Preview....

... buy ..... or download.

Still on the topic of Leonard Cohen. Here's a link to AOL's Spinner where you can play entire albums. This is my first ever visit here so I know very little about it. All I know is that I'm three songs into Cohen's current release, 'Live In London', and enjoying it. How long it will be posted, I have no idea. I'm planning to buy the DVD anyway.

http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/2

Remember a month or so ago I was hassling a local columnist about his writing?? It was through his blog post that I found this link for Spinner. I've tried this week to begin a dialogue with the guy but so far without success. No more barbed comments to his blog; I've reformed, honest!

Good Fortune

It was a hectic sort of rush heading out the door for work tonight. I was late, really late. My day had started off badly what with being awake and up for the day before noon; maybe four hours sleep. Not good. The afternoon was spent quaffing coffee after coffee, wandering the yard smoking ciggie after cig, keeping an eye on the pooches, and sitting head in hands wondering how I would make it through this night. Lynda arrived home late from an appointment after work and we had a simple dinner of leftovers - always better it seems the day after even if it was good the first time. I had planned to come in later than usual but Lynda had some plans for me - she had arranged for the painter to come in later today - so we wound up moving some furniture, shutting down the power for the room and disconnecting the overhead fixture. All said and done, it took longer than expected. I rushed to get dressed, kissed Lynda goodnight, jumped in the car and remembered I had to get gas if I expected to make it to work at all. Damn!!

Flipping on the radio, tuning into CBC Radio2 and *Shazzam*!!, everything changed. Already in progress was a pre-recorded concert of Leonard Cohen performing last summer in London. During the ride to work I heard 4 or 5 songs including a couple of my favourites - 'Hallelujah' and 'Democracy'. Arriving at work, slightly late, I sat in the car for a few moments so I could hear the final bars of a song. Sighing with regret I turned both the radio and car off. I got updated on the days events by the duty counsellor and talked a bit with a couple of the clients before settling in to doing up some paper work. Then it occurred to me; the audio stream is broadcast via the net and you can timeshift it according to time zone!! Brilliant!! I pulled it up and set it for the Pacific zone and heard almost the entire concert, missing about 15 minutes at the beginning of the show. It turned out to be a good thing I was running late otherwise I'd likely have missed it as I'd forgotten it was airing tonight.

The broadcast coincides with the CD / DVD release of that concert. It is also available in a downloadable version from iTunes at this link. http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/spotlight/ If you're a fan of the man, his words and his music this is prime Cohen showing how to put on a show.

I'm good to go for the night. Thanks for perking me up Leonard.

Oh! An interviewer asked Cohen what he thought made 'Hallelujah' such a great song. He replied, deadpan, 'It's got a great chorus.' (Rimshot!!)

Oh Yeah... About Last Night

Heh, heh..... Geez, I got all excited and had to tell a few friends about it. You see, I have a really hard time finding ANYTHING on TV worth watching so... when I do, I feel I have to tell people.

Scrolling through the cable listings I came across one of those 'The Making Of' shows which happened to be about a CD that has spent an unreasonable amount of time in my car's player these last few weeks. It was one of those 'OMG..... Holy Crap!...... Hallelujah!!' moments.

So, Bryan Ferry (ex of Roxy Music fame) covers Bob Dylan on 'Dylanesque'. The sound used on the TV show was a rough studio mix and not the same as on the CD so I found some vocals and instruments standing out at times. This show is also available as a DVD release (which I just found on Amazon.) According to the credits Brian Eno provides some electronic 'atmospherics' but I didn't see him throughout. I did recognize the bass player as being the guy who recorded and toured with David Gilmour for the 'On An Island' release - Guy Pratt. Other back-up musicians include journeyman Robin Trower on guitar and an apparently VERY young, very talented Oliver Thompson also on guitar. (Ollie turns in some incredibly controlled slide work.) Ferry does a great job on vocals, harmonica and Farfisa organ.

While I've said some less than favorable things about Ferry (on a personal level) in the past he managed to change my mind with the short interview portions between songs. His public persona used to be based pretty much solely on 'image' with a capital 'I'... lots of glam with little seemingly to back it up. I was glad to hear he had a good deal of insightful things to say about Dylan, his music, it's writing and the times it was written in.

Here's a link to the portion of the show where they perform 'The Times They Are A'Changin' as well as a short interview segment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7xM1UpK0nE&feature=related

Coupla Things

I had a response from the customer service folks at Eagle Records advising me that the DVD release of Jeff Beck's latest has been delayed from Dec 08 or Jan 09 until April. Me not happy.... but I thanked them for the info anyway. Maybe they should just update their website???

On the sleep front - newsflash!!! Today I slept like a king and didn't get up until after Lynda had arrived home from work... and that NEVER happens. Ah, bliss. Praise the Lord, I was due.

Weather front - a high pressure system has pushed it's way into the area bringing clear skies and much colder temps. We're back down near -20 once again tonight. Unfortunately I was so late getting up I didn't get any photos taken of the snow. Maybe later today.

Beard update - I know everyone is breathlessly awaiting word on the latest developments here. Geez! For the last month I've let it grow on my cheeks to raise the line of it from running along the jaw line. Made it through the itchy stage last week without scratching myself up too badly. I think if I give it an overall trim today it should all be the same length and then I can start subtracting with the razor and figure out where I want it.

Once I was up for the day Lynda and I tuned in to CNN and caught the inauguration parade. Since getting to work I've viewed the actual swearing in ceremony and excerpts from Obama's speech. The satellite shot of the crowds before the White House was incredible - I haven't as yet heard any estimates of crowd size but it must be in excess of 2 million. I'm happy and relieved that everything went off according to plan and without incident. Blessings on Barack Obama and through you, to all your citizens.

Excuse me but I have to go view some WordPress tutorials now and consume a rather large bar of chocolate and almonds.

I Bow Down To....

... guitar god..... I am not worthy, etc, etc.....

I don't check Jeff Beck's site very often because frankly, it doesn't get updated very frequently so I was gladdened last night when I checked in at the 'WorldWideGlen' blog and found there is new JB product out NOW!! Woo-Hoo!!! CD on the shelves now and a DVD to follow in December or January. I'll hold out for the DVD I think. It is titled 'Performing This Week.... Live at Ronnie Scott's'

A quickie recap of info gleaned from Glen, Jeff's site and Eagle Records - 16 live tracks; best performances chosen by Jeff from a multi night stand at Ronnie Scott's club in London England. Standing room only shows; rave reviews; a guitar clinic put on by a master musician, a journeyman.

"the usually sedate London Times gushed, "…perhaps the greatest living guitar virtuoso…combining astonishing technique with a blissful nuance he exercised an almost supernatural control of his fretboard."

Here's a link to a performance at the Crossroads Festival in Chicago from last year which features the same band line up. Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Jason Rebello on keyboards and the amazing young Aussie lady Tal Wilkenfeld on bass. Jeff gets his guitar talking, singing and soaring on this one. (This features an impressive bass solo by Tal as well.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIFFRHBCPzA

Enjoy. I did.