Tonight I was walking down the street and heard a very beautiful and soulful voice and a piano emanating from an outdoor restaurant and just had to walk in to figure out who it was.
Her name is Alex Nester. When I got home I looked her up. I learned that, besides the fact that she has been honing her craft and paying her musical dues for quite a while, at age 16 she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgekins Lymphoma, but overcame it all and is now cancer free.
The song I heard tonight that brought me in off the street was one that sounds like it was just meant for Joss Stone to cover. Ms. Nester said it had not been recorded, yet.
As I was browsing through her websites looking for a music video to feature here, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw her "No Auto-Tune" logo posted on much of her promotional material.
I found this song below that is obviously sung from the heart of a girl who overcame what was most likely assumed an early death. Kudos to you, Alex Nester, for staying in the game and keeping it 100% organic.
In 1978, legendary Boston concert booker, Fred Taylor (read the Music Museum of New England biographies on his life here and here) and his company H-T Productions, were doing one-off shows at the Music Hall in Boston. They booked Bob Marley & The Wailers during the period that the group was promoting it's Kaya album and tour. This show in Boston was dubbed Easy Skanking in Boston '78. Filmed by a solo hombre with the audio beautifully captured, it was recently released from the Marley family vault and made available in February 2015 for the first time.
Just below is the recently released video of I Shot The Sheriff from this show. What I really love about it is that it was shot by a solo hombre, meaning there was only one camera operator and he used film! It's cool hand-held footage, from one perspective in the front row of the event, and as enjoyable as many professionally filmed concerts that switch back and forth to additional cameras. A animation house, known as S77, filled in some blanks on this production, with some nice transitions, perhaps to cover gaps during the periods when the camera man was switching out rolls of film in his camera.
Bob Marley – "I Shot The Sheriff" (live) | Easy Skanking In Boston '78
And we found one more clip from this wonderful release that is a song that captures the essence of Bob's fight for the underdogs of the world in a quest for liberty and freedom, that is not reserved only for the privileged. When Bob Marley proclaims: "Yeah, Rastafari. Until the philosophy which hold one race as superior and another inferior, is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned", one should know what song is coming. WAR
Bob Marley - War (live) | Easy Skanking In Boston '78
Review the full array of digital, DVD/BluRay and Vinyl offerings related to this recent February 2015 release. here.
It's fun to come across an international act that I've never heard of, but is bigger than big with hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. This is one of those acts out of Oslo, Norway. This track titled Am I Wrong by Warner Bros. Records record artist's, Nico & Vinz, kind of reminds me of The Police and their song from 1979 titled "Message In A Bottle" This breakthrough song for the act, featured below, is track two off their album titled Black Star Elephant. Enjoy!
Directed by Sam Bayer, a director with one of the longest resumes in music video directing history, just below is the music video for The Rolling Stones' single titled Anybody Seen My Baby.
It was the first single from the Bridges To Babylon album released in 1997. The song was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, KD Lang and Ben Mink. The role of Baby in the video was performed by Angelina Jolie. Turn it up and enjoy!
Please click the play button of the video below and choose the high-resolution & full screen options. When the video ends, it will automatically be followed by several excellent curated music videos. Press forward to skip or the reverse button to return to previous songs. Exit full screen mode to pick a new video.
Music Television is primarily focused on the actual music, rather than talking too much about it, so this post is a rare exception.
Just below is pioneering rock & roll king and guitar legend Eddie Van Halen sitting down for a talk with a Smithsonian Talks series called "What It Means To Be American". The discussion lasts almost one hour. Eddie covers his own and his family's life from when he and his brother, Alex, were little, before his family took a boat to America. His father was a musician who was able to pay their way over to America by performing on the boat that brought them. Perhaps, that was his brother Alex and Eddie's first real paying gig, on piano, when their father had them sit in one night. That's just the beginning of a great story that most have never heard, until now.
Eddie Van Halen - Smithsonian Talk
Back in the day before Eddie Van Halen was famous, when kids were learning how to play guitar or bass, one of the first songs learned was Deep Purple's song Smoke On The Water. These days, kids like Tina S., a gifted young female guitarist in France, strive to master Eddie Van Halen's song Eruption.
Just below is some classic live concert footage of Van Halen from 1982 and one of their songs titled Eruption. Turn it way up.
