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Brian artist, concert, links, Music, NJ, Philadelphia, video, YouTube

Midge Ure at World Cafe Live in Philly, 1-10-2013

Midge Ure  – “Vienna” (World Cafe Live, Philly – 1/10/2013

Thanks to my wife for allowing me to get a night to myself, I was able to go down to Philly to see the legendary Midge Ure, backed by Los Angeles-based band Right the Stars (who also served as opening act), perform at World Cafe Live last night.

What an amazing show and it was really special seeing an artist with such a lengthy pop/rock music pedigree performing in such an intimate venue. For those who don’t know, Midge Ure is best known as the lead singer and driving force behind the best-known iteration of 80s synth-pop heroes Ultravox and as the man who was essentially ordered by Bob Geldof to write what became “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”—the charity track recorded by Band Aid and produced by Ure in 1984.

However, Ure also spent time in groups like Visage, The Rich Kids, Thin Lizzy and Slik. He even reportedly turned down an invitation to become lead singer of the Sex Pistols in 1975. In short, the guy has been around for a long time and has done an awful lot with his immense talent.

This was only my second time seeing Ure in concert. The other time was when he opened for Howard Jones at what was then called the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J., on June 16, 1989. But, damn…Midge still brings it.

The video above is Midge Ure—with Right the Stars—performing Ultravox’s classic 80s hit, “Vienna,” at World Cafe Live last night. The clip comes from YouTube user vwall10411, who I’ve turned to a lot for videos from Philly-area concerts, and there are a few more videos after the jump.

From Setlist.fm, here is the set list from last night’s show…

I See Hope in the Morning Light (missing on Setlist.fm)
Love’s Great Adventure (Ultravox)
Call of the Wild
Breathe
Fade To Grey (Visage)
Cold Cold Heart
Answers To Nothing
Just For You
No Regrets (Tom Rush cover that was a No. 9 UK hit for Midge Ure in 1982)
Vienna (Ultravox)
Dear God
One Small Day (Ultravox)
Hymn (Ultravox)
Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Ultravox)
If I Was

Encore:
Do They Know It’s Christmas?* (Band Aid, written by Midge Ure & Bob Geldof; produced by Midge Ure)

* – solo acoustic performance

Continue reading “Midge Ure at World Cafe Live in Philly, 1-10-2013” →

Brian Brian Kelley, Christian Beach, links, Music, SoundCloud

Revisiting my musical past…”How I Want to Embrace You”

I’ve gone ahead and updated another song from my old band days in the late 1980s/early 1990s. But this is a bit different because I didn’t write the music for “How I Want to Embrace You”…that was composed by my longtime friend/former bandmate/singer-songwriter Christian Beach. I only wrote the lyrics and I seem to recall playing the bass part into the sequencer. Actually, after I had written the words, Christian had a lyrical idea for the first chorus so that was swapped out. As usual, we managed to make a very rough cassette recording of the song, but that was about it. And since I never played any of the piano/keyboard parts, I basically had to do my best to reconstruct it all. This is about as close as I’ll get and I don’t really have the time to really go any further with it.

A little bit about the song itself…this was written somewhat in the early days of the techno/rap combo Christian and I were in with Asbury Park, NJ-based rapper TMC (Tariq Muhammad). Just prior to meeting Tariq, Christian and I had been working together on some electronic, instrumental music influenced by the so-called “new age” music of the time as well as progressive artists like Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush. Even though we were now working with a rapper, we still tried to work some ballads into our set. This actually wasn’t a good idea when you’re playing New Jersey bars like the greatly missed Green Parrot in Neptune, but we did it anyway because we were teenagers who didn’t know any better. It got even worse when we started adding elements of industrial music to our set…while still also performing ballads. That was just weird.

Anyway, I never really asked Christian about it, but I always thought of this as a pop song infused with some ideas he had from our new age/progressive days…and I always liked that about this song.

I also liked the idea for the harmonies we had back then and did my best to replicate those. I’m not the strongest vocalist in the world, but I do what I can.

So without further ado…here’s the 2013 version of “How I Want to Embrace You”…

Brian Brian Kelley, Christian Beach, holiday, links, Music

My attempt at a Christmas song

As an amateur songwriter*, I’ve always wanted to write a Christmas song. And since Christmas songs are usually filled with clichés and my songs seem to always have their fair share of them, I probably should have been able to write one prior to last year.

Anyway, “It’s Christmas Time Again” was originally written and recorded on my MacBook (with GarageBand) in late 2011. I posted it to Facebook, where it received some positive comments. I recently updated it a bit and uploaded it to Soundcloud. And, yes, it is obviously influenced by Christmas songs from the late 1970s and 1980s, including a nod to “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with the closing segment. But I’m a huge Midge Ure fan and never feel he gets enough credit for his role as the primary writer of that song, so that’s my tip of the hat to Midge.

Since it’s now officially the 2012 Christmas season, here is my Christmas song…

It’s Christmas Time Again – Brian Kelley
©2011 Brian J. Kelley

(* While I really am an amateur songwriter, I always have to remind myself that my friend Christian Beach used lyrics I wrote for a song we worked on during our techno-industrial days in the early 1990s as the chorus for “What Does It Mean to You?” by his mid-1990s band Slave of Id. That song did receive a fair amount of airplay on WHTG 106.3 FM in New Jersey in 1993/94. So, thanks to Christian, I have been able to enjoy hearing lyrics I’ve written on the radio…and that’s pretty cool. I think that’s why my favorite scene in the movie That Thing You Do is when all the band members—The Oneders!—and Liv Tyler’s character get excited about hearing their song on the radio. I can totally relate to that.)

Brian Brian Kelley, Music, New Jersey, NJ

A musical ode to the Jersey Shore

I grew up at the Jersey Shore and—admittedly—I’ve spent a good chunk of my adult life trying to leave it behind. But even though I never really thought of myself as a “shore person,” it was where I was raised…and it will always be a part of me. Seeing the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy last week drove this point home to me—and I regret that it took something so horrible to make me see that.

Anyway, I felt a need to express some appreciation for the REAL Jersey Shore—not the manufactured crap produced by MTV—in song. Yeah, it kind of took on the form of a cliché-filled anthem, but that’s always been my Achilles’ heel as a songwriter…I start out with an interesting idea and immediately turn it into commercialized cheese. But I assure you, my heart was in the right place with this.

Then again, I guess when you are a subpar keyboardist constructing songs entirely in GarageBand on a MacBook, it’s going to sound like cheese regardless…so there’s that.

OK, back on topic…this is for the people who lost their homes…as well as for those like me who may have lost our sense of home. Whether it’s physically or emotionally, the Jersey Shore will be our home again.

(This Will Be Our) Home Again
Words & music by Brian J. Kelley
© 2012 Brian J. Kelley

Growing up in Jersey
just minutes from the shore
Summers on the boardwalk,
a kid couldn’t ask for more
Cruising with my music on,
feeling so alive
From Point Pleasant to Seaside Heights
right down Route 35

These are memories I hold dear,
but the future’s so unclear
We will sweep the sand away
and build up to a brighter day
Lives are shattered, some are lost
and we have paid a heavy cost
To honor them, we will rebuild
We have the strength, we have the will

Chorus
This will be our home again
We’ll rebuild, we will restore
This will be our home again
’cause you can’t beat the Jersey Shore
This will be our home again
Our resolve will never fade
This will be our home again
We’re Jersey born, we’re Jersey made

Our days we spent on beaches,
our nights along the boards
Playing games of chance
and getting lucky afterwards
Our summers rites of passage
for every boy and girl
Before we had to grow up
and get out into the world

Some of us have moved away,
but a part of us still stays
In every dream and memory
of our playground by the sea
We will claim this land again
and give our all until the end
We will restore, we will revive
In Jersey, only the strong survive

Repeat Chorus

This will be our home again
This will be our home again

We will claim this land again
and give our all until the end
We will restore, we will revive
In Jersey, only the strong survive

This will be our home again
We’ll rebuild, we will restore
This will be our home again
’cause you can’t beat the Jersey Shore
This will be our home again
Our resolve will never fade
This will be our home again
We’re Jersey strong, we’re Jersey made

This will be our home again
We’ll rebuild, we will restore
This will be our home again
’cause you can’t beat the Jersey Shore
This will be our home again
Our resolve will never fade
This will be our home again
We’re Jersey born, we’re Jersey made

Brian Brian Kelley, New Jersey

Awaiting the oncoming storm

Well, I live in central New Jersey and the nor’easter being fueled by, I guess, former Hurricane Sandy (technically, it has evolved into an extratropical cyclone, rather than a tropical system so it no longer fits hurricane criteria) is about to get pretty bad for my home state.

To put it bluntly…it’s about to get real for New Jersey over the next eight hours or so…at least. As of 2 p.m. ET today, Sandy has hurricane force winds extending for 175 miles out from center and it’s 110 miles southeast of Atlantic City so we’re getting into the heart of the storm now. Fortunately, because it has sped up, it may make landfall ahead of high tide, which could minimize coastal flooding to a degree. But there is still going to be a huge storm surge so it may be inconsequential, really.

And—I’m reminded by my lights dimming as I type this—most of the state is going to be without power tonight so I just want to take this opportunity to wish my fellow New Jerseyans good luck as we…well, we’re witnessing history here. So let’s stay safe, get through it and tell the tale for future generations.

Brian Christian Beach, links, Music, New Jersey, NJ, YouTube

Great music for a great cause

A great event is happening this weekend on BlowUpRadio.com. It’s a benefit to raise awareness and funds to fight Spondylitis, a chronic inflammatory disease that causes pain in the back, neck and hips. “Banding Together” features an amazing number of performances streaming all weekend, and my longtime friend Christian Beach is one of the participating musicians. You can hear his set TONIGHT (Oct. 21) at around 6:05 p.m. ET.

Also, anyone who clicks on this link and makes a donation to the Spondylitis Association of America this weekend will receive a compilation CD that includes lots of great music, including the track “Platte Cove Road” from Christian’s upcoming EP.

So head on over to BlowUpRadio.com, listen to some great music from the state of New Jersey and try to make some kind of donation to this worthy cause.

Below, is a video of Christian performing his song “Taking It Real Slow” at Fergie’s Pub in Philadelphia in July 2009. That’s me on accordion and the drummer is Michael Scotto of the band Agency. Incidentally, a solo set by Scotto can be heard during Banding Together at around 7:15 p.m. ET tonight.

Brian Uncategorized

Technology and the Arts 2.0 – Series 1, Ep. 1 (08.27.2012)

Brian's avatarT&A: Technology and the Arts

Technology and the Arts 2.0 – Series 1, Ep. 1 (08.27.2012)

Well, John LeMasney and I recorded what is essentially a Technology and the Arts podcast via Google+ Hangout. The unedited video is above and it includes some technical glitches at the start. It also includes a bit around the 8:00 mark at which we both watched a video that I thought you would be able to see on the broadcast or archived video. Unfortunately, that is not the case so, below, I have also included the Technology and the Arts “intro” video I made at 5 a.m. today that includes the ol’ theme music, which is what John and I were watching. Enjoy…

Also, please note that I mistakenly mention Oct. 26 as the date of John’s appearance at the Princeton Public Library to for his Android vs. iOS “Smartphone Smackdown” with Khürt Williams. It’s actually Oct. 23 and

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Brian arts, Brian Kelley, links, Music, video, YouTube

Revisiting electronic, instrumental music

I have been pretty obsessed with the electronic, instrumental music featured during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games, especially the brilliant “And I Will Kiss” by Underworld (see video below), and it has rekindled my interest in the genre.

Back in the early 1990s, when I was part of a techno-industrial-rap project with my friend Christian Beach, we wrote something that I believe we were calling “Why Can’t We Live as One?” at the time. The original intent was to have rap vocals accompany the music, but what we got around to recording actually provides the foundation for a pretty cool instrumental track.

Anyway, here is the original instrumental version of “Why Can’t We Live as One?”

[audio http://tandemwiththerandom.com/misc/music/WhyCantWeLiveAsOne-Original.mp3]

And below is a new version of the track that I recorded last weekend with GarageBand on my Mac…

And here is the reason for my renewed interest in electronic, instrumental music…all 17 minutes, 16 seconds of it…

“And I Will Kiss” by Underworld (featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie on percussion)

Brian Brian Kelley, contest, links, Music, technology

Vote for “Gone Too Far” on Lafango.com

I have entered “Gone Too Far,” one of my techno-industrial songs from the mid 1990s, into the Electronica 2012 contest on Lafango.com. After listening to it in the Soundcloud player below, please feel free to vote for “Gone Too Far” at Lafango.com if you like what you hear…or if you just would like to help me out. Voting concludes at noon (ET) on Aug. 31, 2012.

This was written and originally recorded on a 4-track during my more angst-ridden days, but I have updated it for this contest by recording it with GarageBand on my MacBook.

Anyway, thanks for reading this and thank you for your support.

Brian Brian Kelley, concert, Peter Gabriel, Philadelphia, video, YouTube

My first Peter Gabriel concert…25 years ago today

Although I first saw Peter Gabriel live at the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope show at Giants Stadium in June 1986, it wasn’t until July 21, 1987, at the old Spectrum in Philadelphia that I got to enjoy the full PG concert experience.

And it was amazing. And in the 25 years since that show, I have seen Peter Gabriel in concert seven times* and each show blows me away.

* One of the seven shows was Peter Gabriel backed by his New Blood Orchestra in June 2011.

Peter Gabriel will be returning to the United States later this year for a tour celebrating the 25th anniversary of the tour supporting his classic 1986 album, So. And it was 25 years ago today, that my sister and I sat in row 16 on the floor in the Spectrum and took in the spectacle that is Peter Gabriel—backed by Tony Levin on bass, David Rhodes on guitars, founding E Street band member David Sancious on keyboards and Manu Katché on drums/percussion—in concert.

At this point, I need to correct something I have misstated over the years on my various blogs. There is a lot of video on YouTube of a Peter Gabriel show at the Spectrum in July 1987 that I always thought was from the concert I was at. Well, I messed that up. The YouTube video is from the July 20, 1987, show in Philly…my sister and I went to the show the following night, July 21.

However, I recently discovered that a bootleg of the July 21, 1987, show I was at has been floating around for years, and I just happened to come into possession of it within the past few weeks. This means I can relive the experience of that show whenever I want to, which is kind of cool.

In any case, I will get to relive the experience when I see Peter Gabriel—with the same backing band—perform So in its entirety along with other PG classics at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly on September 21. With family commitments ever increasing, it will likely be my last opportunity to see Peter Gabriel in concert so I splurged for fourth-row tickets…can’t wait.

So…here are some videos from PG’s July 20, 1987, show at the Spectrum in Philly—the night before I attended my first Peter Gabriel concert.

Peter Gabriel – This Is The Picture (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)
Trivia: Manu Katché is using a guitar-shaped MIDI controller then called the Dynacord Rhythm Stick to trigger sounds from a drum machine…it was later renamed The JAMMA.

Peter Gabriel – Red Rain (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)

Peter Gabriel – Games Without Frontiers (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)
Always loved this arrangement.

Peter Gabriel – No Self Control (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)
This basically kicks ass.

Peter Gabriel – Solsbury Hill (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)
A highlight of any Peter Gabriel show…such a great song.

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer (Spectrum – July 20, 1987)
Even though this isn’t among my top 10 favorite Peter Gabriel songs…it always kicks ass live.

Peter Gabriel – Lay Your Hands on Me
This isn’t from the 7/20/87 show at the Spectrum. It is from the POV concert video, but back in his younger days, PG would do some crowdsurfing whenever he performed this song…the laying on of hands at the 5:44 mark of the clip. He did this at our show and it was awesome, so I had to include it here.