The News Review:
- Singing the Blues at the rphanage
- A deep longing for cultural cohesion
- The Rocker’s Hard Places
- Music Calendar No Gray For Blondie
Singing the Blues at the rphanage
New York Sun – Nov 21, 2007
It’s totally unreal. But then who minds that anymore?The boy is played by Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) who may just be the cutest kid ever to appear on film. He tells us in voice-over: “I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales. ” Huh? Music is real and fairy tales are not. To believe in the latter is to be delusional; to believe in the former is meaningless. But it turns out to be true. He believes in music as a fairy tale… But then who minds that anymore?The boy is played by Freddie Highmore (“Finding Neverland” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”) who may just be the cutest kid ever to appear on film. He tells us in voice-over: “I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales. ” Huh? Music is real and fairy tales are not. To believe in the latter is to be delusional; to believe in the former is meaningless. But it turns out to be true. He believes in music as a fairy tale. So do the filmmakers or at least they pretend to.
A deep longing for cultural cohesion
San Diego Union Tribune – Nov 21, 2007
9 1964 the Beatles played on “The Ed Sullivan Show. ” r as Steven Van Zandt remembers the moment: “It was the beginning of my life. ”Van Zandt fell for the Beatles and discovered the blues and early rock music that inspired them. He played in a series of bands on the Jersey shore and when a friend wanted to draw on his encyclopedic blues knowledge for a song called “Tenth Avenue Freeze-ut” Van Zandt wound up as a guitarist for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The 1970s were a great moment for musical integration. Artists such as the Rolling Stones and Springsteen drew on a range of musical influences and produced songs that might be country-influenced soul-influenced blues-influenced or a combination of all three. These mega-groups attracted gigantic followings and can still fill huge arenas.
The Rocker’s Hard Places
Washington Post – Nov 21, 2007
His first guitar was so wondrous it was "like a piece of equipment from another universe. " He practiced alone in his room taping himself over and over as he tried to approximate the players he heard on records. Clapton’s enthrallment with the blues began when he heard early-20th-century guitarist. The intensity of songs like "Hellhound on My Trail" repelled Clapton at first but he came to find the music "primitively soothing" and as a teenager realized he would devote the rest of his life to playing the blues. As Clapton recounts being seduced by the blues his story brims with the excitement of discovery… Readers may grit their teeth through Clapton’s grating tendency to interpret all relationships with women through his absent mother. But the payoff comes in frank episodes such as Clapton’s tale of his bizarre relationship with a spiritualist who persuaded him to bathe in herbs cut himself and sleep with her — all in the hopes of saving his first marriage. Clapton’s portrayal of his music and his recovery is ultimately most trenchant when he discusses the accidental death of his 4-year-old son Conor. nly three years sober Clapton had to identify the body of his son after the child fell from the 53rd floor of a. In the months that followed Clapton holed up by himself playing his guitar with newfound purpose.
Music Calendar No Gray For Blondie
Cleveland Free Times – Nov 21, 2007
"The new stuff is more modern and up-to-date. It represents what I'm thinking today. I think there's quite a bit of great music these days. I enjoy a lot of stuff. There's a lot of nice music. I like different songs and not so much bands. " For the Rock Hall inductee who recalled one "wild night" in Cleveland years ago when Blondie opened for Iggy Pop and David Bowie the changes and mutations the music industry has gone through aren't totally unexpected… – Dave CantorFriday November 23Liz Mandville GreesonLiz Mandville Greeson aka Liz Mandeville paid her blues dues in the blues capitol of the world Chicago. She worked the club circuit there for years before releasing her debut album in 1996. She's now got three discs to her credit on Earwig Records including her latest Back in Love Again which showcases her smooth sultry pipes and smart phrasing that draws from jazz and soul as well as blues. Greeson's devoted her life to music on many levels: She performs constantly both as an acoustic act and with her band the Blue Points and promotes the blues as a researcher speaker and writer. She'll be at Fat Fish Blue (21 Prospect Ave.