I am totally going to this: Tom Keifer is touring with Winger and John Corabi this summer. The run is called "Live/Loud" and I think this will be the glam tour of the season for sure. The club tour starts in June and runs through August. Tickets are not on sale yet but you can sign-up for a reminder on Tom Keifer's website.
Oh and happy last day of February! There are 20 days until spring!
L.A. Guns have another new video from their album Black Diamonds, due in early April. The song is "Shattered Glass" and it is very high energy and the production sounds good, too! Tracii Guns produced the track.
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's my go-to "I need to relax and unwind" record.
At the first of the year, it dawned on me that I should treat myself and order a copy on vinyl. The album actually comes as a 180gram double vinyl set, with gatefold. The release is on Sony Classical and was originally released in 2004. The double-vinyl is a 2016 import reissue and it costs around $50 although it is often on-sale via Amazon.
Prolific Italian composer Ennio Morricone was known for making music for spaghetti westerns - and also some really famous films. His work was lauded over his multi-decade career and he earned honors from the Academy Awards (Oscars) and the Recording Academy (Grammys). Morricone died in 2020 and left behind a massive legacy of work.
The Yo-Yo Ma album opens with "The Mission - Gabriel's Oboe" - and this happens to be my favorite work on the release. The album quality is so rich, when you listen to some of the quiet movements of certain tracks, you can actually hear cellist Ma breathe. This is something you cannot pick up while listening to the digital version.
The Yo-Yo Ma tribute features songs from the scores of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,The Untouchables and Once upon a Time in America. I'll be honest here and admit I've never seen any of those movies. I am not a big film person - I came across this album because I love cello music and it was recommended to me. If you are like most humans, though, you've probably at least seen The Untouchables and could thus relate to some of the songs included.
You might recall I reviewed Donald Fagen's biography recently. The Steely Dan singer included an interview with Morricone in the book that was unintentionally hilarious. Fagen was asking music questions in that complicated-Steely Way. Morricone - who did not speak great English and thus used a translator - ended up giving one word answers to Fagen's questions.
The album features Roma Sinfonietta Orchestra in a support role to Ma's star. The entire effort is just flawless beauty with a sound that can easily fill any room and brighten any mood.
Listen to "The Mission" below. It was nominated for an Oscar. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
For a short while, Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott received hospital-level treatment after arriving in Bogota, Colombia. The band - along with Motley Crue - will play a World Tour gig there tonight. Despite Elliott suffering from "difficulty breathing," he is apparently fine and the show will go on as planned. Perhaps he was just not feeling 100% and went to the hospital for a more-thorough checkup. Or maybe it was the altitude? Let's hope it was nothing more serious!
Performing while sick must really suck, so map props to Joe and every other musician who hits the stage being a little under-the-weather.
BOGOTA – the show is still ON for tonight at Parque Simon Bolivar! We're ready to rock and roll with the fans in Colombia! 🤘 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KoEXqwGt9r
Which band did "God Gave Rock and Roll To You" better? The song was written and recorded by Argent in the early 70s. It's a great track from a great band (they were formed out of The Zombies, after all!)
In the early 90s (no makeup era!) KISS took the song and modified the lyrics and thus changed the title a little to "God Gave Rock n' Roll To You II." It happens to be one of my favorite KISS tracks and it features Eric Carr, too.
I think the brilliance of the song is the melody - the underlying music. So I give another point to Argent here... but I do like KISS' modified lyrics and Carr's contribution on backing vocals (he was dying and too sick to play the drums on the track).
For this really pressing Friday question - which do you prefer? Argent or KISS?
The Joe Perry Project will hit the road for a short run this spring. The Aerosmith guitarist will also perform over the summer with The Hollywood Vampires. I guess that means if Aerosmith play any shows in 2023, it will be in the fall. That is disappointing to me, but not surprising. Sadly, there are no JPP dates near me. I own all their albums on vinyl!
Tesla will release Full Throttle Live over the summer. The album was recorded at the Full Throttle Saloon at last summer's Sturgis Rally. As part of the announcement, Tesla also debuted a lyric video for the song "Time To Rock" which is part of the upcoming new album.
Here's a fan-filmed video of Tesla doing "Modern Day Cowboy" at Sturgis last summer.
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Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 12:01AM 
Yo-Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone is one of my favorite albums of all time. It's my go-to "I need to relax and unwind" record.