If you know anything about me, you know how much I love going to record stores, and that I especially love taking my time sifting through everything they have in stock.
I knew I was in for something special as soon as I took my aisle seat in Row M in the orchestra at the Howard Gilman Opera House at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (a.k.a. BAM) last Friday. It was Night 2 of Dr. John’s 3-night stand, named for his new, supertasty album Locked Down, produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach.
That was how a musician friend responded shortly after I told him via iPhone chatter that it was 10 minutes before Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band hit the stage last night in the first of two dates at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Surround-sound guru Steven Wilson has upped the ante yet again on his Grace for Drowning solo tour by presenting the music itself in surround sound, an unprecedented feat. Well, ok, technically speaking, the show is in live quad, with two speakers placed in the back of the venue at hand.
Bob Dylan, bard for the ages, brought his never-ending tour to Convention Hall in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on the torrential evening of Sunday, August 14, and reinforced his prowess as the key observer and interpreter of our ever-distressing modern times.
We talked to Steven Wilson a couple of weeks ago about his forthcoming - and groundbreaking - new Blu-ray release, Grace for Drowning. Fittingly, we offer you, the Sound + Vision and Steven Wilson faithful, an EXCLUSIVE look at the aptly titled "Track One," the third song on Disc 2.
“By the way, who is this Derek Jeter guy?” asked Sir Paul McCartney of the full crowd at Yankee Stadium on July 15, four songs deep into the opening night of his Summer 2011 On the Run tour. “Somebody said he has more hits than me.”
It may only be the middle of July, but it already feels like Christmastime ’round the hallowed S+V office halls. How come? Well, the evidence is right there before your eyes — to wit: the all-new, all-awesome Sound + Vision Web site!
We didn’t know it until about an hour or so before showtime, but we wound up seeing Gomez’s last North American summer tour date last night at Terminal 5 in NYC.
The reason, as noted here: key bandmember Ben Ottewell — a thirtysomething British lad with the singing voice of a 75-year-old bluesman — was ordered by doctors to rest his voice for no less than 2 weeks.
In my Track One column in the print edition of S+V’s June/July/August 2011 issue, I mentioned that I would be discussing my experiences with Autonomic’s Mirage MMS-5 media server in this space. Wellll... things change. Because we’re all good friends here, I’ll give you the scoop.