Redbeard’s Blog

Steve Winwood – Why Can’t We Live Together?

Back in 1972 while working at my first radio station in Ohio, I got a lesson in soul music from Timmy Thomas and the single "Why Can't We Live Together?", and apparently an ocean away Steve Winwood, ex-Spencer Davis Group wunderkind, Traffic…

U2- Vertigo- Paris 12-15

The violent terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015 at an Eagles of Death Metal concert dealt a shocking sucker punch to the residents of one of the world's truly great cities, postponing a scheduled U2 Paris concert. But the members of U2 did not stay away long. Turn up this blazing performance of "Vertigo" by U2 at the make-up Paris concert barely three weeks after the carnage.

Roxy Music- Take a Chance with Me- Radio City Music Hall 5-26-83

the ad agency for a big brokerage house  switched to Roxy Music's "Take a Chance with Me" in the latest tv ad. Here is Roxy Music and singer Bryan Ferry performing it live back in May 1983 during a broadcast from Radio City Music Hall.

Peter Frampton Forgets the Words pt 2

In the conclusion to my all-new interview focusing on his brilliant all-instrumental album "Frampton Forgets the Words",  delightful conversationalist Peter Frampton picks one of my favorite Stevie Wonder chestnuts to interpret, "I Don't Know Why", and explains to us how Motown, "The Sound of Young America", was in fact even bigger in his home country the UK than here; rocks out with his band on Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way"; reveals his lifelong brotherly love for David Bowie; and much more in this part two.

Peter Frampton- Frampton Forgets the Words

When Peter Frampton announced in 2019 that his diagnosis with a progressive neuromuscular disease would necessitate his final goodbye tour then, no one was more concerned than me. But as you will hear in this new interview about Peter Frampton's new album, "Frampton Forgets the Words" , he has miraculously found inspiration in making every day be as meaningful, productive, and rewarding as possible.

AC/DC- Jailbreak- Dallas 10-85

When AC/DC played Dallas in October 1985, the band "threw the dog a bone" by performing "Jailbreak" for their earliest American fans who were in San Antonio and Dallas/ Ft. Worth ten years earlier when the Aussie's were just struggling to get known by playing Texas clubs.  

Rolling Stones- Brown Sugar- Los Angeles 2015

Back in 2015 when the Rolling Stones were playing tight and right,  presciently Mick Jagger knew that they had better do something special for the Rolling Stones' fiftieth anniversary of the landmark album "Sticky Fingers", albeit six years early. The Stones played every song from it at the LA Fonda Theater, including this spirited version of "Brown Sugar".

Rolling Stones- Honky Tonk Women- London 3-14-71

Eras in music no more follow the calendar than Mother Nature does. Thus fifty years ago in mid-March 1971 the last live performance of the Sixties in effect may actually gone down when the Rolling Stones ended their brief Scottish/ English tour at London's Roundhouse with this final performance of "Honky Tonk Women".
,

Cheap Trick- Essential- Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander

On a maximum scale of five stars, the 1977 debut by Cheap Trick  receives AllMusic.com's highest rating. And the even more melodic, better sounding  sophomore effort "In Color" in the same year earns 4 1/2 stars. Then Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Tom Petersson, and Bun E. Carlos wrote and recorded the  masterpiece "Heaven Tonight" in May 1978, yet again scoring a critics' perfect five star rating. So in hindsight it would appear that recording the Rockford IL quartet's set while performing the strongest material from these three killer studio albums, in front of an adoring audience in one of the world's premiere venues, would be as obvious as a sumo wrestler in your shower stall.

Van Halen- Best of Both Worlds- Dallas 12-91

The Van Halen free concert ( you read that right, FREE ) in the streets of downtown Dallas on the afternoon of December 4, 1991 included this performance of "The Best of Both Worlds".