The Avett Brothers Come to Philly – and a “Shady Grove” Debate!

The Avett BrothersSo last night my wife and daughter went to see one of their favorite bands The Avett Brothers at the Mann Music Center in Philly. Like always, they said they were awesome and I’m sure they were, but like Mumford and Sons there is just some about the band that doesn’t thrill me. I know that my opinion is not held by many. To try to sway me, my wife said that there was a least one song that I would have liked. For the first song of a three song encore, the band performed a song from Doc Watson, “Shady Grove”. My first response was that everybody does “Shady Grove”. Her response was “So” and she’s right that the fact that lots of people have recorded the song really doesn’t change my opinion of the Avett’s cover! Read More

Life’s Soundtrack – An Afternoon of Football and Music from Jon Shain!

So today was good and bad, my son Andrew invited to come down to his house to watch the Eagles play. He has a much bigger and nice than mine and as a result of his wife’s efforts to cut their cable bill, he has the new Xfinity package with Red Zone, and yes Meaghan, that is a good thing!!Red Zone is perfect for Andrew who is a master of flipping channels!! Anyway that was the good! Thanks, Andrew and Meaghan. The bad was the Eagles lost the game!! But they are fun to watch, at least the offense!! The defense wouldn’t be bad if the could either cover the center of the field or get to the quarterback!! Read More

Life’s Changes…….. one to come in March 2014!

Oct2003So you know there are monumental times, when your life changes. The day you get married, the birth of your children, the loss of a parent. All of these moments cause your perspective of life to change. When first had to worry about one person, now you think about two, three, four, five or six!! When the last of your parents are gone, and all your aunts and uncles have passed on your position in the universe has shifted and now you are them. As long as they are around you are still someone’s child! Read More

Evening Music – Victor Wooten leads to Rediscovering Brooks Williams!

Show of Hands 15So this afternoon I put Victor  Wooten‘s album A Show Of Hands 15 on the iPhone and listened to it on the way back from meeting with my All State Agent where I protected myself against mayhem and saved over $ 600 on my insurance with discounts I didn’t know I qualified for!! So I started listening to Victor in a pretty good mood! Now I must admit that I really didn’t think that a solo bass album could be that good, and I will say that I haven’t listened to the whole album yet, but now I believe that I have a new album and artist to listen to at work – overall what I heard was marvelous! Brooks WilliamsAs I was listening to Wooten, my mind wander to the music of another musician whose work is in my music library, but I haven’t written a lot, if anything, about and that’s Brooks Williams. There’s just something about the both Wooten and Williams that link them together in my mind. Both are masters of their respective instruments. Both can conjure up riffs and ,melodies that stay in your mind for a long time, Both also teach:. Read More

Life’s Soundtrack (that could have been) – Pictures from a Time Traveler – Marcus Jidell

Pictures from a Time TravelerEvergrey  and Dragonforce are two of my son Andrew’s favorite bands and over the last few years they have been in my music library. Music from both bands often becomes my running music, Dragonforce by choice and Evergrey by happenstance. Many times a track from Evergre4y will come on when the iPod is on random shuffle.When that happens, I usually catch myself thinking this sounds good, then after checking  who the and is, and I discover it’s Evergrey!!  Now the question you may be asking about now is – why are you telling me this?? .The answer lies in the music I was listening to last night and hoped to make the soundtrack of my run tonight!!Marcus JidellYesterday, I was looking for some new prog rock. to listen to and tried several new releases. I gave each of them the 30 second test and settled on the album, Pictures From A Time Traveller from Marcus Jidell . The decision to pick this album was a combination of the 30 second test and reading the following at New Prog Rock Releases: Read More

Lunchtime Music from Batdorf and Rodney – “One Day”…..

Off the ShelfSo sometime in 1971 or 72, I was walking through the  Graham Area lobby at the University of Florida and two guys were playing guitars and singing. I sat down and listened and was blown away by the songs. When they finished, I asked if the songs were theirs and they said, no they were covering Batdorf and Rodney. Within a matter of days, you know I was at the local record store looking for their album!! What I found was Off the Shelf and that album has been “off the shelf” and on my record player, in my CD player and now on my mp3 player for the last forty years. Read More

“Into the Night” with Fruition – Just One of Them Nights (and it is!)

Just one iof them nightsSo last night, when I went to Target to pick up a few things, I listened to the last release from a band that I’ve had on the iPhone for a little while now Fruition, Just One of Them Nights. Now when I came home from work tonight, as I was eating and getting ready to go to work at Target. I wrote a good amount about the band and the album, then the screen blinked and before I knew what was happening, I was back to the WordPress sign-in screen. That meant that everything that I had just written went away. I will try to recreate it tomorrow, but for now, let’s go “off to work” and “into the night” with the title track from this terrific Americana album!! Read More