Ok, I realize I'm supposed to be the alt-country guy and Ryan the 80's music fan, but a recent trip to Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, CA got me a little nostalgic about the decade of excessive hairspray and bright leather jumpsuits. One might very well ask what horse racing has to do with music, but the two have long been linked since the days of Bing Crosby recording Del Mar's classic track theme 'Where the Turf Meets the Surf.' In more recent years, music moguls like Jerry Moss (The 'M' of 'A & M' records and the founder of 80's rock legends The Police) have been major players when it comes to ownership of top thoroughbreds.
Few race horses in recent memory have stirred the kind of interest and emotions like Zenyatta (the female horse named (partially) after the famous Police record 'Zenyatta Mondatta'). For the many people who hardly ever watch a race or attend the track, Zenyatta recently became the first female horse to beat the top older male horses in one of racing's richest and toughest contests - the Breeders' Cup Classic. Jerry and Ann Moss are her owners.
Here is a short photo essay from my visit to Hollywood Park, along with about 10,000 other patrons, to honor Zenyatta as she retired from racing.
Slide Show Link
Daily Racing Form article
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday, November 9, 2009
It may not be a U2-sized Stadium, but....
In response to Ryan's lighthearted dig on the mainstream appeal of Alt-Country in his last post, I found this story in today's LA Times too tempting of a response:
"Just a week after several of the highest-profile members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gathered in New York for the hall's 25th anniversary blowout concerts at Madison Square Garden, another member of that elite pack was setting up in a very different environment.
Without an ounce of hoopla, Chris Hillman, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1991 as a founding member of the Byrds, slipped the strap for his mandolin over his shoulder Saturday night, stepped up to a makeshift stage for a church benefit concert. The location? A barn alongside a quiet road in this rural town just north of Santa Maria, 3,000 miles and a world away from the glitzy Madison Square Garden event" - Randy Lewis, LA times.
Being that the Byrds were major players in the Country-Rock scene of the late 60's and well-known influences for numerous Alt-Country outfits of the 90's and beyond, this seemed like a fairly obvious response - Also, I know U2 recorded in a church once, but - according to Hillman's positive review of the Barn's acoustics in the aforementioned article - any chance they may go for a more rustic setting one day?
"Just a week after several of the highest-profile members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame gathered in New York for the hall's 25th anniversary blowout concerts at Madison Square Garden, another member of that elite pack was setting up in a very different environment.
Without an ounce of hoopla, Chris Hillman, who was inducted into the Rock Hall in 1991 as a founding member of the Byrds, slipped the strap for his mandolin over his shoulder Saturday night, stepped up to a makeshift stage for a church benefit concert. The location? A barn alongside a quiet road in this rural town just north of Santa Maria, 3,000 miles and a world away from the glitzy Madison Square Garden event" - Randy Lewis, LA times.
Being that the Byrds were major players in the Country-Rock scene of the late 60's and well-known influences for numerous Alt-Country outfits of the 90's and beyond, this seemed like a fairly obvious response - Also, I know U2 recorded in a church once, but - according to Hillman's positive review of the Barn's acoustics in the aforementioned article - any chance they may go for a more rustic setting one day?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
No mullet for Bono...
Well, it seems Bono no longer has a mullet. Speaking of Bono, here are some pics from the
U2 concert at the Rose Bowl, as I scurried between enjoying and reporting it. The massive stage seems like something an 80s band can get away with. I'm not so sure about an alt-country band: Enjoy...
U2 concert at the Rose Bowl, as I scurried between enjoying and reporting it. The massive stage seems like something an 80s band can get away with. I'm not so sure about an alt-country band: Enjoy...
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Drum Machines
Drum machines in alt country? - Absolutely - and given the genre's general adherence to vintage instrumentation and organic recording styles, this is actually a very funny tie-in on your part. Wilco - when they were still considered very 'alt-country' - used drum machines on two albums I can think of, Summer Teeth and the break-through Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (albeit usually in combination with real drums or as some kind of odd intro into a song).
Do Drum machines have soul?
Nice find, Sean.
But did Steve Earle ever use a dream machine? Or did/does anyone in the alt-country genre use one?
A friend of mine – who I used to play drums in a band with – gave me his old drum machine the other day.
When I saw it, it was like he was giving me a turntable or VHS player. Ah, how the years have passed. This old Roland TR-505 -- a relic from the 80s --was dusty and clearly archaic. Even in its prime, its 16 drum tones were an inexpensive way to make rhythm – cheesy sounding as they were. Early 80s Brit artists such as Vince Clarke used this particular machine.
As I fiddled with it, I was reminded of a bumper sticker a guy gave me: “Drum Machines Have No Soul.” Apparently, he was trying to get some kind of petition together to like ban drum machines or something.
That said, they’ve never really went away, and in fact have enjoyed a bit of resurgence as 80s music finds some followers post-2000.
I used to think they had no soul. But if you can blend them with real drums, you sometimes get a great product, and some soul: i.e., Duran Duran’s “The Chauffeur” or Tears for Fears “Mad World” (I’m pretty sure it’s a machine anyway).
For a demo of the sound on one these machines, check out http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/505.php.
But did Steve Earle ever use a dream machine? Or did/does anyone in the alt-country genre use one?
A friend of mine – who I used to play drums in a band with – gave me his old drum machine the other day.
When I saw it, it was like he was giving me a turntable or VHS player. Ah, how the years have passed. This old Roland TR-505 -- a relic from the 80s --was dusty and clearly archaic. Even in its prime, its 16 drum tones were an inexpensive way to make rhythm – cheesy sounding as they were. Early 80s Brit artists such as Vince Clarke used this particular machine.
As I fiddled with it, I was reminded of a bumper sticker a guy gave me: “Drum Machines Have No Soul.” Apparently, he was trying to get some kind of petition together to like ban drum machines or something.
That said, they’ve never really went away, and in fact have enjoyed a bit of resurgence as 80s music finds some followers post-2000.
I used to think they had no soul. But if you can blend them with real drums, you sometimes get a great product, and some soul: i.e., Duran Duran’s “The Chauffeur” or Tears for Fears “Mad World” (I’m pretty sure it’s a machine anyway).
For a demo of the sound on one these machines, check out http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/505.php.
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