Here's someone I've heard many times over the last few years at street level in the early morning hours. His name is Khevan Lennon-Onaje and he's on the tenor sax. Usually I hear his soulful playing as I approach 2nd and Market, which is where I recently made these recordings on my way to work. The first is an original composition entitled Eyes of the Tiger, Tears of the Harlequin - just an introductory passage it would seem - and the second a Parker tune, Bloomdido.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Busker Days: 'Eyes of the Tiger, Tears of the Harlequin" Khevan Lennon-Onaje
Here's someone I've heard many times over the last few years at street level in the early morning hours. His name is Khevan Lennon-Onaje and he's on the tenor sax. Usually I hear his soulful playing as I approach 2nd and Market, which is where I recently made these recordings on my way to work. The first is an original composition entitled Eyes of the Tiger, Tears of the Harlequin - just an introductory passage it would seem - and the second a Parker tune, Bloomdido.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Song of the Week: "Aneurysm", Nirvana
Back from vacation and still listening to Nirvana. Maybe that is because my vacation took me to Aberdeen, Washington, the birthplace of Nirvana. Since Nirvana got play last week, I won't spend too much time on the write up. Today's SoTW was recorded for a BBC radio program back in 1992. It's called Aneurysm and was composed by all three members of the band: Cobain, Dave Grohl, and Krist Novoselic. Another version of the song had appeared in England as the flip-side of Smells Like Teen Spirit, but I prefer this second version. In the US it appeared on the odds and ends/filler album, Incesticide. Aneurysm closes out that album and, in my humble opinion, is the standout on the album. In fact, I would suggest, with its powerful and evolving strong structure, and Cobain's gutteral vocals, it is one of Nirvana's two best songs.Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Song of the Week: "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", Leadbelly/Nirvana


Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Video Diary: The Seeds "Mr. Farmer"
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Song of the Week: "Peacemaker", Green Day
Success for a band can be a damn pain in the ass. The reality is that for every fan the band brings in, they bring in probably twice as many doubters. And when the band has a huge breakout album that wins widespread acclaim and massive sales, the question immediately turns to "what's next?". The Who had to face that question after the success of Tommy. They responded with their magnum opus, Who's Next. The Clash had to answer that question after the success of London Calling. They responded with the spotty and wide-ranging Sandanista. The Beatles had to do it after every album. And it's the position that Berkeley, California's Green Day find themselves in after the breakout success of American Idiot. One could excuse them if they came out with a straight-ahead, play the expectations down album. Or even if they fell flat on their face. But they didn't do either. Instead, this week, they came out with an album, 21st Century Breakdown, that feels very much like a natural extension of American Idiot. But it is perhaps even more ambitious than Idiot.Thursday, June 18, 2009
Del Shannon: Paranoia in A-minor

When Del Shannon’s first and only number one hit, Runaway, appeared in 1961, there were good reasons to think he would have many more. Here was a distinctive singer with an obvious knack for writing songs that people wanted to hear. Runaway managed to combine haunted desperation with catchiness, a formula that is magical if all too rare. But while he did have a few more songs in the charts through the mid-60s, none hit with the power of Runaway. Still, he should be remembered for more than just that song. Six months before the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, Del’s cover of From Me To You, which he learned while appearing with the Fab Four in England in 1963, became the first Lennon-McCartney song in the U.S. charts, providing the only American test of the duo as songwriters completely removed from the hurricane of Beatlemania. Del’s version sticks pretty closely to the original, except when he shows off his vocal chops on the coda.
Other than Runaway, my two favorite Del Shannon songs are Keep Searchin (We’ll Follow the Sun) from 1964 and Stranger in Town, from 1965. They are a matched set of sturdily strummed minor-key dramas, with paranoia as the overriding sentiment. Keep Searchin' exploits the Runaway formula (similar chord progression beginning with an A-minor to G major change, a simple, melodic organ solo, and perfectly controlled but thrilling leaps into falsetto). Stranger in Town continues the sketchily outlined story of the lovers on the run while substituting a sax break for the organ. These two minute chapters detailed the futility of escape, and were perfectly tailored to the era when The Fugitive was one of the most popular shows on the small screen.
After years out of the spotlight, working as a producer and on the oldies circuit, Del attempted a comeback in the 80s with the backing of Tom Petty. He was even asked to join the Travelling Wilburys after Roy Orbison’s death, and his falsetto would have filled that void as well as anyone’s could have. But by then his demons had finally caught up with him, and Del Shannon took his own life in February 1990.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Song of the Week: "Satisfaction Guaranteed", The Mourning Reign
1966 is the single greatest year for rock-n-roll ever. 1956 was good too, but no 1966. 1977 was also a critical year, but falls far short of what went down across the globe in 1966. Thursday, June 11, 2009
Song of the Week: "Going Away Baby", Grains of Sand
Dusty bins of record stores and countless thousands of entries on eBay are littered with brilliant music that has long been forgotten. Today's Song of the Week is one such song. It's by the LA based band, Grains of Sand and the song is the frenetic Going Away Baby.