All posts by Hallgeir

Classic Concert, Concert films, Patti Smith

Classic concert: Patti Smith Group Full Concert Capitol Theatre NJ 1979
Photo: Klaus Hiltscher 1978
Photo: Klaus Hiltscher 1978

Patti Smith Group Full Concert  Capitol Theatre NJ 1979

“Redondo Beach… is the beach where women… love other women.”
– Patti Smith intro to the song, Redondo Beach

This is a gem from Music Vault, an almost two and a half hour with The Patti Smith Group right after the release of Easter. What a band and what a great time for the band and Patti Smith. They tear through the songs, the band is as tight as they get and the power is immense. I can understand Bob Dylan’s admiration of this force of nature.

Patti Smith could not have been met with a more enthusiastic home-crowd, and it’s a really great performance. This is from the year I discovered this wonderful artist (from Rockpalast 1979) But it is here in New Jersey that Patti Smith is at home and the performance really feels like she is with a familiar bunch of people.

Primal performance with a band at the top of their game!

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Music Calendar, The Band

Dec 29: The late great Rick Danko was born in 1942

Rick Danko I saw Ronnie Hawkins play near my hometown, Port Dover, Ontario, and I saw him play there on New Year’s Eve and the following spring I booked myself to be his opening act on maybe five shows, and he hired me after the first night.
-RickDankoYou put a song on the record or on tape and you stop singing it. You just don’t sit around and sing it anymore unless you’re performing. That’s kind of sad.
-Rick Danko

The late great Rick Danko was born in 1942

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Big Star, Memphis

Dec 28: The late Alex Chilton was born in 1950

Alex+Chilton+alexchilton

I never thought of myself as being a good songwriter. There are a ton of other people that are good songwriters, but I don’t think I’m in the club. What I do well is perform, sometimes sing pretty good, and accompany myself well and arrange fairly well.
~Alex Chilton

 

If you’re writing anything decent, it’s in you, it’s your spirit coming out. If it’s not an expression of how a person genuinely feels, then it’s not a good song done with any conviction.
~Alex Chilton

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Country, Film, Nashville

Video of the day: My Nashville by Bob Harris BBC documentary 2014

MyNashville

My Nashville by Bob Harris BBC documentary 2014

‘Whispering’ Bob Harris journeys to America’s country music capital to show why Nashville became Music City USA.

From the beginnings of the Grand Ole Opry on commercial radio, through the threatening onset of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, up to the modern mainstream hits of Music Row, this is the story of how music has shaped Nashville and why today it’s a place of pilgrimage for musicians from all over the world.

As well as iconic venues on Lower Broadway and the historic hit factories of 16th Avenue, Bob also explores the East Nashville music scene and discovers a rebellious flip-side to the country coin. With exclusive performances from the city’s top talent, Bob Harris explains why country music owes its enduring success to Nashville’s unique nurturing community of songwriters.

Very nice archival footage combined with fresh insights from today’s  players. He looks not just at the music but all the stuff that goes on around it, the shops, the posters and the studios of Nashville.

Performances from:
Emmylou Harris, John Fullbright, Ashley Monroe, Jason Isbell, Angel Snow and more

Interviews with:
Emmylou Harris, Duane Eddy, Dave Stewart and Rosanne Cash, Kacey Musgraves, Eric Church and more

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