Category: Bandleader

Posted on

Darcy James Argue’s ‘Real Enemies’

My wife and I have discussed the possibility of selling our home, downsizing what we own and getting an apartment in New York City. We would love nothing more than to retire to the life of great food, art, music, and museums that is New York City.

Speaking of great performing arts, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) has the 2015 Next Wave Festival  underway (Sept 16-Dec 20).

The work that has caught my interest is ‘Real Enemies‘ which has its last performance today at 3 p.m. at the BAM Harvey on 651 Fulton Street.  Darcy James Argue has a depth and music vision that is unparalleled.

‘Real Enemies’ is a mammoth, thought-provoking production. I love the timeliness of the subject and I hope one day to see a multimedia 3D production of this performance available on video and high-resolution audio.

Bandleader and composer Darcy James Argue’s 18-piece big band Secret Society melds minds with filmmaker Peter Nigrini, writer/director Isaac Butler, and designer Maruti Evans to investigate  America’s fascination with conspiracy theories. On projection surfaces teeming with found footage, live video, and historical texts, the narratives behind the Red Scare, the Illuminati, Edward Snowden, and alien sightings are meticulously examined and interrogated. Musical motifs from Argue’s exuberant score mimic the byzantine “everything is connected” inner workings of mass collusion to plumb the grassy knoll and give paranoia itself the probe.

Read the NY Times Review here.

Posted on

Mark Knopfler

I have been trying forever to see Mark Knopfler perform in concert.  We finally get that chance as Mark and his eight piece band .

I purchased these tickets in January and they have burned a hole in my pocket ever since. Mr. Knopfler has been high on my list of Top 100 Rolling Stone guitarists to see live.

looking forward to experiencing the Mark Knopfler Tracker Tour 2015.

Posted on

Christmas at the Airport – Nick Lowe

Nick Lowe is an inventive lyricist who possesses the uncanny knack of blending sarcasm with poignant words. If you have searched for just the right Christmas song, I think you’ll find this choice novel.

You can find this track and other holiday selections on Nick Lowe’s recording, Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection For All The Family.

Merry Christmas to you and yours 🙂

Posted on

Gregg Rolie, Ringo Starr 2014 All Star Band Tour

We have seen Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band three times live at Mohegan Sun Casino Arena. It’s always a fun evening as the All Starrs’ perform their hits with Ringo Starr as the centerpiece artist.

Here is the promotional tour video for this year’s North America events. The Connecticut stop is the Toyota Oakdale Theatre in Wallingford on June 14, 2014.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted on

I Squee for Love Music Again, Wired Interactive Magazine!!!!

Kudos to the Wired Magazine team and Questlove for a well executed focus on digital music and technology. Questlove has become the center point, the grounding agent for music this decade. He is listed as guest DJ on the vibrant cover of the March 2014 issue.

Questlove is more than just a guest DJ as you are probably aware. He has written two extensive books, Mo’ Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove and Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation. He is a music professor at NYU Clive Davis teaching a course entitled Classic Albums.

He is leading The Roots as Jimmy Fallon’s house band on The Tonight Show. There are many more music projects Questlove has been involved with and is working upon. How does he juggle these projects is what I want to know 😉

Wired Magazine is available as a Webzine on the Wired Website. It is also available as the classic print edition from Conde Nast Publications. I especially love the technical inroads Wired Magazine has accomplished with Adobe Digital Publishing Solutions as an interactive digital magazine.

I first read the “love music again” special issue as the print hard copy magazine. The color photography by Pari Dukovic is superb. Questlove and the Wired team lead by Peter Rubin have created a visual graphics design masterpiece that is a marvel to discover, explore, discover and gain substantive resources that will increase your music intellect.

I followed up with Wired’s Website but I found the music essay too chopped up in chunks to appreciate that particular deliverable.

The preferred reading and multimedia experience is the Wired App from iTunes. The Wired Magazine March 2014 “Digital” edition is better integrated with Wired Web. It also inserts Questlove video links that embellish the content exponentially. You’ll love the 70s, 80s, 90s, 00’s, 2014 Spotify/YouTube playlists as a backdrop. (The playlists are also accessible through Questlove’s essay on Wired.com.)

I had an exciting and pleasurable journey with Questlove/Wired Magazine today through all three media experiences. What an awesome way to share music published technology. I am better informed and educated as a result of this experience.

Each one, teach one, spread it around forever – Questlove

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted on

The only time I’m happy’s when I play my guitar

Jack Bruce is a natural craftsman. He continues to hone the craft of the bass guitar finding creative ways to play and use the 12 notes we have available.

I flash upon the Cream song from Fresh Cream (1966), N.S.U. that has the line, “The only time I’m happy’s when I play my guitar”. I can feel that sentiment running across the smile of Jack Bruce.

Bass Guitar Magazine celebrated their 100th issue with Jack Bruce on the cover recently (There’s that smile again). I downloaded the back issue on to my Apple iPad Air. The article “Just Jack” contains a chat about his new album.

Silver Rails – Drops on March 24, 2014, Label: Esoteric Antenna

The Special Edition features two disk Audio CDs and a DVD that shows the recording of Silver Rails at Abbey Road Studios. Silver Rails is available for preorder here.

Silver Rails is a warm collection of carefully crafted songs written in partnership with lyricists Pete Brown, Kip Hanrahan and Margrit Seyffer.

Jack Bruce collaborates with the following musicians on this album: Phil Manzanera, Robin Trower, Bernie Marsden, Uli Jon Roth, John Medeski, Malcolm Bruce and Cindy Blackman Santana.

Tracklisting:

Candlelight
Reach for the Night
Fields of Forever
Hidden Cities
Don’t Look Now
Rusty Lady
Industrial Child
Drone
Keep it Down
No Surrender

Related articles

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Posted on

Steve Gadd Band: New Album: ‘Gadditude’

Steve Gadd has a new band, The Steve Gadd Band. They are putting our their first album, Gadditude. You can help finance their project through Pledge Music.

“Here at PledgeMusic, you’ll be able to watch it all happen, step-by-step, in real-time. We’ll have behind-the-scenes clips from the recording sessions, exclusive videos that feature early versions of the tunes, and a rare chance to see what it’s like to be in the studio with us, day by day, as our new album takes shape.” -Steve Gadd

Follow this link for more information ——> http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/stevegaddband

Posted on

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society – Brooklyn Babylon

The music of our heart’s road continually leads  me back to Brooklyn, New York. It has been said that Brooklyn is “The Music Capital of the World”. Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is an 18 piece steampunk big band that hails from Brooklyn and presents us with interesting dimensionality of sound.

Their second CD, Brooklyn Babylon is a collaboration between the Secret Society leader, Argue and graphic novelist, Danijel Zezelj. Zezelj created the visuals that served as the backdrop for the 2011 Brooklyn Academy of Music world première and conceptualized the fictional story it tells.

I love engaging productions that tell significant stories that expand the consciousness. The babel construction forms a unique visual and aural sound-scape as this video attests.

Related articles
%d bloggers like this: