Jewel to perform at the ASC Oct. 30

Jewel Kilcher — simply  “Jewel” to her fans — is as close to living the American dream as anyone can. When I look at this beautiful woman, it’s easy to forget that she was once homeless and performing on the streets for spare change.  Boy, what a difference success makes! Although best known for her music, Jewel has also done some acting, appearing in Ang Lee’s Ride With the Devil, and TV’s 7th Heaven, and has even published a book of poetry called A Night Without Armor. She’s a real renaissance woman for sure.

Even within her music she has explored many different and surprising styles, from her early albums of folk and country, to more mainstream experimentation with pop, dance, and urban.  As a dj, I have even “spun” a few of Jewel’s remixed hits for a dance floor. I think what I admire about her as an artist is that she’s not afraid to take chances, and even when she raised eyebrows with the racy video for her song “Intuition”  (from the 0304 album) she proved she has a sense of humor.

Jewel’s show at the ASC on October 30 will be an entirely  solo acoustic set (her first in 12 years!), so she will be returning to her roots and connecting with the audience as only she can.

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Music with a holistic approach

Buddy Guy is certainly getting around. Did you see that he performed last week for President Obama?

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Obama sends message to AFTRA delegates

When I ran across the post below from Miss Leslie, it was gratifying to know I am not the only one who hates websites that play music as soon as the page loads.

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“You should know that I hate artist websites that automatically play their music. I know it seems logical for an artist website to do that, but when you forget to mute your sound and you’re at work, it’s frustrating to have to click the sound off really fast before you get caught. But when I visited Williams’ site, instead of music I heard her voice talking about the songs on Here With Me. She gives a brief description of the story behind the song, and then the song starts.”

Only one, and it’s Loretta Lynn!

The Loretta Lynn Motocross Amateur National Championships are hosted annually since 1982 at the home of country music star Loretta Lynn in Hurricane Mills, Tenn., the event is the premier amateur motocross race in the world. In 2007, more than 25,000 entries attempted to qualify in 33 classes for the 1,386 available gates at the National. In 2009, the National event, christened “The World’s Greatest Motocross Vacation”, will be held August 4-8.

http://www.amsoil.com/supercross/lorettalynns/lorettalynns.aspx

Loretta Lynn's Ranch

Jazz News: Bruce Hornsby Busy with Music, Film, Broadway Musical

So Bruce Hornsby is very busy these days with a new recording, a Broadway show and a Robin Williams film cameo. The show is called “SCKBSTD” and on the producer’s blog I discovered that Hornsby and Nanci Griffith have someone in common. It’s producer and Hornsby manager John Scher, who won the 2009 Tony Award Best Special Theatrical Event for Liza’s at the Palace…. and produced Nanci Griffith on Broadway, two of my favorites.

This is way cool, check it out:

From denverpost.com:

“The gentle, upbeat documentary “Throw Down Your Heart” chronicles the African pilgrimage of the American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck in search of the origins of his chosen instrument, which he sheepishly admits is “associated with a white Southern stereotype.”

http://www.throwdownyourheart.com/