Brother Jesse's Morning Music

[keith]

I think you may have the lazy/busy roles reversed.

[Dave]

Mar 30, 2012 23:14:54 GMT -5 keith said:

I think you may have the lazy/busy roles reversed.

Probably not true when it comes to real life! Hahahahaha.

[keith]

[keith]

221.

Between Wiki &catholic.org three different St. Abundius are listed.

[Dave]

Apr 7, 2012 19:20:13 GMT -5 keith said:

221.

Between Wiki &catholic.org three different St. Abundius are listed.

Three "manifestations" ..... perfect for a patron saint! You get your choice of personalities. That's what makes Catholicism such a great hobby!

[keith]

It appears I have braided the threads with my comments in Morning Music. I'll try to get back on track by commenting on Saving Grace here,

I watched the series fairly regularly during its run. I seem to be attracted to programs with damaged protagonists and Holly Hunter's Grace is seriously flawed and self destructive. From what I've read the series ended not because TNT was unhappy with the ratings but because the producer (Fox Studios) felt that DVD sales were not strong enough to justify the production expenses. The result was that the last few episodes had a rush to the end, avalanche feeling.

The penultimate episode has a scene which in retrospect was an obvious baptism but for some reason I did not pick it up until later. In the series finale Grace seems to have found her way and overcome her inner demons only to end with her apparent violent death. We are left to work out for ourselves that Earl's mission in saving Grace was not to preserve her life but to bring her back to the path she had lost.

This was foreshadowed by Earl's two other "clients" shown in the series. Leon a death roe inmate is ultimately executed at the end of season two. Neely a drug addict overdoses near the end of the series. Both die but it is ambiguous if they are saved.

[keith]

But I need to post some music.

[Dave]

Looks like an interesting story. Is the series over? Well, I guess it is if she died. Do we know anything about Earl the angel?


Here's some music:

[Dave]

By the way, on drums in the last song was ....


Yvette 'Babygirl' Preyer


Some of her rolls almost sound like she's not going to make it, but they are all flawless.

If Dick Laurie comes across this, I hope he can tell us something about what she can do. It all sounds neat, but I don't have the drumming vocabulary to even discuss it.


From Yvette's web page:





"Biography
Yvette "Babygirl" Preyer has been blowing away Michael McDonald audiences for the past five years, ever since she crossed paths with the famed singer/songwriter in Memphis and subsequently joined his band. She studied music with an emphasis on vocal performance at Philander Smith College, and studied Instrumental Performance on Percussion at the University of Little Rock. Yvette has played blues, jazz, rock, classical and R&B with some of the biggest stars in the industry, including Isaac Hayes, Carly Simon, India Arie and Toni Braxton. In addition to her role as drummer, Preyer often handles background vocals - and the occasional lead vocal - with Michael McDonald. Her tip for singing and drumming at the same time? "Don't think about it. Just do it." "

www.sabian.com/de/artist/yvette-babygirl-preyer

You can see her drum set-up on the above page.

A couple more songs with McDonald .......









Performing at Montreal Drumfest ...

[Dave]

Levon Helm


(CNN) -- Levon Helm, the drummer, multi-instrumentalist and singer for The Band who kept the band's heart for more than three decades, died "peacefully" Thursday afternoon, according to his record label, Vanguard Records. He was 71.

"He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul," the record label's statement said.

A statement from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inducted Helm in 1994, called him the backbone of The Band.

"As a member of the one of the most influential rock and roll groups, The Band, Levon Helm produced music that was as much timeless as it was timely," it said. "In the late 1960s and early 1970s when the country was divided, The Band still projected a sense of unity and brought generations of fans together from all over the world."

Helm had a voice unlike any other in rock music: definitively Southern, soulful and gritty, an oak-barreled whiskey that sometimes went down with a fiery kick.

He could be mournful, calling up ghosts, as he did in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and the half-chanted chorus of "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)."

He could be playful, as he was in "Ophelia" and "The Weight," where in the latter he lunges into the "Take a load off, Annie" chorus with joyful abandon.

And he could belt in sheer pleasure, galloping through "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show" or simply lending his unique harmonies to "The Shape I'm In" and "This Wheel's on Fire."
AC360 remembers Levon Helm
2010: Friends, music Helm's happy place

It was an American voice.

[Dave]

John Hall


(I don't normally quote this much from wiki, but John Hall has done a lot of things in life and it isn't easy to sum them up. He was nice enough in the mid -eighties to come to dinner at a small men's club I belonged to and bring his instruments and computers to show us what at the time he was working with midi and computerized accompaniment. As a fellow townsman, I didn't always agree with his politics, but there was no question he did a lot for our area.)

Wiki: John Joseph Hall (born July 23, 1948) is an American musician and liberal environmental activist, and was the U.S. Representative for New York's 19th congressional district, serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Hall was born in Baltimore and grew up in Elmira, NY, son of James A. Hall, PhD in Electrical Engineering and Marie W. Hall, MA in Divinity. A three-time National Science Foundation summer scholar, he skipped two grades in school and left Notre Dame High School in Elmira, New York in at age sixteen to study physics at the University of Notre Dame, and then Loyola College, Baltimore. He led another life in music, starting with piano at age 4, studying French horn in school and teaching himself guitar and bass. After changing his concentration to creative writing and performing in numerous musical ensembles, Hall quit college to begin his professional musical career in the clubs of Georgetown, DC, and then Greenwich Village. In 1967 his group Kangaraoo released an album on MGM Records and Hall also composed music for a Broadway theatre trilogy Morning, Noon and Night. While playing at Cafe Wha in Greenwich Village, he met his first wife, Johanna Schier, with whom he moved to Woodstock, and then Saugerties NY, wrote many songs and fathered a daughter, Lillian Sofi Hall.

Hall spent decades writing songs for other artists and reunited with Orleans in 1985-2006. Meanwhile, John and Johanna separated and divorced, and he moved from their house in Saugerties, NY, living briefly in Hunter, NY, then in Nashville TN. There he wrote more songs including co-writing Steve Wariner's #1 hit "You Can Dream of Me," began touring with Jonell Mosser and Freebo, and continued sporadically performing with Orleans.

Although his musical career was on hold during his time in office, Hall performed at the concert honoring the 90th birthday of Pete Seeger, supporting the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on May 3, 2009. He joined other performers in the singing of "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" and later joined the entire cast for an encore, singing "Good Night, Irene." In August 2011, Hall joined his MUSE cohorts Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Crosby Stills and Nash along with Jason Mraz, the Doobie Brothers and Tom Morello for a benefit concert in Mountainville, CA, proceeds to aid victims of the tsunami and nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima, Japan, and to promote renewable energy. John and Pamela Hall, along with co-lyricist Bob Furlong, wrote the song "I Told You So" BigRoundRecords.com/itoldyouso and performed it with Browne, Raitt and Nash at the concert.

Hall is currently dividing his time between performing solo and with Orleans, and writing for a new project.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hall_%28New_York_politician%29


Here is Orleans in later days, tall John in the middle as this video opens.




Here is a younger John in the John Hall band, after Orleans.







The Congressman, now without hair, in the center.




And I couldn't find a good live performance, but the audio is OK on this video.

[Dave]

Smokey Robinson.


Here's guy I don't think we've featured before ... Smokey Robinson.

First, the Wiki excerpt: "William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is most notable for being the founder and front man of the popular Motown vocal group, The Miracles, for which he also served as the group's chief songwriter and producer. Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as The Five Chimes until 1972 when he announced a retirement from the stage to focus on his role as Motown's vice president.

However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year, later having solo hits such as "Baby That's Backatcha", "Quiet Storm", "The Agony and the Ecstasy", "Cruisin'", "Being With You" and "Just to See Her". Following the sale of Motown Records in 1988, Robinson left Motown in 1990. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

















And although I'm a fan of "Live From Daryl's House," I hadn't noticed this before. Here's Smokey at Daryl Hall's place in Putnam County across the Hudson River. Sara Smile and then sort of an encore. With the late Tom "T-Bone" Wolk on lead guitar (in the brown watch cap.)




Daryl's show, which now has over 50 episodes with different singer's and muscians ... one of my favorites is with Grace Potter (and one of her Nocturnals, the drummer) ... can be found at:

www.livefromdarylshouse.com



Smokey must have had a hand in choosing the studio groups, including the Motown group of musicians who today call themselves The Funk Brothers backing Chaka Khan in a testimonial to the band.

[/youtube]


And here they are with Joan Osborne, Sam Moore, etc. Aint No Mountain high enough.




And ... St. Joan, forgive us .... to make up for showing her at her heavy stage, here's Joan Osborne with Heatwave. (You knew I'd work this in anyway. It's my favorite!)





Sorry for all the lead-in ads.

[Dave]

One aspect of the "Live from Dary'ls House" edition with Smokey Robinson that I like is the video footage of the group working out the details of how the finished piece will sound. So much of each edition is the final/best take and that's what we expect, but listening on this show to the musicians and Smokey and Daryl work out the song parts and when different instruments will come in is part of the craft that as a former band member I find very interesting. And nostalgic, of course.

[Dave]

Billy D and the HooDoo's
















www.billydandthehoodoos.com/

[keith]

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominations have been announced. It's time for a review of the nominations. First Time magazine's take:

Why It’s Time to Take ‘Rock’ Out of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Read more: entertainment.time.com/2012/10/10/why-its-time-to-take-rock-out-of-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/#ixzz28z5hqRgI




I'll lead with the only nominee I've seen live:



Then a group I met while I was stationed in Germany. They were on their way to Berlin to open for the Stones; I was on duty & unable to attend the concert. (The Stones truck went by they didn't stop to chat.)









More to follow.