Most Commented Music Blogs (1,259)

Another Bella Ciao. (click on 'Watch on YouTube' to view.)
Casually noticing their versions of gun are the current AK12 obtainable mostly from dead Russians.
Slava Ukraine

I listen to your music every day.
Eddie Van Halen, guitarist extraordinaire and now Rock & Roll legend has passed on at the age of 65. In a class by himself, Eddie is considered one of the most influential guitarists of our time.
His techniques and style was unique. Eddie and his older brother Alex founded the band Van Halen and skyrocketed to stardom performing to sellout arenas around the world.

Diagnosed with throat cancer more than a decade ago, he traveled as far as Germany seeking treatment. Sadly, he gave up the fight this morning.

All the rock stations in my travels are playing Van Halen songs and I caught a tribute show on Satellite radio this evening.

Eddie, playing inspired a million guitarists... may your music live on!

In the late 60's and early 70's there was a popular venue where they held teen dances Saturday and Sunday nights. It was originally a grocery store that went bankrupt, not long after it became a gathering place where they projected surfing movies on the wall. A father and son bought the place, erected 2 stages and hired local bands to perform there. The pay wasn't great, but it was steady work where as many as 4 bands playing each night and sometimes we were booked 6 to 8 nights a month.

The venue (legally) had a capacity of 90, but there where nights where kids stood outside waiting to get in and it was mostly 'standing room only' as the owners packed the place.
Lots of places would stamp your hand as identification so you could leave and return later and more kids would pay to get in as soon as a few left... even if they were going for a hamburger with plans to be back in 30 minutes. So total paid attendance would easily be 250 to 300 in a 4 hour period.

Because it was so popular, bands as far as 50 miles away were booked to play there. I got to hear a good sampling of the music being played in South Florida. There were a few Latin (Cuban) bands playing and a few soul or blues groups, but mostly the mix was rock & roll and later changing to hard rock music.

Over the years, I had been in a few different groups and my father managed us which was great because he was friendly with the owners that helped us get more bookings.

One afternoon, we had solid rain for a few hours and the streets were flooded. Some of the groups were forced to cancel their appearances. We weren't booked that night, but a desperate last-minute call from the owner asked if we were available. No problem. Our drummer had a Volkswagen bus, so we loaded our gear and was able to go through the flooded streets to make it to the gig! That effort put us in 'solid' with the owners.

As always, it was important to have a good opening song at the beginning of each set.
There was a band we often shared a stage with called "The Body Shop" and they played a mixture of blues and rock & roll. They were located across town so none of us knew them from school or any other connection, but we got along great with no friction or band rivalry in any way, so it didn't matter if they opened the set first or we opened the set first.
The cool thing about this group was they often opened their set playing the high-energy song "Living in the USA" by the Steve Miller Band.
I heard this song on the radio today and it reminded me of the group.
Great song!



"Somebody get me a cheesburger..."

I'm not too crazy about music from the 70's, but this one from 1973 I like. I heard it over the last few years from a local sports radio show guy in Cincinnati who had made it his theme song playing at the start of his show, but never knew the name of the song, or the singer who did it until tonight. Here's the first one.

Nothing beats the original but can't help share this amazing rendition.

A Rabindrasangeet to Celebrate the Rainy season !!!

Song - " Shawana Gagane Ghora Ghanaghata "
Lyrics & Composition - - Rabindranath Thakur

Down memory lane

Remembering The Real Heroes ...
The Patriots ... The Martyrs ...

The diva singer and the diva singer/songwriter