LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 27, 2019- HE WAS BORN ALEXANDER ZIVOJINOVICH, BUT HE’S BETTER KNOWN AS ALEX LIFESON THE BAD-ASS GUITARIST OF RUSH.TODAY ALEX TURNS 66. LIFESON CO-FOUNDED RUSH IN 1968 WITH DRUMMER JOHN RUTSEY AND BASSIST AND SINGER JEFF JONES. A MONTH LATER, GEDDY LEE WAS BROUGHT IN TO REPLACE JONES. SIX YEARS LATER NEAL PEART WAS REPLACING JOHN RUTSEY ON DRUMS. THE RUSH LINE-UP WAS COMPLETE. RUSH WENT ON TO SELL OVER 40 MILLION ALBUMS, AND IT’S STREAK OF CONSECUTIVE GOLD AND PLATINUM ALBUMS IS TOPPED ONLY BY THE BEATLES AND THE ROLLING STONES. IN 2013, LIFESON WAS INDUCTED WITH RUSH INTO THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME.

HERE’S ALEX LIFESON SHOWING HIS CHOPS WITH SOME LIVE RUSH

photothanks-Tankboy

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 26, 2019-ON THIS DATE IN 1979 VAN HALEN PLAYED THEIR SECOND OF TWO CONCERTS AT THE OAKLAND CIVIC AUDITORIUM. IT WAS PART OF THE GROUP’S “WORLD VACATION TOUR IN SUPPORT OF THEIR SECOND ALBUM ‘VAN HALEN II.’

IT WAS VAN HALEN’S FIRST WORLD TOUR AS A HEADLINER. THE TOUR COVERED 108 DATES. THE TWO CONSECUTIVE SHOWS ON AUGUST 25 AND AUGUST 26 WERE COMPLETELY SOLD OUT. HERE’S THE SETLIST FOR BOTH NIGHTS:

Light Up the Sky

Somebody Get Me a Doctor

Drum Solo

Runnin’ With the Devil

Dance the Night Away

Beautiful Girls

On Fire

Bass Solo

You’re No Good

Jamie’s Cryin’

Feel Your Love Tonight

Outta Love Again

Ice Cream Man

Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love

Guitar Solo

(Eruption and Spanish Fly)

You Really Got Me

Bottoms Up!

Atomic Punk

FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS. RARE VIDEO OF VAN HALEN FROM 1979, ENJOY.

buyprint@Wolfgang’s https://www.wolfgangs.com/photography/van-halen/vintage-print/ZZZ032015.html

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 25, 2019-THIRTY ONE YEARS AGO METALLICA GRACED US WITH ..And Justice for All

THIS ALBUM IS SIGNIFICANT IN THE BAND’S HISTORY AS IT MARKED THE FIRST METALLICA ALBUM TO FEATURE BASSIST JASON NEWSTED, AND THE LAST ALBUM TO FEATURE A WRITING CREDIT BY BASSIST CLIFF BURTON.

THE ALBUM HAS ALSO COME UNDER CRITICISM FOR EXTREMELY LOW LEVELS OF BASS.

IN AN INTERVIEW WITH “SO WHAT!” A METALLICA FAN MAGAZINE, JAMES HETFIELD ADDRESSED THE CRITICISM AND POINTED OUT IT WASN’T A SHOT AT NEWSTEDT:

“I will say, it was not all about, ‘Fuck him. Let’s turn him down.’ That’s for sure. We wanted the best-sounding record we could make. That was our goal. We were burnt. We were frigging fried. Going back and forth [between touring and mixing the album]. Playing a gig. No earplugs, no nothing. You go back into the studio, your hearing is shot. If your ears can’t hear any high end anymore, you’re gonna turn it up. So we’re turning the high end up more and more and more and all of a sudden, low end’s gone. So I know that played a bigger part than any hazing or any ill feelings towards Jason, for sure. We were fried. We were burnt.”

IRREGARDLESS ON WHERE YOU STAND ON THE MIX, THE ALBUM FEATURES ONE OF THE GREATEST ROCK SONGS…EVER

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 24, 2019- THIRTY EIGHT YEARS AGO MARK DAVID CHAPMAN WAS SENTENCED TO A LIFE SENTENCE WITH A MINIMUM OF 20 YEARS JAIL TIME FOR THE MURDER OF JOHN LENNON. THE 25 YEAR OLD HAD SHOT LENNON 5 TIMES AT CLOSE RANGE ON DECEMBER 8TH, 1980 IN FRONT OF THE DAKOTA APARTMENT BUILDING IN NEW YORK CITY. OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, CHAPMAN WOULD CLAIM MANY TIMES TO HAVE BEEN BEATEN BY FELLOW INMATES, SOME OF WHOM ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO KILL HIM. TO DATE, CHAPMAN HAS BEEN DENIED PAROLE TEN TIMES. AT LAST YEAR’S PAROLE HEARING, HE SAID HE FINALLY FELT SOME REMORSE FOR KILLING JOHN LENNON. I HOPE THIS DICKLESS WONDER NEVER GETS OUT OF JAIL.

HERE’S VINTAGE JOHN LENNON

LAMONT’S MUSIC NOTES-AUGUST 23, 2019-ELEVEN YEARS AGO TOM PETTY HEADLINED THE OUTSIDE LANDS MUSIC FESTIVAL. I HATE TO HARP ON THIS, BUT THIS IS WHEN THE OUTSIDE LANDS FESTIVAL ACTUALLY BROUGHT IN ROCK BANDS. PETTY WAS SUCH A PRO AT THIS EVENT. HE PLAYED 2 SETS AND AN ENCORE. HE WAS FORCED TO TAKE A BREAK HALF-WAY THROUGH HIS FIRST SET SO A PROBLEM WITH THE FESTIVAL’S SOUND SYSTEM COULD BE FIXED. WHEN HE CAME BACK FOR THE SECOND SET HE STARTED OFF WITH A BLIND FAITH COVER AND A TRAFFIC COVER AND BROUGHT STEVIE WINWOOD OUT TO JAM ON THE SONGS.

HERE WAS PETTY’S SETLIST FROM OUTSIDE LANDS 2008:

Set One

You Wreck Me

Listen to Her Heart

I Won’t Back Down

Even the Losers

Free Fallin’

Mary Jane’s Last Dance

End of the Line

Set Two

Can’t Find My Way Home

Gimme Some Lovin’

Saving Grace

Breakdown

Honey Bee

Learning to Fly

Don’t Come Around Here No More

Refugee

Encore:

Runnin’ Down a Dream

Gloria

American Girl

PETTY AND THE BAND SOUNDED FANTASTIC…HERE’S “BREAKDOWN” FROM GOLDEN GATE PARK

Photo thanks-BABY HUEY CAM