2014 Blues – Tommy Castro and the Painkillers – The Devil You Know!!

The Devil You KnowSometimes my first impressions suck! See I once said after the première of the TV show Cheers that it was pretty good except I wasn’t sure about the theme song! And I said that I didn’t know how long they could keep up the premise of the TV show Perfect Strangers! How about for eight seasons!! And after the first listen to The Devil You Know, the new release from Tommy Castro and the Painkillers I wasn’t sure if it was that good! Hey, it’s very, very and maybe a few more verys, good! I think that on the first listen, first I didn’t listen that closely, but second it sounded a little different from the Tommy Castro that I’ve been listening to since the mid to late 90s, At his website Tommy explains it to me…… Read More

New Age- World Music from Adam Hurst – Nightfall

NighfallSo at Number 23 on the Echoes Music Chart for January of 2014 is Nightfall from Adam Hurst. Now of the 25 artists/albums listed there is really only one artist whose name I recognize and Adam is not it. Moby is really the only artist whose name I’ve known for more than a few months! Artist’s whose music i have recently explored include: Bombay Dub Orchestra(7), David Helpling and Jon Jenkins (10) and Darkside (9). Read More

This Day in History – Feb 3, 1900 – The 34th Governor of Kentucky dies from shooting!

William J Goebel On February 3,1900, William Goebel, the newly elected Governor of Kentucky died after serving four days in office. Goebel had been shot by an assassin the day before he was sworn in as the 34th Governor of the state. Goebel remains the only state governor in the nation to be assassinated while in office. John Connelly of Texas and George Wallace of Alabama both survived assassination attempts. From Wikipedia: Read More

The Safari has Adventures in Kali City with Karim Baggili

So yesterday when I visited the World Music Chart Europe and listened to the Number 1 album, I also spied an interesting mix at Number 4. The album was Kali City(featuring Trio Joubran) from Karim Baggili. The countries listed after the title and artist were Belgium and Palestine. I gave the album the thirty-second test which it passed with flying colors. I downloaded it onto the iPhone, and listened to it later in the day. After listening and enjoying the Middle East tinged music, I went to Karim’s website where I discovered, that Karim is Belgian of Jordanian and Yugoslavian descent. He is a self-taught guitarist, who started with the electric guitar and then moved onto the flamenco guitar and the Oud, which he acquired in Jordan. Read More

The Safari Explores the Mixing of a Balkan brass band and a Canadian Guitarist – Devil’s Tale!!

If, how much my feet tap while I am listening to an album is a measure of how much I like an album, then I really must love the number 1 album on the World European Charts Devil’s Tale! Because I do not think that those toes did not stop tapping through the entire length of the album!! The album is a union of a Canadian guitarist Adrian Raso and the Romanian group Fanfare Ciocărlia based on their mutual love of the music of Django Reinhardt. Ok so who are these artists and what have they created first Adrian Raso, from his website….. Read More

It’s Eva Cassidy’s Birthday! Let’s listen to “Fields of Gold” and marvel!

Eva Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996)

On this day in 1963, Barbara and Hugh Cassidy became the proud parents of a little baby girl, Eva. That little gill who began to sing and play guitar at the age of nine and by the time she was 11 was playing in a local band in and around the suburbs of Washington, D.C.grew up to have one of the my beautiful, soulful voices that I have ever heard. Then in 1996, at the age of 33 she was gone another victim of cancer in Eva’s case the cancer was melanoma. When she died, she was relatvely unknown outside of the Washington DC area. But in the DC area that knew her…. Read More

The Safari goes “into the morning” with some ROCK PROGRESSIVO ITALIANO From Austria’s Three Monks!

So back in October I was searching for the new release from The Three Monks – The Legend of the Holy Circle. I was unsuccessful in my search so I listened instead to their 2010 release Neogothic Progressive Toccatas, which I found different in a good way. They are to say the least unique. Their music falls into the sub-genre of ROCK PROGRESSIVO ITALIANO or RPI according to ProgArchives. They are a pipe-organ based band from Arezzo composed of organist composer Paolo Lazzeri, bassist/engineer Maurizio Bozzi, and drummers Roberto Bichi and Claudio Cuseri. Lazzeri began his musical journey as a prog-rock organist, then left that scene and began to study romantic classical music, both symphonic and for solo organ. So now Lazerri had two main influences the music og composer Julius Reubke and the prog rock of King Crimson and Van der Graff Generator! Read More

Today in Music – Feb 1, 1959 – Ottmar Liebert’s Birthday!!

Ottmar LiebertToday is the birthday of one of my favorite acoustic guitarists Ottmar Liebert. From Wikipedia: Ottmar..

….was born February 1, 1959 in Cologne, West Germany to a Chinese-German father and a Hungarian mother. As a child, he spent most of his time traveling throughout Europe and Asia with his family. He began playing classical guitar at 11, and flamenco guitar at 14, after he “found a Flamenco LP in the bargain bin at a local supermarket”.[1] After performing rock music in his native Germany, he moved to the United States and settled in Boston for a few years, performing in various rock clubs.[2] In 1986 Liebert settled in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he began looking to create a new musical sound...Read More Read More