This blogger, Richard Gehr, is not an employee of AARP. The opinions expressed in the blog are not necessarily the opinions of AARP and AARP assumes no liability for the content posted by Mr. Gehr or any other participant
Richard Gehr | October 17, 2007
The "lost" Duke Ellington album "A Morning in Paris," featuring the wonderful South African jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, is newly available for download via iTunes. Read the convoluted tale of the 1963 recording's disappearance and its 1996 rediscovery while listening to her gospel-tinged take on "Loveless Love/Careless Love" (available here). The album will also be available at Benjamin's performance at Manhattan's Sweet Rhythm tonight.
Watch The New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini's nifty video tutorial about Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone music. It's a terrific accompaniment to his Sunday article about "arguably the most audacious and influential development in 20th-century music."
"I had gotten to hate music....I didn't listen to the radio...for my own pleasure or put records on. I couldn't remember what I ever liked about it." Joni Mitchell confesses to losing her faith in music prior to recapturing her muse on "Shine."
Glenn Frey talks to Billboard magazine about "Eden," the first Eagles album since 1979. "Eden" is due out October 30 (but only at Wal-Mart).
Billboard: Disc 1 kind of re-introduces the band and then Disc 2 has these massive powerhouse cuts that really take you on a journey. When you hear the whole thing at once, you really get that effect that it's a cohesive work.
Frey: Thank you for being an astute listener. I spent two days sequencing the record, and like you said I wanted to reintroduce everyone to the Eagles right away. Therefore, we put some of what I would call typical or classic Eagle's (sic) material right out of the box. And then slowly as the album plays along, we sort of get into some of the meatier lyrics. I felt that was the way we wanted to go. I didn't think you could come right out and have "Long Road Out of Eden" and "Frail Grasp" be the first songs on the record.
John Fogerty describes the changing audience reaction to his 2004 antiwar song "Deja Vu": "[B]ack in 2004 when I first started doing 'Deja Vu,' depending on which part of the country (sic), there would be perhaps a very loud bunch of boos and disagreement with what I had said. Even though what I said was not a challenging statement, they would voice their disapproval rather loudly. As time has passed, certainly this past summer, it was basically gone. It had gone the other way to where people stand up now and are very, very quiet during 'Deja Vu.'"
Cream became a "con" according to the author of "Clapton: The Autobiography."
