I TOLD YOU pickin’s would be slim around this time, so grab all you can. Next week will be better, but why wait, on something great (like what’s listed below)?
At least 2023 had great music! smdp.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from smdp.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
LIBRARY GIRL LANDMARK PERFORMANCEAfter a lifetime of writing reviews as a music journalist, I finally got smart (accidentally) and decided to use all that experience, more than 3,000 live shows (and counting), across all genres, to alert readers to can’t-miss shows coming up. In LA, that’s a ton. Sometimes more than one a night. The advantages for me were great: not having to beg promoters for a ticket so I could do my job, being able to relax and enjoy the show instead of constantly evaluating and taking notes, and going home to bed instead of sweating over a keyboard till 4 a.m. More importantly, previews are more useful to music fans than writing about what they saw or what they missed.
HAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY, JONI!Her BD was Tuesday, 11/7, a lucky number. She suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015, that left her unable to walk or talk. Or know how to play guitar. Miraculously, and after much hard recovery work, she made a surprise appearance at the Newport Folk Festival last year, and again at Hollywood Bowl last summer at the Wayne Shorter tribute (he was a friend), with a touching rendition of her "Circle Game," a few registers lower but full of emotion. She got a standing O, as soon as she came on stage. An astounding assemblage of jazz greats, a concert for the ages, but Joni stole the show with one song.