Frank Gutch Jr: Angharad Drake— Two Vancouver Shows Left; 2017 Releases Worthy of Note; and Speaking of Notes…

 

One down, two to go… Angharad Drake, as far as I know (I mean, I wasn’t there, Nanaimo being a lo-o-ong walk from Oregon), finished her one gig on Vancouver Island and is set to play two more in Vancouver before leaving for her homeland, Australia.  Those will happen (barring God and Act of Congress— and we have seen how Congress has been acting lately) on Friday and Saturday, June 23^rd and 24^th.  On Friday, she will play Trees Organic Coffee and Roasting House and on Saturday, The Heatley.  Here is a sample for your listening enjoyment.

Frank Gutch Jr: A Journey and the Soundtrack to my Life; Angharad Drake’s New Album; The Big Bright In the Studio; Plus Notes…

 And I don’t mean the band Journey recently inducted into the supposed Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.  God knows what those clowns think when they make their choices but when I look at the possible choices they could have made besides those guys… well, I won’t go there.  Let me just say that I understand when people are upset when I make such statements because they have a soundtrack to their lives as well, but this isn’t their column, is it?  I look at it this way— Journey had hits, yes, and made CBS one hell of a lot of money, but they didn’t have an original bone in all of their collective bodies and you will never change my mind.  Hall of Fame?  Not even close.  Not while the hundreds more deserving are locked out.  Change that to thousands.

Frank Gutch Jr: Musicians on a Mission: Dan Phelps, Julian Taylor, Wes Swing, and Jimmy Lee (formerly Lee’s Company)… Plus a lugubrious panorama of Notes

Meet Dan Phelps, if you have not already done so.  I first ran across him over a decade ago when he was working with both Bill Pillmore and his daughter Jess Pillmore on their respective albums, Look In Look Out and Reveal.  Bill was an original member of Cowboy and I had heard through Scott Boyer, another original member of that venerable band, that he was recording for the first time, to my knowledge, since Cowboy‘s excellent 1971 release, 5’ll Getcha Ten.  When I contacted him, he was in full recording mode, working with Phelps, whom he had chosen to produce.  To my amazement, Phelps did more than just produce.  He was a sideman and a damn good one, a creator of good licks and solid musical ideas.  It was a first look at a musician I would follow from that point on.

Frank Gutch Jr: All Things Must Pass— Thoughts On the Record Business; No Small Children and the Radio; plus Notes To Plant In Your Head (Yes, It is Spring, Sports Fans)…

I just finished watching the documentary titled All Things Must Pass about Tower Records and their rise and fall and am going to try to tell you a bit about the record business in which I worked.  First, though, a few people to whom I have talked about the film have made comments about Russ Solomon, the man behind the chain, which were none too complimentary.  When I heard them, I didn’t say much because I had yet to see it and thought maybe the comments were more toward the film than Russ himself.  So let me now respond to those few, none named because the conversations were private and thus not fodder for public consumption.

Frank Gutch Jr: Vinyl Presence & Presents (After All, Christmas Is Around the Corner) and Notes From Under the Ground…..

I don’t know what youth wants from us old farts, especially when it comes to music.  Many mock us for being Boomers, many laugh at our music.  I can understand.  I laugh at us, too.  Our insistence that stars are gods, especially rock and movie stars.  Our self-indulgence.  Our knowledge that we more than any others are omniscient.  God, but there have been times when I wished I had been borne of another generation (until I look at the other generations and realize that they are as fucked up as are we).