In January 1972, Aretha Franklin performed at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood. The LP of those performances is an absolutely breathtaking celebration of soul gospel. It won a Grammy, became the biggest selling live gospel record in history, and remains the highest selling record of Franklin's career. Filmmaker Sydney Pollack documented the performance and the plan was to release the concert movie as a double feature with Super Fly during the summer of 1972. The problem though is that Pollack hadn't used a clapper board during the filming that would enable him to sync the audio and footage from the five cameras. With no way to properly edit the film, the project was shelved until about ten years ago. And in a few months, the world will finally see it. From the New York Times:

(Alan) Elliott, who had been obsessed with the lost footage since working as a music executive in the mid-1980s, ultimately persuaded Warner to sell him the reels in 2007. (He mortgaged his house.) By 2010, digital technology had evolved to a point that syncing film and sound was finally possible....

As a planned release date approached in 2011, however, Ms. Franklin sued Mr. Elliott for using her likeness without her permission. That started years of legal wrangling, with Ms. Franklin and her lawyers blocking Mr. Elliott and the Telluride Film Festival from showing “Amazing Grace” in 2015 and 2016, even after deals for her compensation seemed to have been worked out.

At Asbury Park's The Stone Pony last week, alt.rock icons The Breeders and Chicago noise pop band Melkbelly covered John Carpenter's "Halloween" theme. According to Kim Deal, the band was inspired by a recent viewing of the new Halloween film and worked out the tune at soundcheck. Read the rest

After all the noise made over Weezer covering Toto's Africa, it was only a matter of time before Joseph Williams and the rest of the lads decided what's good for the goose is good for the gander: at a concert in Vancouver, Canada earlier this week Toto unleashed their cover of Hash Pipe upon an undeserving world. Read the rest

"I dreamt we spoke, I dreamt we spoke again."

My friends in Death Cab for Cutie just posted this enchanting video teaser to announce a new album coming in August and a US tour this fall! This record will be the band's first release since 2015's marvelous LP Kintsugi and their anti-Trump number from 2016, "Million Dollar Loan."

Fall tour pre-sale starts May 2.

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Deep in the Jostedalen glacier in Norway, musician Terje Isungset puts on an annual concert played on instruments made of ice. It just completed its 2018 run, though they had to move further north this year to an icy lake due to warming temperatures. Read the rest

Here's a terrific set of music from Laura Jean Anderson & Friends, which was performed last year at Deep End Ranch in Santa Paula, California. She's got a beautiful voice.

Laura Jean Anderson & Friends perform live in a classic, all acoustic house concert. Celebrating her roots in the Barrel House Blues era, old-time & early country, and her own amazing songwriting, Laura Jean’s powerful vocals & guitar are joined by Marcus Buser, bass & vocals; Gregory Fleischut, mandolin, guitar, lapsteel & vocals; Keenan Hately, fiddle; Sharon Hutson, vocals; and Christian Lee Hutson, guitar & vocals. This rare unplugged performance took place on June 10, 2017, in front of a full house in the living room at Deep End Ranch.

"At one of the last shows, he finally flipped off the audience," says The Monkees' Mickey Dolzenz. "I don't blame him, frankly."

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By all accounts, German soundtrack composer Hans Zimmer's performance at Coachella last night was magnificent. Here he leads his talented orchestra in a rousing, tension-inducing Inception medley.

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Put your phone down—or he'll put it down for you. [CH2] Read the rest