Bloggerhythms

Normally Bloggerhythms takes pride in its carefully written and thought out prose but today's short post is an exception. Instead, because it's Thanksgiving, I'll let the video below do most of the talking to spread the word about  Musicians On Call (MOC) , a non-profit organization that began their noble mission twenty years ago. MOC is dedicated to bringing both live and recorded music to patients' hospital rooms. The world hears so many stories about boorish and selfish behavior from entertainers that it's nice to know when the opposite is true. The goal is to bring a little joy to those unfortunate people who are too infirm to leave their beds and maybe facilitate the healing process at the same time. MOC is getting widespread support from national recording artists, classic and current. Many are major stars. Here are just a few who have generously donated their time to raise money or visit patients. Among them are James Taylor, The Bacon Brothers, John M...

The First Hot 100 Of the 60s is a 4 CD set featuring all of the songs, in order, on the Billboard chart for the week of January 4, 1960 starting at #1 and running through #100. It was only a couple of years earlier, in August 1958, when the first Hot 100 was published and in just two years it became the ultimate guide to the US singles market. At the time of this chart Billboard determined a song's popularity based on sales of 45 RPM singles and radio airplay. Today, a song's ranking in the United States is based on the total sales of both physical and digital formats, radio airplay, and online streaming. So, it's possible that if the current methods were used in 1960 the chart may have had a very different look. We'll never know. Hot 100s always included many genres and they usually contain some classic tracks along with a lot of simple-minded dreck. The January '60 chart is loaded with one hit wonders and novelty songs but it was also home to a lot of fam...

A surprisingly good documentary, The Terry Kath Experience , received rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017 and is now available on AXS TV , a cable network that specializes in classic rock programming. Kath was the guitar player for the 70s horn band, Chicago, an outfit that was finally inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in 2016. Michelle Kath Sinclair was only two years old when her father died accidentally playing with a gun he didn't know was loaded at age thirty-two. Sinclair never knew Kath because she was so young when he died so, in order to fill a big void in her life, she produced this informative and moving documentary. Before we get deeper into the film some of you fine readers may need to know more about Kath because, except for musicians and many diehard fans, he is not among the more well-remembered classic rockers. Although he unjustly never makes the lists of rock's great guitarists that many music magazines and web...

Madeleine Peyroux released her sophomore album, Careless Love , a whopping eight years after her stellar debut. Why it took so long is unknown but when there is that large of a gap betweens records we should expect the follow up to be very, very good. Fortunately, it is. Just as they did on Dreamland , Peyroux's vocals generate Billie Holiday comparisons but unlike like Lady Day, the former street busker's reach extends far beyond the realm of jazz. Careless Love has only one self-penned tune and that allows Peyroux to record some excellent cover material. The set starts off with a bang. She uses Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me To The End Of Love" to prove how well she can interpret somebody else's work. Her reading of Bob Dylan's "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go," originally found on his legendary Blood On The Tracks LP, is superb. She also covers Hank Williams, as well as the title cut by W. C. Handy, and an old jazz standard ...