NOTHING LIKE A LITTLE SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION…

Rudi and the LIving Dolls return to the racks with the upcoming release of a 4CD box set. Release date and distribution avenues are still in negotiations at press time.

COMING AGE HQ

Scranton PA

Friday, May 17, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

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RUDI AND THE LIVING DOLLS RE-EMERGE FROM THEIR CRYOGENIC CRYPT TO RELEASE CD BOX SET OF THEIR “GREATEST” YEARS”

Scranton P.A. – In the mid-eighties there was a band who blazed a path for others to follow.  Up until their departure for Southern cities (Philadelphia) in the late 80’s and early `90’s, they were the first and for the most part, only all-original live act in the Wyoming Valley area of Pennsylvania.  The Scranton/Wilkes Barre area overall at that time was devoid of any sort of  “Original Music Scene”.

Those who were unfamiliar bullied Rudi and the Living Dolls for so long, as well as dealing with those unaware of the concept of local original music, or the challenges associated with  creating in a ghost town, all of those factors didn’t scare them at all.

But regardless of their bravado, they moved and became little fish in an enormous sea.

POCONOTES OFFERS AN INVITATION TO THE BLUES SO YOU CAN EXPERIENCE THE SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF AMERICA’S OWN MUSIC

As many of you will notice, this blog has gone through some mutations in recent history.  While part of the syndication, we were exclusively dedicated to covering progressive, progressive pop, progressive rock and so on.  We hate to stagnate.  We hate to gather cobwebs.  We are not huge fans of resting on our laurels.  New and different has long been the order of things, the question remaining just how different are we willing to be?

We think we have answered that question with the recent reviews of acts like Sam Llanas and Ed Randazzo.  These artists, while different in scale, share a love of blues/roots musicians.  The core, the basis of most types of music that came after them.  Where American (and to some extent British and perhaps global) music has discovered its foundation.

It can be refreshing not having to scratch the head and attempt to decipher what time signature the piece is recorded in.  Good old 4/4, easy to listen to (as opposed to easy listening) and refreshing in its own right.  I have learned to enjoy blues/roots music recently and I feel confident that should you choose to attend the following event, you can learn to love the blues too.

Check this out from PocoNotes, a group dedicated to promoting area events featuring blues/roots musicians:

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE RETURN TRIUMPHANT TO TERMINAL 5 IN NYC, 3-25-11

The new and improved Queens Of The Stone Age seminal first album. The re-release has garnered such interest that the band embarked on a tour shortly after a near-death experience by frontman Josh Homme.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:  Once again, the Friday Flashback brings you a goodie from our past.  With all the hype about the forthcoming release from Queens Of The Stone Age, …Like Clockwork, we felt it would be a good time to resurrect this review of a live performance of the band shortly after the re-release of their first, self-titled release.  With remixed tracks and additional cuts, this disc was worth buying even if you had the first edition, or if you had a copy of one of the discs that front man Josh Homme resurrected from a palate that was lost in an Interscope warehouse for approximately a decade, this version topped them all.

The only thing better than the disc, was watching the newly expanded Queens (with new members Mikey Schulman and Dean Ferita) play out these tunes and other classic Queens tunes.  Enjoy this new and improved version with YouTube videos courtesy of vizcat!

It was no surprise that the Queens Of The Stone Age (QOTSA) sold out its first tour in many years.  They left fans wanting more after their Era Vulgaris tour, and Josh Homme teased us with his super-group Them Crooked Vultures, which was also economically viable to the point where his cohorts in the band (Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and Led Zepplin bassist/keyboardist/arranger John Paul Jones) want to keep the band productive.

But perhaps it was (according to Rolling Stone) Homme’s recent death scare that made people sell out this tour AND FAST!  You see, if you follow QOTSA, you know that Homme has had trouble with his knee and an emphysema-like illness since the Over The Years and Through The Woods era.  For those of you not familiar with this incident, please read on…

BRIAN ENO – LUX (A MINIMALIST TITLE FOR A MINIMALIST ALBUM)…

The delightful cover of the delightful CD by the delightful Brian Eno, the delightful Lux.

Brian Peter George St. John Le Baptiste De La Salle Eno, better known to Roxy Music, U2 and Coldplay fans as Brian Eno, is one of the most multi-faceted art creators in modern society today.  His most recent accomplishment is completing an installment of a ‘comfort room’ at the Montefiore Hospital in Hove England which is comprised of some comfy chairs and a few wall mounted tablets arranged in an artful pattern, a large screen TV which is synched to the tablets and all display colorful, mutating patterns that change with the music which is piped in.  All of the music is Ambient in nature.

What is ambient music?

For the uninitiated, Eno created a genre of music which is best compared to ‘New Age’ in that the music subtly changed and the changes were often unobtrusive.  Usually in ridiculously slow tempos, and minimalist arrangements, Eno pioneered the Ambient movement with his development of Frippertronics with innovative guitarist Robert Fripp.  Eno strung together two Revox  multi-track  tape recorders with one length of tape running through the two sets of heads onto which Fripp would record individual guitar parts and bounce them down and continue to add parts to a piece.

The Frippertronics rig that launched a thousand loops. Photo courtesy of The King Crimson Collectors Club.

Eno further pioneered the genre of Ambient music by composing a series of pieces which were groundbreaking in that they were so minimalist, sound so subtle, they were often introduced into normally stressful situations such as airports, etc., in an effort to calm stressed-out travelers.

Much akin to what Eno is doing at Montefiore…

His latest album, Lux, is said to be a watered down version of the earlier Ambient series but with some significant differences.  The main difference being everything is now done digitally.  Eno is not one to eschew the new technologies of the times.  Although he does enjoy analog instruments, having said that he marvels at how in the second decade of the twenty-first century much of the music being made is with analog instruments.

So I am prepared to launch the disc for it’s flagship journey in the player.  I have juiced myself full of caffeine in case this is too soothing, too mellow, too ambient for such an early listening in the day, I don’t need to be lulled to sleep before the sun sets.  I’m not THAT old…