Mother’s Day 2012 (Sunday, May 13th) may soon be upon us but there's still plenty of time left to get mom the gift of music from Amoeba, whether you order something online from our website shop on Amoeba.com (and have us mail it directly to mom) or if you stop into one of the three Amoeba Music stores. With the endless choices of CDs, DVDs, records, posters, and more, you're bound to find something just right for mom.
There is some excellent music that would make a great Mother's Day gift, including new/recent/current releases from Norah Jones' Little Broken Hearts or her 2002 album Come Away With Me, Adele's 21, Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society, The Civil Wars' eight track Live at Amoeba CD, Nanci Griffith's Intersection, Rumer's Season of My Soul, a new solo release by Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek) called Sun Midnight Sun, Bruce Springsteen's Wrecking Ball, and Janis Joplin (including reissues). There's oodles of older titles too for sale on Amoeba.com including, for the budget conscious shopper, the Clearance Section offerings.

Clarence Clemons, the blazing sax powerhouse behind Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, passed away Saturday, June 18^th at the age of 69 after hospitalization for a stroke he suffered at his home in Singer Island, Florida.
 

Clemons was an original member of Springsteen's E Street Band, tearing it up with The Boss for nearly four decades.  Throughout the years, Clemons also pursued other musical projects with luminaries such as Jackson Browne, Aretha Franklin, Roy Orbison, Grateful Dead, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, and even Twisted Sister ("Be Chrool to Your Scuel"). Most recently, he had collaborated with Lady Gaga on the songs "Hair" and "The Edge of Glory" from Born This Way. Impressive, but of all his guest appearances, jamming with President Clinton at the inaugural ball in 1993 might be his most memorable collaboration.



Clemons also had an active acting career, appearing in films as diverse as Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. His television cameos were no less varied, with appearances on Diff’rent Strokes, The Weird Al Show, and The Wire.

To honor the eclectic, larger-than-life genius of Clarence Clemons, here is a sampling of videos from his diverse and wonderful life: 

As you well know, Mother's Day 2011 is fast approaching (this Sunday, May 8th) and while flowers & chocolates or taking mom out to brunch are all wonderful things to do for this once-a-year occasion, don't overlook the equally excellent idea of the gift of music -- or movies -- from Amoeba! And should you feel stumped at choosing a specific CD or DVD for mom in the store, you can never go wrong with an Amoeba gift certificate, which is good at any of the three Amoebas at any time. Additionally, you can purchase items online directly from Amoeba's web store. 

Of course, if your mom is into live music you could always swing by Amoeba Music Sunday afternoon after brunch to catch some free live music as you browse the vast aisles of varied musical selections. In the Bay Area on Mother's Day there is a free 3pm instore set from progressive hip-hop artist Blueprint, whose sharp social consciousness & political awareness, as witnessed on the new Adventures In Counter Culture, will ring through with someone from any generation. Meanwhile, at Amoeba Hollywood at 5pm on Mother's Day Ceci Bastida, who the LA Weekly described as "Imbued with the gentle smokiness of Juana Molina and the swaggering edge of Nelly Furtado, or maybe M.I.A, her voice can be a rallying call or an invitation to listen closer," will perform in celebration of her debut solo album, Veo La Marea (I See The Tide). As with all Amoeba instores, both are free to the public.

Some pals were compiling top 10 lists of pop/rock albums from the 80s, so I figured why not post my list here. I promise no cultural or ideological significance, only the albums that continue to make me the most warm and fuzzy. Slayer's Reign in Blood just beat out Joy Division's Closer, but then I remembered Tom Waits, who knocked Slayer off. Otherwise, this list was already cemented in my subconscious. Ordered by the year of release:

Yesterday afternoon in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, artist David Byrne filed a $1million suit against the governor of Florida, Charlie Crist, along with his senatorial campaign, alleging that the governor used the Talking Heads' mid eighties single "Road to Nowhere" (Sire/Warner) without permission or proper licenses.

Gov. Crist, who is also Florida's former Attorney General, used the Talking Heads song, found on the band's 1985 Little Creatures album, earlier this year in a website and YouTube ad directed against his then-Republican primary opponent, Marco Rubio.

According to a report on Billboard's website, Byrne, "became aware of the Crist ad from a friend in New York, where the Talking Heads co-founder resides." Byrne told the music magazine that he "was pretty upset" when he learned about the song's unauthorized use and stressed that the lawsuit, "is not about politics...It's about copyright."

This is not the first time that an American politician has used a famous rock artist's music or likeness without permission. Back in 1984 during his re-election campaign, Ronald Reagan, while giving a speech in Hammonton, New Jersey, appropriated the work of the state's favorite son Bruce Springsteen (referencing the then popular "Born In The USA"). When Springsteen (a liberal & most opposed to Reagan) found out about this, he was pissed and put an immediate stop to it. More recently, John McCain, in his 2008 Republican presidential candidate run, used Jackson Browne's song "Running on Empty." Browne filed a suit and won. His lawyer in the case, Lawrence Iser, is now representing Byrne in the case against the Florida Gov.