My Strange Musical Taste?

Me and my pal Stinky are seeing Steely Dan at Rama.
Never been there but I've seen the band twice before. Well sort of.
A few years back Stinky (not his real name) and I saw them on their first reunion tour at the Molson Amphitheater.
Not a great show but not bad.
Then a couple of years ago Stinks and I saw Donald Fagen on his own at Massey Hall and it was great.
Tonight we're going to see them again and I can't wait. We'll see the show, then off to his cottage and then tomorrow some golf.
Perfect.
I have been a fan of this band for so many years now that it's almost geek-like. Like someone who keeps on playing Tetris or Donkey Kong no matter how many new games have come along. (Even thought this talented pair won a Grammy for Record of the Year on 5 years ago!)
I have an IPod filled with The Dan and when I travel it's almost all I listen to. Weird huh?
Here's a little blast from the Steely Dan catalogue.

(Please excuse the stupid 'Photo Montage!')

Posted by Humble on July 4, 2008 @ 07:54 | Permalink | Comments (6)

For no real good reason.
I was thinking of The Israelites by a group called Desmond Dekker and the Aces which is real old school...but catchy.
So I'm thinking of that tune when In the Year 2525 came to mind.
What the hell?
Have a listen to both of these 70's golden oldies.
First up Desmond Dekker.

And now Zager and Evans. Believe me this was huge.

Posted by Humble on May 18, 2008 @ 20:42 | Permalink | Comments (3)

...and I'd forgotten how much I liked Neil D.
Neil Diamond was the kids "Mentor", really just an excuse to pimp his catalogue.
Did you know that the Neil has sold over 120 million records? Thats a lot of gelt.
The Idol hope-fuls covered a bunch of tunes and if I'm being honest all of them were a bit tepid.
Dave Cook was the best of the luke-warms and I think that Brooke-I'm hot but annoying is going home.
I was checking out The Boon and was reminded of an Urge Overkill version of a Neil tune they covered for Pulp Fiction.
Here is Neil doing the original Girl you'll be a Women soon.

For more fun check out this BBC clip with The Neil and his Giant Hair doing I am I said. Great tune and a real old school TV clip filled with the cheesy dissolves and dreamy close ups.

Posted by Humble on April 30, 2008 @ 07:30 | Permalink | Comments (3)

...in a while.
Check this out . One dude, many instruments, one take.
Watch the whole thing it's worth it.

Posted by Humble on April 23, 2008 @ 20:31 | Permalink | Comments (2)

What ever happened to Southern Rock?
Here's a little thing I was listening to on the March break trip.
James Taylor and JD Souther teamed up on this big hit from the late 70's. You can tell it
was that long ago, James Taylor still has a nice mop of hair.
This was a tune written after JT and his hot wife Carly Simon broke up.
Dig it.

Posted by Humble on March 17, 2008 @ 07:49 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Started talking about my fav cancon bands from yesterday with the kids in the office today. Quite the list from StreetHeart to Chilliwack, Doug and the Slugs, Trooper and even Klatuu.
I flashed on Apirl Wine and how at one time they were my band. I loved their tunes when I was a kid and one of my most vivid Rock Show memories was of seeing Heart opening for Apirl Wine at the Moose Jaw Civic Center.
Here is a real blast from the past. Bad Side of the Moon, which I didn't realize until doing the April Wine Wiki-search, was written by Elton John.

Posted by Humble on March 7, 2008 @ 12:06 | Permalink | Comments (2)

There's no accounting for taste and I have always liked this dude. Maybe cause he's so freaking different.
Here's a little bit of him at his freakiest on Letterman and then a cool clip of Dave interviewing TW back in 1986.
Enjoy.

Vintage Dave. You can tell Dave loves this guy probably for the same reason I do. In fact it was the early Letterman appearances that introduced me to Tom Waits in the first place. That and my Brothers.
Enjoy some more.

Posted by Humble on May 7, 2007 @ 22:02 | Permalink

Tim Miller, my buddy the Brampton Teacher, has turned me on to this dude Andy Mckee. He is one of a group of young guitar-wizards that are all over YouTube.
From time to time I like to pass on some of this to you.
A)Cause it's cool to see another human being so good at something.
B)I like the guitar. Piano too.
C)Even though I suck at them.
D)I like doing lists.
E)Okay, I'll stop.

This video is Andy Mckee playing a Harp-Guitar thing. It looks like somebody glued another wider neck on to a normal six string.
The way he plays it will blow you away.

Posted by Humble on March 7, 2007 @ 08:24 | Permalink

Randy Newman again. This tune is a little political satire from a guy that is a great song writer, composer/ film score dude. Not so much with the singing.
A bunch of people have covered this and it's as timely today as it was when he wrote in nearly 30 years ago.
The point of the song, "Hey we're Americans, everyone hates us so let's stop trying to be everybody's friend and let's drop the big one!"

The song is called Political Science. It's a joke. Trust me.

Posted by Humble on December 29, 2006 @ 08:36 | Permalink

Years ago I was doing the all night show at LG73 Am in Vancouver. My best pal was a real good jock I'd met in Moose Jaw named Jeff Hamilton, who was doing mid-days on The Fox. He and I used to get together, drink, smoke-legal/not legal and try and play Steely Dan songs. He was a much better guitar player than me and in 81 when I got the morning show at CFOX he bought me a huge Steely Dan piano/vocal/guitar book called Complete to Aja. Very complex stuff and charts that I still can barely play. But the book and my buddy Jeff, exposed me to a vast amount of songs that I hadn't heard and are still among my favorites. Pretzel Logic, Don't Take Me Alive, Kid Charlemagne, Babylon Sisters, and so many more including Deacon Blues which is probably my all time fav tune, Steely Dan or other.

Jeff died in 1987 of a brain aneurysm leaving a wife and 2 small kids. I was living in Los Angeles came up for the funeral and wake then went back to LA. A year and a half later I moved to Montreal and lost touch with his family.
He was a great guy that died way too young at age 28.

I almost never listen to Steely Dan without thinking of him.

Posted by Humble on December 28, 2006 @ 08:23 | Permalink

Yes it's the Holidays. Long days of reading, coffee and Baileys and fooling around on the computer.
I've been posting a day or two about my favorite music and some of the strange dude's who produce it. Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Randy Newman and today a little Lyle Lovett.
This guy is pure geek but hey, he used to do Julia Roberts so he must have something going on. Legend has it, much like me, he has a huge nose!

The other people on my list including The Beatles and Dire Straits I've liked for a very long time, but Lyle Lovett was added around 1994. It was at his Massey Hall show where I saw him with His Large Band and I was hooked. I went out and bought all his cd's.(yes a radio guy actually used his own money for music!) Later I saw him with a scaled down version of his touring band at Convocation Hall and I still liked his stuff.
This song is from his Large Band tour and was one of those performances that blows you away immediately, even if you've never heard the song before.

Posted by Humble on December 27, 2006 @ 08:26 | Permalink | Comments (1)

I mentioned yesterday that even though I've played Pop/Rock/New Rock on the Radio, the peeps I listen to at home are a little different. Check out the entry below and a cool video of Tom Waits.
Today Randy Newman. I remember playing Short People on my show back in the late 70's on CHAB in Moose Jaw. I thought the song was okay but I really liked the quirky nature of the guys voice. He's gone on to become a huge movie score composer...Ragtime, The Natural, Toy Story, Monsters Inc and many more.
One of his songs, Something Special Bout our Love, was the first song at my wedding.

He's very well respected by other musicians and this tune Sail Away is considered an American Classic.

He's also routinely mocked for the way he sings and one of the best was on The Family Guy.

Posted by Humble on December 26, 2006 @ 09:52 | Permalink

Dire Straits, Randy Newman, Steely Dan, The Beatles, Lyle Lovitt and Tom Waits. These are my go to guys and have been for a long time. Whenever I'm asked about my favorite music I'm a little hesitant cause I like what I like and even when I was the Alt-Rock-New Rock morning dude, I liked these guys. I have others Paul Simon, Bare Naked Ladies and a bunch more but those six are definitely my longest running.
As a way of introduction here's a classic Tom Waits tune called "Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis!"

Posted by Humble on December 25, 2006 @ 09:04 | Permalink