On This Day..
1958 – John Lennon’s mother Julia was killed by a car driven by an off-duty drunken police officer named Eric Clague (Clague was later acquitted of the offence). John was 17 at the time.
2007 – Over 10,000 people applied for a job with P Diddy after the rapper posted an advert on Youtube looking to find a new personal assistant. He warned applicants that the job would be far from easy and would involve everything from getting him ready for the red carpet to aiding in billion dollar deals to helping him jump out of planes in movies.
2015 – A judge trimmed more than $1-million from the damages Pharrell Williams was ordered to pay after the Blurred Lines copyright trial. The case revolved around the question of whether Williams and his co-writer Robin Thicke had copied Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got To Give It Up’. The judge also gave Gaye’s family a 50% cut of future earnings from the song.
2015 – The Los Angeles home of US singer Chris Brown was raided and ransacked by three masked men who locked his aunt in a closet. Officials said the suspects, who were armed with handguns, got away from the Tarzana property with an unknown amount of money and some personal items.
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Brand New Music
By Craig Clemens & Jonathan Knox
Clams Casino | 32 Levels
It’s not easy to stake out your own little slice of electronic and hip hop, especially with the scene as crowded as it is. Whatever this sub-genre is that Clams Casino is bring up here it certainly puts Michael Volpe in a class of one of the best producers in the business. Although still a mixtape which lacks the cohesiveness of a true LP, with these talents it’s only a matter of time before we get a genuine pearl from Clams Casino.
Jeff Beck | Loud Hailer
Guitar legend Jeff Beck releases his first new album in 6 years titled “Loud Hailer”. At 11 tracks, the 72 year old still is able to give a lot musically despite his best efforts to avoid being pigeon-holed. “Loud Hailer” impresses even if Becks decision to let vocalist Rosie Bones handle the singing and lyrics drags the album down and only ends up being a sore distraction from the impressive guitar work of Beck. Tracks like “Scared for the Children” and “Right Now” are great examples where Bones just brings things down with her delivery and lyrics. While it is nice to hear Jeff Beck do what he does best again, it is a bit disappointing that the attention is so frequently diverted. Hopefully in the future we will get a Jeff Beck album focused more on the man himself than the lesser talents around him.
Jack & Amanda Palmer | You Got Me Singing
In the late summer of 2015, Amanda Palmer announced that she was making an album with her father, Jack Palmer. Now almost a year later we have You Got Me Singing – a folk-y joint daughter/father covers album. Featuring songs of Leonard Cohen, Sinead O’Connor, Richard Thompson, Kathleen Edwards, and others, the record sees the pair share vocals – often on the same song – backed by sparse instrumentation. While it is fine, it’s not altogether captivating. Regardless, at best this is a nice quiet album to play in the evening (in the morning it would likely put you back to sleep), and at worst, it’s a slightly boring middle of the road album of songs you’d rather hear done by their original writers.
