The Current Music Blog: July 29, 2009 Archive

Today In Music History: Farewell to Mama Cass

Posted at 6:08 AM on July 29, 2009 by Steve Seel (2 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

Birthdays:

Geddy Lee of Rush is 56.
Simon Jones (bass, The Verve) is 37.

1966 - The magazine Datebook published an interview with John Lennon in which he said "We're bigger than Jesus now." American Christians reacted with outrage, organizing "Beatle bonfires" burning the group's records.
1966 - Bob Dylan was involved in a motorcycle accident near Woodstock, N.Y. He suffered critical injuries and took months to recover.
1966 - Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker made their live debut as Cream.
1967 - The Doors started a three week run at No.1 on the singles chart with "Light My Fire".
1980 - David Bowie starred in the stage play of The Elephant Man, in Denver, Colorado.
2007 - Heart problems forced Kiss singer and guitarist Paul Stanley to abandon a show in California. Paramedics stopped and restarted his heart to give it a regular rhythm after his heart spontaneously jumped to 190 plus beats per minute.

Today in 1974, Mamas And The Papas singer Cass Elliot died in her sleep from a heart attack after playing a sold out show in London, England. She was staying at Harry Nilson's London apartment when she died. Her only solo hit was "Dream a Little Dream of Me," which also featured the rest of The Mamas and The Papas.

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Song of the Day - Sweeten up your "Bitter Heart" for free!

Posted at 10:09 AM on July 29, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (0 Comments)

Malaysian artist Zee Avi recently released her eponymous record and today on our Song Of The Day podcast you can grab her tune "Bitter Heart" for free!

If you're a new S.O.D. subscriber, you'll also receive new music from Those Darlins, Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros, Eyedea and Abilites and Other Lives. Later on this week we'll be featuring new music from Generationals and new local music from The Blind Shake.

You can catch Zee Avi in town for a 2-night stand as she'll be opening for Pete Yorn at The Fine Line Music Cafe on August 13 and 13th.

Here's a video of Zee doing the Charlie Chaplin classic, "Smile" - enjoy!

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3 songs done by domestic bands that sound like imports... 7/29

Posted at 12:21 PM on July 29, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (0 Comments)
Filed under: My Three Songs

Steven Clay from Minneapolis picked today's My 3 Songs set because...

"Three songs from bands that, if you had never heard them before, you might have a hard time believing they hailed from the good ol' US of A "

DeVotchka - "The Clockwise Witness"
Rancid - "Ruby Soho"
The Decemberists - "The Rake's Song"

Make your "My 3 Songs" requests here.

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Where Does That Highway Go To?

Posted at 12:57 PM on July 29, 2009 by Steve Seel (0 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

Whatever your opinion on the notorious Hell's Angels, their arrival in the Duluth area for the annual USA Summer Ride (including the requisite stop in Sturgis) provided the grist for today's 9:30 Coffee Break: songs for hitting the open road. We went with:

1) Bob Dylan, "Highway 61 Revisited" (ironic, given Bob's entry in "Today in Music History", below)
2) Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Road Trippin'"
3) Roger Miller, "King Of The Road"
4) Sufjan Stevens, "Chicago"
5) Yo La Tengo, "Speeding Motorcycle"

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