Circus Magazine....A Blast From The Past

Got a call today from Shawn Foxx, a DJ out of Waterloo, Iowa. We had a great conversation about music, vinyl records (he is an avid collector of music) and the general state of the music industry, among other things. He did bring back an old, faded memory for me that has been stored away for many years ~ Circus Magazine. For those who can remember, it was the authorative music magazine of its time and I vividly recall cutting out many of the pictures to make posters from them. You to can learn more about the magazine and what it stood for, check it out:


Running Away With the Circus
An Oral History of Circus Magazine

By Steven Ward

Rolling Stone is not the only rock magazine still publishing today that was founded in the late '60s; believe it or not, Circus magazine has appeared on newsstands, unabated, since 1968. And like Jann Wenner at Rolling Stone, Circus Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Gerald Rothberg is still at the helm. Rothberg actually started Circus in 1966, under the title, Hullabaloo. In the almost 40 years since, Circus has been many different kinds of music publication. It started out as a general interest rock magazine, running stories on classic rockers such as the Doors, Genesis, and Grand Funk Railroad. Later, Rothberg realized that his target audience--teen boys--loved to read about their favorite rock stars over and over, month after month. So when a band like Kiss hit, they were one of Circus's biggest cover stars. Circus covered all kinds of rock and pop music but always featured a large number of heavy metal and hard rock bands in its pages......

Unlike Rolling Stone, there are no books, websites, or articles that exist on the history of Circus magazine. Thus rockcritics.com presents this ongoing oral history of the magazine. Here, former Circus writers and editors--and even a few who continue to write for the magazine today--talk about Circus, their time there, and the man behind the magazine, Gerald Rothberg.

Read More Here


Check out Shawn's facebook group Shawns facebook group http://www.facebook.com

Classic Rock Videos

The Cars Live - Bye Bye Love

Vinyl LPs selling at a record-setting pace

Vinyl LPs haven't lost their groove. In fact, albums still are selling at a record-setting pace

Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas


Jul. 10--Everywhere you turn, traditional media are dying.

Yet against all odds, a cumbersome, fussy and pricey method of consuming recorded music isn't just surviving -- it's thriving.

Vinyl LPs, as has been breathlessly touted for months, are surprisingly resurgent in the midst of this analog twilight and the ascent of portable, digital technology.

Looking at the most complete sales data available (for 2008), the sales of vinyl LPs jumped an eye-popping 89 percent, from 990,000 units sold to 1.88 million units sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan's year-end report.

The top-selling LP of 2008? Radiohead's In Rainbows, which moved a little over 25,000 copies. Nothing to sneeze at, but by comparison, the top-selling nonvinyl album of the year, Lil Wayne's Tha Carter III, moved nearly 3 million copies.

LPs were just a fraction of the year's total music sales (less than 1 percent overall), but they nevertheless offer a flicker of hope -- or a brief delay of the inevitable -- for an industry that has seen nothing but bad news for years. Indeed, according to Nielsen SoundScan, vinyl LP sales are on course to top out at a record-setting 2.8 million units sold in 2009, a 50 percent increase from 2008's total.

"People are truly embracing the warmth of the sound," says Chris Penn, manager of Dallas' Good Records. "It's becoming a 'Saturday night, I'm going to listen to records [thing].' It's kind of an event -- that's what I'm excited about. [The format] has a little more longevity with that kind of listening." Vinyl may be enjoying a resurgence, but most record stores point out that the format never completely died. Customers simply were more taken with the cutting-edge formats like CD and MP3.

Read the rest here:
vinyl

Music News & Notes

Richard Hell remakes album 27 years after first release

The punk-rock legend has re-recorded his 1982 album Destiny Street because the original sounded like a 'high-pitched sludge of guitar noise'

Richard Hell and the Voidoids' final album has been remade. Twenty-seven years after the release of Destiny Street, the punk-rock legend has re-recorded the album and will release the "repaired" version on 1 September.

"At the time of the original recording I was so debilitated by despair and drug-need that I was useless," Hell said. "The record ended up being a high-pitched sludge of guitar noise. It was a shame because the songs were clean, simple, and well-constructed, but those values were sabotaged by the inappropriate arrangements and production."

Destiny Street was the follow-up to Blank Generation, arguably one of the greatest punk albums ever made. With two of the original Voidoids absent from the lineup, the 1982 record failed to find the same success – and has been out of print for the last three years.

After finding the original rhythm tracks, Hell "couldn't resist trying to use them to fill and patch up the record". He recruited three stellar guitarists – Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and original Voidoid Ivan Julian – and recorded new vocals. Robert Quine, the Voidoids' inimitable lead guitarist, died in 2004.

Destiny Street Repaired, which includes covers of songs by Bob Dylan and the Kinks, will be released as a standard CD and a limited-edition CD/vinyl/poster set with bonus material. All 1,000 copies of the deluxe set are signed by Hell himself.

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Maroon 5 Music

Maroon 5 has announced that it will be entering the studio this month with legendary producer Mutt Lange to start working the follow-up to their multi-platinum album It Won’t Be Soon Before Long. The album is due out in 2010…

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New Soulsavers Album

Soulsavers will release their third album, Broken, August 18 via Columbia Records, in digital formats only. Vocalist Mark Lanegan, who fronted eight tracks on the collective’s sophomore set, returns on 10 tracks on the new album.

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Sister Hazel LP

Gainesville, Florida’s Sister Hazel will release it’s seventh studio album, Take A Bow, August 18 and will hit the road, starting with a show Friday (July 10), in Aurora, Illinois. The group has partnered with Ford for the automobile company’s Sync My Ride promotion…

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More From Living Colour

Living Colour will release its fifth studio album (and first album of new material in nearly six years), The Chair In The Doorway, September 15, via Megaforce Records. The 11-track collection was recorded over the past several years…

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New George Benson Album

Ten-time Grammy winner George Benson will return with Songs And Stories, August 25, via Concord Records/Monster Music. The album is a collection of songs written by many of the most famous songwriters of the past 50 years, including Bill Withers (who came out of retirement), Lamont Dozier, James Taylor, and Donny Hathaway…

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Third Man Records News

Third Man Records has announced the opening of The Vault, a social networking and subscription service that provides exclusive offerings from the label’s artists. Subscribers to the $7 per month Premium Service (three month minimum) will get unlimited access to all online Vault services, including exclusive pre-sale concert tickets, streaming video, video messages, official chat rooms, photos, artist updates and pay per view live concerts. The $20 per month Platinum Service (three month minimum) includes all online content as well as quarterly Third Man 12” LPs, extremely limited 7” records and t-shirts These products will only be available through The Vault and will not be distributed to shops or available from Third Man’s online mail order service. Platinum subscribers who sign up between July 3 and July 21 will receive a double album of The White Stripes’ LP Icky Thump featuring an exclusive MONO mix, 180 Gram Vinyl and customized artwork, as well as a Third Man Records exclusive T-shirt and a 45 of The Dead Weather performing two covers, “Forever My Queen” and “Outside,” with special dedicated labels and sleeves exclusive to The Vault.

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Patty Loveless Album

Patty Loveless has announced plans for the release of her follow-up to 2001’s “Mountain Soul,” explaining “It’s Appalachian, bluegrass and country combined. You should never try to duplicate something like ‘Mountain Soul.’ What you should do is enhance. So this is like a continuation.”

Joining Patty on the new album will be Vince Gill, bluegrass greats Del and Ronnie McCoury, Carl Jackson, Bryan Sutton, Mike Auldridge, Emmylou Harris, steel guitarist Al Perkins, and Loveless’ 16-year-old vocal discovery Sydni Perry.

The album is slated to drop September 29th on Saguaro Road.

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Terri Clark Releases New Single

Terri Clark is set to release a new single from her upcoming album. The song has a blues feel and offers a glimpse into the singer's own life. The single, "Gypsy Boots," may be familiar to Terri's fans because she has been playing it in concert. Terri says the song says a lot about who she is and where she comes from.

The song has been a hit with fans so Terri decided to record it with a band. The song was co-written by Terri, Jon Randall and Leslie Satcher, and tells of restlessness, rebellion and living life to the fullest. Clark asked to be released from her contract with Sony/BMG Nashville so she could make an album that was close to her heart and her life.

"Gypsy Boots" hits the radio airwaves on July 20. Her album, The Long Way Home, was self-produced and will be released in September. Terri wrote or co-wrote all the tracks on the album and it will be Terri's first new music in almost three years.

Why We Love Vinyl!

This Date In Music History-July 11

Birthdays:

Lil' Kim (1975)

Scott Shriner - Weezer (1965)

Richie Sambora - Bon Jovi (1959)

Susanne Vega (1959)

Peter Murphy – Bauhaus (1957)

Benny DeFranco - DeFranco Family (1954)

Bonnie Pointer - Pointer Sisters (1951)

Jeff Hana - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (1949)


They Are Missed:

In 2006, Bill Miller, who played piano with Frank Sinatra's combo for over 40 years, died at age 91. You can hear him on "My Way," "Strangers in the Night" and "Young at Heart."

R&B pioneer Rosco Gordon died in 2002 (age 68).

Singer and lyricist Roger Christian died in 1991. Worked with the Beach Boys and co-wrote songs recorded by Jan and Dean.

Herbert Kenny, of doo-wop pioneers the Ink Spots, died in 1992 (age 77).

Jonathan Melvoin, keyboard player with the Smashing Pumpkins, died from a drug overdose in New York City in 1996 (age 34). Band member Jimmy Chamberlin was with Melvoin tried but failed to revive him after Chamberlin was allegedly advised by 911 operators to put Melvoin's head in the shower.

In 1937, composer George Gershwin died from a brain tumor in Beverly Hills, California. He was 38.

Thurston Harris (July 11, 1931 - April 14, 1990)


History:

Crooner Dean Martin recorded his first four songs in 1946.

In 1951, DJ Alan Freed, working under the name ‘Moondog’ in Cleveland, launched his Moondog Rock n’ Roll Party on WJW Radio. Freed’s promotional initiatives are a big reason the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame is located in the "mistake by the lake."

Joan Baez made her first recording in 1959, a duet with Bob Gibson, which was recorded live at the Newport Folk Festival.

Hollywood Argyles went to #1 on the singles chart in 1960 with “Alley Oop.”

In 1964, the Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program "Lucky Stars (Summer Spin),” performing “A Hard Day's Night,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Things We Said Today” and “You Can't Do That.” To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames.

David Bowie released his album Space Oddity in 1969. It’s timed to coincide with the first moon landing.

The soundtrack album “Woodstock” started a four-week run at #1 on the US album chart in 1970. It is the first triple-LP to do so.

In 1970, the Who unleashed the definitive Hard Rock version of “Summertime Blues.” Eddie Cochran’s version is still the best.

Also in 1970, Three Dog Night started a two-week run at #1 in the US with their version of the Randy Newman song “Mamma Told Me Not To Come.”

The Bruce Springsteen Band opened for Humble Pie at the Sunshine In, Asbury Park in New Jersey in 1971. After the show an impressed Peter Frampton from Humble Pie, tells Springsteen and the band he'd like to have them open for them on a national basis. Frampton also said he would be happy to get the band an audition with his record label, A & M Records. For no logical reason Springsteen’s manager Tinker West declined both offers on the spot.

A poll in 1991 determined that the most-requested Elvis Presley song is "Jailhouse Rock."

Ricky Martin started a five-week run at #1 on the singles chart in 1999 with “Livin' La Vida Loca.” The song was the first #1 song to be recorded, edited, and mixed totally on a DAW (digital audio workstation).

In 2000, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich testified before a Senate committee claiming Napster and other music sharing services are having a detrimental effect of the music industry. While that may be true, Ulrich’s comments alienate fans.