Friday, February 26, 2016

Coming Soon!!! Tim's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Posted by Dennis:

Our friend, Tim has been on a rampage lately! He gets a little bull-headed about the "Rock and Roll Hall of Fame" topic. I have seen him when he goes off on some of the current inductees enshrined in the Cleveland museum. I have also seen him go ballistic over anyone and everyone he believes has no business in the Hall of Fame OR those not in there who he thinks should be. Trust me. It's not pretty. To give you an idea, just imagine a toddler crying in a play pen. Yeah! Then it hit me. What better place for Tim to vent his frustrations than right here in the Vicksburg Chrysler CoolVibe blog! He's assembling all his RRHOF grievances as I write this, so with that in mind:

Be sure to stop back here soon for Tim's version of who should have been in there a long time ago and who has no business being ensconced in Cleveland's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Guaranteed
to be
a good read!


Monday, February 15, 2016

Favorite Music



Message Authored by Dennis,

Someone asked me the other day what my favorite kind of music is. Boy, that's a loaded question!
Thanks for asking!!!

I can recall people thumbing through my old record collection and commenting that there was no rhyme or reason to my collection. Jazz, rock, soul, easy listening, Latino, Brazilian... My favorite kind of music is shamelessly eclectic. No recognizable pattern of musical taste! Actually, there IS a method to my crazy musical tastes. Most everything in my personal record collection has one thing in common: a beautiful combination of outstanding melody, harmony or beat. As long as the music hits me hard with a quality mixture of these musical components, I'm happy. Some artists in my collection (listed below in no particular order) earned a special place in what they achieved. Artists such as Todd Rundgren, who I just saw recently at the State Theatre, are W-A-A-AY up the list of profoundly great musicians. I've been huge on Todd since his days with his 60s group called Nazz. You wanna talk about an artist who can write and perform about any kind of music. Todd is the man, I can tell you that much!

Other favorite legacy artists on the "Dennis Playlist" include Laura Nyro, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Earth Wind & Fire, Traffic, War, The Beatles, The Who, Marvin Gay, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, Ten Years After, Savoy Brown, the pre-Buckingham-Nicks versions of Fleetwood Mac...and last but certainly not least, just about anything composed by Burt Bacharach!

My favorite artists (off the top of my head), who gained fame after the end of the "Oldies" era include Basia, Sade, Eliane Elias, Martin Taylor, Ivan Lins and Jane Monheit. I graded music of the 80s, 90s and beyond very hard. But I'll admit, there are a few groups and artists who did a mighty fine job.

Did I just confess earlier that I like Brazilian music? Well, if you like music with a great beat sprinkled with gorgeous chord changes, melodies and harmony, trust me, you're a candidate for appreciating Brazilian music! I have some outstanding examples if you're ever interested in knowing more about it.

And one last category: Oldies music! How could I ever exclude it? I can't! That's where the memories are!

I was weened on the Oldies and so was Tim! In fact, Tim loves his Oldies music so much, that often times while we record our show, Tim has been known to dance in his chair and flail his arms around when we preview our songs!!! He truly is an Oldies die-hard!!!

Do you have a variety of musical favorites??? I'll be the first to proclaim...there's no accounting for taste! Feel free to comment with YOUR favorite music!

Friday, February 5, 2016

Maurice White RIP




Maurice White
Whenever the subject of all-time favorite groups comes up, I've always maintained that Earth Wind & Fire should be on the high end of anyone's top 25 list. Even if their music isn't your favorite kind, no one can say they didn't have "IT". When I say "IT", I'm talking about music composition, arrangements, production and performance. Their melodies were and always will be infectious. Their production and arrangements are as good as any band has done to date. So carefully executed. Maurice White was the man behind the band and has earned every award he's received. The group owned the 1970's and 80's and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 along with Eric Clapton; The Lovin' Spoonful; Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. 

Maurice White has a local connection to West Michigan as he worked with singer/songwriter, Wade Flemons a Battle Creek native in a group called the Salty Peppers. Shortly after that group, Maurice went on to put together Earth Wind & Fire.

Personally, I played the grooves off my EWF albums and later cassette tapes. What a truly great group and what a great talent Maurice White was; to create a rhythmical sound and musical style that absolutely no one had ever done before. Rest in Peace, Maurice and THANKS for so many wonderful songs!