By Davis McGraw I suck at keeping up with new releases, but I'm a sucker for show & tell. Here are five records that I heard in 2011 and deserve a good listen. 5. Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes: Havin' A Party With Southside Johnny (1979) [Goodwill in Laconia, August] Johnny found his way into my collection near the end of a brief serendipitous streak, and for that I thank him. Much like the Boss, these boardwalk boys know their escapism back & forth. 4. Ry Cooder: Paris, Texas (1985) [Burlington Records, September] I remember watching Paris, Texas for [...]
One of the true greats passed away this month: Clarence Clemons, a legend to every Springsteen fan. There are many things which made the E Street Band's sound so unique, but the key ingredients, in my view, were Roy Bittan's keyboards and Clemons' sax. It is on Clemons' shoulder on which Springseen leans on the Born To Run cover, literally and symbolically (and imagine the title track without that orgasmic saxophone build-up). The featured E Street Band song, here in the live version from the 1975 Hammersmith Odeon concert, tells the story of how the E Street Band came together. [...]

For those of you who know nothing about Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes other than singles like "Trapped Again" and "The Fever," Southside Johnny is/was a great soul influenced band that more or less peaked by 1980. They still tour to this day, but folks who don't know anything about Southside Johnny are missing out. They are from New Jersey (full disclosure; so am I) and for that reason they toiled in the legendary Bruce Springsteen's shadow, but they have an awful lot of really great tracks that nobody knows. You heard me right too; great was the operative [...]

It was a big night on July 14th at Ottawa Bluesfest. I didn't see Santana since there was this great Montreal band which (you would be shocked) was my tenth time seeing. It was a worthwhile night. The acts I saw were: The Rural Alberta Advantage Steve Winwood That 1 Guy Southside Johnny [...]
With high profile performances by Aretha Franklin (Aug 9, Aug 12) and John Legend (Aug 5) this year's annual " Brooklyn Summer Concert Series " at Wingate Field and Asser Levy Park could see record turnouts this year. Seaside Summer Concert Series 07/15 Neil Sedaka, Brenda Lee 07/22 The Beach Boys, Happy Together 25th Annivesary Tour 07/29 George Thorogood and The Destroyers, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes 08/05 John Legend 08/12 Aretha Franklin 08/19 The B-52s, Belinda Carlisle 08/26 Latino Music [...]
Wanna know what the earliest tip-off was that something was amiss in my Mom's home upon first inspection last week? There was a vinyl record out of its sleeve among a stack of books and paperwork on the kitchen table that doubled as my mom's desk in a way. There it was, just slid into the pile of stuff. A naked LP. I went on yesterday about my mom's musical inclinations, but my dad who wasn't a musician was a bit of an audiophile in the era of reel to reel tapes and LPs. And man, [...]

Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, "I Don't Want To Go Home"

It´s Southside Johnny´s birthday today, so I thought we´d better celebrate and make sure the guy is not forgotten anytime soon. For together with his band The Asbury Jukes, Johnny Lyon was responsible for the hottest Jersey Shore Sounds this side of Bruce Springsteen. His earlier albums from the late seventies are his masterpieces. I Don´t Want To Go Home , This Time It´s For Real and especially the hard-hitting Hearts Of Stone were all produced by E Street Band guitarist Little Steve Van Zandt. Rhythm & blues as it should be played, [...]
Communication Pete Townshend: Communication - 5MB Communication is the process of transferring information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood by both sender and receiver. It is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Communication requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchanged, There are auditory means, such as speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, or [...]