Spotify

Whenever Taylor Swift does anything it creates a lot of hoopla. Awhile back it was announced that she was pulling all of her music from the streaming music service Spotify. Whatever her reasons, OK. Do what you have to do Taylor.

Spotify actually pays artists for plays on the service. It's not much, but at least it's not "stealing" music. I use Spotify, and love it. I pay for a premium subscription so I can download and escape the ads.

I find a lot of new, cool stuff on Spotify. Artists I never would have heard otherwise. Of course, that is not a problem for Miss Swift. She's pretty well known as it is. She'll be OK.

Yet artists seem to be OK with fans posting crappy, distorted video shot with their smart phones on youtube. Whatever.

Which brings me to this. I'm sure other artists have done it, but this is the first one of which I've been aware. Jana Kramer released her latest single, "I Got The Boy", exclusively to Spotify. No official youtube video, no Vevo, just Spotify. I don't know, maybe she has a deal with Spotify.

It will be interesting to see where all of this goes in the future. It seems like people are picking sides right now and Spotify seems to be at the fulcrum.

In the meantime, I'll be searching out good music.

New Stuff: Striking Matches and Houndmouth

Just a couple of good new singles put out before the full album releases.

First one is "Missing You Tonight" by Striking Matches. The album, Nothing But The Silence, comes out in March.




Next is "Sedona" by Houndmouth. Again due out in March, from the upcoming album Little Neon Limelight.

Saraya: When the Blackbird Sings

Sometimes stuff gets missed for whatever reason. The second album by the band Saraya was missed by me and apparently 99.99% of the world's population. And that's a shame.

Saraya was a hard rock band named after lead singer Sandi Saraya and had couple of minor hits from their self-titled debut that came out in 1989. I bought the cassette (yeah, I'm that old) for the first album based off "Love Has Taken It's Toll", which I still love. Great hard rock song.



The rest of the record, along with the other single "Back To The Bullet" was even more pop metal than this song and not near as good. One good song, I thought. Therefore, I kind of forgot about the band.

Saraya's second album, When The Blackbird Sings, was released in 1992. Classic case of bad timing. Nirvana and the Seattle grunge movement was in full force. This fantastic record fell through the cracks, and that's unfortunate.

This record is over 25 years old and I just heard it for the first time a few days ago. And I must say, it's one of the best hard rock albums, cover to cover, I've heard in a long time. Sounds fresh and not dated. If you like Lita Ford, Queensryche, Whitesnake, Badlands and Halestorm, then you just might find something here for you.

Unfortunately there are no videos, but here's a youtube audio of what I think is a great representation of the entire album.

Michael Bolton, Bruce Kulick and Blackjack

Blue eyed soul crooner Michael Bolton and former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick were once in a band together. I did not that know that until today. And I find that fascinating.

The short-lived band Blackjack released a self-titled album in 1979. Along with Bolton and Kulick, the band was made up of bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Sandy Gennaro. What a lineup. Had they stuck together through the MTV era, who knows what might have happened.

I dug up an old video of Blackjack via youtube. The band's sound is a bit reminiscent of Bad Company. And if you watch the video, I would swear that Harry Shearer based his look in Spinal Tap from Haslip's look at this time.

This is interesting to me. Hope you enjoy.

New Stuff: Like It Used To Be by Allison Moorer

Found this via a post on Farce the Music. Never heard of Allison Moorer before. I will say that "Like It Used To Be" does not suck. In fact it's a pretty darned catchy song. I like it.

New Stuff: First Kiss by Kid Rock

Kid Rock has released the a new single from his upcoming album. The song is called "First Kiss". At first listen is sounded to me like a combination of Bryan Adams and .38 Special. It still does, but with a healthy dose of Bob Seger thrown in as well. I don't know where it fits into the 2015 musical lexicon, but I like it.

Everybody Is From Somewhere

I stole the title of this post from Scott Van Pelt, SportsCenter anchor on ESPN, co-host of the SVP & Russillo Show on ESPN Radio.

That's what Van Pelt says: "Everybody is from somewhere." What does that mean? To make it personal, it means that I'm from Texas, closer to Dallas than Houston. So my teams are the Cowboys and Rangers and to a lesser extent the Mavericks, Spurs and Stars. I didn't go to an FBS college (Division II for me), so I gravitate towards Big 12 schools. I have a rooting interest.

You know what? People in sports media are also from somewhere. They all have teams they grew up rooting for, colleges they attended. Pretty much all are fans first. That's why they got into the business.

That's why it amuses me when they are called out for supporting their teams. Especially when they are not involved in the broadcast of the game. And just throw out something on social media. I think we should all be amazed that they are able to keep their rooting interests in check when it matters.

I actually enjoy knowing who these sports media personalities root for. It makes them more human/approachable. I know that Mike Greenberg is a Jets fan. I know that Linda Cohn is a NYRangers fan. I know that Brad Gilbert is a Raiders fan. I know that Charissa Thompson is a Seahawks fan. And you know what? That's alright.

And you don't think Kirk Herbstreit is a Buckeyes fan? Or Danny Ka
nell a Seminoles fan? Or Jesse Palmer and Tim Tebow Florida fans? Laughable.

We are all from somewhere. Embrace it.

What I'm Looking Forward To Musically in 2015

There might be some really cool music coming out in 2015. There is going to be some surprisingly good stuff. There are going to be some duds.

Whatever happens, there is going to be some really good stuff that nobody knows about.

Here is what I'm looking forward to in 2015. Some may not live up to what I expect, but there will be plenty more to take their places if it doesn't live up.

Halestorm is counting down to the release of their third album. If it is anywhere near as good as The Strange Case of.... it will not disappoint.

Blackberry Smoke is another band with another album in the can and Holding All the Roses is another release that I'm looking forward to. If you're a fan of Southern Rock, Blackberry Smoke is your band. Along with Whiskey Myers, they are doing it right.

I don't know any details, but Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are poised to release an album in 2015. Kind of eclectic, they rock. I have high hopes for this one.

This one I am most excited about. Richie Sambora and Orianthi are going to release an album together. Check out each of their solo work and then search youtube for some live collaborations. I'll admit, this one may let me down the most if it isn't great. But I'm optimistic.

When it's all said and done at the end of 2015, none of these may have resonated with me. But I'm hopeful that they will. If not, there will be something else that comes out of the woodwork. It always does.