So, a couple of years ago, I found myself in a focus group that WXPN called a “Listening Board”. It was hosted by Bruce Warren and Roger LaMay, who are both the program director and the general manager of the station.

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Now comes the hour of departing, glad were I be were it not true: Fondest regards I’ll be imparting, one final fervent fond adieu….

No, I’m not quitting the blog crew. I am, however, mourning the end of the WCYOW’s 2008 season.”Pandora’s Box” had a very good run, and I hope a lot of you got to see us. Of course, the fun wasn’t secluded to the stage, especially on closing night.

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“FUSION LIVES!” trumpets the cover of August 2008 Jazz Times.  “They’re Back!” screams the August 2008 cover of Downbeat.  Two cover stories in the same month in the main jazz monthlies.  What’s going on here?  Well, for one thing, the hype machine is in Full Hot Air Mode.  For another, the PR-driven, editorially compromised character of the primary jazz mags stands nakedly revealed.  The Big Sell is on.  Are you buying? Read the rest of this entry »

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For those of you interested in seeing some prex publicity:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=2600507&referralPlaylistId=search|weisfeld&maven_referrer=staf

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What’s this? Talk-box guitar? A theremin? A banjo? Yes, that’s the new Hold Steady. But don’t believe what you’ve read elsewhere. The new Hold Steady is the same as the old Hold Steady. They’ve just added a few new instruments and a couple guest appearances.
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This past Saturday marked another great concert in the Wordless Music Series that has been going on full-force this season. This event featured the Metropolis Ensemble under the direction of Andrew Cyr and the ever-entertaining band from San Francisco, Deerhoof.

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Busy, Busy, Dreadfully Busy! That kind of describes opera rehearsals as of now. Read the rest of this entry »

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I eagerly anticipated the CD release of Bill Dixon’s “17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur,” recorded live at Vision Festival XII in New York in 2007, so I eager that I bought one of the first copies of the CD at this year’s Vision Festival XIII, right out of  the box, before it even hit the stores or online sites.  Maybe there was to much anticipation on my part.  Having given it a first listen, I find myself discomfited and vaguely disappointed with Mr. Dixon’s composition and the CD itself.   Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s the same thing every year; XPN puts on a four day music festival and then we’re asked to make lists of our favorites of eight hundred, eighty five something or another into to a “top ten” list format based upon our preferences.

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Chris Arduser is not now, nor will he ever be a household name. But I would rather keep this Chris Arduser in tact as opposed to some record label machination. I have come to know and love Deathy (as he is known in the inner circles of the Bear’s cave) through his work with Adrian Belew and the Bears, the Psychodots and later Raisins, Graveblankets and his own solo albums.
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A Public Service Announcement:

BEATLEMANIA AGAIN Live in Concert, July 16th. 2008. 8:00pm.
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Just about everyone I know has a “You haven’t seen” movie.  You know, the movie you haven’t seen that is considered a classic – the one when you SAY you haven’t seen it, someone remarks “Wait, you haven’t seen (whatever movie)?” This is usually followed by some sort of action plan requiring you to see the movie immediately, even if you’re in the middle of mowing your lawn or something (though why you’d be discussing movies while mowing your lawn is kind of lost on me. But hey whatever, it’s your life). Anyway, many genres of music have the same type of thing.  And if you’re down with the Metal and HAVEN’T heard ‘Reign in Blood’ by Slayer…. why haven’t you? Damn, stop mowing the lawn and listen to the record!

There’s a reason that you can go anywhere now and hear people randomly shout ‘Slayerrrrr!‘ every time something comes up that rocks (I heard someone say it at DJ Shadow/Cut Chemist’s ‘The Hard Sell’ tour!)…. and that reason goes back to Reign in Blood. It’s my favorite record ever, 29 minutes of thrash metal perfection.

And now, there’s a book about it.

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Money is hard to come by when you’re a college student (and your parents aren’t sending you “allowances” for “spending money” because you make “necessary purchases” every week that require hundreds). So whenever I save up the requisite $22.50 to get a round trip to NYC, it’s a BIG DEAL (for me). Phones ring, Brooklyn floors are cleared for my crashing, and plans are made.

Well, don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this Todd P fella, but his shows are, seriously, a dream-come-true for kids (or adults) on a budget. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $7 for a show, and the bills are always about 3-4 bands. And it’s an all-ages deal…which is amazing so that kids under 18 can actually get to see live interesting stuff instead of sitting at home and watching MTV. This last Saturday had a 4-band bill…unfortunately, I was only able to see 2. And a half. Or something.

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There’s a small group of musicians who occupy that difficult space between journeyman and artist.   They have all the tools and skills of the fully-fledged journeyman but also touches of true artistic power.  George Adams is one of these musicians; a tenor saxophonist of admirable skill, insight and authority, with an ability to project a unique musical lexicon.  It’s unfortunate he has been largely overlooked and his legacy obscured since his passing 15 years ago.  These musings on George Adams were produced by a recent trip through the aisles of Princeton Record Exchange (a plug?  yes, but they deserve it). Read the rest of this entry »

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I did not start out to write a series of reviews of women with musical muscles but it’s turned out that way. Here is the latest in the series about Alpha Females who make music with abandon.

St Vincent, fronted by Annie Clark, brought a 6 piece band including electric violin, flute, and French Horn. They made dynamic high-contrast music to go with their Black and White outfits. In this concert the live music sounded as good to me as the recordings; the songs were varied in style and mood. At times she wielded her electric guitar as mentioned before with abandon and force. She ends her songs unexpectedly and interestingly. Read the rest of this entry »

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As we recover from the Holiday weekend, we need to take it easy. With this in mind, we will be doing an abbreviated review (read: not a two-parter this week). During our lull in concerts this month, we are continuing with our examination of the Utopia box set, Last Of The New Wave Riders. A set of live performance CDs spanning from early in Utopia’s career up to almost the end. This particular show, the Oblivion Tour, is a single disc. Additionally, since the last entry about Devo generated some interest I need to address some comments that were left.
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This is the tale of the most original new band I’ve encountered in recent memory.  They come from Staten Island, and play shows throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.  They’re called Julius C.

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Sorry for the delay. I haven’t been near a computer for a bit. Regardless, I carry on. Anyone who has any experience in musical performance knows that it’s not a simple task. There is lots of preparation to do and many hours are spent rehearsing, making sets, and choreographing dances. However, it doesn’t seem as meticulous as I am describing. In this entry, I would like to describe a typical rehearsal at the Westminster Youth Opera Workshop. Read the rest of this entry »

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Barrington Levy

It’s the music you put on when you are homesick for Jamaica, when you want to feel the flava of the Caribbean, or when you are having a Jamaican themed party and need reggae in the background.

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In my blog last week I commented upon the bland, pasteurized and altogether uninteresting jazz music programming I encountered on WBGO (Newark) while visiting the New York area for the Vision Festival.   I noted how I had always enjoyed listening to WBGO on previous trips to New York (I was born and grew up in New York City and still visit from time to time for special events and to visit family, so am up there a fair amount).  I thought, possibly, that the yawn inducing music on the radio might have just been the result of a contrast with the white-hot intensity of the Vision Festival, which made WBGO’s programming seem so banal.  Then I received a very polite response to my post from Cephas Bowles, WBGO’s General Manager, which shocked me! Read the rest of this entry »

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