Everything You Never Wanted to Know about Rock...

The Real Father of Rock-n-Roll

2011-12-17T15:14:00.000-08:00

This past year I finally had a chance to view the film Nowhere Boy on DVD. I can understand how the 2009 film came out of a necessity to illuminate the childhood and adulthood awakening of John Lennon. There is so much that is still unknown about The Beatles as a whole. There have been so many books written and films made which have illuminated certain aspects of each and every person who were associated with the relatively short-lived dynamic musical group. Their reputation and creative output is legendary and self-evident. No other band member, however-, no matter what the tragedies- had the type of early life (and early death) take on such a tone of a Greek tragedy as that of John Lennon.
For those who only know the bare facts of Lennon's life story, this film will impart the truth with raw emotions, eyes-open crushing pathos, grief and passions. Even from the beginning he was an artist yearning to experience what he most wanted to express- almost violently in Lennon's case- through his chosen medium. We are lucky that Lennon's tool became music.
Essentially, raised by a well-grounded aunt (which was portrayed exceptionally by Kristin Scott Thomas) but awakened at the dawning of adulthood by a wayward mother(Anne-Marie Duff), his foothold slipped at a crucial time and the truth of his life came close to crushing him. His success as a rock star conveyed a type of salvation borne only to our media superstars and superheroes. It didn't prepare him or his loved ones, for that matter, of his equally grievous exit from life. That story would require another film. In any case, this cinematic effort helps us to understand the triumph of John's contribution to rock music in a way that no writer of a book or magazine could really get across to the fans.
Lennon's quotes, which have been repeated until they took on the proportion of a credo which held the genre of rock together, melt under the light of this film. Perhaps it's because his words held the kind of bravado that credos are built upon. His work was so unique, with and without The Beatles, that it has never been surpassed on that premise. Nowhere Boy strips away the mystery that not a single book written about The Beatles ever has and the dialogue gives us a new Lennon to consider,- the vulnerable one.

© December 17, 2011 by Evelyn M. Wallace

Christmas hugs and kisses

(vulnerable ones) from

The Castle Lady

Happy Birthday Cyndi !

2011-06-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

This is Cyndi Lauper's 58th birthday today and while I know she doesn't like emphasis being placed on age- I don't like it myself ! - I still wish her all the best because she's absolutely fabulous at any age ! Not everyone can say that about themselves.... sooooo

Happy Birthday,

Birthday Girl !

Just wanna have fun....

The Castle Lady

Jesse Duplantis is coming to Power Invasion on S. Platte ! !

2011-05-24T18:10:00.001-07:00

I don't often espouse anything other than music venues or music of one kind or another on this blog but this is a grand and rare exception. It is simply that Jesse Duplantis who is one of the most popular, unique and hilarious ministers of this generation and possibly for generations to come, is coming to Denver to the most dynamic outreach venue in Denver at 455 S. Platte River Drive. He mixes great ministry music with strong, straight biblical preaching with a panache unknown in most evangelical circles.

On television he has a program for many seeking to know more about God, and can be seen on major networks in the U. S. such as ABC, NBC, CBS, TBN, Daystar, and World Harvest Television. He also broadcasts throughout Australia, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United Kingdom, Israel, and the Middle East. As a bestselling author, Jesse Duplantis' books have been translated into many languages and braille which has reached millions with the Word in such a way that his lessons are unforgettable and quotable for those who are involved in outreach as well.

In 1997, he and his wife Cathy who is also a reverend, founded Covenant Church, a local outreach of JDM on the International Headquarters property in Destrehan, Louisiana, a suburb in the New Orleans area. In recognition of his many years of effectively sharing God's message of salvation through Jesus Christ to the world, Jesse was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Oral Roberts University in 1999.

Known throughout the world for his joy and his exuberant spirit, Jesse has often been told that he is "the only preacher my husband and kids will listen to." Why is that? It's not just because Jesse is funny, and it's not just because he's genuine but that they also listen because he's captured the true essence of evangelism and revivalism. The anointing of Jesus Christ on an evangelist enables him to reach the so-called unreachable, and rekindle the fire of revival in believers. People listen because they need the anointing of Jesus - and Jesus is the only message that Jesse Duplantis preaches.

For more than twenty-five years now, his mission statement has had a singular vision and goal, - World Evangelism. He has employed every available tool to give each listener an opportunity to know the real Jesus. His ministry teaches an approachable, personable, compassionate Jesus who is full of joy - that's the Jesus that we should all know and love. If you have never heard Jesse Duplantis preach you owe it to yourself to get over here on the 21st of June at 7 p.m. sharp to hear his music and his inimitable style of preaching. You'll never think about God in the same way ever again. Guaranteed !

Bringing you the best of all that's good,

The Castle Lady

Update: What a marvelous time everyone had last night ! I wouldn't have missed it for anything !

You read it here first...

2011-03-10T16:29:00.001-08:00

Stryper are back in the news with some big events coming up and recent releases in their original lineup ! That's right ! Tim Gaines is back in the fold and they have planned a big 2011 tour. On the 15th of February they released a new album of secular covers and an all-new original tune titled God. Their new company is Big3 Records and as I mentioned previously in 2010 they are now on I-tunes so you will be able to download their music here shortly.

According to Michael Sweet, the impetus for putting out a covers set was a simple one. "Every Stryper album is pretty serious and pretty bold in the lyrical faith sense of the word. We just wanted to roll our sleeves up, cut loose, and have some fun." When it came time to pick out a listing of tunes to cover, all the band had to do was look back upon their club days. Growing up, before Stryper was even Stryper, we were a cover band. We played Gazzarri's on the (Sunset) Strip for years - we would do originals but also do covers, as well. We always did Priest covers and Maiden covers, all those bands that we grew up on and influenced us."
What fans can expect will run the gamut from the 70s era classic rock of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Iron Maiden and even Kiss!

"A few things we set out to do on this album was to stay true to the original - we didn't want to disrespect the original versions," explains Michael. "I'm never going to sound like Bruce Dickinson or Ronnie James Dio, nor would I ever try to... and having me sing the song puts our own spin on it. We just all did our own thing and with our own touches and feel - Robert, Tim, Oz, and myself - it has that Stryper feel to it as well."
Big3 Records Chairman Bill Edwards adds, "We are excited to allow Stryper the creative freedom to do what they do best, and take this album to the next level. We are very excited about working with the band and helping make 'The Covering' a widespread success."
To get the word out about the new album Stryper have just started a tour which will comprise four of their own anthems plus four covers from the new album. According to Michael Sweet, "... then we've got a whole slew of other Stryper songs that we've been playing for a long time. So we probably have 20 songs in the set."

Click HERE for the latest confirmed tour dates!

Always with the latest...

The Castle Lady

Are they bragging or complaining ? ; )

2011-02-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

I just had to share this with everyone because I find it rather ironic and just a little bit off-putting. It was sent to me by Focus on the Family and is presented here verbatim:

Even if you don't follow pop culture, you've inevitably read or heard of the teen actress Miley Cyrus. Playing the wholesome character "Hannah Montana" on her popular Disney television show of the same name several years ago, Miss Cyrus was catapulted into entertainment's stratosphere. She quickly became a marketer's dream and was earning millions of dollars in TV, music and feature films. In the midst of her rapid ascent, though, she also found herself wrapped up in controversy, from being caught posing for provocative photographs to smoking a bong and taking hallucinogenic drugs.

Just another child actress given too much too soon?

Miss Cyrus, now 18, is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, perhaps best known for his hit, "Achy Break-y Heart."
Ironically, and sadly, that's exactly what Billy Ray is suffering from these days. He told GQ Magazine that he now wishes his daughter never went to Hollywood and found fame and fortune.

I don't know that I can sympathize with this very much, the reason being that he is in the country music business and knowing full well what he was allowing his daughter to do, he obviously didn't prepare her for the pitfalls. If he has successfully navigated the entertainment business well enough that he sees what is going on with his daughter, then he could have also given her real guidance so that her so-called downhill slide wouldn't have even occurred. The details are missing out of Focus on the Family's account and most likely for a good reason. You have to read between the lines and know a bit more about this particular case, obviously, than they do and I happen to know a bit more.

I wrote an entry on this web site back on December 9, 2008 about the merchandising of Billy Ray's daughter and it was all too obvious that they really wanted to clean up in the business. If you read it you'll see that I figured out what an average take on each consumer might be in modest terms and I don't know how she couldn't end up with quite a wad of cash and her promoters, to boot ! I know my entry was basically just a satirical piece of fun more than anything else. However, I do take the marring and scarring of a life a quite serious matter. I didn't see the likes of Billy Ray or his daughter at the Grammys this year and it was probably for this very reason.

Having said that, I think this is just drama queen theatrics designed to garner one more headline in an attempt to keep the limelight on themselves. Sadly, many people in the entertainment business tend to crave negative attention just as much as the positive kind. It explains the antics of Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton ( Happy 30th birthday, dahling ! ), Nicole Ritchie and the like. It's not just sad- it's pathetic.

It's all uphill with

The Castle Lady !

The World's a Stage...

2011-02-16T18:35:00.001-08:00

This well-known quote of the English-speaking world has a ring of real truth in the public world which the media focuses on and exploits all too often. After watching the Grammys this year I started thinking about some of the subjects Lady Gaga talked about during her 60 Minutes interview prior to the airing of the awards show and I have come to some startling conclusions about fame. I have held some opinions about how people garner and keep fame without being completely aware of them and now I know I have been very naïve on the subject through my entire life.
First of all, I always have held the belief that you must do something worthwhile and useful in order to attain notoriety. To my way of thinking being notorious is not true notoriety. I'm sure I've been behind the times for more than a decade now but I still feel that way and I don't think I'll ever change my mind. Perhaps entertainers cannot live the type of exemplary lives which would lead an entire young generation down a brighter path. That- plus entertaining the crowds- may be asking a little too much. However, if someone knows the demographics of their fan base and they realize that their audience may be very impressionable then I think each and every parent should be able to expect these entertainers to be sensitive to that fact and curb their proclivities. In other words, if you can't be good then at least be discreet. It may not be gut-level honest but it may save someone from making wrong decisions which are irreversible way too early in life.
Good or bad, music is one of my loves which I cannot do without. I listen to music when I write, dance, go for a walk, drive some place or sit down to eat. I don't really have any musical preference except for one aspect- I have to like it. I don't like everything I hear today on the radio but I have a wide range of interests. I've heard good and bad in every category and genre of music that exists in this modern world. When I hear music on any stage which is off-key or doesn't fit the usual pattern for the genre of its particular occupation I generally change stations or channels- whichever the case may be. A good part of what I heard at the Grammys this year was not to my liking. I think Jeff Beck got gypped out of an award he deserved. I saw Cyndi Lauper there but I didn't get to hear her- talking or singing. Bogus.
George Beverly Shea was a gospel singer for Billy Graham throughout his entire career as an evangelist. This year, among several other recipients, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Like them, it was only mentioned in passing in the space of about one minute, at best. Next day my mother told me she waited all night wondering when they were going to give him the award. I had to explain that all the music she loves to hear (mostly classical) was side-stepped or marginalized because of the time involved in handing out so many awards. She didn't buy it. You know what ? Neither do I.
Does anyone out there know what the word Grammys even means? Let me enlighten you. It is a shortened version of the word gramophone which is what a lot of the best and finest music was originally recorded and played on. I guess they had to crank those babies by hand to get them to work but people had a lot of fun dancing to and playing the music they liked on them. Music has been around a long time and in Mozart's day he was the rock-n-roll guy. He was derailed a lot because, for a classical music composer, he really rocked their socks off. You know what I mean ?
There is a lot more to music than pop music and if you explore your options by radio, mp3s or internet music shopping you might find there is a whole wide world of music out there the likes of which you've never heard ! !

Why don't you go on a search right now ?

With love, The Castle Lady

The Legend of Mahalia Jackson

2011-01-16T22:52:00.001-08:00

It is said at the time of her passing, in 1972, that Mahalia Jackson- the world's greatest gospel singer- had a larger white following than a black fan base. Whether or not this is true, she is revered the world over for her perfect sound in the jazz and blues based gospel she practically reinvented. Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, was known to have said that Mahalia was her favorite singer. She won three Grammy Awards, one posthumously, with Best Gospel Recording in 1961 for Every Time I Feel the Spirit and the next year for Great Songs of Love and Faith. Her posthumous Grammy came in 1976- four years after her death- for How I Got Over in the category of Gospel Soul Performance. This woman who redefined gospel for musical geniuses like Ramsey Lewis Jr. started out life in New Orleans. She was born on October 26, 1911 and was raised singing in church at Mount Moriah Baptist. Her religious training, both biblical and musical, was strict which means that the training was in hymns and spiritual music which did not carry over into Jazz or Blues. However, one can imagine that she was exposed to those genres and the singers which would have influenced her were most likely Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Those singers were probably important influences on her very early in life. By the time her career was well underway she had injected jazz and blues into the passionate spiritual in a way that had never before been achieved. In 1927, at the age of sixteen, she moved to Chicago and worked as a maid and then a nurse, but her love of gospel kept her at her true vocation. Even though Mahalia never sang secular music she was definitely influenced by the black secular music sound which helped her redefine gospel music in Chicago at the time. In 1935, after singing at a funeral, Decca Records talent scouts approached her about recording for them. Her records sold well and by 1937 she moved onto other independent recording labels one of them being Apollo Records. It was a natural progression of success which brought her to association with Thomas Dorsey, whom she recorded and toured with extensively. Their association eventually brought them both international acclaim. Her recording of the song, "I will move on up a little higher", sold more than two million copies. This particular song was one she would extend into as much as twenty-five minutes when singing live ! The recording available today is long at five minutes and 25 seconds. After being recognized in France for her recording excellence she made her first European tour in 1952 and two years later signed with Columbia where she made about thirteen more LPs. These recordings were made with Mitch Miller who used strings and choirs to back her and sold world-wide. This is unprecedented success considering that Mahalia's ambition was never cast outside her sacred music debut. In the beginning, her sound was perceived as rebellious by the more conservative black churches- even the one she grew up singing in. However, her long-time accompanist, Mildred Falls, most likely kept her to a standard which didn't restrict her musicianship and was a support to her early convictions as a gospel singer. One record executive, John Hammond, stated that Mildred was also, "the greatest gospel accompanist that ever lived." Later she appeared in films like Nat King Cole's St. Louis Blues, a big-budget melodrama Imitation of Life and a performance jazz documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day. Even though she was strictly gospel she did share the stage with such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, eventually helping Ellington record his own sacred music. There is no question that she set the standard that gospel music thrives on today regardless of the racial issue. She helped jazz cross color lines and brought sacred music to an emotional level which has never been achieved in any other genre of music. She once said, "If you don't like it, you're not human." By the 1960s she led the way toward advancing education for the black community and became a businesswoman with a chain of restaurants. She was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement including backing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. She sang an unforgettable version of Thomas Dorsey's "Take My Hand, Precious Lord" at King's funeral and surprisingly enough, Aretha Franklin sang this very song at Mahalia's own funeral after her passing on January 27, 1972. The first recorded song I heard of Mahalia's was Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, an upbeat jazz version which showed off a part of her stylistic range. Below is a recommended song list derived from the Columbia CD collection titled, Gospels, Spirituals, and Hymns. It came out in 1991 and I would suggest to start there, if you are not acquainted with her music. If you ever find a live recording of her 1951 performance at Carnegie Hall give me a call. Many pop singers today do over-the-top versions of a true technique employed by Mahalia across genre spectrums. Once you hear her voice you'll know that these were not mere vocal stylings but a truly inspired voice full of passion, sincerity and worship. All else is often just a copy of the original which does not understand the love that propelled her sound and not just of the music but the creator who inspired it all to begin with- our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ain't nothing like the real thing baby...

The Castle Lady

Discography (in part)

My God is Real August 11, 1958

If I Can Help Somebody September 24, 1963

What a Friend We Have in Jesus August 2 & 3, 1965

You Must Be Born Again November 17, 1959

Elijah Rock (Stockholm, Sweden) April 18, 1961 (Live)

Roll, Jordan, Roll April 5, 1968

Calvary (New York) March 26, 1967

Trouble of the World

from the film Imitation Of Life N.Y. March 27, 1956

Take My Hand, Precious Lord (T.A. Dorsey) N.Y. March 27, 1956

He's Got the Whole World in His Hands

(Newport Jazz Festival w/ Mildred Falls Trio) July 7, 1958

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

(Hollywood March 12, 1963)

I'm Going to Live the Life I Sing about in My Song

Newport Jazz Festival August 11, 1958

Search Me Lord (Hollywood) January 31, 1969

Cyndi Lauper does e town ! ! !

2010-10-08T09:38:00.001-07:00

Here's one for the record books. Cyndi Lauper has come back with a marvelous blues record Memphis Blues which came out in June without much publicity. Her Denver appearance with eTown along with Charlie Musselwhite, however, gave her a chance to really show what she's made of and with her usual dramatic flair that is the real Cyndi Lauper. The last time I had seen her in concert was back in 2003 when she had come out with an album of old torch-y standards like Unchained Melody, On the Sunny Side of the Street and Hymn to Love. The album was titled At Last and it was a stupendous breakout album even though her voice was showing a little wear by then. In concert she amazed me with her voice, however, and put to rest any fears that she might be tiring or had done damage. Her vocal range is almost inhuman and the emotion she conveys in her singing is overpowering. I think I danced more through that concert than any I've ever been to and I felt like I was at a disco ! ! Talk about fun.

She got a chance to show this Memphis side we hadn't seen yet and it was absolutely what I expected and more. She was a great compliment to Charley Musselwhite who I admit was unknown to me until this stint. On September 23rd at 9 p.m. at the Paramount Theater in Denver, Cyndi gave a blowout performance which was to be expected since her forte' has always been live performance. Some people who have not kept up with her career past her 80s pop singer days will be amazed at her range and power. Furthermore, when she was asked recently about this seeming about face she said, "The last record I did was a dance record and I want them to know what this is and I figure Memphis Blues can't get any more straightforward. The blues are the root of everything that we do on radio today so it's not a stretch if you're a singer singing pop music to hear the 1-4-5 chord and understand exactly what that is. It's part of our heritage and tradition."

When interviewed in the summer she said, "This is the music I listened to to learn how to sing. The great blues artists were the rockers, the jazzers, the hip-hoppers of their day. I wanted to be authentic so I went to Memphis. I said, "It has to be dirty. It can't be clean and pristine, 'cause that ain't what it's about for me."

"...I had a dream that Oscar Peterson told me that I should take old songs and make them modern. When I made this CD it was the closest I came to fulfilling what I was kind of told to do in the dream."

Cyndi is a 13 Grammy award winner who originally hailed from the Bronx in New York. She broke into musical stardom with her debut album titled She's So Unusual after many years of singing in musical circuits which required lots of musical covers. She became popular because she could mimic any female singer in the business. This 57 year old dynamo has had fortitude unmatched when she sang one year of her 80s stint singing nearly every single day of that year with one day off. I don't know of anybody in the world with that kind of energy, personally and I imagine my readers don't either.

She has also won 2 Emmys for work as an actress (!), 2 American Music Awards, 7 American Video Awards and no less than 18 MTV Awards ! She's better at reinventing herself than any entertainer you can name and her causes range from gay rights to Hurricane Katrina benefits and animal protection and she still looks like she's thirty-something which is not an easy achievement in and of itself with her schedule.

World- look out- Cyndi's back in town and she means business ! !

eTown that is....Evelyn's Town ! ! !

The Castle Lady

Stryper's Heaven and Hell on iTunes ! ! !

2010-09-18T20:56:00.001-07:00

The news was just released to me yesterday that Stryper's new album can be downloaded on iTunes along with a lot of their older albums one of which is one of my favorites- To Hell with the Devil. Check it out and tell me how you are liking it. I got a new iPod last Spring and haven't had a chance to use it yet. I'm just too busy, busy, busy...

Check it out ! !

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heaven-and-hell/id389229608

from The Castle Lady

with many iPod hugs coming your way !

Apples In Stereo Update

2010-03-11T19:22:00.000-08:00

The Apples' upcoming release and seventh studio effort, Travellers in Space and Time follows their critically acclaimed hit album New Magnetic Wonder [more info] and is their second release in association with Elijah Wood's Simian Records. The official release date will be April 20th ! Robert Schneider, the mastermind behind both The Apples in stereo and Elephant 6 is quoted as saying, "I wanted to make a futuristic pop record, to reach out to the kids of the future. It is what I imagine their more highly-evolved pop might sound like: shiny soul music with robots and humans singing together. We are sending a pop music message through time."

They are keeping with their pop mastery with several potential hits similar to Energy which has been performed numerous times by American Idol contestants, but they are branching out with futuristic sounds adding dance vibes similar to ELO, Barry Gibb and the Beach Boys during their Wild Honey era and even Michael Jackson's Off the Wall.

For one week only (ends 3/9), you can listen to a full-album stream of Travellers in Space and Time for FREE. Click HERE to listen now. You can also see them on tour starting in April. Here are some of the tour dates and towns :

4/16 Lexington, KY @ Cosmic Charlie's

4/17 Morgantown, WV @ 123 Pleasant Street

4/18 Washington DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel

4/20 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's

4/21 NYC @ Bowery Ballroom

4/23 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Underground

4/24 Ithaca, NY @ Castaways

4/25 Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar

4/27 Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop

4/28 Pontiac, Michigan @ Pike Room

4/30 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall

5/1 St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club

5/3 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall

5/4 St. Louis, MO @ Billiken Club

Check out their web site for more tour dates and info @ http://www.applesinstereo.com/

Tell them The Castle Lady sent you !

Jeff ~ The other Beck ~ is Back !

2010-02-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

If you had the fortitude to watch the Grammys recently, you may have noticed that Jeff Beck performed with Imelda May and how great he sounded. His presence may be missed by those who are mainly pop enthusiasts. The sad part of this is that Jeff Beck has always been contemporary and if you paid attention you would know.
He also received the Best Rock Instrumental Performance and this happens to be his fifth Grammy award. If you haven't checked out his latest recording A Day in the Life I urge you to do so as you will be rewarded with the best guitar sounds you'll ever hear on this planet. Someday he's going to be God's right hand man during praise and worship so make sure you check this out. You won't be disappointed.

www.jeffbeck.com

www.FollyWildlifeReserve.org.uk

his latest cause....

The Castle Lady

Yep Roc Face Competition

2010-01-25T22:04:00.000-08:00

As a kick-off celebration of a new decade the artists of Yep Roc have apparently agreed to let the company use their faces on a T-shirt in limited quantities and will sell from their Webshop until February 12th ! Along with the shirt you'll also get an exclusive 24 track sampler, featuring a song from all the artists pictured on the shirt. That's not all of it either ! You can enter the "Faces of Yep Roc contest for a chance to win 10 Yep Roc CD titles of YOUR CHOICE if you correctly guess all the names (first and last) of all the faces on the shirt !The first person to guess all 24 faces of the artists correctly- or whoever comes closest to getting them all right- wins the contest. Take a look at this and then send your answers in to:

yeproccontests@gmail.com

If you have never seen these guys before but you want to win all their great music then look around this web site and you're sure to figure out who all these eggheads a..- I mean Yep Roc artists are and maybe you'll learn something new tonight besides the fact that your cat seems to be gay!

www.yeproc.com

Happy hunting !

The Castle Lady

The Fab Four Ride Again !

2009-09-20T21:23:00.000-07:00

www.thebeatlesrockband.com

Well, the word is out but you may not understand what a milestone it is to have a definitive, complete set of the entire catalogue of The Beatles. At any rate, here it is ! Enjoy a wonderful trip down memory lane or get ready to hear the most amazing music you will ever hear.

The Castle Lady with lots of love !

On Tour Soon !

2009-08-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

Kiss always have M & M Dark Chocolates back stage when they tour.

Look for them in October in a city near you !

The Castle Lady with kisses and KISS !

Koko Taylor- Queen of the Blues

2009-07-14T22:38:00.001-07:00

The world of Blues lost a big star recently. On June 3rd this year the Grammy Award winning blues legend Koko Taylor passed away in her adopted hometown, Chicago, after complications following a May 19th surgery to correct an internal bleed which had caused her problems in recent years. Just this year she won her 29th Blues Music Award (Traditional Blues Female Artist of the Year) a recipient of the most Blues Music Awards of any artist- male or female. This was at the Blues Music Awards held in Memphis at the Cook Convention Center on May 7th. This was only twelve days before her scheduled surgery.

She was born Cora Walton on September 28, 1935 on a sharecropper's farm just outside Memphis, Tennessee. She began singing as a teen in her church choir, as so many black female singers have but became the strongest female voice of the urban blues after she moved to Chicago in 1951 with her husband, Robert Taylor. According to Koko her first job in Chicago was cleaning homes, taking care of kids in the homes and doing the clothes, ironing and cooking. She made five dollars a day. On Saturday nights her game was music and blues specifically.

"We'd go to Sylvio's or Theresa's to see Howlin' Wolf or Muddy Waters. At that time I didn't know all the famous blues musicians lived here. They seemed like regular folks, country folks like me, but they were stars." She started making her mark on the Blues with the first note she sang in the Buddy Guy/Junior Wells Blues band. One evening in 1962 she was approached by Willie Dixon who was a well known arranger/composer and got her signed to Chess Records where they collaborated on several singles he produced, plus two albums. Taylor started recording with the Chicago independent label, Alligator in 1974 and the next year formed her own back-up band, The Blues Machine.

Koko's most well known songs are Wang Dang Doodle, I'd Rather Go Blind and Blues Hotel. She had a long string of hits that a lot of white blues bands also took up but she set the precedent for female blues singers that has largely never been filled. Wang Dang Doodle was her 1965 hit and her signature song. This made it possible for her to tour the U.S., Britain and Europe. In more recent years she had performed on Late Night with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, CBS's This Morning, NPR's All Things Considered and even Early Edition.

Taylor started recording with the Chicago independent label, Alligator in 1974 and the next year formed her own back-up band, The Blues Machine.

She appeared in her first film in 1970 with The Blues Is Alive and Well in Chicago. Later there was Wild at Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She teamed up with every major Blues star including Muddy Waters at the Montreux Jazz and Blues Festival in 1972, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King and even rock icons such as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

Discography

1975 I Got What It Takes (Alligator) Grammy nominated

1975 Southside Baby (Black & Blue )

1978 Earthshaker (Alligator)

1981 From the Heart of a Woman

2007 Old School Grammy nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album

for more discography and to hear for yourself click these:

http://www.myspace.com/kokotaylor

www.kokotaylor.com

From the Queen of Lovin',

The Castle Lady

Stryper are Back ! !

2009-06-04T15:11:00.001-07:00

By now you've probably noticed that I've added quite a few new banners and photos along the right-hand sidebar. You're not seeing things! That is Stryper who will be going on tour by July 11th for the Rocklahoma concert although that won't officially be their 25th Anniversary yet. Their tour officially starts September 11th in Boston at the House of Blues and they'll be teaming up with members of the group Boston for the second time.
You may be wondering when I became a Stryper fan since I've been a little low key about being a fan. I started following heavy metal bands back in the late 80s when it became immensely popular and I got into Stryper after the phenomenon died down a little. To be honest I followed the music because it seemed to be the most rebellious plus I really liked the music. Stryper were different because their message was different and I knew it was the right message but I hadn't really come back to Christ yet. When I did- I really enjoyed their music and message and have been following them ever since even through their separate solo acts and now that they are back together again.
I have put up Robert Sweet's blog ( a Myspace) and Michael's web site up on my Castlelady Live Space under the MY OTHER BLOGS list so check them out to see more info. You can also go to : http://www.stryper.com/ for more info and to find out about their tour dates and whereabouts go to:

http://www.deepsouthentertainment.com/stryper/strypernews.html

They even have some international concerts set for Barcelona at the Sala Apolo http://www.sala-apolo.com/ and Madrid at La Riviera ! ! That will be in January of next year so you have plenty of time to plan to be there.

The Castle Lady with lots of hugs and kisses !

Have you been...

2009-03-09T11:03:00.001-07:00

Well, if you have you are in a majority of twits who enjoy your short attention spans rather being than plagued by them. I am not a person who follows every single fad that comes down the pike but I generally try to get as much amusement from these fleeting fancies as I can, for awhile, and then move on. For those of you living under a rock- not exactly living the rock-n-roll life- Twittering is the latest way to keep up with your friends and your fav rock stars, celebrities and significant brothers ! ! LOL

Here's a brief example of what you might expect on your Blackberry if you want to keep up with the latest eaten ham sandwich:

Chris Cornell writes claptrap like:

"I just ate shrimp." or "Don't forget the ceiling. It never stops watching."

John Mayer writes funny stuff or the following:

"Heard the new U2 today. Not sure what to think. I'll have to wait for public opinion so I can think the opposite."

Dave Matthews inanities are unprintable and Taylor Swift's are unbelievably boring:

"Grammy rehearsals today with Miley. We ate an entire pizza in about five minutes."

(They will be looking like the Bobbsey Twins shortly. LOL)

Well, that's the basic idea except every one who are in the media in some form are on there writing this stuff and people actually want to read it. This is proof that just about every one needs to get a life! You might see a few pearls here and there from people like Yoko Ono or political banter from Colin Meloy but most of this stuff is more like what I put up above. It's a great time waster but for myself, I'd rather be watching paint dry to be honest.

Sweet kiss-les for your tweet missiles !

The Castle Lady

Strange Coincidences

2009-03-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the scariest things can happen right under your nose and you may not even see them until after the fact. There are some phenomena you just cannot explain away. Recently on this blog I noticed that some dates were too coincidental not to say something about them. You may not have noticed but they glare me in the face like..well, that eye...

X D (LOL)

The first coincidence I noticed most recently is the fact that I started this blog the day after Janis Martin died. When I started this blog I didn't know she even existed. My original intent for this blog was to honor and write about Women in Rock and didn't know that someone I would write about a year and a half later had just died. I think that's too bizarre of a coincidence.

Here's another: My first entry on Women in Rock, which I started by writing about Wanda Jackson was posted one day after Janis Martin's birthday. Check the dates on these entries. That was hardly planned by me- but there it is- BEEE- ZAAAROOO!

Now, go back to my very first post. Who's picture do you see? Elvis. I don't know why I chose his pic out of all the pics of rock-n-rollers I have. Especially since I didn't intend to write about Elvis. Now look at my latest post on Janis Martin. The Female Elvis. Why did this happen? I can't tell you exactly but there must be a reason. Right? ?

Okay. Now you can go back to your regularly scheduled life. But you can't pretend that things happen without rhyme or reason. I learned a long time ago that if God is watching you he's also directing you if you're sensitive to what he says.

The Castle Lady with lots of smooches! ; )

Janis "The Female Elvis" Martin

2009-02-18T22:52:00.001-08:00

When I cited Wanda Jackson as being the first woman rocker I may have spoke a little out of turn but it's true that I had to do a lot of searching and didn't find anyone else until recently and that was on a tip in an e-mail from Tom Simon who has an excellent web site on Rockabilly. (You must remember that this era was before my time and I got into the rockabilly scene at the time when it was considered retro- i.e. the 80s.)

That being said, let me introduce you to the only woman referred to as "The Female Elvis Presley". Like Elvis and Wanda Jackson, Janis Martin started at a very, very early age in music, playing guitar and singing in a style with influences like Eddy Arnold and Hank Williams. She was born in Sutherlin, Virginia to a musical family on March 27, 1940 and received complete encouragement from them. At thirteen she was singing songs like Ruth Brown's Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean. She won many talent shows and by the time she reached her teens she'd made appearances alongside Ernest Tubb, the Carter Family, Sonny James, Martha Carson and Jean Shepard. By 1953, she was invited to become a regular at the Old Dominion Barndance in Richmond, VA which was only outranked by Grand Old Opry in Nashville and the Wheeling Barndance in West Va. When you compare the dates and their careers you can see that Janis was Wanda's peer in every respect in the beginning.

By her mid-teens she had shed the country roots and was going strong into R & B and her big break was with the song "Will You, Willyum" which she recorded at the Barndance. This recording was sent to New York, by the songwriters, to RCA who contacted her personally and invited her to record the song with Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Buddy Harman and Floyd Cramer in Nashville in the same place that Elvis recorded "Heartbreak Hotel.". This was to be her biggest hit along with a "B" side that she penned herself titled, "Drugstore Rock and Roll". The record sold 750,000 copies which was absolutely phenomenal for the time and demand for her live appearances from all over the U.S. proliferated. She became an industry favorite. She played on the Tonight Show and American Bandstand then toured with Hank Snow. The list of other artists she toured with is like the who's who of Rock which included Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and was chosen by RCA to be a regular of the Jim Reeves show. In 1956 she was voted "Most Promising Female Artist" at a disc jockey convention and received a Billboard Magazine award.

Eventually, she formed her own band, called them the "Marteens" and toured with them throughout the U.S. and Canada mostly playing clubs and fairs. After she did a screen test with MGM, in 1957, she went overseas to do shows for the Jim Reeves show entertaining U.S. troops. When she returned to the States she talked about her experiences on the Today Show hosted by Dave Garroway and performed her latest recording, "My Boy Elvis". She made an appearance on Grand Old Opry immediately following, being the youngest performer to ever appear there, but was sidelined by becoming pregnant by her husband ( she had been secretly married since 1956 to him) when she visited him in Fall of 1957 during her Jim Reeves tour. She was summarily dropped by the recording label at the tender age of 17 !

She gave birth to a son and then made another try at her career less than two years later and several U.S. recording companies showed interest but ended up signing with a company in Belgium, Palette, for which she cut four sides to singles in 1960. She had remarried and found her husband was less than supportive of her career ambitions. After this she returned to the States and kept her career local in Virginia. Later in the 70s she attempted to revive her career with a new band Variations in which her son was the drummer and toured Europe quite successfully, adding big band numbers in her repertoire. On her 42nd birthday she played her first date in England and had kept performing in some capacity up until her recent death of cancer on September 3, 2007 at age 67. She was preceded in death by her son who had died the first month of that year.

Because of the resurgence in popularity of rockabilly music which really took off in the 80s, Janis' records had become collector's items. Her RCA recordings were reissued by Bear Family at that time onto two LPs, which are now available, along with the Palette recordings on a single CD. In 1996 she made an album with Rosie Flores, a retro rockabilly performer, and they made Rockabilly Filly together, reissuing among others, a cover of her own "Blues Keep Calling". In conclusion, I would add that on her own turf in Virginia, the way she delivered her rock-n-roll style kept her at arms length to the local country music audiences and even some of the performers. Janis did not make the distinction between her basic roots and the brand of rock she actually preferred early in her career and with which she became a success. Apparently, she wasn't called "The Female Elvis" for no reason but her contribution to rock and roll is undeniable and she was a powerful performer clear up to the end.

February 18, 2009

Evelyn M. Wallace

Discography

1956 Will you, Willyum B/W Drugstore Rock and Roll (a single)

1956 Bang, Bang

1956 Ooby Dooby (a single)

1956 Let's Elope Baby ( a single)

1956 Love Me to Pieces (a single)

1957 My Boy Elvis ( a single)

1956-60 The Female Elvis, a compilation LP by Bear Family Records, circa 1980

1995 Rockabilly Filly w/Rosie Flores, High Tone Records

http://www.myspace.com/femaleelvis

http://www.history-of-rock/janis_martin.htm

Rockin' you outta this world,

The Castle Lady ! !

A Stryper Christmas !

2008-12-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

If you want to make sure that you keep Christ in Christmas this year but still feel that you want to give gifts to certain well-deserving people then you may want to consider clicking over to Stryper's online store to find gifts that remember the Reason for the Season.

The mini guitars above caught my eye! They are 10" handcrafted replicas

and have straps and stands. Check out the detail and wood. That's real mahogany !

I thought the ornament had real class, too !

There are "Reason for the Season" T-shirts still available and much more

just click the link below !

http://www.stryper.com/ sorry about the wrong link, this one's right !

The Castle Lady will be rockin' the night away !

Christmas Cha-Ching !

2008-12-09T16:33:00.001-08:00

Now that we're well into the Christmas shopping season I'm sure you've received a few lists from your kids expounding on what they want for Christmas without the benefit of seeing the prices. As parents it's your job to do the footwork to find out what the final tally of the bill will be and pay through the nose for it.

I happened to spy a Penney's mini-catalog in with the ads in the newspaper on Sunday and my eyes popped out when I looked at the prices on merchandising items for Hannah Montana. I suppose it's your business to decide whether this enterprising teenager is a good role model for your preteen girl but I can't see spending the kind of money on her holiday fare- such as it is- for this superfluous and fleeting fad. ( I saw her show and interview on the AMAs and I'm wondering how they managed to make her look like she does in the pictures ! Good ole photoshop, huh? )

How's this for a whopping bill? First, there is her Toy Guitar. It comes with three preloaded songs and a headset so YOU don't have to listen to it and she doesn't have to learn to play. (Not that this guitar could actually be played mind you ! ) It is regularly sold for $ 49.99 but you're going to get the low price of $24.99! ( Remember- this thing is a piece of plastic junk made in Taiwan! )

Next we have the Karaoke which has two microphone inputs and you can plug it into a TV for the graphics and lyrics. The box itself is the tiniest Karaoke machine I've ever seen. They want 79.99 for it but don't forget it was originally priced at $169.99 ! Bah ! That's not IT either! She has a clothing line of mostly T-shirts and vests which will run up to at least $19.99 @ and there's a fetching little Cosmetics case which is shaped like a guitar for $16.99 (orig. 34.99 !)

Don't forget the barbie-sized Hannah Montana Doll for $16.99 (orig. 34.99 !)
....how about the charm bracelet for 11.99 ??? also sale priced !

The final total comes up to $250.90 if you buy each child about five items of her clothing line.. Mind you, this won't get her anywhere near the stage where Miley Cyrus does her little teen numbers such as Fly on the Wall but she can surely pretend at that cost. Either that or for the same amount of money you could get her some piano or singing lessons for about half a year and if she has any talent at all then your own daughter can start pulling in some bucks all her own. Imagine something like "Madison Radisson Gets a Life ". Well, you get the idea !

The Castle Lady with the latest and the lamest ! hee hee hee

Stardom By Death

2008-08-06T20:37:00.001-07:00

Just recently an upstart band Tickle Me Pink got a boost for exceptional notoriety- the 21st century way- their lead singer died on the same day as their national debut album "Madeline" was released. On August 3rd they gave a concert as openers to the bands Finch and Scary Kids Scaring Kids at Denver's Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom downtown. They have a replacement lead singer in Joey Barba (who is a Pantera fan, my era !) and a trendy sound which will keep them being heard on indy airwaves regardless of the fact that it is sudden tragedy which put them on the musical map.

The Denver gig was their homecoming gig so a Rocky Mountain News music journalist recently caught up to them to ask questions about where they're headed and how they were able to carry on. Even with most questions unanswered about the death of Johnny Schou they decided to forge on with the national tour that comes along with a debut album. If you check out the links at the end you can see what venues they've already played at and where they're headed next.

Songs such as the title track "Madeline" have taken on new and deeper meaning for the band which were initially difficult to sing at the onset of the tour are now helping them get through the tour on the emotional tide it's running. This is the tour that Bill Stevenson of The Descendants told them they'd never get through without air conditioning ! !

Mark Brown: The fans gave you an outpouring of support. Did that help ?

Sean: So, so much ! Especially initially when none of us had really gotten on our MySpace for a couple of days. It was the last thing we were thinking about. I finally logged on and there were literally thousands of comments and messages. It was overwhelming. I started bawling. Kids love our music. We need to press on. Johnny would want us to press on.

M.B.: How is the road right now ?

Sean: I was glad to leave. We had two weeks before we left and I couldn't go home. It was too weird for me. I was just staying with my parents and at a hotel. I never even went home. Getting out on the road was a relief. I can be productive. I'm sure when I get back for a couple of days I'll feel more comfortable now.

M.B.: How did you pick Joey Barba to play with the band ?

Sean: If there'd just been some random studio musician who'd come in to play with us, we wouldn't have done the tour. A lot of the songs on our record are pretty deep about life and death. I couldn't have been able to sing those lyrics onstage and look over and see some studio musician there in the place of Johnny. We're lucky that our good friend Joey Barba came out....he was good friends with Johnny and lived with us for a while.

M.B.: How hard was that decision ?

Sean: He went through this big emotional dilemma about what he should do. We wanted him to not feel obligated to the situation so we had a big ordeal. If Joey's not going to do this, we're not going to do this tour.... he came to the conclusion that he wanted to do it....there's something about having our unity with each other that makes it easier.

M.B.: After the tragedy, what were your thoughts ?

Sean: We didn't wanna go on the road. We needed to take some time. Then we thought for a while about what Johnny would want us to be doing and really evaluated our own lives individually. We came to the conclusion we needed to do this in Johnny's honor. Every song we play off this record- he helped write it- we're sharing a piece of him with everyone. Now we have so much more purpose, to where it makes it a little easier to play.

Now they have to make it through without Johnny but the band remains optimistic

but still very emotional...

The Castle Lady sends lots of love your way!

http://www.ticklemepinkrock.com/ for more news and official blog

http://www.cervantesmasterpiece.com/ the Denver concert

Madeline video : www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVSW38T0AWU&feature=related

Beck is Back on the Scene !

2008-07-22T13:28:00.001-07:00

Last week Beck released a new CD under the title Modern Guilt and according to what I've read it's an eclectic (as always !) collection of ten songs. For those who haven't been paying attention Beck broke into the hit "parade" with his song Loser in 1994. I personally don't remember that particular song but I was thoroughly impressed with the song that made it to movie soundtrack fame Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime, with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It wasn't the theme song to the movie but it should've been.

Well, ever since his Grammy-winning hit in 1994 he has been putting out product that is always fresh sounding and definitely ground-breaking in some fashion. No one knew what to expect with this new album and that is a great place to be for any artist. Trust me !

For more info check out these links:

http://www.parade.com/celebrity/articles/080711-beck

http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Beck

http://www.modernguilt.com/

www.imdb.com/name/nm0065059

Your ever illustrious Castle Lady.. bises to you !

The First Woman Rocker

2008-03-28T22:38:00.001-07:00

Does anybody remember the song "Let's Have a Party" or "Honey Bop"? I first heard the rockabilly classic ( Let's Have a Party )in the 1989 movie Dead Poet's Society which starred Robin Williams as an English teacher in a boarding school. It's the best example of a typical rockabilly song from its era. Wanda Jackson recorded this tune and I have never heard anyone else's version of it, although another version which Elvis Presley recorded first, exists. If you've never heard the song I urge you to check it out to hear it for yourself.

Wanda Jackson was the rockabilly queen and she had no real competitors in her genre- not of the female variety in any case. Her first hit was in Japan in 1958 with Fujiyama Mama. She had a uniquely aggressive approach to her music which was unheard of at the time of her popularity. She had as much power and class as any of the "old" guys like Gene Vincent, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, Eddie Cochran or Buddy Holly. Her first huge hit was Let's Have a Party which featured a band belonging to Gene Vincent called The Blue Caps in 1960. None of her hits made the top twenty but she continued to record clear up to 1979 with a Greatest Hits album. She eventually went into gospel and country music but never achieved quite as much notoriety with that music as in her beginnings.

Born in Maud, Oklahoma on October 20, 1937 to an amateur musician ( her father, Tom) both her mother and father encouraged her to sing from an early age. In 1952 she won a local talent contest and was awarded a fifteen minute daily show on KLPR which was in Oklahoma City. She then got a thirty minute slot radio show (at the tender age of fifteen) which she kept through her high school years and by 1953 she started recording with Decca Records. Her first hit was You Can't Have My Love a duet she sang with Hank Thompson's bandleader, Billy Gray. In 1956 she signed on with Hank Thompson's swing band, Brazos Valley Boys and eventually signed with Capitol Records after her career was well under way.

Some tunes to look for would be Right or Wrong, In the Middle of a Heartache in addition to the previously mentioned tunes. There are others such as Mean Mean Man, Slippin and Slidin, Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad, Try a Little Kindness and many more you can Google. In the 70s and 80s she toured internationally and has re-recorded several of her hits in German, Dutch and Japanese to great success.

Jackson toured constantly during her career and was nominated for a Grammy twice. She married an IBM programmer, Wendall Goodman in 1961, and surprisingly he gave up his job in order to manage Wanda's career. After she released her gospel album in 1972 her secular career cooled but she claimed that it saved her marriage!

During the 80s Rockabilly had a resurgence in Europe with The Stray Cats and others and Jackson's major influence to several country artists who wanted to take advantage of the new found popularity received new attention as a rockabilly singer. As a result she was invited by many female artists to tour Europe in which she took part. Rosie Flores released a rockabilly album titled Rockabilly Filly in 1995 and invited Jackson to record several of the tunes with her. They embarked on a major U.S. tour together later that year.

Discography

1960- Rockin' with Wanda (Capitol)

1966- Wanda Jackson Sings Country Blues

1972- Praise the Lord

1974- Country Gospel (Word)

1979- Greatest Hits (Capitol)

2000- Queen of Rockabilly (Ace ) import

Single "Let's Have a Party" made it to #37 on the charts 1960

Single "Right or Wrong" made it to #29 in 1961

Single "In the Middle of a Heartache" made it to #27 in 1961

All Rights

Evelyn M. Wallace

March 28, 2008

James Blunt's Reemergence

2008-01-09T13:32:00.001-08:00

You'll remember him from his brilliant but simple debut with "You're Beautiful" from 2005 which gave him strong radio rotation for a half year. This modest Brit who came from London, now lives his down days in Ibiza, Spain and is getting ready to start a world tour on the strength of a new CD "All the Lost Souls". In an interview with Cosmo recently he revealed that he felt a woman's most attractive feature is her mind. This 30 year old is one smart cookie. XD

From reading the interview I came to a few conclusions about him. One is that he's very shy with people so his visual recognition has forced him out of his shell and that he's a very strong (and rare, let's face it! ) romantic with the opposite sex and certainly doesn't make money an issue. He does have a girlfriend, though. He's also quite aware of how short life is and he makes the most of it by filling his time as much as possible.

My last observation is that he strives for satisfaction in what he does so he'll probably never put out a bad album and if he couldn't make his living as a musician anymore he'd make sure whatever he does would make an impact for positive change in the world.

Coming at 'ya with blunt affection!

The Castle Lady

Evelyn M. Wallace

It Was A Blast ! !

2007-12-20T14:13:00.000-08:00

Christmas extravaganza in Denver every year!

Rockabilly galore!

The Best!

The Castle Lady

Happy Holidays!

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

2007-12-06T15:50:00.001-08:00

Are you looking for some really rockin' presents this year? I have started a list for you so hear me out, check out the list and just add whatever you think will make for a true rock and roll Christmas to your own list. Here goes:

1. A Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock wireless guitar, approx. $100 (you can get it at guitarhero.com

2. A Crosley USB turntable will run about $165 from fredflare.com

( hint: it converts old vinyl LPs into digital files for your up-to-date devices!)

3. A Samsung Electronics MP3 player will cost about $80

4. Audio-Technica portable folding MP3 speakers only about $28 from momastore.com

5. The Nikon D3 SLR

( To see what this one is all about visit www.stunningnikon.com/challenge )

Ho ho ho!

Have a Merry Christmas!

The Castle Lady

Who is Michael D.R.I.V.E. ?

2007-11-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

Chi Coltrane has said, "Usually in the case of a rock band, if you take away the band and just leave the singer with the guitar, it's not very impressive; but in Drive's case, it's completely different. If you were to take away the band, you would see that he shines; like a multi-faceted diamond. His voice is unique...his musicianship, and his songwriting are excellent."

Michael Drive was born and raised in L.A. but in 2003 he moved to Paris and moves around Europe (touring mostly France, Germany and Switzerland) playing venues and recording songs with other musicians he crosses on the road. He has been playing as an opener for the de Palmas and has a new recording out "One Direction Left...From Hell". Some of the lyrics from his title song are:

There's a boy reaching for his girl

But her eyes are reaching for someone else

As he crawls around inside her soul

Trying desperately to touch her there

But she's far away and he does not know

That today she'll say goodbye.

His music is available at http://www.girdermusic.com/ and his titles are:

One Direction Left...From Hell

Live in Paris

The Acoustic Collection

This former lead singer of Barren Cross is inspiring and winning the hearts of many loyal fans worldwide. Check him out!

New note: Michael is now back with Barren Cross and they are

back touring the States this summer. Check out his web site and theirs >

http://www.michaeldrive.com/ http://www.barrencross.net/

& www.myspace.com/michaeldrive1

Evelyn M. Wallace 11/4/07

Rock Band- the new video game!

2007-09-11T20:25:00.000-07:00

This new game which can be used in the PS2, PS3 and XBox 360 is coming out in stores by November 20th! Remember the Rutles? The Rutles. HELLOooo! Well the reason you need to check this out is because the original creators of Guitar Hero invented this new "air guitar" phenomenon and adding a second guitar, a drum kit and a microphone is this guy's way of turning things up to 11. If you were unfortunate enough to be born in the 80s that's just going to go over your head. Now- back to coolness! XD

This game gives several players a chance to play in person or virtually and form a video game band. Like Guitar Hero, Rock Band is pumped up to 11 and uses replica instruments to allow you to play along with Rock, Jazz or pop of any kind. While the lead and bass guitars are quite the blast, the microphone might be a little embarrassing. Better learn to sing, dude! XD The drums are well worth it and you'll probably be fighting over who takes them. May the best man win! MTV has supplied a good stock of original masters for this sweet one as well. I have a feeling you'll find plenty of riffs and licks to choose from. Have fun! Better get in line now!

Evelyn M. Wallace 2007

Magma and Gong!

2007-09-06T18:33:00.001-07:00

Rock and Roll has certainly had its share of particularly strange groups throughout the years but I'm not going to touch on the obvious stand-outs at this point in time. Some people think KISS was a rock oddity but if you have some knowledge of Rock history, you'd know that many bands took the "make-up and elaborate costumes" route and many teenagers and young adults didn't think it out of ordinary at all. Before KISS, Alice Cooper did a more psychological but creepy approach to Rock that may never die out. Today it is known all over the world as Death Rock and there are a myriad of European bands which tout just that but they are certainly not original. Alice Cooper takes the bows for that alone.
Here's a band I consider to be my version of an oddity. Does anybody remember the band Magma? Didn't think so. Don't feel bad, I don't either but they were before my time! It's not surprising that most of you won't because it was a band formed in 1969 in France by Christian Vander. They considered themselves an Art Rock phenomenon because they invented their own language: Kobaian. That's right, Kobaian which was supposed to be from the planet Kobaia.

This gets even better so keep reading.

Vander was a percussionist who loved Elvin Jones music (Jazz) but he was really a devotee of both contemporary Classical and modern Jazz (a` la Coltrane, Sun Ra). Christian Vander, from these influences, constructed music that had some intriguing polyrhythmic tunes and all his albums were conceptual (very much like Frank Zappa!) but involved interplanetary communication, galactic warfare and even the apocalypse. They toured with another band called Gong (who were even more bizarre, keep reading...) and while touring often stayed in fans homes because they were so low budget. This is not to take away from their musical viability, however, as they put out an impressive amount of albums and if you attend enough garage sales you may run across one of their albums someday! Here are some titles to look for:

Magma- 1970, 1001 Degrees Centigrade- 1971, Live (on Utopia Records) 1975, Udu Wudu- 1976, Edits, Attahk- 1977.

If you ever find any of these e-mail me because I'd like to buy at least one of these records and actually hear them ! ! ! !

Now Gong were formed a year later than Magma in Paris by an expatriated Australian by the name of Daevid Allen. All but a few of their titles were in English and they had the distinction of being not only in compliment to Magma (i.e. UFOs, mythology buffs) they were more of a European post-hippie band which mixed Rock, Folk and Jazz in with synthesizers but emulated Magma's musicality. (The Kelly Family might be a good example as a more modern equivalent.) As time progressed in their evolution they had frequent personnel changes. When Allen started out he was basically a beatnik who attended the Canterbury College of Art back in 1966. While his group evolved he went on to greener Rock pastures. He had the opportunity to work with an impressive number of "well-knowns", mentioned further in this entry. Before his departure from Gong he was able to complete a trilogy he created about the planet Gong. These LPs were Flying Teapot, You, and Angel's Egg.

In 1979 with the release of one of his few French titles N'existe Pas he led the first Gong group to play the U.S. He lived for a time in Woodstock (quel surprise!) and did solo tours for a time as the Divided Alien Clockwork Band.

Pierre Moerlen took over Gong in 1973 and the real Gong specialized in percussion-heavy Jazz Rock under Moerlen's influence. His first recording with them was Angel's Egg in 1973. He had actually studied music at his father's old alma mater the Strasbourg Conservatory in 1967 until 1972 and was well prepared for his rotating cache of sidemen which included some big names like Steve Hillage, Todd Rundgren, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor ( on whose solo debut in 1979 Moerlen contributed.) The only remaining original member was Didier Malherbe, the saxophonist/flutist.

He re-united with Allen in 1977 to record Gong Est Mort and at that point they began to do more work in America after signing with Arista. Gong is most unique in that many different "incarnations" of the band, using the very same name, were allowed to flourish which most likely is the reason that Moerlen's band received very little notice for their U.S. concerts. Their brand of Rock was simply more popular in Europe at the time. Don't hesitate to let me know if you ever see Gong's or Magma's LPs in a garage sale. Check out Gong's discography below:

1973- The Flying Teapot

Angel's Egg

1974- Continental Circus

Camembert Electrique

You (Virgin Records)

1976- Shamal

1977- Gazeuse

Live!

Magick Brother

Gong Est Mort

Expresso 1978
Expresso II

1979- Downwind

Time is the Key

Pierre Moerlen's Gong Live

Evelyn M. Wallace

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Rock

2007-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

But I'm gonna tell you anyway!

This is my official title of this blog. Tomorrow at this very same time you will be reading an awesome piece of writing on Rock Oddities (one of my catagories.) I started this blog, however, to write about women in Rock which I'm going to do a series on for the next two years. Keep checking back because you're going to learn more about Rock and Roll from my blog than you can by picking up your average Rock magazine these days. I may diversify eventually, but for now... it's all about Rock AND Roll!

Evelyn M. Wallace aka The Castle Lady