Citizen Brand

The original music video

Just for fun, let's travel back to 1969 and what might just be the first ever music video. It's the Beatles concert on the rooftop of the Apple Records building in London and one of their best - Get Back.

Toto, we're not in "Africa" anymore

No set up required. Thanks to my Barkley colleague, Robin, for suggesting this video from a jazz choir from Slovenia. Enjoy.

"God's Gonna Cut Em Down"

I was looking for something to kick off the weekend right and Ernie Schenck came to my rescue.  Check out this Tony Kaye version of Johnny Cash's  "God's Gonna Cut Em Down."  When I hear Ernie say he is astounded by something, I take notice.  Wow is right.

Enjoy.

The Christmas Song

A holiday greeting from Mel Torme and Judy Garland singing my favorite Christmas song.  Enjoy and my best to all of you for the happiest of holidays.

La Vie En Rose

Let's end the suspense early for the Oscar for Best Actress next year.  If Marion Cotillard  is not delivering an acceptance speech in Hollywood in 2008, then it will be a crime.  Her performance as the legendary French singer, Edith Piaf, in the incredible film La Vie En Rose, is honestly one of the greatest performances I have ever seen.  My wife has always been a huge fan of Edith Piaf, so we thoroughly enjoyed this great film by Olivier Dahan.

There have been a lot of bio-pics, particularly of singers, recently.  But this is not an actress doing an impression of someone famous.  Marion Cotillard truly lives the tortured yet beautiful life of Edith Piaf.  Of course, the music is amazing and makes the movie even more enjoyable.  Piaf's voice is haunting, inspiring and reassuring all at once.  If you have not ever heard her sing, listen here or here and most especially listen here to one of her final performances.  This last song is one that inspired her to perform one last time toward the end of her life.  As she said, if she could not sing, she would not want to live.

As is usually the case with a film like this, it is being shown on a limited number of screens so you may have to hunt around for it.  It's worth the hunt.  Edith Piaf ended her life with an anthem called "No Regrets."  Her life was a full one and through this film, we have a chance to better understand her and her music.

An Evening with Gordon Lightfoot

Each of us has that one musician that connected with us at an early age in life and whose music remains part of your life's soundtrack forever.  Gordon Lightfoot has been one such musician for me.  The Canadian born singer/songwriter is typically placed into the folk, folk rock or country categories depending on the song or on the person doing the categorization.  From my point of view, Gordon Lightfoot is a classic storyteller who uses lyrics and music to spin yarns about life.

I took it on as part of my parental responsibility to my two boys to do my part in making sure they loved music.  My musical tastes have always been pretty broad so a shuffle on my ipod can yield everything from Bach to Willie Nelson to Frank Sinatra to Charlie Parker to Allman Brothers to Dylan - you get the picture.  But you probably can't listen to one hour of a shuffle without hearing a song from Gordon Lightfoot.  I helped Brady and Blake gain an appreciation for Gordon  early on and they both love his unique music to this day.

My parental instincts were rewarded this week when Brady took me to see Gordon Lightfoot in concert at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City.  I had seen Gordon once in college as a gift from a good friend.  It was a memorable evening.  But to be able to sit with Brady and listen to Gordon sing again was a special treat.  His voice is not as strong as it once was, but his love of his music and his ability to tell stories is probably better than ever.  And his band is superb.  They know each other well and it is easy to see and hear how much they love playing music together.

Gordon Lightfoot turns 70 next year.  He survived a serious health problem a few years ago  but is clearly back in form after hearing him in concert this week.  If you have never given Lightfoot's music a listen beyond the couple of hits that everyone knows, you really should take some time and listen to him.  Definitely worth it. 

Hotel California

It's been a long week.  Many serious topics and much stress in the world around us.  Time for a break.  Enjoy this acoustic version of one of the great rock anthems of all time from The Eagles.  Hotel California.

Red Carpet Causes

As Forrest Gump might have said, causes and celebrities are like peas and carrots.  They just go together.  And I think it's a good thing.  Sure there are times when some might seem to be doing it for the wrong reasons, but for the most part it is one of the best ways for a cause to get attention and money.

   A new website called SixDegrees.org has recently launched.  It shouldn't be difficult to figure out which star is behind it - Kevin Bacon.  It's a cool site that has about 20 celebrities and their causes highlighted.  You can learn more about each cause as well as donate to them.  And as Kevin Bacon tells you in a welcoming video, you can become the "celebrity" for your own cause on the site.  Great concept.

We have worked with celebrities in our cause programs at Barkley for more than a decade now.  And we have new programs we are working on where we believe celebrities can play an important role.  Whether we like to admit it or not, all of us like celebrities, whether they be in movies, music, sports or politics.  We may not like all of them, but the ones we do like can influence how we think and what actions we take.  Especially when it comes to helping us decide which causes we are going to support.  I'm not suggesting it's the only factor, but celebrity influence does matter.

So if you can ignore the dumb and outrageous actions of the few Paris Hiltons in the world, the next time you see a celebrity pushing their favorite cause, give them a gold star.  It's a good thing they are doing.

Thanks to Britt for pointing out SixDegrees.org.

Jay McShann

It was late July of 1992.  I was sitting on a hillside in a big park overlooking the downtown skyline of Kansas City and listening to a man in his late 70's doing things on a piano I had never heard before.  And his voice was silky smooth, just as it had been when he began his career in blues and jazz in Oklahoma in the early 1930's.  It was a magic moment for me to finally hear Jay McShann in person that warm July evening.  His voice was silenced on Thursday.  Jay McShann passed away at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City.  He was 91.

McShann's music and the influence he has had on blues and jazz musicians for the last 70 years will never die.  He came to Kansas City in the 1930's as a young man.  He was on his way to Omaha when his bus did a quick stop in Kansas City.  He decided to check out the music and club scene in KC that was then at its height.  Dozens and dozens of clubs open all hours of the day and night spread out from one of the true epicenters of blues and jazz in the world at the time, 18th and Vine Streets just southeast of downtown KC.

Fortunately for Kansas City, he never got back on the bus for Omaha.  Instead, he stayed and got his first gig two days later and a true musical genius had found a home.  But the world became his stage as he became known globally for his mastery of the piano, that honey of a voice and his ability to blend boogie woogie, bebop and the blues into his own, very personal sound.

And then there was that smile.  I think that is where his music began. 

Sweet Liberty Hall

There is nothing like a great venue for music and entertainment.  The good ones have character and great stories to tell, if only they could talk.

Liberty Hall in Lawrence, Kansas is just such a venue.  It turns 20 today, at least in its current life.  The venue itself has been a fixture on the north end of Massachusetts Street in downtown Lawrence for more than a century.  It was shuttered in the early 1980's before a couple of enterprising visionaries brought it back to life in 1986.

Today's Lawrence Journal World tells the story of Liberty Hall.  As the story details at the end:  Liberty Hall has played host to divas and raconteurs, folk artists and punks, and several of the music industry's most notable names. Here's a list of some of the most recognizable:

* Jimmie Spheeris

• King Sunny Ade
• Laurie Anderson
• Andrew W.K.
• Asleep at the Wheel
• Joan Baez
• Barenaked Ladies
• Ethel Barrymore
• Beausoleil
• Henry Ward Beecher
• Belle & Sebastian
• Jello Biafra
• Lewis Black
• Blonde Redhead
• Blues Traveler
• Junior Brown
• BR549
• Burning Spear
• William S. Burroughs
• David Byrne
• Eddie Cantor
• Tracy Chapman
• George Clinton
• Chick Corea
• Robert Cray
• Counting Crows
• Ani DiFranco
• Irene Dunne
• Eminem
• Maynard Ferguson
• Mike Finnigan
• Franz Ferdinand
• Allen Ginsberg
• The Go-Go’s
• Spalding Gray
• Horace Greeley
• David Grisman
• Arlo Guthrie
• Jerry Hahn
• Hanson
• Michael Hedges
• Woody Herman
• John Hiatt
• John Lee Hooker
• Iron Butterfly
• Joe Jackson
• The Jesus Lizard
• Stan Kenton
• Willie King
• Leo Kottke
• Los Lobos
• Aimee Mann
• Medeski, Martin and Wood
• The Neville Brothers
• Nickel Creek
• Maura O’Connell
• Maceo Parker
• Pavement
• Wilson Pickett
• The Police
• Rancid
• Leon Redbone
• The Replacements
• Shirley Rey
• Tim Reynolds
• Damien Rice
• Buddy Rodgers
• Linda Rondstadt
• Henry Rollins
• Mickey Rooney
• Leon Russell
• Ricky Skaggs
• Second City
• Sigor Rós
• Smashing Pumpkins
• Patti Smith
• Sonic Youth
• Squirrel Nut Zippers
• Hank Thompson
• Richard Thompson
• Tool
• Ike and Tina Turner
• Muddy Waters
• Ween
• Gillian Welch
• Oscar Wilde
• Wu-Tang Clan
• XTC

Not to mention the fantastic live radio troupe from Kansas Public Radio called "Right Between the Ears" calls Liberty Hall its home base.  It is simply an extraordinary place.  Happy Birthday Liberty Hall!