The 50th Anniversary salute to Chris Bell, "I Am The Cosmos" happens at the Maria Montessori Amphitheatre in Memphis.
Here's the scoop...
"I Am The Cosmos" single from 1978.
Step into the timeless universe of Chris Bell's musical legacy at our tribute concert featuring his iconic "I Am the Cosmos," alongside tracks from Big Star's "#1 Record" album and Chris Bell's "Looking Forward" compilation released by Omnivore Recordings in 2017.
Prepare to be mesmerized as talented musicians breathe new life into the ethereal melodies and poetic lyrics of "I Am the Cosmos," capturing the essence of Bell's visionary genius. Join us for an unforgettable evening where we honour Chris Bell's contributions to music, showcasing not only the brilliance of "I Am the Cosmos" but also the timeless classics from Big Star's groundbreaking "#1 Record" album.
The River Series is a fundraiser for the Maria Montessori School (MMS). We host shows at our on-campus amphitheatre (740 Harbor Bend Road, Memphis) every spring and fall, bringing an eclectic mix of local and touring acts together for performances at a truly special place in Downtown Memphis. This Spring series is sponsored by Wiseacre Brewing, Cordelia's Market, WYXR, Tom Martin Design and Goner Records and produced by a collection of MMS parents.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $8 for kids. Tickets will also be available at the door the day of the show. All proceeds go to support the Maria Montessori School. Doors open at 4pm. There will be Wiseacre beer available for a donation and the ChiPhi food truck will be on site! Get tickets right here.
Janis Joplin's informal 1964 rehearsal session at Jorma Kaukonen's house is being issued on vinyl by Omnivore November 25th.
Here's the scoop...
Jorma Kaukonen (later of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) met a singer named Janis Joplin at a hootenanny in San Jose, California, in the fall of 1962. Over the following years, Janis would call on Jorma to accompany her at gigs. As they continued to play together, the Bay Area was changing musically and developing into the legendary San Francisco scene to which both Janis and Jorma would be integral. During a rehearsal for a show in North Beach, Jorma started his reel-to-reel machine to capture what they were working on. For decades, this recording was the stuff of legend, with inferior, multi-generational transfers making their way through select collector’s circles. Now, for the very first time, it is available officially, with the blessing and cooperation of both the Janis Joplin Estate and Jorma Kaukonen.
The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House contains this legendary recording, featuring Restoration and Mastering from Grammy-winner Michael Graves. The tracks include Joplin on vocals, Kaukonen on guitar, and Jorma’s wife Margareta typing away intermittently in the background. This may have just been a rehearsal, but it is so much more.
Featuring Joplin originals, as well as blues classics, The Legendary Typewriter Tape is an intimate glimpse into two major artists at the beginnings of what would become highly influential careers. As Jorma says in his liner notes: “This is indeed a window into a simpler time when the music truly was everything.”
Enjoy being a fly on the wall and revel in the magic of The Legendary Typewriter Tape.
Note: Those who miss the LP version The Legendary Typewriter Tape on Record Store Day (Nov. 25) can get the CD release (available Dec 2) via Omnivore Recordings right here.
Check out a sampling of what was recorded at Jorma's house following the teaser clip and track listing.
Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen – The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma's House
Violent Femmes' Victor DeLorenzo joins David J & Darwin Meiners in Night Crickets whose debut, A Free Society is out Jan 21.
Here's the scoop...
Iconic and foundational bands in the history of alternative music certainly include Bauhaus, Love And Rockets, and Violent Femmes. San Francisco born artist Darwin Meiners was a fan of all three. A chance meeting 13 years ago with David J (Bauhaus, Love & Rockets) grew into a friendship, and Darwin not only became a bandmate, but David J’s manager. After reaching out to Victor DeLorenzo through e-mail, Darwin met the Violent Femmes drummer after the Femmes’ Coachella set in 2013. Soon after the three collaborated on Darwin’s 2014 release Souvenir.
As the pandemic took hold, Darwin was looking for a new project to occupy the lock-down time and approached Victor, who was keen to proceed and suggested that David join as well. The musical trust established between these three was immediate and Night Crickets were born. Within weeks a global process was initiated between them, the recordings eventually forming the album, A Free Society. To say this is something of a dream come true for music fans would be entirely accurate.
(The band’s name came from one of many Zoom meetings between the three members. After addressing various pressing musical issues the conversation rambled somewhat and turned to the subject of David Lynch, with David J telling an anecdote which was told to him by Lynch’s sound designer, John Neff. Lynch had asked Neff to obtain a field recording of crickets chirping at night for inclusion in Mulholland Drive. When Neff played him the tape, the director immediately recognized the sound that the insects make when it is light which is apparently a little different to their nocturnal chirp. “No! No! No! These are day crickets, John! I want my night crickets!” Victor, Darwin, and David then shared a look of mutual realization and instantly agreed that the project now had a name!)
Check out "A Free Society" and "Candlestick Park" below.
In Night Crickets’ own words:
Night Crickets, a long distance groove affair conducted during the drawn out days of lockdown and beyond. Audio files shared from Los Angeles to Milwaukee, from London to the San Francisco Bay, and the ghosts of Candlestick Park shimmer through the fog, the Devil comes a-knocking on Peter Laughner’s door and Amanda Gorman conjures forth words of inspiration for the dawn of the new millennium.
David J, Victor DeLorenzo, and Darwin spearhead a loose collective of like-minded creative souls left stranded in their respective locales due to the great pandemic, yet through sheer tenacity and a burning desire to collaborate and create they transcend the restrictions of the times and pull together a glorious ‘gesamtkunstwerk’ that draws from the past, the present and the imagined future.
Hark! Night Crickets are chirping as the world is set on fire and the sun is going down.
Get a copy of Night Crickets debut A Free Society from Omnivore right here. Watch Victor discuss the new project below.
Omnivore is putting out Go Find The Moon – including Laura's early version of "And When I Die" – on vinyl September 10th.
Here's the scoop from Omnivore...
In the summer of 1966, an 18-year-old Laura Nyro had the chance to audition for Milt Okun, one of the most respected music producers of the day, and Artie Mogull, a noted A&R man. After the session, Mogull became her manager, and Okun signed on to produce her debut record, More Than Just A Discovery. One of the songs she performed, “And When I Die” became the opening track to Peter, Paul, And Mary’s hit The Peter, Paul, And Mary Album – reaching even bigger heights with a cover from Blood, Sweat, & Tears, reaching #2 on the Billboard Charts in 1969.
It’s not that she didn’t write other future smashes performed by Three Dog Night (“Eli’s Coming”), The 5th Dimension (“Stoned Soul Picnic,” “Save The Country,” and “Wedding Bell Blues”), Barbra Streisand (“Stoney End”), but it was Nyro’s heart and soul that drove others to cover her work. And, this is the fist look into the legend she would become.
Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape is the beginning of the future Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee. It was natural. It was organic. It was Laura Nyro. Available now, for the first time, it includes “And When I Die,” as well as songs she never officially released, and versions of classics, delivered with Nyro’s deft and distinctive touch.
Mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves, and Produced for release by Grammy-winner Cheryl Pawelski and George Gilbert of the Laura Nyro Trust, Go Find The Moon is available on CD, Digital, and on LP, cut at 45 rpm, all with liner notes from renowned journalist Jim Farber.
From Farber’s notes – “Here, Laura Nyro led the way, with a performance that captured an artist who, however young, was, at root, already fully formed.”
You can pre-order a copy of Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape from Omnivore Recordings right here. Nyro fans should note that Omnivore is also digitally reissuing her Live In Japan album (recorded in 1994 and originally released in 2003) with five bonus tracks as Trees Of The Ages: Laura Nyro Live In Japan on July 16 which is available here.
Check the track list for Go Find The Moon below. Listen to a version Laura's demo of "And When I Die" which has been circulating online for years.
Laura Nyro – Go Find The Moon: The Audition Tape
And When I Die
Lazy Susan (false start)
Enough Of You
In and Out
Go Find The Moon
Luckie / studio talk
When Sunny Gets Blue (fragment) / Kansas City (fragment) / I Only Want To Be With You (fragment)
Recorded back in 2006 but never issued, Live At Baker's finds soulful guitar slinger Dennis Coffey in the company of his tight organ combo.
Dennis Coffey’s first recording date was in the 1950s, when he was only 15. Years later, he would become a member of The Funk Brothers, playing on hits like Edwin Starr’s “War” and laying down the solo on The Temptations’ “Ball Of Confusion.” He also performed on tracks with Parliament/Funkadelic, Wilson Pickett, Chairmen Of The Board, and produced Cold Fact for Rodriguez. That’s some resume!
But, even as a session musician, Coffey shines brightest playing live, as evidenced on the acclaimed One Night At Morey’s: 1968, a previously unissued set released last year.
Live At Baker’s brings Dennis’ live legacy into this century, with Coffey and his band (two-time Detroit Music Award winner Demetrius Nabors on keys, Grammy-nominated Gaelynn McKinney on drums and bassist Damon Warmack) tearing through nine tracks, which include covers of Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith, and The Temptations—plus a searing version of Coffey’s own Top 10 1971 hit, “Scorpio,” one of the earliest songs by a white artist played on Soul Train. “Scorpio” has been sampled over 90 times ensuring that its captivating qualities will be enjoyed for generations to come.
Live At Baker’s, recorded in 2006, features liner notes from writer Bill Kopp and a new interview with Coffey. Enter the club, get your groove on, and truly feel the soulful guitar magic of the legendary Dennis Coffey. Live At Baker's is due March 1 from Omnivore Recordings. Pre-order it right here. Check the track list following the trailer below.
Dennis Coffey – Live At Baker's
LITTLE SUNFLOWER
CHICAGO SONG
SCORPIO
MOONLIGHT IN VERMONT
JUST MY IMAGINATION
THE SERMON
ALL BLUES
WAY BACK HOME
DINK’S BLUES
The Velvet Crush's co-founder Ric Menck just posted on Facebook about Omnivore's plans to re-release the demos they cut for the group's classic 1994 album, Teenage Symphonies To God which have previously appeared on the Melody Freaks collection in 2002. Interestingly enough, Ric didn't mention anything about a vinyl issue and neither does Omnivore's press release which follows:
"Yes, it's true. There's a new Velvet Crush release coming soon! It's called Pre-Teen Symphonies, and it will be available through the fine folks at Omnivore Records!! It collects the demos we recorded for Teenage Symphonies To God, as well as a live show recorded in Chicago by the WXRT mobile unit.
"This stuff has been out before, but never in one place, and it has never sounded this good (totally remastered from original tapes!). I wrote the liner notes, and the cover of the CD features some really cool never before seen photos. It's been ages since there's been any new "product" by VC on the market, so I'm kinda excited about this! I'm really glad it's coming out on Omnivore, too, because they've been putting out some fantastic records for quite a few years now!"
Here's the Omnivore press release...
SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. — When Rhode Island’s Velvet Crush appeared on
the scene in the early 1990s, they were obviously a force to reckon
with. Signing with England’s Creation Records (Oasis, My Bloody
Valentine, Teenage Fanclub), they released their debut LP in 1991. But,
it was 1994’s Teenage Symphonies To God (the title being a play on Brian Wilson’s description of what would become SMiLE)
on Sony 550 Music that put them on the map. Co-produced by the
legendary Mitch Easter, it opened America’s eyes to what those over the
pond were so wild about.
But, what was the genesis of that record? We can now find out with Pre-Teen Symphonies,
a collection of 16 previously unissued tracks from Velvet Crush: eight
demos (including one for the classic single “Hold Me Up”) and eight
tracks recorded live in 1995 at Cabaret Metro in Chicago. The set,
available on CD and Digital, will be released July 22, 2016.
As the band—fronted by Paul Chastian (bass, guitar and vocals) and
Ric Menck (drums) with Jeffrey Underhill (guitar)—proved the past was
the future by taking elements from classic ’60s melodies, ’70s power
pop, and ’80s reinvention, Pre-Teen Symphonies is a unique look into the development of a classic, and the live power that drove it.
Menck writes in the liners: “It’s probably no exaggeration to make the claim that Teenage Symphonies To God was the pinnacle of our illustrious career as a band. It’s certainly the album by Velvet Crush that most people know. Pre-Teen Symphonies
collects all the loose ends, and hopefully, helps to usher in a new
chapter for the little band that could from Providence, Rhode Island.”
Pre-Teen Symphonies CD/Digital Track List:
1. Hold Me Up
2. My Blank Pages
3. Time Wraps Around You
4. Not Standing Down
5. Turn Down
6. This Life Is Killing Me
7. Weird Summer
8. Star Trip Live At Cabaret Metro, Chicago:
9. Window to the World
10. My Blank Pages
11. Ash and Earth
12. Time Wraps Around You
