Norman's Rockwell

Once upon a time, when you bought recorded music, it came in cardboard packaging measuring 12 inches by 12 inches. This was the main advertisement for the record. On the front side of an LP would be a posed shot of the artist. The back would feature the track listing, maybe another photo or lyrics. With the advent of files for music, the art of the cover has been minimized, although you can still find strong examples of elaborate record sleeves. Here is a rundown of my five favorite LP covers of all time. I only own three of them on vinyl, but these represent my faves. Not even necessarily the most famous sleeves for each of these artists, but arguments could be made for their iconic stature. Interestingly all five feature the artist and are not abstracts. They are all photographs. Each one is super-evocative of the music inside and the stature of the musicians. The performers themselves may have had little to do with the choice or composition of the art; but each makes for great vi...

Good Evening, Soul Citizens. Lots of music going on in my world right now. Last night I got to sit in, or rather stand and boogie, with Adam Marsland's Chaos Band for their 2 Nights of 100 Songs at Cinema. The numbers started with Sly Stone's "Hot Fun In The Summertime." I got to sing Sly's parts, righteous. That song was particularly a propos with the heat we've had this week. We followed that with renditions of the Bee Gees' "Jive Talkin'" and "Stayin' Alive" which featured dueling falsettos between Adam and myself. Always fun (hot or otherwise) to get people dancing. Next Saturday's show will be more of the same. Only one cover though. I'm gonna use my own material to get y'all to groove. We rehearse tomorrow night, so we are going to hone the funk. The show overall was a blast. Adam and his group were in good form and I just love Rob Z, Erik Herrera, Brian Whelan, Aimee Lay, Mike Schnee and Dan Janisch whe...

Last night's gig at Molly Malone's for IPO was a barn-burner. The band (Bryan Farrar on guitar; Matt Soule on drums) was on fiyah! The room sounded really good thanks to a super sound man, Chris. Of course, I have to thank everyone who was in attendance and the organizer of the the festival, David Bash. I have been associated with International Pop Overthrow since its inception in '98, with a few years off from '02-'04, I think. But it has been a great way to reach music fans of all stripes and last night was no different. We brought the funk, soul and disco to the party. The lineup included some fun co-headliners: Resonant Heads, Morty Shallman. Everyone there seemed to enjoy all of the acts, chalk that up to Mr. Bash's adept curating of the event. I was particularly pleased with my vocals. Being in the studio has helped me hone in on using my voice properly, rather than the usual show belting and hollerin' I've done in the past. Don't get me wrong,...

Another productive recording day at Karma Frog on Monday. I tracked the master vocals for four songs for the new record. I was very pleased with the performances. My producer Adam, was very supportive and gave me some good coaching along the way. One of the numbers required channeling a bit of James Brown and Barry Gibb simultaneously. That means really getting loose. Like I said, I am thrilled with the results. Preliminary mixes are the business of the next two weeks. We are well on our way with a remake of "Supermodels With Gatling Guns" and one of my collaborations with Bryan Farrar, which Adam is now thinking might make a great single. Plus, Adam threw a whole bunch of Hammond organ onto a handful of tracks. Welcome to 1975. The other vocals were for the LP's title track, and another big ballad that will take a sonic journey to my sophomore year of high school. Fortunately, the heat didn't bear down on us in the studio, until we took our breaks outside. It was a g...