Music & More

Millennium Music Magazine is a wide ranging music site run by friend and fellow Rambles writer, Charlie Ricci.  Charlie makes no secret of his musical preferences and his strong opinions make for interesting reading on his website which has grown from "CD Reviews Online" to the more encompassing "Millennium Music Magazine". If any of the CDs you read about there are of interest, be sure to use the Amazon link at the top of the home page because the few cents generated help support the site. Millennium Music Magazine: http://www.angelfire.com/music3/cdreviewsonline/

I write occasional record reviews for a site called Rambles which is run by a writer/musician named Tom Knapp out of Lancaster, PA.  Rambles is an exceptionally well done review site that originally concentrated on Celtic music but has stretched out to include virtually every musical genre; the only thing you won't find there is mass market pop, rock and rap. Rambles has an extensive book review section as well and also allows their writers to review movies and concerts too. The writers are volunteers who write for the love of music, the joy of sharing their opinions, and for the review copy of the CD. If any of the CDs you read about there are of interest, be sure to use the Amazon link because the few cents generated help support the site. Rambles: http://www.rambles.net/index.html

The 16th annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival took place July 22 to July 25, 2004 in the Berkshire Mountains at the beautiful Long Hill Farm in Hillsdale, NY. Complete festival info is available here: http://www.falconridgefolk.com/ Early Bird Camping (Wednesday July 21st) - The site opened on Wednesday afternoon for campers to arrive and set up. We pulled in around 6pm and set up the tent in what we thought was the quiet side of the upper camping area. Had a delicious and inexpensive dinner a few miles down the road at the Crossroads Diner (routes 23 & 22, Hillsdale, NY), and picked up dessert and some excellent Cape Cod chips (Beachside BBQ potato chips and a three flavor tortilla chip assortment) for the festival at the corner gas station/convenience store. Another festival attendee was in the store at the time asking for a hoagie and acting surprised that I could tell he was from Philadelphia. I helpfully translated for the attendant that what this guy wanted was a "s...

Well, it was a tough job (to go two out of three days) but somebody had to do it... (originally written as email to musically inclined friends on Sunday July 18, 2004).  WXPN's Singer- Songwriter Weekend took place July 16th through 18th at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia, PA.  Rachel Yamagata  -  I was totally brainwashed by hearing "Worn Me Down" too many times (I guess it wore me down) as it's been in hot rotation on xpn for the last month so I bought her disc at the merchandise table before her set (big mistake, potentially).  If Yamagata had kept her mouth shut between songs, she might have been able to pull off quirky, or maybe even interesting, but as it was she came off more annoying than anything else.  Was kicking myself for not trying to return the unopened CD to the merchandise table. The good news is that I'm listening to the CD now as I type this, and it's much better than she was, really good in fact...

Welcome to my music blog. I'll begin by admitting outright that I'm obsessed. After one too many concert reviews emailed to friends and family, it was diplomatically suggested that perhaps I should start a website or blog for such discussion. I've not done this before and haven't even read that many blogs, but here goes. I will enjoy reading all reactions and further discussions that this generates.  Incidentally, I ran across a photoblog quite by accident the other day, and it's quality also motivated me to start this blog; you can check it out here http://www.durhamtownship.com/index.html . One day soon I would like do a photoblog as well.  Anyway, on to the music.