Some glorious super smooth funk mixed with classic 70’s psychedelia.
Video: An obscure early appearance by ABBA on Spanish television, Señoras y Señores, TVE, 1974
There are some things I wish more than others. I wish this was in colour.
Henry Rollins expresses an angry, bleak vision of the world in this rare Dutch television documentary in 1995
I’m glad Henry is still around. He just recently released his Stay Fanatic!!! Vol. 1 book and said, “Life is short and as much as possible, you have to do your thing. For better or worse, the success or failure of what I do is approval based. I have the choices of disregarding any possible downsides and moving forward to completion, or over thinking it and pulling back. I’ve chosen the former. I hope you like the book. Stay Fanatic!!!”
But back in 1995, it was a little bit of a different philosophy of life for him.
Mister Rogers meets Lou Ferrigno on The Incredible Hulk set in 1980
The greatest crossover event in history. In episode 1468, which aired on February 6, 1980, Mr. Rogers leaves the Neighborhood of Make-Believe to hang out on set with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno, stars of the TV show The Incredible Hulk. There, it became the basis of a psychological experiment helping kids get over their fear of The Incredible Hulk.
Toronto Pop Singer/Songwriter Jadyn Lamb Flags “Bad Signs” in Relationships in new Video & Single
The saying ’in like a lamb, out like a lion’ is often saved for seasonal weather, but such can also be said for Canadian pop singer/songwriter Jadyn Lamb and her newest single and video, “Bad Sign” — available now!
In it, the Toronto-area artist delivers a sweetly sung pop track all while leaving listeners inspired by the song’s frank take-away.
“This is a story about manipulation, guilt, and finding the strength to escape abuse,” Lamb says of the lyrics that call a partner out on their unhealthy behaviour. “It’s a message that it’s okay to cut toxic people out of your life.”
The song initially had an ‘audience of one’; Lamb penned “Bad Sign” for her younger sister in the midst of helping her navigate an abusive relationship.
“‘Bad Sign’ is dedicated and in honour of my younger sister, and anyone else going through the same thing,” Lamb shares. “The lyrics are inspired by real messages and arguments they had.
“We’re best friends and I’m really protective of her, so when I saw her in pain, it crushed me,” she continues, relating to what her sister went through. “When I heard her crying, I felt helpless. I tried my best to guide her in the right direction, and steer her away from heartbreak but, in the end, it was always her decision to make.
“Turns out, she didn’t need any help! She was brave on her own, and put herself first. I’m so proud of her.”
Family has always played a strong role in Jadyn Lamb’s musical growth, whether as a lyrical muse or exposure to the craft. “I spent every summer in a packed bar in Leaside, watching my father play the guitar and sing with his band,” she recalls. “I grew up spirited and loud, and fascinated by music and songwriting, even as a child. That experience also helped me fall in love with big stages and crowds.”
That life-long dedication is paying off and presenting itself, first in the form of Lamb’s 2018 debut single “A Day Off,” and most recently via the release of singles “Water,” “Quiet Zone,” “Long Way Home,” and now “Bad Sign.”
“Bad Sign” is available now.
Jesse Cook Releases New World Music Single “Hey!” with Algerian-Born Multi-Instrumentalist Fethi Nadjem
Award-winning and Internationally acclaimed guitarist, composer and producer Jesse Cook has swirled together Spanish guitar and Algerian violin and gumbri into an infectious musical mashup with multi-instrumentalist Fethi Nadjem for “HEY!” — a special single release, available January 10, 2020.
“Some people think world music is anthropological field recordings,” says Cook of the collaboration. “That’s not my vibe…
“Global music is the future, (and) I like it loud and bombastic!”
And so sets the tone for “HEY!”, the duo’s global music mashup.
The track was created soon after Cook and Nadjem shared the stage at the 2019 Victoria Jazz Festival; Cook’s skills as a composer and producer quickly set the stage for Nadjem’s remarkable talents across the guitar, oud, violin, mandole, and kora, the African harp, among many more, resulting in the stand-alone single.
Also featured on “HEY!” are Matt Sellick on rhythm guitar, Dan Minchorn on bass, and percussionists Matais Recharte and Marito Marques; modern dance company Gadfly are featured in the video.
The release comes in addition and ahead of Cook’s marking of 25 years of music with 25 special tour dates across Canada, a nod to his 1995 debut, Tempest (Narada). The single “HEY” is Cook’s first release in a new partnership between his new label, Coach House, and Canadian label, Outside Music.
The tour serves as a bemusing milestone for a guy who never planned on releasing an album.
“If you had asked me at age 22, I would have said I would never, never make music for the public,” Cook says with a laugh. “I would have told you the public is much too fickle… They may love you one minute and forget you the next.
“Well… It turns out I did the thing I said I’d never do, and somehow it’s worked out.”
That’s an understatement.
By the numbers, Jesse Cook holds ten platinum and gold studio albums with combined sales exceeding two million copies, five concert DVDs and live discs, and five PBS specials — his most recent, directed, edited and mixed by Cook himself.
He holds a JUNO Award win for Best Instrumental Album with 2000’s Free Fall (Narada) — which celebrates its 20th anniversary next year — and 11 JUNO Award nominations. These stack alongside three Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards, a Gemini Award and Acoustic Guitar Magazine Player’s Choice Silver Award, not to mention thousands of concerts in dozens of countries, plus millions of views and streams, and countless fans around the world.
“25 years ago, before Tempest was released — and all that would follow — if you had asked me what I wanted to do with my life, I would have told you I was happy in my solitude,” Cook reflects. “I didn’t want to be in the public eye.
“But I was wrong.
“Before Tempest, I’d never seen the rest of Canada,” he continues. “I never dreamed I would one day see Asia, let alone tour it. My fans have lifted me up in so many ways, and have given me the freedom to follow my muse and chase my dreams. They opened the world to me, and given me the opportunity to meet and perform with my musical heroes.
“Without my fans, none of this would have happened. Words are not enough to thank all the people who have been with me on this crazy, beautiful journey these last 25 years.
“And now, I can’t wait to see where the next 25 will take us…”
The Tempest 25 Tour will visit cities from Nanaimo, BC all the way to a special five-night engagement at Théâtre Nouveau Monde in Montréal, QC, during the 2020 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal.
// The Tempest 25 Tour
March 20 @ The Port Theatre, Nanaimo BC
March 21 @ The Centre in Vancouver, Vancouver BC
March 23 @ Kelowna Community Theatre, Kelowna BC
March 25 @ Winspear Centre, Edmonton AB
March 26 @ Red Deer Memorial Centre, Red Deer AB
March 27 @ Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary AB
March 28 @ Vic Juba Theatre, Lloydminster AB
March 31 @ Conexus Arts Centre, Regina SK
April 1 @ TCU Place, Saskatoon SK
April 2 @ Centennial Auditorium, Brandon MB
April 3 @ Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg MB
April 4 @ Community Auditorium, Thunder Bay ON
April 8 @ Centre in the Square, Kitchener ON
April 9 @ Meridian Hall, Toronto ON
April 11 @ National Arts Centre, Ottawa ON
April 14 @ Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Halifax NS
April 15 @ Capitol Theatre, Moncton NB
April 16 @ Homburg Theatre, Charlottetown PE
April 17 @ The Fredericton Playhouse, Fredericton NB
April 18 @ Salle Louis-Fréchette, Quebec City QC
June 25 @ Théâtre Nouveau Monde, Montreal QC
June 26 @ Théâtre Nouveau Monde, Montreal QC
June 27 @ Théâtre Nouveau Monde, Montreal QC
June 28 @ Théâtre Nouveau Monde, Montreal QC
June 29 @ Théâtre Nouveau Monde, Montreal QC
TV commercial for Alice Cooper’s Zipper Catches Skin album, a rare promotional appearance in 1982
Alice Cooper’s guitarist Dick Wagner, who left halfway through the recording sessions, described Cooper’s Zipper Catches Skin as “the off to the races speedy album” and a “drug induced nightmare”. Wagner later revealed in a segment of the Deleted Scenes on the 2014 documentary film Super Duper Alice Cooper that Alice was smoking crack cocaine at the time and had a curtain set up behind the recording mic with a stool on it where he kept his crack pipe; he and other members of the band would sneak behind the curtain to take hits in between recording takes.
Zipper Catches Skin is the second of three albums which Alice refers to as his “blackout” albums, the others being the preceding album, Special Forces, and the following album, DaDa, as he has no recollection of recording them, due to the substance abuse, although he did manage to film a TV advert intended to promote Zipper at the time. Cooper stated “I wrote them, recorded them and toured them and I don’t remember much of any of that”, though he actually toured only Special Forces. There was no tour to promote Zipper, and none of its songs have ever been played live.
The Rutles on ‘Rutland Weekend Television’ in 1976
Rutland Weekend Television (RWT) was a television sketch show on BBC2, written by Eric Idle with music by Neil Innes. Two series were broadcast, the first consisting of six episodes in 1975, and the second series of seven episodes in 1976. A Christmas special was broadcast on Boxing Day 1975.
That Time Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson Sung ‘Delilah’ While Wearing a Leopard Suit on a Game Show
While appearing on the UK game show Last Chance Lottery in 1997, a leopard-suited Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden sung Tom Jones’ classic “Delilah” for £850. An experience you’ll never, ever see again.
Ben Watt Announces US Tour, Releases New Song “Balanced On A Wire” from New Album ‘Storm Damage’ out January 31
Award-winning musician-writer-DJ Ben Watt releases a new song “Balanced On A Wire” ahead of his forthcoming new album Storm Damage (out Jan 31) together with an atmospheric performance video filmed at the legendary RAK Studios in London where the album was recorded in April earlier this year. The video and track, which BlackBook called “…one of the most visceral pieces of music he’s ever recorded,” gives a flavor of Watt’s powerful new “future-retro trio” which will tour in support of the album. Additionally, Watt’s first US dates in almost three years are also announced today. The US tour kicks off on March 31 in Washington, D.C. and will make stops in New York, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and more. Find a full list of tour dates below.
“My kids were teenagers leaving home for the first time when I wrote it,’ says Watt of the new song. “I was moved by their mixture of anxiety and determination. It reminded me of being nineteen myself, standing on the edge of something new, how you cope, how you need to open up when the other half of you is screaming ‘no’. And I realised I still felt like that now sometimes. Perhaps that feeling never really leaves you.”
Recently, Watt released the single “Sunlight Follows The Night” and “Irene,” featuring Low’s Alan Sparhawk on electric guitar and harmony vocal. Stereogum called Sparhawk “…an ideal accompaniment for the song’s central substance, which amounts to Watt crooning with earthy singer-songwriter gravitas over a finger-picked metal resonator guitar and a synthetic tape loop.” Following the release of “Irene,” Flood Magazine published an in-depth and inspiring conversation between Sparhawk and Watt.
Storm Damage – a hybrid contemporary acoustic-electronic set – completes a compelling trilogy of albums since Watt’s late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago after ten years as an acclaimed DJ-remixer-label boss and seventeen in best-selling duo, Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn.
“My closest half-brother died unexpectedly in 2016, only four years after my half-sister,” he says of events surrounding the album’s origins. “I got stuck for a year, angry inside and angry at the political world casually detonating around me. I felt half powerless, half driven. When the songs finally came, some were dark, yes, but there is always room for light. Always. I just tried to put that across.”
Emotional and inventive, Storm Damage is released on Unmade Road through Caroline International.
Tour Dates:
3/31: Washington, D.C. – Union Stage
4/2: New York, NY – Le Poisson Rouge
4/3: Boston, MA – City Winery
4/5: Toronto, ON – Rivoli
4/7: Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
4/8: Indianapolis, IN – Lo-Fi Lounge
4/9: Evanston, IL – Space
4/10: Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room at Colectivo
4/11: Minneapolis, MN – The Dakota
4/14: Seattle, WA – The Triple Door
4/15: Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios
4/17: San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
4/18: Los Angeles, CA – Largo
Storm Damage Tracklist:
1) Balanced on a Wire
2) Summer Ghosts
3) Retreat to Find
4) Figures in the Landscape
5) Knife in the Drawer
6) Irene
7) Sunlight Follows the Night
8) Hand
9) You’ve Changed, I’ve Changed
10) Festival Song