LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 18, 2019…FOUR YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL CALIFORNIA JAM, PROMOTERS PUT TOGETHER CAL JAM 2. OVER 225,000 TICKETS WERE SOLD TO THE EVENT AT THE ONTARIO NATIONAL SPEEDWAY, SETTING A SINGLE DAY RECORD AT A ROCK CONCERT. IN ADDITION TO THE PAID CROWD, GATE CRASHERS SWELLED THE ACTUAL ATTENDANCE TO CLOSE TO 350,000 PEOPLE. TO PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE, TODAY’S COACHELLA FESTIVALS DRAW 90,000 PEOPLE. SANTANA, HEART, TED NUGENT, FOREIGNER, MAHOGANY RUSH AND AEROSMITH WERE AMONG THE PERFORMERS.

HERE’S 2 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES OF VIDEO COVERING THE PERFORMANCES AT CALIFORNIA JAM 2

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 18, 2019…BORN IN 1966, TODAY JERRY CANTRELL TURNS 53 !! CANTRELL IS BEST KNOWN AS THE FOUNDER, LEAD GUITARIST OF ALICE IN CHAINS. WHEN THE GROUP FIRST GAINED NOTORIETY, NATRELL WAS THE CO-LEAD SINGER OF ALICE IN CHAINS, HARMONIZING WITH LAYNE STALEY. AFTER LAYNE STALEY’S DEATH IN 2002, CANTRELL TOOK OVER THE ROLE AS LEAD SINGER FOR THE GROUP,

WITH WILLIAM DUVALL HARMONIZING WITH HIM ON NEW MATERIAL AND TAKING OVER STALEY’S ROLE.

SOME JERRY CANTRELL TRIVIA:

-CANTRELL’S FATHER, JERRY SR., IS A COMBAT VET OF THE VIETNAM WAR

-DUE TO THE STRAIN OF WAR, HIS PARENTS DIVORCED WHEN JERRY WAS 7. HE WAS RAISED BY HIS MOTHER

-HIS FATHER WAS THE MAIN SUBJECT OF THE SONG ‘ROOSTER’

-JERRY PICKED UP THE GUITAR FOR THE FIRST TIME AT THE AGE OF 12.HIS MOTHER WAS DATING A GUITAR PLAYER AND HE TAUGHT HIM A COUPLE OF CHORDS

-HE STARTED SERIOUSLY PLAYING THE ELECTRIC GUITAR AT THE AGE OF 17

-THE FIRST ALBUM HE OWNED WAS ELTON JOHN’S “GREATEST HITS”, A GIFT HE RECEIVED FROM JERRY SR. WHEN HE WAS 10.

-CANTRELL LEARNED TO PLAY GUITAR BY EAR, NO LESSONS

-HE WAS RAISED ON COUNTRY MUSIC

HERE’S CANTRELL WITH ALICE IN CHAINS WITH THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR ‘MAN IN THE BOX”

photo thanks-Morten Jensen

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 17, 2019…TODAY MARKS 40 YEARS FOR THE RELEASE OF ‘DESOLATION ANGELS’ FROM BAD COMPANY. IT WAS BAD COMPANY’S FIFTH STUDIO ALBUM. THE ALBUM PLACED AS HIGH AS # 3 ON BILLBOARD’S TOP ALBUM CHART, SPARKED BY TWO GREAT SINGLES ‘ROCK AND ROLL FANTASY’ AND ‘GONE GONE GONE’.

‘DESOLATION ANGELS’ WENT DOUBLE PLATINUM FOR THE GROUP, SELLING OVER 2 MILLION COPIES IN AMERICA.

PROVING HE HAS ONE OF THE BEST VOICES IN ROCK, HERE’S PAUL RODGERS AND BAD COMPANY WITH ‘GONE GONE GONE’

HERE’S BAD COMPANY WITH ‘ROCK AND ROLL FANTASY’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 16, 2019…ON THIS DATE IN 1981 THE WHO RELEASED THEIR 9TH ALBUM/CD ‘FACE DANCES’.

HERE’S SOME QUICK ‘FACE DANCES’ TRIVIA:

– IT WAS ONE OF ONLY 2 WHO ALBUMS TO FEATURE KENNY JONES. JONES REPLACED MOON AFTER HIS DEATH IN 1978

– THE COVER WAS PUT TOGETHER BY PETER BLAKE, WHO PUT TOGETHER

THE BEATLES ‘SGT PEPPER’S’ COVER

– YOU BETTER YOU BET WAS THE FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM; IT’S VIDEO WAS ONE OF THE FIRST VIDEOS ON MTV, AND WAS THE FIRST VIDEO TO BE REPEATED.

– ANOTHER TRICKY DAY WAS NEVER RELEASE AS A SINGLE, BUT STILL RANKED AS ONE OF THE HIGHEST PLAYED SONGS ON ROCK RADIO IN 1981

– FACE DANCES HAS SOLD OVER A MILLION COPIES IN THE UNITED STATES

HERE’S THE WHO PERFORMING ‘ANOTHER TRICKY DAY’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-MARCH 16, 2019… ON THIS DATE 49 YEARS AGO, THE BEATLES RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘LET IT BE’. MANY PEOPLE THOUGHT IT WAS A BIBLICAL REFERENCE WHEN THEY HEARD “MOTHER MARY” IN THE SONG, BUT MCCARTNEY HAS SAID IT WAS A REFERENCE TO HIS MOTHER, WHO DIED WHEN HE WAS 14. ACCORDING TO PAUL, ONE NIGHT WHEN HE WAS FEELING ANXIOUS AND PARANOID, HE HAD A DREAM WHERE HE SAW HIS MOTHER. IN THIS DREAM SHE “BROUGHT HIM WORDS OF WISDOM MUCH PEACE WHEN HE NEEDED IT.”

HE TOLD THE STORY TO JAMES CORDEN WHEN HE APPEARED ON ‘CARPOOL KARAOKE’

“She was reassuring me, saying, ‘It’s going to be OK, just let it be.’ I felt so great. She gave me the positive words. I woke up and thought, ‘What was that? She said ‘Let It Be.’ That’s good.’ So I wrote the song ‘Let It Be’ out of positivity.”

THIS SONG WAS THE SONG MCCARTNEY PLAYED AT LINDA MCCARTNEY’S FUNERAL.

‘LET IT BE’ WAS THE FINAL SINGLE RELEASE BY THE BEATLES BEFORE PAUL MCCARTNEY ANNOUNCED HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE BAND.

THIS IS A RARE TRACK. THE BEATLES WORKING ON THE SONG IN THE STUDIO. NORMALLY I DON’T POST PICTURE VIDEOS, BUT THIS IS PRETTY COMPELLING AUDIO, ESPECIALLY AT THE 2:48 MARK WHEN LENNON REMINDS PAUL THERE IS ANOTHER VERSE