Amoeblog

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS AMOEBLOG INTERVIEW

PRE DECEMBER USA DUO CONCERT SERIES WITH ALESSANDRA CELLETTI
Hans-Joachim Roedelius
Alessandra Celletti and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of Cluster -- formerly Kluster fame), who in recent times met on MySpace and began working on a collaborative piece titled Sustanza di Cose Sperata [Substance of Things Hoped For] -- which they have so far only performed at a few large European festivals and also recorded for the label Transparency -- will perform together for three exclusive US shows (LA, SF, NYC) next month.

And as you may already be aware, Amoeba Music is the only outlet for tickets to both the San Francisco show (12/3 at Theater 39) and the Los Angeles show (12/5 at Zipper Hall). In advance of these two highly anticipated concerts, the Amoeblog this week caught up with both the Italian based Celletti and the Austrian based Roedelius to talk music. The interview with Celletti, which was published yesterday, can be seen by clicking here. Meanwhile, immediately below the video of the artist in concert at the Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts in Ojai, CA, is the Amoeblog conversation with the ever-active 75 year old Roedelius, who has long been considered the father of German electronic music as well as one of its most prolific artists, with approximately 150 albums to his credit.

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Posted by Billyjam on November 12, 2009 at 12:36pm | Post a Comment

ALESSANDRA CELLETTI PRE USA CONCERT SERIES INTERVIEW



As you probably already know if you've stopped into one of the Amoeba Music stores recently or perhaps you discovered from reading elsewhere on this website, the Euro musical tour de force duo of Italian classical pianist Alessandra Celletti and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (of the electronic/experimental group Cluster) will be coming to America next month to do three select exclusive US performances in the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York. And as you probably also know by now, advance tickets for both the LA and SF shows are available exclusively at the three Amoeba Music locations, and are reasonably priced too, at just $20 a ticket (plus a $2 service fcellettiee). The Bay Area concert takes place December 3rd at San Francisco’s Theatre 39 -- Pier 39 at Fisherman’s Wharf, and the SoCal concert is on December 5th at Zipper Hall in downtown Los Angeles (200 S. Grand Ave next to MOCA). The final concert takes place on Saturday, December 12th at Saint Peter's Church, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 54th Street in NYC. Other Music is selling tix for that show.

Above is an Italian TV news report from earlier this year on the musical pair with an excerpt from a performance from last year's Primitivo Festival. And below is a clip of Celletti solo interpreting Philip Glass' Metamorphosis in concert last year. Also below is the video for the song "100 Dreams" from Way Out which again showcases Celletti's vocal talents. And immediately below that is the Amoeblog interview with Celletti in which she talks about her inspiration, her music being adapted for film soundtracks, her new hardcover book/DVD set that is being released in tandem with the U.S. concerts, and the colors that will be brought to life at next month's anticipated US concert dates.

Posted by Billyjam on November 11, 2009 at 10:37am | Comments (1)

(In which Job interviews Neal Morgan...)

(...from the group Neal Morgan.)
Due to some unfortunate miscommunications between the staff here at the Amoeblog, two of us ended up interviewing the same musician, Neal Morgan, about his solo debut.

Fortunately, the interviews are vastly different, due to my professional and honed skill as a journalist devoted to hard-hitting storytelling and dedication to factual analysis, and the other interviewer, Miss Ess, who prefers a more “whimsical” and, shall we say, lying-er approach to writing.

You can read this other "interview" by clicking on this link right here.

Due to his tight schedule of touring and promoting the new album, To The Breathing World, Neal was under the weather and frequently distracted during the following interview, which resulted in many of his answers being garbled and unintelligible. (Confidentially, I think alcohol may have been a contributing factor to this. That’ll teach me to get drunk before an interview!) I therefore had to rely on memory and occasional paraphrasing in transcribing the following Q & A. Even so, I was able to capture the spirit of our conversation, from Neal's obsession with "crushing" to the revelation of his suicidal fantasies. Read on…

neal morgan
Neal Morgan before the plastic surgery

How did you pick up playing the drums? What is it that drew you to them so strongly - so much so that any other attempts to follow other dreams were crushed?

Posted by Job O Brother on October 20, 2009 at 02:22pm | Post a Comment

BOB DYLAN'S CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART ALBUM

Bob Dylan christmas in the heart
As he announced in the news page on his official website a couple of days ago, Bob Dylan has recorded a Christmas music album that he has scheduled to release this coming holliday season. To be titled Christmas In The Heart and released on Columbia Records, it will be availabe at Amoeba Music and other stores on October 13th.

The release, which will be the 47th album by the legendary musician born Robert Allen Zimmerman, will be Dylan's first Christmas themed release and will likely surprise some fans who never expected the artist, who came to fame as a protest singer, to cover such songs as "Winter Wonderland." Other songs to be featured on the album include “Little Drummer Boy” and “Must Be Santa.”

The album will not be the first time the 68 year old artist has done traditional Christmas fare though. Three years ago on his radio show, Theme Time Radio Hour series 1, episode 34, he did a reading of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" (video clip below). Dylan's Christmas In The Heart will be a benefit for various hunger-relief charities including the wonderful Feeding America organization.


Posted by Billyjam on August 27, 2009 at 12:10pm | Comments (2)

"It's the MOST... jazziest tiiime of the yeeear...!"

jazz posterdrums

I know it’s probably plastered all over your calendar already, but just in case you didn’t know, this is Jazz Week at Amoeba Music Hollywood. This means that, in addition to our normal, totally tubular jazz selection, we’ve squeezed in some additional, choice inventory, plus we’re hosting jazz-spinning DJ’s and such. I think I saw a colorful banner with the word “JAZZ” in bold letters somewhere, too. I mean, people – come with your party hats on!

The back room of Amoeba Music Hollywood is what we call the “jazz room”, though it hosts many other genres of music*, one of which is the Soundtrack section, where I’m most oft found. Some well-meaning employees once tried to get people to nickname the room “jazzical” for the large section of classical music that frames the opposite side from jazz, but it never stuck, partially because people were so accustomed to saying “jazz room” and partially, I’m assuming, because saying “jazzical” makes you feel like an effeminate fat kid, which isn’t a fresh sort of feeling at all.

fat
“Can I have some more toffee and McMuffins? They’re jazzical!”

Within the soundtrack section are some great jazz albums, which will be the focus of this blog entry. So for those of you hoping for a 500 word exposé on actress Edie McClurg, I’m sorry but this isn’t the blog for you.

Posted by Job O Brother on August 24, 2009 at 01:03pm | Post a Comment
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