Yo! Bum Rush the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame! In celebration of their long overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame - ever outspoken, pioneering political charged, legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy are celebrating this week in Los Angeles in style with a three day celebration of the Chuck D led group's historic induction into the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. And when they are inducted this week [the actual induction ceremony happens on Thursday night at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles] PE will be the fourth hip-hop / rap inductee into the Hall Of Fame - now in its 28th year - taking their prestigious place alongside many legendary rock and roll contemporaries. To kick things off for the three day celebration tomorrow afternoon from 2pm to 5pm, Tuesday April 16, they will host Revolverlution The PE Film Festival at The Gibson Showroom in Beverly Hills. This will be followed tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 8p by Welcome To The Terrordome: A Night At The Grammy Museum where, in the spirit of a town-hall meeting,  Public Enemy will host a meet-and-greet with the public that has supported the band for 26 years with what is billed as, "a vibe session with music videos, commentary, and an up-close and personal conversation with PE members and collaborators, including a Q&A session and unexpected surprises." There will also be music spun by DJ Johnny JUICE Rosado.

      

Rock music has way too many incredibly memorable guitar riffs to limit a best of list to just one hundred, but the 100 riffs that guitarist Alex Chadwick of The Chicago Music Exchange came up with for the above video performance ain't half bad, and it is a nice informal overview of the history of rock n' roll. Sure it's a subjective selection that includes a lot of mega hits of the genre, and no doubt every rock fan could come up with their own unique list of a hundred best guitar riffs. But I like what Alex has done: from his playing to his choices of riffs, and from how he segues from song to song, to how he plays it on his 1958 Fender Strat all in chronological order. Below is that list of songs and artists in order with the artist names that are blue highlighted linking back to the Amoeba Online Store. where you can find their respective music (CDs, LPs, DVDs) including (in near all cases) the song played by Alex.

2 "Folsom Prison Blues" Johnny Cash
3 "Words of Love"  Buddy Holly
4 "Johnny B Goode"  Chuck Berry
5 "Rumble"  Link Wray

To read more Behind The Grooves, go to http://behindthegrooves.tumblr.com

On this day in music history: May 14, 1969 - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, the second studio album by Neil Young is released. Produced by Neil Young and David Briggs, it is recorded at Wally Heider Studio 3 in Hollywood, CA, in January and March of 1969.  Recorded in just two weeks worth of studio time, it is the first to feature Young's backing band Crazy Horse. The album features some of Young's best known material including "Cinnamon Girl" (#55 Pop), "Down By The River," and "Cowgirl In The Sand." Young will write all three songs in one day while sick in bed with a 103 ° fever. "Nowhere" will peak at #34 on the Billboard Top 200 and will be certified platinum by the RIAA.


On this day in music history: May 14, 1971 - Carpenters, third studio album by The Carpenters is released. Produced by Jack Daughtery, it is recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, CA in late 1970/early 1971. Coming just nine months after their breakthrough album Close To You, it will firmly establish the duo's pop star status on a worldwide basis.  Carpenters will spin off three top five singles including "Rainy Days And Mondays" (#2 Pop), "Superstar" (#2 Pop), and "For All We Know" (#3 Pop). The original LP package is designed to look like a formal party invitation, opening from the top like an envelope with an overlapping flap. Carpenters will peak at #2 on the Billboard Top 200, and to date has sold over 4 million copies in the US.

"But, are they organic?"

When I go somewhere, I like to linger for over a week in the same area – as opposed to globe-trotting – because experience has taught me it takes a good while to get one’s bearings. The first week in a new location is what I call the “expensive week”, because you end up spending a lot of money before you learn how to do things like a local. It’s important to plan ahead and be aware of this: no impulse buying for the first week, and remain flexible for meal planning and lounging locations; most importantly of all, ask as many locals in whatever location you are for where they go, what they eat, what they like; it never fails that, without emphasizing your interest in their preferences, you are going to be led to the same few tourist traps all outsiders are, and they'll be an expensive shadow of the real thing.

Here’s some red-flag words: plush, decadent, local-style, distilled, anything served on ‘skewers’. These are buzz-words that may alert you to the fact that you have been caught in a tourist trap. DON’T PANIC! If it’s too late to leave, just keep ordering down to a minimum (you can always eat again afterwards) and for the love of God, don’t buy anything you can wear (especially if the price tag looks ‘home-made’), or purchase anything you can clean/perfume your body with (beware of soap bars cut into irregular shapes!), or condiments that come in a tiny jar, i.e., raw honey with truffle, jasmine sugar pearls, or virgin priestess eyelashes candied in unicorn mustard.

Absolutely not.