Music & More

Chrissi Poland opened for Suzanne Vega Thursday, April 16th at the Woodbridge Theater. Chrissi played three new songs that are destined for her next album coming later this year. She also played "Angel Weep For Me", a new version of an original song that has been with her for all of her career. The set ended with a slow and slightly sad piano version of the Beatles "Help!", which Chrissi mentioned was the way John Lennon demoed the song for the group. Chrissi's voice and piano have never sounded better. Watch "Help!" Chrissi was warmly welcomed by the Suzanne Vega crowd, receiving a nice reaction to every song. It was great to see Chrissi again. Here is her setlist. 1. Lonely Light - A slow and soulful relationship song on the electric piano; as beautiful a ballad as I've heard her do. 2. Why Lie - Chrissi once said "don't break the heart of a singer-songwriter without expecting to hear about it in her songs." She has su...

Art by Kyle Lambert Mark Knopfler - Tracker Off the top of my head, when I think of current guitar gods, I think Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, and I think Mark Knopfler. Knopfler has spent the better part of the last twenty years establishing himself as a singer-songwriter like a James Taylor or a Jackson Browne, or more precisely in the mold of J.J. Cale. One could make the case that Knopfler's entire solo career has been a tribute to Cale; certainly Knopfler has adapted Cale's laid back style of songwriting. Knopfler's seven solo albums have featured varying amounts of electric lead guitar, but his guitar never seemed to find its rightful place in the mix. And while the albums were all enjoyable, they were often shy of the guitar work that Knopfler's fans crave. On Tracker, Knopfler seems to have finally found just the right mix that incorporates his electric guitar with his standard instrumentation. Whether it's carrying the song or just...

Photo Courtesy of WFUV Respect The Elders. Embrace The New. Encourage The Impractical and Improbable, Without Bias. - David Fricke Last Saturday, Vin Scelsa announced his retirement from Sirius XM The Loft and WFUV effective May 3rd. Vin's last shows on The Loft are Wednesdays and Thursdays noon - 2pm, ending April 30th, repeats Sundays 6-10pm. Vin's last shows on WFUV are Saturdays 8-10pm, ending May 3rd. I just posted the following to Vin Scelas' FaceBook page: Dear Vin - Thank you for accepting my friend request. I want to say that I was sad to hear the news that you are retiring from radio, but I know that for you it has to be as happy as it is sad. As you said yesterday, you are going out without getting fired or dropping dead, plus we get to hear a month of last shows. So let's agree that the ending is bittersweet. I first heard Idiot's Delight back in 1988 or 1989, living north of Philadelphia (I could pull 92.3 K-Rock in on my car radio, ...

There is a friend with whom I like listening to music; her taste nicely complements mine. I'm albums, she's singles; she's pop, I'm rock; I'm soul, she's rap; she's hip-hop, I'm jazz; I'm folk, she's dance; she's country, I'm country(!). We enjoy listening to Sirius XM where she is Pop2K and Utopia while I'm Deep Tracks and The Loft. I'm 50's, 60's, and 70's; she's 70's, 80's, and 90's. We come together in The Blend and The Bridge. I knew that she would like Lily Elise so I showed her the video of "Generator" on the day it was released; she bought the track later that day. Truth be told, I love that song too. Lily Elise combines well crafted pop, rock, soul, and electronica in a way that blurs genre lines and gives her unlimited crossover potential. Think Imogen Heap meets Rihanna, or maybe America's answer to Jessie Ware. The "Generator" video has amazing cinematography; ...

Rihanna & Kanye West & Paul McCartney released FourFiveSeconds on video and download on January 28, 2015. This track will be on Rihanna's eighth album, executive produced by Kanye West; release date is uncertain. Rolling Stone reported that Kanye also intends to include the track on his next album. What the hell is Paul McCartney doing in this? His primary participation in the song and video seems to be instrumental only. In the Grammy performance (video below), Paul has a microphone and appears to be singing but he cannot be heard. Here is what we know. 1. The video is better than the song (it's an excellent video). 2. I like the song, but considering that Rihanna and Kanye are frequent flyers in the tabloids maybe it's not such a great idea to be "FourFiveSeconds from wildin' ." 3. McCartney has a writing credit for FourFiveSeconds, but like most songs on the pop charts, this one was written by committee*. I would guess that McCartney...

I love love love this guy. Bob Dylan is arguably the best living song writer of our time. And as a musician, singer, and performer, he may be the most enigmatic. In his MusiCares 2015 Person of the Year speech Dylan is funny, he is angry, he is a musicologist, he is an icon, he is an iconoclast, and he should never, never, ever read his reviews. Dylan may be 73 years old, but he is as sharp, maybe even more sharp, than he has ever been, perhaps having the benefit of all his many years of experience; and it is quite amazing the way he seems to have total recall of so many aspects of music and the music industry. After a star-studded tribute concert in which the likes of Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Cheryl Crow, Jackson Browne, John Mellencamp, and Crosby, Stills and Nash sang the songs of Bob Dylan, Dylan took the stage for a few numbers of his own. This was followed by Dylan's speech, which ran about thirty minutes, and was funny, po...

Diana Krall's new album, Wallflower (her twelfth), out today, is a collection of well-loved pop songs mostly from the seventies. Diana says, “A lot of the songs on Wallflower are ones I grew up loving on the radio and on vinyl, songs I heard at home. These are songs I’ve been singing to myself for years. I just needed the lyric sheet to make sure I wasn’t singing the wrong words all this time. I got the 45 for “I’m Not In Love” by 10cc. I listened to Bryan Adams all the time. My parents and I both loved Linda Ronstadt, who was my inspiration to sing ‘Desperado.’ I even had a Peter Frampton poster on the wall. I was just a typical teenager hanging out with friends, not just listening to jazz." 1. California Dreamin' - "California Dreamin'" was written by John and Michelle Phillips and released by the Mamas & Papas in 1965. In this lush sounding update, Graham Nash adds backing vocals. The song starts out kind of dreamy and dramatic, but when the ba...