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IT’S EDDIE VEDDER’S BIRTHDAY

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 23, 2019…HAPPY 55th BIRTHDAY TO PEARL JAM’S EDDIE VEDDER. EDDIE IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SEATTLE MUSIC SCENE, BUT ACTUALLY GREW UP IN CHICAGO AND SAN DIEGO. EDDIE’S FATHER LEFT THE FAMILY WHEN HE WAS 1 YEARS OLD, AND WAS RAISED BY HIS STEPFATHER, BELIEVING HIM TO BE HIS BIOLOGICAL FATHER. HE WROTE ABOUT THIS EVENT IN THE SONG ‘ALIVE’. “ROLLING STONE” MAGAZINE HAS VEDDER RANKED AT #7 ON A LIST OF THE “BEST LEAD SINGERS OF ALL TIME.” IN 2017 HE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK & ROLL HOF AS A MEMBER OF PEARL JAM. HERE’S GREAT CONCERT FOOTAGE OF EDDIE AND THE BOYS FROM A 2014 PEARL JAM SHOW (FULL CONCERT).

buythisvedderprint@wolfgang’shttps://www.wolfgangs.com

THIS BAND OUTSOLD THE BEATLES 1969-1970

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 22, 2019…FIFTY YEARS AGO ‘THE GUESS WHO’

RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘NO TIME’ AND IT WAS HUGE. THE SONG WAS COMPOSED BY GUITARIST RANDY BACHMAN AND BURTON CUMMINGS AND IS BASICALLY A DEAR JOHN LETTER STATING, THERE IS “NO TIME LEFT FOR YOU.” THE SONG REACHED # 5 ON THE TOP 100 CHART AND WAS ONE OF A STRING OF 7 HIT SINGLES FOR THE GROUP FROM 1969 TO THE END OF 1970. HERE’S ‘NO TIME’ FROM THE GUESS WHO.

photo thanks-the cbc

RICK NIELSON IS STILL ROCKIN’

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 22, 2019..THE HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO RICK NIELSON WHO TURNS 71 TODAY. NIELSON IS BEST KNOWN AS THE LEAD GUITARIST FOR CHEAP TRICK. HE CO-FOUNDED THE GROUP IN 1973 WITH BUN E. CARLOS. NIELSEN WROTE MOST OF THE SONGS FOR CHEAP TRICK’S FIRST FEW ALBUMS.

HE IS FAMOUS FOR HIS USE OF CUSTOM GUITARS FROM HAMER GUITARS, INCLUDING HIS ILLUSTRIOUS FIVE-NECK GUITAR. NIELSEN HAS SPENT THE LAST 46 YEARS PLAYING WITH CHEAP TRICK AND IS WORTH AN ESTIMATED 22 MILLION DOLLARS. HE WAS INDUCTED INTO THE ROCK & ROLL HOF WITH THE REST OF CHEAP TRICK IN 2016. THIS IS OUTSTANDING VIDEO OF CHEAP TRICK CIRCA 1977 WHEN THEY APPEARED ON DON KIRSHNER’S ROCK CONCERT

photo thanks-Carl Lender

photo thanks-the best rock photoman ever jimmy sheehanhttps://www.facebook.com/jimmyosheehan/

 

JOE COCKER R.I.P.

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 22, 2019…FIVE YEARS AGO THE GREAT JOE COCKER PASSED AWAY . COCKER HAD A CAREER THAT SPANNED MORE THAN 40 YEARS AND SHOT TO FAME WITH HIS PERFORMANCE AT WOODSTOCK. HE WAS KNOWN OFR HIS GRITTY VOICE AND SPASTIC BODY MOVEMENTS ON STAGE. COCKER WAS A BIG TIME SMOKER AND REPORTEDLY SMOKED 40 CIGARETTES A DAY UNTIL HE WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP SMOKING IN 1991. HE DIED OF LUNG CANCER. COCKER WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST SINGERS I’VE EVER HEARD. HERE’S HIS VERSION OF ‘CRY ME A RIVER’

AND NOTHING BEATS HIS VERSION OF ‘WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS’

buycockerposter@wolfgangshttps://www.wolfgangs.com

THE DAY NIKKI SIXX DIED & WAS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 22, 2019…THIRTY TWO YEARS AGO NIKKI SIXX WAS DECLARED DEAD FOR 2 MINUTES AFTER A HEROIN OVERDOSE. SIXX WAS REVIVED BY THE PARAMEDICS WHO GAVE HIM 2 SHOTS OF ADRENALINE IN HIS CHEST TO REVIVE HIM. FELLOW BAND MEMBERS WERE PREMATURELY INFORMED OF HIS DEATH. SIXX WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL, WHICH HE ABRUPTLY ESCAPED TO RUSH HOME AND SHOOT UP IN HIS BATHROOM. SOON AFTER THIS NEAR DEATH EVENT, SIXX AND THE REST OF THE CRÜE WENT INTO REHAB. HERE’S A SONG THAT WAS WRITTEN TO COMMEMORATE THE EVENT. I LOVE THE SAM KINISON SIGHTING IN THE VIDEO

 

 

photo thanks-Claudia Heidelberger

 

VAN HALEN’S BIGGEST SINGLE

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 21, 2019..THIRTY SIX YEARS AGO VAN HALEN RELEASED THE SONG ‘JUMP.’ HERE’S SOME TRIVIA SURROUNDING THE TRACK :

-THIS WAS THE FIRST SINGLE FROM THE ALBUM ‘1984’ AND TO THIS DATE REMAINS VAN HALEN’S MOST SUCCESSFUL SINGLE REACHING #1 ON BILLBOARD’S “HOT 100” CHART.

-JUMP WAS # 1 FOR 5 STRAIGHT WEEKS

-PARTS OF JUMP WERE WRITTEN IN THE BACK OF TOUR BUSES GOING BACK TO AS EARLY AS 1979

-DAVID LEE ROTH AND PRODUCER TED TEMPLEMAN VOTED AGAINST EDDIE’S “KEYBOARD SONGS” FOR MORE THAN 2 YEARS

-ACCORDING TO EDDIE “Certain people didn’t want me playing keyboards because they thought I should only be a guitar hero , but I’d play a Bavarian cheese whistle if I could play it well , whatever that is !”

-EDDIE VAN HALEN WAS CLASSICALLY TRAINED ON PIANO GROWING UP, AND DIDN’T START PLAYING GUITAR UNTIL HE WAS A TEENAGER

-EDDIE GAINED CONTROL OF THE STUDIO BY BUILDING HIS OWN HOME STUDIO AND RECORDED THIS WITH HIS BROTHER ALEX ON DRUMS AND AN ASSISTANT PRODUCER IN THE STUDIO

-THIS SONG WAS THE SECOND SONG EVER RECORDED AT EDDIE’S 5150 HOME STUDIO

-THE BAND RELENTED AND AGREED TO RECORD THE SONG AFTER THEY HEARD A RAW DEMO TRACK

-DAVID LEE ROTH WROTE THE LYRICS WHILE BEING DRIVEN AROUND IN HIS MERCURY CONVERTIBLE

-TO COME UP WITH A LYRIC FOR THE TRACK HE REMEMBERED SEEING A NEWS REPORT ABOUT A MAN THREATENING TO JUMP OFF OF A BUILDING. HE THOUGHT THE CROWD WOULD HAVE YELLED JUMP AND WROTE THE LYRICS AROUND THE CROWD DYNAMIC

-INSTEAD OF BEING WRITTEN AS AN INVITATION TO SUICIDE, THE LYRICS WERE ALTERED AS AN INVITATION TO JUMP IN ON LOVE

-EDDIE CALLED THE GUITAR SOLO ON THIS SONG AS THE FAVORITE SOLO HE’S EVER PERFORMED. IT WAS ACTUALLY SPLICED TOGETHER IN THE STUDIO FROM 2 DIFFERENT TAKES

HERE’S THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR VAN HALEN’S JUMP

BACK IN BLACK

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 21, 2019…THIRTY NINE YEARS AGO AC/DC RELEASED THE SINGLE ‘BACK IN BLACK’. THE SONG WAS THE BAND’S TRIBUTE TO FORMER LEAD SINGER BON SCOTT . ACCORDING TO HIS REPLACEMENT BRIAN JOHNSON, THE BAND ASKED HIM TO WRITE LYRICS FOR THE BACK IN BLACK RIFF. THE CRITERIA WAS ‘IT COULDN’T BE MORBID, IT HAD TO BE FOR BON AND IT HAD TO BE A CELEBRATION. THE SINGLE WAS RELEASED FIVE MONTHS AFTER THE DEATH OF BON SCOTT. THE LYRICS “FORGET THE HEARSE ‘CAUSE I NEVER DIE” THAT BON WILL LIVE ON FOREVER THROUGH HIS MUSIC. VH1 RANKS THIS #4 ON THEIR LIST OF THE 40 GREATEST METAL SONGS. HERE’S THE OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR BACK IN BLACK

WHEN JOE WALSH JOINED THE EAGLES

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 20, 2019…IT WAS ON THIS DATE IN 1975 JOE WALSH OFFICIALLY JOINED THE EAGLES. PRIOR TO JOINING THE EAGLES, WALSH ENJOYED GREAT SUCCESS WITH THE ‘JAMES GANG’ AND HIS SOLO PROJECTS. WALSH ALSO TURNED DOWN A CHANCE TO JOIN ‘HUMBLE PIE’ AS PETER FRAMPTON’S REPLACEMENT. IN 1975 HE WAS ASKED TO JOIN THE EAGLES TO REPLACE BERNIE LEADON. HOTEL CALIFORNIA WAS GROUP’S 5TH ALBUM, THE FIRST ALBUM TO FEATURE JOE WALSH. IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER THAN THE DUELING LEADS WITH DON FELDER AND JOE WALSH AT THE END OF HOTEL CALIFORNIA ?

HERE’S WALSH AND THE EAGLES IN CONCERT

 

 

 

photo-the incomparable jim sheehan-https://www.facebook.com/jimmyosheehan/

CHRIS ROBINSON

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 20, 2019..CHRIS ROBINSON OF THE BLACK CROWES AND ‘THE CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD’ TURNS 53 TODAY. NOW I HAVE TO STATE THAT I MIGHT BE THE WORLD’S BIGGEST CHRIS ROBINSON FAN. MUSICALLY THIS GUY IS A FREAKIN’ STUD. HE CURRENTLY LIVES IN MARIN COUNTY WITH HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER. HE AND HIS BROTHER CHRIS MANAGED TO BURY THE HATCHET AND PUT THEIR FEUD ASIDE TO EMBARK ON A BLACK CROWES “SHAKE YOUR MONEY 30TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR” IN 2020.THE BLACK CROWES HAVE SOLD MORE THAN 30 MILLION ALBUMS AND ARE LISTED AT # 92 ON VH-1’S LIST OF “THE 100 GREATEST ARTISTS OF HARD ROCK.” ALWAYS A TREAT TO SEE LIVE, HERE’S A FANTASTIC LIVE VERSION OF “JEALOUS AGAIN” FROM THE CROWES

 

 

photo-THE AWESOME JIM SHEEHAN https://www.facebook.com/jimmyosheehan/

PETER CRISS OF KISS

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-DEC 20, 2019…HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO PETER CRISS, THE ORIGINAL DRUMMER OF KISS. TODAY CRISS IS 74 YEARS YOUNG. BORN PETER CRISCUOLA , HE WAS KNOWN AS “THE CATMAN”. CRISS CAME UP WITH THE MAKE UP CONCEPT BECAUSE HE FELT HE HAD 9 LIVES SURVIVING HIS ROUGH BROOKLYN UPBRINGING. HE LEFT KISS IN 1980. HE MAINTAINS HE QUIT, GENE SIMMONS SAYS THAT HE WAS FIRED. HERE’S CRISS WITH KISS FROM A CONCERT IN 1978