July 20, 2007

Theme: Italy review and Hillside Preview On Air: Frank

If I sound a bit tired during this show, it is because I woke up that morning in Rome, got on a plane to Toronto, got back to Waterloo, had half an hour at home, and then had to get on my bike for the radio show. So when the show ended it was the equivalent of 2 am for me. I didn't pick up any CDs during my recent trip to Italy and Poland however I did see a very unique show as the conference I was attending was happening in the same city as Umbria Jazz festival. It turns out this is a pretty major jazz festival in Europe and it made certain aspects of the conference pretty cool in that there was live jazz music on one of the free stages from noon to midnight. On the bad side it made finding a place to stay difficult, I ended up finding a place way out of town that required a bus ride and then calling the B&B owner to pick me up. The last day I was there, I noticed that both Solomon Burke and Sly and the Family Stone were playing as part of the jazz festival so I had to get a ticket (even though it meant getting back to my B&B at 12:30 am and having to wake up the owner). Burke is so large that he has a large throne from which he does most of his songs, he was wearing a three piece suit and part way through the concert he took of his jacket to show of his very tight vest and very large man boobs. Unfortunately he stuck with the classics, if he had done "None of us are free" I would have lost it. Sly was probably on stage for about 15 minutes, his band played for about 25 minutes, then he came out, sang a few songs hunched over the microphone and played a few chords on his keyboards (to be fair to him there were some technical difficulties with his keyboards). Then he stood up, gave the double peace sign and walked off. I don't think he was coming back but I had to leave. Nothing like a couple of Hillside preview sets to boost up that Canadian Content. For those who don't know, Hillside is an annual festival in Guelph that features great music, great food, and just a great vibe. For this show I previewed some of the bands that were playing Hillside and next week I'll have my Hillside review There was also a set of CDs that I got in the mail from www.poppolar.com , my favourite place to order music on-line. . TALK-Theme The Juju Orchestra featuring Carolyn Leonheart and Terry Callier - What Is Hip? Supreme Beings Of Leisure - What's The Deal? The Toasters - Nighttrain To Moscow Justice - Valentine TALK (Poppolar set) Pele Carlberg - Pamploma Amida - It Started In Naples The Electric Pop Group - Don't Bring Me Out Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy TALK (Hillside Preview I) Chumbawamba - Big Mouth Strikes Again Golden Dogs - Construction Worker (C) Immaculate Machines - Roman Statues (C) The Dears - Ballad Of Human Kindness (C) Shout Out Out Out Out - Procrastinator's Fight Song (C) TALK (Hillside Preview II) Los Campesinos - Frontwards Two Hours Traffic - Stuck For The Summer (C) Memphis - Into The Wild (C) Ron Sexsmith - For A Moment (C) Ohbijou - Misty Eyes (C) TALK (a couple of Italian related songs) Sly And The Family Stone - I Want To Take You Higher Solomon Burke - None Of Us Are Free Keren Ann - In Your Back Lionheart Brothers - Hero Anthem TALK Most Serene Republic - Ageless Beauty **See Note 1 Hall and Oates - Maneater (Podcast only bonus) **See Note 2 Note 1: Venice was referred to as the "Most Serene Republic" Note 2: Heard this on the radio in Poland, I had to turn it up, much to the chagrin of Erin. (C) Denotes Canadian Content