I received the following from Gary Tanin (Daystorm Music) this morning.  Can’t wait to get my hands on this:

Tuesday March 03, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO – Roger Powell releases Blue Note Ridge, a collection of improvisations that embrace classical melody, contemporary harmony and impressionist forms on this debut solo piano album. A stream of consciousness merging styles and eras, Blue Note Ridge is pure, elegant and honest.

In the 70’s and 80’s Roger Powell’s groundbreaking electronic synthesizer albums Cosmic Furnace (Atlantic) and Air Pocket (Bearsville) were hailed as masterworks. Powell has always been held in high esteem by his peers. “Even among the keyboard titans of the prog-rock Seventies, Roger Powell always stood out.” (Future Music U.S. Ed.- June 2006).

2006 signaled a welcome return of Roger Powell with the retro-futuristic, groove oriented, Fossil Poets (Inner Knot CD/Vinyl LP). The critically acclaimed release was produced by award winning producer Gary Tanin, who along with Powell, produced the 2009 solo piano offering Blue Note Ridge.

Fossil Poet Records is releasing Blue Note Ridge as a Limited Edition CD through CDBaby as well as digital download by way of iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, and Mindawn (offering a cutting-edge lossless format for superior audio fidelity).

Contact:
Gary Tanin
Daystorm Music

email : daystormusic@garytanin.com
website : http://www.fossilpoets.com
MySpace : http://www.myspace.com/fossilpoets

…And in just under the wire, It’s time for the 3rd annual installment of the Top 10 discs of the year.  As was the case last year, there’s a video presentation of the list complete with my mini-reviews of the discs so click now so it can buffer.  I exercised the video tools on this one for a very rich & colorful overview of my ’08 favorites, complete with audio, images and some video (a fun way to recap the musical year).  Went through about 50GB worth of video renders in the process…and now get to clean up my video drive.

This is the post that takes me a full year to write, and this year, I’ve also added Lala links, wherever possible, for those who would like to sample full songs.

As a quick refresher of the criteria, all discs featured must have been released during the calendar year.  Simple as that.

2008 included releases from perennial favorites including Todd Rundgren, Eric Matthews and Bob Mould, but also included many newcomers like Adrian Bourgeois (I still listen to his dad’s stuff — Bourgeois Tagg).  I must be getting old.

But unlike last year, when only a handful of discs really grabbed me, there were A BUNCH of offerings that grabbed me, but unfortunately this is not a Top 50 list.  I had a really tough time picking these.   Special note for the Runner’s Up list:  the Luke Jackson disc was the last CD I picked up in 2008, and it’s really growing on me.  Had it shown up earlier, it would no doubt have made my Top 10.  It’s very well rounded, with songs in the English punk vein to a few softer Bacharachian/Rundgrenesque, early ’70′s sounding tunes.  The entire CD’s on Lala for those who want to give it a free spin.

Standard disclaimer applies:  these discs were my favorites of 2008.  It’s not based on sales….these are the CD’s that dominated my ipod this year.  Many of these showed up on other powerpop top cd’s sites for 2008 too, so it’s not just me calling these discs great.

For those who don’t have time to watch the video, here’s the list in text form:

Runners Up

5.  Luke Jackson – …And Then Some

4.  The Honeydogs – Can’t Feel the Beating

3.  Pugwash – Eleven Modern Antiquities

2.  Bob Mould – District Line

1.  Justin Levinson – 1175 Boylston Street

And the Top 10

10.  Brent Cash – How Will I Know If I’m Awake

9.  Adrian Whitehead – One Small Stepping Man

8.  Roger Joseph Manning, Jr – Catnip Dynamite

7.  The Major Labels – Aquavia

6.  Adrian Bourgeois – S/T

5.  Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears – Flight of the Knife

4.  Spiraling – Time Travel Made Easy

3.  Starling Electric – Clouded Staircase

2.  Eric Matthews – The Imagination Stage

1.  Todd Rundgren – Arena

Most Anticipated Discs of 2009

1. Eric Matthews – Too Much World (sounds like it’s almost finished!)
2. Bob Mould – New one due at the end of Q1, early Q2?
3. Halloween Alaska’s _Champaign Downtown_ is finished and due out April 7, 2009
4. The Syn – Francis Dunnery, Tom Brislin (Spiraling), and more

That wraps up my list of favorites for the year.  Time to get started on my 2009 list .

I missed this in the recent updates (been a little busy at work), but here’s a full song from the Francis Dunnery concert I attended in Seattle.  This one’s a cover of “Back In NYC” from the Genesis’ legendary concept album “Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.” I am perhaps showing my prog leanings on this one, but I thought this was a brilliant cover.

A few of you have asked “what’s this House Concert stuff you’ve been writing about.:  There’s a pretty decent view of it now posted on YouTube.  To be fair, the video is not JUST about House Concerts, but also on Francis’ creative process.  But it certainly provides a glimpse into what it’s like to attend one of his House Concerts.  I’m hoping more artists start going this route.  The crowds may be small, but the impact is undeniable.

I think this will show up on the upcoming Francis Dunnery DVD, but preview is here:

Those who follow the music postings know I’m a huge Nines (Steve Eggers) fan.  I think he’s got a bit of Macca coupled with best of today’s power-pop.

There are not many artists who can pull off doing a demo on YouTube and still sounding CD-ready.  Mr. Eggers is one of those guys IMO.  Here’s a new demo that he posted on YouTube.  Can’t wait for the offical release.

Joel Veatch from Flying Spot Entertainment, the guys who shot the recent Tall Blonde Helicopter Tour DVD in Seattle that I saw, posted a sneak peek of the new video.  It was a great show.

From yesterday’s newspaper….

My friend, Ken Coffman, e-mailed me back in August or early September and told me he was planning to host another Francis Dunnery House Concert, and asked if I would be interested in making the trip up to Washington again.  My response was “are you kidding!?”  It wasn’t even a decision for me.  The biggest challenge was that the concert was on a weeknight, and those are really tough with work being as busy as it is.  I was also already planning to take in the DVD taping of the Tall Blonde Helicopter tour in Seattle a few days before the planned house concert.  For a recap on that trip, point your browser here or just scroll down a few entries.  For those not familiar with House Concerts, it’s just as it sounds:  the musician performs  in the living room of the host’s house to a very small audience.  It’s just Francis and his acoustic guitar.  No mics, no amps.

Of course, as the date drew near, and my calendar got horribly packed, I questioned whether I was going to be able to make it.  The morning of the show (Wed, 11/12), I got up and realized that no matter how tough it was to get away, I’d kick myself if I missed it, because the last house concert was one of the healthiest and most interesting things I’ve done for myself in a long time.

So, as you can see from the pix, I went.  I drove up to Redmond, WA in a driving rainstorm Wednesday morning and worked out of the company’s Redmond office until showtime.

Here’s a fly-through of the show that you can fire up while you read.

The show started later than planned due to road closures caused by the rainstorm so Francis and several of the eleven other fortunate show-goers were late arriving.  Thank goodness for GPS units.  That little device was the only reason I was on-time because my detour took me around some very winding roads that weren’t well-lit.

If you read the previous review, you probably noticed that the show was as much talking as it was music.  Francis covers some very personal and sometimes disturbing topics, and the Tall Blonde Helicopter show was no different.  Where the “Mid-Life Crisis” show covered the challenges of arriving in the middle of life, this show focused much more on life in general, the fragility of it, relationships with others, and how we change as we [hopefully] get smarter along the way.  At least that’s what I took away from it.  Anecdotes covered topics including life as rock star, alcoholism,  failed relationships, running away from problems and finally how we change ourselves.  Suffice it to say that the show is as educational as it is entertaining, and if the show comes to your area and you have an opportunity to see it, GO!!!  You can get the schedule at Francis’ site.

I left Redmond after 11pm, and got back to Portland around 2:30am, caught a couple of hours of sleep and made it to my 7am meeting, but boy was it a rough day.    Thanks to Becky for, again, giving me some “personal time.”  I think it’s Becky’s turn now.

The set list and the stories behind the songs, to the best of my recollection, follow:

1. 48 Hours — Francis opened the show with a statement about the fragility of life and how quickly things can turn.
2. Too Much Saturn – Written during a very turbulent period of Francis’ life.  Fortunately, he lived to tell the tale.  It’s about doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons.
3. In My Dreams – When we first meet someone, we project our vision of the perfect woman [man] onto the other person.  For the first 6 months of a new relationship, the other person is really the image of the person we imagined.  After that first 6 months, reality shows through, you finally discover the person you met.  We tend to place blame on the other person who’s “changed.”   Fortunately for me, the person on the other side of “my illusion” was even better than the projection.
4. Because I Can – This song’s about the contracts we have with those we have relationships with.  Whether it’s a friend or more, there’s an expectation of some need that the other person fills.  Things go bad when the contract gets broken.
5. The Way Things Are – Written after Francis lost his record contract, and he thought his music career was over.  For a guy whose career is “over,”  he’s doing awfully well.
6. Sunshine -  A sunny, simple song.  Francis told a story about a fan who’d written him a letter asking if he’d show up as he proposed to his girlfriend in Central Park.  Francis showed up and scared the heck out of the poor guy.
7. Immaculate - One of my favorite FD songs.  Inspired by the writings of the 12th century poet Jallaludin Rumi, the lesson is that if you believe the world is against you, then your experience will prove it to you.  If you project fear, then the world is a scary place.
8. I Believe I Can Change My World – Inspired in part by the Jane Roberts “Seth Books,” tells a story about how much influence we really have in our own environment.
9. Only New York Going On – It’s not the place that makes you feel the way you do, it’s how you feel about yourself/your life.  Francis told a story about leaving problems in England behind thinking that making a change by moving to NYC would make all the difference.  He figured out after he got there that the change of scenery wasn’t enough.
10. Good Life – Another one of my favorite tunes.  Bound to be one that everyone can relate to.

And if you haven’t heard this yet, here’s a good interview that was recorded on 11-07-2008 on KZOK radio in Seattle.  For the curious, here’s some old Francis video from the It Bites, guitar hero days.

Every once in a while, I need a quick break.  Becky’s really good at recognizing this and is fantastic about making sure my head doesn’t explode.  I took a day over the weekend to head up to Seattle to see Francis Dunnery at the Triple Door.  The venue is in downtown Seattle, so rather than drive, I hopped Amtrak.  This is my favorite way to go to Seattle.  It takes about 30 minutes longer than driving, but it’s a really pretty ride through the Pacific Northwest, and along Puget Sound.

Francis was in town with a full band supporting the Tall Blonde Helicopter disc and filming the show for a new DVD.  He’s in the process of revisiting his discography, and the show was fantastic.  Francis and band played the entire disc, plus several additional tunes that included some from The Gulley Flats Boys CD, with even a couple of covers from The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (Genesis).  THAT was a treat.

And yes, I was that camera dork all over downtown Seattle.  Here’s a video that includes a snippet of a radio interview FD gave on Friday at KZOK in Seattle.  I’ve also posted a link to the full interview below.

Thanks, Becky for giving me a chance to blow off steam.

Links

• Video (MP4)
• Video (WMV)
• KZOK Radio Interview — 11-07-2008

The new Francis Dunnery DVD showed up in my mailbox recently (honest, Becky, I don’t know how that happened)…

For new readers, you can find a several posts that contain Francis Dunnery music or references.  Francis has a new DVD out called “In the Garden of Mystic Lovers.”

I really enjoy listening to this guy play, and I’ll be riding Amtrak up to Seattle to catch a DVD filming that will include the song from this video in a couple of weeks.

FD is probably one of the finest guitar players I’ve come across, and I never thought I’d get to see him perform live.  I count myself lucky that I’ve met some folks like Ken Coffman, who gave me an opporutinity to see him live multiple times.