it's glory. There is mention that it begins as you enter a huge silver starship that takes you right into the cover of the first Led Zeppelin record. I couldn't read any further.

To ape REM: Is this the end of the world as we know it? It might be a prophesy. Their latest record debuted @ No. 2 with sales of 115,000 copies of its ''Accelerate''.

Another Reality Show-Another Teen Idol

Don't know how much more the American public can take of the reality show barrage. Just read about casting for MTV's latest bid: Teen Dream from the executive producers of America's Next Top Model. They are looking for the next female superstar, if the market hasn't already been exhausted. Not only do they want the daughters, but they want the mothers too. I think Howard Stern hit the nail on the head when he said people love American Idol not to hear people sing, but for the humiliation factor. What could be more humiliating than a teen girl being followed by camera with her stage mom omnipresent? If you fit the bill and want to be the next Teen Dream (what an archaic title-Is it 1955?) or have your daughter wear the crown, details are below.

Producers are seeking talented young women and their mothers who are looking forward to showing off their daughter's talents. Open casting calls where mothers and daughters must appear together will happen in Los Angeles on April 18-19; Orlando on April 25-26; Miami on April 27; and New York on May 3-4. For complete information regarding these casting calls and what is required to bring, send an email to teendreamcasting@gmail.com.