HBO’s Game of Thrones returns this weekend. As fans follow the saga of the Starks and Lannisters heading into a four-decade-long winter, one wonders whether there will there be a moment as startling as the “red wedding” of season 3? And what about Calesi and her dragons? Season 4 may prove to be Throne’s most…
Author: Jim Stalker
Seeking answers – one post at a time.
Sales guy – family guy – thinks a great guitar solo can make the song.
Based in Granite Bay CA – where there is plenty of granite and not much bay.
Napster – Film Review
Napster was incredible. Ask anyone who remembers. Peer-to-peer file sharing – a simple and brilliant idea flawlessly executed – gained tens of millions of fans in the span of months and simultaneously took down an industry. More than a decade later, that industry still feels Napster’s ripples. Two guys under 20. Some venture money. Silicon…
Steely Dan – Katy Lied
“Aja” is generally considered Steely Dan’s greatest work. Seven tracks of studio-engineered perfection. Each track brilliantly orchestrated and executed by a cast of musician’s musicians. The lyrics were “languid and bittersweet” and if you didn’t like ‘em then “drink your big black cow and get out of here.” “Aja” is chock full of moments. Bernard…
Tears for Fears
Coming off three worldwide hits, constant MTV rotation, Tears for Fears entered the studio with lofty expectations and a blank checkbook. These were the days when the Eagles would spend weeks, and tens of thousands of dollars, tweaking the kick drum sound on a song as lame as “Heartache Tonight.” Studio excesses were the orange…
Peter Gabriel
The Classic Albums series of programs and DVDs is one of the best ever for any serious music fan. Each 60-minute episode dissects the creative forces and execution of some of Rock’s most iconic albums with the people who were there. While some of the first episodes struggled in finding their groove, all the recent editions…
The Wrecking Crew
Denny Tedesco, son of legendary studio guitarist Tommy Tedesco, has made the best film ever about the LA studio scene, The Wrecking Crew. Unless you’ve attended one of a handful of screenings, chances are you haven’t scene this slightly sentimental valentine from a son to his father. If you are at all interested in the music…
Mad Men – Season Three
Mad Men, TV’s best dramatic series two years running according to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, concluded it’s third season last night. Betty is on a plane to Reno to gain a divorce, and Don is starting a new ad agency with the finest Sterling/Cooper has to offer. It’s all excitement for Don,…
Baked Potato Super Live
For many music fans, the late seventies and eighties were the golden age for music and musicians. Music had become a huge money making industry thanks to the perfect storm of MTV and baby boomers having cash to spend on albums and CD’s. Michael Jackson’s Thriller, released in 1982, was the perfect confluence of something…
Yellowjackets
The Robben Ford Group – Robben Ford – guitar, Russel Ferrante – keyboards, Jimmy Haslip – bass, and Ricky Lawson – drums – were a tight, highly musical band of studio musicians that played that strange hybrid of jazz, pop, rock, and blues that was being called “fusion” in the late seventies. Playing mostly instrumentals,…