May 6th, 2010
The B Stars felt that their first full-length CD was long delayed but in reality their timing was fine. What took time was adding steel guitar to the band, a move they made in 2009 when Mikiya Matsuda (Lady A and her Heel Draggers) came on-board to bring fullness to the honky-tonkin’, western bop sound of the new and improved B Stars.
Vinyl is the only thing missing in the authenticity department of their CD, Behind the Barn with the B Stars, but this is a small point. The sepia and Sun Records motif of the artwork, the pilgrimage to Wally Sound recording studio in Oakland, and a producer like Lee Jeffriess (Big Sandy, Johnny Dilks) are enough to tell us that something traditional is afoot. Think Lucky Stars for a contemporary reference or Lefty Frizzell for an older one. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: b-stars, CD Review
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April 16th, 2010
As if their name didn’t give the band away, dancing beats are what the Hi-Rhythm Hustlers are about. Fronted by the inimitable Rockin’ Raul Castro, a dance instructor himself, the Hustlers’ live show combines Castro’s stage presence with the musicianship of veterans Mitch Polzak (guitar), Mike Walz (bass) and Jay Laude (drums) to squeeze all of the old school R&B to be had from a quartet. But how to get what works on the stage onto a recording, ah, there’s the rub.
The Hustlers pull it off by calling reinforcements into the studio. Chris Binnings the lead from Stompy Jones adds his voice to “Let’s Rock and Roll” and the piano is supplied by renowned SoCal keyboardist Carl Sony Leyland to rachet up the romp factor even further. Local keyboardist-at-large Noam Eisen plays on Charlie Rich’s “Right Behind You Baby” and a Hustlers’ original “One More Night.” Pedal steel, back up singers, tenor sax and an accordion are scattered among the other tracks to provide variation while staying true to their boppin’ roots. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: CD Review, hi rhythm, hi-rhythm hustlers
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April 14th, 2010
Looking for a new East Bay location.
McGrath’s in Alameda, the leading supporter of live Bay Area roots music, is losing its lease in May 2011 and ending ten years at it’s current location. Owner Peter Barnato plans to relocate his labor of love elsewhere in the East Bay. This could work out for the better since the current location is in a residential neighborhood and the club has always had to walk a tight line with live music… The Bay Area has lost an oxymoron as the Sacred Profanities are taking advantage of their recent reorganization and changing their name to Calafia. Sure it’s going from clever to bland but bland trumps clever when it comes to obtaining bookings. ‘Tis a pity there are so few who could, or would, get the joke… The B Stars‘ “Behind the Barn with The B Stars,” is their first fill length CD and the release party is yet to be scheduled but find them April 15th at the Hotel Utah. This will be a steel-lovin’ night with headliners Petunia and the Vipers out of Canada featuring members of the late Ray Condo’s band, and the Hotst Totsy Hillbilly Jazzbos which is closer to 1920’s popular song than to jazz… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: calafia, mcgraths, sacramento, sacred profanities, san jose
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April 7th, 2010
If Internet censorship is good enough for China it’s good enough for the USA as recent rulings on copyright law have demonstrated to peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing sites like Limewire and BitTorrent portals like IsoHunt.
At issue is the concept of secondary liability for enabling copyright infringement. Sites like IsoHunt do not store files, copyrighted or otherwise, but they do provide connectivity between strangers who share copyrighted movies, music, software applications as well as non-copyrighted information.
The Mot
ion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which is the guardian of copyrights for the movie industry, and IsoHunt are at the center of the fray. The party of the first part has sued the party of the second part for being enablers of a world-wide file sharing party among parties of the third part. The MPAA won but exactly what they won isn’t very clear because our court system needs to split hairs into tinier parts. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bit torrent, censorship, copyright, internet, mpaa, riaa
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March 19th, 2010
In Songs from the Stoop, the debut CD from The Brothers Comatose, the band has captured much of the joie de vivre of their live shows on a studio recording. This is a band that doesn’t fit into a handy category like bluegrass, country or rockabilly but it is definitely Americana. Footstompabilly perhaps?
It’s a contradiction to be sure, but even the downer songs like musing about hard times in “Church Street Blues” or their cover of the Rolling Stones’ Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: borthers comatose, CD Review
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