R.I.P. Beloved Queen

Queen Elizabeth II
Throughout The Years

"Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom from 6 February 1952 until her death on 8 September 2022. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days was the longest of any British monarch and the second-longest recorded of any monarch of a sovereign country." 

As we all know Queen Elizabeth II has passed away at the age of 96.  

Rest In Power Beloved Queen.

Queen Elizabeth II on Wikipedia -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II   

"For The Many"

UB40 To Release First New Album in Five Years 

Just Ahead Of 40th Anniversary Tour

"For The Many" comes to CD and Vinyl on March 22nd

Includes a 24 page booklet complete with photos of the band 

and lyrics to all songs

The 38 date 40th Anniversary Tour starts on March 29th in Portsmouth

Red, Red Wine - That Is All...

For The Many is the Birmingham reggae veterans' nineteenth studio album - their first since 2013's Getting Over The Storm. It features UB40's founding members Robin Campbell (co-vocals/Guitar), Brian Travers (saxophone/keyboards), Jimmy Brown (drums), Earl Falconer (bass/keyboards/vocals) and Norman Hassan (percussion/vocals), alongside long-time members Duncan Campbell (vocals), Martin Meredith (saxophone), Laurence Parry (trumpet) and Tony Mullings (keyboards). Formed in Birmingham in 1978, UB40 named themselves after the UK government's unemployment benefit form. Their debut album Signing Off was released in August 1980 and is considered by many to be one of the greatest reggae albums ever released by a British band. It was the start of a career that led to 100 million record sales worldwide and dozens of hits, including "Red, Red Wine," "I Got You Babe" and "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love with You" which all topped the charts in the UK and in many countries across Europe. The band had a run of hit albums that have spent a combined period of eleven years in the UK's Top 75 album chart, establishing UB40 as one of Britain's most successful bands of all-time.

UB40 Jimmy Brown said, "For The Many is our first original album with Duncan, and a true reflection of where the band are at right now. It gave us an opportunity to go back to our roots and draw on the 1970s-style reggae that inspired us to be in a band in the first place. We intended to make an uncompromising reggae album and I think we have achieved that. There's lots of dub, various guest toasters and a blend of love songs and political songs. I'm really happy with the final result. We're really looking forward to playing some of these tunes live on our 40th anniversary tour in spring next year." Duncan Campbell said, "After ten years of fronting UB40, for us to make an album of our own original material feels like the final hurdle for me. The album and its title reflect how UB40 are all in support of Jeremy Corbyn and The Labour Party. Both of the songs I have written on the album (I'm Alright Jack and Poor Fool) also reflect this. We all feel this album is going back to what UB40 was all about and we are all excited for everybody to hear the album and looking forward to touring it." Robin Campbell added, "For The Many" is a great mix of reggae styles, while the different artists we have collaborated with will appeal to more fans and tastes in reggae - it really is an album for the many. The 2019 UK tour is a continuation of our 40th year celebrations, as well as sharing tracks from our latest album. We're playing all over the UK instead of a few arenas dates, meaning our fans from all over the UK can get to see us much more locally and up close - truly a tour for the many." ONLINE & SOCIALS:  Website: ub40.global Facebook: ub40official Twitter: @UB40official Instagram: ub40officia

Presenting - Honey West

There's a new Honey West in town...

This bad, old world gets exponentially better today, as HONEY WEST releases Bad Old World (Readout Records), an explosive collection introducing a remarkable and unusual songwriting collaboration between unassuming British rock titan Ian McDonald, founding member of both Foreigner and King Crimson, and noted Shakespearean actor Ted Zurkowski, a pillar of New York’s theater community by way of world-renowned method acting haven The Actors Studio.

Though constructed on the fundamental foundation of two guitars, bass and drums, the mirthful music on Bad Old World ― which multi-instrumentalist McDonald also produced ― is sophisticated and multi-textured, thanks to the indispensable instrumental and compositional talents of McDonald, and the sly, knowing word craft of lead singer-guitarist and co-composer Zurkowski.

McDonald maintains that his songwriting partner’s cunning way with words was hisraison d’etre for joining HONEY WEST in the first place.

“Ted’s lyrics are very smart,” says McDonald. “I like smart lyrics, I like smart music. This ended up being a really good partnership.”

Aiding and abetting McDonald and Zurkowski in HONEY WEST is a troupe of top-shelf musicians including drummer Steve Holley, whose credits include, among other notable artists, Paul McCartney & Wings, and McDonald’s son Maxwell on bass. Bad Old World also boasts a special guest appearance by Graham Maby (Joe Jackson, They Might Be Giants), who plays bass on several tracks.

The Album Launch Event is set for Wednesday, May 24 at Bowery Electric in New York City.

Premiering exclusively on Billboard.com, the self-deprecating first single,“Dementia,” is a perfect portal into the off-kilter world of HONEY WEST, so named after the groundbreaking 1960s TV series about a sexy female secret agent.“Dementia,” the album’s closing track, is a tightly wound, foot-stomping, Saturday-night rocker highlighted by McDonald’s baritone sax – which originally left a memorable imprint on T. Rex’s iconic “Get It On (Bang A Gong).” But Zurkowski’s typically droll, self-deprecating lyrics elevate the song far beyond the typical party-hearty blueprint, and identify its creators as a rock ’n’ force. 

The high concept "Dementia" lyric video was conceived and directed by Maxwell McDonald, adding to his duties as the band's bass player. Calling the lyric video “inventive,” Billboard.com said it “merits some attention when Ian McDonald gets excited about something.”

While McDonald’s formidable gifts as an instrumentalist, arranger and producer are front-and-center with HONEY WEST on Bad Old World, they represent a new role for the artist who for decades has been revered as a musician’s musician — the one everyone else would check out … and envy! His sterling rock legacy has been primarily forged in the background as the “secret sauce” if you will, for a wide range of recordings which further extends to the likes of Kanye West, Ozzy Osbourne, April Wine, Angela Bofill, Herbie Mann, Jerry Jeff Walker, Nash the Slash, and beyond.

When Zurkowski’s intelligent and playful lyrics are blended with the musical aptitude of HONEY WEST’s co-composers, sonic sparks can’t help but fly.  Not only is his background as a Shakespearean actor entrenched at The Actors Studio (unorthodox by music-world standards), it also indicates McDonald’s propensity for driving a bulldozer through convention.

As such, Bad Old World by HONEY WEST has given rise to a new name in 2017 for peerless musicianship, a substantial, yet fun, lyrical point of view, and the kind of jump-from-the-speakers excitement which has always marked the best in rock music.

Bad Old World is available now on all major digital services, including iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, and Spotify.  Here's the iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/bad-old-world/id1223188582?ls=1&app=itunes

HONEY WEST ON THE WEB:

www.honeywestmusic.com

www.facebook.com/honeywestmusic

Raph Solo "Good Morning London"

Modeling The British Flag
Raph Solo

RAPH SOLO RELEASES LOVE LETTER TO HIS HOME CITY, “GOOD MORNING LONDON”

The second single from his album, THE ANONYMOUS ICON, out now 

Raph Solo’s “Good Morning London,” the second single off of his new album, THE ANONYMOUS ICON, is a love letter to the city he calls home. “The song is about being yourself, no matter what they say,” says Solo. “Good Morning London” is available on iTunes today, along with his full-length studio album, THE ANONYMOUS ICON.

“It’s a metaphorical breakup song about finding your way home,” continues Solo of his sultry new single. “As a songwriter, I never sit down to write a song. It’s an organic process. When I feel inspired, the melody and the lyrics come out together as one.”

With a hit dance record under his belt, it’s intuitive that Solo never stops moving—not even to write a tender pop ballad. “I remember writing the song on the street, walking from my ex’s flat to my friend’s flat. My ex and I were living together at the time, and things had gotten so bad that I called up a friend to ask if I could stay over for a few nights until I found a new place to stay.”

Solo credits “Good Morning London” as one of the quickest songs he’s ever written in his career as a songwriter, while walking down the streets of London, no less. Nonchalantly, he says, “I wrote it in three minutes.”

Solo reunites with video director David Brant on the “Good Morning London” music video.  “It was really nice to be asked to work with Raph again, for what is now our third music video together,” says Brant. “Raph always has a strong idea of what he wants up front. Visually, we're both into that quirky, surreal, cinematic, and epic look. We just have a similar aesthetic that seems to set the mood perfectly against his music.”

                                                        Good Morning London

olo likens baring his chiseled body on the set of “Good Morning London” to baring his soul as an artist. As the track hits full stride, Solo is seen with a big British flag wrapped around his otherwise-naked torso in a scene that’s become synonymous with the singer-producer’s mantra of authenticity and self-acceptance. Solo salutes a new day and a new chapter in his life, he says, with the words “Be you” scrawled on his back, and a bruised eye.

“Often we lose ourselves in relationships, and we end up saying ‘yes’ to please our partners because we love them, when really we want to say ‘no’,” Solo explains. “And sweetness gets taken for weakness, and the fairytale turns into a nightmare.”

“We should always remember to love and honor ourselves enough to stay true to who we are in relationships, romantic or otherwise.” The bruised eye, he says, is symbolic of the price he had to pay to learn that lesson the hard way.

The song’s standout lyrics, “City life is no piece of cake // that you can have with your cup of tea on your morning break,” speak to Solo’s state of mind and the vivacity of the city he loves. Today, he stands tall as a gay man and outspoken advocate for human rights, and he can have his cake and eat it, too.

Inspired by up-tempo 80’s pop and contemporaries like Burt Bacharach and Marvin Hamlisch, the combination of Solo's vocals, Alex Pacali's sweeping riffs, and David Brant's hypnotic stroke of the keys leaves listeners spellbound. His third record sees the full realization of Solo’s signature timbre, layered with new refinement with every passing year and release, akin to the evolution of any true pop powerhouse. Solo colors his second single with a burst of falsettos, putting his vocal range on parade.

Born to Lebanese/Chilean parents on the Gulf of Guinea in Nigeria, West Africa, the singer-producer now hangs his hat in London, calling the second single a tribute to the city that’s helped to shape him. “‘Good Morning London’ speaks to exactly where I was — welcoming a new day and feeling like I was on my way home to somewhere I belong.”

Everybody Run, Julianne Moore Has A Gun!!!

Hands Up Or You Get Puffed!
Julianne Moore

WTF?! One of my favorite actresses armed herself recently on the British chat show TFI.

Yes, Julianne Moore was toting large with a gun, don't be too freaked out it shoots cheese puffs of all things. Will the wonders of technology ever cease?! 

Moore is one of my favorite actresses having appeared in one of my favorite indie films of all time, Todd Haynes Safe.

I actually encountered her at a Rexall Drug Store in Los Angeles, CA  once upon a time and chatted with her briefly about my love of her and that particular movie, but I'll save that for my book. 

With a resume' full of eclectic roles I guess now Julianne can add gunslinger to that list.

Have a "cheesy" Saturday! 

Julianne on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000194/?ref_=nv_sr_5

My Kid Brother's Band

Fifty Years of THE BEATLES: Louise Harrison Lifts Veil

on Her Life With her Beatles Brother

"…Harrison has an unusual angle for her Beatlemaniac memoirs:
she was living in America when her brother hit it big…" - Rolling Stone
 

She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah...!!!! By the summer of 1965,Beatlemania had gripped the world, with fandom reaching the highest pinnacles of society. The Beatles had played for presidents, heads of state, and accepted a command performance from Queen Elizabeth II. So great was the Fab Four’s rising fame that, in June of 1965, they were named Members of the British Empire--a high honor for four kids from Liverpool. Now, on the cusp of the 50th Anniversary of their MBE induction, one person close to them is looking back at Beatlemania. For Louise Harrison, Beatles success meant something different entirely. Living in the United States, Louise had been a vanguard of the Beatles, and she worked hard to help make the band as big a success in America as they had been across the pond--her efforts often and humorously met with rejection. But behind the fame and away from the lights, Louise and her mother and father provided something to the other three Beatles that only the Harrisons could: a family. Now, for the first time, Louise has lifted the veil on life with the Beatles in a heart-felt, powerful memoir My Kid Brother’s Band: a.k.a. The Beatles!  Recounting the rise from Liverpool, sweeping British and European popularity, and that fateful first broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show. Louise takes readers on a journey through the years, touching on emotional, spiritual, and professional landmarks along the way. With so many Beatles “50th anniversaries” on the calendar this year, Beatles fans everywhere won’t want to miss this intimate portrait of life inside one Beatles family. ABOUT LOUISE HARRISON Louise Harrison was born in Liverpool, England, the first child and only daughter of Harold and Louise Harrison. Her youngest brother, George, was also the youngest of the four Liverpool lads know as The Beatles. During 1964 and 1965 Louis, living in Illinois, found herself writing and broadcasting daily Beatles reports nationwide, due to public demand for news of The Beatles. Her distinctive voice with its British accent is immediately recognized by Beatles People all over the world.