Author Archives: HarryDJ

Tommy Emmanuel – Guitar Legend from Down Under

Last week’s post Courtesy of Other Bloggers featured Scott McKeon, one of a half-dozen “Guitar Legends” featured on the blog  Proguitartricks.  Inspired by the guitar legend theme, for any of you not already familiar with him, meet Tommy Emmanuel.  The Australian acoustic guitar legend is known for his blistering speed but is capable of pretty much anything.

This somewhat grainy video has over 10 million YouTube views – see why.

Staples of his concert performances are Beatles medleys – no small task on solo acoustic guitar unless you’ve got Emmanuel’s chops.

Tommy can use his abilities in quiet and subtle ways too, as displayed in this performance of the jazz standard “The Nearness of You” with Martin Taylor. Emmanuel and Taylor have just released an album together featuring this tune.

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LIttle Brother Eli and Scott McKeon – Courtesy of Other Bloggers

“Read and Hear” is a music blog originating in Norway.  A recent post picks up on Little Brother Eli, a band built around the duo of compelling vocalist Alex Grew and bass player Josh Rigal.  They’ve just release a self-titled, three song EP along with a video for the first track, “Animal Fair”.

Take some time to visit Read and Hear, and definitely check out other performances on the Little Brother Eli website.

Proguitartricks is a French music blog dedicated to guitar lessons, loving photos of guitars, and a short list of “Guitar Legends”.  The most recent addition to the list is British blues player Scott McKeon.  A winner of Guitarist Magazine’s “Young Guitarist of the Year” in 1998, MeKeon has opened for superstar guitar slingers Derek Trucks and Gary Clarke, Jr. over the past year.

Visit his website Scott McKeon to learn about his surprisingly versatile career, and check out the acoustic blues track “So Much More” from the album “Trouble”  and the live electric jam “Coffee Cup” featuring a great group of musicians (things really get swinging about 2:00 minutes into the “Coffee Cup” video).

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A Host of Space Oddities

Apparently astronauts aboard the International Space Station are given a bit of time to relax and pursue their hobbies.  Canadian ISS Commander Chris Hadfield used some of his to create this rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, complete with appropriately modified lyrics.   In case you’re not one of the 16 million people who have already seen this – enjoy.  By the way, YouTube is home to other videos by Hadfield with interesting and amusing glimpses into life on the ISS.

The first minute of dancer Franky Manzo’s video for “MJ’s Coursing” might be the only other use of space station footage in a music video. The rest of the video is, shall we say, more earthy.

Bowie originally wrote “Space Oddity” for “Love You Till Tuesday” – a film intended to introduce the once little-known British artist.  Below is a clip with the film version of the song. At about the two minute mark this clip features girls floating in outer space some 40 years before Franky.

We’ll end with the well known version of “Space Oddity”, Bowie’s first commercial hit.  It was originally released in 1969 around the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Looks like “tin can” might have been a metaphor for Bowie’s recording studio.

Dan Auerbach: Black Keys Frontman’s Production Efforts Are Unmistakable

Dan Auerbach must be one of the busiest men in the music business.  In addition to doing his part to keep bluesy rock & roll vital with the Black Keys, he’s been a very active record producer.  When you listen to some of the work he’s produced, you can clearly hear that he’s not afraid to infuse it with his own style.

Later this summer Valerie June will release “Pushing Against a Stone” in the U.S., with Auerbach as co-producer and co-writer of a number of songs. June is just getting noticed, playing festivals all over Europe this summer after opening for Jake Bugg earlier in the year (see our recent post Jake Bugg). Listen to “Raindance” from June’s self-released album “Valerie June and the Tennessee Express”, then listen to “You Can’t be Told” from the upcoming album. The latter pretty much screams Black Keys.

Another of Auerbach’s recent production efforts is “Nomad” by African guitar wizard, Omara “Bombino” Moctar. The subject of Ron Wyman’s documentary “Agadez, the Music and the Rebellion”, Bombino is touring the world this year including a month in the U.S.  Listen to “Mehegagh” (What Shall I Do) from “Agadez”, then listen to “Amidinine” from “Nomad” to hear Auerbach’s influence.

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RIP Mack Emmerman, Founder of Criteria Recording Studios

Fascinating obits ran recently, noting the passing on May 17th of Mack Emmerman, founder of Criteria Recording Studios in North Miami, Florida. The story of Criteria is not too different from the story of Sound City in Los Angeles, which was richly chronicled by Dave Grohl in his recent documentary (see our earlier post Dave Grohl’s “Sound City”), though Criteria was arguably even more successful.

Opened in 1959, Criteria’s history of landmark recordings includes The Allman Brothers’ “Eat A Peach” as well as Eric Clapton’s “Layla”, which featured the iconic slide guitar work of none other than Duane Allman.

Savor these tracks from Criteria’s catalog.

Criteria was purchased by New York’s Hit Factory in 1999 and continued to put out big albums including Michael Jackson’s last studio recording “Invincible”.  While the Hit Factory’s original New York location closed in 2005, the Miami facility lives on to this day, apparently a favorite of many rap and hip-hop acts.

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