Posts tagged as:

Music

Grant Park, Chicago

February 4, 2010
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Officially designated a park in 1844, this expanse of land east of Michigan Avenue was called Lake Park until 1901, at which time it was named Grant Park in honor of the civil war general and 18th U.S. President. This Curt Teich postcard features a crowd enjoying a concert being performed from under the spectacular [...]

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Book Review –  Genesis: I Know What I Like

January 25, 2010
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In 1977 I discovered the British rock band, Genesis, a group that, up to that time, I hadn’t given much thought to. I knew of them, and their song Your Own Special Way had received a good deal of airplay in the U.S., but I hadn’t heard anything that would inspire me to abandon Led [...]

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Greetings from Hollywood

December 25, 2009
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This postcard shows the Southern Colonial home of Bing Crosby at Toluca Lake, where the singer/actor lived from 1936 until January of 1943. He moved following a Christmas tree fire that did extensive damage to the structure and resulted in the loss of many irreplaceable personal possessions, including Crosby’s golf trophies, recordings, and pipe collection. [...]

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The Texas International Pop Festival

September 2, 2009
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The Woodstock festival quickly became the stuff of legend, but another open-air festival, held just two weeks later, may just have been the better event, at least musically. This is the 40th anniversary of The Texas International Pop Festival, a show that may have received less notoriety, but that had a truly stellar lineup of [...]

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Music Review: Ferrante and Teicher’s Soundproof

September 1, 2009
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I was first exposed to this 1956 recording only recently, and found it to be nothing like what I expected. Given the album’s name, cover art, and reputation, I anticipated some sort of exotica/space-pop extravaganza, and I have to say that my initial reaction was a sense of disappointment. I suppose I was anticipating something [...]

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CD Review: Ace’s Special Novelty Edition

August 28, 2009
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My favorite series of early rock and roll CDs is The Golden Age of American Rock’N’Roll, volumes that aren’t American at all. Published in the UK by Ace Records Ltd, they hit the nail right on the head, presenting the early hits (and misses) in fine fashion. This particular volume is called the Special Novelty [...]

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Les Baxter’s Ritual of the Savage

August 21, 2009
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This is the album that started it all. In 1951, over six years before Martin Denny recorded his landmark album, Exotica, Les Baxter invented the genre. Ritual of the Savage represented a true breakthrough, a new musical statement that was ideally suited to the times. How is it then, that such a significant work has [...]

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Elvis

August 15, 2009
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I could go on and on about Elvis Presley, and in the future I’ll do exactly that. But for now I thought I’d leave a simple remembrance to acknowledge the 32nd anniversary of his passing. (He died on August 16, 1977) Which Elvis do you remember? The many facets of the man and his career [...]

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Joe Meek’s New World

July 13, 2009
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I remember listening to AM radio as a child, either from my portable Zenith or while in the car with my parents. Even at the age of six or seven I had definite preferences where popular music was concerned, and one of my favorites was the instrumental Telstar by the British pop group, The Tornados. [...]

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Exotica, the Sound of Tiki

June 27, 2009
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It’s only natural to conjure up visions of Chuck Berry or the Platters when the subject of ’50s music comes up. It was, after-all, when rock-and-roll was born, and it’s easy to imagine the decade as something akin to the film, “American Graffiti”. (no, I’m not knocking the movie… I saw it 30+ times at [...]

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