Music Blogs (1,258)

Yesterday was a crazy Friday with lots of interruptions. I'll attribute this mostly due to the full moon. Expected afternoon rains had the streets flooded and everyone in the office cleared out before 5pm. A handful of guys in the warehouse were loading trucks for a Saturday delivery and they were gone by 8 pm. I stayed late finishing a bid promised out by the end of the day.

I usually don't play music while working, but all the calculations were done, the only thing needed was to write up the cost proposal and add those numbers from a spreadsheet.

Earlier in the week, a friend and I were talking about the original 1967 lineup of the British band Fleetwood Mac. I only knew the bassist John McVie as he played with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton. Side note - that album was iconic as every guitarist in my circle of musicians copied Clapton's licks!

We were able to call up a few old videos where singer Stevie Nicks was a backup singer to other artists work. Fleetwood Mac like so many other bands had members join for a short stay and leave, often to follow solo careers. In 1974, singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham was hired on the condition his girlfriend Stevie Nicks would be hired too!
That decision was the formula for musical success and through all the ego fights, affairs, divorces, solo projects and reunions, 30 years of 'what I call' Fleetwood Mac existed.

In April on 2018 Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood had a disagreement about contract for a tour and Buckingham was dismissed. Mike Campbell (who performed with Tom Petty) and Neil Finn (from Crowded House) were hired on and Fleetwood Mac was on the road again.

One of the awesome things about hiring successful musicians is they get to play their hit songs in the current bands lineup, adding another facet to the music.

I caught a live performance (video) of Fleetwood Mac with Neil Finn that's worth a listen!

Hey now...

This little piece popped up on my Youtube recommendations for guitar music. Loved it so I'm going to share it with you:






.....

Feel free to sway, tap your toes, dance, or just feel it down to your soul.


This first one is by Euge Groove. That's his stage name.
(His real name in Eugene Grove. Shhh.)

He used to play in the funky soul band, Tower Of Power to get paid.
Then, he went on his own to explore more challenging and much better music;

Here's his 'Sneak a Peak'

The Beatles recorded the first version of the song Helter Skelter during the recording sessions 51 years ago on July 18, 1968. It was much slower than the album version released later that year. I read that Paul McCartney wrote it as he was influenced to The Who song 'I Can See For Miles'

A few weeks ago, I was in the showroom and the background music was playing a song by Todd Rundgren. I mentioned to the receptionist that I followed his career all the back to the 1970's to a band before his solo career. She said she didn't know any of his songs and I mentioned a few hits and that surprised her. She heard the songs but didn't know the artist. I said do you remember the story about Liv Tyler?
She said "Steven Tyler's daughter?" and I said yeah, she was Todd Rundgren's daughter first!
Her ears perked up and I said Todd was dating singer Bebe Buell when Liv was born. Bebe led Todd to believe it was his daughter. It wasn't until years later that Liv saw a likeness in Steven Tyler and his daughter. Bebe confessed that Steven was Liv's biological father.
She thought that was a cool story and had one for me to guess. Singer Stevie Nicks was rumored to have had an abortion. Who was the father? Ohhh... I didn't have the answer and she said Don Henley. Okay... they recorded some songs together and hundreds of hours in the studio... Yeah, that make sense.

We went on to the Beatles... I asked who wrote "Taxman" and that stumped her. It was George Harrison's protest to the high levels of taxes they were forced to pay when they became famous.

George Harrison's love songs became the next topic and Eric Clapton in love with the same woman... Lots of trivia there!

I'm in the showroom with clients a few times a day and as someone is leaving, I'll turn to the receptionist and poise a Rock & Roll trivia question.

Past questions:
Name at least 3 members of the 27 club.
What band did Rod Stuart sing for after he left the Jeff Beck Group.
How did Led Zeppelin get their name.
Name the 2 original members of the Traveling Wilburys that are still living.
Who were the wrecking crew.

At leas 15 years ago I was contacted by a woman in China who wanted some help with song lyrics. The song is: Scarborough Fair from the 1966 album: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, performed by the singers Simon & Garfunkel. She found learning English was easier by memorizing words with music.
We only chatted a few times and after all these years, I see her profile (with updated photos) shows she is still looking for a husband.

From Techno, House, Tech-House classics till today ..Love Parade, Awakening, Tomorrowland...

At about 10:35am PCT the ground beneath began to oscillate. I was helpless to do anything about it and briefly wondered if it would end with me digging myself out from a pile of rubble...or just end. Lights out.

Anyway, it was a little one and only lasted a few seconds but made me want to hear this song!



Better luck next time, Maynard.

Today, I had the utmost pleasure of being a volunteer at a festival called the Roskilde Festival, which is 45 minutes away from me by car. I took the train, because the bus wasn't running at 6.30 am on a Sunday morning.

I was going to be there by 8 am, and begin my shift. I was there on time, as usual. I was told the kind of duties I had to perform. Basically, I had to scan the chip in the wristband on the cars, trucks and semi trucks, that wanted to enter the festival grounds. Everything went smooth from the getgo, albeit with some errors and some tailbacks, due to an Error 40. Error 40 means "The object 40 centimeters from the screen (I.E. you).

The weather cleared up, and the temperature quickly rose to 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit, to those of you that use that measuring scale). Endless lines of cars, trucks, bikes, semi trucks and workers came to my place. Even the police came through the checkpoint.

I quickly got my work down to a routine: I would stand directly in front of the car, holding my arms out to signal "stop", run over and scan the chip in their wristband, and then let them through into the grounds. If people were coming up to us, we had to tell them to walk 50 meters (164 feet) to a checkpoint for people on foot.

Of course, with this outdoors work, you get a good amount of exercise. I am currently at 27.722 steps - the best ever for me. Now, all this sounds like bliss, but me being an idiot, I forgot sunscreen, which made my arms look like a lobster with three hours to go of my 8 hour shift. So what did I do? Put on my long-sleeve shirt I wore when I arrived. It was hot, but worth it in the end

If you are wondering how many people are attending the Roskilde Festival, here are some figures for you: 8 days. 130000 visitors. About 180 acts. Spectacular art + events. International audience. Delicious food. Non-profit all the way.

It's a festival that dates all the way back to 1971, so it's pretty old by now.

If you want to attend a European festival sometime, give Roskilde Festival a shot. If only, just to see if it is worth it in the end.