The “It’s Friday. Finally.” Shuffle Report

The Shuffle Report: 10 songs I listened to, in order, on my iPod in shuffle mode at a given point in time. No editing, no skipping. It is what it is.

Ok, so the weather forecast for the weekend is iffy, but who cares. It’s the weekend. Just the thought of sleeping in a little made the subway ride today all the more tolerable.

1. Take It Inside–Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes (Hearts of Stone) [Great New Jersey rock n soul.]

2. Gone At Last–Paul Simon (Still Crazy After All These Years) [A little bit of gospel. Bet you can't sit still through this one.]

3. Jump Up Behind Me–James Taylor (Hourglass) [A good album from JT. Recommended.]

4. Another Day (That Time Forgot)–Neil Diamond (Home Before Dark) [A killer tune. Really.]

5. Drowned–The Who (Live at the Royal Albert Hall) [One of my favourite Who songs. Pete's amazing on this one.]

6. Blues In The Night–Quincy Jones (Quincy Jones’ Finest Hour) [Great '60's big band from Q.]

7. I Wanna Marry You–Bruce Springsteen (The River) [The Boss is such a romantic.]

8. Place To Be–Nick Drake (Way To Blue: An Introduction To Nick Drake) [Seems every year new people are discovering the genius that was Nick Drake.]

9. I’m So Proud–Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions (The Anthology 1961-1977) [Classic soul.]

10. Nothing But A Good Time–Lyle Lovett (My Baby Don’t Tolerate) [Catch him at Massey Hall in Toronto this summer. Sorry, couldn't find a link for this track.]

Sir Paul Adds Toronto, Montreal Dates to Current Tour

They don’t get much bigger than this. Sir Paul McCartney, currenly on the road with his ‘Up and Coming’ Tour, has added dates in Toronto and Montreal this August. The rock n roll legend will hit the stage at the Air Canada Centre Sunday August 8th, and a few days later he’ll be at Montreal’s Bell Centre Thursday August 12th. Tickets are expected to go on sale Monday June 14th but prices are not yet available. If previous tours are any indication, expect top-price tickets to be at least $250, if not more.

McCartney was in Mexico last week and performed at the White House last night as he was honoured with the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, awarded by the Library of Congress. He even sang “Michelle” to guess who. I saw McCartney in Toronto back in 2005 (you can read about it here). He’s definitely worth seeing live. If you want to have an idea of what to expect in terms of a set list, click the link below. If you prefer to be surprised, then don’t.

Paul McCartney set list from Mexico last week

A personal fave of mine: The lesser known but still great “Beware My Love” from Wings At The Speed of Sound.

The Bad Boys From Boston are Heading to Toronto

The Bad Boys from Boston aka Aerosmith have scheduled one Canadian date on their upcoming (ahem) “Cocked, Locked, Ready To Rock” North American tour. Front man Steven Tyler, who is 62, and the rest of the I-can’t-beleive-they’re-still-vertical quintet will hit the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday August 17th along with opening act Sammy Hagar (Montrose, solo artist, ex-Van Halen frontman and now Chickenfoot frontman) and his band The Wabos. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday June 4th @ 10 am. Prices range from $59.50-$199.50.

Aerosmith’s last album was the 2005 live set “Rockin’ The Joint”, and you’d have to go back to 2001 to find their last release of all-new original material, “Just Push Play”, which featured the hit “Jaded”. It wasn’t that long ago when the future of Aerosmith was in doubt when lead guitarist Joe Perry announced he was looking for a new singer to front the band following Tyler’s stint in rehab to help treat an addiction to painkillers stemming from a fall from a stage back in August 2009. Guess they patched things up. The lure of money will do that.

No word if there’s any new music to come from the band any time soon. As mentioned above, here’s their last big hit, Jaded:

A DVD Treat for Springsteen Fans, Part 2

In April I wrote about the upcoming DVD release of Springsteen’s 2009 Hyde Park concert from London. Turn up them computer speakers then click on the links below for a couple of full-length sneak peeks. Methinks I’m going to have to get this on Blu-Ray.

Out In The Street

Glory Days

Song of the Day: Love Reign O’er Me

When Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey of The Who were among the honorees to be feted by the Kennedy Center Honors in 2008, a number of musicians graced the stage to pay them tribute including Joss Stone, Dave Grohl and Rob Thomas. But it was soul singer Bettye LaVette who stole the show with her version of the ‘Quadrophenia’ track “Love Reign O’er Me”.

Eighteen months later, Lavette’s stirring and incredibly moving interpretation of that Who classic has finally been released as a bonus track on her new cd “Interpretations – The British Rock Songbook”. On this album Lavette just doesn’t simply cover songs by Led Zeppelin (“All My Love”), Pink Floyd (“Wish You Were Here”) and The Beatles (“The Word”) among others–she re-invents them, making an album of covers sound like fresh originals. But it’s The Who number that is the highlight. And it may sound like a cliché, but Lavette is one of a rare breed of singers who could sing the phone book and make you stand up and take notice. She’s that good.

Below is a video of her Kennedy Center performance. You can also listen to the entire album for free here although this link may not be up for long.

U2, Christina Aguilera Postpone Dates; Toronto to get Kiss’d, Lyle Lovett

Tour news is on the agenda today. First up, both U2 and Christina Aguilera have postponed their North American summer tours until 2011.

In the case of U2, this is due to Bono’s recent back surgery and the time needed to recuperate. At first only a couple of the dates at the start of the tour were postponed but it seems Bono is going to need more time off. According to band manager Paul McGuinness: “Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we’re all devastated. For a performer who lives to be on stage, this is more than a blow. He feels robbed of the chance to do what he does best and feels like he has badly let down the band and their audience. Which is of course nonsense. His concerns about more than a million ticket buyers whose plans have been turned upside down, we all share, but the most important thing right now is that Bono make a full recovery. We’re working as fast as we can with Live Nation to reschedule these dates.” Canadian dates affected are June 23rd in Edmonton, July 3rd in Toronto and July 16th & 17th in Toronto. No word yet on new dates.

As for Christina Aquilera, whose new disc “Bionic”  drops June 8th, her outing is being postponed because the singer has stated she needs more time to prepare for the tour. The only Canadian date affected is a July 20th date in Toronto. New dates are expected to be announced later this year. Refunds for her show as well as the U2 shows are available at point of purchase.

With respect to newly announced shows, it looks like Toronto is going to get a return visit from KISS. Less than one year after blowing the roof of the Air Canada Centre (not to mention the sound system), the elder statesman of all things over-the-top have just announced a new North American tour entitled “The Hottest Show on Earth” tour. So far Toronto is the only Canadian stop on the trek which gets underway at the end of July. They’re booked for Friday September 10th at the Molson Amphitheatre; tickets go on sale June 4th.

And way at the opposite end of the musical spectrum form KISS, one of my favourite singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett has added a Toronto date to his current summer tour. He’ll hit the Massey Hall stage Tuesday August 10th. Ticket info has not yet been announced so keep checking the Massey Hall website.

U2:

Christina Aguilera:

KISS:

Lyle Lovett:

Song of the Day: Sir Duke

On this day in 1977, Stevie Wonder started a three-week run at the top of the U.S. singles chart with this tribute to Duke Ellington, who passed away three years earlier. “Sir Duke” was the second single from the album that also produced the hits “I Wish” and “Isn’t She Lovely”. Songs In The Key of Life went onto to be one of the biggest successes of Wonder’s career and in 2003 was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 greatest albums of all time, coming in at #56. A must own.
(Extra musical tidbit: the song that replaced Sir Duke at #1 back in 1977? This one.)

New Tom Petty Videos

Did you happen to catch Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers this past weekend on SNL? They sounded awesome. While their new album ‘Mojo’ doesn’t hit stores until June 15th, two new music videos have surfaced for the songs “I Should Have Known It” and “Something Good Coming”. Great stuff.

Click on the link below for “Something Good Coming”

http://video.aol.com/aolvideo/AOL Music/something-good-coming/86413151001

The “Starting to Feel Like Summer” Shuffle Report

The Shuffle Report: 10 songs I listened to, in order, on my iPod in shuffle mode at a given point in time. No editing, no skipping. It is what it is.

Finally. It’s finally starting to feel like summer. I don’t even mind the walk to and from the subway now. The actual ride itself…well, that’s another matter altogether. In rotation today:

1. That Was Me—Paul McCartney (Memory Almost Full) [Sir Paul continues to tour this summer, putting on three hour-plus shows. Amazing.]

2. Heavy—The Black Crowes (By Your Side) [A great album from start to finish from a soon-to-be on hiatus rock n roll band.]

3. Time Bomb—Dave Matthews Band (Big Whiskey and The GrooGrux King) [Catch them on the road this year if you can. They're taking 2011 off.]

4. Phone Call—Joe Satriani (Flying In A Blue Dream) [A bouncy number from a the guitar master.]

5. Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)—Simple Minds (The Best of) [Great cut from 1982.]

6. Song About The Moon—Paul Simon (Hearts and Bones) [Like Paul Simon? Don't have this album? Get it. One of his best.]

7. Lookout—Cheap Trick (At Budokan) [One of the best live albums. Really captures the band at their peak.]

8. Nina’s Dance—Tony Scott (Talkin’ Verve) [Ok, Cheap Trick into this acid jazz groove from 1967 can be a little jarring, but hey, that's shuffle mode for ya. Sorry couldn't find a link for this one.]

9. Stool Pigeon—Kid Creole & The Coconuts (Wise Guy) [Saw Kid Creole twice in the '80s, as a headliner then as an opener for James Brown. They put on a helluva show.]

10. Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)—Marvin Gaye (15 Greatest Hits) [There will never be another like Mrvin Gaye. Superb.]

‘Glee’ a boon for songwriters

Good article from today’s Los Angeles Times about the use of popular music in Glee. You can read all about it here.

And for those who just can’t enough of Sue Sylvester and that ‘Vogue video, you’ll enjoy this: