Marquee Magazine » Brian F. Johnson
Mile High Music Festival - Must Hears
Hill Country Revue
Saturday, July 19
Hill Country Revue was launched by Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew of the North Mississippi Allstars. It also features the talents of Garry Burnside and Kirk Smithhart on guitars, as well as the vocal treatment of Dixie Hustler’s Dan Coburn.
Dickinson and Chew are better known as the rhythm section of the three-time Grammy nominated North Mississippi Allstars. Dickinson is known as a powerful and creative drummer who occasionally graces the audience with his psychedelic electric washboard performances.
Marquee Tags: Hill Country Revue, Ingrid Michaelson, Mile High Music Festival, The Black Crowes, The RailbendersNo comments
From the Barstool of the Publisher - July, 2008
We’ve become a really half-assed society, to a sickening degree.
This month’s industry profile on Gus Skinas from Super Audio Center proves that. Skinas has developed a system that makes digital audio sound like an analog recording, bringing warmth and emotion back into digital music.
I’ve heard it. I sat in his room as he played me an SACD (Super Audio CD) surround master of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.” It’s safe to say that I’ve probably heard that song more than a couple hundred times in my life, but hearing it there was like hearing it for the first time all over again — only better.
Marquee Tags: Elton John, Gus Skinas, SACD, Super Audio Center1 comment
Industry Profile: Digital audio pioneer Gus Skinas fights for the chance to do it right
By Brian F. Johnson
Every time I meet a true audiophile, I love to ask them this little bit of trivia that I picked up somewhere along the way. Of all the people I’ve ever asked it to, Gus Skinas is the only one to have answered it correctly, without hesitation. And, it wasn’t a lucky guess.
The question is this: Why did the CD end up being 80 minutes long? “Beethoven in the car,” Skinas shot back when I asked him. Yes! When Sony was developing the compact disc, an executive pushed for the 80 minute length because it was his goal to listen to Beethoven’s 9th in the car, without interruption.
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Overheard - July, 2008
Phish 3.0? — In the last few months, rumors about Phish’s reunion have been more prevalent than dank buds at an actual Phish reunion. Although the four members were on stage together in May for the Jammy Awards, legions of crispy-crunchy heads had their dreams shattered when the band chose not to perform. But a new report from Jamtopia.com brought so much attention that even Billboard picked up the story. The report stated that producer Steve Lillywhite would be working on a new Phish album this year. Lillywhite worked on Phish’s 1996 album Billy Breathes. Lillywhite has offered a “no comment” on the subject.
Marquee Tags: Animal, Antiquiet.com, Bilboard, Chinese Democracy, Dave Grohl, daytrotter.com, Foo Fighters Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, Jamtopia.com, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, Not Animal, Phish, Trey Anastasio, Wembley StadiumNo comments
Michael Young
Michael Young
Parallel Play
American Sketch Records
4 out of 5 stars
The third release from Michael Young may be his most broadly appealing album to date. The fingerstyle guitarist conjures up a Leo Kottke, but is clearly his own artist drawing on classical, folk, rock and blues melodies.
One of the album’s most shining moments is Young’s performance (which are all instrumental) of the traditional tune “Cripple Creek.” It takes a second to get it, but it sounds familiar from the initial notes and truly highlights Young’s incredible playing ability. He’d be a great fit at Folks Fest.
Marquee Tags: Michael Young, Parallel PlayNo comments
G.G. Elvis & The T.C.P. Band
G.G. Elvis & The T.C.P. Band
Back From The Dead
Mental Records
3.5 out of 5 stars
This is some good shit that would make both “The King of Rock,” Elvis Presley and the psychotic self-titled “King of Punk,” G.G. Allin, two happy sons of bitches. Originally started as Punk Rawk Elvis, the band went through lineup changes and eventually emerged as G.G. Elvis, blending Elvis classics with a punk rock style that somehow works. Never before did I think “Hey, ho. Let’s go!” and “Viva Las Vegas” would go together, but I must have had my head (and a microphone) up my ass. An intense DVD is also included.
Marquee Tags: Back From The Dead, Elvis Presley, G.G. Allin, G.G. Elvis and the T.C.P. Band, Hey ho Let's Go, King of Punk, King of Rock, Punk Rawk Elvis, Viva Las VegasNo comments
Cavedoll
Cavedoll
No Vertigo
Independent
3 out of 5 stars
I thought new wave was dead, or at least reserved as a kitchy nostalgic sound for indie pop bands to only dabble in. But Cavedoll’s latest release, No Vertigo, changes that. The album could have been released in 1983, but the sound somehow fits in the current indie pop realm.
The really amazing thing is that this album is the first of 10, yes ten, albums that the band plans to release this year. Among the albums they are including a data DVD which contains the band’s entire catalog of more than 175 songs. It’s an ambitious project, to say the least, but as the Salt Lake City band states in their press release, there’s “not much else to do but sit around and record moody, dark pop gems all the day long.”
Marquee Tags: Cavedoll, No VertigoNo comments
16 Horsepower
16 Horsepower
Live March 2001
Alternative Tentacles Records
3.5 out of 5 stars
Two years after they disbanded, 16 Horsepower shows tremendous, well, horsepower, in this live posthumous release. Like all 16 Horsepower material, this live set delves right into the key of sad, gothic-country tracks. The album is a must-have for those already familiar with 16 Horsepower and a great introdcution for newbies. Too bad this is the closest thing to a real show by the group we’ll see anytime soon.
Marquee Tags: 16 Horsepower, Alternative Tentacles RecordsNo comments
Westword Music Showcase @ The Golden Triangle
June 14, 2008
Golden Triangle (12th and Acoma, Denver)
By Brian. Johnson
One might wonder why I would take the time to attend the annual Denver Westword Music Showcase. I mean, it’s put together by, all about and presented by Westword. Aren’t they supposed to be competition to The Marquee? Well, yeah, maybe. But I don’t really give a crap.
I’ve been to the Showcase for the last three years in a row, and I feel that the event is one of the great things that Denver has going for it. It turns the Golden Triangle neighborhood into a miniature SxSW for an afternoon, gives local bands a chance to get in front of some large crowds and makes us feel - if only for an afternoon - that the entire Denver music community is one big, happy, united family.
Marquee Tags: Denver Westword Showcase, Diamond Cabaret, Drive-By Truckers, Ra Ra Riot, WestwordNo comments
Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival
Lawrence, KS
June 5 – 8, 2008
Text and video by Brian F. Johnson
Courtesy of photographer James Allison www.jamesallisondesign.com
DAY I – (but, not really)
Any festival can get hit with a stroke of bad luck or bad weather. The good ones are the ones who know how to rebound, and 2008 was that kind of year for the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.
Google Maps clocks the drive from Denver to Lawrence, Kan. as 8 hours and 15 minutes, but on a day when 30 tornadoes touched down in the state of Kansas, Google’s time allotment gets thrown out the window.
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The Bellrays
The Bellrays
Hard Sweet and Sticky
Anodyne Records
4 out of 5 Stars
I got a speeding ticket listening to this album! Seriously. $182 for going 67 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone.
I tried to tell the cop that it wasn’t my fault, that I was listening to this album for work and it just got the best of me. He didn’t buy it.
Hard Sweet and Sticky is just that damn good!
The opening notes of the album kick off with a “Sparks”-like The Who riff before quickly fading into the band’s top-notch rock and soul sound.
Lead singer Lisa Kekaulav has always had vocals as big and as loud as her giant ’fro and there’s hardly a note on the album that fails to keep pace.
Marquee Tags: Anodyne Records, Hard Sweet and Sticky, Lisa Kekaulav, The Bellrays1 comment
New York Dolls
New York Dolls
Live at the Fillmore East
Sony BMG
4 out of 5 Stars
I’m not going to try to be one of those people who claims to have loved the New York Dolls since the 1970s. I did not, in fact, listen to them on vinyl in my middle school years. But I was truly excited when they reformed, mostly (to be really honest) because of the awesome documentary New York Doll, which chronicles the life of the band, but in particular, bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane.
That being said, though, anyone who is unsure of their staying power more than 30 years after they broke up only need listen to the opening minutes of “Babylon” on this new live release.
Yeah, there’s been some line-up changes since 1974, but the band hasn’t lost one beat of its over-the-top glam rock-mixed-with-punk spark.
David Johansen may look four-bazillion years old, but his voice is just as good as it was nearly 40 years ago when the way-before-their-time band first exploded on the scene. And don’t think for a second that after all those years and a few hardcore addictions and recoveries later, his attitude has suffered one iota. Johansen makes Mick Jagger look like he’s on Quaaludes, after smoking a joint and shooting a giant heap of smack.
Founding guitarist Sylvain Sylvain is equally exuberant and the three semi-”new” guys fill the shoes of the departed Johnny Thunders, Jerry Nolan and Kane in fine form.
Marquee Tags: Arthur Killer Kane, David Johansen, Jerry Nolan, Johnny Thunder, Live at the Fillmore East, New York Dolls, Sylain SylvainNo comments