Music & More

It's always great to check out new music, in this case it was Jon Randall , performing at the Living Room, courtesy of Dave and Sony/BMG. Randall is a talented singer-songwriter of the country persuasion, and Walking Among the Living his Epic Records debut due out on September 20th is his fourth album and he's got something of an interesting history. A native of Texas, by age twenty he had found work playing guitar with Emmylou Harris' band, the Nash Ramblers, a gig which ultimately won him a Grammy for their At the Ryman live album, released in 1992. His solo debut, What You Don't Know followed in 1995 on RCA; seeing him now, the long hair on the cover of that first album looks a little humorous. His second album, Cold Coffee Morning , initially delayed by a label shakeup at Asylum, ultimately came out in 1998 and included duets with Willie Nelson and Lorrie Morgan (who he was married to at the time). His third effort, Willin' was released in 1999 on the Eminent ...

We stayed to check out Jess Klein as her set followed Jon Randall's at the Living Room and we were treated to a somewhat rare full band performance by this singer-songwriter, previously only familiar to me by way of two songs on Peter Malick's Norah Jones album, Chance and Circumstance which expanded the Norah Jones mini-album to a full length by adding two songs each by four additional female singer-songwriters. Strawberry Lover her latest and fourth full lenghth CD contains a song (the title track) that the New York Daily News has deemed "one of the top ten sexiest songs of the moment." On first listen one might think that the Daily News may have overstated the case; it sounded more like a love song to strawberries than anything too terribly sexy, unless you're into that sort of thing (not that there's anything wrong with that). The first half of the set was fairly soft singer-songwriterly tunes, some with band and some solo acoustic. When they shifted gear...

. Juliana Rocks! Juliana Hatfield may be conflicted about her place in the scheme of the music biz (check the excellent rant on her website ), but man can she sing and play the guitar. Writes a great tune too. Plus, reading her diatribe you've got to love her attitude and spirit. With Del Amitri defunct and Springsteen turning into Woody Guthrie, she might be my favorite rocker. Her set tonight was well worth putting up with two rather noisy opening bands and all the time it took. Just now heading for bed (4am). She may be best known for the songs she writes, but she is truly one of our great guitarists plus the combination of her electric guitar work with the sweetness of her voice has always been a potent combination. For this tour it's a three piece with Juliana carrying every song with her guitar and voice, backed only by bass and drums. Pete Caldes did a nice job behind the kit, and Ed Valuaskas played some superb Fender bass and also provided backing vocals. Juliana mixes...

Submitted for your approval, and not a minute too soon, to help wring the last few drops of unwind out of summer, this mix nicely fits on one blank cd. Patti Page – Old Cape Cod (Single, 1957) Chris Rea – On the Beach ( On the Beach , 1986) Swing Out Sister – When the Laughter is Over ( Where Our Love Grows , 2004) Ivy – Ocean City Girl ( In the Clear , 2005) Air – Cherry Blossom Girl ( Talkie Walkie , 2004) Chris Rea – King of the Beach ( King of the Beach , 2000) Tina Dico – Warm Sand ( In the Red , 2005) k.d. lang – Summerfling ( Invincible Summer , 2000) Texas – Summer Son ( The Hush , 1999) The Corrs – Summer Sunshine ( Borrowed Heaven , 2004) Nellie McKay – The Dog Song ( Get Away From Me , 2004) The Blackbyrds – Walking in Rhythm ( Flying Start , 1974) D.J. Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince – Summertime ( Homebase , 1991) Chris Rea – All Summer Long ( King of the Beach , 2000) James Taylor – That's Why I'm Here ( That's Why I'm Here , 1985) Joni Mitchell – You Tu...

The following was posted to the AWB discussion board immediately after the show. It was another great AWB performance tonight, outdoors in a beautiful setting by the Delaware River with the City of Philadelphia providing the backdrop for this free show. It's always great to hear AWB play live but there's something special about an outdoor show in the summer - this reminded me of another great summer show a few years ago at Kahunaville in Wilmington. It's always great when the audience is multi-racial and multi-generational as it often is for AWB; when all sorts of folks can relate to and enjoy this wonderful music. I should note that tonight's show had the largest black attendance I've ever seen for AWB and the group came with one of the tightest, funkiest sets ever. Here's the setlist. The Jugglers (getting right off on the funky foot) Whatcha' Gonna Do For Me (referencing Chaka Kahn's hit cover) Oh Maceo (Freddy killed as he always does) Walk on By...

The following was written for the newsletter of the college radio station where I had the privilege of working with Doug many years ago. Doug Halsey, A Memorial Remembrance Douglas D. Halsey, Earlham Class of 1974 andWECI staffer, died April 18, 2005 of complications related to Multiple Myeloma. Doug was born in Bronxville, New York on June 4, 1952. He graduated Earlham with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and pursued a career in sales which led to the plastics industry culminating in a long term position as Director of Midwest Regional Operations for the Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. At WECI, Doug hosted classical music programs as well as shows featuring other types of music. Doug had a good sounding voice for radio that was equally well suited to delivering the news. Doug had a great sense of humor which also found an outlet at WECI, including numerous character voices that he used for recording station IDs and show promos. He eventually hosted a long-form come...