The Next Page: Turn! Turn! Turn (table)!

Recorded music, in all its glory, comes alive on vinyl. Steve Hallock visits Pittsburgh's devotees of the LP and its timeless machinery.

By Steve Hallock

Multimedia converged in full rage as a digital projector screened a silent version of "The NeverEnding Story" on the wall behind the bar. Musicians preparing to take the stage for open mic trilled saxes and trumpets. Cell phones and BlackBerries instant messaged across the room and planet. Funky electronic jazz rumbled out of a pair of newspaper box-size speakers that boomed bass and treble notes through the packed room.

But something curious was happening back in the corner of this East Liberty bar among all the hi-tech gadgetry this recent Monday night.

Disc jockey J. Malls crouched over a pair of shining turntables spinning records -- yes, vinyl discs -- just like radio DJs of yore cued up the tunes that provided the nation's soundtrack of the '50s, '60s and '70s.

Those old DJs, had they witnessed J. Malls laying needle to groove on one of 15,000 records from his collection, would have uttered these words about the scene in this modern day cacophony of CDs, iPods and laptop digital blare: This, folks, is a blast from the past.

Well, maybe not.

Just as records rotate on a spindle -- picture the opening credits of television's "Happy Days" with scenes whirling out of jukebox records -- what goes around comes around. We are in the midst of what appears to be a full-fledged rebirth of the old playboy pad, chic-sound-gear standby of the component bookshelf sound system comprising detached speakers, reel-to-reel tape decks and audio tuners and receivers: the turntable.

THE DEVICES, aka record players, are hitchhiking on the back of the rising popularity of vinyl record sales, which increased 89 percent in 2008 over the previous year and that continue to experience surging sales, according to the January/February issue of AARP The Magazine.

"Music giant EMI has re-released some 65 classic albums on vinyl," the magazine reported, "including acts ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beastie Boys."

The popularity of vinyl 33 r.p.m. records, and thus the machines that play them, is due to a few factors. One is the loyalty of at least a couple of generations of music fans, beginning with the post-World War II rock 'n' roll baby boomers, who built up large record collections ranging from Elvis to The Beatles and even Radiohead today.

Another is the rediscovery of vinyl, and of the blues, rock and jazz on these old tracks, by a younger generation eager to explore the old music in its original format and attracted by the relatively cheap cost of records compared with CDs.

In fact, most of the customers for the reconditioned turntables that Jerry Weber sells at Jerry's Records, the popular used record shop on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill, are kids and middle-agers.

"Young people are pretty much my demographic now, 15 to 35," the 62-year-old dealer of musical nostalgia said. These folks, he said, buy turntables not only to listen to their own records but also for their mothers, fathers and grandparents.

"They'll say, 'I'm getting my mom a turntable for Christmas so she can dig out her old records and we're going to have a ball,' " Mr. Weber said of the buyers of the Technics, Sony, Panasonic and Pioneer machines he sells for prices ranging from $60 to $100. "These would have cost $200 or $300 originally. Some of those that were engineered back in the '70s, the old Kenwoods and Thorns, they're going to be around. All of them were much better than what you get today unless you spend $300 or $400."

More like $499 to $699 -- which is how much buyers of upper-end turntables will spend for the Technics, Numark or Stanton turntables that Stash Roberts sells at Guitar Center in Monroeville -- a clientele with different needs than the oldie buffs who frequent Jerry's.

Mr. Roberts, 40, categorized his turntable customers into three types:

"The standard scratch DJ, somebody who actually knows how to mix and scratch on the turntable," he said. "And then you have just the guys who want a higher quality piece that will last them most of their life. The last group is the older guy that comes in and is looking to update his vinyl to CD, and there are multiple companies now offering turntables with USB connections" that enable users to plug the machines into computers for conversion to digital formats.

Whatever the reason for the popularity, Mr. Roberts said, he sold more turntables in 2009 than the previous nine years, with a peak of about eight per week during the Christmas season.

"We were literally to the point where we were running out," he said.

That higher sound quality referred to by Mr. Roberts plugs into a debate that has been ongoing ever since CDs first hit the music scene in the 1980s.

"CD is most pristine," Jason Boyd of EMI told AARP The Magazine, "But vinyl has the warm, full sound of the music. It's a way of experiencing music rather than just consuming it."

Yes. Miles Davis' muted trumpet is mellower, Pablo Casals' cello bowing richer, Charlie Byrd's acoustic guitar strumming crisper, on record.

Jerry Weber also invoked the "warm" metaphor.

"That's been the argument ever since CDs were invented," the Squirrel Hill vinyl merchant said. "I've been doing this since 1976. It's a warmer sound. CDs are more flashy and more bright, but not everybody likes flashy and brightness. I'm a throwback. To me, old mono records like the early Beatles and Stones, that's the way they were meant to sound. They sound like you're in a hall, and they're right beside you playing."

Mr. Roberts explained it a bit more technically.

"Digital's always going to be better because it's cleaner," he said. But on CDs, "you're going to miss the actual raw sound of the instruments."

Recording engineers during the heyday of vinyl, he said, pushed the sound on the master tapes beyond the recording threshold to literally squash the sound, compressing it.

"A lot of times the sounds from those guitars back in the '60s and '70s, it was not just the guitar or amp, it was a sound quality brought by this technique."

So the fuzz guitar of Vanilla Fudge or Cream actually was made fuzzier through saturation -- a sound that cannot even be reproduced live and that is unique to the original recordings of the '60s and '70s

SOUND PURISTS seeking that sort of quality comprise many of Vincent Bomba's turntable reconditioning clients.

Mr. Bomba, a 53-year-old Mt. Lebanon native, was a computer systems technician for Mellon Bank until being laid off in December. In a space opened up for him at Jerry's Records, he's going into turntable and computer repair and reconditioning full-time.

A problem with CD sound, he said, is that when the laser beam that reads the disc breaks the sound into bits and bytes, "some detail is lost in the process" of translating those bits and bytes back into sound.

With the vinyl record, he said as he stood among shelves of reconditioned turntables on display like artifacts of an ancient sound culture, "You hear a depth. You can hear a guy cleaning his trumpet out."

The stylus of a turntable, he explained, picks up the sound directly from the groove of the record; sound is not disassembled and then put back together. Along the way, you get the background noise of the studio or club. So it's more real.

Mr. Bomba listed three types of turntables, each with its advantages and disadvantages. One is direct drive, in which the motor of the turntable directly rotates the record platter; the shaft of the motor is the platter. Consequently, some motor hum accompanies the sound of the music.

In belt-drive turntables, the motor sits off to the side, and a belt turns the platter. But the belt has to be replaced every five years or so, and it stretches; so you get sound distortion after time, what sound technicians call wow and flutter.

Rim-drive turntables use a rubber wheel that is hooked up to the motor and drives the platter.

"This is the best of all worlds," Mr. Bomba said. "The motor noise is less, and the rubber idler wheel lasts longer."

J. MALLS (real name: Jason Molyneaux) said he noticed that loss of something in translation when he tried to convert some of his records to a digital format.

"When you digitize a record, that's the closest you get to a record," he said, emphasizing the word "record" as the standard that CDs and other formats strive to achieve. "But it doesn't have the wide spectrum of a record. Something gets lost, in the lows and the highs."

Part of the appeal of his schtick besides the sound, he said, is simply the fact of being an actual DJ.

"This is my niche. A lot of people like the fact that I just play records." When they talk about DJs they've heard in other venues, he said, "a lot of people are like, 'he's not a real DJ, he has a laptop.' "

It's just strange, the 35-year-old DJ said, "to see people who actually have records."

Bottom line, for him, when initially asked why he uses a turntable -- he gives sort of a bewildered look and grin, as though no other format is possible: "To play my records."

Of course.

Practicality also drove Mr. Weber, as he explained during an interview surrounded by his shelves and piles and stacks of used record albums, in his decision to go into the used turntable business.

"The more turntables they're spinning out there, the more chance they're going to come in and buy some records off me."

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Steve Hallock (shallock@pointpark.edu) is an assistant professor of journalism at Point Park University and former newspaper jazz critic. He is the author of "Reporters Who Made History: Great American Journalists on the Issues and Crises of the Late 20th Century," published in December by Praeger.

SOURCE:   http://www.post-gazette.com

Reprinted By Permission

New Music Releases ~ February 9, 2010

Abbey Lincoln - Through the Years (3-CD Box Set)
Adam Faith - I Survive
AFI - The Lowdown
Allison Moorer - Crows
ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra) - Man of the World (vinyl)
AM - Future Sons and Daughters
Angelique Kidjo - Oyo
Angelo Spencer - Et Les Hauts Sommets
Beach Fossils - Daydream
Bear McCreary - Dark Void (soundtrack)
Ben + Vesper - LuvInIdleness
Besnard Lakes - Albatross b/w Four Long Lines (vinyl)
Best Coast - Something in the Way (vinyl)
Bigga Haitian - Sak Pase
Black Cobra - Chronomega (vinyl)
Black Keys - Big Come Up (vinyl reissue)
Blessure Grave - Judged By Twelve, Carried By Six
Bluebrain - Soft Power
Blues Band - Back For More / Fat City
Broken Consort - Crow Autumn
Butch Walker - I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart
Buzzcocks - Another Music in a Different Kitchen (remastered with bonus CD)
Buzzcocks - Different Kind of Tension (remastered with bonus CD)
Buzzcocks - Love Bites (remastered with bonus CD)
Canibus - Melatonin Magik
Celtic Thunder - It's Entertainment!
Chapmans - Grown Up
Conway Twitty - Love You More Today / To See My Angel Cry
Cottars - Feast
Crack the Sky - Machine
Curtis Jones - In London
Cute Lepers - Smart Accessories (vinyl)
Dave Matthews Band - Live in Las Vegas
David Cassidy - I Think I Love You: Greatest Hits Live (CD/DVD)
David Courtney - First Day: The Complete Story
Deep Purple - Fireball
Dessa - Badly Broken Code
DJ Rap - Synthesis
Easybeats - Complete Easybeats (6 CDs)
Empirical - Out 'n' In
Errol Dixon - Blues in the Pot / That's How You Got Killed Before
Fair - Disappearing World
Fanshaw - Dark Eyes
Fear Factory - Mechanize
Field Music - Them That Do Nothing (vinyl)
Fionn Regan - Shadow of An Empire
Fireflight - For Those Who Wait
Four Tet - There Is Love in You (2-LP vinyl)
Galactic - Ya-Ka-May (vinyl)
Gentle Giant - Interview
Gentle Giant - Playing the Fool: The Official Live
Georgia Anne Muldrow - Kings Ballad (vinyl)
Georgie Fame - Mod Classics: 1964-1966
Gil Scott-Heron - I'm New Here (vinyl)
Grant Hart - Intolerance (vinyl)
Hall & Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette
Hawkwind - Alien 4
HIM - Screamworks: Love in Theory & Practice
Hot Chip - One Life Stand (CD & DVD)
Icarus Witch - Draw Down the Moon
Interference - Interference (vinyl)
Jaheim - Another Round
Jason Derulo, 'Jason Derulo'
Jay Dee - F**k the Police (vinyl)
Jimi Hendrix - Valleys Of Neptune (vinyl reissue)
John Coltrane - Giant Steps (vinyl reissue)
John Dummer Blues Band - Cabal / John Dummer Band
John Martyn - I'd Rather Be the Devil (6 CDs/2 DVDs)
Josh Turner - Haywire
Julie Thompson - Feeling the Corners
Jurassic 5 - Influence (vinyl)
k.d. lang - Recollection (3 CDs/1 DVD)
Kath Bloom - Thin Thin Line
Laura Gibson & Ethan Rose - Bridge Carols
Lionel Loueke - Mwaliko
Lisbeth Quartett - Grow
Luther Allison - Songs From the Road (CD/DVD)
Lynn Miles - Black Flowers I + II
Maccabees - Empty Vessels (vinyl)
Magnetic Fields - Realism (vinyl & CD)
Mark David Ashworth - Bright Is The Ring of Words
Massive Attack - Heligoland
Meg Hutchinson - The Living Side
Michael Martin Murphey - Buckaroo Blue Grass II - Riding Song
Miike Snow - Silvia (vinyl)
Mike Clarke - Roll Again / Live in Luxembourg
Neil Diamond - Hot August Night NYC From Madison Square Garden
Neon Trees - Animal (vinyl)
Nick Jonas - Who I Am (Feb 10, 2010)
Nurse With Wound - Space Music (vinyl)
Ok Go - Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (vinyl)
Olivier Manchon - Ochestre De Chambre Miniature 1
Os Mutantes - Jardim Eletrico (vinyl reissue)
Overkill - Ironbound
Pantha du Prince - Black Noise (vinyl)
Phantogram - Eyelid Movies
Phoenix - 1901 (vinyl)
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows
Pretenders - Live In London (CD/DVD)
Quicksilver Messenger Service - Fillmore Auditorium February 4th 1967
Reckless Kelly - Somewhere In Time
Redman - Reggie Noble 9 ½
Sad Day for Puppets - Unknown Colors
Sade - Soldier of Love
Screaming Females - Singles
Secret & Whisper - Teenage
Shannon Curfman - What You're Getting Into
Smile Smile - Truth on Tape
Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Live in Boston: 1978
The Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers (vinyl)
The Marshall Tucker Band - Way Out West!: Live From San Francisco September 1973
Theodore - Hold You Like a Lover (vinyl)
Toby Mac - Tonight
Tord Gustavsen Ensemble - Restored, Returned
Trio Ivoire - Across the Oceans
Trouble - Live in Los Angeles
Trouble - Plastic Green Head
Trouble - Simple Mind Condition
Trouble - Unplugged
Uffie - MCs Can Kiss EP
Undersea Poem - Undersea Poem
Valentine's Day (Soundtrack) (featuring new music from Jewel, Taylor Swift)
Various Artists - Bustin' Out New Wave to New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981•Various Artists - Westbound Detroit Northern Soul
Various Artists - Instrumental Tribute to Lady Gaga
Various Artists - Looking Towards The Sky: Progressive, Psychedelic And Folk Rock From The Ember Vaults
Various Artists - Putumayo Presents: Rhythm & Blues
Various Artists - Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Journey
Various Artists - Rough Trade Shops' Counter Culture 2009
Various Artists - Valentine's Day (soundtrack)
Watson Twins - Talking to You, Talking to Me (vinyl)
Yeasayer - Odd Blood (vinyl)
You Say Party We Say Die - XXXX (vinyl)
Young Jeezy - Thug Motivation 103

Music News & Notes

Gallagher Dumps Oasis Name - Debut Album Due In July

Liam Gallagher has revealed that his new group are set to ditch the Oasis name in favour of something new.

Oasis finally shook themselves apart last year. Walking away from the wreckage of his former group, Liam Gallagher went on holiday to Italy taking some close friends along with him for the ride.

Since then, speculation has been rife over the singer's solo plans. Forming a new group with some familiar faces, Liam Gallagher is set to front what is essentially the final version of Oasis without his brother.

Speaking to XFM Radio, Liam Gallagher revealed that he does not intend to use the Oasis name on his new album.

"No, it's not Oasis, that was a shit name anyway," Liam Gallagher revealed. "I'm glad to see the back of it."

Oasis took their name from a venue in Swindon. Continuing, Liam Gallagher claimed that he wanted to release an album of new material by July, with recording sessions ongoing with the new band.

The singer remained tight-lipped over a possible name for the collective. "There's a name that we're digging at the moment, but we're going to get on with the music and see how it goes."

==================================

British Jazz Icon Johnny Dankworth Dies

Sir John Dankworth, one of the most important figures in British jazz music, has passed away.

Britain has long had a passionate relationship with jazz music. However, for a very long time, it was accepted that jazz was simply something that Americans did - and hence a progressive scene could never exist in Britain.

It is thanks to pioneers such as Sir John Dankworth that the British jazz scene exists at all in its current state. Emerging after the Second World War the saxophonist quickly caught attention with his dextrous skills.

Performing with touring American bands, the musician travelled to Paris in 1949 where he jammed with his idol Charlie Parker. Winning acclaim for his distinctive style, Dankworth then went on to become a hugely successful composer.

Working on the themes for The Avengers and the film 'Saturday Night, Sunday Morning' the saxophonist always led his own band.

Continuing to work until recently, John Dankworth was knighted by the Queen in 2006. Sadly the saxophonist fell ill last year after a tour of the United States. Dankworth's last gig was at the London Jazz Festival, playing his horn from the confines of a wheelchair.

Sir Johnny Dankworth died in a London hospital on Saturday (February 6th). His wife Cleo Laine was starring in a show with her children at the time, and announced the death after the concert.

==================================

Flying Lotus Planning New Album

Los Angeles producer Flying Lotus is set to return in May with his eagerly awaited new album 'Cosmogramma'.

Real name Steve Ellison, Flying Lotus is simply one of the finest producers of his generation. Blending free jazz, electronica, hip hop and dubstep the Los Angeles kingpin's music has lit a trail for others to follow.

Over a series of seminal albums Flying Lotus has carved out a reputation as one of the most forward thinking musical minds on the planet. Joining the dots between continents, the producer has broken new ground.

Releasing 'Los Angeles' in 2008 Flying Lotus reached a new level of critical adoration. With the release of 'Cosmogramma' on May 3rd the producer could be set to stun fans once again.

A travelogue through his home city, 'Los Angeles' now seems to be just a primer for the American producer's talent. On 'Cosmogramma' Flying Lotus predicts and anticipates trends, then demolishes then in the blink of an eye.

A wide eyed pursuit of new music, Flying Lotus has been joined by some guest collaborators for the new album. Fresh from working with soulful jazz vocalist Jose James, the producer has roped in some friends for his own material.

Echoing the spirit of his famed aunt Alice Coltrane, Flying Lotus is joined by Ravi Coltrane, bass virtuoso Thundercat and the brilliant harp prodigy, Rebekah Raff.

In addition to this Flying Lotus is set to be joined by Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke. Laura Darlington is due to reprise her role on 'Los Angeles' while collaborators include Erykah Badu and Outkast string arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.

Flying Lotus is due to release 'Cosmogramma' on May 3rd.

==================================

Arctic Monkeys Prep New Single, Tour

Apparently the Arctic Monkeys are not done supporting their twisty, stoner-rocking 2009 album Humbug. They've got a new single coming out fronted by Sabbath-y album opener "My Propeller" and backed by three brand new tracks, including one excellently titled "Don't Forget Whose Legs You're On". The single is due March 23 digitally and through the band's web store before it hits record stores everywhere April 13 via Domino.

The Sheffield lads are also heading back to the United States for two weeks of touring come April.

==================================

Ratt Reveal Artwork, Tracklisting For Infestation

It’s no secret that RATT are back and raring to go. The band is proud to announce April 20, 2010 as the release date for their Loud & Proud debut, Infestation, an 11-song opus that is their first studio record in 11 years. The first single, “Best of Me,” is scheduled to impact rock radio on February 21. The song is available at all digital stores.

There’s been a flurry of activity in the Ratt camp in the past few years. Vocalist Stephen Pearcy has returned to the fold and the band has since signed to Loud & Proud/Roadrunner. The legendary Los Angeles rock squad, also featuring guitarist Warren DeMartini, drummer Bobby Blotzer, bassist Robbie Crane and new guitarist Carlos Cavazo, engineered Hollywood’s much-heralded Sunset Strip sound in the 1980s.

“We wanted this to be like something that we would have written right after [1984’s] Out of the Cellar, Pearcy said. “We definitely went back to basics with the mindset of a band with a lot of excitement and some great songs to get out.” Infestation was produced by Elvis Baskette (Chevelle, Alter Bridge.) in the helmer’s Virginia studio, marking the first time the band has recorded outside of Los Angeles. The album is full of attitude and of reflection, cycling through a range of emotions. There are party anthems that Ratt are known for alongside more contemplative, thoughtful tunes.

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U2 360 Degree World Tour Crowned Best Stage Show By Stage Crews

U2's 360 degree world tour, which featured a huge “claw” structure, has been crowned the best stage show of 2009.  The jaunt picked up the accolade - voted for by stage crews - at the Total Production International Awards, hosted by TPI magazine.

The stage set featured an innovative 360 degree design which affords an unobstructed view for the audience.

"It is a massive engineering feat - from scenery to video to audio, with the biggest PA system that has ever been seen on a tour," the magazine's editor-in-chief Mark Cunningham said.

"It's a fantastic achievement and the four members of U2 are effectively the icing on the cake."

U2 production guru Willie Williams took home two awards while guitarist The Edgie's roadie Dallas Shoo also won, reports the BBC.

U2's 360 degree world tour is due to resume this summer with additional European dates, starting in Frankfurt on August 10.

Other concerts are scheduled for venues in Moscow, Munich, Athens and Paris.

Ebay Vinyl Record Sales

Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 02/06/2010

1. LP - The Beatles "Please Please Me" Parlophone UK Gold Black label 1st Stereo - $5,475.40

2. LP - The Beatles "Please Please Me" Parlophone UK Gold Black label 1st Mono - $3,911.00

3. 45 - Soul Drifter "Funky Brother pt 1" / "Funky Brother pt 2" Smoke - $3,450.00

4. LP - The Beatles "Let It Be" UK Box Set PXS 1 - $3,207.02

5. 12" - Led Zeppelin “Road Box” - $3,200.00



Top 5 eBay Vinyl Record Sales - Week Ending 01/30/2010

1. 45 - Andrew Brown "You Made Me Suffer" / "Blue Monday" Brave - $5,655.55

2. 45 - The Fingers "Isolation" / "Wanna Go" " Work It Out" - Paradox - $3,678.00

3. LP - Maurice Marachel / Jeanne-Marie Darre "Brahms Sonatas #1 #2 For Violin and Piano" Pathe 33 DTX 127 - $2,728.00

4. 78 - Hattie Hart "You Wouldn't Would You Papa" / "Won't You Be Kind To Me" Victor - $2,500.00

4. 10" - Yvonne Lefebure "Beethoven Sontata #50, Op. 10" FBLP 1080 - $2,500.00

5. LP - Cannonball Adderley "Somthin' Else" Blue Note BLP 1595 - $2,222.22


As always, a special thank you to Norm over at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com for this great data!


Accidental Nostalgia is changing its name to Vinyl Record Talk, premieres tomorrow Feb 9th, 4pm Eastern on Radio Dentata. For more information, go to http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com

Be Patient

I am back....well sort of.  I am using a different computer- mine, I guess is shot.  I will try and keep up with my daily features and hopefully get back to 'normal' in the very near future.  I ask for your patience and understanding in this mess.

Music News & Notes

Joe Perry: ‘Tyler’s Still In Aerosmith’

Joe Perry has exclusively told Classic Rock that Steven Tyler will remain a member of Aerosmith, even though another singer is being brought in.  The guitarist now says of the situation:

“Steven hasn’t quit the band, nor have we sacked him. We’re taking the attitude that he’s going on a vacation from Aerosmith. While he’s away working on other projects, the rest of us (Perry, guitarist Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer) want to carry on playing live. So we will be bring another singer to make this happen.

“We’re not daft enough to think we can replace Steven, and that’s not our plan. But after 40 years of working together we just don’t wanna stop. How long with Steven be away? He says it’ll be two years, but I believe he’ll be back a lot sooner. It may end up that we only do 10 shows with the new person!”

==========================

Breaking The What? Priest Plan British Steel Reissue

Judas Priest are to release a deluxe edition of their iconic 1980 album British Steel on May 10.  This will actually come in two formats. The ‘normal’ deluxe edition will have a bonus DVD, filmed last year (August 17) at the Seminole Hard Rock Arena in Hollywood, Florida, when the band played the whole of this album. The ‘limited edition’ deluxe edition will also have an extra live CD from that show.

For further details, go to http://www.judaspriest.com/

==========================

Kiss: The Vinyl Boom

Kiss are to release their current album Sonic Boom on 180g vinyl.

This will be available in purple, red, green, blue and black – each limited to just 1,000 copies. Plus there’ll be a gatefold sleeve.

You may pre-order a copy now from http://www.kissonline.com/






==========================

Sublime members settle lawsuit; prepare to hit the road

Orange County's OC Weekly is reporting that the surviving members of Sublime have settled a lawsuit with the family of deceased founding member and singer Bradley Nowell over the use of the band's name, which was trademarked by Nowell. As a compromise, the band will be touring under the name Sublime With Rome, in reference to the name of new singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez.

==========================
Fucked Up announce Record Store Day 7"

Celebrated Toronto hardcore act Fucked Up has announced a new 7" that will be available as part of Record Store Day on April 17th. The band announced:

Somehow we've never participated in Record Store Day before. We've done lots of instores all over the world, and have had to stop at stores to shop in probably every record store in the free world. This year we decided to do something special for RSD, because we think it's important. This April you'll be able to leave your house and go to a record store and get this cool record. We decided to use our 7" as a tribute to a bunch of cool stores in the US. Ten stores will each be featured with their own cover artwork, using pictures that they sent in to us. The 7" is just gonna be the two daytrotter songs from couple tracks, plus one that isn't on the CD ("Crooked Head").

You can see all eleven covers, along with a lengthy vinyl love letter, at the band's blog. Fucked Up recently collected a bunch of tracks from their prolific 7" output and released them as Couple Tracks: Singles 2002-2009.

==========================

DISTURBED Begins Recording Next Album

According to The Pulse of Radio, DISTURBED has hit the studio in its hometown of Chicago to begin recording its fifth album, with a tentative summer release date planned. The group has not yet announced a title for the project, which will follow up 2008's "Indestructible". Guitarist Dan Donegan told The Pulse of Radio that DISTURBED had 15 to 18 songs ready to go, adding that the band doesn't like to waste time once it gets started. "I mean, we definitely go in there very prepared," he said. "We never enter the studio unless we feel like, right now, if these are the songs we record, that we would have an album that we're proud of and we're excited about. And we put everything under the microscope and examine it the best we can to make sure that we're prepared. We don't like going in there wasting time. We go in there to work, and to try to make the best album we can."

Meanwhile, the band has set March 23 as the release date for the 10th anniversary edition of its debut album, "The Sickness". The set, which will also be available on vinyl, will feature B-sides, new artwork, and exclusive online content.

Around the same time, the group will re-launch its website with a special section, accessible only by a code included with new copies of "The Sickness", that will feature clips of the quartet in the studio recording their new album.

==========================

GODSMACK Officially Names New Album 'The Oracle'
According to The Pulse of Radio, GODSMACK has officially named its new album "The Oracle", after initially calling the project "Saints & Sinners". Footage of the band working in the studio, along with frontman Sully Erna discussing the title change and some of the new material, has been posted online and can be viewed below. The group's fifth studio effort follows up 2006's "IV" and a nearly two-year hiatus that ended last summer when GODSMACK joined the Crüe Fest 2 tour.

Sully Erna told The Pulse of Radio that following their hiatus, GODSMACK intends to keep working straight through the next decade. "We grinded pretty hard for 10 years and we took a strict year off," he said. "I mean literally, when we pulled the plug on the tour, we said, don't call me, I'll call you. And then, you know, the following year, we started writing the new record. So we decided that since we pretty much have had two years off, we are now gonna get back into it for the next 10 years again and really grind hard."

A single called "Crying Like A Bitch" will head to rock radio later this month.

Other new songs include "War & Peace", "Devil's Swing" and "Whiskey Hangover", which the band issued as a single last summer.

A release date has yet to be announced for "The Oracle".

==========================

Michael Jackson Doctor Charged With Involuntary Manslaughter Over singer's death...


Michael Jackson’s doctor has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the singer’s death. Dr Conrad Murray, who is due to appear in court later, faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

The Associated Press news agency quotes the physician’s lawyer as saying he will plead not guilty.

Jackson died in Los Angeles on June 25, aged 50. An autopsy ruled his death as homicide "due to lethal levels of propofol".

Dr Murray told police he had been administering the drug to help the singer sleep, according to an affidavit.

But he has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

Dr Murray had been hired as the singer’s personal physician ahead of his ill-fated comeback gigs in London.

OUCH!

To my loyal readers:

Well, it's happened, the worst thing that could have happened, a complete computer breakdown. I am afraid my hard drive has crashed, and I have lost a lot of data. So, expect things to be slow here for a while as I try to recover lost files, documents and images. Man, what a drag.

So, to everyone - BACK UP EVERYTHING - and you won't be in the miserable position that I find myself in now. In the meantime, I thank you for your patience and I hope to back to 'normal' very soon.

Regards,
Robert Benson

Gotta Groove Records - "Groove With Us" from Nick Cavalier on Vimeo.

The Day The Music Died

Written By Robert Benson

The day is immortalized in the legendary Don McLean song “American Pie.” It was a day that saddened music lovers all over the world and shocked the music industry. It was the day the music died.

We are of course referring to the plane crash in Clear Lake, Iowa, that claimed the lives of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson. The crash, which occurred on February 3, 1959, is now fifty years old. Let’s explore some of the details of “the day the music died.”

The Winter Dance Party began at the Eagles Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on January 23, 1959. It featured the aforementioned stars, Dion Dimucci as well as an aspiring teen idol named Frankie Sardou. The tour was set to cover twenty-four Midwestern cities in a span of three weeks. The tour was a logistical nightmare with the amount of travel that was required. Adding to this problem was a tour bus that was ill-equipped to deal with the weather conditions in that part of the country; its heating system broke down shortly after the tour began. In fact, one musician, drummer Carl Bunch, developed a severe case of frostbite to his feet that required hospitalization (Holly and Valens took turns on the drums). It got so cold on the bus that the musicians started burning newspapers in the aisle in a desperate attempt to keep warm.

What’s interesting is that the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake was not intended to be a stop on the tour, but the promoters, hoping to fill an open date, contacted the manager of the establishment and offered him the show. He accepted and the date was set for February 2nd.

However, Holly was so frustrated and tired of the malfunctioning tour bus that he told his fellow musicians that, once the show was over, they should attempt to charter a plane to get to the next stop on the tour; which was Moorhead, Minnesota. So flight arrangements were made with Roger Peterson, who was a local pilot employed at Dwyer Flying Service, based in Mason City, Iowa. The fee was $36 per passenger and the single-engine plane could seat three musicians in addition to the pilot.

But there was a dilemma, who would fly and who would get to the next destination via the tour bus?

Obviously, Holly and the pilot were aboard which left two seats open. Dion was approached to buy a seat, but he thought that the price of $36 was way too much. He recalled his parents arguing about the rent, which coincidently was $36 per month and he could not bring himself to pay an entire month’s rent for a short plane ride.

J.P. Richardson had come down with a bout of the flu and asked one of Holly’s band mates, Waylon Jennings, for his seat on the plane and Jennings gave up his seat. Ritchie Valens, who was also feeling the effects of the freezing tour bus, asked Holly’s other band mate Tommy All sup for his seat. Allsup replied that he would flip a coin, with the winner getting the last seat on the plane. Now, contrary to what has been depicted in the biographical movies, the coin toss was not done by Holly; nor did it occur at the airport. The coin toss occurred at the Ballroom shortly before they departed for the airport and was actually done by a DJ who was working the concert that night.

The plane took off at 1 a.m. on February 3, 1959 from Mason City Municipal Airport. Approximately 1:05 a.m., Jerry Dwyer, owner of Dwyer Flying Service could see the lights of the plane start to descend from the sky to the ground. The pilot was supposed to file his flight plan once airborne, but he never contacted the tower. By 3:30 a.m., after multiple attempts to contact his pilot and the fact that the airport in Fargo, Minnesota had not heard from Peterson, Dwyer contacted the authorities to report the plane missing.

The doomed aircraft had just made it a few miles from the airport. The pilot (who was not certified to fly at night) may have been confused by the darkness and the light snow that was falling. The plane hit the ground nose first at an estimated 150mph killing all four men instantly.

Crash Site Photo

Let's Learn More:

In 1976, when the first Buddy Holly Week was held, Paul McCartney was presented with the cuff links Buddy Holly wore the night of the crash. McCartney purchased the rights to Holly’s song publishing and began organizing the annual celebration five years later.

On February 29, 1980, an old police file containing Buddy Holly’s horn rimmed glasses and a watch owned by J. P. Richardson were located by the Mason City Sheriff. The items were recovered at the crash site.

In the 2000 film Almost Famous, the band's plane is caught in bad weather, at which point one of the band members begins to sing the Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue.”

Deciding that the show must go on at the next stop, Moorhead, MN, they looked for local talent to fill in. Just across the state line from Moorhead, in Fargo ND, they found a 15 year old talent named Bobby Vee.

The crash that ended the lives of Holly, Valens, and Richardson was the break that began the career of Vee.

Tommy Allsup would one day open a club named "The Head's Up Saloon," a tribute to the coin toss that saved his life.

Waylon Jennings would become a hugely popular Country singer.

Dion DiMucci would enjoy a long lived solo career.

Inscribed on Ritchie Valens' grave are the words, "Come On, Let's Go."


Ritchie Valens:

Valens was a pioneer of Chicano rock, Latin rock and was an inspiration to many musicians of Latino heritage. He influenced the likes of Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys, and Carlos Santana among countless others at a time when there were very few Latinos in American rock and pop music. He is considered the first Latino to ever successfully cross over into Rock mainstream.

"La Bamba" would prove to be his most influential recording; not only by becoming a pop chart hit sung entirely in Spanish but also because of its successful blending of traditional Latin American music with rock. He was a pioneer and was an inspiration for many after his tragic death. Valens was the first to capitalize on this formula which would later be adopted by such varied artists as Selena, Caifanes, Cafe Tacuba, Circo, El Gran Silencio, Aterciopelados, Gustavo Santaolalla, and many others in the Latin Alternative scene.

Ironically, the Valenzuela family spoke only English at home, and Ritchie knew very little Spanish. Ritchie learned the lyrics of "La Bamba" phonetically in order to record the song in Spanish.

"Come on Let's Go" has been covered by Los Lobos, The Ramones and "The Paley Brothers”; (jointly, The Ramones on guitar, bass, and drums and The Paley Brothers on vocals), Tommy Steele, The Huntingtons and The McCoys.

"Donna" has been covered by artists as diverse as MxPx, Cliff Richard, The Youngbloods, Clem Snide, Cappadonna, and The Misfits among many others.

Robert Quine has cited Valens' guitar playing as an early influence on his style.

Donna Ludwig, Ritchie's girlfriend, is today still recognized as "Ritchie's Donna.” Her personalized license plate reads "ODONNA.”

Ritchie's nephew, Ernie Valens, has toured worldwide playing his uncle's songs, including a new version of the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly impersonator John Mueller. This tour has taken place at many of the original 1959 venues in the Midwest.

Valens also appeared in biopic films. Valens was depicted in the 1987 biopic film La Bamba, which was about his life. The film's time period was from 1957 to 1959, in which his age was 16 to 17. It introduced Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens and co-starred Esai Morales as his older half-brother, Bob Morales. Los Lobos performed most of the music in the film.

Valens was portrayed by Gilbert Melgar in the final scene of The Buddy Holly Story and Valens will also be depicted in the upcoming 2009 film The Day the Music Died. Valens will be portrayed by Joseph Thornhillas in the 2009 film Lives and Deaths of the Poet.


Big Bopper:

Richardson's son, Jay Richardson, took up a musical career and is known professionally as "The Big Bopper, Jr." He has performed all around the world. Notably, he has toured on the "Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly impersonator John Mueller on some of the same stages as his father performed.

In January 2007, Richardson's son Jay requested that his father's body be exhumed and an autopsy be performed to settle the rumors that a gun was fired or that Richardson initially survived the crash. The autopsy was performed by Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Jay was present with Dr. Bass throughout the entire autopsy and observed as the casket was opened; both men were surprised to find the remains well enough preserved to be recognizable as those of the late rock star. "Dad still amazes me 48 years after his death, that he was in remarkable shape," Richardson told the Associated Press. "I surprised myself. I handled it better than I thought I would."

Dr. Bass' findings indicated there were no signs of foul play. He was quoted as saying "There are fractures from head to toe. Massive fractures. ... (Richardson) died immediately. He didn't crawl away. He didn't walk away from the plane."

After the autopsy, Richardson's body was placed in a new casket made by the same company as the original, then was reburied next to his wife in Beaumont's Forest Lawn Cemetery. Jay then allowed the old casket to be put on display at the Texas Musician's Museum.

In December 2008, Jay Richardson announced that he would be placing the old casket up for auction on eBay. The Texas Musician's Museum will receive a share of the profits.


Buddy Holly:

Contrary to popular belief, teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not attend a Holly concert, although they watched his TV appearance on "Sunday Night at the London Palladium"; Tony Bramwell, a school friend of McCartney and George Harrison, did. Keith Richards attended one of the gigs, where he heard "Not Fade Away" for the first time. Bramwell met Holly, and freely shared his records with all three.

Lennon and McCartney later cited Holly as a primary influence. (Their band's name, The Beatles, was chosen partly in homage to Holly's Crickets.) The Beatles did a cover version of "Words of Love" that was a close reproduction of Holly's version. McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly's song catalogue.

A young Bob Dylan attended the January 31, 1959 show, two nights before Holly's death. Dylan referred to this in his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his 1997 Time out of Mind winning Album of the Year.

Various rock and roll histories have asserted that the singing group The Hollies were named in homage to Buddy Holly. According to the band's website, although the group admired Holly (and years later produced an album covering some of his songs), their name was inspired primarily by the sprigs of holly in evidence around Christmas of 1962.

After the death of Buddy he would leave a trail of followers from Bob Dylan, to Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, and The Beatles. Also, one of The Rolling Stones early hits was a cover of "Not Fade Away.”

Eddie Cochran, good friend and fellow rock 'n' roll pioneer was so distraught by the deaths of Holly, Valens, and The Big Bopper that he recorded the song "Three Stars" as a tribute. The song was not released until after Cochran's own premature death, because he was too upset to allow it to be issued in his lifetime.

The Smithereens' song "Maria Elena" is a Buddy Holly tribute as sung to his widow.

Blink-182 has a song named "Peggy Sue" which is a tribute to Holly.

Phil Ochs famously sang a long tribute to Buddy Holly on the infamous Gunfight at Carnegie Hall album.

Mike Berry released a 1961 single called "Tribute to Buddy Holly.” It was written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek, who was a great Buddy Holly fan. In the USA, it was released on Coral, Buddy Holly's label.

Weezer's self-titled debut album features the band's popular single "Buddy Holly.”

Musician Albert Hammond, Jr. has a cover of "Well... Alright" on his 2007 album Yours To Keep.

Run-DMC's music video for the song "King of Rock" has an extended video on Buddy Holly performing on The Ed Sullivan Show

Don McLean's popular 1971 ballad "American Pie" is inspired by the day of the plane crash. He has also covered "Everyday.”

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THE ANNOTATED AMERICAN PIE
(What the song is talkin' about!)
By Rich Kulawiec

The entire song is a tribute to Buddy Holly and a commentary on how rock and roll changed in the years since his death. McLean seems to be lamenting the lack of "danceable" music in rock and roll and (in part) attributing that lack to the absence of Buddy Holly et. al. (Verse 1)

A long, long time ago...

"American Pie" reached #1 in the US in 1972, but the album containing it was released in 1971. Buddy Holly died in 1959.

I can still remember how
That music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance,
That I could make those people dance,
And maybe they'd be happy for a while

One of early rock and roll's functions was to provide dance music for various social events. McLean recalls his desire to become a musician playing that sort of music.

But February made me shiver,

Buddy Holly died on February 3, 1959 in a plane crash in Iowa during a snowstorm. The news came to most of the world on the morning of February 3, which is why it's known as The Day The Music Died.

With every paper I'd deliver,

Don McLean's only job besides being a full-time singer-songwriter was being a paperboy.

Bad news on the doorstep...
I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried
When I read about his widowed bride

Holly's recent bride, Maria Elena, was pregnant when the crash took place; she had a miscarriage shortly afterward.

But something touched me deep inside,
The day the music died.

The same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly also took the lives of Richie Valens ("La Bamba") and The Big Bopper ("Chantilly Lace"). Since all three were so prominent at the time, February 3, 1959 became known as "The Day The Music dies”.

So... (Refrain)
Bye bye Miss American Pie,

Miss American Pie *is* rock and roll music. Don McLean dated a Miss America candidate during the pageant. (unconfirmed)

Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ole boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye
Singing "This'll be the day that I die,
This'll be the day that I die."

One of Holly's hits was "That'll be the Day"; the chorus contains the line "That'll be the day that I die"


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Here are a few record prices for these three legends. As always, the prices are obtained from Jerry Osborne’s “Rockin Records” Price Guide (for your own record price guide, visit Jerry at http://www.jerryosborne.com




Buddy Holly


Singles: 78 rpm


CORAL (61852 "Words of Love") $400-500 1957

CORAL (61885 "Peggy Sue") $400-600 1957

CORAL (62006 "Early in the Morning") $600-800 1958

CORAL (62051 "Heartbeat") $600-800 1958

DECCA (30166 "Modern Don Juan") $500-600 1956

DECCA (30434 "That'll Be theDay") $500-600 1957

DECCA (30543 "Love Me") $500-600 1958

DECCA (30650 "Ting-A-Ling") $500-600 1958

Promotional LPs


DECCA (8707 "That'll Be the Day") $1000-1500 1958

(Pink label.)

LPs: 10/12–inch


BRUNSWICK (54038 "The Chirping Crickets") $800-1200 1957



Ritchie Valens


Singles: 78 rpm


APEX (76402 "Donna") $100-200 1958

(Canadian.)

APEX (76472 "That's My Little Susie") $200-300 1959

(Canadian.)

LPs: 10/12–inch


DEL-FI (1206 "Ritchie") $300-400 1959

DEL-FI (1214 "Ritchie Valens in Concert at Pacoima Jr. High") $300-400 1961




Big Bopper


Singles: 7–inch


D (1008 "Chantilly Lace") $150-200 1958


LPs: 10/12–inch


MERCURY (20402 "Chantilly Lace") $250-300 1959

(Black label.)


MERCURY (20402 "Chantilly Lace") $550-650 1959

(White or pink label. Promotional issue only.)


MERCURY (20402 "Chantilly Lace") $75-100 1964

(Red label.)

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BUDDY HOLLY





RITCHIE VALENS

Richie Valens - Ooh My head ('58)
by panda4075

BIG BOPPER

Music News & Vinyl Record Notes

Eagles Announce West Coast Tour

The Eagles have mapped a few additional West Coast dates that will follow their upcoming three-night engagement at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles this spring.

After tackling the April 16, April 17 and April 20 LA shows - the band's first-ever performances in the legendary venue - the group heads to Phoenix for an April 21 appearances, then back to California for concerts in Anaheim (4/25), Sacramento (4/27) and San Jose (4/30), before closing out the run May 9 in Vancouver. Dates are shown below:

04/16 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
04/17 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
04/20 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
04/21 - Phoenix, AZ - US Airways Arena
04/25 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center
04/27 - Sacramento, CA - ARCO Arena
04/30 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion
05/09 - Vancouver, British Columbia - GM Place

The new shows all go on sale to the public February 8, with the exception of the Vancouver date, which becomes available beginning next Monday (2/1). Tickets will be available at all Ticketmaster locations, via Ticketmaster charge-by-phone (800.745.3000) or online at Ticketmaster.com.

During the run, the band will continue to support 2007's "Long Road Out Of Eden," which was the group's first new studio album since 1979's "The Long Run."

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Mark Ronson recruits Santigold, Scissor Sisters for new album

Singer/producer to release 'The Business' later this year

Mark Ronson has revealed that he has collaborated with Santigold, Scissor Sisters, Cathy Dennis, rapper Pill and Miike Snow for his forthcoming new album, 'The Business'.

The singer/producer told NME.COM that he hoped to release the album, the follow-up to his 2007 hit 'Version', this spring or summer. He also said that unlike 'Version', which featured covers of songs by Kaiser Chiefs and Coldplay among others, all the songs will be original. Despite having a no cover version policy this time, Ronson explained that he had been writing new material with some of his previous collaborators.

"There's no covers, and no horns," he explained. "It's written with some of the people that actually wrote the songs I covered on the last album and that I didn't actually even know at the time.

"It's quite interesting to write songs from scratch with those people, like Dave [McCabe of The Zutons] who wrote 'Valerie', and Nick [Hodgson, of Kaiser Chiefs].

He said the album would be released "probably May, June depends how quick I can get it done."

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BOSTON's TOM SCHOLZ Says 'Impostor' Tried To Impersonate Him For A Solo Show

According to The Pulse of Radio, BOSTON guitarist Tom Scholz is up in arms over an "impostor" who tried to impersonate him for a planned solo show for $5,000. Scholz said in a statement that make no mistake — neither he nor BOSTON will be playing any dates in 2010.

"The most upsetting part of this is knowing your name has been used to swindle people out of their hard-earned money," he said. "Over the last few years, I've seen countless examples of con artists trying to make deals, pass themselves off, or sell tickets to unsuspecting fans by using the name BOSTON but this is the first time I've seen someone actually use my personal name as a come-on."

He went on to say: "If anyone has doubts about an advertised appearance by BOSTON, or anyone claiming to be performing as a part of BOSTON, they should check our website, BandBoston.com, or contact Agency For The Performing Arts, or our publicist, Gail Parenteau."

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THE OCEAN: New Album Details Revealed

THE OCEAN's upcoming albums are going to be entitled "Heliocentric" and "Anthropocentric". They are due for April and October 2010 releases.

The concept at the base of both albums is a critique of Christianity from different philosophical and personal angles.

While the songs, art and lyrics of "Heliocentric" tell the story of the rise of the heliocentric world view and its effects on Christian belief from medieval times to Darwin and Dawkins, "Anthropocentric" challenges the views of creationists and other modern fundamentalists who still believe that the earth is at the center of the universe.

Musically, "Heliocentric" covers the largest range of dynamics and styles to date: "There are a few really calm songs with mainly piano and vocals, as well as some crushing heavy tunes. There is a very special atmosphere to it that pervades the album," comments guitarist Jonathan Nido.

"Our new vocalist, Loic Rossetti, has immensely widenened the musical spectrum of this band and there are some songs on the album that even those people who have conceived of this band as being unpredictable and daring would have never imagined," adds Robin Staps. "But this is exactly what makes it a 150% THE OCEAN album".

"Heliocentric" continues where the Proterozoic half of the "Precambrian" album left off, with dense, epic songs and big orchestrations. "Anthropocentric" is going to be a bit more straightforward rocking and technical, whilst tapping the full dynamic range from acoustic pieces to eclectic heaviness as well.

The albums were mainly recorded in the mountainous isolation of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, the highest city of Europe. The band decided to record and mix the album with the band's house sound engineer Julien Fehlmann. "We wanted to be in control of every single detail, and we have an amazing studio at hand here." the group explains. "Soundwise this is by far the best-sounding album we have done to date".

The lyrics and snippets of every song of the album can be previewed at:

www.theoceancollective.com/heliocentric
www.myspace.com/theoceancollective

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Shirley Manson hints at new Garbage album

Manson hints that band have been in the studio recently

Shirley Manson has hinted that her band Garbage are to release new material soon, with the singer implying that the band have been in the studio together recently.

Manson dropped the hint in a message to fans posted on her Facebook page after the Grammy awards yesterday (February 1).

Although she didn't explicitly say they band were recording together again, she did allude to bandmates Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig, the last of whom was celebrating Green Day's '21st Century Breakdown' (which he co-produced) picking up the Grammy for Best Rock Album.

"Guess who I just spent a week in the studio with?" Manson wrote, before adding, "Would you be pleased if I said one of them was called Steve and one of them was called Duke and another was a Grammy-winning producer?"

Garbage's last studio album, 'Bleed Like Me', was released in 2005.

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SLAYER, MEGADETH, TESTAMENT Announce New Dates For 'American Carnage' Tour

SLAYER and MEGADETH are thrilled to announce the new, confirmed routing for the "American Carnage" North American Tour, which will commence with the rescheduled "Canadian Carnage East" dates in Quebec City on Friday, July 23. SLAYER will then head to Europe for a run of festival dates, returning to kick off the "American Carnage" leg in Albany, NY on August 11.

"American Carnage" will play 26 dates across the United States and Eastern Canada up to the Labor Day weekend, ending in Portland, Oregon on September 4. TESTAMENT will be special guest on all shows. Tickets purchased for the "American Carnage" shows when they first went on sale late last year will be honored for these rescheduled dates.

Due to venue availability and other conflicts, the shows originally scheduled in El Paso, Houston, Nashville, Duluth, and Louisville cannot be rescheduled at this time, and ticket holders may obtain refunds at point of purchase. However, new cities have been added to the "American Carnage" itinerary, with dates now scheduled in Cleveland, Kansas City, San Diego, and Sacramento. The confirmed, complete itinerary is below.

The "American Carnage" tour, originally scheduled to take place in January and February, had to be put on hold due to SLAYER's vocalist/bassist Tom Araya's ongoing, minimally-invasive treatments for what was diagnosed as a cervical radiculopathy, an occupational hazard for the rocker who is known for aggressively swinging his long mane of hair while performing. Right after the first of the year, Araya made the difficult decision to undergo a surgical procedure, called an anterior cervical discectomy with fusion, a relatively routine practice with an excellent recovery rate. That surgery took place early last week.

"The doctors said that Tom's surgery went very smoothly and was a resounding success," said Rick Sales, longtime SLAYER manager. "He's home now, doing really well, and he said the numbness in his fingers had already diminished considerably."

Shortly after the surgery, SLAYER's Kerry King received a text from Tom: "Awake and feeling good, actually whatever he did, it feels better."

The "American Carnage" tour will mark the first time that SLAYER, MEGADETH and TESTAMENT will have toured the U.S. together since 1991's epic "Clash of the Titans" tour, making this truly a "must-see" event.

SLAYER recently announced the rescheduling of its headline tour in Europe, and MEGADETH and TESTAMENT are currently on tour together playing U.S. cities that will not be on the "American Carnage" itinerary.

"American Carnage" North American tour dates:

Jul. 23 - Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Quebec City, QC CANADA
Jul. 24 - Heavy MTL, Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, QC CANADA
Jul. 26 - Metro Centre, Halifax, NS CANADA
Jul. 27 - Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, NB CANADA
Jul. 29 - Molson Amphitheatre, Toronto, ONT CANADA
Jul. 30 - John Labatt Centre Center, London, ONT CANADA
Aug. 11 - Glens Falls Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY
Aug. 12 - Izod Center, East Rutherford, NJ
Aug. 14 - Tsongas Arena, Boston, MA
Aug. 15 - Susquehanna Bank Center, Camden, NJ
Aug. 16 - Chevrolet Theatre, Wallingford, CT
Aug. 18 - Tower City Amphitheatre, Cleveland, OH
Aug. 19 - Joe Louis Arena, Detroit,MI
Aug. 20 - UIC Pavillon, Chicago, IL
Aug. 21 - Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Minneapolis, MN
Aug. 23 - Cap Fed Park @Sandstone, Kansas City, KS
Aug. 25 - Magness Arena, Denver, CO
Aug. 26 - Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM
Aug. 27 - Dodge Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
Aug. 29 - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre, San Diego, CA
Aug. 30 - Long Beach Arena, Long Beach, CA
Aug. 31 - Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA
Sep. 01 - Arco Arena, Sacramento, CA
Sep. 03 - Wamu Theatre, Seattle, WA
Sep. 04 - Washington County Fairgrounds, Portland, OR

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Classic 'Afro-Rock' Compilation to be Re-Released

If ever something should be called crate digging, it's the first 'Afro-Rock' compilation on Kona Records.

The release that helped spark the last decade's fascination with Afrobeat will be reissued by Strut this month. The compilation, originally released in 2001, showcased lesser players in the continent-wide interest in Western styles of music and the great fusion of styles that followed.

Indeed, before Duncan Booker (Kona Records) began his search for rare and out of print vinyl, the liner notes assert that most of the tracks hadn't "been heard outside of Africa," and that they weren't necessarily heard on that continent much either, having been recovered from dusty, "remote" corners of the continent off of utterly worn and heavily-used vinyl and master copies.

With tracks from Sierra Leone's Geraldo Pino, Kenya's Steele Beautttah, and rarities from Zaire (including a 12-minute groove called "Yuda" by Dackin Dakino), there's a clear effort to present the volume as a pan-continental representation of the great African funk/rock fusion experiments of the 1970s.

Lookout for three extra tracks on this release previously not available on the Japanese release, including an untitled piece by Ishmael Jingo.

Ask Mr. Music by Jerry Osborne

I am continuing our feature: Ask "Mr. Music." Now in its 24th year of syndication (1986-2010), Jerry Osborne's weekly Q&A feature will be a regular post every Wednesday from now on. Be sure to stop by Jerry's site (http://www.jerryosborne.com/) for more Mr. Music archives, record price guides, anything Elvis, buy & sell collectibles, record appraisals and much more. I thank Jerry for allowing the reprints.

FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 1, 2010

DEAR JERRY: When I hear Tchaikovsky's beautiful “6th Symphony,” also known as “Pathetique,” the melody gets me wracking my brain trying to come up with the lyrics that have been added to this music.

A friend told me you often resolve these type mysteries, so now I'm hopeful Tchaikovsky will stop tormenting me.
—Claudia Gruber, Evansville, Ind.

DEAR CLAUDIA: Stopping the torment by NOT listening to Tchaikovsky's “Pathetique” may be the only other option, so take comfort knowing you made the right choice.

Peter Tchaikovsky completed “Pathetique,” his sixth, final, and most famous symphony, just nine days before his death (November 6, 1893).

“Pathetique” is an hour-long symphony in four movements: 1) Adagio - Allegro non Troppo; 2) Allegro con Grazia; 3) Allegro Molto Vivace; and 4) Finale - Adagio Lamentoso.

The first theme of the first movement runs about four minutes and, after a brief pause, the second theme begins and also runs about four minutes. It is this second theme providing the music for three hit songs, all of which are lyrically very different.

First came “The Story of a Starry Night,” a 1942 hit for Glenn Miller and His Orchestra with vocal by Ray Eberly. This Top 15 single (Bluebird 11462) is the only charted version of “The Story of a Starry Night,” though many other recordings of it followed.

A few among those are versions by Ronnie Aldrich; Ray Anthony; Jackie Gleason; Robert Goulet; Hal McIntyre's Orchestra (Featuring Carl Denny); Jim Nabors; Della Reese; Jerry Vale; the Vibrations, and Danny Williams. There's even a 2007 recording, true to the original and beautifully performed by Filipino superstar, Amapola.

Another marvelous adaptation of the same “6th Symphony” segment, titled simply “Where,” became a summer 1959 hit by Tony Williams and the Platters.

“The Story of a Starry Night,” a 1966 single by the Vibrations, is most unusual in that its title places it with the “Starry Night” group, yet its lyrics do not. It is instead very similar to “Where.”

Next on the scene came “In Time,” one side of a double-sided hit in 1961 for Steve Lawrence. The flip, “My Claire De Lune,” is also based on the classic “Suite Bergamesque,” composed by Claude Debussy.


DEAR JERRY: In the 1950s movie “The Racers,” starring Kirk Douglas, the theme song is by Peggy Lee, titled “I Belong to You.”

Did Peggy Lee ever release this song on a record?
—Dan Goris, Erieville, N.Y.

DEAR DAN: Written especially for “The Racers,” with lyrics by Jack Brooks and music by Alex North, Peggy recorded “I Belong to You” January 19, 1955 for Decca Records.

About a month later (February 21) a single came out (Decca 29429) on both 45 and 78 rpm.

This single came at the same time as Peggy's legendary film-song connection, providing the voices of the Siamese cats in the Disney classic, “The Lady and the Tramp.” Peggy's single release immediately preceding “I Belong to You,” is “The Siamese Cat Song” (Decca 29427) from that film.

Peggy, along with Sonny Burke, wrote this and the five other songs in “The Lady and the Tramp,” including the beautiful “Bella Notte.”

Until 2003, “I Belong to You” could not be found on CD. That year, “Peggy Lee - Love Songs” came out (Universal, 0881131002) with that selection among its 14 tracks.


IZ ZAT SO? When it comes to composing, writing the lyrics of “The Lady and the Tramp” soundtrack is but a drop in the bucket for Peggy Lee — easily the most popular singer-songwriter of the pre-Rock Era.

Of all that period's top pop singers, no one wrote more of their own hits, as well as ones for numerous other performers. Peggy is also the first woman to write her own Top 10 hit, “I Don't Know Enough About You” (1946), and first to write and sing her own No. 1 hit, “Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me) (1948).”

Between 1941 and 1986, Peggy composed and published nearly 200 songs.

Jerry Osborne answers as many questions as possible through this column. Write Jerry at Box 255, Port Townsend, WA 98368, e-mail: jpo@olympus.net, or visit his Web site: http://www.jerryosborne.com/. All values quoted in this column are for near-mint condition.

Copyright 2010 Osbourne Enterprises- Reprinted By Permission

Vinyl Record Talk Premieres February 9th 4pm PT / 7pm ET

This from my friends over at http://ccdiscoveries.blogspot.com

WE'RE BACK!!!!

It's still Norm, Jane and Randy, and its still nostalgic, and accidents will be forthcoming.

Join us for Vinyl Record Talk where we'll still be turning you on to rare pieces of vinyl, bringing you the weekly eBay Top Five rare records, and music news.

This February 9th our guest will be rock critic Gail Worley (http://www.worleygig.com/), writer for Modern Drummer magazine. Gail is currently working on a book with founding member of Alice Cooper, Neil Smith.

NerdAlertRecords.com ~ Stop By and Buy Some Vinyl!

I have discovered a great source for vinyl, read a bit about who they are and stop by the site for a visit!
http://nerdalertrecords.auctivacommerce.com/


What and Who are Nerd Alert Records?

We are an 100% independent, D.I.Y., vinyl-only, online record store owned and operated by married couple, Bonnie Molleston and myself, Tony Peters since its birth on May 28th, 2008. We decided to open this store in May 2008 as an at-home job for a pregnant Bonnie. Taking a two month break from my day job working at Nintendo of America, we spent a couple months gathering stock and readying a web store with no prior knowledge of running a music store and absolutely no contacts or outside money. It was built from our money, our credit cards, our hard work – a textbook definition of D.I.Y.

As record collectors ourselves, we strive to put as much information as possible about the records we sell our listings so that all of our customers know exactly what they are buying. And if you happen to be a collector, you know how frustrating it can be to play the roulette wheel with stores that do not bother to list variant/color/pressing information.

But – at the same time, there are plenty of music lovers who simply want the record to listen to, not to collect. To see that these customers types be represented in our store as well, we go out of our way to amass as much music from as many genres as possible, regardless of record label, artist image, etc. We’re in the business of music, not anonymous judgment.

Our business has no employees, no corporate sponsors, no outside investors – everything that is done for/to the store is done by us. That means that there are no hoops to jump through in order to talk to someone who can actually help you out. You’ll never talk to some space cadet kid who doesn’t even care or know about the products they are selling.

What and who do the two of you listen to?

Tony: I could list for-ev-er, so here’s what is on the top of my head (in no particular order): Alkaline Trio, 311, Less Than Jake, NOFX, No Use For A Name, Lagwagon, All (Chad years), The Descendents, Sage Francis, Atmosphere, Murs, The Coup, Rage Against The Machine, The Falcon, The Larry Arms, Rise Against, Against Me!, Ozma, The Vandals, The Aquabats, Nerf Herder, RX Bandits, Saul Williams, Tenacious D, The Offspring, Bad Religion, Pulley… …see, for-ev-er. I grew up on mid-late 90s 3rd wave ska and So-Cal punk, with a healthy dose of present day hip-hop.

Bonnie: Coming Soon

Do you collect records? And if so, can I see your collection and/or trade with you?

For sure we collect! We started collecting and active listening to vinyl in the past couple years, so there are gigantic holes in both our collecting collection and our listening collection. Though not complete as of this writing, our collection can be found over at CheckMyVinyl.com, either by searching for user nerdalertrecords or by clicking here. As for trading, again, we would be more than happy to do so with anyone. We will trade records from either our personal collection (see above) and/or from the store. When checking our collection, be sure to only ask about records that have the “Willing to Trade?” option marked as yes.


Current Coupons:

•RAZOR52 – Free Mystery LP with $35+ purchase (no current expiration date).
•SECRETWEAPON – Free Mystery LP with $35+ purchase (no current expiration date).
•TENPERCENT – 10% off your order, duh! (Doesn’t work with video games).

The Wonderful World of Bootleg Records

Written By Peter Richardson

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you find yourself in a shop surrounded by stuff that you've dreamed of acquiring but you know is impossible to source? You're walking down the aisles and all these myriad treasures that you've long fantasized and generally secretly obsessed about are there awaiting your perusal.

Never could such a dream be more applicable than to the world of rock music, and nowhere is there a better example of a band specifically designed to fulfill such a fantasy than The Rolling Stones.

It doesn't take long for even relatively casual students of Stonesology to realize that there is a hefty chunk of their back catalogue that has never been released. The reasons are many and various, including all kinds of contractual grief, an acrimonious split with a manager whose estate still has a stranglehold on the rights to the cream of their back catalogue and a weird kind of hubris which attaches itself to the band and dictates that they really don't wish to have to compete with their younger and infinitely groovier incarnations as they still have the occasional album to release or the occasional tour to contemplate, Keith's arthritis and Ronnie's ongoing dalliances with the demon drink notwithstanding.

The fact that really amazing material is held under lock and key, while all that devoted fans can access through legitimate channels are pseudo rarites which in effect are nothing new just adds to the sense of frustration.

So the reasons why bands such as the Stones created such a long standing gap in the market are fairly plain to see but with all gaps in the market there are always entrepreneurs ready to satisfy these latent demands.

In the late sixties when there was still a genuine buzz of excitement around bands such as the Stones, there sprang up in America a generation of young guys that were not just into the music but were also enterprising enough to cater to the desires of collectors whose needs were not sufficiently sated by the corporate decision making (or lack of) of the sprawling and sluggish behemoth otherwise known as the music biz.

The fact that such activities were highly illegal, involving all kinds of calumny such as breach of copyright, theft of artist royalties and general disrespect for big business and the system in general just added to the heady aura of dubious legitimacy about such undertakings. The people behind the release of these hitherto hidden gems were extremely resourceful, their relative youth notwithstanding. Take the case of the guy from England living on the West Coast who had been a key player in the music business throughout most of the sixties. He had in his possession early demos including the Stones legendary "Bright Light's Big City" demo which was infinitely better than their first Decca release but hitherto unheard although often discussed in hushed and reverential tones amongst collectors, who regarded such material as the ultimate Holy Grail of Stonesdom.

Two of the guys at the forefront of what was to become known as the Bootleg industry were determined to get a hold of this stuff but the Englishman was extremely cautious about releasing the recordings perhaps feeling the weight of potential legal suites and exile from the magic circle in the offing should such material get into circulation. Undeterred the young entrepreneurs asked him if they could at least listen to these wonders. He eventually agreed and with a pile of rarities tucked under his arm he arrived at their house. A pleasant afternoon was spent with the young guys plying him with herbal cigarettes and drink while they all happily listened to the amazing and hitherto unheard (except by the chosen few) recordings. Unbeknownst to the guy with the London connections the exclusivity of the music that they were listening to had now been irretrievably compromised courtesy of an ever so discreet microphone and wiring from the back of the record player which had been artfully guided down through the floorboards to the basement below wherein dwelt another part of the team who was busily recording the whole session.

That was just the start, soon they were investing in state of the art microphones and recording live concerts, the albums being released scant weeks later on colored vinyl with edgier artwork than any record company would ever sanction to accompany them. It got to such a pitch that there was even one guy who wasn't actually part of the bootleg business but nevertheless became a reluctant and ultimately indignant feeder for their product who used to arrive at the Los Angeles Forum in a wheelchair which housed state of the art recording equipment. with microphones hidden in each arm of his wheelchair to capture the event in true stereo and as his needs were self evident he would always be wheeled down to the front of the auditorium to what was for his requirements, the best seat in the house.

The artwork was produced under similarly clandestine conditions. William Stout whose artwork dominates most of this post, first commissions for the TMoQ (Trademark of Quality) label involved him receiving his brief at a pre-determined corner with a list of the songs and album title written on a scrap of paper which would be delivered to him by an outstretched hand emerging from the depths of the dark interior of an old nineteen forties limo. He would present himself at a different corner the following week to hand over the artwork and receive payment.

All in all a truly fascinating business.

Source:  http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/

Reprinted By Permission

New Music Releases ~ Feb 2, 2010

Buy Vinyl Here:  http://www.insound.com/

Agnetha Faltskog - Original Album Classics: Agnetha Faltskog
Album Leaf - A Chorus of Storytellers
Alexander Tucker - Grey Onion
ALO - Man Of The World
Anchors - Music From The Future
Aretha Franklin - Original Album Clasics (3-CDs)
Barry White - Early Years
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula
Bob Blank - Blank Generation Blank Tapes NYC 1975-1985
Brown vs Brown - Odds and Unevens
Bruce Kulick - BK3
Christina Aguilera - Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits
Cliff Richard - The Early Years
DeWayne Woods - My Life's Lyrics
Disco Biscuits - Planet Anthem
DJ Hell Featuring Bryan Ferry - U Can Dance Remixes Pt.1 (Single)
DJ Hell Featuring Bryan Ferry - U Can Dance Remixes Pt.2 (Single)
Dommin - Love Is Gone
Ella Fitzgerald - Jazz Manifesto
Fela Kuti with Ginger Baker - Live With Ginger Baker
FM Belfast - How to Make Friends
Freda - Original Album Classics: Freda
George Benson - Blue Bossa
Glossary - Feral Fire
Hank Williams - Classic Years
Hank Williams - Hank Williams
Helloween - Unarmed: Best of 25th Anniversary (2 LPs)
Him - Heartkiller
Husky Rescue - Ship of Light (with bonus tracks)
Jamie Foxx - Body
Joao Gilberto - Chega De Saudade (remastered with bonus tracks)
Joe Satriani - Live in Paris: I Just Wanna Rock•Saxon - Destiny
Johnny Cash - Inspiration
k.d. lang - Recollection
Lifehouse - Smoke & Mirrors
Lightspeed Champion - Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You
Lil Wayne - Rebirth (deluxe edition with bonus tracks)
Madlib & Guilty Simpson - Madlib Medicine Show 1
Malakai - Ugly Side of Love
Marina & The Diamonds - Hollywood (vinyl)
Midlake -The Courage of Others
Mighty Baby - Tasting the Life: Live 1971
Miles Davis - Jazz Manifesto
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop: the Best of Millie Small
Monolake - Silence
Mount Eerie - Black Wooden EP
Nick Jonas & The Administration - Who I Am
Nneka - Concrete Jungle
Olafur Arnalds - Dyad 1909
Pale White Moon - Call of the Wolf Peach
Passion Pit - Chunk of Change EP
People - Ceremony: Buddha Meet Rock
Pepi Ginsberg - East is East (vinyl)
Philip Glass - Itaipu
Pierced Arrows - Descending Shadows (vinyl)
Priestess - Prior to the Fire (vinyl)
Ray Charles - Classic Years
Rob Zombie - Hellbilly Deluxe 2 (vinyl)
Rory Gallagher - Greatest Hits

Buy Vinyl Here:  http://www.insound.com/

Rory Gallagher - Live in Europe
Saxon - Innocence is No Excuse
Saxon - Rock the Nations
Scorpions - Original Album Clasics (3-CDs)
Scuba - Sub: Stance
Shining - Black Jazz
Shirley Bassey - Easy to Love
Skullflower - Strange Keysto Untune Gods
Soft Pack - The Soft Pack
soihadto... - Adventure Stories (Not Based On Fact?)
Sole - Nuclear Winter Volume 1
Sono - Plus
Sourpatch - Crushin
Statik Selektah: 100 Proof - The Hangover
Styles P & DJ Green Lantern - The Green Ghost Project
The Brunettes - Paper Dolls
These New Puritans - Hidden
Toni Braxton - Pulse
Toro Y Moi - Causers of This (vinyl)
U.S. Girls - Go Grey
Various Artists - ASK-820 Karaoke: Hits of Lady Gaga 1
Various Artists - Creation (soundtrack)
Various Artists - Dear John: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Various Artists - Disco Love: Rare Disco & Soul Uncovered
Various Artists - Extraodinary Measures (soundtrack)
Various Artists - Next Stop Soweto (vinyl)
Various Artists - Shutter Island (Music From The Motion Picture)
Various Artists - Under the Weight of Light
Various Artists - Wall of Sound: The Best of Phil Spector
Various Artists - Ziggy Marley Presents: Dancehall Originators, Let's Go Back... Way Back. Vol. 1
Vedera - Stages
Voicesvoices - Origins (vinyl)
Wakey!Wakey! - Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said the Last Time I Saw You
We Are Wolves - Invisible Violence