Breaking Format - Updated

If you listen to music on your car radio, you probably are constantly flipping your preset station buttons. I often just turn off the radio and listen to my own tunes on my smartphone. I live in San Diego and after all these years of trying every station up and down the dial, I always fall back to just one station now. I love rock, pop, jazz, blues, folk and americana to name a few genres, but a lot of the music I want to hear is just not on FM radio today. This month I turn the big six oh, so I've heard a lot of rock n roll in my time, but on the radio you are only going to hear the big big hits from the narrow narrow radio formats.

So what music do I listen to on the radio? KSDS Jazz 88.3. It is bar none the best music radio station in San Diego County. Why? Because they play such a variety of jazz and blues. On Jazz 88.3, you will never hear the same song twice in a week and probably not in a month. As people get older they tend to get more conservative in life, with the exception of music. It is one of those magical things in life as most people actually expand their musical tastes over the years. With many young people, it is just the opposite. I strongly recommend Jazz 88.3 to anyone young and older who were just raised on hip hop or rock n roll, respectively.  If you live in San Diego, give it a try for week and let me know if you have ‘expanded’ your radio listening.

Now to television, a medium that is actually getting better with cable and pay for view programming. Last week, I got a couple of pleasant surprises to shake my 'ol preconceptions about two current and very popular music artists. Gotta love it when that happens.

First, I'm watching my favorite music tv station, Pallada owned by VH1 (Time Warner Ch. 286, San Diego). Pallada gets it, they play shows and concerts from a very eclectic range of pop and rock people, good stuff. I came across, You+Me: Live in Santa Monica (check TV scheduling) , a folk duo project by Dallas Green and Alecia Moore (better known as P!nk or Pink). What? Pink doing folk, I was shaking my head, this should be interesting. Well, it was. It was better than that, it was damn good! These two artists and their vocals together are a perfect match and it blew me away. I actually got the goosebumps tingle. You know the tingle, that feeling that goes up the back of your spine to your neck hairline when you witness something special.

• Wikipedia - You+Me

• youplusmeVevo Channel

Second up, it’s the 2015 Academy Awards, not a great show this year, but then came on Lady Gaga. Like Pink, not a person I sit down and listen to (like change the preset button or channel). I know she has being doing her thing with Tony Bennett, doing standards and I was getting to start to appreciate her range, but then this The Sound of Music film tribute...and I'm stunned. Hey, I was also getting the goosebumps tingle again and with music coming from network TV! It was something like watching a great scene from Breaking Bad, it was that good. So just sit back and appreciate the work and respect she gives.

Please just... Let it Rain (Updated)

Rainy Days and Mondays (1971) by the Carpenters always assaulted the senses of my crowd growing up in the 60's and 70's as most of us linked the brother and sister duo with the Lawrence Welk view of the world. Well last night and this morning, it has been raining in Southern California, and that SONG just creeped back into my head, "Raining days and Mondays always get me down."  Bummer! Just please disregard that as I'm going to try to keep this blog upbeat and a way to start your week. So if you live in So Cal you know that rain is a very good thing after four straight years of drought. Let's all hope we can keep getting some more of the wet stuff coming our way!

Oh, it appears my blog post is too late, I see the sun now shining through as I write this line. This screws up my whole bit here, I was going to feature Eric Clapton's Let it Rain, but might have to switch to George Harrison's, Here Comes the Sun.

Well I'm going to be water optimist and stick with Let it Rain,
co written by Delaney Bramlett and Eric Clapton on his 1970 debut solo album, Eric Clapton.

And so, a hippy rain dance....

A matter of heart

Tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of my heart attack and it is something that I have quietly celebrated with my wife Mary Kit every year since. Sometimes we go out to dinner on February 17th and I guess that is ironic in that Mary Kit and I never celebrate Valentine's Day which is just a few days before. I feel that Valentine's Day with the heart symbols, flowers, chocolates, dinner and cards is kind of a Hallmark holiday.  Mary Kit woke up this morning and told me that she loves me and I would say that we say, "I love you" everyday to each other. I like to think we celebrate the spirit of Valentine's Day everyday and in my own way, I celebrate my life this time of year as reminder that each day is a gift. We all need to work on our health and be there for the people we love and our music will always there for us, to keep us young at heart.

So I got to thinking about 'songs with heart in the title' and googled it. I looked at several hits and found a very A-Z comprehensive list. I don't have the data, but would guess that more than half of all songs written are about love or a metaphor for love, attraction, desire and well, on and on in that vein.

Check out my new updated playlist on YouTube and take care.

T Bone Burnett's Americana: Part II

Last Monday, I wrote about T Bone Burnett's influence on the music industry and his ability to bring together very talented and divergent musicians in various projects. Today, I would like to continue in that same vein as I've had the pleasure to experience two wonderful documentaries presented by Showtime in 2014. First, Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of 'Inside Llewyn Davis which I wrote about last week and featured Marcus Mumford and now, Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued (next airing, Feb. 14th, 2pm).

Buy @ Amazon

This new project is Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes produced by T Bone Burnett. It uncovers new lyrics that were written in 1967 by Bob Dylan that were never released and not part of the original, The Basement Tapes (The Bootleg Series Vol. 11: The Basement Tapes Complete). These sessions were home-recorded reel to reel tapes made with members of The Band at their "Big Pink" house basement in Woodstock, New York, 1967. 

Mr. Burnett's vision with The New Basement tapes was to capture the open spirit and collaboration of the original recordings with a new group of musicians including: Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens, Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Marcus Mumford. Watching the documentary of the creative process of Burnett with this group of people was very inspiring to me. I think this would be a great activity for any organization to view; how a group of people can come together and create something completely new from a set of existing materials, in this case, Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics and drawings.

The song, Lost on the River was recorded in several different versions with different members of the band taking lead- adding new lyrics, orchestrating the arrangement and lead vocals. One arrangement, just blew me away as Rhiannon Giddens goes through her journey with her mates on this song. I hope you appreciate her work here, because if you have not heard of Rhiannon Giddens, you will after this, and know that a star is born in our Americana consciousness.

T Bone Burnett's Americana: Part I

In 2000, even though I didn't know it, T Bone Burnett had entered my musical radar through the Coen brother's film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? I loved that movie and the music just jumped out and grabbed a lot of people, including me. I started listening to Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch, as I had similarly gotten turned on to people like Jesse Winchester and  Shawn Colvin over the years, by my longtime friend Mark Hunter. Mark, a fantastic musician himself (see his band The Waits), was the first person to introduce me to the term Americana music. It inspired me to start listening to people like John Prine, Leo Kottke and EmmyLou Harris again after many years. But now, there is a great new generation of Americana artists' that are making their way to the airwaves, through no small feat of the master collaborator himself, T Bone Burnett.

Purchase @ Amazon

T Bone Burnett has lifted Americana music to a state of popular consciousness by his genius and ability to assemble talented musicians and create some of the best music you can hear today. My awakening of Mr. Burnett, the man himself, was finally realized on the 2014 Showtime presentation of  Another Day, Another Time: Celebrating the Music of 'Inside Llewyn Davis (see this link for future airing dates and On Demand - next showing, Feb. 4, at 8pm on Showtime). This documentary was a one time 2014 concert in New York City with background rehearsal sessions and interviews with Burnett and a host of Americana legends, stars and rising stars.

Here, I would like to feature my favorite song of that evening as this is one of those songs that just grabs your soul and doesn't let go for awhile. The song, I was Young When I Left Home was written by Bob Dylan and is performed here by Marcus Mumford. The documentary brings out the collaborative and creative process of Burnett, Mumford and cast of very talented players. This is simply beautiful and heartfelt as Marcus Mumford gives a memorable performance with Mr. Burnett's crafted guidance.

I've been for a walk on a winters` day... (Updated)

The weather report for this week puts most of the country in a blustery situation from severe snow storms in the east and midwest to rain on the west coast. Several songs came to me on a morning walk yesterday and hope you are in the mood for a little weather music.

First up is Bare Trees by Fleetwood Mac. Released in 1972 by the group's original lineup and written by Danny Kirwan who was fired by the band later that year. This album and song seems to get lost with the monster mid-seventies addition of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Musicmp3.ru - Bare Trees






Next is Hazy Shade of Winter by Simon and Garfunkel, first released in 1966 as a single and then included in the 1968 Bookends album. I always loved this song because it showed the boys could rock 'n roll with the best of them. My guess is that this song with its quintessential beat influenced other groups in the mid-60's.




And lastly, California Dreamin' by the Mama's and Papa's, released in 1966 on the If Your Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears album. You'll be singing this song in your head again, like you have done so many times before, on such a winters' day.

1969, girls, cars and Badge (Updated)

This week's post is inspired by my daughter-in-law's Twitter post @kimzebor from Mashable's That '60s show: What American high school students dressed like in 1969, Oct. 1969 Hippie high school, When students (and teachers) turned on, tuned in, and dropped classes by Chris Wild, Retronaut. Once seeing these images, My own time machine started reeling in the years back when I started Santa Maria High School in September, 1969 as a freshman. In the fourth picture down, (shown here on the right) is an image which includes a MG (Model A) sports car in the background similar to my '57 MGA and first car, purchased when I was a junior. What a time!

So I got to thinking about 1969 and the songs that came out that year. I first thought about the Beatles White Album, but that was actually released in November, 1968 and then I remembered how my sister and I loaded in with my good friend Ron Zieman, his sister and parents into their family station wagon and drove to Santa Barbara for Christmas shopping. In a department store, Ron had found the new White Album and got it as a present. I can't remember if he had to wait until Christmas, but I imagine we went straight to his bedroom and immediately listened to it, like so many other albums of the day - CCR, Buffalo Springfield, The Rolling Stones and one of Ron's favorite bands, Cream.

Cream had broken up in 1968 and released Goodbye in the United States in February, 1969. The album as a whole is a bit forgettable in that there are three live tracks and three original tracks from the band. Badge is the definitive single from the album and is one of my all-time favorite songs. Badge has a very distinctive Abbey Road (released 9/26/69) guitar sound that is attributed to the master collaboration of Eric Clapton and George Harrison (who co wrote Badge and is listed as "L'Angelo Misterioso" – rhythm guitar on the original jacket back cover, click on below.) The guitar solo is so Beatlesque, your ears say it is George, but Eric would have to tell us, how it all came to be. So without further adieu, one of the best songs of 1969 and all time.

Wake up Everybody (Updated)

I thought of this song last week on my 35th anniversary as a teacher. Wake up Everybody is the 1975 album
and single by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes and was the last album Teddy Pendergrass was on before starting a solo career. I love this song because I was so young and it really inspired me to be the best that I could be just starting out as a teacher. This song came at a time when many songs were written about hope and optimism about our country and people just working together to solve problems. Hope this song quickstarts you into thinking about how good you are and how good you are going to be with other people this week!

Grooveshark and a Fitting First Post (Updated)

Update - If you haven't heard, Grooveshark is dead . I'm now updating my first blogs using YouTube music videos as my new go to replacement.

So, here is my first song, Monday Monday by the Mama's and Papa's. Original blog below.


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Hello all, I'm Doug McIntosh and this is my new music blog. I plan to post something every Monday about music I like, so here goes!

Being born in 1955 and raised on rock n' roll I have come to appreciate a variety of music over the years. A couple of years ago a friend told me about Grooveshark and in my opinion it has become the best free music streaming service on the Internet. Grooveshark does one big important thing services like Spotify just haven't matched, it allows you to load an entire catalog of songs/albums from an artist into a playlist you create! Using Grooveshark, I have now created 52 playlists with almost the complete catalogs of many of my favorite groups and individual artists. I have all this at the touch of my computer or with me always on my smartphone.

Once I started using Grooveshark, I just stopped loading and using my iPod altogether. You will be amazed at all the FREE and legal music you can collect and stream on your computer and phone, anyway it works for me and I hope you enjoy this little music Monday tip!

It would be most fitting to start off my first post with links to Grooveshark featuring the Mama's and the Papa's 1966 album,  If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears and the hit single, Monday Monday that is the inspiration for this blog and the era of my musical roots. Happy Monday everyone!

Grooveshark direct link - Monday Monday

Grooveshark embed audio player