Music & More

Sharon Little's friends, family and fans packed Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore tonight to close out 2007 with a fine show by one of the happiest finds of 2007. Sharon is another Philly Local who won't be so for long; it was announced at the show tonight that she's just signed with CBS Records. Her stage presence is only exceeded by her vocal ability; possessed with a great singing voice, Sharon is equally at home in any musical style she chooses to sing, from gut-wrenching blues and soul, to great sounding slow ballads. With ideal backing by Scott Sax, an accomplished musician, singer and songwriter in his own right, tonight's show included some really nice piano by "Squirrel" Mike Miller, and the fine work of guest cellist Alfred James. Drawing a few songs from her two independently released CDs, the set included many new songs, and whether backed by Scott only, or in any combination of guitar, piano and cello, the arrangements sounded fully realized on every song...

The following article was written by John Fogerty for the December 3rd issue of Newsweek . His description of his career and personal life is too good to rely on the impermanence of a link, so the full text is reproduced here, courtesy of Newsweek and the author. TURNING POINT Reclaiming My Voice After Creedence broke up, the musician spent years searching for his own sound. With love, he found it. By John Fogerty | NEWSWEEK Dec 3, 2007 Issue My new album, "Revival,"comes by its title naturally—a return to making the kind of music I became known for early in my career. I get a real feeling of being back where I belong. But I didn't just decide to do that. I was in need of another kind of revival before that music could be created. Twenty-one years ago I was a castaway—a drifter, floating along with the stream. Not plotting a course or even aiming for a destination point....

Seduced by the idea of catching the first showing of a new Stephen King movie in King's home town of Bangor, Maine, combined with an interesting article about the movie in last Sunday's NY Times , and the happenstance of actually being in Maine this week, led to attendance of today's 1:20pm showing at the Bangor Mall Cinema. No special festivities to denote the event, just the debut showing of a first rate horror film, the likes of which I haven't seen since overdosing on over-the-top monster/gore pictures in the 80's. Aliens (1986) topped the original Alien (1979) in that department as well as John Carpenter's remake of The Thing (1982) after which I decided I had seen quite enough. In The Mist , a small town in Maine (the perfect setting for such shenanigans) is enveloped by a strange mist that follows a severe thunderstorm, trapping assorted townsfolk both locals and those from away, together in a supermarket as it is quickly determined that malevolent cre...

Julia Fordham's long awaited jazz album, China Blue (her tenth), is finished with release imminent on a new download site called Novatunes and is also slated for sale at iTunes and CD Baby among other online retailers. The album was produced by Grant Mitchell; the title track is a new version of a tune that was originally on the U.K. version of her classic Porcelain album (1989). "For You Only For You" is also a re-do of another great track from Porcelain. Rather than be the 999th artist to do an album of jazz standards, Julia elected to go with originals, including only one cover, "I Keep Forgettin'", the Michael McDonald song. When McDonald heard this version, he liked it so much that he volunteered his own distinctive voice on background vocals. Here's the tracklist: China Blue The World Keeps Spinning I Want To Stay Home With You Funny Guy Holiday My Only Valentine I Will Bring You Love Almost Happy For You Only For You I Keep Forgettin' ...

As the third major artist this year to embrace Starbucks' Hear Music Label, James Taylor represents both one more reason for traditional record labels to pull out what's left of their hair and one more reason to give Starbucks a few more bucks to sit back and enjoy the soothing sound of James Taylor in a mostly acoustic concert. While the new material on Paul McCartney's and Joni Mitchell's recent releases on Hear Music didn't engage me as much as I'd hoped, this JT show satisfies like a hot cup of steamin' java (Starbucks, Wawa, or otherwise). As one of our most durable singer-songwriters, hell he helped invent the genre, over the years his messing with his songs, changing melody, meter, etc., in concert has often seemed disconcerting, but he doesn't do that here; mostly he plays it straight, and with a large video screen on stage and a few other surprises, he turns in a totally entertaining two hour show. Accompanied only by Larry Goldings on piano an...

Worrisome Heart - U.K. Release After many months of major label dancing, Melody Gardot has signed with Universal for both the U.S. and the U.K. According to her recent email announcing this, she will soon go into the studio to record her next album with producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Madeleine Peyroux, Julia Fordham). In addition, Universal is releasing Worrisome Heart in the U.K. on November 5th with a new cover, shown above, remastered with a new song sequence minus "Wicked Ride" which has been dropped. Melody will be peforming at the London Jazz Festival, playing the Pigalle Club in London on November 21st. If you're in the U.K., don't miss her. Worrisome Heart is a truly superb piece of work and this success could not be more well deserved. Here's hoping that Melody can safely navigate the shark infested waters of the major label music business and make it all work for her. Cheers and all best wishes to Melody as she leaves her Philly Local days behind...

WXPN Most Memorable Musical Moment #6 New York's Lower East Side in the last decade has developed a music scene that is as varied and vital as any in the country. The activity on the sidewalks even late at night is as busy as it is inside the many music venues, bars and restaurants, living up to New York's reputation for being the city that never sleeps. Within a few square blocks there are many rock oriented clubs such as Arlene's Grocery, Pianos, The Mercury Lounge, Cake Shop, and the recently departed Sin-é club. When the weather is nice, it's an easy walk to The Bowery Ballroom, The Canal Room, The Cutting Room, The Bitter End, Cafe Vivaldi and the other clubs of Greenwich Village, and Joe's Pub on Lafayette. In the last few years I have spent an inordinate amount of time at two clubs in particular on the Lower East Side that are the heavyweights at presenting up and coming singer-songwriters among a great mix of quality artists and bands of all musical styles, ...