Black Sabbath returns to tour with '80s lineup

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Guess where I'm going tonight?

Black Sabbath returns to tour with '80s lineup

Hey, I know of at least a few people in that building that'll be as old or older than yours truly. ;>)

Ozzy is off doing another gig. That's Ronnie James Dio on vocals tonight.

"Heaven and Hell". It should be fun.

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Tardy update:

This will be the last show I attend at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix. It's a nice enough venue, but I am completely incompatible with the acoustics there. On top of not caring for the first band, and not being much of a fan of the second, both played so loud that my clothing was fluttering in the sound pressure waves, vocals were unintelligible, and frequencies higher than about 500 Hz all mixed into a deafening hiss. I found myself wishing for a sound level meter to satisfy curiosity, and when I walked out to the entryway to get away from it, it wasn't enough. I had to go outside the building for a while. Crazy. It reminded me of being on the turbine deck, or even the compressor area, of a large power plant (where you'd get in trouble for not having your earplugs in place) without earplugs.

When I came back in during the break before Sabbath and was asked where I'd been, my "It was too goddamn loud!" was met with two or three incredulous "No!"s, and one guy in the row in front of us said, "That's an old guy talking." Well, that's true enough, but I've been to a lot of shows and this was bad.

For some reason Black Sabbath sounded better than the two preceding bands (Machinehead and Megadeth). Sabbath was loud, too, but somehow I was able to make out Dio's lyrics and the higher frequencies weren't as muddled. Maybe they played a bit lower, maybe they played a bit better, maybe they played with better equipment, I don't know.

In any event, no more rock shows at Dodge Theater for me.

Robert Randolph and The Family Band

I happened to catch PBS's Austin City Limits last night on TV. Though I had missed about half of it, thanks to the magic of the DVR, when I pushed the record button it snagged the whole thing, which I watched this morning.

Outstanding! The band was joined by a few of Randolph's mentors, so this may be a special show worth keeping an eye out for. Local listings can be linked from here.

I wasn't familiar with Robert Randolph and The Family Band, but now I am. If I get a chance to see them in concert, I probably will.

Here's a sample from YouTube. The Wikipedia article links to Archive.org, which has a collection that's probably worthwhile (though I have not checked it out).

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Que Sera composer Ray Evans dies

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Que Sera composer Ray Evans dies

What a great song. It's probably the most pleasurable earworm I get from time to time, and probably the song that's been burned into my memory longer than any other. I'm glad the authors had such long lives, and I hope they were good lives up until the very end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6WDdZ6xaPg
or

Music Videos

In no particular order... Latest additions on top...

Rick Springfield - Jesse's Girl

Crossroads Guitar Duel - Steve Vai vs. Ry Cooder (Ralph Maccio)
INXS - Suicide Blonde

Village People - Macho Man
The Monkees - Daydream Believer
Alannah Myles - Black Velvet
Saraya - Love Has Taken Its Toll
Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible
Pearl Jam - Wishlist
The Bangles - Manic Monday
Ministry - New World Order
Mary Chapin Carpenter - He Thinks He'll Keep Her
Joan Osborne - What If God Was One Of Us
Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
Iron Maiden - Number Of The Beast
Hooters - And We Danced
Golden Earing - Radar Love
Bad Religion - American Jesus
Montrose - Bad Motor Scooter

Chris deBurgh - Lady in Red
Mike and the Mechanics - The Living Years
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
Leann Rimes - Cowboy Sweetheart
Pink - Get This Party Started
Pink - Don't Let Me Get Me
Juan Luis Guerra - Ojala Que Llueva Cafe - La Bilirubina
Jose Luis Perales - Un Velero Llamado Libertad
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OK, that does it. I just found another worthy music video on YouTube. Rather than post embeds to all these videos I like, I'll just put them all in one post that I'll update as time goes by. I'll include a link to this post at the top of my links list so that I'll always be able to find it when I want to. I think one can also change the date of the post so that when it's updated it it'll show up as if fresh. We'll see. Here goes:

Chambers Brothers - Time Has Come Today The Chambers Brothers were on stage playing this song as I arrived at the entrance of the 3-day First Annual West Palm Beach Music and Art Festival in Florida back at the end of November 1969. We still had quite a way to walk before we could see the stage, but the music was clear and memorable, a great intro to an unforgetable experience.

Joan Baez - Sweet Sir Galahad The video's end is taken up with credits, but I just close my eyes and it doesn't matter. I wish I could find a video of Baez doing Dylan's With God on Our Side, which was the reason I became a Joan Baez fan 35 years ago (having previously hated her for her activism - what can I say? I was a young, stupid dropout enlistee in the Vietnam era). What an absolutely beautiful voice to go with Dylan's fantastic lyrics. With God On Our Side still moves me deeply, but it makes me sad because, in part, on another level my attitude has hardened into a nihilistic kill them all.

Elefante - Mentirosa
Tina Marie - Lovergirl
Sheena Easton - Sugar Walls
Sheila E - The Glamorous Life
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It
Quiet Riot - Metal Health
Starz - Cherry Baby
Pat Benatar and Martina McBride - Independence Day
Pat Benatar - Promises In The Dark

OK, now I'll go include this post at the top of my links list on the lower left of the main blog view.

Elefante - Mentirosa

I really like this song, Mentirosa, by the Mexican band Elefante (not to be confused with vocalist John Elefante formerly of the rock band Kansas, or Joe Elefante's big jazz band from Noo Yawk City (which reviews seem to indicate is well worth checking out)).



Artist: Elefante
Song Title: Mentirosa
Album: Elefante

Sorry, my translation eesn't perfec, bat jew get de idea.

Que le vamos a hacer?
What's there to do?
si la vida es asi,
Life is like that,
le aposte todo a tus besos
I bet everything on your kisses
y asi todo lo perdi.
That's how I lost it all.

No me pidas perdon, que ni tu te lo crees,
Don't ask me for forgiveness, not even you believe it,
esas lagrimas son falsas, como falso fue tu amor.
those tears are fake, as fake as your love.

Pero no me digas nada, que el tonto he sido yo,
Don't say anyting, the dummy has been me,
si la luna no es de queso, ni las nubes de algodon.
the moon's not made of cheese, nor clouds of cotton.

Para que seguir con cuentos, con amores de ficcion,
Why continue with stories, with loves of fiction,
si tu boca no es de fresa ni en tus ojos sale el sol
your mouth isn't of berries and the sun doesn't rise in your eyes.

Mentirosa, traicionera
Liar, backstabber
y yo que daba por ti la vida entera
and I who'd have given my entire life for you
Mentirosa, embustera
Liar, cheater
basta ya de tanto ruido, este cuento se acabo.
that's enough with so much noise, this story is over.

Para que decir mas, si todo termino,
Why say more, it's all over
todo lo que sube baja, todo lo que viene va.
what goes up comes down, what comes goes.

No me pidas perdon, que ni tu te lo crees
Don't ask forgiveness, not even you believe it,
vete por donde llegaste y ojala te vaya bien.
go the way you came and bon voyage.

Pero no me digas nada, que el tonto he sido yo,
But don't tell me anyting, the dummy has been me,
si la luna no es de queso, ni las nubes de algodon.
the moon isn't of cheese, nor the clouds cotton.

Para que seguir con cuentos, con amores de ficcion,
Why continue with stories, with loves of fiction,
si tu boca no es de fresa ni en tus ojos sale el sol
your mouth isn't berries, the sun doesn't rise in your eyes.

Mentirosa, traicionera
Liar, backstabber
y yo que daba por ti la vida entera
and I who'd have given my entire life for you
Mentirosa, embustera
Liar, cheater
basta ya de tanto ruido, este cuento se acabo.
that's enough with so much noise, this story is over.

Mentirosa, traicionera
Liar, backstabber
y yo que daba por ti la vida entera
and I who'd have given my entire life for you
Mentirosa, embustera
Liar, cheater
yo contigo no regreso aunque me muera
I won't go back to you even if it kills me

Mentirosa, traicionera
Liar, backstabber
y yo que daba por ti la vida entera
and I who'd have given my entire life for you
Mentirosa, embustera
Liar, cheater
basta ya de tanto ruido, este cuento se acabo.
that's enough with so much noise, this story is over.

More YouTube

I'm coming to love YouTube. I don't know to what extent enjoying YouTube depends on having a broadband connection, but it seems likely. I noticed that sometimes there are duplicate versions of the same video on YouTube, and that the quality of the duplicates can vary. In any event...

update -

I've noticed that sometimes it's better to go straight to the YouTube site to see the videos rather than click on the embedded video. Just click on the link I included above the embed to do that.

I just watched Independence Day again, and am reminded that at the end, though it's not shown in the video, Martina makes a comment about Pat's performance making her cry. I agree, it's that outstanding.

Here's a video I probably haven't seen since college more than a couple of decades ago. A highlight of my week was to pick up a six-pack of Oly pounders on my way home from classes on Friday afternoons, down one or two of them on my 20-mile drive home through the beautiful Palouse countryside (perfectly legal by the way), drop the books at my desk, and sit back to put on a buzz and watch the MTV Top 20 Countdown. (Back then MTV actually played music. Nowadays it seems they've always got some stupid reality show going.)

These videos place me back in those days:

Teena Marie - Lovergirl:


Sheena Easton - Sugar Walls:


Sheila E - The Glamorous Life:


One of my profs used to use Twisted Sister in examples having to do with signal analysis.

Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It:


Quiet Riot - Metal Health:

Starz - Cherry Baby:


OK, that's enough. Changing gears, I spent a little time looking for Luciano Pavarotti's rendition of Ave Maria from some Christmas concert a few years back. That particular performance of the piece gives me chills and goosebumps, and can bring tears to my eyes. I didn't find it, but I did find clips of Pavarotti doing the Ave Maria with a number of other singers like Bono, Roberto Carlos, Dolores O'Riordan, Jose Carreras and Roberto Carlos.

All I can say is that nobody should be allowed to sing the Ave Maria with Luciano Pavarotti. Nobody should want to sing the Ave Maria with Luciano Pavarotti. It only makes them look and sound inadequate. There should be one, official version of the Ave Maria, and it should be by Pavarotti. Schubert wrote the Ave Maria for Luciano Pavarotti knowing that God would eventually bring him along to sing it.

Well, OK...

Great Stuff!!

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I absolutely loved the rendition of Independence Day by Martina McBride and Pat Benatar on the CMT show Crossroads. For some reason the only DVD I could find of the show was a used one on eBay, and I passed it by. A while later I found Independence Day on Google Video and bought it, but for some reason it was cut off after about a minute and a half, and all Google could manage was to refund my $2.

Something moved me to check iTunes this evening, and when I saw that they had it I didn't think twice. It's just outstanding. Cheap at twice the price, as they say.

Turns out you can see it on YouTube, too:

Independence Day


And here's Pat Benatar doing Promises in the Dark. Great Stuff! I'm going to have to look into YouTube some more. They must be doing something right for Google to have shelled out a billion or two for them. Anyway...

Promises in the Dark

Jeff Beck

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Jeff Beck put on a great show last night at the Mesa Arts Center's Ikeda Theater. Beth Hart was very impressive, particularly on Morning Dew. What a set of lungs!

Rock Radio:

Jeff Beck will open his fall tour with a show on Wednesday, September 6th, at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. He's often surprised fans with the material he plays live, and this tour is no exception. Beck told us that for these dates, he's pulling stuff out from his earliest days as a solo artist, and the reason is that he's got the right group for the songs: "The setlist, it looks a little bit like (a) leftover from the early days, but the fact of the matter is, we're having to play this stuff partly because the players are not techno players -- they're pure musicians. We play the stuff that has the most challenging parts in it, plus we got a, you know, vocalist now, which can cover some of the Rod Stewart stuff. So it's like a sort of mini-life story on stage."

Beck's band for the tour includes Beth Hart on vocals, Jason Rebello on keyboards, Randy Hope-Taylor on bass, and Vinnie Colaiuta on drums.

The guitarist and company will be on the road through an October 1st date in Mesa, Arizona.

Review. Another review.