New York natives Living Colour are no strangers to the legendary and as of 2006, deceased NYC CBGB rock club, which supported live acts for 33 years. The band, known for its unique fusion of heavy metal, funk, reggae and other genres and influenced by everyone from Fishbone and Bad Brains to Jimi Hendrix, played at the world’s “most important punk rock club” in the 1980s, when no one knew who they were and then later, at the height of its (Living Colour’s) popularity late in the decade. [A CD from the group’s December 1989 show was released in 2005.] CBGB and its founder Hilly Kristal are no longer in existence, but it’s only fitting that great rock bands of yesteryear that played there, including Living Colour are trying to keep alive the spirit of the club that introduced to the world The Ramones, Blondie and other future legendary rockers. Thus, the release of yet another Living Colour show that took place at CBGB, this one being a benefit meant to try and raise money to save the club from closing. It happened the night of August 19, 2005, and the newly released disc it appears on is titled, in short, CBGB OMFUG Masters (MVD Audio). The show was taped via the CBGB soundboard, and though the mixing on the CD is highly respectable, it’s not quite perfect, as the crowd sounds a bit distant and there’s a half-second pause in sound during one song, “Love Rears Its Ugly Head.” The latter issue may or may not be just limited to my CD copy, but others who bought this CD can feel free to chime in about it in the “comments” section below. The first thing that has to be said about Living Colour circa 2005 is that despite singer Corey Glover’s repeated declarations that “I’m getting old,” the high octane performances from this show would have you believe otherwise. That said, let’s get the few low-lights out of the way. The band stretched out but apparently didn’t nail the ending of its feel-good hit from 1988’s Vivid, “Glamour Boys.” That prompted the band to humorously tell the audience, “Let’s see what we remember!” Also, the crowd wasn’t totally feeling the long, experimental, drum ‘n’ bass-propelled rocker “Sacred Ground.” Other live versions of fan favorites absolutely killed, however. Among the standouts were a fast-paced and raw version of the hard rockin’ Time’s Up (1990 CD) highlight “Type,” complete with its reggae bridge section, along with the slumlord-aimed (lyrically) but CBGB-dedicated “Open Letter To A Landlord,” where Glover really shows off his charm and soulful vocal style. Time’s Up hit “Love Rears Its Ugly Head,” which was introduced with a sweet freestyle, Hendrix-like guitar solo by underrated guitar genius Vernon Reid was another bright spot. Like Page Hamilton of Helmet, Reid has a background in jazz, and it often shows in songs such as this and the adventurous, speedy jazz/funk rock of “Funny Vibe,” another show highlight and song that not only has stood the test of time but probably influenced the likes of early Incubus.page 1 | 2

André Kostelanetz is given credit by some for inventing Easy Listening music, but the whole concept of a genre being 'invented' is a little iffy — at least as a conscious act. It seems to me that it's more of an evolution, a natural process of musicians stretching themselves to find a wider audience. But the Russian-born Kostelanetz was certainly one of the first to find success by bringing something different to music listeners. By repackaging 'light' versions of classical pieces, and later doing orchestral arrangements of jazz, show tunes, and pop music, he reached a lot of people who wouldn't have otherwise been interested in the original genres. Along the way, he became one of the biggest early radio stars and sold about a zillion records. Born in St. Petersburg, he grew up during the tumultuous years leading up to the Russian revolution but his interest was in music. His early classical training led him to a spot in the Petrograd choir and by the time he reached adulthood he'd become its director. In 1922 he emigrated to the United States and began trying to break into arranging and conducting. After spinning his wheels for a while, he was eventually able to find a job directing a radio orchestra, and it would prove to be the key to his future. By the 1930's he had he own radio show, complete with the largest radio orchestra ever assembled, and was soon one of the biggest stars around. Recording contracts inevitably followed, and his knowledge of what the public wanted to hear combined with his attention to detail helped make his records big sellers. He was also tremendously in touch with the technical side of the business and developed many innovations. Over the next several decades his name continued to be synonymous with fine music, arranged and performed in a way that was enormously appealing to listeners everywhere. By the time of his death in 1980, he'd established himself as one of the pioneers in the evolution of a genre — and had sold 52 million records.

With all things considered, Raphael Saadiq is the thread that has weaved the fabric of contemporary soul music together. His midas touch has turned the careers of countless "soul sisters"—Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Mary J. Blige—and "soul brothers"—John Legend, Musiq Soulchild and D'Angelo—into gold. And while his artistic resume is largely unknown by the masses, such high-profile collaborations expose a mere fraction of Saadiq's musical contributions. After a successful decade as a member of Tony! Toni! Toné! and R&B's pioneering supergroup, Lucy Pearl, Saadiq launched a solo career in 2002 with the release of Instant Vintage. His refreshing "gospedelic" mix of soul eventually earned him five GRAMMY nominations—a first for an artist who lacked a major record label deal. In 2004, Saadiq released his highly-anticipated follow-up, Ray Ray. The Way I See It (2008) continues Saadiq's life-long tribute to "old-school" music. Upon review of the album, Raphael Saadiq managed to find time in his busy schedule to settle down for an interview with Clayton Perry, where together they reflected on "neo-soul," Kanye West and the current state of R&B. When you launched Pookie Entertainment in 2002 and began releasing your work independently, what major hurdles did you often find yourself against? The main struggle I face is replicating my music on the road. My music requires a band and it's hard to take a band around the world. Some artists are out all the time, just touring, and they can build their fan base by just staying on the road. But for me, being a producer as well as having a label, it's a struggle. I did well recording the live records, like [All Hits at] the House of Blues. They weren't huge struggles but they were struggles. People that have major labels have problems with taking their bands on the road because there are not too many bands in the urban genre, so there's no system for them to go out and perform like rock bands. When they go to a TV show, they usually perform with a track tape or something. When another band comes up that's black, it's automatic to think that you're going to a tape or something. That ain't really my world. My world is more like the rock world. We got the amp, we like to play. That's the kind of the struggle that I've seen, a trend that shouldn't have been set. It wasn't always like that for urban acts.  Over the course of your career, how has the music industry changed – for better or worse?

Nary a week goes by without the irrepressible Kanye West coming through with a “did he actually say that?” quotable quote. The latest gem to have sprung forth from the rapper-cum-vocoded musical mogul’s lips occurred at the American Music Awards just a few days ago. The publicly voted awards were dominated by Kanye, along with fellow chart sensations Chris Brown, Rihanna and Alicia Keys, and it’s been said that West stole the show with one of his, now trademark, outrageous acceptance speeches. “I wake up every morning thinking, ‘What stereotypes do I wanna break?’” Kanye said when accepting an award. “It’s up to artists to push one another. We’ll push each other to be the new Beatles, the new Hendrix… I wanna be Elvis.” We’ll assume Kanye means he wants to become one of the most seminal solo musical artists of our generation, not that he wants to develop a penchant for eating his food only in deep fried form, then die on his toilet at age of 42… Don’t forget, Kanye tours Australia in a few weeks time, bringing his critically acclaimed �?Glow In The Dark’ show down under for the first time, with Nas and Scribe also coming along for the ride.

John Lennon changed the world with more than just his music. His 1969 Bed-In peace demonstrations with wife Yoko Ono were one way in which he used his notoriety to work towards social change and the principle of universal peace. I find it appropriate that a concert originally planned to celebrate his musical accomplishments, Come Together: A Night For John Lennon's Words & Music, became a fundraiser a short three weeks after September 11, 2001. The event, which took over a year to put together, was dedicated to "New York City and its people" and the charity it helped is the Robin Hood Foundation which includes a 9/11 relief fund. This tribute took place on October 2, 2001 at the Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan and was aired simultaneously on broadcast and cable television. Now, it’s available on home DVD and includes all the musical performances as well as introductions to each song by various actors. Host Kevin Spacey took on double duties as he also performed Lennon’s "Mind Games". The format for the show was well thought out. First there's a short film about Lennon that incorporated still photographs and film clips of his life. If you have watched any documentaries about the life of John Lennon and his impact on the world, there are many that you will have already seen. Next is an introduction of the upcoming song, tying Lennon’s views, the (still current at the time) events of 9/11 and the lyrics of the tune together. During each performance the theater’s backdrop was used to screen montages of both photos and video to further illuminate each message. Let me elaborate. The concert starts with footage of John and Yoko, he at the white baby grand piano singing "Imagine." Vocalist Yolanda Adams and keyboardist Billy Preston pick up the song live. Then, before host Kevin Spacey comes on stage, there are clips of John talking about the lyrics to "Imagine" and singing "New York City." Enter Spacey. He tells the original concept of the concert, to honor John’s words and music and to fight the good fight for gun control and non-violence, and to help give peace a chance. He continues by saying that there is now a new mission, to honor loved ones taken from us and to raise funds for those whose lives have been so brutally changed. He quotes lyrics from "In My Life" and "Working Class Hero" and goes on to say that during the show they would "celebrate this great man and great city and the undying spirit they both share." Singer/songwriter Dave Matthews plays acoustic guitar and performs "In My Life" as a pictorial montage of Lennon, from short pants to right before his death, is screened in the background. Put all of that together and it's a powerful, compelling video. The DVD starts that way and keeps going for the entire length. I'm telling you this so that you know from the start that it's not a breezy trip down memory lane. You might want to have a hankie at hand. I did.

For the longest time I could never understand how anybody could like country music. The problem was that it took me nearly forever to realize there was a huge difference between the music that's performed by people like Shania Twain, and country music. Growing up in urban centers, the only type of country music I heard for the longest time was the former.  Someone must have decided that city audiences were too sophisticated to want to hear any of the old time, or more traditionally styled, examples of the genre. Not having any incentive to search out country music, it took a series of accidents for me to stumble across the good stuff: walking into a record store and hearing my first Graham Parsons duet with Emmylou Harris, listening to my brother's Jerry Jeff Walker and Kris Kristofferson albums, and learning about Hank Williams by hearing a guy named Sneezy Waters singing his music. Waters had been cast in the role of Hank in the original production of the play Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave, when it played the bars and theatres in and around Ontario, Canada, back in the late 1970s. Hank Williams died in the back of his Cadillac on the way to a New Year's Day performance in 1953 from a combination of booze and drugs, and the premise of the play was that he made it to that show. During the course of the play Hank became progressively drunker and more morose, until by the end he was barely standing. What really made the play work though was Sneezy Waters' ability to reproduce Hank's songs down to that distinctive catch in his throat when the emotions of what he was singing about began to overwhelm him. Having heard another performer singing Hank's music made me want to hear the original, and in spite of Sneezy Water's remarkable performance, nothing he did had prepared me for the raw emotional intensity of Hank Williams. Hank Williams wasn't around very long to enjoy the spotlight, as he didn't come to the public's attention in a big way until 1949 and was dead four years later, so there has never been a huge library of his recordings available for fans to listen too. However, back in 1950-51 he recorded a series of radio shows that were sponsored by Mother's Best Flour, and because of his extensive touring schedule he was forced to pre-record the shows on acetate discs. It's these recordings that Time Life have used as the source for their new release Hank Williams: The Unreleased Recordings.page 1 | 2 | 3

It’s only a few weeks until Sensation makes its grand debut on Australian shores, setting down in Melbourne for a NYE spectacular unlike anything we’ve seen down under before. To get you pumped for the party, for episode #11 of inthemix.tv we take you international once again, this time to Sensation Denmark, which took place just last weekend. Check out the clip to see how they do it in Copenhagen. Fremragende! (That’s Danish for ‘Excellent’!) If you missed our inthemix.tv episode from Sensation Amsterdam a few months back you can still see it in the archive, and be sure to keep your eyes glued to ITM over the coming weeks as we’ve got some tasty exclusive DJ mixes for you to hear from headliners Erick Morillo, Fedde Le Grand and Marco V, all recorded live at Sensation events in in Germany, Lithuania and Amsterdam. INTHEMIX.TV EPISODE 11 – SENSATION DENMARK

When Bob Koester started selling old jazz and blues recordings scrounged from second-hand stores out of a box in his college dormitory back in the early 1950s I doubt he would have believed it you if you told him that years later he would not only still be selling records, but would also be the owner of one of the oldest independent record labels in the United States. After all, his love of jazz and blues notwithstanding, his ambition was to become a cinematographer not a record producer. Yet somehow those boxes under the bed turned into Delmark Records, arguably one of the most influential jazz and blues labels in North America. (For a detailed account of Delmark and Koester's history read parts one and two of an interview I conducted with him about a year ago.) Through buying up the back catalogs of defunct jazz and blues labels and lovingly restoring recordings from their master tapes (and in some cases the piano rolls of player pianos), Delmark has created a catalog of recordings that traces the as far back as the 1920s and through myriad changes in style. Even in their early years, though, the company was just as concerned with recording contemporary performers as with reissues and have continually searched out talented and innovative artists indiscriminate of style or age. There aren't many labels who can boast issuing current recordings of Dixieland jazz and releases by members of Chicago's avant-garde jazz community at the same time, but with Delmark you never know what treasures they have in store for you. I've seen and heard everything from a German traditional jazz band featuring a washboard player performing at an Ace Hardware in downtown Chicago (it had originally been a jazz club in the 1920s where people like Louis Armstrong had played) to stuff so experimental I doubt I'll ever understand it, but that left me strangely moved anyway. Delmark's blues catalog is just as diverse and includes everything from barrelhouse piano, country blues from Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, to live recordings from the stages and floors of Chicago's blues clubs where Buddy Guy still plays and Little Walter once stood. Even more remarkable is the role that Delmark, and Koester, have played in ensuring the future of blues recordings. Not only did they help establish the Chicago Blues Festival and continue to record blues artists of all stripes either live or in the studio, they have been the training ground for those who have gone on to found important blues labels like Alligator, Earwig, and Rooster Blues. For those of you like me who've not been able to see the inside of a Chicago blues club, Delmark's DVD recordings of gigs around the town have brought the blues alive in a way that no other label has. Entering into a neighborhood bar like B.L.U.E.S. through a camera lens is the next best thing to actually being there to watch Jimmy Burns and his band sweat their way through a riveting set of high energy, electric blues.

I'll admit it — I wasn't a believer before tonight. Until my ears were physically christened with the opening notes to the title track of Chinese Democracy soaring through my thoroughly overwhelmed computer speakers as it streamed off of the Guns N' Roses MySpace page, I did not believe that Axl Rose would wade through the insanity of his genius and bring us what has become the Holy Grail of rock music. But what once seemed like an untouchable, unattainable vision in the head of a madman — destined never to be realized – has now thankfully become reality. And those fans who have yearned for years to once again gain access to the ingeniously conceptual and chaotically invigorating world of rock and roll that only Rose can create will not be disappointed. Chinese Democracy is the ultimate rock and roll album. It announces GNR's reemergence in the world of metal with a sonic explosion that cuts through the status quo like a razor blade, beautifully sharp and piercingly deadly. Axl combines the raw ferocity of Appetite for Destruction with the soaring and dramatic compositional approach the band took on their Use Your Illusions albums, combining those formidable forces in a shell of layered, electronic sound that is thick and powerful. Electronic beats and melodies pour over Axl's ballads like the lofting "Streets of Dreams" and rage over rockers like the buzzsaw guitar-laced jam "Better," creating an affluence of sound that assaults and consumes its audience completely.     Every note and every vocal coursing through this record are placed perfectly into the overall mosaic that only an artist like Axl can create. Each track is strong in its own intrinsic way, drawing on the various influences that swirl through his consciousness, giving the listener a unique sensory experience as they journey through the landscape of the record as it unfolds. page 1 | 2

American company Redux Beverages have announced massive price cuts for their controversial Cocaine energy drink with a typically cheeky press release, giving consumers a US$20 price cut for anyone who buys two 24 can cases. “Our economy has tanked and the holidays may seem a little bleak, but do not worry, Redux Beverages is announcing the Cocaine Holiday Stimulus Package in order to boost your holiday economic spirits,” the company statement read. “You ask yourself, �?no human can consume 48 cans of Cocaine Energy Supplement over the 2008 holiday season; are they trying to kill us?’ The answer is no, we are not trying to kill you,” they added. “We hope that you will share that second case by giving out cans of Cocaine Energy Supplement to your friends during this holiday season; there is no better way to boost someone’s holiday spirits,” they suggested. The fast growing US company also recently set up a :Cocaine Legal Fund… to fight federal, state, and local governments in court who try to infringe on our constitutional right to freedom of speech” and issued a further message for critics “who are too stupid to recognize the obvious.” “This product does not contain the drug cocaine (duh),” said Redux. “This product is not intended to be an alternative to an illicit street drug, and anyone who thinks otherwise is an idiot.”