music Archives - Page 37 of 41 - Ramblin' with Roger

(Local) music, music, music, mostly

Before that, though, I should note the passing of someone I met only once, Dave Cockrum, who died this week. The cover pictured is for the X-Men Chronicles, published by FantaCo in the early 1980s. As editor of the publication, I arranged with Dave, the artist who helped revive the X-Men, to have the cover drawn and sent up to us. Unfortunately, Dave got a little behind. So I took a train from Albany to NYC, to the Marvel offices, and met Dave. He gave me the painted cover – WHICH WAS STILL WET! He was very pleasant and apologetic. I carried the cover carefully on the subway back to the train station, then back up to Albany.

Read more about Dave here (November 26) and here.
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As part of the Victorian Stroll in downtown Troy, St. Paul’s Choir and guest singers [including me] will once again perform Messiah, DECEMBER 3 at 4 o’clock. It should last until about 5:30 p.m.
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I’d probably cast out of my church choir if I didn’t mention that we’re doing our annual VESPERS service:

The Chancel choir and orchestra of First Presbyterian Church, 362 State Street, Albany, under the direction of Victor Klimash, will perform Mozart’s Vesperae de Dominica as part of an Advent Vespers service on Sunday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m.

Soloists include Deborah Rocco, soprano, Fiona McKinney, alto, Paul D’Arcy, tenor,
and Allan Kirk, bass . In addition, the orchestra will play two Symphonies de Noel by Michel-Richard de Lalande. For further information, call the church at 449-7332 or check the website at http://www.firstpresalbany.org/index.html.

The program is free. Parking available on the street or in Washington Park.
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The 15-year old daughter – a girl I’ve known all of her life – of an old friend of mine plays the French Horn for the Empire State Youth Orchestra. On Thursday December 7 a portion of any purchase one makes at the Wolf Road Barnes & Noble will be donated to ESYO. You’ll need a voucher, and I’ll e-mail one to you.
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Emmanuel Baptist Church, 275 State St., Albany announces a holiday concert, “The Three Divas of Christmas”, featuring local vocalists, Bienvenida Baez, my bud Deborah Rocco, and Alaina Warren Zachary accompanied by Michael Clement. It will be held December 16, 7:30 p.m. A reception will follow. Suggested donation is $15 plus a non-perishable item for the food pantry. 465-5161

This is a benefit for the renovation of Emmanuel Baptist Church. An urban church, nearly 175 years old with a gothic, cathedral-like structure, Emmanuel is creating a very different worship space and a new designated space for the FOCUS Interfaith Food Pantry which is housed at the church.
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Finally, The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilts will be on display in Albany at the Empire State Plaza from today through Friday. The display is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27th, Tuesday, Nov. 28th and Thursday, Nov. 30; from 9 a.m. to 8 pm on Wednesday, Nov. 29th; and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 1, 2006. This display is a partnership of the New York State Department of Health, the Capital Region of the NAMES Project and HIV/AIDS Community-Based Organizations. The display is part of observances for World AIDS Day, December 1, 2006. I’ll be working on Thursday from 1 to 5 p.m. this year.

Fave rave tunes

I stole this from Tosy, who stole it from someone named Jaquandor. I got into a holiday mode, so subsequently at least three others have done it. Ah, well.

“My favorite songs by these artists (I’ve left blanks for artists I know pretty much nothing of).”

Favorite Beatles song: “Drive My Car” – An extraordinary chord progression.

Favorite solo song by a former Beatle: “Maybe I’m Amazed” by Macca, from that very first solo album.

Favorite Bob Dylan song: You mean today? “Like a Rolling Stone.”

Favorite Pixies song: I’ll have to pull out my Doolittle album sometime.

Favorite Prince song: “I Would Die for You/Baby I’m a Star” – they’re segued, so I cheated. If I can’t cheat, “Delirious”.

Favorite Michael Jackson song: “Wanna Be Startin’ Something” – like the groove.

Favorite Metallica song: “One” – Tosy’s choice.

Favorite Public Enemy song: “Welcome to the Terrordome” – I’ve used it on a mixed CD.

Favorite Depeche Mode song: “Route 66/Behind the Wheel” – I have a remix of this on one of those Just Say Yes compilations that Sire Records put out a dozen years ago or so

Favorite Cure song: “Hot! Hot Hot!” – the remix

Favorite song that most of your friends haven’t heard: “Cellar Door” by Laura Cantrell on Hello Records, countryish tune.

Favorite Beastie Boys song: ? (I mean, I could say “Fight for Your Right”, but that would be too easy)

Favorite Police song: “Roxanne”, a song of redemption.
Tosy likes “Synchronicity II”, which does have one of my favorite lyrics ever, about the evil boss I used to have, and who I mentioned yesterday: “Every single meeting with his so-called superior is a humiliating kick in the crotch.”

Favorite Sex Pistols song: ? Don’t really know except “Anarchy in the U.K.” and a live “U.S.A.” variation

Favorite song from a movie: “Ma ‘Til Fille” by Buckwheat Zydeco. A six-minute groove. (But I agree with Tosy that “Philadelphia” is “Neil Young’s so-superior-to-the-Springsteen-Oscar-winner contribution.” I think Bruce might even agree, if I discerned the subtext of his acceptance speech correctly.)

Favorite Blondie song: “Tide is High”, for the fun of the vocals in the last verse

Favorite Genesis song: “The Lamb Dies Down on Broadway”- Tosy’s choice. A Q-104 song.

Favorite Led Zeppelin song: “How Many More Times” from the first album. The album said this song was 3:30, when it was more like 8:30. The day I heard the first LZ deserves its own post. Maybe in 2009, for the fortieth anniversary (or sooner).

Favorite INXS song: “Never Tear Us Apart” – again, Tosy’s choice.

Favorite Weird Al song: “I Lost on JEOPARDY!” -it’s the Don Pardo middle section.

Favorite Pink Floyd song: “Another Brick in the Wall” – when I worked at FantaCo, Mark McGovern came up with new lyrics: “We don’t need sex education, we don’t need no birth control.” It gets worse.

Favorite cover song: Way too tough a question. The answer is NOT anything done by Pat Boone. I could give you an album’s worth of Beatle covers alone. “Hurt” – John R. Cash’s cover of NIN. When I saw the video again after Johnny died, I wept.

Favorite dance song: Without looking something up, “Dancing Machine” by the Jackson 5.

Favorite U2 song: “When Love Comes to Town”, with B.B. King.

Favorite disco song: “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.

Favorite The Who song: “My Generation” – even though some of them got old before they died.

Favorite Elton John song: It varies so. “Burn Down the Mission” today.

Favorite Clash song: “Police on My Back”- screaming siren guitar line.

Favorite David Bowie song: “Panic in Detroit” -“sounds a lot like Che Guevara” song.

Favorite Nirvana song: “In Bloom”.

Favorite Snoop Dogg song: ?

Favorite Ice Cube song: ?

Favorite Johnny Cash song: “The Mercy Seat”, from the third American album. The piano by Benmont Tench, I believe. (And if it’s not, I’m sure SOMEONE will tell me.)

Favorite R.E.M. song: “Drive”, don’t know why.

Favorite Elvis song: “Little Sister”, the first one I heard, I believe.

Favorite cheesy-ass country song: ?

Favorite Billy Joel song: “Lullabye”, for his daughter

Favorite Bruce Springsteen song: “Darkness on the Edge of Town”

Favorite Big Audio Dynamite song: ? I have the BAD II album The Globe; I’ll have listen again

Favorite New Order song: ? I have some early vinyl I’ll need to pull out.

Favorite Neil Diamond song: “Thank the Lord for the Nightime”

Favorite Squeeze song: “Tempted”

Favorite Smiths song: ?

Favorite Tragically Hip Song: ? One album I play every July 1, Canada Day

Tosy added:

Favorite Beach Boys song: “God Only Knows”, Tosy’s choice

Favorite Dave Matthews Band song” ?

Favorite Dire Straits song: “Industrial Disease” – “two men say they’re Jesus”

Favorite Elvis Costello song: “What’s So Funny? (About Peace, Love, and Understanding)” -Tosy’s choice. I also hear this song as an a cappella doo wop. Yes, really.

Favorite Guns ‘N Roses song: “Civil War”, if only for the Cool Hand Luke dialogue.

Favorite Jimi Hendrix song: “Voodoo Chile Blues”- anyone chastising Hendrix for doing that rock and/or roll didn’t hear this or “Red House”

Favorite John Mellencamp song: “Jack and Diane” – my wife’s cousin’s named Diane and she married a guy named Jack.

Favorite Living Colour song: “Information Overload” – the bane of a librarian’s life.

Favorite Neil Young song: “Harvest Moon” or “When You Dance”, both about lost loves.

Favorite Paul Simon song: Oh, so many. “Boy in the Bubble” – there is a 12″ version that’s never appeared on a CD, as far as I can tell.

Favorite Simon & Garfunkel song: “The Boxer”. I know this song by heart, except for the verse Paul added later on a live show, which doesn’t enhance the song, so I never learned it.

Favorite Queen song: “Another One Bites the Dust”

Favorite Radiohead song: ?

Favorite Sting song: “I Hung My Head”, though John R. Cash’s version is better.

Favorite Tracy Chapman song: “Fast Car”

Favorite Van Morrison song: “Wild Night”

Favorite XTC song: “Generals and Majors” -loopy

ADDED BY Lefty

Favorite Allman Brothers song: “Elizabeth Reed”

Favorite Grateful Dead song: “Friend of the Devil”

Favorite Green Day song: “American Idiot” (Lefty’s choice); thanks, ADD

Favorite The Band song: “Jemima Surrender”

Favorite White Stripes song: ?

Favorite Willie Nelson song: “Graceland”

Favorite Indigo Girls song: “Closer to Fine”

Favorite They Might Be Giants Song: “They Might Be Giants” (from Flood)

And now my THREE additions:

Favorite Frank Sinatra song: “That’s Life”

Favorite Supremes song: “Love Is Like an Itchin’ in My Heart”

Favorite Temptations song: “I Can’t Get Next to You”

Any other masochists out there?

Mixed Bag CD Blog Review-Andrea

NAME: Andrea Faetanini
BLOG NAME: Entertainment for Geeks
NAME OF CD: Playgeek
NUMBER OF CUTS: 27
RUNNING TIME: 78:42
COVER ART: Photo of one my favorite lamented shows (can you guess?)- “Freaks and Geeks”
SONG LIST: Her post of June 14
ALREADY REVIEWED BY: Nat Pike on June 15; Gordon on June 29
GENERAL THOUGHTS: Andrea’s disc is louder in places than some of the others. It also has humorous bits, some of which worked better (Python, Shaun & Ed) than others. Andrea e-mailed the group noting “weird distort-y thing going on” during some tracks which frankly didn’t bother me. I enjoyed this album quite a bit.
THINGS I PARTICULARLY LOVED: The Postal Service, Nerf Herder, Ted Leo, and Duran Duran (!) – I love the original, but this ain’t bad.
ON THE OTHER HAND: I don’t think Hero of Canton would appeal to me, even without distortion. Actually the only real sag for me was this and the A Team right before it.
OFFICE FRIENDLY: Considering the subtitle, “The F***est Uppest Mix CD”, not much more than you’d hear in a PG-13 movie.
ONLY VAGUELY RELATED: On mixed CDs Fred Hembeck has made for me, he introduced me to two songs that appear on this disc, the Buffy theme and the Who cut.

Mixed Bag CD Blog Review-Tom

NAME: Tom Collins
BLOG NAME: Tom the Dog’s You Know What I Like?
NAME OF CD: You’ll Play It and You’ll Like It, Vol. 2
NUMBER OF CUTS: 29
RUNNING TIME: 78:55
COVER ART: Simple but effective
SONG LIST: His post of June 10
ALREADY REVIEWED BY: Nat on June 10; Gordon on June 30
GENERAL THOUGHTS: I’m instantly disinclined to like this album, because I don’t like being told what to do. There seem to be suites, as it were, on this disc, the Who/Kids/Alright segment, then a couple more comedic pieces, then some “standards” (Bing, Patsy, Hoyt), then other stuff. I enjoyed probably the first 2/3s thoroughly, then off and on, but liked the last four cuts. As it turns out, I think it’s a pretty good percentage of entertaining stuff.
THINGS I PARTICULARLY LOVED: Moxy Fruvous, Patsy & Hoyt back-to-back, Amy Ray, Pogues. Some of the snippets.
ON THE OTHER HAND: A couple other snippets. Who IS that on the mystery track?
OFFICE FRIENDLY: Well, not Tool, and a couple of the ruder snippets. And the topic of the mystery track, I suppose.
ONLY VAGUELY RELATED: I have no more than four of the songs on this collection, the Who for sure, BNL and Green Day, maybe; Bing only if the biggest Bing fan I know gave it to me.

Blog Mixed Bag CD Review-Ian

NAME: Ian Brill
BLOG NAME: Brill Building
NAME OF CD: Mix Your Mind Up
NUMBER OF CUTS: 21
RUNNING TIME: 74:43
COVER ART: No
SONG LIST: His posts of June 8 & June 12
ALREADY REVIEWED BY: Chris “Lefty” Brown on June 20
GENERAL THOUGHTS: There are CDs from the bloggers that I could say quite specific things, based on the fact that they are of a theme, or what not. This is not one of them. I found Ian’s album to be just a bunch of good eclectic cuts without any discernable concept, except the first cut from the Brill Building, which was just fine. Probably more hip hop than any of the other CDs to date, and I found I enjoyed that.
THINGS I PARTICULARLY LOVED: Actually quite a bit: Dr. Octogon, the Magnetic Fields, Sonic’s Rendezvous, even the ABBA cut, which was totally unknown to me.
ON THE OTHER HAND: What’s with the numbering? 01-09, 12-14, 14b, 14c, 15, 17-22 – ah mess my mind up with “Mix Your Mind Up.”
ONLY VAGUELY RELATED: The Brill Building, for those of you who didn’t know, is a place in NYC where songwriters such as Neil Sedaka and Carole King worked in the 1950s and early 1960s.