Happy Birthday Eleni Mandell!

Celebrating Eleni's birthday with a couple performances, Jackson Browne's version of her song "My Twin" and an old interview. 

Chicago celebrates Mavis Staples' 85th Birthday at the Auditorium on Dec 6

Better five months late than never, Chicago celebrates Mavis Staples birthday with Margo Price and Jackson Browne joining in! 

Get tickets for the Mavis Staples 85th Birthday Celebration at the Auditorium in Chicago right here. 

Watch "Wonderland," a 1977 Dutch documentary on the L.A. music scene

Wonderland features rarely seen footage of Warren Zevon, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne & Linda Ronstadt in their element. 

New Judee Sill doc Lost Angel premieres in New York on Sunday

Lost Angel delves into the music and life of singer/songwriter Judee Sill which finally gets screened at New York's SVA Theatre. 

Here's the scoop from music supervisor Pat Thomas...

"For the past several years, I've been a funky blend of co-music supervisor, co-producer, primary psychotherapist / psychologist / mediator between a whole team of folks: the Judee Sill Estate and the co-directors and producer (including the fab Brian Lindstrom) of a documentary titled: "Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill " that is finally debuting this weekend at an NYC film festival. It will eventually play in other cities / festivals and hit the usual rounds of streaming services - so be patient. 

"I'll say this - it was a giant pain in the ass - but I think the final film is quite brilliant - as it features a lot of Judee's own voice, words, art, journals, music AND folks who actually knew her: Geffen, Nash, Crosby, Souther, Ronstadt, Peltier. This fab artwork below is by Jess Rotter - who contributed other art to the film." – Pat Thomas

DOC NYC world premiere of Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill at SVA Theatre (333 West 23rd St, NYC) on Nov. 13th 8 pm , Q&A with singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin, Rolling Stone's Angie Martoccio & filmmakers Andy Brown & Brian Lindstrom.

Note: If you aren't in NYC and want to stream Lost Angel: The Genius of Judee Sill, from Nov. 14-27, you can do so by using the link below. Also, DOC NYC has added an additional screening at Cinépolis Chelsea (260 W. 23rd St., NYC) on Nov. 14th at 3:45 pm. Tickets available for both virtual and in-person here: https://www.docnyc.net/film/lost-angel-the-genius-of-judee-sill/

Watch the Lost Angel teaser trailer followed by some of Judee Sill's BBC recordings from 1972-73 and the 2014 radio documentary The Lost Genius of Judee Sill below. 

Jackson Browne vs. Buffy Sainte-Marie

Check out Jackson Browne's version of Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Piney Wood Hills" followed by Buffy's original 1965 recorrding.

Happy Birthday Eleni Mandell

Celebrating Eleni birthday with Jackson Browne's version of Eleni's "My Twin"  and a rare appearance in Cesar Padilla video. 

Eleni's Live at Yep Roc 15 live recording from 2012 is available as a digital download right here. 

Jackson Browne covers Eleni Mandell's "My Twin" at Unsung Heroes benefit

Eleni Mandell was clearly delighted with Jackson Browne's version of "My Twin" at The Bootleg in L.A. last night.

Ray Davies reworks the tribute concept

There have been a couple of tribute albums celebrating the music of the Kinks and their chief songwriter Ray Davies which despite the good intentions of all involved have been patchy affairs. Selecting a slate of worthy participants whose personalized submissions will make sense when sequenced together on a single album is every bit as big a challenge as choosing the appropriate song for each to cover. Even hugely gifted artists don't always make great interpretive stylists.
Perhaps to take some of the guesswork out of the whole tribute process or maybe simply to exert more control over the choices of who would be involved, what songs they'd sing and how they'd sing them, Davies decided to assemble See My Friends (Universal) himself not unlike Van Morrison did with 1994's No Prima Donna. Unfortunately, Davies' auto-tribute gambit hasn't worked out much better and his decision to one-up Van by contributing vocals and guitar to most tracks doesn't seem to have helped.
Whereas Morrison's self-produced homage suffered from overly reverential renditions by people Morrison wanted to hear interpreting his stuff (i.e. Liam Neeson, Brian Kennedy, Phil Coulter, Marianne Faithfull, etc) rather than refreshing new takes by rising stars of the day who might've helped bring Morrison's music to a whole different audience, Davies' version suffers from the competing selection criteria of inviting artists he admires (Alex Chilton, Lucinda Williams, Paloma Faith, Frank Black) while not offending celebrity acquaintances asking to be involved (Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi & Ritchie Sambora, Jackson Browne) and placating the label brass by including a few younger names who might help goose sales with the under-50 demographic (Billy Corgan, Amy Macdonald, Spoon, Mumford & Sons).
It wouldn't be at all surprising to learn that a number of Davies' ideas for collaborative pairings came about by mere coincidence – a meeting in a coffee shop, a festival billing, a shared hair stylist – whatever. That would make more sense than Davies' seeking out Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody in hopes of convincing him to remake Tired Of Waiting as it really should be done or pleading with 23-year-old Amy Macdonald to use her life experience to bring some realism to Dead End Street.
If Davies had any prior experience with Lucinda Williams, who isn't overly comfortable in a studio setting when recording her own songs, he probably would've known better than to ask her to sing something she was unfamiliar with like Long Way From Home. Hearing her performance – apparently the best of four takes after having learned the lyrics the night before – it's painfully obvious that she's out of her element.
The head-scratching cast of characters on See My Friends naturally leads to a confusing hodge-podge of an album which veers from full-on metal onslaught one moment to a somber vocal duet backed by gently strummed acoustic guitars the next. Incidentally, the beautifully understated acoustic version of Waterloo Sunset sung by Jackson Browne with Davies on backing vocals is easily the best thing here. Why anyone thought Springsteen growling Better Things or Bon Jovi bellowing Celluloid Heroes would be a better idea when hamfistedly backed by Paul Shaffer and the rest of David Letterman's Late Show Band is beyond me.
In retrospect, Davies would've saved lots of time and money – and likely gotten more enjoyable results – if he'd have simply taken his acoustic guitar to the home of each artist and recorded right there in their kitchen.    
While it could be argued that the drastic stylistic variation from track to track on See My Friends offers an accurate representation of the multi-faceted nature of Davies' writing, nevertheless, it doesn't make for a coherent listen. But then again, in the iTunes era, who listens to albums anyway? 

See My Friends (Universal)

1.  Better Things – Ray Davies & Bruce Springsteen w/ The Late Show Band
2.  Celluloid Heroes – Ray Davies, Jon Bon Jovi & Richie Sambora w/ The Late Show Band
3.  Days/This Time Tomorrow – Ray Davies & Mumford & Sons
4.  Long Way From Home – Ray Davies & Lucinda Williams
5.  You Really Got Me – Ray Davies & Metallica
6.  Lola – Ray Davies & Paloma Faith
7.  Waterloo Sunset – Ray Davies & Jackson Browne
8.  ‘Til The End of The Day – Ray Davies, Alex Chilton 
9.  Dead End Street – Ray Davies & Amy Macdonald
10.  See My Friends – Ray Davies & Spoon
11.  This Is Where I Belong – Ray Davies & Black Francis
12.  David Watts – Ray Davies & The 88
13.  Tired Of Waiting – Ray Davies & Gary Lightbody
14.  All Day And All Of The Night/Destroyer – Ray Davies & Billy Corgan


Ray Davies pitches See My Friends


Days / This Time Tomorrow by Ray Davies with Mumford & Sons