IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME!

 As Major League Baseball takes its annual mid season break for the All Star game I chose to title this blog with the great American pastime in mind. In the movie “Field Of Dreams”, the exact quote is, “If you build it, he will come”, but I didn’t want to leave the ladies out because I want everyone to visit, read and participate in the World pastime we call music! Here are my favorite Baseball songs: Bruce Springsteen: “Glory Days”; John Fogerty: “Centerfield”; The Ramones: “Beat On The Brat (With A Baseball Bat)” – yes I consider that a Baseball song, and the Bob Dylan little known gem: “Catfish” which was recorded in 1975 but not released until 1991 in the Bootleg Series box.

 Last week I mentioned the positive news about music sales but neglected to also point out that the Concert business is also on the upswing. The top 50 tours worldwide are up more than 11% for the first half of 2011 compared to the same period last year, according to Pollstar, the concert-industry tracking publication. I’m not going to analyze this finding in detail (ticket prices increased and smaller venues and better artist combination packaging) because this is great news! There is nothing better than the sound of a live performance. This is the essence of all music! The best website to enjoy thousand’s of legendary live performances for free is:

http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/

For those of you that are fans of U2 you can check out a site that plays only live tracks spanning their entire career including this month’s performance at Glastonbury Festival in London.

http://www.u2radio.com/

Now on to some new music that should not be ignored:  Nightmare & the Cat. This band’s debut self-titled EP is produced by Dan Burns and Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard (Alanis Morrisette, Dave Matthews Band) that will be released for digital download starting tomorrow. This original and very exciting new band features Sam and Django, sons of Eurythmics founder Dave Stewart. Check out the songs “Sarah Beth” and “Riverside Roberts Raincoat” as well as the live video (we love live music!) “Blackbird Smile”. Their sound is a sort of Jeff Buckley meets The Pixies. We should be hearing them on the radio by the fall. You can hear (and see) them now:

http://www.nightmareandthecat.com/

Another talented new artist about to release her first digital CD on July 18^th comes from Laura Vall. The CD is called “Real” and shows off Laura’s hypnotic vocals and her musical serenity and powerful lyrics.

www.lauravall.com

That’s enough talk for today, now it’s your turn to listen! Thanks to all the music fans and artists that have already reached out to me directly. I will be posting everyday, Monday to Friday. If you want to contact me directly with comments or an inquiry, please send to: deanla@verizon.net