BNL Fan Alert – Ed Robertson @ Okemo 1/4/2007

Fresh from a holiday performance with the Boston Pops, Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson plays a free solo show at Okemo Ski Resort next Thursday:
Ed Robertson, a lead singer and songwriter for the band Barenaked Ladies will perform live in the Sitting Bull during apres ski, from 3 to 6 p.m. on January 4. Apres [...]

Local Rhythms – A Year of Highs and Lows

This year’s local music scene is best summed up by one of my favorite all-purpose sayings – “When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window.” I believe I heard it first, appropriately enough, in “The Sound of Music.”
There were more opening windows than closing doors in most places this year, but [...]

“Brainwashed” Shana Morrison’s Family Tradition

Shana Morrison tried to chart her own path from youth to adulthood; her aspirations – business school and a career in finance – would seemingly delight most parents. But Shana’s wasn’t an ordinary household.
Her father responded to her plans with a terse question. “Why do you want to do business? Business [...]

Local Rhythms – The Season of Giving Back to Music

This is time of year when “we give to our relations,” as Jackson Browne sings in “The Rebel Jesus” (one of my essential holiday songs). We also do what we can for the less fortunate among us. Locally, there are many deserving charities providing food, shelter and other comforts to those in need. [...]

Toby Lightman Shines At Iron Horse

Most of the crowd at the Iron Horse Tuesday felt that if Toby Lightman had auditioned for “American Idol” back in 2002, Kelly Clarkson would still be hawking Red Bull and waiting tables in Texas.
But the singer-songwriter, who released her first record in 2004 (“Little Things”), has chosen a more methodical path to [...]

Today’s Free Download – Imaad Wasif

“River,” Joni Mitchell’s dark holiday lament, gets some testerone competition with Imaad Wasif’s “The New Year,” a track from Kill Rock Stars’ Winter Holiday Album, a joyous little affair indeed.
Wasif was a member of Lou Barlow’s side project New Folk Implosion at the end of their run. The group appeared in the film “Laurel Canyon” [...]

SpiralFrog – Big (But Not That Big) Developments

SpiralFrog, the free music service viewed (by some) as the last best hope for the struggling music business, yesterday announced a distribution deal with BMI. The song publisher will make their entire catalog available for ad-supported free download in WMA protected format. The catalog comprises nearly half of all recorded music, including the [...]

Local Rhythms – Middle Earth’s Dark Days Ending

Five months filled with lawsuits and countersuits, delayed court dates and mounting attorney bills haven’t made Chris Jones an optimist. But the Middle Earth Music Hall owner was buoyant enough last Monday to declare that “jackhammer season is over” for the Bradford club.
The reason for his cautious jubilation was an Orange County [...]

Grammy Bloat

What would happen if all the entertainment award shows took their cues from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences? One shudders to think. Instead of a single Best Picture award, an Oscar each would go to a drama, comedy, musical, sex farce, dramatized biography and a roman à clef.
If you [...]

Today’s Free Download – “O Holy Night”

Finally, NBC has posted an MP3 of “O Holy Night,” the amazing “Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip” performance by the Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews-led New Orleans horn band, which aired last Monday.
The Studio 60 “Christmas Show” episode repeats on December 18, and it’s worth watching for more than the music.
The dialogue is sharper, character [...]