Back when I worked at Borders.com, one of the projects I worked on was allowing customers to order products online for pick-up in-store. One my questions during the project was understanding the impact of certain events sales of products where the store may only carry one or two copies of a title. For example, what is the impact on sales when an artist/author dies, or what is the impact of sales when an artist is featured on NPR? r
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Well, my question was answered this morning when checking sales information for singer-songwriter and pianist Vienna Teng after she was interviewed on the Sunday morning edition of NPR’s Weekend Edition. According to Amazon, Ms. Teng’s new album is ranked #2 in CD sales! Clearly the NPR audience is alive and well and likes to buy CDs of music they hear on the radio.
Pazz and Jop 2003
A few weeks back I finally posted my list of the best albums of 2003, and now the Village Voice has posted the winners of their Pazz and Jop Poll for 2003.r
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The poll combines ballots from 732 critics, who divided 100 points among 10 2003 albums. If you want a great overview of the year in music for 2003, this is the place to go…
filter magazine – news
From Sarah Earl we have this piece regarding a Petition For Elliott Smith:
“Since the death of beloved singer/songwriter Elliott Smith, fans have been searching for different ways to mourn and remember the man and his music. The citizens of Los Angeles have gone one step beyond candles and tribute albums and have begun a petition to set aside a section of Echo Park, the area of East Los Angeles where Smith primarily lived and worked, and rename it in his honor, to set aside a certain amount of funding to develop and maintain some sort of memorial to the man and his music…”
Mountain Radio
One of the joys of being back in North Carolina last week was hearing all the great radio they have down there. In the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina, there is wealth of wonderful stations including WNCW in Spindale, NC & WETS in Johnson City, TN.r
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In particular, WNCW has long been a pioneer in progressive NPR music programming. It’s as if they looked at my record collection and put together a station just to please me. r
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And you don’t have to head down south to listen to either of these great stations, just visit their web sites and listen to their live streams. I especially suggest “The Spindale Cycle” on WNCW, when each Monday at 9pm they play a classic disc in its entirety, then give it away at its conclusion.
AMG Fridays
From my pal Joan comes this tip… Every friday, the folks at All Music Guide post a list of what they’re listening to at the time.
If you don’t know the All Music Guide (AMG), it’s far and away the source for artist and album information on the web. It’s a tool I use probably more than any other on the internet.
So speaking of lists of what you’re listening to, here’s a look at what’s playing on the headphones so far this morning.
Whispering Pines – The Band
Out of This World – The Cure
December – Teenage Fanclub
Waiting in Vain – Annie Lennox
Ocean Beach – The Black Mighty Orchestra
Prince Valium – Joe Pernice
In a Daydream – Freddy Jones Band
While were talking about what I’m listening to, I have to say that Annie Lennox’s cover of the Bob Marley tune “Waiting In Vain” is as wonderful a cover tune as I’ve ever heard. The vocals, the instrumentation and the production are just about perfect. The song gets me every time.
Songwriting Tips & Tools – The Muse’s Muse
The Muse’s Muse is a great resource for any professional or aspiring songwriter out there.
Acording to Jodi Krangle, the creator and webmaster, “The Muse’s Muse exists to provide inspiration, resources and business advice to the many songwriters out there with no one to help them but themselves.”
The site contains a forum, articles, an online newsletter reviews and over 4000 links in a directory.
Ben Lee
Australian Songwriter Ben Lee has a new album out, Hey You Yes You. I’ve not yet heard it, but from what I’ve heard, it should be as interesting and more mature than his last album, “Breathing Tornados”.r
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Recently Ben performer on the best live radio program the U.S. has to offer.r
Listen to Ben on Morning Becomes Eclectic
The Covers Project
If you’re like me and you want to see a complete listing of who’s covered Big Star’s “September Gurls”, then head over to The Covers Project. There you can see who’s recorded a version of your favorite song.r
Superfecta
I was chatting with my friend Jason Fiber today, and he told me that he’d finally launched his long planned record label.
Jason is a passionate music fan, and with 13 years of music and internet industy experience under his belt, he’s launched Superfecta Recordings.
According to his website, “Superfecta Recordings was founded because there are too many great albums that have either never been released on CD or have been deleted by their original record label. We strive to find overlooked classic ’80s Alternative albums. We digitally remaster the orginal recordings, add as many bonus tracks as possible and have the original artist (or someone close to the band) write new liner notes.”
What impresses me so about Jason starting his label is that Jason knows the ins and outs of the music biz, and becuase he knows so much, he knows the financial pitfalls of running a label. Folks in their 30’s who decide to follow their dreams rank high in my book. Contratulations Jason and I look forward to watching Superfecta grow and flourish!
Freyda Epstein
I was greatly saddened today to hear of the death of Freyda Epstein, the wonderful singer and violinist who was best known for her work with the seminal folk group Trapezoid. Only 46, Freyda’s death from a senseless car accident will affect many in the folk community. Back in my days in the music business I had dealt with Freyda and she was a lovely and very warm woman.r
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These words on Freyda from Paul Reisler, her partner in Trapezoid:r
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“Freyda had a great gift. Her gift was song and she shared it with audiences throughout the world as a performer and as a teacher. She built community from song. She could take a crowd of people and turn them into a choir. She had one of the most remarkable voices in folk music.r
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“Freyda will be remembered for many things-her voice, her fiddle playing, her sharp sardonic sense of humor, her teaching, and her many friendships. And most of all, she will be remembered for the vibrant community she created wherever she went. That was her gift and song was her medium and art. ”
Emusic Rocks
I’ve been a long time fan and subscriber of emusic, the online music subscriptions service, where for $15 a month you can (legally) download as many albums you want in MP3 format. The site has long been filled with some of the best indie music out there featuring 1000’s of labels, and although there is no major label music availiable, the choice of great albums in virtually every music format is staggering.r
Emusic just scored a coup by adding The Beggars Banquet group to the mix, which means that you can download albums from the 4AD catalog among many others.
New artists added with the addition of Beggars Banquet include:
Record Sale
Today while running an errand here in Ann Arbor, I saw a sign for a garage sale that featured lots of records for sale. Yes, I still have my turntable and I love to listen to LPs. Yeah, you have to flip them to hear the whole thing and deal with scratchy sound, but too much of my musical collection is on LP only and there’s no way I can afford to replace all of it with CDs.
Usually yard sales that feature records have a box or two, but this person had around a couple of thousand albums all aphabetized. It wasn’t the jackpot it appeared to be when I first looked all the boxes (I have never seen so many Judy Collins albums in one place!), but I did manage to find 11 albums at $1 a piece. What did I get you ask? Albums by Rickie Lee Jones Pirates, The Allman Borthers –Brothers and Sisters, The Roches –Keep On Doing, Pat Metheny – New Chataqua, Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick, Rod Stewart – Every Picture Tells A Story, Glenn Campbell – Gentle On My Mind, Pretenders – Self Titled, Bruce Springsteen – Greetings from Asbury Park, Simon and Garfunkel – Greatest Hits, Jonathan Edwards – Self Titled, A boxed set of number one Hits from the 60’s and another boxed set of Glenn Miller.
Future of Music Coalition
Those of you who are concerned about issues of corportate media control of the music industry will be well served by checking out the Future of Music Coalitionr
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From their manifesto:r
“No longer will corporate media and big money frame the terms of the discussion as we draw together the strongest voices in the Internet and independent music community to reframe these questions with a clear-eyed focus on the interests of the artists.”
Nina Simone
The great Nina Simone passed away yesterday at the age of 70.r
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One of the great voices of American music, Ms. Simone not only was a amazing performer, but she was also one of the musical voices of the civil rights movement. Nina was called the “High Priestess of Soul” by her fans and was regarded by them as an almost religious figure.r
Freedy Johnston -Live at 33 1/3
Listening to the brilliant live studio recording Live at 33 1/3 by the wonderful and sadly underappreciated Freedy Johnston makes me wish I could pull strings at radio stations so that more people would know Freedy’s music.
My friend Marv Foley turned me on to Live at 33 1/3, which was recorded in a studio in Brooklyn before an audience of 80 or so friends. With just Freedy on voice and guitar accompanied by Cameron Grieder also on guitar, the album is stripped down and a total joy to listen to.
Viva Santana!
I was talking with my friend Adam today about guitar players when we began discussing Carlos Santana. In dark times like these, the passion and vision of Santana is even more important to heed…r
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“Spirituality is like water and sun. When it rains, the prostitute and the pope get wet just the same. Spirituality is not memorizing the Koran or the Bible while hurting people in the name of Allah or Jesus or Buddha or oil. We are all chosen. Surely we have the capacity to transmute anger and fear into a masterpiece of joy.”r
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Read the full article, Spirit of Santana.
Morning Becomes Eclectic
Question: What is the best radio music program in America?
Answer: KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic
Reason: Great taste in music and in studio performances that are as well recorded as any studio album…
Neil Finn on Morning Becomes Eclectic
Pete Yorn on Morning Becomes Eclectic
Albums from Morning Becomes Eclectic:
Rare on Air Series
Sounds Eclectic CD
Morning Becomes Eclectic CD
The Polyphonic Spree
My friend Lee Williams just introduced me to the very strange and wonderful band, The Polyphonic Spree. Featuring 23 white robe-clad members, a ten voice chorus backed by 13 instumentalists, The Polyphonic Spree brings me back to the macrame, “I’d Like to Teach The World to Sing” Days of my youth.r
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Their sound is big, hippyish and unabashedly groovy. I tend to go for off-beat music, so it makes sense that The Polyphone Spree would appeal to me. I have the feeling though that their music could be very annoying to those who don’t get them.
Dar’s new album
My dear friend Dar Williams released her latest album the other day. Entitled, The Beauty of the Rain, from the few tracks I’ve heard so far, it sounds like a wonderful album. One track, “Whispering Pines”, a cover of the misty and lonesome song by The Band, is as beautiful as anything Dar has ever sung.
To read all about what Dar’s up to these days, visit Dar’s homepage.
Farewll Vin
One of the great radio hosts in America, Vin Scelsa, has decided to stop alowing his shows on New York’s WFUV from being broadcasted online. As a fan who has grown up with and thinks the world of him, this is indeed sad news.
According to Vin:
“I have made my decision to withdraw my material completely from the Internet in protest of the government’s interference with my artistic freedom to create my show in a manner determined by me – not Congress, the “music industry” or a pack of lawyers. I have not spent 35 years in broadcast radio fighting for my right to artistic freedom only to give in at this point to a piece of legal idiocy.”