The Daily Vinyl Blog

The Dude wants to know… did you know that My Sharona was a real girl?

The Dude — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:41:45 +0000

Over 30 years ago, a band called The Knack catapulted to stardom with its hit, “My Sharona.” It also made a star out of its muse, a woman named — not surprisingly — Sharona.

The Knack’s lead singer Doug Fieger wrote the song for the then-teenager who would become his girlfriend, Sharona Alperin. Fieger died last month after a battle with lung cancer. Alperin, who stayed friends with him, was one of the people at his side during those last days.

Sharona Alperin is now a real estate agent in Los Angeles. But she still remembers when she was introduced to Doug Fieger, by his girlfriend.

“I was about 16 or 17 at the time,” Alperin told host Guy Raz. “He was nine years older than me. And within a month or two later, he told me that, ‘I’m in love with you, you’re my soulmate, you’re my other half, we’re going to be together one day.’ And I was madly in love with my boyfriend at the time, and so it took a year for me to leave my boyfriend.”

Alperin remembers the day when she first heard “My Sharona” — before she and Fieger were an item.

“One day, on my lunch break from my clothing store, I went to their [The Knack's] rehearsal,” she says. “And I saw maybe Burton [Averee] or Doug [Fieger] say, ‘Should we play it? Should we play it? All right, let’s play it for her.’ And I sat down. Cut to: I’m driving back to the clothing store, and I’m thinking, ‘Did I just hear a song with my name in it?’”

The cover art of the single “My Sharona” actually features Alperin posing in a revealing tank top and tight jeans. For some time, she was famous in her own right.

“That was, like, my normal outfit, what I wore all the time, by the way,” she says, laughing. “I guess I didn’t look at myself as a celebrity, but people were very excited when they met me. And I remember going on tour, and seeing sometimes people dress up. And I’d say, ‘What are you dressed up as?’ And they would say, ‘Sharonas.’

“Not everybody knew that Sharona was a person, or they thought maybe it was a thing. I think in Japan, they might have thought it was the male organ — that’s what I heard.”

Fieger and Alperin eventually got married to separate people, but they remained in touch. Fieger died on Valentine’s Day this year, but Alperin says she went to see him frequently in his final months.

“A lot of his idols, people that meant so much to him in the music industry, came to pay their respects to him,” she says. “And it was really beautiful.”

(This article is posted from NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124397021&ft=1&f=1039)

Pavement Play First Show in 10 Years!

The Dude — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:33:32 +0000

Indie rock fans’ prayers were finally answered Monday night in Auckland, NZ. Yep, it really happened: Pavement reunited for their first live concert in more than 10 years.

At the 1,600-capacity Town Hall, the quintet — guitarist, vocalist Stephen Malkmus; guitarist Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg; drummer Steve West; bassist Mark Ibold; and multi-instrumentalist Bob Nastanovich — kicked off their world tour, which hits Australia and Japan before heading stateside this spring for fests like Coachella and Sasquatch!

The band rocked through a 25-song set — which they refined during two weeks of rehearsals in Portland, OR — including plenty of tracks from SPIN’s dream setlist: show-opener “In the Mouth a Desert,” from the band’s 1992 full-length debut Slanted and Enchanted, Wowee Zowee gem “Grounded,” and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain standouts “Cut Your Hair,” “Gold Soundz,” and “Range Life.”

Spiral Stairs took to his blog to post a few photos from the show — including this charming backstage shot. “We were seriously nervous!” he wrote in the post. “The show was great. The fans were unreal. Whew… all those Pavement anxiety dreams can now go away!”

Source: http://www.spin.com/articles/pavement-play-first-show-10-years


Here's a cool "highlights" of Pavement collection. Great price. A great place to start if you've never owned any Pavement. And since its all remastered, a great addition to any collector.


Here's the Setlist from the show:



U.S. Earthquake Danger Zones
The Dude — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:38:21 +0000
With earthquakes in the news lately, some may be curious of the U.S. fault lines. I know I was.
Turns out, most states are at risk of major earthquakes, with 39 of the 50 states in the moderate-to-high risk areas for seismic activity, ABC News reports.
This map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows the major earthquake hazard areas within the United States based on fault lines:
Earthquake danger zones in the U.S. by state
The Dude wants to know… So if an earthquake happened and you were trapped for a day with nothing but music to listen to… what would be your first go-to “comfort” record?



Review: “Scratch My Back” – Peter Gabriel (U.S. release March 2, 2010)
The Dude — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:46:08 +0000
In a word, the new Peter Gabriel album is Haunting. 53 minutes of voice, piano and orchestra. It’s dark. And mysteriously sinister throughout the 12 cover tunes. The “Scratch My Back” project has Peter Gabriel performing completely stripped-down arrangements of tunes by other artists. These 12 artists will then cover Peter’s original compositions on the to-be-released album “I’ll Scratch Yours.”  Clever.  You need to be in the mood for sure. But if you are, you will captivated, drawn-in, almost afraid to pull away.  Because you might miss something important. And that’s the key. Is this album something important?  Time will tell.
Gabriel has a knack for changing the course of music every decade. His experimentation with drum sounds and world music in the early 80’s was underratedly influential.  The production of the 1986 album “So” changed what was expected in terms of a perfectly mixed album.  In 1992 he released “Us” which changed how loops were used and the production was a bit, dare I say it, grundgy.  Gabriel was also the first person I saw sport a goatee in the 90’s.  Perhaps his influence in the 2000’s were minimal, but certainly his pursuit of international artists have exposed more than 65 performers to the rest of world.
So here we are, 2010. How will this deeply intense record effect the next 10 years of music. There are no drums, percussion, guitars, bass guitar, synthesizers. Perhaps the I-cover-your-song/you-cover-mine  will be the more influential element here?
Here is the track listing with the original artists
1. “Heroes” – David Bowie 4:10

2. “The Boy in the Bubble” – Paul Simon 4:28

3. “Mirrorball” – Elbow 4:48

4. “Flume” – Bon Iver 3:01

5. “Listening Wind” – Talking Heads 4:23

6. “The Power of the Heart” – Lou Reed 5:52

7. “My Body Is a Cage” – Arcade Fire 6:13

8. “The Book of Love” – The Magnetic Fields 3:53

9. “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” – Randy Newman 2:34

10. “Après moi” – Regina Spektor 5:13

11. “Philadelphia” – Neil Young 3:46

12. “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” – Radiohead 5:06
Stephin Merritt’s (The Magnetic Fields’ frontman) has covered “Not One Of Us” and Paul Simon’s version of “Biko” is expected to be the second release on March 28. Both songs are from Gabriel’s 3rd self-titled album. Radiohead will be covering “Wallflower” from Gabriel’s 4th self-titled album. 
I rate the album 4 out of 5 record sleeves.
There are two versions available. The Deluxe version w/ a 2nd disc of remixes:


And the standard single-disc version:


Pick one up, fer sure! Let me know if you do.



The Daily Vinyl video #38: “The Ancient” (special edit) by YES
The Dude — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 01:38:50 +0000
Using a rare DJ pressing of YES’s 1973 controversial double album “Tales From Topographic Ocean,” I created this special edit. This could have been used as a “single” if they had done such a thing to this nearly 19-minute song. This is from Part 4 of “The Ancient (Giants Under The Sun)” which consumes the entire 3rd side (as does each of the four songs on this release – hence the “controversy”).
The video was filmed in East Tennessee out in the woods of Fairfield Glade. The turntable was mostly covered, but as you can see, snow did occasionally drift in. I was on a “spiritual retreat” and of course, I brought my turntable. I hope you enjoy it. 5-star ratings are always appreciated.
Although, I think perhaps this video has been blocked. YES or no?

Remember… The Dude gets some spare change when you purchase something thru Amazon using the provided links. Support TheDailyVinyl!  thanks…

The YES store on Amazon. (CDs and MP3s)



The Daily Vinyl video #37: “Ain’t That Peculiar” by Peter Gabriel (RARE!)
The Dude — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:03:53 +0000
This classic soul number was performed by Peter Gabriel in Chicago 1979. It was released on the Bristol Recorder. Which was apparently a record with a magazine attached to the gatefold sleeve and produced in Bristol, UK. This was the 2nd volume released like this. To my knowledge, this recording is NOT AVAILABLE ANYWHERE! (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.)
Peter’s notes on this track (and references to 2 other live songs “Not One Of Us” and “Humdrum” for possible future TheDailyVinyl release) are as follows:

“A cassette recording featuring my Alexis Korner impersonation on the intro. The band were Tony Levin: bass. Larry Fast: synthesiser. Allan Schwartzberg: drums. Jimmy Maelen: percussion. Phil Aaberg: piano. Steve Hunter: lead guitar. Robert Fripp: rhythm guitar (partly concealed). These cassettes were dug out of the live cassette box, so the quality of sound is rough. Certain of the vocal bits made me cringe so I spent a little time ‘doctoring’ ‘Not One Of Us’ and ‘Ain’t That Peculiar.’ In the profession, we call this cheating.”  (You can hear how his vocals are “double tracked”)

Pre-order the new Peter Gabriel record “Scratch My Back”


Description on Amazon:

Peter Gabriel s Scratch My Back album project is the first part of a series of song exchanges in which Gabriel and other leading artists reinterpret each other s songs. To help craft his recording of the album s eclectic array of cult favorites and classic tracks, Gabriel enlisted former Durutti Column member John Metcalfe, composer, arranger and the expertise of producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd’s The Wall , Lou Reed’s Berlin ) and engineer, mixer and producer Tchad Blake (Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits).
Gabriel describes this as a very personal record with twelve songs performed only with orchestral instruments and voice. He made the choice not to include guitar or drums. The album’s richly diverse sounds include the sparse romance of Lou Reed’s The Power of the Heart , the powerful musical journey of David Bowie’s Heroes and an epic arrangement of Arcade Fire’s My Body Is A Cage. Gabriel and his collaborators recorded the album at George Martin’s Air Lyndhurst Studios and the Real World Temple with further editing and mixing at his own Real Worlds Studio in Wiltshire. The Scratch My Back release is one of the most creative and engaging records from an iconic artist in a long time. The marketing focus is to penetrate Peter Gabriel’s core fan base as well as fans of all genres and in all demographics given the scope of artists being covered as well as its depth of composition. 
Here is the complete track listing:

1. Heroes (David Bowie)

2. The Boy In The Bubble (Paul Simon)

3. Mirrorball (Elbow)

4. Flume (Bon Iver)

5. Listening Wind (Talking Heads)

6. The Power Of The Heart (Lou Reed)

7. My Body Is A Cage (Arcade Fire)

8. The Book Of Love (The Magnetic Fields)

9. I Think It’s Going To Rain Today (Randy Newman)

10. Apres Moi (Regina Spektor)

11. Philadelphia (Neil Young)

12. Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Radiohead)  
The Deluxe special edition has a 2nd disc with:

1. The Book Of Love (Remix)

2. My Body Is A Cage (Oxford London Temple Version)

3. Waterloo Sunset (The Kinks) (Oxford London Temple Version)

4. Heroes (Wildebeest Mix)  
The Release Date is March 2nd!!!



The Dude — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:18:12 +0000
Emerill BAM!!!


Here’s a video I made several years ago for a sales team motivational kickoff. You know, it was all “c’mon sales guys… Kick it up a notch… BAM!” I spent all day watching TiVo’ed videos of Emeril just waiting for the payoff.



Join The Daily Vinyl group on Facebook
The Dude — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:36:53 +0000
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Daily-Vinyl/195059149588



The Daily Vinyl video #36: Phil Collins’ Drawing Board Rare Home Demos
The Dude — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:06:16 +0000
“I Missed Again” and “If Leaving Me Is Easy” early home demos.

Uploaded to YouTube: January 09, 2010
This is the first time I produced a special request by a loyal viewer. The Daily Vinyl video #4 featured the home demo version of “In The Air Tonight” from a Phil Collins Maxi-Single released in conjunction with his debut album “Face Value” in 1981. And someone asked to hear the other demos on this record. (6 months later, here they are!)
It’s amazing to me that these demos (recorded in 1980 while Phil was going thru a very rough divorce) were ever released. It’s fun to find the the improvised phrases that eventually made it to the final versions. To my knowledge, these versions, entitled “Drawing Board” are not available for purchase anywhere. So please… ENJOY.
(I can’t believe Nashville schools were closed for two days for THAT snow!)
Pick up the classic 1981 album for under $7.


This also seems like a pretty sweet deal, if you’re looking for instruments.



Save Up to 83% During the Semi-Annual Rockstar Clearance Sale at Music123.com (exp:2/3)  (but of course, it’s always best to support your local music store, if you’ve got a good one, like Fanny’s House of Music in East Nashville. They have awesome vintage instruments and cool guitars for smaller-framed peoples.)



The Daily Vinyl #35: “Groovin’” at The Groove
The Dude — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:59:54 +0000
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


The Daily Vinyl #35: “Groovin’” at The Groove from The Daily Vinyl on Vimeo.
It was a lovely Sunday afternoon. Just hangin’ out at my neighborhood record store called “The Groove” in 5-Points/East Nashville.  The fellas were kind enough to let me buy this record by The Young Rascals and to pull my turntable out of the car, and set-up shop right there while the customers were browsing. No fancy effects or editing this time around. Just a sweet song and chillin’.  Take a break. Relax. It’s time for The Daily Vinyl.
And here’s a little trivia from TheDailyVinyl DJ… The Young Rascals changed their name to just The Rascals after this 1967 hit record “Groovin’”.