Now I know which movie this tune is referring to in the Making Out At the Movies album by The Boss Guitars.
I think it’s a Vinnie Bell composition, going back to the Whistle Stop album. There’s also a 45 with a Fink reference in the band name, that’s yet another version.
The track’s title Bazooki refers to Vincent Bell’s invention, the Danelectro Bellzouki. This was the first electric twelve string guitar. And was developed because the greek bouzouki was becoming requested after the soundtrack to Never On A Sunday became such a hit.
What I like about this is the spirit and performance. They obviously got the hang of surf instrumentals – great sound, especially the Fender Jazzmaster guitar. The songwriting is focused and quite enjoyable (maybe even more so on this track). They are young and play pretty tight and avoid approaching any sloppy pseudo guitar/drum/bass hero antics. The purity really comes across well. This music is meant to be played in a cool way, with a good punch. And let me tell you, three piece instrumental bands act under a big magnifying glass. You can really hear all the details – I can only second the comment somebody else made about them: Good Job!
As you probably already knew The Ventures are going to be inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame this year. Yes, it could have happened earlier. But anyway… This is also the year Madonna joins the club.
March 10, 2008: The Ventures are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 23rd annual induction dinner. tk is their presenter.
Read more here: The Ventures
Now this japanese guy is one hot Uke player, I tell you. Interesting to see Pacific Longboarder write about him:
‘08 Monday, 11 February 2008Jake Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO-koo-row) is recognized as one of the world’s top ukulele (oo-koo-LAY-lay) musicians, and one of the most jaw-dropping performers of any instrument. Renowned for lightning-fast fingers, revolutionary playing techniques, and wildly eclectic repertoire, Jake views the ukulele as an ‘untapped source of music with unlimited potential.’ It is no coincidence that Jake is the first ukulele player ever invited to perform as a solo artist at the Sydney Opera House! Playing jazz, blues, funk, classical, bluegrass, folk, flamenco and rock, Jake plays beyond all musical boundaries.It began when his mother gave him a ukulele lesson at age four. ‘When I played my first chord I was hooked,’ says Jake. Evolving from the heavily amplified riffs that earned Jake the reputation as ‘Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele,’ now Jake masterfully extracts the pure ‘clean’ natural acoustic sound of the uke, delicately making a single note smile or cry on his most recent releases, Gently Weeps and My Life. The highlight of Gently Weeps is Jake’s cover of George Harrison’s ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps.’ The video clip of Jake playing this in Central Park appeared on YouTube, and made Jake the medium’s first global superstar with over 3.5 million hits. When Jake had the honor of meeting Harrison’s widow, Olivia, backstage at his show with the Honolulu Symphony, she described feeling George’s presence with her when Jake played his rendition of Gently Weeps. From a modest beginnings at a Honolulu café, Jake has gone on to play at venues such as the House of Blues and The Knitting Factory (Los Angeles), The Birchmere (Alexandria, VA), Tipitina’s (New Orleans), Joe’s Pub and Knitting Factory (NYC), Ottawa Blues Festival, High Sierra Music Festival, The Bumbershoot Festival, The Fuji Rock Festival (Japan) and many others. Touring with Jimmy Buffett in ’05, ’06 and ’07 gave Jake ‘a priceless experience’ of playing to crowds of over 100,000. Jake’s first national TV slot was in December ’05 on NBC’s The Late Show with Conan O’Brien.
continue reading here Pacific Longboarder News / Reviews / Events
Saturday, February 9, 2008
10:00 a.m.
Los Angeles Public Library, Atrium Theatre
630 W. 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 228-7000
Spreeblick made me aware of this interesting YouTube video. You have a guitar on your iPhone to play chords, single notes and even vibrato the notes. Well the vibrato needs work. It’s apparently called PocketGuitar. It won’t hurt your fingers as much as real steel strings, you can do it anywhere, but it’s not quite as sexy as a Mosrite or a Jaguar.
Here‘s a great little regular music show you might find entertaining:
Jet Set Planet
A program of space age era instrumentals, TV Jazz, and other related music, featuring dismissed, forgotten, or otherwise marginalized vinyl LPs from the record bins of Thrift Store USA.
* Exotica
* Crime Jazz
* Lounge and Cocktail music
* Big Bands in the Stereo Age
* Ping-pong percussion
* Bongos. Bossa Nova, and Latin tunes
* European and American soundtracks
* Jazz for swingers and soft-core sensualists
* E-Z & Sleazy Listening
* Rock-Gone-Wrong
* Juvenile Delinquent music
* the Now Sound
* Songs of the Jet Set
* the Schreee of 10,000 strings
* and Spy jazz
From the days A&Rs would do the occasional string arrangement. The Billboard Hot 100 sounded different. This particular one from 1963 reminded me of the days I did full song chart themed mix tapes of, say, summer 1964, southern Calfifornia local radio charts music. That way I had a nice helping of surf instros, among their contemporaries. I would pop it in the car-radio-tape player, blasting out of 2 sixties Dual speakers in the back of my beetle on the way to St. Peter with my 9ft board on the roof. You never know what it feels like until you try it.
He directed the biggest bollywood movie of all time: Sholay. Here’s a movie song (composed by R.D. Burman) on YouTube.
From the BBc South Asia website:
Veteran Bollywood film producer GP Sippy has died in the western Indian city of Mumbai at the age of 93.
Mr Sippy was best known as the producer of Bollywood’s biggest ever commercial success, Sholay (Flames).