Living room to Wembley

This show starts and ends with a bang.

Opening cut is a pleasant little ditty :) from Nine Inch Nails. Closing cut is wretched guitar excess: Brian May captured live at Wembley (whence comes part of this show's title) at the peak of Queen's popularity performing the extended solo from Brighton Rock. Not something you're likely to hear at the next wedding reception you attend but a "must listen" for Brian May fans.

In between, we offer some fare with broader appeal, including a song from Manic Street Preachers that will linger with you, and a couple of experiments.

Experiment 1. We recently received our first promo CD in the mail (thank you Nettwerk Records - see note at end of post). The artist: Griffin House. The material: a little more rootsy/country than I'd normally listen to but three songs caught my attention. I've selected two for the show and would be curious to hear your thoughts on this material. Send me an email.

Experiment 2. We play a couple of stripped down acoustic tracks that don't fit the "rock format" yet each has a certain appeal. The first (from Stephen Stills) has an interesting story behind it and is very raw. It sounds like he set up a microphone in his living room (whence comes the other part of this show's title) and layed it down in one take. Raw yet memorable. The second is a short acoustic instrumental from Canada's Bruce Cockburn. Again, would love to hear your thoughts on these songs.

Finally, before Brian takes the stage, we have something for history buffs. A rare cut from a long forgotten British power trio whose guitar player, for a brief period, was giving the big guns from Deep Purple and Black Sabbath a stiff challenge as THE guitar player to watch.

A little more eclectic show than normal.

Hope you like it.

Side note: Nettwerk Records started as a small indie label in a basement office in Vancouver. Their first 'big hit' was signing a young unknown singer from the maritimes by the name of Sara McLachlan. Today, as major labels sink in a sea of red ink and layoffs, Nettwerk is growing in leaps and bounds. Between their record label, publishing and management divisions, they represent a very broad cross-section of artists including Sara McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Avril Lavigne, Dido, Sum 41, Delerium, The Cardigans, The Finn Brothers and a whole host of other artists, including many 'indie' artists. What's the secret of their success? Unlike many established segments of the music industry, Nettwerk founder, Terry McBride, embraces change rather than fears it. As such, they have been very open to alternative revenue streams as CD revenue dies a not so slow death. Notably, they financed the defence costs of a teenager (and her family) who was being sued by the major labels for file-sharing music.

For information on Nettwerk, visit http://www.nettwerk.com/ and if you want cutting edge insight on where the industry is going, check out http://www.savethemusicfan.com/.

Cheers,

Michael