News and Commentary

Music News, Reviews and Commentary for April 19

Here is what’s happening today, updated as often as possible: Levon Helm, co-founder of The Band, dies at age 71…YouTube now offers 150,000 music tracks for video backgrounds…PerezHilton.com says that Cheryl Cole’s album is due June 7. The story has 102 words and seven exclamation points!!…The Roots, Jesus and Mary Chain, Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo, Liars and Sun O are among acts scheduled to appear at the Hopscotch Music Festival Sept. 6-8 in Raleigh, N.C…TheNational has a piece on a four-disc retrospective of Vanguard Records…It’s safe to say that there are not many harpists in pop, R&B and hip-hop, but NPR writes about one, Rashida Jolley…It’s becoming easier to present live music at small venues in the U.K…Facebook now will feature a listen button that connects to a streaming music service that automatically plays artists’ music…Here’s a feature on Esperanza Spaulding, the jazz artist who won last year’s Best New Artist Grammy…CounterPoint, a music and arts festival, has been announced for Sept. 28 and 29. It will be held at the Chattahoochee river front, about a half-hour south of Atlanta. The press release mentioned no artists…Sony is looking good in its takeover bid for EMI Music as the European Commission is expected to approve…Johnny Cash’s daughter Rosanne will appear at the Midland Theatre in Newark, OH on Friday and Gunar and Matthew Nelson — twin sons of Ricky Nelson — will be at the venue on April 28…The Cleveland Orchestra’s performance at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, CA on Tuesday night was reviewed as “magnificent.”...Political consultant Mark Salter discusses Levon Helm, who is very ill…Too bad people wait to reconcile until one is very ill. The Guardian reports that Robbie Robertson visited Helm…TuneUp Mobile is a free app for Apple devices that instantaneously identifies, shares and discovers music…

Photo credit: Kevin_P  from morguefile.com

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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