Peter Stone Brown Archive painstakingly restored the footage of Bob Dylan rehearsing the song “If Not For You” with George Harrison in 1971.
Jay Douglas + Kollage : 17th Annual COMMFFEST Film & Arts Festival Confirmed For Sept 16-18 at St. Lawrence Centre
Date: Saturday, September 17th
Location: St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts
27 Front St E, Toronto, ON M5E 1B4
Times: 8:00p.m. – 10:30p.m
Tickets available here!
Title: “A Tribute to Blues and Jazz”
Details: An evening of music celebrating Canada’s shared history with the US titled “A Tribute to Blues and Jazz” starring Jay Douglas and Kollage featuring Alexis Baro.
Singer Jay Douglas’ untold musical history is played out on stage with selections from his ground-breaking new album “Confession.” The album was inspired by his love for Blues and Rhythm & Blues then a new music in post WWII America that was coming out of Memphis and New Orleans. All this music had a big impact on Jay as a young artist growing up in Jamaica and that influence would eventually travel with him to Canada. Jay has been awarded NOW Magazine’s Best R&B Act, the Annual Toronto Reggae Awards’ Male Reggae Vocalist of the Year, and the BBPA Harry Jerome Awards’ G98.7 Entertainment Award.
Kollage featuring Alexis Baro takes the audience on a musical journey back in time to the mid 50’s and early 60’s when new current within jazz emerged in the US called “Hard Bop.”
The new music incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues with an emphasis on a heavy backbeat.
It was this style of music that inspired the original founders of Kollage – Archie Alleyne and Doug Richardson – to form this Canadian musical institution.
Folk Rocker Multi-Instrumentalist Sammy Duke Encourages Empathy on Jangly, Inspiring “Speed Of Life”
New mindsets and new beginnings can be challenging to usher in, but Waterloo, ON-based folk-rock artist Sammy Duke aims to motivate and inspire in his new single “Speed Of Life” – available now – from his album of the same name.
Using imagery from a real-life motorcycle ride heading southbound towards Lake Erie, Duke sings of chasing the horizon on a long-and-winding journey rife with highs and lows. He leaves the concrete jungle of the city behind, along with the billboards and neon signs, and all the information overload that leads only to complication. Soon, we’re in nature on the bike beside him, experiencing the fear and exhilaration of roads unknown:
Moving fast to roads uncharted: the pressure runs high
Without knowing what lies ahead, we look to what we’ve left behind
But as we set our gaze to the horizon, and see this new world unfold
We’ll keep our sights on the pathway to where our stories will be told…
Duke’s voice is husky with experience, but the guitar is jangly and the beats head-bopping and upbeat, and so we begin to have faith that this journey just might lead us to somewhere okay.
“For many of us, it can be a frightening experience to step into an unknown future – and it’s important to recognize that these feelings are entirely normal,” Duke says. “It’s our choice whether we use each new experience to spread love and empathy, or to remain stagnant and choose a path of selfishness. Many of the songs on this album reflect an eagerness for new beginnings, and stepping forward from the darker parts of lives.”
Sammy Duke is an unmistakable presence the moment he starts performing onstage. Called a “troubadour prog-rock[er]” (No Depression magazine), this literal one-man-band uses each limb to perform on a variety of instruments, including guitar, foot synths, foot percussion, and even his elbow in the case of his famed “elbow chimes.” Through his infectious live energy, Sammy Duke enchants audiences with spontaneous spurts of crowd participation, self-deprecating wit, and thought-provoking lyrics within his folksy-fusion music that blends elements of world-beat, rock and soul. “And if you’re still not convinced, Duke’s bluesy voice will get you.” (CBC Music)
Alli Bean Challenges Love’s Push-Pull, Hot-Cold Dynamic on Funky, Bluesy “Twenty Questions”
A lover who withholds is often frustrating, at best. With that, multi-award-winning Victoria, BC-based jazz songstress Alli Bean captures the dynamic’s push-pull perfectly in her new single “Twenty Questions,” from her recently released album, Outside Voice.
Framed as a series of increasingly probing questions for her lover, “Twenty Questions” features a funky, head-bopping groove, saucy and soulful vocals, and a chill “Doo doo doo” chorus over rollicking piano. Basically, it asks – in a detached and curious way – why the guy is such a damn narcissist:
What do you dream about while I awake from dreaming of you?
While I try to turn my light out, what is it you do?
Where do you go when you don’t have a plan?
Who are you when you’re not the front man?
The narrator inquires, somewhat sadly, why such a lover won’t let anyone in, but her smarts and self-respect get the better of her over and over again, as she challenges: “Why am I freezing in the heat while you’re struttin’ around so cold?” The overall message is a tried-and-true “you’re so vain,” so that the woman doing the calling out emerges as the song’s embattled hero.
It’s a theme that’s overarching on the album, recorded in its entirety in Bean’s tiny home studio during the pandemic. “Outside Voice is a culmination of works created along a personal growth journey,” Bean divulges. “We go through life making moves, and choices aren’t always conscious. By chasing people and seeking external validation, we find ourselves in dicey situations, leading us astray from what matters.
“When I realized I had this issue,” she continues, “I turned inward and began really asking myself what I was relentlessly pursuing – what did I need to let go of in order to find it? In that process, I said goodbye to a lot of habits and ideas that got in the way.”
Alli Bean is a multi-award-winning Canadian powerhouse blues/jazz/pop-influenced songwriter and vocalist. Drawing influence from a multitude of artists including Wynton Kelly, Horace Silver, Fiona Apple, and Amy Winehouse, her compositional style leans toward the bluesy, funky side of the street, with a twist of jazz and a dash of sass for good measure.
Brian Eno: A short tribute to Can
So, why does German experimental rock band Can matter? Let Brian Eno tell you in under one minute.
Video: The Ramones on “Sha Na Na” in 1979
“The fabulous new wave singing group” The Ramones make a glorious appearance on the greatest show in the 1970s, Sha Na Na.
SiriusXM Launches “This Is Your Life” Comedy Channel
SiriusXM today announced the premiere of “This Is Your Life,” a new limited-engagement comedy channel dedicated to the legendary documentary series of the same name. The special programming is available now through October 7 on SiriusXM channel 104, with the episodes also available as podcasts on the SXM App.
Premiering in 1948 on radio before transitioning over to TV, “This Is Your Life” paved the way for reality television. On “This Is Your Life,” host Ralph Edwards surprised his unsuspecting honorees with their friends, family, and colleagues who shared hilarious anecdotes about the celebrity guest in front of a live audience. Starting today, SiriusXM will showcase select episodes featuring classic stars including Betty White, Ann-Margret, Andy Griffith, James Brolin, Joe Frazier, Debbie Reynolds, Dick Van Dyke, Don Rickles, Carl Reiner, and many more.
Check out a sneak peek of “This Is Your Life” where Betty White gets surprised by host Ralph Edwards at a photoshoot:
In addition to airing on SiriusXM channel 104, listeners can also tune into the “This Is Your Life” comedy channel on their phones or connected devices at home via the SXM App. Streaming access is included for most subscribers. Go to https://www.siriusxm.com/ways-to-listen to learn more.
GRATEFUL DEAD MEET-UP 2022 to be shown in theaters on November 1 & 5, 2022
The 2022 Grateful Dead Meet-Up at the Movies is set to hit big screens worldwide on Tues., Nov. 1, with additional screenings across the U.S., Canada, and select territories on Sat., Nov. 5. This highly anticipated fan event, “Grateful Dead Meet-Up 2022” is in celebration of the 50th anniversary of one of the Grateful Dead’s most iconic gigs from the Tivoli Concert Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Apr. 17, 1972. The performance was part of the band’s legendary Europe ’72 tour and resulting blockbuster live album, which was released 50 years to the date of the Nov. 5 screenings.
Presented by Trafalgar Releasing and Rhino Entertainment, tickets for “Grateful Dead Meet-Up 2022” go on sale on Fri., Sept. 23 at 10:00 a.m. EDT at www.MeetUpAtTheMovies.com.
This ground-breaking concert broadcast event was the Dead’s first major live concert broadcast anywhere, and a first in Danish television history. Now, fully restored and color corrected in High Definition with audio mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes by Jeffrey Norman, and mastered by David Glasser, Tivoli 4/17/72 features nearly an hour and a half of the Grateful Dead (Jerry Garcia, Donna Jean Godchaux, Keith Godchaux, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, and Bob Weir) at a peak of their performing career. The show’s many highlights include an overview of the Dead’s 1972 touring repertoire, including magnificent versions of “China Cat Sunflower,” “I Know You Rider,” “Big Railroad Blues,” “Truckin’,” and many more of the Dead’s classics, as well as the first live performance of “He’s Gone,” and other new songs including “Ramble on Rose,” “Jack Straw,” and “One More Saturday Night.” Pigpen, on what would prove to be his last tour with the Grateful Dead, is well-represented by three songs, including the broadcast’s opening number, “Hurts Me Too.”
“Grateful Dead Meet-Up 2022” is the culmination of a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Europe ’72, with newly remastered versions of the original album being released earlier in the year along with an unprecedented 24-LP boxed set of four complete shows from the tour, available exclusively at dead.net. Earlier this year, “The Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast,” the official podcast of the Grateful Dead, kicked off its fifth season with an in depth, 10-episode look at the tour.
My Next Read: ‘SHOT! by Rock The Photography’ of Mick Rock
The iconic photography and tales of famous musicians and rock-and-roll legends, all from “the man who shot the Seventies” himself, Mick Rock. “SHOT! by Rock” is out on November 22, 2022.
Born in 1948 in Hammersmith, London, Michael Rock became a photographer after graduating from college, and developed his visual style with photos of the local rock music scene in England. Soon thereafter his photography career took off, going higher and higher with each new musician he shot for. His work is embodied in this text, full of luscious, color-saturated photography of some of the most dynamic and enthralling musical acts and stars in rock history—and likewise filled with amazing and amusing behind-the-scenes stories of musicians from Mick Jagger to Miley Cyrus and beyond.
Instrumental in creating so many iconic images in music history, from Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” to David Bowie’s Life on Mars video, Mick has had major exhibitions all over the world, has featured in the 2016 documentary, SHOT!, and his work has secured his reputation alongside his subjects as an icon of rock.
A sure-fire hit with rock and musical history fans!
Drummer Stewart Copeland’s Long-Lost 1980s Star Wars Spinoff Theme Song
The Police former drummer Stewart Copeland wrote and performed the opening theme song — “Trouble Again” — for the Star Wars Droids animated television series back in 1985.