Artist to Watch: Illinois (the band)

I was trying to catch up on my reading about bands featured on WXPN's My Morning Download and came across a band from Bucks County, Pa., strangely named Illinois. Yep, the band took the name of a state.

Because of my ties to the Bucks County area, I decided to check them out...and you know what? They're pretty good.

Illinois consists of:

Chris Archibald-guitar,keys,banjo,vocals
Martin Hoeger-bass,backing vocals
Dru Lee-guitar,keys,backing vocals
JohnPaul Kuyper-drums

The band is on Ace Fu Records and has an EP scheduled for release March 6, 2007.

Here's an MP3 sample: "Alone Again" by Illinois

Also: Illinois on MySpace

The best part about this year's Super Bowl...

Well, the Indianapolis Colts may have won Super Bowl XLI, but as far as I am concerned, Prince stole the show.

I was at a party where everybody seemed to be mocking the fact that Prince was the halftime act. I kept on responding to these people that Prince is an incredible musician and songwriter who was going to put on one of the best Super Bowl halftime shows ever.

Well, I think he did just that...and the AP's Douglas Rowe. and CNN's Todd Leopold seem to agree.

(By the way, some of the comments to Todd Leopold's post are ridiculous...Nickelback and Bon Jovi BETTER than Prince? C'mon...and all the wannabe metal guitarists who don't understand you don't need to constantly use your strumming hand on a guitar to get it to produce notes...PUH-leaze! These are people that make me want that persistent asteroid to hit the Earth at some point.)

Remember the days when the Super Bowl halftime show consisted of what seemed to be 35 pop stars on one stage at one time? I always thought that was the dumbest thing. It would have been so much better to get one huge act and let that act do its thing.

So maybe some good has come out of the Justin-Timberlake-induced-Janet-Jackson wardrobe malfunction. Ever since that happened, the Super Bowl has had singular acts during halftime...before Prince this year, there were Paul McCartney in 2005 and the Rolling Stones in 2006.

And on a rainy night in Miami, it just seemed appropriate that Prince's show finished with "Purple Rain."

(Watch this while you can...YouTube had to take down a bunch of Viacom videos recently and, of course, the Super Bowl was on Viacom's CBS...2/7/07 UPDATE: Of course, the old video is gone, but I found this one at Daily Motion...let's see how long this one lasts.)

"Miami Rain" via virtualmatter
Uploaded by virtualmatter

(Photo credit: AP)

Expect big news from me shortly

Well, an idea for a podcast I have had in my head for quite some time has taken a huge step forward in coming to fruition. John LeMasney, my friend and former colleague at Rider who is also a very talented artist and instructional technologist, and I have arranged to collaborate on this podcast, which I think is going to be very engaging and informative for all those who work with technology and art in all its forms.

Once we are ready to launch, I'll put an official announcement up on the ol' blog. For now, enjoy what might be the theme song for the new endeavor. It's a short, instrumental number...sorry about the closing sound cutting out like it does. The final version will have a cleaner fade out, but I didn't get a chance to fix it yet.

Enjoy...

TechArts (Theme #1)
Written, arranged, performed and recorded by Brian Kelley.
© 2006 Brian J. Kelley. All rights reserved.

Sort of new songs and other things

Well, here's an update on things.

First...I am no longer working at Rider...and I don't plan on going through the whole thing again here.

Second...this was a very bad sports weekend for me...Rutgers football loses at Cincinnati, ending the Scarlet Knights' perfect season and national championship dream...and the Eagles lose to the terrible Tennessee Titans while Donovan McNabb suffers a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will be sidelined eight months to a year.

However, the free time has allowed me to work on a couple of musical ideas...

Never Too Far (demo w/ partial vocals)

This is an update of a song I originally wrote when I was 18 or 19 years old. The first version was a synth-based, "new age" piece featuring pan flute and calliope sounds. This new version features piano, but I included a more traditional flute sound in a nod to the original. The bridge section has also been changed...hopefully for the better. I tried my best to remember the lyrics. The first verse and the choruses are intact, but I couldn't remember the words to the second verse so those are still incomplete. The lyrics in the bridge are obviously improvised and will be changed at some point.

The other musical idea (from post above)

Here's the second of the two somewhat new songs I mentioned in the post above (I decided to split up the songs in individual posts for podcasting purposes)...

Untitled 2006-11-16

This is an extended version of what was "Happy Birthday, Katie." Even though I wrote that little song in a few minutes, I kept on listening to it and thinking that I could do something more with it. So I added a bridge the other day and came up with this. I don't have any lyrics for it yet...and I'm obviously not going to keep the "Happy Birthday, Katie" lyrics.

Genesis to reunite in '07...sort of

Well, the long-awaited Genesis reunion will be taking place in 2007. An official announcement is expected Nov. 7 on the band's official Web site regarding what will be reportedly (and, if correct, appropriately) called the "Turn It On Again" Tour.

Right now, though, it looks like the lineup will consist of the modern version of Genesis with Phil Collins on lead vocals and drums, Mike Rutherford on bass/guitar and Tony Banks on keyboards.

According to this BBC report, Peter Gabriel has sadly said no to joining the reunion...for now. In true PG doublespeak, he throws this out there...

"It's not that I've ruled it out, but I've got some new material that I'll be working on."

So he hasn't ruled it out. Ugh...why must PG be so frustrating. He will always be my favorite artist, but he really needs to do this. There are a bunch of people out there like me who were born too late to witness the greatness of Genesis with PG at the helm...and I really want to see that once in my life.

I haven't checked out PG's site in a few weeks, but he supposedly posted something there saying that Phil (who is getting over his latest marital breakup), organized a jam session earlier this month with Mike and Tony.

Anyway, another site tracking Genesis reunion news and rumors going around cyberspace says guitarist Steve Hackett also will not be participating.

So instead of getting a tour of "Lamb Lies Down on Broadway," "Back in NYC," or "Supper's Ready," we're going to get two hours of "Invisible Touch" and "Jesus He Knows Me." Yeah!

:-(

UPDATE: This is just my speculation, but maybe--just maybe--there is hope for a "classic" Genesis reunion. I was looking further down that reunion news and rumor page I mentioned above and there are a couple of interesting tidbits...

22nd May 2006: Yet another new information from the Collins Tarzan-Interview-Marathon: Phil told the Chicago Broadway World that the first plan would still be to reunite the classic line-up in a couple of years, which might be hard to realise due to all commitments of the five guys. But Phil also said that he could imagine doing something with Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford instead, in case Peter is unavailable. Also, Phil revealed that the "Genesis Trio" has scheduled studio time in October for jam sessions. No further plans are made, though. >> Discuss this in our FORUM

13th May 2006: Once more a statement from Phil Collins. In a recent statement at 6Music in New York City (USA), Phil explained that a reunion is still likely. Nevertheless, due to other commitments Peter has until the end of 2007, a Reunion won't happen before 2008. Collins told the Toronto Star, that the five original members of Genesis are "moving toward the possibility".

20th April 2006: Alan Hewitt has recently interviewed Steve Hackett and this is what Steve replied being asked about the SACDs and a possible reunion: Unfortunately I'm not in a position to...I comment on things and I think that masses of the stuff has had a fantastically good job done on it and one or two things are still in a state of conjecture but I have no idea when that stuff is to be released......and of course the ideal time would be if there was a band reformation but I don't think anyone is any the wiser. The band isn't any the wiser than the fans are and so with regards to that we have all given our pitch and let's just say that most of us are hoping it is going to come off. I would love to be able to say 'Yes, I'll be there on Thursday!' It is the question on everyone's lips, including mine. If it doesn't happen, I won't be to blame.

18th April 2006: Good news again: Phil Collins revealed in a recent radio broadcast on KGO NewsTalk that the band met in November 2005 and that they have discussed a reproduction of the live show of The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. This would be "for a limited run of shows" and these shows would be "recorded and filmed". Collins also said that the band is "very enthusiastic about the idea" and that they will try to find the time to realise it. Go to the Downloads-Section to download the snippet.

OK...piecing this together, it is quite possible that because of PG's commitments through 2007, Phil, Mike and Tony will do their "Turn It On Again Tour" in 2007...with PG and Steve Hackett joining them in 2008 for a "classic" Genesis tour reproducing the "Lamb" live show.

I would like for the official announcement on Nov. 7 to include some hope of that happening...but I guess it won't.

Still...there is hope...and Phil, Mike and Tony in 2007 are better than nothing.

(Image from Genesis-Music.com)

Artist to Watch: Midlake

I have recently come across the band Midlake. The song "Head Home" from their latest CD, "The Trials of Van Occupanther," has been getting decent airplay on Philly's WXPN 88.5 FM and was getting stuck in my head. I finally heard who performed the song and decided to check them out.

"The Trials of Van Occupanther" is a very solid disc and the music is obviously inspired by 70s rock/folk. To me, "Head Home" sounds like Fleetwood Mac meets Jackson Browne, but with a modern feel.

Anyway, here are a couple of Midlake videos I found on YouTube...enjoy.

"Head Home"


"Young Bride"