retroblog.net

Apparently Sir Paul McCartney has heard all the whining about Wings tunes being neglected in his recent live gigs. Well, rejoice Wings fans – Sir Macca added a couple NEW tunes to his setlist on his current tour!!

Check it out – Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five (from the Band On the Run album)

other newly added songs to the Macca setlist:
Venus and Mars/Rock Show
I’m Looking Through You
and Letting Go!!

also there are some fairly “new-ish” additions on the list that were done during last year’s European gigs:
(I Want To) Come Home
Obla-di Obla-da
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After their left turn into folk-pop in 2008, Allison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory are now back on the dance floor (albeit 80′s style) with their new album Head First. The set opens up with a nod and a wink to 80′s-era Olivia Newton John (as well as a synth patch straight out of Van Halen’s “Jump”) titled “Rocket”. The song’s got a huge hook and sets the tone for the rest of the album that takes us on a journey back to the days of neon spandex and legwarmers. Allison’s voice is captivating and sultry as ever and Will’s clever arrangements are always fun to hear.

standouts include: “Alive”, “Rocket” and “I Wanna Life”. My personal favorite is “Dreaming” which features a Kate Bush vibe with Vince Clarke/Erasure-type keyboard parts.

the only misstep here is that the 80′s nostalgia (i.e. new wave synths, retro drum sounds) ends up overshadowing some of the songs and almost brings things down into the realm of parody. Also the second half of the album drags a bit with melody lines and chord progressions becoming too derivative of other works. Abstract album closer “Voicething” compounds the problem by ending things on an incomplete note. But I’m being picky here. Overall, it’s an enjoyable album to listen to and I’m sure Goldfrapp fans worldwide will be snapping up this release in a hurry.

RetroGrade : B

Head First
Goldfrapp
label: Mute
released: 22 March 2010

TrackList:
1 Rocket
2 Believer
3 Alive
4 Dreaming
5 Head First
6 Hunt
7 Shiny And Warm
8 I Wanna Life
9 Voicething

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iDEN cell phone users rejoice! The first Android smartphone on the iDEN network will be out sometime this summer. Motorola recently announced that the i1 will released through Sprint/Nextel and that Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” host, Mike Rowe will be the spokesperson for the new phone. Besides the sleek touchscreen design and the Android powered apps, the phone meets 810F military specifications for ruggedness, hence the choice of Mr. Dirty Jobs Rowe. So, apparently, the marketing campaign will be geared toward construction workers, builders, and such. And I guess that makes sense since the push-to-talk feature is a favorite among that particular demographic. Other phone features include: 5-megapixel camera, Opera mini 5 browser, WIFI, microSD and a 3.1 inch touchscreen.

So essentially, the i1 is a super tough phone that runs on Android OS 1.5. I’m not sure why Motorola chose the older version of the OS but hopefully users will have the capability to upgrade to 2.1. The big limitation for iDEN users is that the network was never designed for high speed data. So, mobile web connections will be very slow on the iDEN i1. But still, I’m glad to see a sleek smartphone available for the aging network. No longer will iDEN subscribers have to be embarrassed by their old-school Motorola clamshells, heh. (yes, I still use an old Motorola i880 on my Boost mobile account). Now, if only Boost Mobile members can have their own version of the i1. Either that or simply be able to purchase the Nextel phone outright and use it on Boost (..but I can’t imagine the cost of the new phone WITHOUT a contract. OUCH!).
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Singer/songwriter Shelby Lynne will be out on tour beginning in late April in support of her brand new album Tears, Lies, And Alibis. After the success of her 2008 tribute to Dusty Springfield titled Just A Little Lovin’, Lynne wanted to change things up. So, what we have here is a self-produced collection of intensely personal, raw sounding songs. Not only did she produce the record but she’s releasing it herself on her own record label – EVERSO Records. Look for it in stores on April 20th and be sure to catch her live in a city near you.

Shelby Lynne – Spring Tour Dates
Thu 04/22/10 West Hollywood, CA The Roxy Theatre
Fri 04/23/10 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
Mon 04/26/10 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge
Tue 04/27/10 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
Sat 05/01/10 Minneapolis, MN Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant
Sun 05/02/10 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom
Mon 05/03/10 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
Tue 05/04/10 Chicago, IL Martyrs’
Wed 05/05/10 Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
Fri 05/07/10 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall
Sat 05/08/10 Somerville, MA Johnny D’s Restaurant & Music Club
Sun 05/09/10 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
Mon 05/10/10 New York, NY The Concert Hall At The New York Society for Ethical Culture
Tue 05/11/10 Alexandria, VA Birchmere
Thu 05/13/10 Nashville, TN The Belcourt Theatre
Fri 05/14/10 Birmingham, AL WorkPlay Theatre
Sat 05/15/10 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Mon 05/17/10 Dallas, TX Granada Theater
Tue 05/18/10 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
Wed 05/19/10 Austin, TX St. David’s Church
Sat 05/22/10 Phoenix, AZ The Compound Grill
Tue 05/25/10 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern

TrackList for Tears, Lies, And Alibis:
1 Rains Came
2 Like A Fool
3 Why Didn’t You Call Me
4 Alibi
5 Something To Be Said
6 Family Tree
7 Loser Dreamer
8 Old #7
9 Old Dog
10 Home Sweet Home
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Here we go again. Todd Rundgren is back out on the road! This time around, he’s on tour to support his upcoming Hi Fi Recordings release, Todd Rundgren’s Johnson. You would think it’d be wise to have the product available for purchasing during the tour but it seems Hi Fi won’t have the 12-song CD of Robert Johnson covers available until June. I’m not a marketing genius but the record label seems to be missing the boat on this one. Just like how they botched the Arena release back in 2008.

Surprisingly Hi Fi did at least manage to get a three song digital EP out on iTunes and Amazon Mp3 today titled Todd Rundgren’s SHORT Johnson. So, I guess that’s something. Honestly, if this is the type of “support” Todd is going to get from this particular record label, he might as well release all his albums himself.

anyway, go out and support the man. The legendary musician has been working his ass off out on the road these last few years. check ‘em out!

Here are Rundgren’s spring tour dates:

Fri 4/02/10 Engelwood, NJ Bergen County PAC
Sat 4/03/10 Salisbury, MA Blue Ocean Music Hall
Mon 4/05/10 Sellersville, PA Sellersville Theater
Wed 4/07/10 Newark, OH Midland Theater
Fri 4/09/10 Greensburg, PA Palace Theater
Sat 4/10/10 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun – Wolf Den
Sun 4/11/10 Ridgefield, CT Ridgefield Playhouse
Tue 4/13/10 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere
Wed 4/14/10 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage
Fri 4/16/10 Lincolnshire, IL Cubby Bear North
Sat 4/17/10 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
Tue 4/20/10 Dallas, TX Trees
Wed 4/21/10 Memphis, TN New Daisy Theater
Thu 4/22/10 Nashville, TN Polk Theater
Sat 4/24/10 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park (opening for Hall and Oates)
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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Foodmix. All opinions are 100% mine.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon an online coupon for a brand of cooking wine called Holland House. It wasn’t a brand I was familiar with but I thought I’d try the classic burgundy cooking wine for my spaghetti sauce. I don’t know if most of you add wine to your sauces but in my opinion, adding a bit of wine brings out the flavors in the sauce. And unlike the usual table wines, Holland House wine is made specifically for cooking and has a shelf life of approximately six months. The added salt in the cooking wine prolongs the stability of it but you have to keep the extra salt in mind when using it in your recipes. I’ve also used the Holland House wine for my signature spicy grilled pork dish. The key to the dish is the marinade which is a mixture of red cooking wine, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and molasses. The grilled pork turned out great the other day and Holland House did the job in enhancing the flavors in the dish.

I just checked out some of the recipes featured on the Holland House website and there’s a glazed ham recipe that I want to try this coming weekend. It looks pretty straight forward and the sherry-orange dijon sauce looks intriguing.

The 2-DVD set titled Free Forever by classic rock group Free is out today. Best known for their hit song “All Right Now”, the British blues-rock band included lead singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke (both went on to form Bad Company after the break up of Free). This comprehensive release features most of the existing live footage of this legendary band from the early 70′s.

Here’s the official press release:
New York, NY – Bringing forth a mighty brand of blues-rock in the early 1970s, Free was a critical piece of foundation in hard rock’s roots. On March 23, Eagle Rock Entertainment will celebrate their career with the release of the Free Forever 2DVD set.

One of the most heralded bands of the 1970s, Free Forever amasses archival video footage, interviews, audio, memorabilia, and other bits of the band’s history to create the ultimate fan package. Featuring the powerhouse combination of a young Paul Rodgers’ gravelly vocals, Simon Kirke’s solid drums, Paul Kossoff’s infamous guitar leads, and Andy Fraser’s groove-infused bass lines, Free laid the foundation for a blues-rock revolution.

This set features live performances from the Beat Club in Germany and UK’s Granada TV. The second disc boasts full audio from their set at the legendary 1970 Isle of Wight festival (which also featured Jimi Hendrix, The Who, and The Doors), littered with a collection of band photos, posters, artwork, and unearthed video footage of tracks “Be My Friend,” “Mr. Big,” and “All Right Now.” Bonus features include original and brand new edits of these Isle of Wight videos with split-screen views. Interviews and special feature “The Freelist,” which contains a Top of the Pops appearance, Australian interviews, and other bits, is also included.

Disbanding in 1973, the members went on to enjoy continued success, both in acts such as Bad Company and Queen, and in solo careers. Sadly, Kossoff passed away in 1976. Yet, even in this short time, Free made a lasting impact that has influenced musicians and garnered countless fans. Eagle Rock is proud to capture the essence of this ground-breaking act and present it with the release of Free Forever.

Eagle Rock Entertainment is an international media production and distribution company operating across audiovisual entertainment programming. Eagle Rock Entertainment works directly alongside talent to produce the highest quality programming output covering film, general entertainment and musical performance. Eagle Rock Entertainment has offices based in London, New York, Germany, France and Toronto.
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It’s pretty much expected nowadays to have a tie-in pop album of some sort following the release of a major motion picture. I suppose it’s one of those on-going synergistic relationships between the music and film industries. Unfortunately, sometimes, the product ends up being no more than an afterthought where the record label simply cobbles together unrelated leftovers by artists currently on their roster. But thankfully, Disney put some thought and effort behind the new album Almost Alice which is a collection of songs inspired by Tim Burton’s latest film “Alice in Wonderland”.

For Almost Alice, Disney commissioned a select group of artists and bands to come up with original material related to the story. What could have been a meandering mish-mash of styles and perspectives, actually turned out to be a pretty engaging and tuneful set of songs. Avril Lavigne kicks off the set with a catchy ditty titled (what else?) “Alice”. Tokio Hotel, 3OH!3, Franz Ferdinand and All-American Rejects also contributed strong material in this set.

With a slant toward the radio-friendly teen market, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Robert Smith (of the Cure) mixed in among the younger groups. Smith does a great rendition of “Very Good Advice” (from the 1951 animated movie).

Like most various artist discs, we do end up with a few duds (Grace Potter’s carbon copy of “White Rabbit”, for instance) but all in all it’s a pretty enjoyable album.

retroGrade : B

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I don’t know why I’m drawn to this crap but I couldn’t help but tune in to the season premiere of Celebrity Apprentice last night. I guess it’s the whole train wreck aspect of it. Come on, watching D-List celebrities humiliate themselves just to get some on air screen time? It’s must-see TV!!

For those that didn’t catch the show, here are the team lineups:

Team Rock Solid (the men) : Rod Blagojevich, Sinbad, Bret Michaels, Darryl Stawberry, Curtis Stone, Michael Johnson and Bill Goldberg

Team Tenacity (the women) : Cyndi Lauper, Sharon Osbourne, Carol Leifer, Summer Sanders, Holly Robinson Peete, Maria Kanellis and Selita Ebanks.

The douche-bag of the night – it’s gotta be Donald Jr. with his big-headed pompous attitude. His response to a question about how he knows who received the most contributions – “I know everything.” what an ass.

The women lost the restaurant task so Carol Leifer got booted. oh well. the Donald rarely fires the more well-known celebs early on so between Lauper and Leifer, it was a bit obvious who the Donald was going to pick.

as for the Donald’s quotables for the night:
- “she’s disgusting!” concerning Lauper’s close friend, Rosie O’Donnell.
- “I think Ivanka saved your beautiful ass.” said to Victoria’s Secret model Selita Ebanks.

celebs already on my nerves:
Bret Michaels (they need to replay his Tony Awards highlight on this show. The clip never gets old!) and Sharon Osbourne.

celebs I’m currently rooting for:
Bill Goldberg and Summer Sanders.

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The new video for “Tea Party” by Kerli is out. It’s one of the standout tracks from the new Almost Alice album. As you might already know, Almost Alice is a new compilation of songs inspired by the Tim Burton film “Alice In Wonderland”. The new 16-track album features songs by Mark Hoppus, Pete Wentz, All-American Rejects, Shinedown, 3OH!3, Franz Ferdinand, Avril Lavigne and All Time Low.

Almost Alice is out now and can be purchased at online retailers like CD Universe.

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