Floydian Slips

The Grande Ballroom Story - Louder Than Love

2010-01-06T13:14:00.000-08:00

LOUDER THAN LOVE—
The Grande Ballroom Story (Trailer)

LOUDER THAN LOVE is the story of the Grande Ballroom—birthplace of the Detroit rock music scene. Bands like MC5, Iggy & the Stooges, Ted Nugent & the Amboy Dukes, Alice Cooper and many more got their start here. The Grande not only influenced Michigan musicians but inspired bands from all over the U.S. and Europe. Legendary acts like Led Zeppelin, Cream, BB King, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd and the Who graced the stage at the Grande on a regular basis.

(The last we heard, the producer is still seeking distribution funding for this film.)

The Ash Grove: Mick Jagger Gets the Blues

2009-07-13T14:44:00.001-07:00

In his Ashgrove recording, guitarist Dave Alvin laments the loss of a favorite Los Angeles club, a venue that should be on the National Register of Historic Places. It would have to be in an urn, however—the Ash Grove burned not once, but three times.

Ed Pearl (an uncle of Spirit's Randy California) founded the 250-seat Ash Grove in 1958. "I started with the perfect show," says Pearl. "Brownie McGhee, Guy Carawan… McGhee was the Southern folk-bluesman who, at the time, hadn't quite yet formed his famous alliance with harmonica partner Sonny Terry; Carawan is best known for adapting We Shall Overcome with Pete Seeger.”

Going forward, stage acts would include Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, June Carter, Arlo Guthrie, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Jerry Garcia, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Son House, Mose Allison, Hoyt Axton, Eric Burdon, the Byrds, Canned Heat, Commander Cody, Albert Collins, Larry Coryell, James Cotton, Jose Feliciano, Firesign Theater, Robben Ford, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Ahmad Jamal, Dr. John, Albert King, Charles Mingus, Pharoah Sanders, Spirit, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Mississippi John Hurt, "Big Mama" Thornton, the Chambers Brothers, Flying Burrito Brothers, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal. Many other acts also appeared at the Ash Grove over the years.

On his way out of the Ash Grove one night, Mick Jagger,
a frequent visitor to the club, shook Pearl's hand in gratitude.
He simply wanted to thank Pearl for all the entertainment
– and no doubt musical education – the club had given him.
Robert Hilburn, LA Times music critic, 1973

Everybody hung out at the Ash Grove. It was there that Jim (Roger) McGuinn met David Crosby before forming the Byrds, and a chance encounter of Linda Ronstadt's led to the formation of the Stone Ponys.

Listen to Dave Alvin's tribute, Ashgrove, in its entirety

"I always had two or three cheap recorders going…," [Pearl] explains. "I'd just turn them on because I wanted to listen… Ry, Taj, and the rest of us liked to listen to the old guys." Some 3,000 hours of recorded live performances at the Ash Grove have survived. Many of these recordings may be streamed live or purchased from Wolfgang's Vault.

Currently in production, Ash Grove Burning is a documentary by Sundance award-winning filmmaker Aiyana Elliott. Hers is perhaps not

a recognized name in music circles until one learns she is the daughter of Grammy-Award winner, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, a regular Ash Grove performer. Being very patient while it loads, you may view the movie trailer online

at Ash Grove Film.

Freeform Radio Master—Dave Dixon On WABX

2009-07-12T06:44:00.000-07:00

It was 1967 and, if we were lucky, once in a great while we might hear something cool on AM radio—Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth being a harbinger of what was to come. In the autumn of that year, Detroit’s WABX-FM began broadcasting The Troubador, an experimental show, for an hour each week.

For the first time we could listen to an eclectic mix of blues, rock, folk and jazz all within the same program. And in stereo, no less. Within six months the X was broadcasting similar programming for most of each day. For this listener, there was never any looking back at the limited, uneven, preformatted AM station offerings we had had to endure up to that point. (Remember the Zombies being followed by Percy Faith?)

As an impressionable 15-year-old music hound, I would frequently call and have lengthy conversations with the DJs while ostensibly doing homework. John Small, who soon moved over to WKNR-FM, was always very welcoming. Then ABX added Dave Dixon to its staff; he would go on to become the esteemed leader of the legendary "Air Aces."

Dixon had a “golden ear,” introducing attentive listeners to cross-cultural music on a world scale. Only on his show could one be exposed to such gems as Paul Horn’s Inside the Taj Mahal, Gandharva from Beaver & Krause, Richard Harris singing MacArthur Park and Harry Nilsson’s The Point (a complete LP side). In between, he might have mixed in a cut from John Mayall’s Blues From Laurel Canyon, some Savoy Brown (with original vocalist Chris Youlden), Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys and a track from Tim Buckley’s Happy Sad release. Toss in some Brian Auger Trinity (featuring Julie Driscoll on vocals) and Laura Nyro singing Eli's Coming for good measure. Not to be overlooked, Detroit artists such as Frost (Dick Wagner), the Amboy Dukes (Ted Nugent), SRC and the Stooges (Iggy Pop) would also be integrated into the mix.

Continued...
Often Dixon wouldn’t play an entire track. Instead he would seamlessly blend portions of disparate genres into a cohesive audio excursion that might last an hour, interrupted only for a FCC-mandated station ID break. His instrument was comprised of matching turntables, a mixing console and a headphone set.

I miss the days when I was INFORMED [about] new
music… even the music I didn't like I grew to appreciate
for its uniqueness. It was truly an education back
then… How will [this generation] expand [its musical]
horizons?? Surely not from corporate radio stations.
Smogboy, from At Detroit forum, 12/10/06

During his career Dixon was fired from more than one station, being labeled as gruff and argumentative. While that very well may be true, to this listener—and frequent caller—he always had time to talk about music, share what he knew, and be an encourager. This was perhaps most important, for I had started on a voyage of musical discovery long before Dave Dixon and WABX, and wondered why others didn’t seem to find music as important to their daily existence. Instead of snuffing out that desire, his unique ability as audio interpreter, alchemist and promoter fortified my quest to be ever on the alert for recordings of interest.

Today the closest one can get to freeform programming in this style rests with college radio stations having limited range, unless they're also streaming on the Internet such as WNMC in Traverse City, Michigan. While it doesn't quite match Dixon's artistry, the Internet's Radio Paradise does a credible job of filling the void left by the demise of freeform terrestial radio. (Albeit Dixon's shows were sometimes extraterrestial.)

Dixon left ABX in 1974. After 10 years in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market, he returned to Detroit, where for several years he played the same type of unique music mix on public station WDET as he had during those heady days of the “Air Aces.”

Listen to a 1990 Dave Dixon aircheck while he was on WDET:

After a few years doing a talk show on WXYT in Detroit, Dixon died at home in May of 1999 at age 60. His legacy is that of programming shows in the way that a painter chooses colors and textures, painstakenly and deliberately applying them on an aural canvas to provide much more than a fleeting impression.

It Might Get Loud: Jimmy Page, Edge & Jack White

2009-07-10T14:19:00.001-07:00

Hailed as “a documentary on the electric guitar from the point of view of three rock legends,” It Might Get Loud examines how the instrument has influenced three generations of musicians. These are represented in the upcoming film by Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, The Edge (trend-setting U2 guitarist) and Jack White of the White Stripes.

Sony Pictures Classics' website states, "Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how... each used the electric guitar to develop [his] unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar. Rare discussions are provoked as we travel with Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White..."

Directed by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) and produced by Thomas Tull (Dark Knight), the film is both an intimate look of the careers and styles of the three guitarists. In relation to Page, it's also a rare view given his reticence with the press.

You could find other guitarists [who] were virtuosos,
and [others who] are legends, but you may not find
three [who] are all searchers. Each...is still searching and
still trying to figure out what it means to make music.
Director Davis Guggenheim

It Might Get Loud officially debuts Aug. 14 in New York and Los Angeles, with showings in additional cities to follow.

"Broadcast" Media From PC To Stereo and TV

2009-07-06T15:30:00.000-07:00

Wirelessly Transmit Streaming Media
Through Your House—On the Cheap!

Problem: Your PC is in one room and the entertainment center in another. Your aging stereo receiver isn't Internet-ready and your budget doesn't include a replacement any time soon. For the same reason, purchasing a dedicated hardware component is out of the question, even if there is room in the entertainment center for another box.

And yet you would really like to be able to stream Internet radio, rockumentaries, and other media sources from your PC to your entertainment center.

Solution: Several companies offer an inexpensive transmitter/receiver package that can "broadcast" both video and a stereo audio signal between rooms. These are easy to install and generally work very well—easily pushing the signal through walls. Although there are several from which to choose, one such system is the AVS-5811 from RF Link (pictured), which is under $120. Savvy eBayers might pay much less.

Such transmitter/receiver sets deliver the A/V signals using radio frequencies (RF differs from infrared, the latter requiring an unobstructed line of site and offering limited distance). The RF Link AVS-5811 operates in the 5.8 GHz range, where wireless phones and microwave ovens won't cause interference. It also has four channels from which to select in the event that something else in your home causes interference. (Whichever channel you use, make sure that both the transmitter and receiver are set to the same one.) And although a clear line-of-site is not required, the RF Link AVS-5811 boasts a 300 foot transmission distance in such installations.

Audio: You'll need to purchase of some inexpensive adapters to hook up the transmitter to your PC. The red and white audio leads require a single female stereo RCA-to-male 1/8" mini-plug adapter, about $2. Connect the male end to the audio out jack on your PC's sound card, usually located at the rear of the PC chasis and color-coded light green on recent-vintage computers. Match up the red and white female RCA leads of the adapter with the corresponding male cables on the RF transmitter.

Now connect the red and white male RCA leads from the RF receiver to an unused set of RCA inputs on the back of your stereo receiver (except those marked Turntable). The inputs marked Tape 2 Record would be a good choice.

To listen to Internet radio, first access the audio source on your PC. You'll want to control the final volume level from your stereo receiver, not your PC, so set the PC volume to be sufficiently loud. Now select the Tape 2 Monitor input source (often labeled "Mode") on your stereo receiver. You should now be hearing your Internet audio source and, if this is all you want to do, you're all set. See the summary below.

Video: Transmitting video from your PC to TV is a bit more involved. First, it's best if your TV is of recent vintage and includes auxiliary inputs either on the front or rear of the set. These provide a better quality picture. If your TV is not so-equipped, purchase a simple RCA-to-coax adapter for a few dollars. It is to be connected between the yellow video cable of the RF receiver and the coax antenna input on the TV. (The picture quality may or may not be to your liking in this scenario.)

Continued...
On the PC side of this setup, we're going to assume your PC video subsystem doesn't presently offer an S-video output on the rear of the computer chasis (if it does, skip to the next paragraph). If this assumption is true, the least expensive way to convert your PC video is to replace the present video subsystem with an adapter card that includes an S-video port. There are many, but a quick Internet search turned up a PNY GeForce FX 5200 256MB VGA card for under $50.

A few more dollars gets you a male S-video to female RCA adapter, which you'll need to connect the RF transmitter's yellow cable to the PC's S-video output. On the RF receiver side, simply plug its yellow composite video cable into the matching colored RCA receptacle on your TV. Here you will most likely have to select a video input mode on the TV, similar to when you watch a DVD or VHS video tape.

Summary: None of this is rocket science, with the possible exception of replacing your PC video subsystem. Get a knowledgeable friend to help. Beyond this portion of the project, your local electronics retailer (Radio Shack, Best Buy, et al.) can help you. Cables To Go is also an excellent source for online chat help as well as for purchasing most of the requisite adapters.

Streaming media aside, we should also mention that RF transmitter/receiver sets such as the RF Link AVS-5811 can be used for other applications when not being used to transmit streaming media. A common example is in the simultaneous viewing of video programs on a second TV/monitor without use of any wires. Another is the ability to relay any indoor audio source to a set of self-amplified speakers positioned outdoors.

Pharoah Sanders Quartet In Concert At Yoshi's

2009-07-04T13:47:00.001-07:00

Regular Floydian Slips readers probably know we've been lifelong fans of jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders since first hearing Upper and Lower Egypt off of his Tauhid release. In 1999 he remarked that, due to his musical pedigree—including a stint in Sun Ra's Solar Arkestra—he had been unable to get sufficient bookings back in America. Sanders is also known for dueling horn-to-horn with the great John Coltrane. Having established all of that, we were ecstatic to finally catch up with him in concert.

(Sun Ra's Arkestra had once played Russ Gibb's Grande Ballroom in Detroit at the behest of MC5 manager and White Panther Party founder John Sinclair.)

On this tour Sanders is playing with renowned Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, who has previously collaborated with guitarist John McLaughlin on his Shakti projects and Grateful Dead drummer /percussionist Mickey Hart on several ethnomusicology endeavors. In 1991 a Planet Drum collaboration of Hart and Hussain's won a Grammy Award in the then-new Best Contemporary World Music Album.

We're fans of McLaughlin and Hart, but—not having heard too many Shakti and no Planet Drum recordings—didn't know Hussain. But two friends, Ram and Bharath, knew Hussain's music well in their home country of India, where Hussain is also a musical producer, film actor and soundtrack composer. To make things interesting, neither had ever heard of Sanders prior to joining us at Sunday's concert.

[He's] probably the best tenor player in the world.
Ornette Coleman

Bharath: I read up about Pharoah Sanders and his music on the the Internet prior to the event. Zakhir Hussain is a legend who is peerless when it comes to playing the tabla. It was because of him that I was really looking forward to the event. I wasn't sure how well Hussain and Sanders would come together playing their instruments, since it seems difficult to blend tabla music in a jazz setting. Once the concert started, it became difficult to appreciate Hussain's tabla whenever Sanders was playing. Whenever the saxophonist took breaks, however, Hussain and the rest of the ensemble were able to highlight their music. Hussain was both really energetic and innovative (using different instruments), but I left with the impression that his strength is still Hindustani or Carnatic music and not really fusion music (at least not in the jazz realm). Overall he was much better performing solo or with drummer Joe Farnsworth in this context.

Listen to these Pharoah Sanders' tracks in their entirety:

Thembi

Astral Traveling

Upper & Lower Egypt

Ram: I'd never seen the great percussionist Zakhir Hussain perform, but every kid in my neighborhood knew of him growing up—initially through Taj Mahal tea ads, then later by listening to him on the radio and TV. I was intrigued with the notion of jazz with tabla, not to mention a trip to the city and sushi on top of that. Yoshi's is cozy yet not too small, providing a great view from almost anywhere in the house. Starting promptly at 2 pm, after ten minutes into the matinée Sanders left the stage and each sideman got a chance to solo. Upon returning, Sanders took to vocals and his sax, inviting the audience to sing and clap to music that was absolutely captivating. He even danced on occasion! The only difficulty was in hearing Hussain's tabla, which was almost inaudible during this portion. After this the musicians soloed again, followed by a jugalbandi between Hussain and Farnsworth. All in all the show was fantastic; the only downside being that it perhaps ended too early.

Chris: Pharoah Sanders could do no wrong. If all I was able to do was to say hello and let him know of my passion for his music since first hearing it 40 years ago, that would have been sufficient. Two nights prior to the concert, I streamed a film about Neal "On the Road" Cassady from Amazon. What did the producers choose as a music bed for one scene but Sanders' Upper & Lower Egypt, from the same Tauhid album that willingly pulled me in to his music. In the way that consciousnesses inexplicably converge, I truly sensed some foreshadowing going on.

Having heard "Toots" Thielemans at the original club in Oakland, I was enthralled just to be at Yoshi's in San Francisco on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Not only did Sanders' oblige with a pre-concert photo of the two of us, I know I was smiling throughout his performance. One moment he's very melodic, then he honks a note or two reminiscent of a charging rhinoceros. A tip 'o the hat also goes to William Henderson, who provided oustanding accompaniment on piano.

Oliver Sacks: Musical Minds Airs On PBS' NOVA

2009-07-02T06:03:00.000-07:00

Music affects more parts of our brains than language does—clearly humans are musical animals. What can music tell us about our minds? And what can our minds tell us about music? Can the power of music make the brain come alive? Can it aid people battling severe neurological disorders? And why did Nietzsche declare that "without music, life would be a mistake?"

Tony is an orthopedic surgeon who had no formal musical training. [Then] he was struck by a bolt of lightning. He is now a composer and performer, playing to sell-out audiences.

Throughout his career, neurologist and acclaimed author Dr. Oliver Sacks has encountered myriad patients who are struggling to cope with debilitating medical conditions. While their ailments vary, many have one thing in common: an appreciation for the therapeutic effects of music. According to Sacks's latest book, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, anatomists cannot identify the brain of a visual artist, writer, or mathematician—but they can recognize the brain of a professional musician.

Stream this video for free now through July 7 only!
You can stream this NOVA presentation to a PC or other
device now through July 7, after which it will only be
available on DVD. (Click here to learn how to stream video.)

Debuting this past June, this episode of the long-running PBS series, NOVA, follows four afflicted individuals and even peers into Sacks's own brain to investigate music's strange, surprising, and still unexplained power over the human mind. With Sacks's help, Musical Minds highlights the unusual physical disorders four individuals face—chronicled in Musicophilia—even as it underscores how these people manage, survive, and transcend, often triumphantly. As Sacks says, it seems that music can bring back the feeling of life when nothing else can.

NOVA even puts Sacks himself into a functional MRI (fMRI) machine for two experiments. One of these shows Sacks's overwhelming neurological response when he listens to Bach's Mass in B Minor; but, when compared to a similar piece from Beethoven, his brain is almost unresponsive, revealing his clear distaste for the latter composer.

To us at Floydian Slips, this research—clearly presented in this intriguing NOVA episode—provides vindication why we, and not others, require music in our daily lives in order to function at all. This phenomenon was wholly inexplicable until now.

Note: An earlier book by Dr. Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, was made into a Oscar-nominated film starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Soundstage Presents Steve Winwood

2009-06-30T03:53:00.000-07:00

From 1974 to 1985, we were avid viewers of PBS's Soundstage, the show having presented such artists as Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green, and the Doobie Brothers. Thankfully, Soundstage was reborn in 2001 and now features performances in state-of-the-art HD video and Dolby 5.1 audio.

Not knowing this show background, and with the publicity surrounding the current Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood tour, we rented Soundstage: Steve Winwood from Netflix. As the concert opens, we had no idea as to the pedigree of the sidemen and, being lifelong fans of anything with which Winwood has been involved, were skeptical at first. We needn't have worried, however, for his choices soon made it clear that Winwood's support team had been around the block. Consider who's played with whom:

Randall Bramblett (flute, saxes, organ, vocals): Sea Level, Chuck Leavell. Greg Allman, Levon Helm, Allman Brothers Band, Widespread Panic, Traffic, Bonnie Raitt, Elvin Bishop, Robbie Robertson, Grateful Dead.
Walfredo Reyes, Jr. (drums, percussion): Carlos Santana, Traffic, Jackson Browne, Gloria Estefan, David Lindley, Ricki Lee Jones, Sergio Mendes, Smokey Robinson, Robbie Robertson, Joe Sample, Boz Scaggs.

Jose Neto (check out his signature Paradis guitar): Flora Purim, Harry Belafonte (20 years).
Edson "Cafe" da Silva (percussion): Larry Coryell, Gato Barbieri, Harry Belafonte, Eliane Elias, Sergio Mendes, James Taylor and Stevie Wonder. Also appeared on Randy Brecker’s Grammy winning album, Into the Sun.

Tracks on this DVD include Can't Find My Way Home, Empty Pages, Glad, Back In the High Life, Freedom Rider and several others. The band is so exceptional, as is the Soundstage audio recording, that they manage to make even a mediocre track like Bully thoroughly convincing in this context. And unlike a very old Blind Faith video we investigated earlier, Winwood's singing was on target. (We attribute this in part to the superior, miniaturized stage monitoring gear that is used by most major acts today, recalling that—as loud as both were playing—neither Eric Clapton nor Jack Bruce could hear one another when Cream got going on an extended jam.)

Listen to Winwood wind it out on Dear Mr. Fantasy

We do have a quibble with the DVD menu. Bonus tracks are usually clearly labeled as such at the top level menu, but not on this offering. The viewer has to select The Songs menu item, and even then is unaware that three bonus tracks exist unless Next is selected. So it was that we almost missed a soaring rendition of Rainmaker.

Although there was little to nothing in the way of stage theatrics, the periodic look of absolute delight on Winwood's face is infectuous. We look forward to seeing additional Soundstage offerings, being blown away by both the audio and video quality of this disk. And looking into this PBS series a little further, here is what we learned from their website:

The lights are one of the most important ingredients of the show. In order to cover the 90-foot wide stage, the lighting grid is over 500 feet. Over 96 house dimmers are utilized to create any desireable effect during the show. Soundstage utilizes 12 cameras for every production. 1080p HD cameras are used in various placements throughout the studio to maximize the best shots possible. [Digital] audio tracks are taken to post production for editing, mixing and 5.1 surround mixing. Soundstage's audio mixes are as entertaining as the artists themselves.

The majority of the concerts are filmed before intimate studio audiences at WTTW’s Grainger Studio in Chicago, but Soundstage occasionally hits the road. Since 2001, performers have included Fleetwood Mac, Lindsey Buckingham, Lucinda Williams, Mark Knopler and Emmylou Harris, Chris Isaak, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Wilco, Sonic Youth, KT Tunstall, John Fogerty and countless more of today’s premiere artists.

Rocking At the Red Dog: Psychedelic Age Begins

2009-06-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

Planting the Seed(s) of the Psychedelic Age

We've been doing a lot of research as of late, using the '67 Summer of Love as a focal point. Arriving late to the party, what George Harrison saw disturbed him as he played street minstrel to thousands. His first-hand summation was amplified by PBS's American Experience worthy retrospective presented 40 years later (view it online for free). All of the sour grapes makes Floydian Slips glad we didn't accept Dr. Tim's admonition to tune out—not completely, anyway. (Tuning in and turning on were suggestions more easily accepted.)

The Beats aside, what's not well-known is the real backstory to the burgeoning Haight-Ashbury scene before the tour buses put the district on a freak show site-seeing route. It starts two years earlier, with the opening of the Red Dog Saloon in the unlikely location of Virginia City, NV.

The story gets two pages in I Want To Take You Higher—The Psychedelic Era 1965-1969, a magnificent coffee table volume issued by the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. As worthwhile as this volume is for any collector's library, the complete story is best told in Rockin' At the Red Dog—The Dawn of Psychedelic Rock. The expose that Life magazine missed, this comprehensive video includes rare photos, original footage of a pre-Janis Joplin Big Brother and the Holding Company, and interviews with many of those who were an integral part of the scene.

The best documentary on the ‘60s
ever made. Red Dog Saloon rocks!
Michael Simmons—Rolling Stone, L.A. Weekly, High Times, BAM

The Charlatans get a lot of attention for reasons best told by the video, an obvious labor of love for Director Mary Works (Assistant Editor, Titanic, Saving Private Ryan). Other groups included in the piece are Quicksilver Messenger Service, Grateful Dead and the Jefferson Airplane, although the viewer should not expect them to be a focal point. Rather, Rockin' At the Red Dog is really the story of how a handful of people began a cultural revolution that spread across America in a few short years. Interesting sidenotes include noted poster artist Anton Kelly on the advent of rock posters, and a look at Bill Ham's development of the de rigeur psychedelic light show.

It should be noted that, without the Red Dog's pioneering trailblazers, there very well may never have been an Avalon, a Fillmore, a Winterland, a Grande Ballroom, a Boston Tea Party, a Monterey Pop Festival, or a Woodstock. Netflix subscribers may instantly view this entertaining documentary; others may stream it over the 'Net using Amazon's Video On Demand service for a nominal fee.

Eddie Kramer—From Jimi Hendrix To Woodstock

2009-06-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

This August marks the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, the original event spawning two multi-record sets and a feature-length movie (recently restored and expanded). Leading off with Richie Havens (he was the first artist on the scene with an intact band), a few of the other acts included Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills & Nash, a pregnant Joan Baez, Country Joe & the Fish, Santana, Sha Na Na, Sly & the Family Stone, Ten Years After, Janis Joplin, the Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Joe Cocker, the Band and the Grateful Dead. What is burned into everyone's consciousness, however, was the show-closing set by Jimi Hendrix (sans Experience) and his interpretation of The Star-Spangled Banner.

What is not widely known is who was in charge of recording the music for all to enjoy long after Max Yasgur's farm had been turned into a sea of mud and debris. Running on adrenalin and vitamin shots for those three mad days was the legendary Eddie Kramer, audio engineer extraordinaire. From the Beatles to Traffic, Led Zeppelin to Kiss, Rolling Stones to Ted Nugent, Kramer was often the guy behind the studio mixing desk, soldiering on to this day.

...I felt intimidated...when the Beatles came to Olympic on
two separate occasions to record All You Need Is Love
and Baby, You’re A Rich Man with George Martin.
Eddie Kramer, on taking rock photographs

By chance it was young Kramer—then a budding engineer with Olympic Studios in London—who was called upon to record the first tracks featuring a sensational guitarist just over from America—none other than Hendrix. The two formed a bond that lasted the duration of the latter's career, with Hendrix following Kramer's lead in the production of the star's albums—including several posthumous releases.

In 1992 John McDermott collaborated with Kramer to write Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight. Not only is this account the most accurate of the many Hendrix tomes, the book features many of Kramer's photos taken during Hendrix recording sessions. Also included are several by the late Linda McCartney.

Kramer continues to consult with Experience Hendrix; a recent project involved updating original VH1 footage to produce an enhanced At Last...The Beginning: The Making of Electric Ladyland DVD. Notable album "session musicians" interviewed for the video include the likes of Dave Mason, Steve Winwood and Jack Casady, the latter with whom Hendrix had jammed backstage at the '67 Monterey Pop Festival.

Bassist Noel Redding having walked out on the Experience at that point, here Kramer discusses All Along the Watchtower in this video segment:

Ryan Sparks, writing for Classic Rock Revisited, recently interviewed Eddie Kramer about how he came to be chosen to record the '69 Woodstock Festival and what that experience was like. A portion of that interview is presented here (by permission of the author).

[Sparks] Woodstock was a truly unique, one [of] a kind festival. How did you become involved?

[Kramer] I knew that Jimi was going to be playing up there and the film company called me and said, “Hey, you record Jimi, why don’t you come up and record the whole thing?”

Continued...
[Sparks] After you surveyed the scene, did you think you’d have enough time to get everything in order to be fully prepared for when things started?

[Kramer] No way. I had doubts that we were ever going to get anything, but…[the] crew was tremendous and they pulled it together. We got going and three days of drugs and hell became part of American history.

[Sparks] Tell me about your recording setup.

[Kramer] [We had] two eight tracks, a twelve channel board and some little Shure mixers. [To call it] primitive [would be] a mild understatement.

[Sparks] You and your crew had to stay awake for three days straight. Was it just Lee Osborne and you?

[Kramer] Yeah... The stage crew…were the ones who we were trying to communicate with, which was rather difficult. We had vitamin B12 shots to keep us all going [and] slept on the floor of the truck for a few hours. [We] rolled tape all the time, whereas the poor film guys they were struggling with five cameras trying to keep it all going.

[Sparks] You’re not only a legendary producer/engineer, but you’ve also captured some great images of some of rock’s greatest musicians with your camera…In addition to Jimi, did you manage to shoot anyone else at the festival while they were performing?

[Kramer] No…Once the recording had settled down on Jimi I said ‘OK, guys, watch the meters, watch the machines, I’m going to run out for like ten seconds.’ I ran out with my camera and shot about two or three pictures of Jimi and then ran back to the truck.

[Sparks] [Did] any of [the groups] pose any kind of challenge?

[Kramer] Every artist presented his own peculiar set of challenges. You’re dealing with battlefield recordings here; these are not for the faint of heart [laughs]. You had to figure out where each microphone was, which band was coming out, what they were going to be playing, who’s playing, what’s playing. You know that old Abbott and Costello routine, "Who’s On First?" It was just like that.

[Sparks] With such an impressive and extensive back catalogue of work, where does Woodstock rank on your list of achievements?

[Kramer] Woodstock has to stand out; [pauses] how does one even begin?

[Sparks] You’ve captured some of rock’s most iconic live albums; how would you compare it to some of those?

[Kramer] It was the most difficult, but it also yielded some of the great performances of our time. It certainly stands out in my memory....It continues to influence subsequent generations, which I’m very pleased about.

[Sparks] [In] that moment, did you think you were capturing something magical that people would still be talking about forty years later?

[Kramer] No. I was only too concerned about getting the…stuff to record and making sure it appeared on tape; that was my main concern. Who cared about history then!

Wrecking Crew Charts More Than the Beatles

2009-06-22T15:27:00.001-07:00

Mystery Group Dominated U.S. Airwaves

On AM radio back in the day, the Beatles charted a total of 47 times. Not all of these were number one positions, with the biggest travesty—at least in the U.K.—being the power-single Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane losing out to Englebert Humperdinck's Release Me.

But there was another group—perhaps one you've never heard of—that gave the Fab 4 stiff competition when it came to dominating commercial radio airwaves in America. Consider this partial list of super hits:

All I Really Want To Do, California Dreamin', Classical Gas, Da Doo Ron Ron, Danke Schoen, Donna, Eve of Destruction, Everybody Loves Somebody, Everybody's Talkin', Fun Fun Fun, Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Homeward Bound, I Got You Babe, I'm a Believer, La Bamba, Let's Dance, Little Old Lady (From Pasadena), MacArthur Park, Mrs. Robinson, Mr. Tamborine Man, Natural Man, Rhinestone Cowboy, River Deep Mountain High, Rockin' Robin, San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair), Scarborough Fair, Sixteen Tons, Sloop John B, Stoned Soul Picnic, Strangers in the Night, Surf City, The Beat Goes On, The Girl Can't Help It, Then He Kissed Me, These Boots Were Made for Walkin', This Diamond Ring, Walking To New Orleans, We've Only Just Begun, Wichita Lineman, Windy, You Send Me, You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'.

Blaine is credited with having played on at least forty U.S.
number one hits and more than 150 top ten records.

You may have also heard the group playing the theme music on such television shows as The Flintstones, M.A.S.H., I Dream of Jeannie, Ironside, Mission Impossible, Get Smart, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show and Green Acres.

The group is The Wrecking Crew, featured in an unreleased documentary by a son of the late Tommy Tedesco. Tedesco was a multi-style guitarist extraordinaire who, along with Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame drummers Hal Blaine and Earl Palmer, Glen Campbell, Barney Kessell, and several other regular session musicians, comprised L.A.'s hit-making machine. Others included Paul Beaver (of Beaver and Krause), Tom Scott, Paul Horn, Toots Thielemans, Larry Carlton, Joe Sample, Russ Freeman and Dave Grusin. From the classic rock world, keyboardists Leon Russell, Billy Preston and Mac Rebennack (a.k.a, Dr. John) were members at one time, as were drummers Jeff Porcaro, Jim Keltner and Jim Gordon. Count noted vocalists Clydie King and Merry Clayton in the mix, too. In the first-call instrumentalist category, however, guitarist and bassist Carol Kaye was the only woman to achieve outstanding success in what was then primarily a man's world.

Women like...Fender bass player Carol Kaye...
could do anything and leave men in the dust.
Quincy Jones, in his autobiography, Q

Click below to watch the movie trailer:

Guitar Player magazine cites Wrecking Crew member
Tommy Tedesco as "the most recorded guitarist in history."

If your appetite isn't yet whetted, David Was (of Was, Not Was) has a very positive review of the film on NPR.

So when will we get to see this intriguing documentary? When Floydian Slips contacted Denny Tedesco in May, we were told that the film still awaits wide-scale distribution. In the meantime, visit the movie site online and leave your e-mail address so as to be notified when you might be able to see the movie in its entirety.

Andy Summers Reveals Police Memorial

2009-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

There was much more substance to the Police than Sting, the superstar artist. Without guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland to help arrange the music, Sting's Roxanne may possibly have been recorded by someone else as a bossa nova track and the fledgling group might never have become stadium rockers.

Reading from his critically-acclaimed memoir, One Train Later, here Summers tells how the Police collectively developed their Outlandos d'Amour megahit and, in so doing, also defined the group's distinctive sound:

Andy Summers reads from One Train Later

From One Train Later one learns that Summers is a few years older than those who became his eventual bandmates, and that he was no stranger to London's early rock scene. A fixture on the circuit, he jammed with recent arrival, Jimi Hendrix, and sold Eric Clapton his '59 Gibson Les Paul guitar after EC's matching model was stolen.

Eric records Fresh Cream with my Les Paul [and] the terms Les Paul and Clapton become synonymous...before it was regarded as a weird failure...But possibly because of our little interchange, it becomes a Stradivarius of rock guitars.

Together with keyboard player and vocalist Zoot Money, Summers founded Dantalian's Chariot, soon a local headliner. In '67 they found themselves on London concert bills with the likes of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. (Also achieving notoriety in Paris, Dantalian's Chariot disbanded after a series of foibles in Northern Scotland that resulted in a hospital stay for Summers.)

Soon Money and Summers found it more lucrative to play sidemen to Eric Burdon in the New Animals. Life was good until Burdon decided to go in a different direction during a U.S. tour. After floundering awhile, Summers joined the Soft Machine but was dismissed just before they were to tour the states as a supporting act to Hendrix's Experience. A serendipitous, career-saving stint with Neil Sedaka (who was big in the U.K.) followed, and when the Rolling Stones went looking for a replacement for departing guitarist Mick Taylor, Summers was on their short list.

Other accounts like these take the reader half-way through the book. The remainder details the history of the Police, culminating in their historic Shea Stadium appearance. Many more fastinating anecdotes await you, including a wild chance encounter with John Belushi while vacationing in Bali!

Captured shortly after the release of his memoir, below is Summers being interviewed on the BBC's Later... With Jools Holland. This segment includes some brief footage of the Police as they approach the pinnacle of their career:

What's not well-known is how accomplished a guitarist Summers is and the numerous styles he can readily play, including jazz and classical music. Since the Police, he has recorded numerous albums as a leader or in collaboration with others, including (old friend) Robert Fripp, Ginger Baker, Brian Auger, Herbie Hancock and Brazilian jazz pianist, arranger, vocalist and songwriter, Elaine Elias. Listen to two tracks from Summers' World Gone Strange:

World Gone Strange

Oudu Kanjaira

Other post-Police recordings by Andy Summers may be heard in their entirety at his MySpace page. A more recent compilation, including a pairing with Deborah Harry, may be sampled here. And guitar players/collectors may be interested in learning more about Fender's Andy Summers Tribute Telecaster®, used by Summers to provide the Police with their unique guitar sound.

Pink Floyd: Interlude For a Moon Landing, Opus 34

2009-06-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

Today we were introduced to the work of phellow Floydian, Udo, who landed in Bernburg, Germany, sometime during the prior millenium. Wishing to reestablish contact with our Pink Floyd brethern, he writes:

"[Moonhead was an] instrumental piece used for a TV [program] on the evening of the first moonlanding—July 20, 1969. The program was used by the BBC in between coverage of the actual moonlanding and was called But What If It's Made of Green Cheese. The theme was the first verse and the coda, with various actors reading quotes and poetry about the moon over [the music]. The rest of the [program] was information, discussions and sketches. Later in the show, Moonhead was performed uninterrupted.

"The music can be heard on the bootlegs With/Without and Wavelengths. The song has also been known as Trip On Mars."

Our indebtedness to Rod Fender of the Trippy-Dippy-Hippies group (hosted by Yahoo) for calling this interstellar video transmission to our attention!

UPDATE: The Beeb's Apollo 11: A Night to Remember is scheduled to be released to DVD on June 29th! Since we haven't yet seen it, we cannot attest that it includes the Pink Floyd soundtrack, but believe it's certainly worth investigating.

The Spirit of Randy California

2009-06-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

In the Company of Jimi Hendrix

The date was late July, 1969. We've been flashing back to the Grande Ballroom, where Spirit topped a bill that included one-hit wonders Fever Tree (San Francisco Girls (Return of the Native)). Led by guitar whiz Randy California, Spirit had debuted their first album that past January, with one track, Fresh Garbage, in regular rotation on Detroit's underground rock stations.

Free! Listen to Topanga Windows
in its entirety. Download it here (99¢).

Alas, it being the '60s we don't remember too much about this concert, other than being enthralled to hear such an iconic rock group at that magical venue. With Jay Ferguson, Mark Andes and John Locke joining California and his stepfather, Ed Cassidy, Spirit's music was an inventive mix of fusion of jazz, rock, folk and blues, liberally sprinkled with psychedelia.

The Doors were all right—but for many rock fans in the
late 60s, the band that really mattered was Spirit.
Critic Jim Washburn, Los Angeles Times

Just two years before this concert date, guitarist Randy Wolfe had moved to New York with his mother and jazz drummer Ed Cassidy, the elder having at one time played with Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderley, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Les McCann, Gerry Mulligan, Mason Williams, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder. Already a prodigious guitar player at 16, it was at Manny's Music in Manhattan that Wolfe met Jimi Hendrix, subsequently joining the latter's Jimmy James & the Blue Flames in 1966. There being another Randy—a Texan—in the band, it was Jimi who rechristened Wolfe "Randy California," apparently to help the band leader distinguish between the two. And when Hendrix was called to London by Chas Chandler to ultimately form the Experience, California's parents made him forego that fork in the road so he could finish high school stateside.

In '68 Spirit was backed on tour by Led Zeppelin. Many accounts cite that, in creating Stairway To Heaven, the Zep's Jimmy Page borrowed the key riff from Spirit's Taurus—charges that Page denies. California ultimately penned all of Spirit's hits, including I Got A Line On You, 1984 and Nature's Way.

A month after Spirit's '69 appearance at the Grande, Hendrix was scheduled to play Woodstock. Not forgetting his old friend, California was asked if his group would like to appear before him. The idea was nixed by the Spirit's manager, Lou Adler (co-producer of the Monterey Pop Festival two years earlier), with this short-sightedness ultimately preventing the band from achieving the level of success it should have easily attained.

Spirit's The Family That Plays Together was an impressive follow-up to the group's debut recording, but it was their fourth album, The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, that ranks highly on many "Best of the Era" lists. With good reason, too: it's one of those rare recordings that is consistently great from start to finish. The band continued to languish, however, causing Ferguson and Andes to soon cast their fate with Jo-Jo Gunne (the band's name lifted from a Chuck Berry song).

Various Spirit incarnations came and went over the next several years, Cass being the only original member to remain. After several solo projects, ultimately his step-son rejoined. Recorded at Milwaukee's Summerfest festival, the Spirit In Concert DVD has Scott Monahan (keyboards and vocals) and Walter Egan (bass and vocals) joining co-founders Cass and California. The audio recording quality is sub-par, but this DVD clearly displays the exuberant showmanship of California and the Thor-like power of Cass on the drums. Floydian Slips recommends renting this video for its "feel good" entertainment value alone.

Like the Beatles and Pink Floyd, don't hold out for a Spirit reunion featuring the original lineup. John Locke passed away in 2006 and California drowned in Hawaii while rescuing his son from a riptide in 1997. Thankfully this one video exists of California in his prime, and the Spirit back catalog continues to be available.

Hot Tuna: Acoustic & Electric Celestial Blues

2009-06-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hot Tuna's story is
an interesting one. Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, having secured a position
with a new group, Jefferson Airplane, called back east to his high school friend, Jack Casady, in the hope of finding a bass player. Casady assured him he was the man for the job, and, after hanging up the phone, Kaukonen hoped Casady wouldn't embarass him once rehearsals began.

Not only did Cassidy provide the bottom to the Airplane's sound, he went on to play with other noted musicians of the era. That's Casady's thundering bass opening up Voodoo Chile from Hendrix's Electric Ladyland (with Steve Winwood on keyboards), the two having first met at 67's Monterey Pop Festival where they jammed backstage for hours.

Free! Listen to Water Song
in its entirety. Download it here (99¢).

The first Hot Tuna date was simply a diversion for Kaukonen and Casady, neither having any idea that it would lead to a collaboration that has far surpassed anything the two could have achieved with the Jefferson Airplane. Thankfully that original acoustic set was recorded and is still one of our favorites, much of the Hot Tuna songbook being timeless. And if you were put off by the addition of violinist Papa John (S)Creach, fear not—he appears on only two Hot Tuna releases.

We wanted to play a style of music that
wasn't being played by the Airplane.
Jack Casady interview

Floydian Slips finally caught up with Hot Tuna at the “Salty” Gebhardt Amphitheatre in Truckee, CA, an idyllic outdoor venue. (Have you ever wondered where all of the tie-dyed flower children went?) With Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin, the group played a terrific acoustic set before sundown. After dark, everyone plugged in (crowd inclusive) as drummer Erik Diaz joined in. The rest of the evening we were treated to some rockin', Casady's bass notes
r-r-r-rumbling up through our feet as we danced (we kid you not).

Then there's the DVD, Electric Hot Tuna—Live At the Fillmore, recorded in 1996. This is also a great set, with Pete Sears joining the tunas on keyboards. Worth your while, this listener was left wanting for much more bass response, Casady seemingly turned down in the mix.

Various Hot Tuna lineups continue to tour almost 40 years and 27 albums after the group's inception. Both musicians also have numerous other projects: Kaukonen has yet another new solo album out and Casady occasionally appears with the group, Moonalice (get free MP3s at the group's website). Yet somehow both find time to provide lessons at Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch (Pomeroy, OH) which doubles as a concert venue for many artists. Tune in here at 7:00 pm Eastern time to listen to Friday night's performance.

Dedicated fans may also purchase complete shows in MP3 format from this Hot Tuna download site.

Steve Khan Plays Jazz Guitar With Distinction

2009-06-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite jazz guitarists is Steve Khan, having first heard his work while affiliated with WNMC in the ‘80s. Ten years later I heard a track called I Like the Orange Thing by the Flying Monkey Orchestra and proceeded to investigate. Featured on their terrific Back In the Pool CD, the Monkeys' lineup was a who’s who assembled by head monkey, Rob Mounsey. It included the likes of Michael Brecker, “Toots” Thielemans, Lew Soloff, and others of note.

So you're the one who bought that record...!
Rob Mounsey e-mail to Floydian Slips
May 5, 2007

In relation to Mounsey’s impressive body of work, Khan’s name kept popping up, the two having collaborated on two CDs of their own: You Are Here and the Grammy-nominated Local Color. Apart from Mounsey, Khan is known for his work with artists such as Blood, Sweat & Tears, Steely Dan, Billy Joel, Michael Franks, Hubert Laws, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, James Brown, Maynard Ferguson, and Joe Zawinul's Weather Update. He has also played with Randy Brecker, David Sanborn, Larry Coryell, Ron Carter and Al Foster, among many others.

Khan's interpretation of the Beatles' Within You Without You, segued into the group's Blue Jay Way, is certainly worth a listen. And there are complete samples of some of Khan's other work at his MySpace page. Captured in New York, below is a Feb. ’92 video of Khan—with Jay Anderson (bass) and Ben Perowsky (drums)—playing Wayne Shorter’s Masqualero.

In the annals of rediscovered live jazz recordings, The Suitcase,
by guitarist Steve Khan, ranks among the best in recent memory.
All About Jazz.com, Feb. 26, 2008

This just in:

Dear Floydian Slips:

First, thanks so much for writing via the CONTACT STEVE page at my site. When one has been recording under their own name for over 30 years, it's hard to know just when a listener might come upon something. What I tried to do at the MySpace page was to capture a little bit of everything from almost all the time periods. Again, thanks for your kindness in sharing with me!!!
Steve Khan, June 9, 2009

Dylan Goes Electric (Hats Off To Mike Bloomfield)

2009-06-07T15:39:00.000-07:00

JFK had been assassinated, civil rights were anything but, the U.S. had sent “advisors” to Vietnam and we periodically practiced climbing under our desks should Khrushchev decide to vaporize Southeastern Michigan. Yes, there was plenty of fodder for protest songs in the early '60s.

I missed the Bob Dylan folksinger hoopla by about seven years, however. There was a fair amount of Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary being played at home, but no Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger or... Bob Dylan. And once I heard Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck and the Beatles, I never felt compelled to investigate folk music. To my ear, even the most poignant lyrics have always been incidental to the instrumental accompaniment.

It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.

My introduction to Dylan has been circuitous. It started in the late '60s with debut albums by two then-new groups: Blood, Sweat & Tears (with founder Al Kooper on keyboards and vocals) and the breakout group, Electric Flag (led by guitar phenom Mike Bloomfield). A couple of years before, both musicians found themselves playing on Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, featuring such tracks as Like a Rolling Stone and Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues. Their appearance on a Dylan album, then backing him up onstage, led to a public uproar.

Free! Listen to Like a Rolling Stone
in its entirety. Download it here (99¢).

In the DVD, Bob Dylan—The Other Side of the Mirror: Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963–1965, we get to see early footage of Dylan the solo artist—singing, playing acoustic guitar and playing harmonica. The emcee reminds us that Dylan has “captured the essence of today’s (that of ’63) youth.” Later, we see him in a duet role with his then-girlfriend, Joan Baez. (Seeing Dylan playing a year after his Newport debut, it's interesting to note that at about this time he first met the Beatles and introduced them to "The New Mary Jane.") This is all interesting in its historical context, but it makes for a rather sleepy home concert video.

But then the REAL show starts. It’s 1965 and Dylan has “gone electric,” daring to show up at Newport with the Highway 61 Revisited musicians. While the crowd is busy booing, the viewer is treated to but a glimpse of the genius of Mike Bloomfield, as well as that of Dylan’s for including the guitarist in the controversial lineup.

For footage of Bloomfield leading Electric Flag, see The Complete Monterey Pop Festival, also featuring a performance of Kooper’s earlier group, The Blues Project. And we also recommend Martin Scorsese’s DVD biography of Dylan, No Direction Home, available in at Amazon in Video On Demand format.

Rock Stars, Cars and Guitars

2009-06-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ever since baby boomers go their wheels, music and cars have been inextricably mixed. One needs to look no further than the popular film, American Graffiti, to get a feel for how it was back in the early ’60s.

The music acts like a Greek chorus to
comment on the events taking place.
Walter Murch, sound artist

Top 40 music buffs recall some of that era’s songs which centered on cars: Little GTO by Ronny and the Daytonas, Mustang Sally from Wilson Pickett, Hey Little Cobra by the Rip Cords, and Little Deuce Coupe, offered up by the Beach Boys. Who doesn’t know what the Little Old Lady From Pasadena drove, that “she’s real fine, my 409,” what happened at Dead Man’s Curve, or that Chuck Berry got his kicks on Route 66 (when he wasn’t holding a seat belt vendetta)? You’ll recall that the Beatles told us that their baby could drive their car and even Geronimo had a Cadillac.

On Woodward Avenue, the world’s longest eight-lane urban highway, John DeLorean and Bunky Knudsen were surreptitiously sending out Detroit’s factory muscle cars to go head-to-head. Hurst shifters aside, one also had to be quick on the radio punch buttons when an ad interrupted the soundtrack of our lives (unless it was Ray Charles’ What’d I Say promoting Connie "The Bounty Hunter" Kalitta going wheel-to-wheel with Don “Swamp Rat” Garlits at Detroit Dragway).

Since 1995, August’s Woodward Dream Cruise is the world's largest one-day celebration of classic car culture that attracts over 1 million visitors, and more than 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, custom, collector and special interest vehicles.

Over at Motown, hits were mixed to sound best when played back through the single cheap speaker mounted face up on the dashboard.

Leading us into the psychedelic era, Steppenwolf went looking for adventure by heading out on the highway, the Doobies were rockin’ down it, Deep Purple had a Highway Star, and Canned Heat was On the Road Again. George Thoroughgood spent Six Days On the Road, but Jeff Beck was stuck in a Freeway Jam and poor ol’ Jimi was frustrated with Crosstown Traffic (at least he wasn’t Running On Empty like Jackson Browne).

Now through Sept. 7 at Dearborn’s Henry Ford Museum—Get ready for a second dose of rock—more than 20 eye-popping cars and 50 iconic guitars from rock's greatest legends, and a dizzying array of rock memorabilia. Click here to download a compilation of musical hits by artists featured in the exhibit.

We all know the color of Prince’s Corvette and that Golden Earring had a strange radar fetish. Steve Miller had the Mercury Blues, the Eagles an Ol’ 55 and lived Life In the Fast Lane, while Sammy Hagar couldn’t drive 55. War cruised around in a decked-out Low Rider, Janis wanted a Benz, Broooose a Pink Cadillac, and all the while Commander Cody warned that he was going to be driven to drinkin’ if we didn’t stop driving that hot…..rod…..Lincoln!

Maximizing (Non-iPod) MP3 Player Capability

2009-06-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Many people, including me, were enjoying MP3 players long before "iPod" became synonymous with any portable device that plays compressed digital audio files. My first player was a CD clamshell player-sized unit from Creative Labs. At the Tom's Hardware website I quickly learned how to replace its original 20MB harddisk with a drive having twice that capacity. And it being a first-generation device not without an occasional problem, from eBay I was able to buy inexpensive spares to keep my unit—and those of friends—functioning.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not an Apple fan, primarily because the company has long had a policy of über-control over anything that bears the company brand. While that has certain advantages in relation to computer operating systems, it doesn't do much for those given to customization. There are other reasons, too, why there is a community of like-minded folks who won't have anything to do with Apple, just as there are those who aren't fond of Microsoft. But back to MP3 players...

The Anything But iPod website is run by like-minded individuals; I've been a fan of this website for years. As the name implies, everything here is about all of the other personal media players (PMPs) on the market. For example, check out their MP3 Player Buyer's Guide. Anything But iPod dedicates itself to PMP news, reviews of players and ancillary gear such as headphones and amplifiers, and even hardware hacks for the do-it-yourselfer.

Back in the good ol' days, there were two things that excited me most about listening to great radio stations such as Detroit's WABX (the station that glowed in the dark). The first was their dedication to playing music from multiple genres in a seemingly random, but well-coordinated manner (this is what Radio Paradise does on the Web). Today just about all PMPs have random—or shuffle—capability, and it's rare that I ever switch to sequential playback mode.

The second feature—crossfading—seems to be far more elusive to most PMP manufacturers. Known as a segue in my own radio days, this is how 'ABX would paint a musical dreamscape, perhaps starting with a selection from Paul Horn's Inside the Taj Mahal, blending into a portion of Peace Two from John McLaughlin's My Goal's Beyond, into Lower Egypt from Pharoah Sanders' Tauhid album, and concluding with a portion of an early Pink Floyd instrumental.

A good segue would...build an idea just as a writer would build on a compositional theme...The FM free-form DJ was carefully selecting each record to...[build] on emotions or themes…
David Benders, WBFO Program Director

Switching to an HP Rx3715 pocket PC (PPC) that I had purchased as a glorified remote control for my home entertainment system, it soon became my PMP of choice with the addition of Conduits Technologies' excellent Pocket Player application. Although not as adventuresome as having "Air Ace" Dave Dixon hand-select audio segments in his unique style, this was a great answer to my desire for MP3 crossfading! (I might still be enjoying this unit had not its headphone jack gerfritzen das springenwerk).

Enter Rockbox. All open-source code, a dedicated group of hackers (hackers = good, crackers = bad) have created numerous, free downloadable firmware alternatives for many PMPs, such as the first-generation Sansa series players. And guess what? One of the key features of Rockbox is the ability to crossfade tracks. Heck, they even have some firmware replacements for selected iPod models!

Jazz: From Dave Brubeck To Miles Davis

2009-06-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

KXJZ To Present "Jazz: The '59 Sound" 06/10/09
(Repeated 06/22/09)

Don't know about jazz? Want to learn? The best way is to simply listen for awhile; you'll soon discover what you do and don't like. In the '60s, I got my start by tuning into WJZZ and WDET in Detroit after WABX started playing tracks from Miles Davis' seminal crossover LP, Bitches Brew, featuring the likes of John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), never mind Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter (the latter two being Weather Report co-founders).

Today, Sacramento's KXJZ has a great nightly jazz program, with their Gary Vercelli having introduced me to some great tracks I otherwise might never have heard. Examples include Hemispheres' awesome Orca Stroll (led by Ian Dogole and featuring {the group} Oregon's fabulous Paul McCandless) as well as Lea DeLaria's cover of Los Lobos' Kiko and the Lavender Moon.

◄ Get three free '59 jazz tracks from Amazon!

From KXJZ yesterday morning:

Jazz is a living music that evolves and expands. Each generation of players brings in the sounds of their time and affect the course of its growth. June 10th at 9 pm (PDT) we'll explore this.

In 1959, jazz music got a kick start in many directions. Innovators like Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, and Dave Brubeck tried new approaches and concepts that are still being worked on today. Through albums such as Sketches of Spain, Mingus Ah Um, and Time Out, jazz was set on a new course that would change the musical landscape forever.

But I mean jazz...jazz is where it's at!
Traffic, Giving To You

In this one hour radio show, you will hear highlights from these classic records, as well as the inspiration and ideas behind the music created in 1959 from musicians Dave Brubeck and Carlos Santana, journalist Ben Ratliff, and composers and conductors Russell Gloyd and Maria Schneider, and family members and noted jazz historians Sue Mingus and Darius Brubeck.

Don't live in the Sacramento area? No problem—KXJZ streams its programming on the 'Net. Just remember that this special jazz program airs next Wednesday at 9 pm Pacific Daylight Time.

Bonus: Click here to sample each track from Hemispheres' Night Harvest CD, which you may purchase from Ian Dogole's website. You may also click here to play a video of the group's Nostalgia, recorded in 2003 at the best venue ever—142 Throckmorton Theater in Mill Valley, CA. This is where we had front row seats for Hemispheres' 2008 show.

What else was going in the world of jazz in 1959? Click here to find out.

Napster vs. Metallica: Music Industry Redefined

2009-06-04T11:50:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt—reprinted here by permission—from Greg Kot's new book, Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music (Scribner, $25). They being long tired of homogenized corporate radio playing the same twenty hits (Hotel California, anyone?), "it tells the story of how the laptop generation created a new grassroots music industry, with the fans and bands in charge."

Herein Radiohead reinvents the way in which it distributes music directly to its fans:

Whenever he considered the possibility of Radiohead going into business for itself, guitarist Jonny Greenwood got a little queasy. “It makes me think we’re gonna be sitting in endless business meetings talking about how to do it off our own backs, rather than sitting in studios recording music.”

But Radiohead was genuinely unsettled by what it saw as the major labels’ inability to adapt to the marketplace. The long lag time imposed by the majors between finishing an album and actually releasing it to set up a proper big-budget marketing campaign was particularly irritating. The band appreciated that its fans were almost ridiculously vigilant. As soon as word would get out that Radiohead had finished working on an album, the Internet began to buzz with anticipation. A leak of the new music would inevitably follow, and Radiohead fans were soon sharing the music and debating its merits. Inevitably, Web sites would jump in with their critiques of the still-unreleased work. It was flattering and yet frustrating for the band; increasingly, they sensed the problem was not with the fans, but with their label’s inability to keep up with how fans were consuming music.

By the fall of 2007, Radiohead had a new album ready to go, but still hadn’t pulled the trigger on any kind of record deal. It decided to release the album anyway, through its Web site. On Oct. 1, Jonny Greenwood posted a terse announcement on radiohead.com: “Well, the new album is finished, and it’s coming out in 10 days. We’ve called it In Rainbows.”

So much for the big marketing plan. In the land of the major labels, Greenwood would’ve been drummed out of the public-relations academy for his utter offhandedness. For an artist of Radiohead’s stature, it was customary for a big label to plot out the details of an album release months in advance, to line up shelf space at retail stores, programming at commercial radio, and full-page ads and interviews in Billboard, Rolling Stone, and the usual print-media suspects. But for the first time in its existence, Radiohead had no such constraints. It could now effectively function as its own record company, record store, and distribution service rolled into one—at least temporarily. So Radiohead instructed its fans that on Oct. 10, it would provide an access code to a digital download of the new album to any customer willing to part with an e-mail address.

The price was left to the customer’s discretion, the virtual equivalent of a giant tip jar.

Continued...
“It’s up to you,” the checkout screen read for preordering the ten-song disc.

Do not insult Death Cab.

Also available to order was an expanded, physical version of the album, to ship two months later. Priced at the U.S. equivalent of $81, it would include an 18-track double album packaged in both CD and vinyl versions, with lyrics, artwork, and photographs in a hardback book and slipcase.

Radiohead’s distribution strategy for “In Rainbows” reduced the decade-long debate over Internet downloading to a single, deceptively simple question: “What’s this piece of music really worth to you?” It was a question that respected the intelligence of the potential buyer, a question that bristled with moral, ethical, economic, and aesthetic considerations. And yet it was a question that could be answered with a simple mouse click, in prices ranging from $0.00 to $99.99 (the order form didn’t accommodate three-digit dollar figures).

It was a brilliant move made even more potent by its timing. Only a week before, a federal jury in Minnesota had awarded the record industry a $220,000 judgment against Jammie Thomas for the crime of downloading 24 copyrighted songs and making them available for file sharing. Thomas was hardly alone. At the very moment her verdict was being read, more than 9 million consumers were sharing music files around America, according to media management company BigChampagne.

As one of the more marketable names in the business, Radiohead was in a position where it didn’t have to give away anything. It had the cachet to charge $10 or more for its music, and rest assured that most of its fans would gladly pay. But it clearly wanted no part of a music industry that labels its own customers as thieves. By declaring, “It’s up to you,” Radiohead made it clear whose side it was on.

The Internet exploded with Radiohead-related chatter. In the three days after the announcement, blogpulse.com, a search engine that reports on daily blog activity, showed more than a 1,300 percent increase in the number of posts mentioning the band.

The behind-the-scenes mechanics of the deal were intriguing, all the more so because Radiohead really wasn’t interested in talking about them—perhaps because it might’ve appeared unseemly to gloat. The band stood to profit handsomely from any paid download. What’s more, they didn’t have to share the money with any middlemen.

Journalist Greg Kot, whose previous work includes Wilco—Learning How To Die, writes a blog for the Chicago Tribune. Read the entire Radiohead excerpt, and Greg's other posts, at Turn It Up—A guided tour through the worlds of pop, rock and rap. Floydian readers may also be interested in this earlier post about Radio Paradise, the best thing to happen to multi-genre music listening in the public realm since WABX, the station the glowed in the dark. Oh, yeah....Radio Paradise plays both Radiohead AND Death Cab For Cutie!

Syd Barrett's Psychedelic London, Part II

2009-06-03T10:36:00.000-07:00

Of Two Johns: Lennon & Sinclair, posted here a short while ago, tells of John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, and Yoko Ono all as active participants at The 14-Hour Technicolor Dream, an early London Be-In. Providing more detail of that story, Julian Palacios, author of the forthcoming book, Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd—Lost in the Woods, has graciously permitted an abridged chapter to be published herein. Click here for part one. Below is part two, reprinted here by permission:

The 14-Hour
Technicolor Dream

The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream marked the height of underground fashion. The full range of uniforms prevalent in sixties culture was in evidence. Here a phalanx of pea-coated beatniks, there a Kings Road fashion maven in a 1940’s satin dress with a chinchilla wrap. As proof of the Beatles sartorial dominance, everywhere were men with Edwardian beards and moustaches, rather than bog-brush beards of the later sixties. John Lennon grokked the scene clad in a sheepskin Afghan coat and granny specs.

The Pink Floyd made their way back from Heathrow. Stopping in at Edbrooke Road, [Peter] Jenner and Syd [Barrett] each dropped a tab of LSD before driving up to Muswell Hill in a convoy of Bentley and Transit van. Jenner said, "The most psychedelic experience that I’ve ever been to. At least half the audience was doing acid. I was doing acid. We’d had to take a long drive to get there from a gig in The Netherlands."

The group alighted at the Alexandra Palace at 3 am. They, like all the other bands, were playing free for the benefit. Syd wandered the crowd, tripping on LSD, having already smoked strong weed in Amsterdam earlier in the day. [He] ran into Mick Rock. The pair climbed scaffolding to peer into pipe organ bellows and entertained themselves pelting Yoko Ono with bits of wadded up paper as she organised a Fluxus-style happening. With a working title of "A Pretty Girl is a Manifesto," Ono had model Carol Mann [seated] on a stepladder dressed as a nun under a blazing spotlight. Audience members were handed scissors, outfitted with a contact microphone plugged into the sound system. Instructed to snip off her clothes, bit by bit her clothes fell away, as a crowd of bemused male punters swarmed. Amplified scissors echoed across the Palace until Mann sat, in all her glory, nude.

When Soft Machine took the stage, Daevid Allen wore a miner’s helmet with lamplight atop, Kevin Ayers sported oracular makeup. Robert Wyatt cut his hair short, wore a suit and tie, and set drums sideways. The group played [the] joke number We Did It Again, which repeated the title over one monotonous groove for 40 minutes at a stretch. Barrett soon adopted this avant-garde prank onstage to his band mates despair. ("Soft Machine were good fun," in Barrett’s view.)

Continued...

Daevid Allen said, "After we had finished I wandered about among the huge crowd." Allen also noted that, paradoxically, he never felt more alone in his life. "As this realization took hold of my entire being, I became aware of a celestial orchestra playing over a slow beat. I was drawn to the far stage where, unopposed by a simultaneous band, a group of slightly embarrassed musicians played symphonic slide guitar under the camouflage of vividly hypnotic light projections. The music thus created was almost Wagnerian in its emotional power. It welled up, expanding through the swirl of liquid light." A life changing moment for Allen, who adapted Barrett’s glissando technique, refined over a 40-year stretch with various incarnations of Gong.

Robert Wyatt was also impressed, "The Floyd played at 4 in the morning. It must have been one of the greatest gigs they ever did. Syd played with a slide and it blew my mind. I was hearing echoes of all the music I’d ever heard, with bits of Béla Bartók and God-knows-what."

The Pink Floyd at the Dream was the high point of the psychedelic era to Peter Jenner. "A perfect setting, everyone had been waiting for them and everybody was on acid." To a fanfare of the Finale by Bream, the group took the stage. Colin Turner was on hand, "The dawn arrived in a triumphant pink hue, the light came cascading in from the huge windows. Amid this awesome display of nature, Pink Floyd took the stage. They were wearing outfits with flared trousers and satin shirts. People began to awake and hold hands as the first notes of Astronomy Dominé echoed through the Palace."

Colin: "There was an extraordinary connection between the group and the audience. Then the magic happened. Syd’s mirror-disc Telecaster caught the dawn’s pink light. Syd noticed this and with drug-filled eyes blazing, he made his guitar talk louder and louder, higher and higher as he reflected the light into the eyes of his audience and christened those of us lucky enough to be there followers of Pink Floyd for life."

Chris Beard, "Something was not right and Syd was not up to it, just standing there out of his tree I suspected. Roger Waters seemed to take over. I admired Waters for this and was not happy that Syd had now drifted off." In a photograph, Barrett looks as though viewing things from a slight remove, as though already absent. Acid accentuated his offbeat charisma, such that he seemed in retreat even as the group approached fame.

As morning broke, sun streamed through the tall windows, lighting up the Palace in ghostly white angles. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, arriving a bit late, pulled up in Bentley and emerged looking rather shattered, clad in a full pearly king outfit. Beck’s Bolero by Jeff Beck blasted through the Palace, with Indian modal scales colliding head-on with Elmore James and Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. Hoppy and Suzy Creamcheese stood at the door. In inimitable style, they shook hands and said good morning to everyone as they filed out into the light. Hoppy’s court trial was four weeks away.

[International Times] summed up, "The beautiful scene at the benefit at the Alexandra Palace on the 29th seems long ago when considered in the light of all that has happened since then." Nick Jones wrote in Melody Maker, ‘The audience were happy looning about, looking at other’s clothes, eating, sleeping, dancing and just freaking out, doing whatever they damn well wanted. I found the Dream a most absorbing experience.’

Hoppy says, "The Dream was a crest of a wave. It was a landmark event. Everyone involved has a different story. All are true. It’s one of those paradoxes. The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream is a prime example of how memory gives the opportunity for many people to claim it was their event. Everyone can claim a piece, if they feel it important. Everybody thinks they know what the Dream was about, but when you look, there is something that you cannot find out about it. The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream is a cultural memory. It’s hidden and occluded." An accurate summary of the acid experience.

From Amazon.com: Syd Barrett was an art school student when he founded Pink Floyd. Famous before his 20th birthday, Barrett led the charge of psychedelia onstage at London’s famed UFO club, and his acid-inspired lyrics became a hallmark of London’s 1967 Summer of Love.

The second edition of Palacios' Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd—Lost in the Woods, from Plexus Publishing Ltd.—completely revised, expanded and amended—will be available in time for Christmas, 2009.

Use PC To Stream Concerts & Films To Your TV

2009-06-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

Regular Floydians know that we are avid fans of concert videos and documentaries about aspects of the music industry. Sometimes you can even find great offerings in on-demand streaming video format, as was the case with the fabulous PBS series, Ken Burns' Jazz, and Festival Express we recently viewed (again) from Netflix. (I also note that you can stream the excellent Tom Dowd and the Language of Music from Netflix until July 1.)

Listening to All Things Considered on National Public Radio during my commute home yesterday, I heard a piece about streaming video programs from various Internet sites to one's home TV. Content sources include the aforementioned Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and a cool new site I just discovered named The Auteurs. In the report, the better half of a home theater-owning couple described their electronic components in a cursory manner, then expounded on the trevails they experienced while attempting to view City of God.

My feeling was that many listeners wouldn't even try streaming video after hearing Yuki Noguchi's story. I also believe that many potential viewers mistakenly think that a specialized electronics device is required to view streaming video. This simply isn't so. In fact, all you need are the following:

Television with some type of auxiliary input connection (see illustration below)
Reliable broadband Internet connection
Personal computer, preferably located within 25' of your TV
Ethernet cable connecting the computer to the Internet
Method of payment (Netflix, Amazon, The Auteurs only; Hulu is free)

Do not try to use a wireless Internet connection for the data transmission rate will be insufficient. Next, the illustration(click to enlarge) lists several types of computer-to-TV connections, in order of video signal quality. Check which type of connection(s) your TV provides, then match it up with your the video output on your computer.

With the exception of HDMI to HDMI, all of the connection types require a separate audio connection between your computer and your TV. This is also very easy to do, using your computer's headphone jack as the output source. You'll need a common 1/8" stereo mini plug–to–RCA adapter cable to do this hookup. Optionally, connect the RCA plugs to your stereo system for better sound quality—important when watching concert videos!

If a cable adapter and/or video extension cable is required, J & R Music World, Cables To Go and Cyberguys are all excellent places to shop online, or try locally at Best Buy, Fry's Electronics or Radio Shack. In many cases, you may even be able to use a low-cost RF transmitter/receiver set to "broadcast" the program from your computer to your TV location if they're separated by more than 25 feet. There are even ways to relay the video signal from your computer to the vicinity of the TV by way of a CAT5e Ethernet cable, so don't hesitate to explain what you need to a knowledgeable salesperson at one of the aforementioned retailers.

And here's a troubleshooting tip—if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! After rechecking cable connections, we find that rebooting the computer will often solve a problem with a poor data stream. Especially for those with a DSL hookup, sometimes you just have to try another time due to user congestion. The NPR story aside, however, making the connection and enjoying streaming video programs really is as simple as spelled out here!

Making Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

2009-06-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

It's undeniable that the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the definitive recording of the social upheaval during the '60s. Behind the scenes, there are many things that make this collection of songs even more remarkable. In Manhattan, Atlantic Records had been recording on an eight-track machine for years, as chronicled in Tom Dowd: the Language of Music. Yet at Abbey Road Studios, parent company EMI made their cash cow limp along with wholly anachronistic technology—the four track recorder.

This forced the Beatles' producer, Sir George Martin, and recording engineer, Geoff Emerick, to combine—or "bounce" —several individual tracks into one on a second tape machine in order to create a blank track on the first machine for some other instrument, vocal, or sound effect. Repeated several times, with each bounce the sound quality dropped a notch. More critical was the fact that, each time multiple tracks were bounced, there was no going back in the analog tape world. (Archivists are having to use a plethora of tricks to separate tracks and remaster these old tapes!)

In addition to Emerick's excellent account of recording many of the Beatles' canon, the story of this seminal LP—and its significance in the context of the times—is also told in a very interesting way in The Making of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. You may watch the entire video here ▼:

Audio Editing: From Razor Blades To Cut 'N' Paste

2009-05-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

Regardless of any audio editing software you may try, these applications pretty much function the same way. Through simple trial and error, in no time you’ll soon be amazed by your newly-acquired power over your music collection or original audio recordings. Creating your own medleys is just one idea.

It wasn’t always this easy. As a teen in 1968, it was through being a Stereo Review subscriber that I learned how to edit ¼" audio tape using a slicing block and a razor blade. Knowing my penchant for electronics, my best friend asked if I could help him put together a soundtrack for a multimedia project he had taken on for his humanities class. I had a monaural Wollensak (3M) tape recorder but, knowing that this project would need more capability, I borrowed a Sony stereo deck. It had sound-on-sound (a recording technique invented by Hall of Fame guitarist Les Paul to allow pseudo-multitracking)—a technological advancement relatively new to the home market. Not having the foggiest that famed producer Sir George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick had used this same technique to record the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (on a lowly four-track machine, no less!), I “bounced” audio snippets from machine to machine and spliced tape segments until we had a compilation about which my friend was well pleased. (Of course, his teacher had no comprehension regarding the ingenuity and creativity we poured into this term project.)

Wanting to become a rock DJ like those at trendsetting WABX and WKNR-FM I had emulated, off I went to Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts after high school. All the while I dabbled in amateur audio production at home to amuse friends and myself. Meanwhile, another buddy—a highly-proficient rock guitarist who played in a covers band—had taken a recording engineer position at Ron Rose Productions. I’ll never forget one visit there after hours when I got to try a new effects gizmo that made me sound like Darth Vader! Today this same effect can easily be achieved through software.

Fast forwarding to today’s world of digital audio, when you rip a CD to your computer using software such as Windows Media Player, the result is an easily-editable WAV file—no more razor blades! Relatively easy to learn after a few minutes of trial and error, Syntrillium Software’s CoolEdit became the leading amateur tool of choice. (The company since acquired by Adobe Systems and the product renamed Audition, I almost took a testing job at Syntrillium in 2001.)

Later picking up a copy of Sony Sound Forge, with it I was able to easily able to edit Echoes, from Pink Floyd’s Meddle release, to remove a section I find unnerving. (Interestingly, a similar edited version appears on the group’s Best of CD that borrows this song’s title.) I also did the same with a Soft Machine favorite, Slightly All the Time, to get a better fit as one of the backtimed (a recording technique of cueing up a musical background to a voice track so that the music ends simultaneously with the voice-over) soundtrack choices for a Ken Burns-style vacation DVD I created a few years ago.

If the playback device is to be your MP3 player, once you’ve edited your WAV file it’s then a simple step to convert it to MP3 format using any one of a number of tools. Nero is but one popular choice for this task because many PC vendors provide it in the included free software bundle.

Audacity—an open-source editor—has become very popular with podcasters because it’s free and is well-supported by its devoted user community. YouTube even has many tutorials, such as this example on basic editing, to get you started. Even for those using another WAV editor, you may find these tutorials useful in that the principles are quite similar for most audio editing software.

Happy editing!