Couple of pre-weekend nuggets for you:

1-An interview with Klaus Heymann, Naxos label founder. 

2-If you're still using Grooveshark, the non-paying version of Rdio, they now have a mobile version for your phone.

Enjoy!

Living in Ottawa, I didn't get all that many chances to shop at Sam's.  To me, that sign with it's huge albums was the most exciting symbol of downtown Toronto.  It was the best part about being in the big city.  We had some good record shops in Ottawa, but we had nothing like that!

So many memmories...truly it was my favorite place in toronto while it was around... i mean, more imnportant then any other real estate in the city, restaurant, girlfriends homes , bars, etc....
I recall arriving late one night after too many drinks that were in celebration of a new job i just landed and was to start the next day...I never made it to the job that next day and i dont remember what i bought that particular time....but it was a part of the celebration....
...I spent every boxing day at that store from 1975 to closing.....I can still feel that anticipation waiting in thet god forasaken line up that snagged up past A and M ....
....scoring a old Phil ochs lp that had obviousl;y been in that rack for a decade or more... deciding I couldnt afford it......leaving the store and returning an hour later after I had come to my sences and seeing it gone...never to repeat that mistake...
...on and on....
hears to Sam!

Any memories of Sam's to share? I certainly loved seeing the iconic spinning signs whenever I'd take the subway downtown with my parents. God knows how many hours I spent flipping through albums for different artists. Ah, youth.

Also, most depressing pop music facts.

Glad you're enjoying. Bri. It's certainly one that continues to get more enjoyable for me with each listen. Sorry I wasn't able to join you all for last night's festivities at Lees. Wondering, though, if any of you were interested in either:

-Dinosaur Jr. on the 25th or 26th
-Latitia Sadier on the 20th

Realize both are signs that I'm wallowing in the 90s but decided tonight that I really want to see both of these and, more importantly, both fit in my sched. Who's in?

Spooky

Hey Kyle just gave the Spooky Action album a listen, and thoroughly enjoyed the retro-esque jangle.  Good variety and lots of skill in the arranging and song-writing.    Merci for the heads up.

Rodriguez has arisen from obscurity and is playing the MOD club Oct 25...thanks to the recent documentary on him... I( am going to this show w John my neighbour.... anyone else interested let me know if you need a ticket...

Great band , but only for a short potent time....from inception (1969ish) until, Duane Allmans death from a motor cycle accident ( I think) around 1972ish...Mike check Wiki if you need the precise details....
Duane did the lead guitar dualing on Derek and the Dominos (Eric Clapton) Layla, on top of all his sterling work on the first 2 albums and half of third album eat a peach.... All 3 albums favorites of mine..... After thatv they had a few good singles under brother Greg Allman's (the singer) guidance..... Dicky Betts was the other lead guitar player , and he can write a good siong or 2 as well.... I prefer them to LYnurd Skynyd , whom some may claim to be the better souther rock act...  Bith bands had great songs along with guitar work...For me , the guitar licks woulf not have been so powerfull , had they not ben wrapped around beautiful songs like Midnight Rider and Sweet mellissa, Blue sky ....etc....   Also a warning...sometimes the jamming can be great and some times it can be noodlin boring, but the first 2 albums in partticular are well worth getting...

On another note Hal David died over the weekend... He wrote the lyrics to Burt bacharacks greates hits..... Walk On by, This girls In love, Raindrops keep fasllin on my head, Alfie, All never fall in love again, Do you know the way to San Jose....etc......etc.... (in short , he owned the charts for a decade)...and if none of that matters to you, listen to I say a little prayer for you and you will hear a great anti war song frong the point of view of the wife left behind......I can only think of Bernie Taupin (Elton john)n as a lyric writer who had the same kind of impact on music from the last half of the sixties through 70's.... Caral king and other tin pan alley teams had scores of hits collectively , but hard to top this guy...Current Commercial radio suffers heavily from artists who think they can right interesting lyrics but sadly cant....maybe the art of a lryracist is gone but I would argue we are worse off for it....heres to you Hal!
s

Allman Brothers Band

I just finished Gregory Allman's autobiography (which I received as a gift), and I'm curious if any of you are fans of the band.  The author comes across as extremely superficial and self indulgent, so I'm taking everything he says with plenty of skepticism.  But based on the musicians who have played with them, and also on third party sources such as AMG, they do appear to have been a highly respected band.  People generally cite their blending of blues, soul, gospel and jazz stylings into a distinctively southern sound as a significant influence on many ensuing bands.  And their line up, which included 2 drummers and 2 lead guitars that played a lot of harmonized lines was somewhat innovative I think.  Their style of 20-30 minute jam songs isn't my cup of tea, so I've only listened to them a bit, but I thought I'd throw this out to the group.  Great band, or self-important claptrap?