Thursday, 31 October 2013
Michael Des Barres Band - Hot N Sticky Live - This Is Rock 'N' Roll, Children
Rock Ain't Near Dead, and if you need any convincing on this point, look - no, listen no further than Michael Des Barres fiery new live set, Hot N Sticky Live. Coming on the heels of last years fabulous long player, Carnaby Street, this disc will cure what ails you with ample doses of rhythm, the blues, and a heaping helping of a sensational love of rock 'n' roll.
Des Barres has returned to the stage after an absence of way too long, but it's better late than never, and if you miss a true London bred hero fronting a tight but loose group of swaggering pirates, look no further. This makes good on the promise set to lie by such acts as Rod Stewart & The Faces, who left to soon only to not return - well, I'm here to say that this is as good as I could have dreamt for rock's growing up into the new millennium. This set moves, grooves, and shakes you down with a top flight band of LA aces, and a frontman who melts all before him.
Rock's regals seem to have made it through the dimly lit darkness that enveloped the breed and the art throughout the '80s and '90s - the real rockers, the Ian Hunters, Glenn Hughes, and yes, the Marquis Des Barres (oh yeah, he's got lineage), have all saved it up and not spent it all, they're alive well and proving on a regular basis that rock may not be on the radio, but it's doing just fine as an art form.
Read on...
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
 | I'm Only Human SCD - £9.99 |
 | Carnaby Street CD - £9.99 |
Hawkwind review
"Spacehawks" is a look into the recent past of a band that has a storied history. It is a collection of the old, the new and the revisited. A novel idea for a band that pushes the limits of what listeners will accept; HAWKWIND leads the charge and everyone else just falls in line. It’s been like that since the start with little having changed, their songs still challenging the public opinion of what it considers music.
The seventies are forty years gone; it is a much different world for most but HAWKWIND are debating this theory to the grave. “Masters Of The Universe” confuses the listener, part space Rock opera part video game background noise, melting minds with a cosmic laser tag game of guitar wanking. “Sacrosanct” follows with a childish jam that will mellow the mind of your toddler or freak out your stoned teen.
Rick Wakeman Extends Journey Tour
Wakeman says: “This is the start of a new Journey. The original score for the album had been lost for so many years, making any new performances impossible. But after it turned up without warning, we managed to restore it and add previously missing music.
“It’s taken another half-decade to develop it into this tour, but I can’t wait to take Verne’s magnificent story on tour again.”
The 2012 recording of Journey To The Centre Of The Earth was released as a Classic Rock Fanpack. Tickets for the new shows go on sale at 9am tomorrow (November 1) via KiliLive.com.
Tour dates
Apr 24: Newcastle City Hall
Apr 25: Manchester Apollo
Apr 26: Plymouth Pavilions
Apr 28: London Royal Albert Hall
Apr 29: Birmingham NIA
Apr 30: London Royal Albert Hall
May 01: Grimsby Auditorium
May 02: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
May 03: Bournemouth International Centre
May 04: Cardiff Arena
May 06: Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
May 08: Sheffield City Hall
May 09: Liverpool Philharmonic
May 10: Llandudno Venue Cymru
Apr 25: Manchester Apollo
Apr 26: Plymouth Pavilions
Apr 28: London Royal Albert Hall
Apr 29: Birmingham NIA
Apr 30: London Royal Albert Hall
May 01: Grimsby Auditorium
May 02: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
May 03: Bournemouth International Centre
May 04: Cardiff Arena
May 06: Glasgow Clyde Auditorium
May 08: Sheffield City Hall
May 09: Liverpool Philharmonic
May 10: Llandudno Venue Cymru
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
 | Live At The Maltings DVD/CD - £9.99 |
 | Caped Crusader- Rick Wakeman in the 1970's Book - £14.99 |
 | The Burning CD - £9.99 |
 | Cirque Surreal CD - £7.99 |
 | Gole CD - £9.99 |
 | 1984 CD - £9.99 |
 | Cost Of Living CD - £9.99 |
GONZO PEOPLE: John Hughes
Gonzo wishes John Hughes Happy 61st Birthday.
Pictured here eating his birthday lunch bought by the Gonzo fromage grand.
The Michael Des Barres Show – 10-24-13
Guest: singer, songwriter, bass player, actor and poet John Doe WATCH EPISODE 14 OF THE MICHAEL DES BARRES SHOW The Michael Des Barres Show is rock debauchery with a social conscience from the unlikely perspective of a sober ex-frontman for stadium rock groups and Hollywood acting veteran. This is cerebral radio with no cheap shots, sound effects, or loony sidekicks, just shockingly intimate exchange between A-list guests and a silver-tongued host who knows where the bodies are...
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
| I'm Only Human SCD - £9.99 |
| Carnaby Street CD - £9.99 |
Frank Zappa's 200 Motels, Royal Festival Hall, review
Where would you find a chorus joyously waving flashing plastic penises, a pair of rock groupies, an eager journalist pleasuring herself with a rock star puppet, and two wannabe 70s superstars, all joined in the big anthem Strictly Genteel, interspersed with a huge orchestra playing something remarkably like Boulez, with funky electronic keyboard sounds smeared on top?
Only in 200 Motels, Frank Zappa’s savage parody of the rock group’s life on the road. Zappa knew whereof he wrote. He’d been touring with his band The Mothers of Invention for years, and knew all about the eager groupies climbing over security fences, the ghastly packaged food, the dreariness of living in Tacoma Inns. In the “surrealist documentary” he put together with film-maker Tony Palmer, an imaginary band pitches up in Centerville, the perfect Nowheresville of middle America, and finally “freaks out” and falls apart. This show is the musical portion of the film, with some of the songs omitted, and the orchestral episodes brought to the fore.
The life-style of 70s supergroups was famously extreme, and the show was bound to have its outrageous moments. It was too outrageous for 1971, when a performance at the Royal Albert Hall was cancelled. Forty-two years on, at this UK premiere, what was striking was the essential seriousness of the show, and the general absence of smut - apart from the episode featuring much discussion about penises, which frankly did go on a bit. It was the only longueur in a show which otherwise was bursting with invention.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
 | The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £9.99 |
| The Interview Sessions CD - £9.99 |
Chris Squire – Best of YES for Bass
Note-for-note transciptions of Chris Squire’s superb Bass lines from 13 Yes classics. Songs include: And You and I, Close to the Edge, The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus), Heart of the Sunrise, I’ve Seen All Good People, It Can Happen, Long Distance Run Around, Owner of a Lonely Heart, Roundabout, Siberian Khatru, Starship Trooper, Tempus Fugit and Yours Is No Disgrace. 176 pages. Written in Standard Notation and TAB.
Product Code: HL419
And whilst on the subject, check out the following Yes titles at Gonzo:
 | Union (Standard DVD) DVD - £9.99 |
 | Union (2CD) 2CD - £7.99 |
 | Rock Of The 70's DVD - £12.99 |
 | The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £7.99 |
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Rob Ayling writes: "Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)
HALLOWE'EN POEM
NIGHT CLOUD HORSES BROOD
Thunder stomps his hooves
Lightning slashes the face of sky
Underneath is how and why
we are still Children of Nature
No controls on wind or storm
Bitter chill or humid warm
We have no powers @all!
Lost orphans of Nature
Build our Towers tall and watch
as in time they are demolished
We are what we create and soon
we will be baying@an empty moon
Dead may not rise except in memory
We hold mirrors up to sun and stars to see
Creatures of Light and Dark will always be
Resurrected by Halloween
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Rob Ayling writes: "Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)
KOBE
ONCE THERE WERE GRASSLANDS
Hence
bison,prairies,cycles,seasons
When
white came(introduced species)
Junipers(not
cedars),noxious and toxic plants
displaced
indigenous native grasses
resulting
in allergies from their pollen
illnesses
from our compromised immune systems
Kobe
loves this land and knows his grasses
He
can distinguish species other assume are part of a class
and
remember where they came from.He wishes to restore land to
primal
wilderness-and if that means getting rid of alleged human beings
so
be it!Our ignorance and greed rankles his knowledge and love
which
is garrulous,brave and ferocious.His heart hosts listen to him
and
let him start on their twenty acres.He remembers everything!
That
is why they gather seeds of rare,precious and endangered grasses
and
share them from their private seed bank-to survive post -Monsanto and
GMO
Grasses
are also part of our future survival sources-edible or for fuel.
One
seed @a time-indigenous and grasses will return.
Roy Wood: "I was in such agony I could barely stand"
Birmingham pop wizard Roy Wood has undergone FIVE HOURS of surgery in a bid to ease the crippling pain which has kept him out of the limelight.
The chart star who notched up hits with The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard before going solo, went under the knife at a private hospital. Two surgeons carefully repaired three discs and shaved part of his spine away in a successful procedure to restore Roy’s failing mobility.
He revealed news of the operation, which was carried out late last year, as he prepared to return to the stage for a special Symphony Hall show.
“For more than a year I had been suffering from agonising back problems,” said the singer, who will celebrate his 67th birthday next month. 'I had two slipped discs, another which was damaged, and stenosis – a narrowing of the spinal canal. Together, the problems made me feel as if I was having painful electric shocks shooting down my legs. It was agony, and it meant I couldn’t stand for long periods of time.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
 | The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £9.99 |
Hawkwind review
Ah, “The” Hawkwind – a band I have long loved, while acknowledging their habit of issuing albums of sometimes wildly variable quality. A band who was perhaps the first truly counterculture band to have a real hit (with “Silver Machine” in 1969 – the follow-up, “Urban Guerrilla”, issued at a time when terrorism was being nailed into the public consciousness due to the likes of the Baader-Meinhof gang and a surge in Far- and Middle-Eastern-related revolutionary actions, was banned by a paranoid and hysterical BBC and failed to match the same heights). A band who gave no less a legend than Lemmy a reasonable tenure prior to Motorhead – who were themselves named after one of his Hawkwind compositions. Perhaps if they had ever taken much of a break from their activities, the ‘Wind would have been more missed and be held in higher regard; but even if the record-buying public at large have never really taken them to heart, there is a worldwide army of Hawkwind enthusiasts, albeit considerably less disciplined than most armies (though probably impossible to poison given their collective level of sustained drug use).
“Spacehawks” marks the latest of their forays onto the formats. Whatever scars the intervening years have left on their collective psyche, there’s no sign of any waning of their creative powers; nor is there any suggestion of a softening of their counter-cultural position. While there is a little more electronic chicanery in evidence, the key trademarks of their sound – hypnotic guitars, swirling psychedelic synths and Dave Brock’s (and the other’s) rough ‘n’ ready vocals – are all present and correct and little changed from any point in the last couple of decades. But this isn’t the only reason why parts of “Spacehawks” have such a familiar feel.
In One of his Final Interviews, Frank Zappa Pronounces Himself “Totally Unrepentant”
In a year that marks some significant pop culture 20th anniversaries—Wired magazine, Nirvana’s In Utero, The X-Files–one in particular may get somewhat less press. This coming December will be twenty years since Frank Zappa died of prostate cancer at age 52, after achieving infamy, notoriety, and finally, actual, run-of-the-mill fame. The latter he didn’t seem to cherish as much, and certainly not during his sickness. Nevertheless, Zappa sat for a Today Show interview, one of his last, and discussed his current work and failing health. A young chipper Katie Couric gives Zappa an ambivalent intro as the “bizarre performer with a penchant for lascivious lyrics.” “What few know,” she goes on to say, “is that he’s also a serious and respected classical composer.” Zappa’s bona fides as a “serious” artist seem to grant him a pass, at least for a bit, from interviewer Jamie Gangel, who begins asking about the successful performances of his work in Europe, where he “sells out concert halls.”
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
| The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £9.99 |
| The Interview Sessions CD - £9.99 |
Barbara Dickson Joins The Pars Supporters Trust
The singer had earlier donated money towards the campaign to help save her hometown football club, Dunfermline Athletic and representatives from the PST took the opportunity to meet with her ahead of the sell out performance to thank her personally for the contribution.
Barbara recalled fondly, her father taking her along to matches at East End Park as a youngster from their home in Rosyth. She said “I’m honoured to become a member of the Pars Supporters’ Trust and I’m delighted that the fans have been successful in buying the Club”. Although she no longer lives in the area, Barbara is still kept up to date with the goings on in Dunfermline by relatives in neighbouring Limekilns.
The Fife concert marked the midway point of a 25 date UK tour which began in Harlow on October 9th and culminates in Birmingham on November 10th.
Read on...
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
Review: Steve Hackett at Newcastle City Hall
With the prospect of a full blown reunion of the classic Peter Gabriel era Genesis growing ever more remote it’s down to guitarist Steve Hackett to fly the flag and celebrate their music covering the period from 1971’s Nursery Cryme to Wind and Wuthering released towards the tail end of 1976.
To the die-hard Genesis fan, this was the golden period, the most productive, creative and revered time of all.
Of all the former members of Genesis, Steve Hackett has been by far the busiest. Sure Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins have both had high profile solo careers and chart success but since leaving Genesis in 1977 Hackett has cut well over 20 studio albums in his own right.
Having first explored the Genesis Revisited concept in 1996 Hackett heeded the growing calls for a follow up and released Revisited II last year achieving his highest chart position in two decades.
The subsequent tour has snowballed into a two year worldwide trek which touched down at Sage Gateshead earlier this year returning to the City Hall for a second leg of the ever growing tour.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
 | Spectral Mornings DVD - £5.99 |
GONZO WEEKLY MAGAZINE #49 (I forgot to post this up on Sunday)
I have been promising for some weeks that the Gonzo Daily publishing empire would spread "into more traditionally magaziney areas", and I wasn't lying. On Sunday I sent out #49 of the Gonzo Weekly newsletter, together with its swish new layout, to nearly 2,000 subscribers. I then totally forgot to post about it here.
Check it out below:
SUBSCRIBE HERE - IT'S FREE
Please be warned: Magazines from #11 - #42 contain a cartoon at the bottom of the stressed out guy with the computer Apparently someone has accused the public domain images site I got it from of hosting malware, and even though there was none found there by Google, the fact that I used an image from the site (perfectly legally) flagged our whole newsletter up as possibly containing malware. This should only effect people using Google Chrome, and I would strongly suggest that you click the 'proceed anyway' tab, and view the newsletter as you had originally planned...
Newsletter #29
Newsletter #28
Newsletter #27
Newsletter #26
Newsletter #25
Newsletter #24
Newsletter #23
Newsletter #22
Newsletter #21
Newsletter #20
Newsletter #19
Newsletter #18
Newsletter #17
Newsletter #16
Newsletter #15
Newsletter #14
Newsletter #13
Newsletter #12
Newsletter #11
Newsletter #10
Newsletter #9
Newsletter #8
Newsletter #7
Newsletter #6
Newsletter #5
Newsletter #4
Newsletter #3
Newsletter #2
Newsletter #1
THIS WEEK WE BRING YOU SHISHO, GENRE PEAK, CAROL HODGE, STEVE IGNORANT, GYPIE MAYO, NOEL HARRISON, PAUL MAY, AL ATKINS, CHRIS SQUIRE, STEVE HOWE, PAUL McCARTNEY, DAVID BOWIE, IWRESTLEDABEARONCE, AZAZELLO, BLOODY CLIMAX, EVOCATION, QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE, ALAN DEARLING, ROGER WATERS, DAVE THOMPSON, JON ANDERSON, PINK FLOYD, PETER GABRIEL, MIKE DAVIS, LIZZIE ROWE, BRAND X, MICK ABRAHAMS, MICK FARREN/ANDY COLQUHOUN, GARY WINDO, MICHAEL DES BARRES, DAN WOODING, KING SQUEALER, MAURICE O'MAHONEY, RICK WAKEMAN, ROB AYLING, HAWKWIND, YES, THE NINE HENRYS, FRANK ZAPPA, MICHAEL DES BARRES,
THOM THE WORLD POET: The Daily Poem
Rob Ayling writes: "Thom the World poet is an old mate of mine from way back in my history. Even pre-dating Voiceprint, when I was running "Otter Songs" and Tom's poetry tapes and guest appearances with Daevid Allen, Gilli Smyth, Mother Gong are well known and highly regarded. It just felt right to include a daily poem from Thom on our Gonzo blog and when I approached him to do so, he replied with in seconds!!! Thom is a great talent and just wants to spread poetry, light and positive energy across the globe. If we at Gonzo can help him do that - why not? why not indeed!!" (The wondrous poetpic is by Jack McCabe, who I hope forgives me for scribbling all over it with Photoshop)
FOCUS,ATTENTION,RESULT
LAWS OF ATTRACTION
seek
Laws of Manna Festation
to
produce tangible results
from
Baal&Mammon
Spells
and Enchantments
Make
elemental magic
by
energy alignment
with
What Is and What Will Be
All
may not be One(even if it is-
Stage
Magicians in every Department Store-
Halloween,Thanksgiving,Christmas
papering
over Samhain,Saturnalia,Solstice
with
focus,attention,results..
Monday, 28 October 2013
‘I keep going back and adding things’: Greg Lake’s book is overstuffed with memories of ELP, King Crimson
Greg Lake has been mentioning an on-going autobiography project for some time, one with the very appropriate title of Lucky Man. No word yet, however, on when we’ll be lucky enough to read it.
Seems the former frontman for both prog-pioneering King Crimson and the supergroup trio Emerson Lake and Palmer keeps coming across stories that he can’t bear to leave out.
“I’ve been writing it for some years now,” Lake says, in this CoveFM clip. “I keep meaning to bring it out, but everytime I get close to it, somebody comes up and says: ‘Greg, do you remember the story about this and that? If you included that in the book –’ And I think: ‘Oh, God, I’d forgotten that.’ And I go and I put it in, you know? I keep going back to it, and adding things. I suppose it’s this fear of just not wanting to leave something out which was important.”
Classical review: Zappa piece is full of symphonic fun
MONTREAL - Some concerts are defined as much by the audience as the repertoire. Such an event was the OSM Éclaté program of Saturday night, performed substantially for the urban up-and-comers of the Young Ambassadors Club, who partied on in the lobby of the Maison symphonique after the final chord of Frank Zappa’s Bogus Pomp faded away.
Bogus Pomp aroused curiosity for a few reasons, not least the fact that Kent Nagano knew the composer and recorded the piece in 1983. Far from the rock pastiche we might have feared, it opened with a 20th Century Fox-like fanfare and continued in cinematic mode for several minutes before musicians began to stand up and sit down, making the satiric intent clear.
Hijinks ensued. The principal viola had a running battle with the brass and the principal cello lifted his instrument under his chin as if it were a violin. Players at the rear of the stage puffed on cigarettes during the final seconds.
There was just enough dissonance to guard against our taking the tonal idiom at face value. Occasionally a dance beat broke out. Yet there was nothing edgy in the satire or caustic in the clash of styles. Rather, one sensed the exuberance of a Californian who found Hollywood, and America, likable for all their absurdity.
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AT GONZO
| The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £9.99 |
| The Interview Sessions CD - £9.99 |
The Artie Lange Show - Eric Burdon and The Animals Performs "Water"
CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FROM GONZO
 | The Lost Broadcasts DVD - £9.99 |
 | The Animals And Beyond DVD - £9.99 |
 | Beat Beat Beat - Eric Burdon.. DVD - £ |
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