Saw Russell Morris on last weekend at Caravan Club.  Also saw him as part of a great lineup this year at Bluesfest.  He was great both times.  The final highlight video from Bluesfest shows multiple  artists from across the 5 days to the soundtrack of The Real Thing.  It's a nice piece of work! Hope the linky works.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfl8W-2WAk&feature=youtu.be#

 

 

Edited June 23, 20168 yr by bjDee

8 hours ago, bjDee said:

Saw Russell Morris on last weekend at Caravan Club.  Also saw him as part of a great lineup this year at Bluesfest.  He was great both times.  The final highlight video from Bluesfest shows multiple  artists from across the 5 days to the soundtrack of The Real Thing.  It's a nice piece of work! Hope the linky works.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9sfl8W-2WAk&feature=youtu.be#

 

 

I am a Caravan Club devotee and have seen RM there a few times.

I love Russell Morris - if he never played his old stuff again I wouldn't care - his last two albums are absolutely fantastic. (for those who don't know he has been writing music with  Australian history themes.

Going to Memo in St Kilda in a few weeks to see Daryl Braithwaite.  Never been there.  Any tips for an outsider anyone?

Saw DB at Caravan Club last year and he was great - much better than I expected and really great vocals still. 

One I wouldn't see again is Stephen Cummings. He was on a different planet to the audience and seemingly even his own band. 

Couple from 'Twenty One Pilots' ...

 

On 6/24/2016 at 9:58 PM, bjDee said:

Going to Memo in St Kilda in a few weeks to see Daryl Braithwaite.  Never been there.  Any tips for an outsider anyone?

Saw DB at Caravan Club last year and he was great - much better than I expected and really great vocals still. 

One I wouldn't see again is Stephen Cummings. He was on a different planet to the audience and seemingly even his own band. 

Memo is owned by the same bloke as Caravan - it is a truly beautiful old room. Hardtack and I went and saw the reformed Sports there last year - it was a great gig. I have seen plenty of gigs there as well.

The acoustics are great and you will really like the place. Parking in StKilda is the only problem.

The one venue of this ilk that leaves me a little cold is the flying saucer club in Elsternwich - again - used to be owned by the same bloke. I find with the very low ceiling the acoustics are ordinary and you can hear everyone talking over the music.

I love Stephen Cummings - and will be seeing him in a short while at the Caravan Club - but you are right about him - I book tickets not knowing was Stephen Cummings will turn up. When he is good he is really really good ( but I have seen him a couple of times when he was in his own world) 

On 6/25/2016 at 0:33 AM, Macca said:

Couple from 'Twenty One Pilots' ...

 

saw these guys at Groovin the moo - didnt know much about them but they were great - i love any band where they can lift the whole drum stand - including the drummer  - into the audience and have him drumming on top of the crowd.

On 27 June 2016 at 9:26 AM, nutbean said:

Memo is owned by the same bloke as Caravan - it is a truly beautiful old room. Hardtack and I went and saw the reformed Sports there last year - it was a great gig. I have seen plenty of gigs there as well.

The acoustics are great and you will really like the place. Parking in StKilda is the only problem.

The one venue of this ilk that leaves me a little cold is the flying saucer club in Elsternwich - again - used to be owned by the same bloke. I find with the very low ceiling the acoustics are ordinary and you can hear everyone talking over the music.

I love Stephen Cummings - and will be seeing him in a short while at the Caravan Club - but you are right about him - I book tickets not knowing was Stephen Cummings will turn up. When he is good he is really really good ( but I have seen him a couple of times when he was in his own world) 

Can be very annoying if an acoustic act is on...

Crowds mature in age but often not in manners.

11 hours ago, rjay said:

Can be very annoying if an acoustic act is on...

Crowds mature in age but often not in manners.

I just don't get it. Got to a pub and talk your heart out but I cannot understand that if you pay to listen to music why aren't you listening. I find talking during any performance rude to the performer and rude to other patrons who are trying to listen. I have been known to politely ask people to keep quiet, 

The great Django, influenced by the "big bang theory"of jazz Louis Armstrong and the pioneer of jazz guitar Eddie Lang. Eddie set it up for Django and Charlie Christian to build a great legacy. Unfortunately they all died quite young and there is very limited video available, non of Charlie Christian.

Amazing what he does with 2 fingers and a couple of stumps (ex - fingers)...

 

 

12 hours ago, rjay said:

The great Django, influenced by the "big bang theory"of jazz Louis Armstrong and the pioneer of jazz guitar Eddie Lang. Eddie set it up for Django and Charlie Christian to build a great legacy. Unfortunately they all died quite young and there is very limited video available, non of Charlie Christian.

Amazing what he does with 2 fingers and a couple of stumps (ex - fingers).

Wow, what a great clip!  I was lucky enough to see Stephane Grappelli in the 70's at the Dallas Brookes Hall... he had ex Soft Machine guitarist John Etheridge accompanying him.

And speaking of Charlie Christian, he was the favourite guitarist of a bebop playing friend of mine who I worked with at Veterans' Affairs in St Kilda Rd in the late 70's.... don't know whatever happened to him (a guy named Steve Gunther), but he was a very very good guitarist who used to play at places like Bogarts in Nth Melbourne and The Grain Factory (was that the name of the place?).  The last I had heard from him (decades ago) he was heading off to New York to study under bebop pianist Lennie Tristano.

On 13 May 2016 at 8:16 AM, nutbean said:

Same them last time around - they were great - played for almost 3 hours - ( Robert Smith has never worn shorts nor has ever felt sand between his toes).

I am going to an interesting gig on Saturday night  - The Brewster Brothers ( Angels ) are doing a introspective,  talking about their journey and in particular the journey of the Angels , interspersed with film clips and some documentary stuff and a little bit of live acoustic music from them.  Should be great.

Nut just the same this time, some 9 years later, a 3 hour 35 song tour de force by The Cure on Thursday night. A. Great show and Robert Smith somehow does all the vocals and utilises 5 or 6 guitars as he works his way through 30 plus of his own songs, the man is a genius. No other band has the same sound and in a 40 year career he has never had to contemplate a need to accommodate the latest music fad because the Cure is the Cure I suppose.

Anyway I was again blown away by their music just as I was when they last toured here in 2007. What has changed in those 9 years is their audience, the Gothics have gone since 2007 and have been  replaced by a large number of younger people with iPhones etc. great nights entertainment. 

 

As per the old training thread, John Mclaughlin & the Fourth Dimension.

On 10 August 2016 at 5:38 PM, Trisul said:

As per the old training thread, John Mclaughlin & the Fourth Dimension.

For a minute I thought John McLaughlin was playing with these guys....got the wrong dimension.

 

1 hour ago, rjay said:

For a minute I thought John McLaughlin was playing with these guys....got the wrong dimension.

 

I was about to post the same but I thought it was too much of a "dad joke" .

Steely Dan ... 'The Royal Scam' (the album) ...

Here is an album from nearly 40 years ago.  All the songs on this album will grow on you if you like the style (jazz /funk/rock/fusion)  Although none of the songs lifted from the album became hits, that outcome was almost certainly not the intention of Fagen & Becker anyway.

'Aja' was the follow-up album from this one and is arguably better, but this album (The Royal Scam) was originally marked a little harshly probably because the music was such a departure from their previous stuff ... later on it was recognised in a much much better light.

Whilst here I may as well post up the follow-up album 'Aja'  

'Aja' the album was featured in that excellent "Classic albums" series ...

Edited August 15, 20168 yr by Macca

On 14 August 2016 at 10:39 PM, Macca said:

Steely Dan ... 'The Royal Scam' (the album) ...

Here is an album from nearly 40 years ago.  All the songs on this album will grow on you if you like the style (jazz /funk/rock/fusion)  Although none of the songs lifted from the album became hits, that outcome was almost certainly not the intention of Fagen & Becker anyway.

'Aja' was the follow-up album from this one and is arguably better, but this album (The Royal Scam) was originally marked a little harshly probably because the music was such a departure from their previous stuff ... later on it was recognised in a much much better light.

Whilst here I may as well post up the follow-up album 'Aja'  

'Aja' the album was featured in that excellent "Classic albums" series ...

The Royal Scam is one of my favourites, love Carlton's solo on Kid Charlemagne...his best work for me is when playing with 'Dan' and 'The Crusaders', his solo stuff can be bland.

The track 'Aja' is the highlight on that album for me.

5 hours ago, rjay said:

The Royal Scam is one of my favourites, love Carlton's solo on Kid Charlemagne...his best work for me is when playing with 'Dan' and 'The Crusaders', his solo stuff can be bland.

The track 'Aja' is the highlight on that album for me.

They involved a veritable who's who of session muso's for both albums from what I've gathered. 

The songs on both albums go up and down the pecking order as the years pass too ... for instance, I instantly liked 'The Fez', 'Josie' & 'Peg' but I now really like all 3 songs for different reasons. 

Their music (especially on these 2 albums) is everlasting. 

 

From the moment I heard Ricky Don't Lose That Number, Steely Dan lost me completely. The fact that Skunk Baxter played for another bad that I could not stomach (Doobies) didn't help matters...I did however like Don Was with Was Not Was.

On 8/17/2016 at 9:47 AM, hardtack said:

From the moment I heard Ricky Don't Lose That Number, Steely Dan lost me completely. The fact that Skunk Baxter played for another bad that I could not stomach (Doobies) didn't help matters...I did however like Don Was with Was Not Was.

Just for you 'HT' ... (actually, I'm not a big wrap for this song either - oh so different to the stuff on the 2 albums that I posted up)

On the theme of 'Classic albums' here's a band who's album was featured in series 3 of that excellent show.

'Cream' with "Disraeli Gears" ...

 

seeing Ben Folds with a chamber orchestra on Friday night - should be a pearler

 

(yes Tim - i will get to my favourite alltime albums - so many to choose from)

Couple from 'The Weeknd' (SNL 2016/10/01)

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 20168 yr by Macca

Back in the day this band made some big strides in the States ... LRB with 'Reminiscing' & 'Lonesome Loser'

 

 

Edited November 19, 20168 yr by Macca

Great weekend of music.

Saw Vika and Linda Bull for the umpteenth time  - man can those ladies sing...wowee..

The surprise packet for me was Henry Wagons ( who I have not see before) who crosses so many genres - he stalked the stage like a caged animal - he was fantastic