On
Wednesday, December 31, 2014, Andy Summers – my favorite guitarist
and musician of all time – turns 72 years old.
I
first became acquainted with the music of Summers in 1983 at the age
of 10 in a Catholic elementary school classroom when I heard a
hypnotic and futuristic-sounding pop/rock song emanating from the
radio of Candy, my substitute teacher. When I asked what the song was
and who recorded it, I was promptly informed that it was “Spirits
in the Material World” by The Police. I was instantly hooked, so
much so that that Christmas, my parents got me a vinyl copy of
Synchronicity, The Police’s fifth and final studio album and
one of the biggest hits of the year. The Police have since remained
my favorite rock band of all time.
Summers
was the guitarist for the mega-popular group, who were active in the
late 1970s and early 1980s and reunited for a 30th anniversary tour
in 2007 and 2008. Being a good decade older than his bandmates Sting
and Stewart Copeland, Summers began his professional recording career
in the early 1960s, playing for Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band (which
later became the psychedelic but short-lived Dantalian’s Chariot),
Eric Burdon’s New Animals, and Soft Machine. After formally
studying guitar at Northridge University in California from the late
1960s to the early 1970s, Summers returned to England and plied his
trade as a session guitarist for Joan Armatrading, Neil Sedaka, Kevin
Coyne, and Deep Purple’s Jon Lord before achieving monumental
success and international stardom with The Police.
After
the dissolution of The Police in the early 1980s, Summers scored some
Hollywood films (Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Weekend at
Bernie’s) and recorded one rock vocal album before establishing
himself as an acclaimed and accomplished contemporary instrumental
guitarist across a variety of styles, including jazz, fusion, New
Age, and world music.
I
was privileged to interview Summers by telephone in Fall 2000 for the
January 2001 issue of DirecTV: The Guide. I was pleasantly
surprised when I discovered that Summers posted a notice of the
interview in the news section of his Web site. Later, I met Summers
in person during his book tour in Fall 2006, just a few months before
The Police reunited for a 30th anniversary reunion tour, which I was
fortunate to attend twice in August of 2007 and 2008.
For
a good overview of Summers’ solo work, I highly recommend the
following albums: Mysterious
Barricades, A Windham Hill Retrospective, Synaesthesia,
and The
X Tracks.
My personal favorite Summers albums are Mysterious
Barricades, The Golden Wire, World Gone Strange, Synaesthesia,
Fundamental
(with
Fernanda Takai), and Circus
Hero (with
his rock band Circa Zero).
--Raj
Manoharan
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Happy Birthday, Michael Nesmith!
On
Tuesday,
December 30, 2014, Michael
Nesmith of The Monkees (the one with the green wool hat) turns 72
years old.
Of all of The Monkees, Nesmith has had the most prolific and successful solo career. He pioneered the country-rock music format in the early to mid-1970s, founded the music and video label Pacific Arts, and basically created the concept of MTV. In addition to producing films and music videos, Nesmith also won the very first Grammy Award for Best Home Video for Elephant Parts, which later led to NBC’s short-lived Television Parts. In an interesting side note, Nesmith’s mother invented liquid paper and sold it to Gillette for a substantial fortune, which Nesmith inherited.
For a good overview of Nesmith’s solo music career, I recommend The Older Stuff, The Newer Stuff, Tropical Campfire’s, Live at the Britt Festival, Rays, and Movies of the Mind.
More information about Nesmith is available on his Web site at www.videoranch.com.
The following are links to my reviews of Nesmith's 2013 live tour and the subsequent live CD.
http://www.monkees.net/michael-nesmith-review-live-at-bergen-pac-2013/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/Michael-Nesmith-tickets/artist/735735?tm_link=artist_artistvenue_module
Of all of The Monkees, Nesmith has had the most prolific and successful solo career. He pioneered the country-rock music format in the early to mid-1970s, founded the music and video label Pacific Arts, and basically created the concept of MTV. In addition to producing films and music videos, Nesmith also won the very first Grammy Award for Best Home Video for Elephant Parts, which later led to NBC’s short-lived Television Parts. In an interesting side note, Nesmith’s mother invented liquid paper and sold it to Gillette for a substantial fortune, which Nesmith inherited.
For a good overview of Nesmith’s solo music career, I recommend The Older Stuff, The Newer Stuff, Tropical Campfire’s, Live at the Britt Festival, Rays, and Movies of the Mind.
More information about Nesmith is available on his Web site at www.videoranch.com.
The following are links to my reviews of Nesmith's 2013 live tour and the subsequent live CD.
http://www.monkees.net/michael-nesmith-review-live-at-bergen-pac-2013/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/Michael-Nesmith-tickets/artist/735735?tm_link=artist_artistvenue_module
Sunday, December 14, 2014
CD Review – Craftsman, by Bob Ardern
Bob
Ardern is a craftsman, alright, showcasing his
craftsmanship as a spot-on composer and performer of
sprightly acoustic guitar instrumentals.
The original tunes reflect Ardern's inherent rustic folksiness, which is given a pop lilt thanks to the contributions of class act musicians who are artists in their own right.
Ardern's accompanists include Kev Corbett on bass, bodhran, and percussion; David Findlay on bass, bells, bodhran, celeste, glockenspiel, hi hat, piano, pipe organ, synthesizer pads, and trumpet; and Alyssa Wright on cello.
If you're looking for acoustic guitar music with a pulse, this certainly fits the bill.
--Raj Manoharan
The original tunes reflect Ardern's inherent rustic folksiness, which is given a pop lilt thanks to the contributions of class act musicians who are artists in their own right.
Ardern's accompanists include Kev Corbett on bass, bodhran, and percussion; David Findlay on bass, bells, bodhran, celeste, glockenspiel, hi hat, piano, pipe organ, synthesizer pads, and trumpet; and Alyssa Wright on cello.
If you're looking for acoustic guitar music with a pulse, this certainly fits the bill.
--Raj Manoharan
Sunday, December 7, 2014
CD Review – New Horizon, by Minstrel Streams
The
acoustic guitar and piano of Matt Stuart and flutes
of Rebecca Stuart come together to form lyrical,
melodic music that is fit for fairy tales (that's a
good thing).
The songs all have a fanciful storybook quality to them. Just like the name of the band suggests, this is minstrel music with a modern twist.
Giving a contemporary bent to the duo's olde time sound are the talents of Eugene Friesen on cello, Jill Haley on English horn, Paul Kochanski on string bass, Matt Heaton on bodhran drum, Noah Wilding on vocals, and Tom Eaton on percussion and accordion.
If you're inclined toward modern Renaissance fare, this is worth your time and consideration.
--Raj Manoharan
The songs all have a fanciful storybook quality to them. Just like the name of the band suggests, this is minstrel music with a modern twist.
Giving a contemporary bent to the duo's olde time sound are the talents of Eugene Friesen on cello, Jill Haley on English horn, Paul Kochanski on string bass, Matt Heaton on bodhran drum, Noah Wilding on vocals, and Tom Eaton on percussion and accordion.
If you're inclined toward modern Renaissance fare, this is worth your time and consideration.
--Raj Manoharan
Sunday, November 30, 2014
TV, Music – Tis the Season, Charlie Brown
It’s
that time of year again – the period from late October through late
December where we go through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas,
complete with pumpkin picking and trick-or-treating, Butterball and
football, and decked halls and snowfalls. In terms of entertainment,
we have costumes, parades, and the Rockettes, along with numerous
television specials and holiday music releases. However, nothing
captures the pop culture spirit of the season like the Charlie
Brown
TV specials. Good old Chuck, Linus and Lucy, Snoopy, and the rest of
the Peanuts
gang epitomize the holidays like no one else.
If you don’t have the time (or the stomach) to watch all the holiday programming that will be overwhelming the airwaves over the next couple of months, your best bets are the Charlie Brown specials, including It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; and A Charlie Brown Christmas. These are all available on DVD, but there’s something magical about watching them on network television during the season.
In terms of holiday music, you can’t do better than the soundtracks to the Charlie Brown specials. As enjoyable as holiday releases by major and independent artists can be, they don’t compare to the beauty and innocence of the scores for the Peanuts specials. There are several albums that cover the music of the Peanuts shows, but I really recommend the actual soundtracks to the programs composed and performed by Vince Gauraldi. Like the shows, his timeless Charlie Brown recordings exude the peace, contentment, and happiness of the holidays.
--Raj Manoharan
If you don’t have the time (or the stomach) to watch all the holiday programming that will be overwhelming the airwaves over the next couple of months, your best bets are the Charlie Brown specials, including It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving; and A Charlie Brown Christmas. These are all available on DVD, but there’s something magical about watching them on network television during the season.
In terms of holiday music, you can’t do better than the soundtracks to the Charlie Brown specials. As enjoyable as holiday releases by major and independent artists can be, they don’t compare to the beauty and innocence of the scores for the Peanuts specials. There are several albums that cover the music of the Peanuts shows, but I really recommend the actual soundtracks to the programs composed and performed by Vince Gauraldi. Like the shows, his timeless Charlie Brown recordings exude the peace, contentment, and happiness of the holidays.
--Raj Manoharan
TV – Watch People Interviewed by Me on Me TV
Several
people that I interviewed during my entertainment writing and
celebrity interviewing heyday can be seen regularly on Me TV.
The 6 p.m. weeknight beat is patrolled by Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox as California Highway Patrol motorcycle cops Ponch and Jon on CHiPs.
At 9 p.m. on Saturdays, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy explore space while trying to keep the intergalactic peace as Kirk and Spock on Star Trek.
On Sundays at 6 p.m., you can see James MacArthur (Helen Hayes' son) as Detective Danny “Danno” Williams getting patched through to McGarrett (Jack Lord) on Hawaii Five-O.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Estrada and Wilcox in 1998 for the occasion of their CHiPs '99 TV reunion movie. Estrada kept calling me “pardner,” and Wilcox, a computer business mogul at the time, invited me to his ranch in California, an invitation I regrettably never had the opportunity to take him up on.
I interviewed Nimoy in 1997 for his participation in a series of radio plays inspired by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and spearheaded by John de Lancie (Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation).
I interviewed Shatner because he was hosting The Sci-Fi Channel's remastered reruns of the show in 1998. It was thrilling to hear Captain Kirk/T.J. Hooker himself tell me he needed my help in getting the word out about his activities at the time. When I told him he was really going where no man had gone before with his Name in Space project, in which you could have your and your lover's names orbit Earth alongside his name in a space capsule, he exclaimed, “Isn't that wild?!”
I interviewed MacArthur in 1997 because The Family Channel was airing remastered versions of the show. When I interviewed MacArthur, he was in his home office in Palm Desert, California, looking at posters of his films, such as Swiss Family Robinson. MacArthur told me that in return for promoting the remastered shows, rather than money, he wanted The Family Channel to give him all the remastered episodes on videotape so he could show them to his children and grandchildren. This was just before the advent of DVDs. So MacArthur wasn't just one of the stars of the show, he was also a fan!
It was great to hear MacArthur not only reminisce about his career (including working with his mother Helen Hayes, who guest-starred as Danno's aunt in Hawaii Five-O), but also recollect the late, great Jack Lord. MacArthur himself passed away in 2010, just as he was finalizing plans to guest star in the new Hawaii Five-0 TV series. MacArthur was living in Florida at the time.
Watch people interviewed by me on Me TV.
--Raj Manoharan
The 6 p.m. weeknight beat is patrolled by Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox as California Highway Patrol motorcycle cops Ponch and Jon on CHiPs.
At 9 p.m. on Saturdays, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy explore space while trying to keep the intergalactic peace as Kirk and Spock on Star Trek.
On Sundays at 6 p.m., you can see James MacArthur (Helen Hayes' son) as Detective Danny “Danno” Williams getting patched through to McGarrett (Jack Lord) on Hawaii Five-O.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Estrada and Wilcox in 1998 for the occasion of their CHiPs '99 TV reunion movie. Estrada kept calling me “pardner,” and Wilcox, a computer business mogul at the time, invited me to his ranch in California, an invitation I regrettably never had the opportunity to take him up on.
I interviewed Nimoy in 1997 for his participation in a series of radio plays inspired by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and spearheaded by John de Lancie (Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation).
I interviewed Shatner because he was hosting The Sci-Fi Channel's remastered reruns of the show in 1998. It was thrilling to hear Captain Kirk/T.J. Hooker himself tell me he needed my help in getting the word out about his activities at the time. When I told him he was really going where no man had gone before with his Name in Space project, in which you could have your and your lover's names orbit Earth alongside his name in a space capsule, he exclaimed, “Isn't that wild?!”
I interviewed MacArthur in 1997 because The Family Channel was airing remastered versions of the show. When I interviewed MacArthur, he was in his home office in Palm Desert, California, looking at posters of his films, such as Swiss Family Robinson. MacArthur told me that in return for promoting the remastered shows, rather than money, he wanted The Family Channel to give him all the remastered episodes on videotape so he could show them to his children and grandchildren. This was just before the advent of DVDs. So MacArthur wasn't just one of the stars of the show, he was also a fan!
It was great to hear MacArthur not only reminisce about his career (including working with his mother Helen Hayes, who guest-starred as Danno's aunt in Hawaii Five-O), but also recollect the late, great Jack Lord. MacArthur himself passed away in 2010, just as he was finalizing plans to guest star in the new Hawaii Five-0 TV series. MacArthur was living in Florida at the time.
Watch people interviewed by me on Me TV.
--Raj Manoharan
TV – Superman Returns! See the Dawn of Justice on Me TV Before It Arrives in Theaters!
This
is what I wrote back on December 28, 2013:
“Watching Batman and Wonder Woman on Me TV is a great way to prepare for the Man of Steel sequel set for release in 2015, with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman and joined by Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Now all Me TV needs to do is add the 1950s series The Adventures of Superman to the lineup.”
My thought from last winter has become reality as The Adventures of Superman is now part of Me TV's Super Sci-Fi Saturday Nights lineup.
The classic show starring George Reeves as TV's first live-action Man of Steel kicks off a super-powered evening of super-heroics at 6:00 p.m., followed by Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusading Dynamic Duo in Batman at 7:00 p.m. and Lynda Carter as the original warrior princess in Wonder Woman at 8:00 p.m.
Now, thanks to Me TV, super fans will be super ready to anticipate the theatrical release (now set for 2016) of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, respectively, and introducing a host of other legendary DC Comics superheroes.
--Raj Manoharan
“Watching Batman and Wonder Woman on Me TV is a great way to prepare for the Man of Steel sequel set for release in 2015, with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman and joined by Ben Affleck as Batman and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Now all Me TV needs to do is add the 1950s series The Adventures of Superman to the lineup.”
My thought from last winter has become reality as The Adventures of Superman is now part of Me TV's Super Sci-Fi Saturday Nights lineup.
The classic show starring George Reeves as TV's first live-action Man of Steel kicks off a super-powered evening of super-heroics at 6:00 p.m., followed by Adam West and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusading Dynamic Duo in Batman at 7:00 p.m. and Lynda Carter as the original warrior princess in Wonder Woman at 8:00 p.m.
Now, thanks to Me TV, super fans will be super ready to anticipate the theatrical release (now set for 2016) of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, respectively, and introducing a host of other legendary DC Comics superheroes.
--Raj Manoharan
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