Monday, December 2, 2019

Thanksgiving Capers (SNS week of 11/24/2019)


A late blog, in which I will briefly cover music related stuff this past week.    

(1) WOLF CREEK PASSES:  It pretty much consisted of a cool cover band at my hometown bar, Frenchy's, called Wolf Creek, in which the bass player, Ben LoBrace, I had graduated with.  The band is fronted by Maureen Hackett.   It's not unusual for people I knew growing up to embrace music; several others have, many who I have covered here.    But if you want the best in classic rock, check them out.  Many of my hometown friends were there, and it's probably a sign of a very good band that we sang along to much of their songs.

Wolf Creek, fronted by Maureen Hackett, played at Frenchy's in Roselle Park on November 23.


(2) AMA's: Then there were the American Music Awards.   Normally, in this day and age, I wouldn't watch this, as I pretty much am out of the age range of the performers on here.  Pretty much if you are a fan of Taylor Swift, you'll enjoy those three hours as she garnered the "Artist of the Decade" award, and yes, from a pop standpoint, she did deserve the honor, despite the quality of her music deteriorating over the past ten years.  I have to admit I haven't heard any of her recent stuff, so I might be premature there.  It is a whole new era and the mainstream media treats them like they are the only genre around.   That's really too bad.   Swift won four more awards that night, and I believe she passed Michael Jackson for the most awards won since these awards...which reflect the pop music buying (and I guess now, streaming) public as opposed to the Grammys....since 1973.   Good for her.

Billie Eilish garnered several awards at the AMA's, including Favorite New Artists and Favorite Alternative Rock artist.   Her hit song, "Bad Guy" hit #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Alternative chart; the first to do both since Lorde's "Royals" in late 2014.


If you're a rock fan, there was pretty much little to see.   Believe it for not, they did have an "Alternative" category, but as you may figure, the only three nominees were Billie Eilish, Imagine Dragons, and Panic! At the Disco, pretty much the only artists that "crossed over" during the past year or so.    Probably not so surprising, Eilish won, since she pretty much is pop  territory rather than alternative.  In fact, in her speech, she was surprised that she won in this category.    And by the way, I usually cover Billboard's Alternative, and Triple-A charts.  There is also a mainstream chart as well as a "Top Rock Songs" chart, which I guess covers all rock subgenres and combines airplay and sales. Panic!'s "High Hopes" is #1...for the 45th week, and on the chart 79 weeks.   C'mon now.....with the thousands of rock bands clamoring for a part of the spotlight, in an industry that has pretty much turned its back on the genre, to glorify a song for that long?    Yes, it reached #1 on my list about a year ago....then I moved on.    I suspect that pop music fans keep streaming it, rather than rock fans who have moved on several times.    So, not only has rock have been shortchanged by current pop, but apparently pop fans are sabotaging it  indirectly.

Anyway, getting back to the categories that at least have songs and artists that are relevant to me, "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus lost out to Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabrella's "Senorita" in the Collaboration Category.    For favorite song, "Old Town Road", "High Hopes" and Jonas Brothers "Sucker" lost to Edison NJ artist Halsey's "Without Me"; Thomas Rhett lost to Kane Brown for Favorite Country Male Artist; Blake Shelton's "God's Country" was beat by Dan + Shay's "Speechless"; One victory was "Old Town Road", #1 on my blog for 4 weeks (and 19 on Billboard) won for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop song.  

Finally, favorite Adult Contemporary Artist saw both Maroon 5 and Pink lose out to Ms. Swift, but some good news as Lauren Daigle, with two top 20 songs on my playlist this year, won for Favorite Inspirational (read: Contemporary Christian) artist.


If you're a rock fan, two performances of note:  Green Day rocked a couple of number, and this time without the politics; and Ozzy Osbourne teaming up with hip-hopper Post Malone and Travis Scott with "Take What You Want".     That was pretty much it, although I felt bad for pop star Selena Gomez, who opened with her emotional current hit, "Lose You To Love Me".  She sang slightly off key, but given her recent struggles, she gets a pass with me.   This is a good song.

(3) TURKEY DAY:   Of course, Thursday was the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the first of the "big three" holiday events in New York City (the others being the tree lighting at Rockefeller Center and The New Year's Eve ball drop in Times Square).    If you watched the AMA's, then you pretty much saw the parade, except that there were not too many 'current' artists but several "classic" ones worth checking out.      It was a very windy day, but the parade officials went ahead with most of the balloons, save for a couple of them; they just flied them closer to the ground.  

If you're a music fan of decades past, you would enjoy Debbie Gibson, who performed her 1989 hit, "Electric Youth"; Chicago, the venerable jazz-rock band, still around (with three active members), who are releasing a new Christmas album this season; and the "headliner" of sorts, Celine Dion, who is making a comeback , performing a track for her new album, Courage.

1980's pop star Debbie Gibson performs at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade


Others at the parade were Natasha Bedingfield, Black Eyed Peas, apparently also making a comeback of sorts, but without Fergie;  Jimmy Fallon with his Tonight Show band, The Roots, Lea Michelle (of Glee fame), Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child fame, 90's R&B outfit TLC, Idina Menzel, Ciara, and many others.  

While you might not like everything in the parade, it's always still worth watching, if only for the balloons and the anticipation that the holiday season is in full swing.  

(4) STEAMROLLER BABY:   Finally, Saturday the 30th found us in Morristown to watch "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas - 35th anniversary".    This is the live version of the neo-classical outfit that was created by producer and performer Chip Davis.    Although he had released some new-age albums under that name in the 1970's (and famously was the producer behind C.W. McCall's 1975 number one song, "Convoy"),  the concept became a reality in 1984 with the release of Christmas.    It was an immediate hit and 12 more holiday albums followed, along with several other new age, and even Halloween-themed sets.     Although we were in the balcony, second row from the back, the performance was very awesome, very true to the recordings and the sound system was superb.   It's amazing to see the array of instruments that were used to recreate the original recordings.    While the outfit were performing, various images were projected on the screen, one, amusingly, was the depiction of the Renaissance.  There were also several messages from Davis himself, who wasn't there, but was in spirit.

Mannheim Steamroller at Morristown's Mayo Center, November 29

After the first intermission, the orchestra performed the entire Christmas album.    Two songs from it are among my holiday favorites that make my "top 100" list every year:  The opener, "Deck the Halls", and the closer, "Silent Night", a very slow, bone chilling, take on the classic carol.    The performances were right on.    

Mannheim Steamroller, no doubt would inspire later configurations such as Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and The Wizards of Winter, who tour regularly every year, but the Steamroller was the first.  


CURRENTS:  As my coverage of current music reaches its final month, Shannon Marsyada holds at #1 with "The Message".  The song holds a semi-comfortable lead over Andreya Triana's "Women", therefore landing a 1-2 female punch.   Molly Burch's "Only One" (6-4) and Michael Kiwanuka's "Hero" (12-5) are big movers and either could capture the top spot next week.   The Griswolds' "Nice to Meet Ya" grabs the Impact award (32-13).

Lana Del Rey's follow-up to "Doin' Time", "Mariner's Apartment Complex" grabs the Top Debut, and is a worthy follow-up; Best Coast, with their...uh...best...in quite awhile, "For The First Time", Saint Motel's "Van Horn" and Bombay Bicycle Club's "Eat Sleep Wake" are among the debuts.   Also debuting are three new holiday songs, once again, keeping with the rhythm and spirit of recent holiday songs, as opposed to the current trend in music:  Alessia Cara's "Make It To Christmas" leads the pop songs, while Keith Urban's "Be Your Santa Tonight" is in the country vein, and Alternative band The Regrettes enter with "Holiday-Ish" which features Dylan Mallette.


Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100

November 24, 2019



This Week
Last Week
ARTIST-Title
Weeks on List
1
1

NUMBER ONE: 



Album: Oceans
(2 weeks at #1)
11
2
3
10
3
2
12
4
6
5
5
12
4
6
7
8
7
8
8
8
4
16
9
19
5
10
9
18
11
18
6
12
5
11
13
32
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEK:




(Single Only)
3
14
10
16
15
20
8
16
22
7
17
21
6
18
23
6
19
15
11
20
11
17
21
24
23
22
28
8
23
26
10
24
27
7
25
13
22
26
29
6
27
14
17
28
30
8
29
17
16
30
25
22
31
33
7
32
16
12
33
38
6
34
35
21
35
42
15
36
39
12
37
44
4
38
36
20
39
31
11
40
34
22
41
48
5
42
37
19
43
51
5
44
50
5
45
53
4
46
69
2
47
62
3
48
97
MOVER OF THE WEEK:



(Single Only)
2
49
47
12
50
60
4
51
40
11
52
43
16
53
41
19
54
65
4
55
52
8
56
46
18
57
45
19
58
66
5
59
84
2
60
55
14
61
59
19
62
80
1
63
67
5
64
49
9
65
54
13
66
77
8
67
79
3
68
--- 
TOP DEBUT: 


Album: Norman Fucking Rockwell
1
69
58
10
70
73
5
71
57
21
72
76
4
73
81
1
74
--- 
1
75
63
14
76
68
32
77
61
24
78
86
2
79
64
23
80
78
4
81
83
3
82
56
14
83
94
2
84
--- 
1
85
--- 
1
86
91
33
87
75
7
88
--- 
1
89
74
26
90
72
19
91
88
3
92
--- 
1
93
82
21
94
93
29
95
--- 
1
96
70
18
97
85
20
98
87
25
99
71
9
100
92
33





Songs with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week.

●    Songs with 25 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.

               ▲       Songs with 50 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.  

           ¨    Songs with 100 or more plays on my iPod/iTunes.


 

The “Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100” is a list of current and recent song playlist which I am listening to.











 



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