Monday, July 21, 2008

The Black Eyed Peas & Sergio Mendes

Growing up in the 60's and 70's one of the first recording artist I was exposed to was Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. This cat and his music was so cool that a group of us planned to form our own Tijuana Brass right in the hub of old Waipahu aka Arthur Abe's house with one of those toy drumsets and a few trumpets and a trombone. Somehow we thought that was all we needed and with a little practice we'd be on our ways. Right.

Well, not only was the Tijuana Brass great to listen to on the family's portable record player from Sears Roebuck but Herb Alpert's albums had all these themes with lovely models on the cover. Classic was Herb Alpert's Whipped Cream album with a model on the cover in nothing but whipped cream.

Herb Alpert was not only a fine musician but had an eye for other great musicians as well. If the musicians were good enough for uncle Herb then they were good enough for me. So I happily listened to and followed other artists introduced to us by Herb including such talents as Julius Wetcher and the Baja Marimba Band and Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66 which later became Brasil '67, Brasil '68 and eventually Brasil 2000.Sergio Mendes brought to us music with a Brazilian flavor and introduced us to unforgetable arrangements of hits made popular by songwriters/artist such as Simon and Garfunkel (Scarborough Fair) and the Beatles (Fool on the Hill). But of all the songs arranged and performed by Sergio Mendes and his entourage, Mas Que Nada stands out for me. Even though the lyrics were not in English it was just so cool to me.

Fast forward nearly forty years and the hip-hop group the Black Eyed Peas did a remake with Sergio Mendes of the hit Mas Que Nada. Click on the link below and enjoy the classic Sergio Mendes hit revisited. Man, it is just soooo cool!!!!

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Friday, July 18, 2008

The Gals will be out in force in 2009

When news broke a little after the 70's Nightclub Reunion IV that Ashberry would be the final act for Reunion V, Garrett Shirai gave Robin a tentative lineup which included former Miss Hawaii Traci Toguchi. The Ashberry that played six nights at the Sting Nightclub at the Princess Kaiulani Hotel in the 70's was fronted by Karen Cartwright. It was pretty cool to watch a band comprised of local boys from Hawaii and Karen Cartwright who so happened to be blonde. Nothing can ever be written in stone in this life except death and taxes as they say, but if things go according to plans it will be Traci Toguchi upfront for Ashberry in February, 2009.
2009 should be quite an interesting year indeed for the Reunion series as we should be in for a treat to hear the girls fronting several of the bands, Joy of White Light, Beverly & Chris of Aura, Pam Gamboa Petersen of Asian Blend and finally Traci with Ashberry. Pretty cool!!! Click on the link below to see Traci Toguchi captured live on YouTube!!!

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Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Pam Gamboa Petersen

One of the coolest things about the 70's Reunion series is the opportunity to meet and listen to some really cool musicians and vocalists while seeing folk you would perhaps never again see in your life. I remember Robin talking to our band at the time we broke up in the early 1980s saying something like "old musicians never die, we just fade away into the sunset".One of the coolest female vocalist I've had the pleasure to meet via the 70's Reunion series is Pam Gamboa Petersen. A friend of mine had a way of describing a female vocalist who really knew how to "kick butt". "She growls" was how my friend described a really great singer we both knew. Well, in Pam Gamboa Petersen's case I would say that she really "growls". In addition to being a vocalist who "kick's butt" she's a talented musician as well. I look forward to seeing Pam back in action at one of the Reunion events fronting Asian Blend next year.Click on the "link" below for some footage of Pam from yesteryear. Pam's cool in my books.

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Sunday, July 06, 2008

Blood, Sweat & Tears.......Classic Cool.....

Of all the songs done by Blood, Sweat & Tears, this one song has got to be the one that this group will always be remembered for. What a song, what a group, what a singer. Classic Cool!!!! Watching & hearing this video has made me sooooo very happy indeed. Wow!!!!!Click on the link below and I think you'll know what I mean.

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Oh Lucy, you just so damn bad.....

I remember the first band I was in tried to do this song. OK, we were only fifteen year old kids who knew nothing, no fear, no talent, and no can do. Hahaha!!! Blood, Sweat & Tears and David Clayton-Thomas do what only they could do.Click on the link and see just how damn bad these dudes are with their medley of Lucretia McEvil and Spinning Wheel. Smoking hot and just so cool!!!

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This band is beyond cool....this band is BADD!!!!

Go Down Gambling typified the talents of the men of Blood, Sweat & Tears. That's a mean guitar!!! What a band!!!Click the link and enjoy!!!

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God Bless the Child....Indeed...

Growing up one of the all-time great bands was none other than Blood, Sweat & Tears. A combination of great jazz musicians who were cool, cool, cool, when combined with singer's singer David Clayton-Thomas, the mere mention of Blood, Sweat & Tears left nothing to the imagination.Check out the link below for one cool performance. Oooooooh, and as they would say in Hawaii, "chicken skin brah!!!"

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Malo.....Richard Bean....Cool!!!!!

One song that has stood the test of time is Suavecito as done by Malo, which recently celebrated over 35 years of performing. The guitarist for Malo was none other than a Santana, Jorge that is, kid brother to the legend Carlos, who even today will play at times with the band, and whose son is a singer who has sung Suavecito with the band Malo. Richard Bean, credited with writing and being the original singer of Suavecito is still currently singing and still sings the song as well.Here's more on Malo from Wikipedia.Malo

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For other uses, see Malo (disambiguation).
Malo was a Latin tinged rock and roll group. The San Francisco, California based ensemble was led by Jorge Santana, the brother of famed Latin-Rock guitarist, Carlos Santana.

Four of the original members (Santana, Garcia, Tellez, and Bean) were previously in a band called the Malibu's. The other three founding members (Abel Zarate, Roy Murray, and Richard Spremich) were in a band called Naked Lunch together.

Malo had a huge Top 20 hit single with the song "Suavecito" in 1972 that was written by timbale player Richard Bean, who initially wrote it as a poem for a girl in his high school algebra class. The song has been called "The Chicano National Anthem" and was arranged for Malo by Richard Bean, bassist Pablo Tellez, and Abel Zarate. Tellez and Zarate also received co-author credits on Suavecito. In addition, guitarist Abel Zarate gave Malo a distinctive two-guitar sound, with intricate harmony and dual solos the norm. The band featured full horn and percussion sections, in the style of contemporary bands Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chicago and others. Some of the best musicians in the bay area played in Malo, including Forrest Buchtel, Jr., Luis Gasca, and Tom Harrell in the trumpet section. Malo's music also had a huge following in Central and South America, especially the songs "Chevere", "Nena", "Pana", "Cafe" and "Oye Mama".

After the release of its first album, Malo had a well-documented rift that saw the group eliminate many of its band members. Buchtel went on to play with Blood, Sweat and Tears, Jaco Pastorius and Woody Herman - Harrell has become one of the most lyrical trumpet soloists of all-time, working often with saxophonist Phil Woods. Abel Zarate went on to play with Latin-jazz legend Willie Bobo and continues to play Latin/Brazilian Global jazz in San Francisco with his group Zarate Pollace Project. Richard Bean formed the group "Sapo" with his brother Joe, and is still touring throughout Northern California. Jorge Santana has embarked on a solo career, and still plays frequently with the current Malo band. Malo is also still touring, with only two of the original members, including Arcelio Garcia Jr., who took over the band in the late 70's.

The 1972 "Suavecito" release was sung by Richard Bean with Abel Zarate, and Arcelio Garcia on background vocals, and Zarate playing the signature guitar riffs. Richard Bean continues to perform the hit single with his band Sapo and recently shared his story about "Suavecito" on CalMagazine.com, Channel 9.

Check out the video of malo performing this crowd pleaser that was filmed in 1972 and shared on YouTube, featuring Richard Bean, songwriter and the original singer. Real cool videos, really cool band, and real silky smooth singer.

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Friday, July 04, 2008

Solo performance by Robert Lamm

When you talk about music, one of the groups that pretty much comes up all the time is "Chicago".COURTESY CHICAGOTHEBAND.COM
Chicago features the talents of original members Lee Loughname, left, Walt Parazaider, James Pankow and Robert Lamm, plus Bill Champlin, Jason Scheff, Keith Howland and Tris Imboden.

Many have asked the question "What does 25 or 6 to 4" mean. Like other songs such as the Eagles classic "Hotel California" everybody and his or her mother's cousin had their long lost meaning. Perhaps the best way to get the meaning of a song or it's title is to ask the songwriter. When asked what "25 or 6 to 4" meant, songwriter Robert Lamm of the group Chicago clarified that it was just meant to be a temporary name for the tune until a better title came up. The song was basically about him having a difficult time writing a song and the song was written somewhere in the morning somewhere between three thirty four or five. You might ask, then why not call it "3 thirty 4 or 5"? But even though it was supposed to only be a temporary name, Robert Lamm used the artistical side of his brain to say three thirty four or five in the reverse, "25 or 6 to 4", that's twenty five or six minutes to 4 A.M..

Pretty cool huh? Robert Lamm wrote this classic song but Peter Cetera, he with the unhumanly tenor timbre was the voice that made the song so famous. Here in a solo performance from New Zealand is Robert Lamm singing the song that he wrote decades ago. If a few of the players look familiar they should. Supporting Robert Lamm in his performance are Chicago founding member Lee Loughnane on trumpet, current Chicago drummer Tris Imboden and current Chicago bass player/vocalist Jason Scheff.

Click on the link below. This is a pretty cool video. Robert Lamm. Cool!!!

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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Cool Classic

Now these three guys are just cool classic in my books. The 3 Stooges will go down in history as the kings of slapstick comeday that can still be enjoyed today and forever.Growing up I must have seen all of the episodes on the kiddie show "Captain Honolulu". Ha, now that's really going back to the days of black & white TV and just showing my age. But Moe, Larry and Curly were pure genius and cool before cool was cool. They had everyone rolling with their antics and their before their time imagination. Their black and white short clips are classic and even today they have the audience rolling. In this short clip the 3 Stooges teach the class about the alphabets as divided into consonants and vowels using music. I remember back in the day when the guys who sang in our band Greenwood took singing lessons from the late Richard Aoyagi. Mr. Aoyagi always made us warm up by singing "na ne ni no nu" of which I'm reminded of as the 3 Stooges give their musical lesson.

Click on the link below and enjoy and listen to the singing. Listen to the tight vocal harmonies from the ladies and then how they jazz it up a bit. Soooooo smooth, so sweet and just so cool!!!!!

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