SUDDENLY
IT’S CHRISTMAS Slambovian Circus of Dreams
Joziah
Longo's voice feels like Tom Petty meets Neil Diamond. Majestic comforting light sleighbells, band, “Nat
King Cole,” “Suddenly it's Christmas Have we lost another year.” Lightly lifts
lyrics of “O’ Come All Ye Faithful” “O’ Holy.”
TAKE A
HOLIDAY Emily Hurd Intimate and lilting Allison Krauss voice, piano,
waltz tempo, all the different images and upbeat attitudes about the holiday.
Hymnals & Candlestick, condos & tenements Let's take a holiday and give it a name.
thoughtful transition
WONDERS
Emily Hurd Wonders
never cease, the glories and beauty of Christmas wrapped up with Chicago
soul--horns and hammond B3 Christmas eve
is the setting. Christmas bells understated.
Little children fast asleep
Balsam Tree. Tempo like James & Bobby Purify’s “I’m Your Puppet.”
THIS
CHRISTMAS The Kings
Harmonic pop rock. Elvis Costello, Smithereens-y, celestial chimes. the theme of the song is wishing for love for
your family who is so far away and for strangers that are alone. Canadian
Content.
AVE MARIA by Aeone classical, gentle and slow
CHRISTMAS
TIME Jon Mullane Upbeat!
About the joys of Christmas, and getting ready for it
A Perfect ‘80s Night at Bowery Electric W/ the Band that Gave Us "Switchin' to Glide"/"This Beat Goes On"
The Kings return to New
York City for a concert at Bowery Electric on January 19, at 6:30 pm. Bowery Electric is at 327
Bowery (next door to Joey Ramone Place), in New York City.
The Kings
last played New York City on September 11, 2011 to support survivors from
Ground Zero. Originally
known as WhistleKing, the group (made up of three members from Toronto, and one
from British Columbia) formed in Vancouver, BC and Oakville, Ontario, Canada. The Kings
feature original members David Diamond (lead vocals, bass guitar, songwriter),
Mister Zero (guitar and songwriter), and Peter Nunn (keyboards) who joined in 1994,
and Todd Reynolds (drums) since 2009.
While recording their first album at Nimbus 9
Studio in Toronto, world famous producer Bob (Pink Floyd) Ezrin dropped by to
visit and checked the band out and liked what he heard. He agreed to mix the
tracks The Kings had recorded but soon discovered that the whole thing needed
to be re-done. He approached Elektra Records in Los Angeles with The Kings’
tapes and the unknown band was signed to a world-wide deal. Ezrin and The Kings re-record the songs for the album “The Kings
Are Here."
Radio picked up the infectious,
5:43 song “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide”
and it caught on all over the USA and Canada with huge airplay in every major
market, staying on the Billboard Hot 100 for six months. It was named one of
the Top 100 U.S. Radio Programmers Picks of the Decade by Album Network
Magazine and The Kings were named most promising group by Cashbox Magazine, and
nominated for a Juno Award. An amazing appearance on Dick Clark’s “American
Bandstand” helped spread the word as well. The album “The Kings Are Here” went
gold in Canada, and since it was re-released on cd as “The Kings Are Here and
More,” combined sales have passed platinum status. The second Ezrin-produced Elektra effort “Amazon
Beach” did not fare as well and the band left the label and signed with Capitol
Canada which released “RSVP” which contains the holiday classic “This Christmas”
which gets lots of airplay every yuletide season.
The next studio project was called “Unstoppable”
and the title track reached the Top 10 in Canada.
Next came the studio album “Because of You,”
which once again showed the depth and versatility of the songwriting from The
Kings. After that came other different projects, “Anthology One” which is a
collection of rare early unreleased tracks, and what has become The Kings
amazing “Live Trilogy,” “The Lost Tapes of a Seventies Bar Band,” “Party Live
in ’85,” both audio only, and the DVD “No Covers-Live at O’Tooles Roadhouse,”
all of which document the energy of the band in concert. And also the great
documentary about the band’s biggest hit: “Anatomy of a One-Hit Wonder” where
the guys tell their own story with trademark candour and humour.
Earlier 2019, The Kings released a two-song
segue, “Circle of Friends/Man That I Am” which has all the energy and feel-good
hooks the band is known for, and mixed in Nashville by their champion Bob Ezrin.
In 2020 The Kings will
release "Live at Heatwave" a half hour concert movie shot in
16mm film at the famous 1980 "Heatwave Festival" which was held at
Mosport Racetrack near Toronto which featured Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, The
Pretenders, the B-52's…. The Kings’ footage is the only surviving film
from the event. The lead-off single is a bodacious cover of the
Beach Boys classic "California Girls."
Rebecca Loebe, John Brodeur, Rachael Sage are meeting folks at SXSW. Rebecca's latest album GIVE UP YOUR GHOSTS (on Austin's Blue Corn Records) features GROWING UP, a collection of poignant observations on how things change. Sounding like one of Ed Sheeran's waltzes, GROWING UP''s hook "growing old, getting over it."
Rebecca has two shows: Thursday, May 14: Driskill, 604 Brazos Street, at 9 PM CT Friday March 15: Saxon Pub, 1320 W. Lamar at 8 PM Then it’s off to Europe, including her March 31 show in London at The Green Note. P.S. Rebecca's looking forward to opening for Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche Cookout Concerts in Novato CA 6/2! http://tinyurl.com/yytveyra
This just in: ROLLING STONE Country writes:
Bird Streets is John Brodeur's new project, with production from Jason Falkner (Jellyfish, TV Eyes). John is also in Austin. Newly signed to Omnivore records, the label is ripping him for syncs, and I'm plugging his songs. Listen to "Betting on the Sun," which is sounds like Elvis Costello meets Brian Wilson.
Rachael Sage has been an inspiration to friends for years. She's performing Saturday afternoon, March 16 at 4:45 PM CT, at Art.Work, 201 E 5th St., in Austin. Rachael performs in London on May 16 at the Bedford. Next week she's releasing an acoustic album (PSEUDOMYOPIA) of songs from her current full band collection: MYOPIA. "Alive" is such an upbeat song, listing topical possibilities "including microfilm being pulled out of the archive," " the olympics where nobody ever cheats!" She mentions Frida Kahlo, and the hook "IT’S GOOD TO BE ALIVE."
Vonda Shepard will be performing at (le) Poisson Rouge on November 21 at 7:45 pm.
(Opening act—to be announced) is on at 7 pm.
(le) Poisson Rouge is at 158 Bleecker St., in New York City, near the A, D, F train lines.
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door.
The venue phone is 212-505-FISH.
The website is lepoissonrouge.com/ lepoissonrouge.com/
This is an “after work schmooze” with Vonda Shepard. This intimate room with Vonda (and her band or solo) should bring some wonderful memories.
ROOKIE, Vonda’s 14th album, is a title that bears no little irony, since last year marked 25 years since the release of her self-titled Warner Bros. debut and her hit “Don’t Cry Ilene” from 1989. Being of independent ways and means now, Shepard doesn’t necessarily have to raise a fortune to make a record that’ll sound like a million bucks, thanks to the ongoing participation of producer/maestro Mitchell Froom (Elvis Costello, Crowded House, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney), who’s been behind the boards for all of her albums since 1999’s BY 7:30.
ROOKIE promises a mixture of moods and tempos, with perhaps slightly more emphasis on the upbeat than some past efforts. Vonda says. “I felt a need to go a little bit crazy on this album.” The album features classic Vonda Shepard, whose pop-singer songwriter style weaves soulful and heartfelt pop ballads, with influences from gospel, country and jazz.
Vonda belts the mighty song “Rookie,” which is about not being a rookie. “It’s actually the opposite of what the title suggests,” she says. “It’s about a person who’s been around the block, around all the blocks! The chorus says ‘I’m not a rookie,’ and it really conveys this feeling that I’m a ‘bad-ass’ who’s going to throw it down.” “Need Your Love,” and the empowering “Walk On Water” are some of ROOKIE’S soulful highlights.
Her styling of ballads including “Saturday,” and “I just Don’t Get It” (with its surprising twist on love and shyness) is passionate. Vonda’s relationship songs also include ROOKIE’S “Train To Inverness” and “Long For The Days,” which offer both depth of dialog with ear-catching melodies.
ROOKIE ends with two live tracks of recent songs that have become show stoppers in Vonda’s sets, the funky “Downtown Dirtytown,” and the tender-hearted pop ballad, “Roll In The Dirt.”
Vonda is charging into an active touring season in the States and Europe after enjoying her belated debut as a musical stage actress, portraying sassy tart Martha in Randy Newman’s FAUST at New York’s City Center this past summer. Ms. Shepard earned such grand reviews from New York’s tough theater critics, you could almost believe she’d paid off the devil! Said Playbill: “Indie-pop singer/songwriter Shepard was the find of the evening, at least for audiences unfamiliar with her five years of acting and singing on Ally McBeal.” The Theatermania.com critic called the Newman/Shepard duet of “Feels Like Home” “one of the year’s great stage moments to date.” New York Times theater critic Christopher Isherwood weighed in with a rave, too, calling her duet with the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer on “Feels Like Home” “the song that received the warmest reception” and adding: “Ms. Shepard’s soulful singing brought out the yearning quality in Mr. Newman’s own.”
With over 12 million album sales to her name, two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actor's Guild Awards as well as the Billboard prize for selling the most television soundtrack records in history for the hit TV series “Ally McBeal,” Vonda is a world-renowned artist who continues to delight audiences with her magnanimous live performances. She dedicates songs, tells stories, and-at the same time-projects dynamic charisma and intimacy with her audience.
Over the past few years Vonda has opened for Sugarland, who once opened for her, and she has performed live with the Indigo Girls and The Funk Brothers (a highlight of her life), and has shared the stage at music festivals with Sting, The Eurythmics, Santana, and Matchbox 20. She is also known for "Can't We Try," her duet with Dan Hill, which hit number 6 in 1987. She played keyboards and sang with Rickie Lee Jones, Al Jarreau, and Jackson Browne, eventually opening for Browne in the U.S. and Asia.
Fans all over the world have been listening to Vonda for years, and there's a reason why Vonda Shepard live is getting the attention of fans everywhere.
