MUSE

PLUG IN BABY by Muse

The band MUSE consists of school friends Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, lead guitar, piano, keyboards, key tar), Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, vocals, keyboards, Misa Kitara, harmonica), and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesizers).  A fabulous band all around.  Bellamy as a guitarist plays complex figures while still keeping melody as his focus.

We're back ...

We are starting back with entries over here at the blog, beginning with this amazing video of Randy Hansen, who is a brilliant player and a really nice guy ...

Stay tuned for more!

A short hiatus - for a very good reason ...

Susanne is teaching her first quarter up at Western Washington University, so we're having to skip a couple of weeks on the blog as she adjusts to her busy schedule.

In the meantime, however - and as a little celebration for her good fortune - here's a link to her favorite Faces song ...

Flying ... by the Faces

... and another fun video of the boys, performing live at the BBC in 1971 ...

Susanne says, "Woody's playing on the first one is divine ... and Ronnie's bass lines on the second are BRILLIANT!"  :)

Another moment in jazz history - the fabulous Barney Kessel ...

We are letting the late great jazz guitarist, Barney Kessel say it all through words and playing tonight. Here he is on the program Jazz Scene USA, circa 1962 - enjoy!

The finesse and power of Nancy Wilson ...

Short and very sweet in words tonight - because her absolutely brilliant playing and wonderful commentary say it all (you can skip ahead to 2:13 to see just the performance of "Crazy on You" - but the backstage stuff at the beginning is pretty cool too) ...

Back in the day (around the time of this concert), a fellow guitarist and friend told Jesse about seeing Heart in concert - and as Jesse recalls, the guy was completely blown away by Nancy Wilson's playing. She became one of the most influential female rock players out there, and still manages to wow the crowds at concerts - just do a search on YouTube for recent performances by Heart to see her kick up the dust on stage. Here's one more video of them, performing "Barracuda" at the Sky Church in 2010, with sister Ann giving every young female vocalist out there today a run for their money ...

Incidentally, Heart's bassist, Steve Fossen (who plays on the first video in this entry), joined Jesse's band Strypes in the mid 1980s. He is great bass player and a really nice guy, and played with them for a couple of years.  Yes, it was quite the small world back then in the Seattle/Tacoma music scene - as I suspect it still is!  :)

"In a Silent Way" at Bill Graham's Fillmore West ...

Jesse and I watched Fillmore: The Last Days this past weekend, which is a documentary of the final concerts at Bill Graham's world famous venue in San Francisco between 29 June and 4 July, 1971. There were a number of great performances featured on the film - however, for us, the high point was watching Santana perform Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way"on the last day. At the time, the band featured Carlos Santana and a very young Neal Schon on lead guitars, David Brown on bass, Michael Shrieve on drums, Mike Carabello on congas, José "Chepito" Areas and Coke Escovedo on Timbales, and Gregg Rolie on keyboards - in short, an absolutely brilliant line-up.  Here is an audio recording of the performance ...

I love the play back and forth between Santana and Schon in this version - amazing technique and tone in both these guitarists, which is only enhanced by that killer percussion section throughout the entire song.

Bill Graham moved his Fillmore Auditorium to the Carousel Ballroom on South Van Ness Avenue in 1968, and renamed it the Fillmore West (he also owned the Fillmore East in Manhattan). Building on an already world famous reputation, Graham would continue to feature the best of the best until the venue's final days in 1971. Everyone who was anyone on the scene performed at the Fillmore West, from Jimi Hendrix to Jefferson Airplane - and Graham was known for mixing it up in his bookings for a single night, featuring pure psychedelic rock acts on the same ticket as major blues and/or jazz groups. These were the days of affordable ticket prices and pretty intimate settings - so the crowds packed in and history was made night after night.  Graham also hired professional artists to create some of the most iconic posters of the era - here are a couple from 1968 and 1970 that feature Santana alongside a handful of other amazing bands ...

Ah those heady days of colorful swirls and black light ballrooms - it must have been fun!

One last thing regarding "In a Silent Way" ...