Year: 2016

Remembering Prince: 1958 – 2016

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Prince collage

Prolific superstar and artist extraordinaire Prince was found unconscious in his home on Thursday, April 21, 2016. I’ve now unwillingly committed those words to print, but although it’s been days since I first heard the news, I’m still not wanting to believe it’s true. I keep thinking it can’t be real. How can a seemingly indestructible tour de force leave this mortal world in such a shocking and untimely manner?

Each time we lose an artist, it creates a feeling of loss within us, often triggering a period of mourning. Although we didn’t personally know them, that doesn’t make losing them hurt less. In fact, Prince’s passing allows us to remember how his music became a decades-long part of our lives and in that facet we feel as if we actually did come to know him to some extent in our own personal and private way. Besides, Prince was more than an artist. He was a musical genius, consummate vocalist, gifted songwriter, mega-producer, multi-instrumentalist, actor, mentor, and an electrifying live performer. First appearing on the music scene in the late 1970s with his unique hybrid of funky new wave soul in the late 1970s, he ingeniously communicated the story of his life through his music. That story cunningly contained elements which hinted at his past, present and future.

Prince flirted with controversy, taught us how to party like every day was 1999, gave us a guided tour through Erotic City, made love sexy, schooled us in the art of pussy control, exposed Sheena Easton’s sugar walls, and was the definitive master of double entendre and innuendo. He proved to us that becoming a slave to the machine was unacceptable. He also shared his talent with multiple protégés, often producing hits such as “Nasty Girl” by Vanity 6, “Sex Shooter” by Apollonia 6, and “The Glamorous Life” and “A Love Bizarre” by Sheila E. He even gave away what was to become one of his biggest hits, “Nothing Compares 2 U” to his side project The Family, featuring his then girlfriend Susannah Melvoin (twin sister of The Revolution band member Wendy Melvoin). And as if all those things weren’t enough, only after his death do we learn he was secretly a giving and selfless philanthropist.

I confess I had somewhat of an atypical journey towards becoming as a Prince fan. The Purple One initially piqued my interest in 1979 with his appearance on American Bandstand. I had already become spellbound by “I Wanna Be Your Lover,” but after watching his intense performance and brief, but coy interview with Dick Clark, I was hooked.

I practically wore the grooves off his eponymously titled second album, but shortly after, I unwittingly put him on the shelf until I heard “1999” blasting from the airwaves a few years later. I’ll also admit I was turned off by the endless hyperbole surrounding the Purple Rain era as well. Sometimes it becomes all too easy to take genius for granted.

In full disclosure, I all but ignored Around the World in a Day and Parade upon their initial releases too. I didn’t consciously pick up the Prince torch again until I heard the Lovesexy and Batman albums. After that, I hurriedly made up for lost time as I fully immersed myself within all things Prince.

It would be an exercise in extreme futility to attempt compiling a worthy list of his musical masterpieces, but songs like “Free,” “The Beautiful Ones,” “The Ladder,” “Sometimes It Snows in April” and “The Holy River” now take on new and deeper meanings.

After being unexpectedly summoned by God to make his final ascent up the ladder to the afterworld, Prince Rogers Nelson was cremated, and a private memorial was held on Saturday, April 23rd. He left our beleaguered souls behind to celebrate him and soothe ourselves with his vast, genre-defying musical legacy. I know I’m not alone in my sorrow, as evidenced by the current iTunes and Billboard charts. In the four days since his death, nearly four million Prince songs and albums have been sold, one million of which were downloaded solely on the day of his reported death.

While we’re lucky he left us with such a highly creative body of work, it’s all too painful to admit the purple reign of His Royal Badness has ended so brusquely. Although we’re never certain when death will call upon any of us, we can’t help but wonder how it will feel and what awaits for us in the afterlife. However, when I try to imagine what heaven is like, I take great comfort in knowing Prince is watching over us from somewhere up there.

“Sometimes I wish life was never-ending, but all good things, they say, never last.”

Days of AM Gold

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Whenever springtime rolls around, it annually evokes fond memories of youthful days eagerly counting down to the end of the school year. The anticipation of long, lazy summer days, extended car rides, and family vacations was always palpable. That was the era of AM radio hits which often turned into road trip sing-alongs which served as a much needed reprieve from being cooped up for hours on end in the car. I’m referring to a time when portable electronics were almost non-existent and the only access to music was the standard AM radio that came factory installed in the family owned American automobile. Back then, most everyone subsisted on the familiar sounds of the most popular Top 40 radio hits of the day.

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It also reminds me how I’d get excited about going to the grocery store when I was a kid. Yes, the grocery store, because back in those days they used to put records on the backs of cereal boxes. Nothing made me happier than picking out a brand of cereal I’d pretend to like just so I could get a new record by The Archies, The Monkees, or The Jackson 5.

This was the very beginning of my record buying addiction that has lasted since my adolescence and continued throughout my adult life. I can still recall being mesmerized as I’d watch the record player needle play over the faces of Betty, Veronica, Archie, Reggie, Jughead, and Hot Dog as I memorized every word of “Sugar Sugar” and “Jingle Jangle.”

Cereal final

Back then, AM radio ruled the airwaves with infectious bubblegum earworms and Casey Kasem’s weekly American Top 40 countdown. Prime time television also provided a moderate source of musical entertainment in those days with series such as The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, Tony Orlando and Dawn, The Midnight Special, Donny & Marie, and The Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. Show. On Saturdays, I’d tune into American Bandstand, Solid Gold, the Grand Ole Opry Live, and Dolly, which starred Dolly Parton whom I became enamored with during my early boyhood days while watching The Porter Wagoner Show with my dad. He was initially upset Dolly Parton had replaced Norma Jean, but I was immediately won over and became a lifelong follower of Dolly’s illustrious career. This fact is something I still bring to my father’s attention and remind him of every chance I get.

TV show collage

As I grew older, I eventually began collecting vinyl records. During my early teenage years, I readily eschewed all things I thought of as “kid stuff” and began collecting my favorite radio hits on 7-inch 45 rpm. To this day I still associate many of my favorite artists with their associated record company labels. Hearing Elvis Presley or Dolly Parton vividly recalls spending hours watching Nipper spin ‘round and ‘round, as well as the multi-colored butterfly perched upon the big E on the labels of my Carly Simon and Queen records. Just as I perpetually see the rainbow label spinning in my mind’s eye whenever I listen to Elton John, or the spectral colors and palm trees of Casablanca while listening to KISS or Donna Summer.

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Slowly I began to shift from 45s to LPs and the timing couldn’t have been better as my commencement of responsibility and commitment arrived in the guise of the Columbia House record club. Remember the ad in the newspaper or TV Guide boasting of getting 12 record albums for a penny? Many people consider them to have been the bane of their existence and the epitome of money scams, but if you were savvy enough, you could beat them at their own game. Anyway, they served their purpose and suited my needs just fine. This was long before I could drive, so being able to shop from home and have records delivered to my door was a real life saver. I can still remember the thrill of receiving a box full of LPs in the mail. Not only did I get a big, fat, pile of albums, but I didn’t even have to leave my house. I can’t count how many times I joined and re-joined that club, making sure to carefully fulfill my minimum commitment so I could cancel my membership, only to re-join and receive another stack of wax. This cycle continued for years, slowly building into an impressive music library, most of which I still have to this day.

Columbia House FINAL

 

 

 

Trisha Yearwood Stars as Mary in ‘The Passion: New Orleans’

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The Passion

Grammy-winning country vocalist Trisha Yearwood will star as Mary, the mother of Jesus, in The Passion: New Orleans, a new modern-day adaptation depicting the life story of Jesus of Nazareth. The 2-hour live musical event airs on Palm Sunday, March 20 on the Fox network at 8 p.m. Eastern and 7 p.m. Central. The one-time only special will be hosted and narrated by Tyler Perry and also stars Seal as Pontius Pilate, Chris Daughtry as Judas, Jencarlos Canela as Jesus Christ and features Yolanda Adams, Prince Royce and Michael W. Smith.

The show’s companion soundtrack recording features five tracks by Yearwood, including contemporary versions of Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love,” Jewel’s “Hands,” Lifehouse’s “Broken,” Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Yearwood is currently in the midst of a massive world tour with her country superstar husband Garth Brooks. Additionally, Yearwood has published three best-selling cookbooks and hosts her own television series, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, which premiered on the Food Network in 2012 and is currently airing its seventh season.

Listen to “Broken” below:

 

 

Charles Kelley: ‘The Driver’

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Kelley

Charles Kelley: The Driver

Lady Antebellum star Charles Kelley strikes out on his own with his first solo record, The Driver. At first, you may be wondering why the member of a mega-successful country trio would willingly leave his band mates in the dust to kick up his boot heels, but you won’t have to listen very long to resolve that burning question.

Kelley’s impressive solo debut features duets with Stevie Nicks, Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert, and contains captivating material from songwriting heavyweights Tom Petty (“Southern Accents”) and Chris Stapleton (“Lonely Girl”). Despite all of that, Kelley remains firmly planted in the driver’s seat on the album as his resounding vocal delivery effortlessly claims center stage.

The album’s shining moments include the haunting hit title track co-written with Eric Paslay and the gorgeous mid-tempo ballad “Round in Circles,” which Kelley co-penned with his singer-songwriter brother Josh Kelley. But it’s the surprising realism of the heart wrenching album closer “Leaving Nashville” that will not only give you chills, but will convince you why it was necessary for Kelley to deliver this first-class and important solo bow. The Driver serves as a much-needed reminder that there are still a few artists who firmly grasp the concept of how to make an album with a vital beginning, middle and end.

Coldplay Perform Career-Spanning Set at NME Awards

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Coldplay money shot

Coldplay received NME’s Godlike Genius Award last night and treated the audience to a six-song set which included the hits “Viva La Vida,” “Charlie Brown,” “Clocks,” “Yellow,” Adventure of a Lifetime” and “Fix You.”

NME’s most coveted accolade was presented to the award show headliners by Kylie Minogue Wednesday night at London’s O2 Brixton Academy. Coldplay delighted attendees of annual award ceremony with a mini-concert performance which included LED wristbands, a great deal of confetti, and an unexpected table-top performance by Bring Me the Horizon’s Oli Sykes.

Fresh off of performing a triumphant Super Bowl halftime show, the chart-topping band will kick off its 2016 global A Head Full of Dreams Tour in March. The 2016 global trek will mark Coldplay’s first stadium tour of North America since 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

Lady Gaga Slays the Grammys with David Bowie Tribute

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Lady “Stardust” Gaga gave an inspired tribute to David Bowie with a show-stopping performance. With help from her creative team known as Haus of Gaga and alongside the legendary Nile Rodgers who served as musical director, Gaga delivered a glammed-up chameleonic performance as she belted out a medley chock-full of Bowie classics which included: “Space Oddity,” “Changes,” “Ziggy Stardust,” “Suffragette City,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Fashion,” “Fame,” “Under Pressure,” “Let’s Dance” and “Heroes.”

Watch Gaga’s unforgettable homage to her musical hero below:

 

Panic! at the Disco: ‘Death of a Bachelor’

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P!ATD

Panic! at the Disco: Death of a Bachelor

Panic! at the Disco’s fifth studio album, Death of a Bachelor could be considered frontman Brendon Urie’s tabula rasa, as he is now the only remaining original member and in complete control of the alternative rock band. Currently sitting atop Billboard’s Top 200 Album’s chart, Urie’s latest offering has been described as lyrically and thematically inspired by the singer and multi-instrumentalist’s two-year adjustment period to married life.

Although the 11-track set clocks in at a mere 36 minutes, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot to digest here. Death of a Bachelor jump starts with the cheerleader-like recitations of the hyperactive opening track “Victorious,” but quickly switches gears to the sobering lyrics of “Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time.” The ode to over indulgence begins with a sample of “Rock Lobster” by The B-52’s, and finds Urie openly confessing: “Don’t think I’ll ever get enough / Champagne, cocaine, gasoline / And most things in between.”

We’re then plunged ears first into the jazzy refrains of the title track, which exudes sentimental reflections of leaving single life behind, then without warning we’re immersed into what sounds like an intimate conversation between Urie and his wife during “Crazy = Genius.” The referential Beach Boys homage allows us to be privy to Urie’s inner dialogue: “She said you’re just like Mike Love, but you’ll never be Brian Wilson / And I said if crazy equals genius then I’m a fucking arsonist / I’m a rocket scientist.”

Omnipresent lyrical avowals coupled with a multitude of contrasting musical styles, Death of a Bachelor ultimately sounds like the aural equivalent of Queen and Sinatra doing a mountain of cocaine-manic, but in an acutely engaging way. The album’s artful combination of youthful confessions and various proclamations of debauchery, all coalesce to make a peculiarly eclectic, yet decidedly gratifying album.

As the last man standing in a band that previously existed as a quartet, Urie ironically manages to create an album that ironically sounds the most like the band’s 2005 debut, almost begging listeners to ponder if perhaps Brendon Urie has been the dominant force of the band all along?

Queen of Pop Plays Music City

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Madge live

(Rebel Heart Tour: Bridgestone Arena Nashville 2016)

Pop music icon Madonna played Nashville last night at Bridgestone Arena during a stop on her global Rebel Heart Tour. The two-hour-plus show was the first Music City performance of the superstar’s career, which now spans more than three decades. This egregious fact didn’t go unnoticed by the singer as she jokingly professed to be a “Nashville virgin” when she took the stage.

The concert opened with “Iconic” (featuring a rapping Mike Tyson), as images of the pop music innovator splashed across a colossal video screen as she was eventually lowered from the ceiling in a metal cage. The all but sold-out crowd roared as Madonna emerged from the cage and was delimited by ten male dancers dressed as medieval executioners adorned in gold and black and armed with large metal pikes.

The pop diva’s show was divided into four themes: Samurai, Asian, Latin and Party Celebration. Each segment was individually characterized by distinguishing wardrobe changes, choreography, and song selection. The show’s setlist heavily incorporated material from the singer’s most recent album Rebel Heart, but also contained many fan favorites, some of which she hasn’t performed in years, namely “Dress You Up,” “True Blue,” Deeper and Deeper,” “Who’s That Girl” and an electrified version of her early hit “Burning Up.”

The musical spectacle’s wow moments included Madonna body surfing atop a nun while swinging from a crucifix-shaped stripper pole during the racy “Holy Water,” which segued midway into an updated version of “Vogue.” Also noteworthy was a death-defying routine choreographed to “Illuminati,” which featured several dancers swaying back and forth over the audience while atop twenty foot poles.

But the evening’s most unique moment arrived halfway through the set when Madonna unexpectedly broke into an acapella version of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” The impromptu cover was interrupted as the singer explained in a faux southern accent “Okay let’s start this again ‘cuz I fucked it up and I’m not gonna embarrass myself in front of Johnny Cash right now. You have to understand I did not rehearse this, it just came into my head, underneath the stage a couple of minutes ago. Let’s start again okay? So, I’m playing my pussy (the opening notes of the song were synchronized with Madonna’s vaginal hand movements), that’s what I’m doing,” the singer humorously clarified.

Throughout the night, Madonna seemed surprisingly unguarded and radiated a vivacious spirit and playfulness which was devoured by the enamored audience. We were treated to an engaging mix of high-energy dance numbers such as “Music,” as well as a few stripped-down acoustic numbers including “La Vie en rose.”

Ultimately, the ambitious production concluded with an energetic encore of the singer’s first hit single “Holiday,” which had the late night crowd up on our feet as we clapped, danced, and sang along with the Material Girl, until she eventually disappeared after being hoisted up into the air. At age 57, Madonna convincingly demonstrated she is still a force with which to be reckoned when it comes to the art of live performance. The reigning Queen of Pop delivered an incomparable show, the likes of which Nashville will doubtfully ever see again.

Remembering David Bowie

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Bowie final

Where to begin when discussing David Bowie? It’s almost impossible to define one of the most influential artists of all time with a musical legacy of near-mythic importance. Especially considering his career spans from 1962 to 2016 and includes such classics as “Starman,” “Rebel Rebel,” “Heroes,” and “I’m Afraid of Americans.” Not to mention his vast canon of 25 eclectic albums, each one a divergent musical statement contained within an illustrious work of graphic art.

Nearly every Bowie fan has a favorite period or persona with a specific entry point, making it all the more difficult to attempt summing up the gender-bending, sexually ambiguous performer and musician’s life and accomplishments without writing an entire book (of which there are already more than a few of in existence). So instead I’ll try to sum up what impact the icon of music, film, art, and fashion had on my life.

My initial exposure to David Bowie was from top 40 radio and television shows such as The Midnight Special, Soul Train, and Saturday Night Live during the 1970s. As a kid I already liked the songs I’d heard (“Space Oddity,” “Fame,” and “Golden Years” were my favorites), but as a sheltered pre-teen I was jarringly taken aback, even frightened by him when first exposed to his spaced-out androgynous Ziggy Stardust persona. My initial reactions to the glam rocker were fear, confusion, and intrigue as I’d never seen or heard anyone like him, but my initial perceptions morphed into unadulterated admiration in the 80s.

I can remember being completely blown away as I sat transfixed the very first time I saw the “Ashes to Ashes” music video on MTV. This resulted in my newly awakened interest, just in time for Bowie’s latest incarnation, as he dominated the new music video age. Let’s Dance was the first Bowie record I purchased (as I became hypnotized by the infectiousness of “China Girl” and “Modern Love”), which led to my own personal discovery period as I began to delve into and devour each of his past albums from Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) to The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, to The Man Who Sold the World, and Space Oddity.

My rekindled interest continued as I greedily consumed all of Bowie’s output from that point forward, especially Labyrinth and Never Let Me Down, which culminated into my all-time favorite Bowie tour and live recording, his epochal Glass Spider Tour (although it’s often maligned and dismissed by critics and fans alike). I would watch my VHS copy with such repeated regularity, it eventually caused lines of distortion to run through the worn video image. Let’s just say I was in desperate need of upgrading my fuzzy video years later when it was re-released as a DVD/CD combo. As the years went by, Bowie grew to be a perpetual constant in my life as one of my favorite artists, as it never ceased to be a major life event for me whenever he’d release a new musical opus.

I’m pleased to say in 2004, I finally had the opportunity to experience one of his electrifying and unequaled live performances during what was sadly to become his final concert tour. The two and a half hour set was truly one of the greatest moments of my life (as well as one of my most cherished ticket stubs) and not a moment too soon either. Just weeks after attending his concert, Bowie underwent an angioplasty procedure for a blocked artery and the remaining dates of his A Reality Tour were cancelled.

Following his heart surgery, Bowie seemed to all but disappear until 2013 when he quietly surprise released The Next Day, his first album of new material in a decade. Well worth the wait, TND debuted at number two on Billboard and received glowing reviews. After a 10-year span of virtual silence, it was a sigh of relief to hear exciting new material. This excitement continued as “Moonage Daydream” was forever immortalized as part of the Marvel Universe while featured in the film and soundtrack of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which was soon followed by news that we could expect another album early in 2016.

I was elated when Bowie’s Blackstar was released on January 8, the artist’s 69th birthday. I spent that entire weekend enraptured by the eerily dark, but strangely hypnotic new music. I couldn’t help noticing an indescribable undercurrent within the lyrics the more I listened, especially in “Lazarus,” “Dollar Days” and “I Can’t Give Everything Away,” but I was too elated at having new Bowie music to dwell too deeply. However, this uneasiness became all too clear when I awakened on Monday morning to the shockingly unforeseen news that Bowie had passed away after an 18-month struggle with cancer. My first thought was that it had to be an Internet hoax, but sadly it was confirmed as I watched the plentiful tributes begin to pour in from around the world.

Death is an unfortunate reality for all of us, but it almost seems as if some people are supposed to miraculously beat the cosmic odds and defy death. Somewhere deep down in my subconscious, I think I always believed that if anyone could escape the Grim Reaper’s grasp, it would have been David Bowie.

Thank you Mr. Jones for sharing your talent with us mere mortals and giving the world such a magnanimous and inspiring body of work.

“There’s a starman waiting in the sky/He’d like to come and meet us/But he thinks he’d blow our minds/There’s a starman waiting in the sky…”