TRICK OR TREAT!
WARMEST WISHES TO YOU ALL
ooXXoo

FIRST LOOK AT THE 2008 TREY GUNN SIGNATURE SERIES WARR GUITAR (FEATURING MARK WARR)

Click To Play

From 'Whurley' - "Today I had the chance to speak with Mark Warr (founder of Warr Guitars) and Randy Strom (touch-style artist extraordinaire). Mark gave an overview of what a Warr Guitar is and how they’re played. Randy provided an awesome live demonstration of the instrument. However, the most impressive part of today’s chat was Mark’s unveiling of one of the 2008 Trey Gunn Signature Series Warr Guitar. He talked a little bit about the features of the instrument like the addition of peizo pickups, and midi integration. The instrument is truly amazing, but for those of you who want it, get your own. This one already has my name on it..now where do I get the cash for that bad boy?"

My sincere thanks to Whurley for providing us with this very interesting update! Now, I cannot wait to see this brilliant guitar in the hands of Trey Gunn!
Thanks to Mark Colman for the excellent shot of Trey Gunn in full-flight.....
Please check out Mark's website, and his awesome works:
http://www.markcolman.com/music/

JUDY DYBLE - The Queen of Melody and Harmony

FAIRPORT CONVENTION - Time will show the Wiser (1968)

Rare, earliest performance of this great band with original vocalist Judy Dyble.
Judy was very underrated! She will soon be replaced by Sandy Denny.
This song though, has Iain Matthews (Ian McDonald as he was known then) on lead vocals, Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol, and Martin Lamble are the other members during this time period.

* * * *

Judy was born in North London, February 13th, 1949.
By 1963, the young Judy had gravitated to the folk music scene, and by 1964 had joined her first band - Judy and the Folkmen. It was during this period that Judy picked up the autoharp. Finally, in 1967, Judy was asked to join the Fairport Convention.

"We set out on the upside life of being in a band. It was fun". Fairly soon afterwards the band found themselves in the 'Sound Techniques Studio' recording their first album. Judy, Richard, Simon, Ashley and Martin were joined by Ian McDonald (Iain Matthews) on 'If I had a Ribbon Bow', as well as adding harmonies with Judy on other tracks.
Everything seemed to be going "swimmingly", until Judy was unceremoniously "dumped" just before the release of the album in May 1968!
But rather than being devastated, Judy believes it was fortuitous, otherwise she would never have been in the right place at the right time for the creation of her next band - Giles, Giles, Fripp, McDonald and Dyble in 1968.

Judy recalls that she somehow met up with Ian McDonald not long after, and they did some work together - finally deciding to look for others to join them. They would meet Peter Giles, who then introduced them to his brother Mike, and Robert Fripp. They had just released their album 'The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp' - a brilliant album , says Judy, but one that the world was not quite ready for. The five would eventually get together in GG&F's flat in Brondesbury Park, and record some songs together - eventually to be released later as 'The Brondesbury Tapes'.
Not long after, Giles, Giles, Fripp and McDonald, minus Dyble, would be joined by Pete Sinfield - thus giving birth to the great prog/rock band, King Crimson.....

Eventually, Judy fell into Trader Horne, with Jackie McAuley, where they would record their 'Morning Way' Album. Shortly afterwards this was followed by the brief formation of DC and the MB's - Judy Dyble, Lol Coxhill and Steve and Phil Miller. "A truly strange band" that played a few gigs in Holland, and promptly fell apart.

For the next 35 years, Judy's career came to a standstill.
Judy was married to Simon Stable some time during Trader Horne and CD and the MB's years; they left London for a small village in Oxfordshire; raised 2 children; and ran their small cassette duplicating business; until Simon's untimely death in 1994.
Judy spent the next 3 years "in a state of numbness".
Finally, in 1997, she was approached by her old Fairport Convention bandmates, to join them for the 30th Anniversary of Fairport Convention at 'Cropredy'...... unlocking her self-imposed hibernation.

Eventually Judy would go on to record 3 new albums in the past few years.....
Enchanted Garden in September 2004; Spindle in February 2006; and The Whorl in July 2006.


JUDY DYBLE - Fingest
Performed at the Chipping Norton Theatre in April, 2006. Judy is backed by Doc and Christy Mahone from 'The Family Mahone'

Currently, although plagued by some serious 'health issues', Judy has plans for a collaboration with The Conspirators, to begin late October 2007, to be released in January 2008. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes open for that one!

'I COME FROM A LAND DOWN-UNDER' - An Introduction to my Australian Music roots and Icons

Since embarking on my journey here in the blogsphere, I have long resisted the temptation to unleash my Australian Music side on my unsuspecting readers. Understandably, many of you may have never heard of these great artists from the land down-under.... but I thought that, hang on a sec - even though they may be from Australia, it doesn't mean that their talent is any less worthy.
It seems to me that many great artists from Oz suffer from the same problem as incredible American talents, such as Adrian Belew, do - difficulty in being heard through the cocophony of music out in the big wide world..... With so many artists out there, playing a plethora of different styles, instruments, genres, languages, coming at us from all sides, from all places....it is no wonder that we have to direct our musical gaze in a more focused manner.
But with today's ever shrinking world due to the wonders of technology and communication, we are finally able to break out of this somewhat myopic musical vision. With the help of internet sites such as YouTube, and MySpace (and many more) we are able to cast our musical net wider and wider than ever before....

So, in view of this mindset - I will now embark on my own personal tour of legendary Aussie muso's...... I genuinely hope that you find it interesting, and maybe even enjoy the music..... Where else to start - but with the best. And this first artist has stood the test of time - his 40 year career within the Australian music industry is testament to his brilliant voice and incredible spirit - and to top it all off..... he is the most friendliest and nicest bloke you could ever wish to meet - just like my #1 American favourite artist, ADRIAN BELEW......

Please let me introduce you to my #1 favourite Australian artist, JOHN FARNHAM.


JOHN FARNHAM - HELP
Recorded at the Sydney Opera House, in March 2006, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (at age 57)

John Peter Farnham was born on July 1st, 1949, in Dagenham, Essex, England. He eventually emigrated to Australia with his family in 1959.
His first commercially successful release (on the EMI/Columbia label) was in November, 1967 and was entitled "Sadie". By January 1968 it hit #1 on the Australian Charts, selling 180,000 copies, and remaining in the top spot for 6 weeks, and a total of 23 weeks in the charts. It would become the largest selling single by an Australian artist of that decade. As a result, John soon after released his first album, also entitled "Sadie", which went on to achieve Gold status.
This success was quickly followed by his second album "Everybody oughta sing a song", released later that same year. John went on to release 7 more albums over the following 4 years, and also starred in 2 stage musicals - 1971's Charlie Girl, and 1974's Pippin.
But by 1975, the momentum started to wane a little, although John continued working on television, on stage, and on the cabaret and club circuit.
But by 1980, John recorded 'Uncovered', the album that would start to turn his career around. It sold 55,000 units, and his first hit in 7 years - John's own arrangement of The Beatles' 'Help'. It would change everybody's thoughts about John Farnham, and proved to them that he was THE VOICE!

LITTLE RIVER BAND and John Farnham
On February 2nd, 1981, Little River Band asked John to join the band, to replace the exiting lead singer Glenn Shorrock. The band went on to tour the world, and released 3 albums with John, over the next four years. Eventually, John would leave the band to pursue a solo career.

LITTLE RIVER BAND - Cool Change (1983)


JOHN FARNHAM - Playing to Win (2000)

John would finally achieve his goal of solo success, with the release of the #1 single 'You're the Voice' and the album 'WHISPERING JACK' on October 20th, 1986. This breakout album would go on to spend 27 weeks at #1, and to date, has sold in excess of 1.7 million copies, and gone 17 times Platinum in Australia alone, and remains Australia's highest selling album.

JOHN FARNHAM - You're the Voice
Live at the ARIAS in 2003.


JOHN FARNHAM - Touch of Paradise
From the DVD 'The Last Time' concert tour, recorded on June 15, 2003 at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

In 1988 John was incredibly stunned and honoured to be named 'Australian of the Year', in recognition for his work in the music industry and with numerous Charities, over the preceeding 20 years. That same year he released his next album 'AGE OF REASON', that debuted at #1.

John released his next huge album 'CHAIN REACTION' in 1990, which also debuted at #1. The accompanying tour went on to break all Australian attendance records.

JOHN FARNHAM - Burn for you

JOHN FARNHAM - See the Banners Fall
from the Chain Reaction Tour

In 1992, John accepted the role of Jesus in the hugely successful Australian arena production tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. John would go on to release 8 albums in the following 5 years. In 1996 he received the 'Order of Australia' for his long-standing service to music and charity.


JOHN FARNHAM, OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN AND ANTHONY BARLOW - You've lost that loving feeling
In 1998 John toured the country in The Main Event, an in-the-round performance with fellow Aussie's Olivia Newton-John, and Anthony Barlow (known for his leading role in the Australian production of Phantom of the Opera).

John would once again perform with Olivia, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

JOHN FARNHAM AND OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN - Dare to Dream

Since the year 2000, John has gone on to release 5 more albums, a DVD, and embarked on 3 more major tours, his last major tour and album release being 'THE LAST TIME' - the largest tour ever undertaken in Australia - it was quoted in Billboard as being the 7th highest grossing tour of that year - in the world! In fact, at the conclusion of his major touring career, John Farnham holds every record for attendance in the entire country. 1 million people have seen John play in one venue alone...... He still holds the record for the highest selling Australian album of all time.

John is still performing - in 2005 he did a series of concerts with the incredible Tom Jones, and they later released an album and DVD of the tour. John also starred as Teen Angel in the 2005 highly successful Australian production of Grease - The Arena Spectacular.

In 2006, John performed in a series of concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra; teamed with Stevie Nicks for a series of double-billed shows; and performed at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne - all in all, not too bad for a 57 year old guy !

Throughout John's career he has been involved in many charities, promoted many Australian-made products and been presented with numerable awards. He is Australia's most talented and popular entertainer, always engaging his audience immediately he comes on stage.

An incredibly humble, humane, ethical, hard working and devoted family man, John Farnham is truly a very special Australian Icon.


JOHN FARNHAM - When the war is over

CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO - latest arisings

CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO - recent collaboration with Pat Mastelotto results in a new Crimsonesque treat


CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO - Echoes (Pink Floyd)
Recorded at the Montreal Jazz Festival earlier this summer.

An interesting aside - for those of us who have recently read about Adrian Belew's love of the 60's surf music gurus 'The Ventures'..... I just read that CGT's Hideyo Moriya also is a big fan of this iconic band - at the age of 12, Hideyo began playing guitar by emulating The Ventures 1960's surf guitar style

Road Trip Revisited 3

Duffy Lake, British Columbia

This is the headwater of the previously photographed Cayhoosh Creek.
Another panoramic set beginning with the snowcapped mountains way in the distance,
followed by the lake, then the incredibly huge log jam, and finally the beginnings of the creek.

Road Trip Revisited 2

These 2 photo's are a panoramic view of this huge mountain -
the second photo should connect to the right of the first, giving you the full view of this peak.
It is hard to get any real sense of size, but believe me, it is HUGE! and way up there....
Just stunning!

Road Trip Revisited 1

Crystal clear, and very cold, Cayhoosh Creek.

Island Moments 2

Blood Red Sunrise (October 27th)

Red sky in the morning - shepherds warning!

Island Moments 1

Friday night's FULL MOON (October 26th)
Does this moon qualify as a 'Harvest Moon'?

Unfortunately my digital camera does not do it full justice - it was glorious!

QUALITY VERSUS PRICE

For those of us who have been long-term supporters of Adrian Belew, and his excellent web-site, you will all be aware of the on-going debate within The Tribe concerning MP3 versus Lossless Audio Encoding Formats for on-line downloading of music....
Now, I'm certainly not going to enter that fray - I think there are good points being put forward by both camps.....
And, ultimately, it comes down to personal choice - for the downloader, and the downloadee....

But here is something to consider:
"My big concern is that the quality of recordings will decrease, and that musicians will not spend as much time in studios with the appropriate level of production for a quality recording. Yes the many many recordings within the long tail are breakthrough but they reverse the curve where quality is concerned if you were to grade them (in my opinion). If a band or record company (or what ever business model takes over) for producing recorded music without the chance of making a buck from it then......" from Fergal Kavanagh.

"Music is more vibrant than ever. More than ever before, our music is always with us, in our cars, on our PCs, and on the road in our phones and iPods. And if you add in the many millions of free downloads (legal or not) being grabbed every month, it's easy to see that there's more music being consumed than ever before. Unfortunately for the majors, they're just not getting paid for part of it." from Tony van Veen.

But following on from my previous post, concerning the continued evolution of the music industry...... I thought it might be interesting to throw some boomerang shaped thoughts out into the blogsphere, and see what comes back......

In light of the recent Prince, Radiohead, Madonna and NIN experiments in turning the music industry on it's head, it's interesting to consider a recent small reader's poll undertaken by Chris Anderson via his blog "The Long Tail', concerning the new Radiohead download.
I found some of the reader's responses thought provoking....

Chris asked his readers just how much they would be willing to pay for the recent Radiohead download. Their responses varied from $30.00 through to $0.00. Interestingly, it was their comments as to their satisfaction, or lack of it, with their purchase, that got me thinking. Here are some of them.....

A) I paid 0.00, not because I don't value the producers or wish to encourage the distribution method, but because of the band's process. The band didn't inform digital download customers that the audio would arrive at 160kbps until after many of the orders were placed. 160kbps is also unnecessarily low, meaning that people who want something approximating the actual sound material will need to buy the CD anyway, and wait until 2008 to do so unless they purchase the wildly expensive discbox. The combined marketing machinations here, clearly intended to produce hype and generate CD sales, ultimately result in the opposite of what you want from this kind of experiment. I'm planning to buy the CD, since the downloaded version will sound bad on everything but my laptop's internal speakers. So I paid nothing for the download, which I view as essentially a promo. Had the band not manipulated customers in such a disappointingly familiar fashion I would have paid a fair price for the low-quality download, as I do on the occasions I use iTunes or emusic. But given the circumstances, I didn't want to encourage this willingness to accept low-quality audio, and I didn't want to help cement an already strong association between innovative distribution models and compromised information density.

B) I'm going to have to go with A on this one. I personally had never listened to Radiohead before and when I heard about this, I placed my $0.00 order so that I could listen and see if I liked it. It is worth noting that I was willing to spend $2 or $3 just to download the albumn for previewing purposes, however, the website was shady in appearance at best. It was hard to tell if the website was legit (aside from the millions of blog posts in m RSS reader.) While I told myself that I would come back and buy the album for real if I did like it, I doubt this would have ever materialized. (Ironically) luckily for Radiohead, I didn't like the album so they didn't lose anything more than the cost of bandwidth because of me. Lastly, I would argue that the money spent in bandwidth on cases like myself are probably within reasonable limits of advertising. If I had liked the album, I would not hesitate to buy other albums and see them in concert.

C) I did some further analysis on this using Hitwise Internet usage data here: http://weblogs.hitwise.com/robin-goad/2007/10/radiohead_freakonomics_and_fre_1.html

The main finding was that the people downloading the album from Radiohead's site are not the same sort of people who download from stuff for free from the file sharing sites. This could mean one of two things for Radiohead - either they've managed to tap into the market of people who are willing to pay for the content and the honour systmem will see them good; or they've just started giving their music away for free to the very people that are usually prepared to pay for it. Hopefully Radiohead will release some data from this experiment and we'll see which is true!

Robin Goad

Research Director, Hitwise

So, there are 3 noteworthy comments posted..... and here is an update from Chris, regarding the actual outcome to date....
"the early reports are in from the band and external sources. Estimates put the average price paid at $5-$8, which largely agrees with the informal survey here. Approximately 1.2 million people downloaded the album from the site and at least another 500,000 got it for free from BitTorrent.
The PR value of the excercise: priceless"

And this, from over at the 'NextGreatThing' blog:

1) When an estimated 1.2 millions fans downloaded the CD on its release date, many had never heard the album’s music before—it wasn’t on the radio or leaked on the web. And many paid for it anyway.

2) The band released the music on its own, giving it direct access over the estimated $6-10 million it generated on day one. With a record label, the band would have needed to sell 10 times more albums to reach that same profit.

3) While some fans voiced outrage over the download’s reduced quality (not as good as a CD, but better than iTunes) and statements by management that the digital release was only a promotion for the physical CD, a reported 700,000 orders have already been placed for the extremely pricy $81 special edition “discbox” debuting in December.

4) The 10-song digital release is a mere 43 minutes, significantly less than the average CD—meaning the band is producing less material but still marketing it as a full album. The band is actually adding 8 more songs in the “discbox” edition, which means more fans will be compelled to buy the “discbox” later on.

5) In November, the band will start planning an old-fashioned physical CD release in stores, which it still expects to do well despite the digital offering. As manager Bryce Edge told the U.K.’s Music Week, “If we didn’t believe that when people hear the music they will want to buy the CD, then we wouldn’t do what we are doing.”

So, it seems that Radiohead were planning to release a 'regular' CD all along....was this just a media ploy?
Radiohead is also selling a physical boxed set, which contains the new album on CD and on two 12" heavyweight vinyl records, along with a second enhanced CD containing more new songs, digital photographs and artwork. The set also includes lyric booklets and all are encased in a hardback book and slipcase .....
COST: $80.00 U.S. - just wondering if you get a credit for the crappy download?.... probably not :-(

THE TYRANNY OF THE NICHE

It is certainly no secret to those of us who love music - and are forced, due to economic and employment constraints, to choose our music title purchases carefully - that the face of the music industry is changing rapidly, in this new digital age…..

How we listen to our music, how and where we find our music, and even how we purchase our music, has undergone massive changes, and is continuing to change almost daily….

And whilst this is affecting us - the listening public, one should ponder the impact this ‘new age’ is having on the music industry, and, more importantly, on the musicians themselves….. Is it forcing change that is good - for us, allowing for fast and easy access to more music for less money – AND for the musician and his creation also?

If this is a topic that interests you, either as a music consumer, or creator, you should check out this interesting article entitled “THE LONG TAIL”, written by CHRIS ANDERSON.

“Forget squeezing millions from a few megahits at the top of the charts. The future of entertainment is in the millions of niche markets at the shallow end of the bitstream,” says Chris.

For those of us who fully embrace (my so-called) ‘Headliners of the Niche’ – Adrian Belew and King Crimson – this comment comes as no surprise. We, as consumers, have been constrained by the ‘Niche’ for a long time. Fortunately for us, and millions of others in the same situation, this ‘new age’ of the internet and its world wide web, has enabled those more forward thinking musicians, artists, and bands to ‘set up shop’ - boldly shining their neon bright beacons through the ether-mists so that we might find them, and allow us to warm ourselves on their ‘availability to the common man and woman’ and then we enthusiastically spend our hard earned pay on their wares of mystery and intrigue…and continue to do so easily, when and wherever it suits us, and as many times as we like….

We have seen this trend growing in leaps and bounds in this ‘new age’, no need to look further than sites like MySpace - growing to enormous proportions, stuffed full with new, old and past musicians and bands all trying to spread the word to as many punters as they can. I’m sure many of us have read previous articles concerning the emerging ‘Artist 2.0’ – a direct result of sites like MySpace, where the record company is defunct, and the artist has immediate online availability to millions of listeners at the touch of his lap-top – who can listen to his latest creation, and purchase the download immediately….. Talk about artist in action….

But, back to the Long Tail….

Chris points to the fact that the “emerging digital entertainment economy is going to be radically different from today’s mass market. If the 20^th century entertainment industry was about hits, the 21^st will be equally about misses.”

Basically, due to economics, we’ve been blocked from having mass availability to ‘alternative’ or non-standard fare in our entertainment/music choices. Why? Because those who make the decisions about what to make available to us, are making those decisions based on the numbers of people who might choose/buy it, and the space available to display/hold it…..money. So, as has been reinforced over and over, the easy solution to this dilemma is simple - HITS… “Hits fill theatres, fly off shelves, and keep listeners and viewers from touching their dials and remotes”. Yes, it cannot be denied – “great songs, movies and books attract big, broad audiences”.

Now, there is nothing wrong with those great classic songs that move you – every body loves them, and musicians yearn to produce them….

But all this has the effect of pushing the ‘alternates’ to the fringes, and sometimes way out of the reach of many. But, as we know, there are many people out there who want way more than just HITS…. Most people’s musical taste will depart from the mainstream at some point, and I am sure that those who have spent any time on MySpace can attest to the reality that: once you start exploring the plethora of music and artists available, you get drawn further and further away from your starting point…. Ask yourself, how many bands/musicians/artists do you have on your MySpace friend list? How many have you actually purchased music from lately? And how many of those then put you on to other artists etc etc…. Ah, the ‘myspace wave’…. Ripples on and on into infinity, and beyond….

As we have seen, “hit-driven economics is a creation of an age without enough room to carry everything for everybody. This is a world of scarcity.”

But today, with the advent of the growing on-line music community, with its associated purchasing of immediate downloadable music, and on-line retail and distribution links, “we are now entering a world of abundance. And the differences are profound.”

If you should need evidence of this, consider such on-line media stores such as iTunes, Netflix and Amazon, just to name a few. What sort of percentage of their top 10,000 titles do you think they would rent or sell at least once a month? According to the Recording Industry Association of America, fewer than 10% of music releases are profitable. But, for iTunes et al, the figure is closer to 99%. Why?

Well, the entertainment industry is about hits, not sales. They’re stuck in a ‘hit-driven’ mindset, thus only hits deserve to exist, and only those will make money. What the on-line retailers have found, is that the ‘misses’ or the ‘non-hit’, will make money too. And when you consider that, for those of us in the market for a ‘non-hit’ - otherwise known as a non-mainstream artist/song - we have way less choice as to where we can purchase them from (as opposed to the ‘hits’ that you can find everywhere), suddenly we have a whole new availability opened up to us where “popularity no longer has a monopoly on profitability” and thus availability…. Yahoooooo……

And because there are so many of us out there, that quickly adds up to a huge new market in ‘misses’. With no shelf spaces to pay for, no distribution costs, and low manufacturing costs, a miss is as good as a hit…. Now, take a look at the subscription-based streaming music service called Rhapsody. According to Chris, it currently offers 735,000 tracks. If you could observe its monthly stats, you would see that, like any regular record store, the top tracks have the highest appeal, which tapers off quickly for the less popular tracks. But once you delve below the top 40,000 - which is generally the cut off point for albums carried that will eventually be sold in most regular retailers like Wal Mart, and anything below this will not be carried by the retailer at all - the Rhapsody demand for tracks in its Top 400,000 continues, with these being streamed at least once each month. “As fast as Rhapsody adds tracks to its library, those songs find an audience, even if it’s just a few people a month, somewhere in the country.”

This, Chris tells us, is the ‘Long Tail’. Within which is included a plethora of music: back catalogues, older albums being rediscovered by younger generations, live tracks, b-sides, remixes etc etc…. Niches by the thousands, genre within genre….. Today's on-line commerce is perfectly suited to take advantage of this huge niche market. And here is the rub….. The availability of this content drives the niche market purchasers (you and I) to on-line retailers and MySpace, and other artist sites such as DGMLive…… Artists/musicians/bands need to fully embrace this philosophy within their ‘marketing’ strategies, in order to maximize their ‘slice of the pie’ for themselves.

If I have piqued your interest in this ‘new’ industry for music, please go and read the full article HERE and read for yourself Chris’s very interesting thoughts on the ‘costs’ of making on-line music available, and just what should be the ‘standard price’ for a downloadable music track, what is the psychological value of convenience – the ‘not worth it’ moment where the wallet opens….. and should artists/musicians/bands be expected to give away their music for free?

So here’s a toast to “reversing the blanding effects of a century of distribution scarcity, and ending the tyranny of the hit” – Long Live the power of the Long Tail!


Since writing this article, Chris has expanded it into a book of the same name. Chris also has an ongoing blog, appropriately called 'The Long Tail Blog', where you can continue to follow his discussions concerning the theory of The Long Tail.

MARCH FOR PEACE - 27 OCTOBER 2007

Music by Jesse Dyen
Video by Gordon Soderberg



Video by Robert Greenwald and the team at Brave New Foundation Produced by John Ehrenfeld Edited by Chris Gordon

Song: "People" Produced and mixed by Alex Elena. Written by Alex Dickson. Alex Elena: Drums Alex Dickson: Bass and Guitar Riley Geare: Wurlitzer Milena Mepris, Darren Geare, Alex Dickson: Vocals

On Saturday, October 27th, 11 massive regional demonstrations for peace will take place around the country.
Initiated and coordidnated by United for Peace and Justice, the country's largest grassroots antiwar coalition, these regional mobilizations will make it much easier for larger numbers of people to participate, and make it dramatically clear that opposition to the war and occupation in Iraq is strong, active, and nationwide.
Go to www.oct27.org for further details and info on how you can plug into the organizing for the demonstration, as well as events happening in your region, in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide.....

Here is a 2 part video that will help to give Canadian's some personal insight into the issue of Canadian Troops serving in Afghanistan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iroLoPn-d4M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xkDIZCGcms

Francisco Juarez, a former soldier with the Canadian Forces, explains his reasons for leaving the Canadian military and opposing Canada's controversial and aggressive combat mission in southern Afghanistan. Here Francisco speaks at the Canadian Peace Alliance's 2006 annual convention, to delegates and observers from across Canada and Quebec, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

For more information, check out:
www.acp-cpa.ca
www.resisters.ca

You can check out the Unitedforpeace.org Facebook Group 'Peace IS Possible!' here

You can check out the Unitedforpeace.org MySpace Group 'End the War!' here

KTU are in the studio - creating their newest 'pop' song

KTU in the studio

CARE FOR A LITTLE HIGH VOLTAGE KITTY?

Here is video footage of the Adrian Belew Trio, playing in Jacksonville, Florida on August 17, 2007.
The video gets a little jumpy here and there - I know I wouldn't be able to stay still whilst listening to the Trio rock out! - but all in all it's great.... especially for those of us who haven't had the privilege to see the Trio play LIVE!

ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO - BIG ELECTRIC CAT

For those of you who may care to re-live the now famous "Florida Peach Cobbler Incident", you can do so HERE....

These fab photo's thanks to the great photography of Peter Dervin!

ADRIAN BELEW POWER TRIO performs at SOBERSTOCK SEATTLE - 15 SEPT 2007

Eric's smile says it all!

Pre-show warm-up 1

Pre-show warm up 2

Can't you just feel the magic between these three?

EXCUSE ME, BUT YOUR GAMELAN IS SHOWING.....

KING CRIMSON - THE POWER TO BELIEVE (PART II)
From the "Eyes Wide Open" DVD - Live in Japan, 2003

Many of you, who know me, already know just how much of a fan I am of King Crimson....
For those of you who don't....now you do. Please excuse me whilst I indulge myself just a little, with one of my absolute favourite tracks from this extraordinary DVD.... I just love the way Ade and P@ use those incredible electronic pads, samples and all, to create such beautiful 'gamelan' style sounds - so beautifully coupled with Robert and Trey's searing soundscape-esque passages..... simply exquisite!

If you haven't experienced this concert in 5.1 surround sound, (with the volume turned way up) you surely are missing out big time! It never ceases to amaze me just how much of the music I was missing before. I now have some small idea just how incredible it must feel and sound, to attend a KC gig live - with all the sounds enveloping you - moving, mixing and melding all around you.....certainly an experience indeed.

One, that I fear, I will never get the chance to experience! ;-(

BERGEN - NORWAY
3 JUNE 2003


ALEXANDRIA - VIRGINIA
3 MARCH 2003


RIGA - LATVIA
14 JUNE 2003

NAGANO - JAPAN
12 APRIL 2003


MILAN - ITALY
20 JUNE 2003

PRAGUE - CZECH REPUBLIC
17 JUNE 2003

MOSCOW - RED SQUARE
12 JUNE 2003

KING CRIMSON - Live in Central Park - 25 JUNE 1973

KING CRIMSON - LIVE IN CENTRAL PARK - PART 1


KING CRIMSON - LIVE IN CENTRAL PARK - PART 2

KING CRIMSON - 22 MARCH 1974 ORTF TV PARIS FRANCE

KING CRIMSON - 6 APRIL 1973 PALOTZA DELO SPORTS ROME ITALY

ROBERT FRIPP - 1 APRIL 1972 BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA

ROBERT FRIPP - 9 DECEMBER 1972 LIVERPOOL

ROBERT FRIPP - 28 APRIL 1973 ACADEMY OF MUSIC NY


JOHN WETTON - 28 APRIL 1973 ACADEMY OF MUSIC NY


BILL BRUFORD - 28 APR 1973 ACADEMY OF MUSIC NY


DAVID CROSS - 1 JULY 1974 CENTRAL PARK NY


WETTON AND CROSS - 9 JUNE 1973 MAJESTIC THEATER DALLAS TX

TREY MAGNIFIQUE!

Just for fun - here is a short gallery of TREY GUNN!

Trey Gunn MySpace Site

Trey Gunn Official Website

Quodia MySpace Site

Quodia Official Website

Tu MySpace Site

KTU MySpace Site

TREY GUNN now has a VBLOG!

Check out this video: Kuma



Add to My Profile | More Videos
TREY GUNN BAND - KUMA
played live at the Dangerous Music studio

Trey Gunn - 10 string touch guitar
Joe Mendelson - 8 string touch guitar
Tony Geballe - electric guitar
Bob Muller - drums, tabla, percussion

TREY NOW HAS A VBLOG! - here is the first installment, direct from Poland on October 3rd, where Trey is touring with Pat Mastelotto in 'TU'....... Check this out - sitting in his motel room, unplugged - HE MAKES IT LOOK SO SIMPLE!

Yes, as I've said before, Trey's sweet soul flows freely through his fingers and speaks to us through his instrument!





TREY GUNN BAND - Sozzle ...... Live at the NAMM show
I love this live version - I'm told that Trey is using an electric razor with his Warr guitar - apparently creates feedback right on the strings! Who knew hey?
And fellow crafty Tony Geballe is playing a turkish instrument called a 'Saz'.....

Just brilliant!

PROJECT/OBJECT featuring KATIE JACOBY

Whilst I am on the subject of Project/Object......
Here is another great video of the guys, featuring Katie Jacoby - the absolutely gorgeous rock goddess who plays the electric violin.
It's from the World Cafe Live in Philly, on April 12, 2006.....

PROJECT/OBJECT - Eat that Question

Here are some awesome videos once again showcasing the incredible Katie Jacoby.....


Ending Credits


Magic Fingers

Jibboom

All these three awesome video's featuring Katie Jacoby, include the incredible talents of Eric Slick, Eric Svalgard, CJ Tywoniak and Matt Rothstein...... My question is, where can I buy this!

PROJECT/OBJECT with Eric Slick

WOW! I'm certainly a 'johnny-come-lately' with regards to this excellent band...... but better late than never!
You just HAVE to give these vids a look-see - simply excellent!
They're all from the October 11, 2007 gig at the Revolution Hall, Troy NY.


PROJECT/OBJECT - Apostrophe


PROJECT/OBJECT - Montana


PROJECT/OBJECT

Now, if only they guys would tour here in Canada!
And just in case you have been living in a cave somewhere, check out Eric's brand new blog - right HERE.
Awesome!

MY CANADIAN ROAD TRIP - with Adrian Belew!

Sorry for the recent blog - drought - it has now broken, with the return of yours truly.....

It all happened quite suddenly, but when opportunity knocks.....
We decided to take a much deserved break from the Hospitality business, and embark on my very first 'Road Trip' here in Canada.... I've lived here almost 10 years, and I have never had a vacation, nor the opportunity to just 'hit the road'! So we did.... After cleaning a bunch of rooms here at our little motel situated on Vancouver Island......
We loaded up, making sure we were well stocked with Adrian Belew Music...... We headed off to the ferry, for the trip to the mainland and Vancouver, British Columbia.
When you don't travel on the ferry very often, it is quite fun, albeit quite expensive with our pick-up truck.... as long as it's not a holiday weekend, and there are no break-downs with the ferries. Lucky for us, it was plain sailing :-)

We took out the map, and decided to go check out the warm and usually sunny interior of the province of B.C. I have always wanted to visit the Okanagan region - this area is well known for its flourishing vineyards, fresh fruits and vegetables, lovely long lake, and warm and sunny skies..... We were not disappointed!

We stopped at a number of wineries and sampled some gorgeous reds! We found a road-side fruit stand that sold at least 6 different types of freshly picked apples - some I have never tried before! There is nothing like a lusciously ripe apple fresh from the tree..... My favourite was the 'Ambrosia' variety.

On this leg of our journey, we discovered a wide range of countryside - from a true DESERT in Osoyoos (close to the U.S. border), to craggy outcrops perfect for mining of gold, copper, silver etc.....
Through to open rolling hills covered in fruit trees, and vines full to the brim with purple grapes about to be ready for picking before the first frosts (unfortunately on their way), or not, for the world renowned "ICE WINE" that is picked only after the first snows and freezing temperatures have frozen the grapes and locked in all the sun-made sugar! We finally made our way once again to the tree covered hills, and then onwards up the foothills of the Coastal Mountain Range. We followed the most beautiful little creek up throughout the hills.....

Climbing and climbing, ever higher. Finally, we were up amongst the big peaks, in the back-country area of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains (location of the 2010 Winter Olympics)......

Unfortunately, the weather finally collapsed, and the clouds descended as we approached the peak of the mountain pass, but not before we snapped a couple of photo's

.... sadly, the best views quickly became shrouded in thick cloud, and I missed out on seeing the beautiful majesty of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. But no worries - there will be other opportunities.

So, we made our way back down to Vancouver, via the Sea to Sky Highway, and back onto the ferry bound for Vancouver Island. Instead of heading directly for our regular port of Nanaimo, we headed to Victoria, the capital city of British Columbia. The big city is not for us, so we continued on to the west coast of the Island, and the beautiful Pacific Coast...... to Port Renfrew - the end of the road. We could just make out the coast of Washington State through the low clouds. It was a little disappointing to find, upon reaching this little fishing village, that it was in the throws of the last preparations for closing down for the winter. No worries ..... It was interesting to note that the coastline here is not nearly as dramatic as that that can be found up the coast a little in Tofino - the surfer's paradise.

So, after spending the night in the most gorgeous little log cabin, we hoped back into the truck, and retraced our steps back to the big smoke - almost - before we turned our heads for our own little piece of island heaven.

I really enjoyed our spur-of-the-moment, 1800 km - 4 day road trip. Made all the more enjoyable by the never-ending accompaniment of Adrian Belew - in his many guises and construKcts, even with a couple of Bears! It was like he was there with us the whole time. Thanks to our 4 gig SD card, that held at least 600 mp3's of all of Adrian's various studio released tracks (solo, King Crimson, Bears), we never listened to the same track twice - unless it was an acoustic version of one of our favourites..... Thanks Ade, for all the incredible music, and memories.

Adrian Belew really does ROCK our world!

FREE BURMA

www.free-burma.org


"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened" - Buddha

Please light a Candle for the people of Burma.....

ADRIAN BELEW AND JOAN MIRO

ADRIAN BELEW AND MIRO'S PROCESSION....

The music piece is by Adrian Belew from 'Desire of the Rhino King' - aptly named "Joan Miro's Procession Through the Insides of a Purple Antelope Across a Sea of Tuna Fish"......






























JOAN MIRO - (1893 - 1983)

Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker and decorative artist. He was never closely aligned with any movement and was too retiring in his manner to be the object of a personality cult, like his compatriot Picasso, but the formal and technical innovations that he sustained over a very long career guaranteed his influence on 20th-century art.

A pre-eminent figure in the history of abstraction and an important example to several generations of artists around the world, he remained profoundly attached to the specific circumstances and environment that shaped his art in his early years. An acute balance of sophistication and innocence and a deeply rooted conviction about the relationship between art and nature lie behind all his work and account in good measure for the wide appeal that his art has continued to exercise across many of the usual barriers of style.

The Art of Joan Miro

THE ART OF ADRIAN BELEW

WHAT DOES THE WORLDS MOST UNDER RATED GUITARIST DO WHEN HE IS NOT PLAYING HIS GUITAR?

THE ART OF BELEW MONTAGE

THE BELEW GALLERY.....

....AT DGM HQ
THESE PHOTO'S THANKS TO ROBERT FRIPP'S DIARY from DGMLive

MAN WITH AN OPEN HEART

BEAT BOX GUITAR

THESE PHOTO'S THANKS TO ADRIAN BELEW'S ELEPHANT BLOG