Happy 59th birthday Madonna Louise Ciccone from Amoeba Music who today will be honoring the “Queen of Pop” with in-store sale of 20% off all Madonna materials (from CDs and vinyl to merch) plus DJs spinning all Madonna music at both the SF and LA stores. At the Haight Street, San Francisco store DJ Nikki Finn will be spinning an all-vinyl tribute set to Madonna at 5pm. Meanwhile at the Hollywood store, starting at 6pm, DJ Material Boy will be doing an all Madonna set. As well as offering 20% [in-store only] off all Madonna materials today both stores, promise raffles, treats and special surprises.

As a primer for DJs Material Boy and Nikki Finn’s all Madonna sets at Amoeba Hollywood and San Francisco respectively, I’ve compiled a subjective Madonna Top 15 Video list below. For Madonna, more so than most other artists, her videos have traditionally been as important as the songs themselves. That’s because Madonna has always been a multi-media pop star who cannot be separated from her visuals that showcase her all of her art: her choreography, fashions and social or political statements.  Plus like fellow reigning 80's pop stars Prince and Michael Jackson, she rose to fame during the golden era of MTV when videos were an exciting new medium for fans and artists as well as a proven promotional tool for record labels.

It's now seventeen and a half years since beloved Bay Area aerosol art legend Mike "DREAM" Francisco was senselessly murdered on an Oakland street: : the victim of a botched armed robbery.  He not only left behind an art legacy but also a ten month old son Akil that he never got to see grow up. Even more tragically, nine years later Akil would lose his other parent when breast cancer took his mother's life. In an ideal, cancer-free and crime-free world, all would be still here together enjoying life together. DREAM, known for his unbridled passion for life (especially art and hip-hop, should today have been celebrating his 48th birthday.

"KIng "DREAM, as many refer to him by, may be gone but will never be forgotten. This is thanks to the legendary TDK crew member's importance in the history of West Coast hip-hop and street art. Examples include his piece that graced the back cover of Saafir's 1994 landmark album Boxcar Sessions: on which he is also heard on the grooves of the album on a track shouting out fellow graf artists . But his legacy has also been kept alive by his old crew members, his many friends, and of course his family. These include DJ Willie Maze of the Local1200 and his most importantly his brother John Francisco.  These two were both instrumental in having the City of Oakland proclaim every February 17th "Dream Day."   That was the date his life tragically ended. But August 15th, his birthday, is also considered DREAM Day.

Props to the folks behind Outside Lands, the cool diverse long running independent music festival that takes place in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park every summer (which means weather might be sunny or foggy) and that this year marks its tenth successful year.

Outside Lands has become the largest independent music festival in the country. And for this year's 10th anniversary that begins today and ends Sunday (August 11 - 13), festival bookers have curated a refreshingly diverse bill that as well as all the big name acts includes up-and-coming bands, an Epic Rap Battle, breaks B-boy/DJ event,  DJs (inc. Josh Wink and Jazzy Jeff), stand-up and spoken word (inc. Nick Kroll and Henry Rollins) all the while covering many different popular musical genres.

Too many amazing acts to focus on them all in one  Amoeblog but take a look at the flyer left to see most of them listed. Note that, due to injury, that Queens of the Stone Age have cancelled their listed appearance this weekend. [EDIT UPDATE  Saturday announced that A Tribe Called Quest, who had already been postponed by one day, have been cancelled]  Also check out the Outside Lands website for more details and help in planning who to see and when. Generally speaking today is predominantly more beat driven acts while tomorrow/Saturday is more hard rock acts overall. Then Sunday offers more of a mish mash of genres.  Below I have put together a list of 20 of the acts (with videos and days/times of each act) that are worth catching. A subjective list from the perspective of a hip-hop fan foremost, it admittedly only scratches the surface and omits many great acts. But it gives an idea of the wealth of talent to expect this weekend at Outside Lands, as well as a rough guide to planning who to see on what stage over the 3 day festival weekend.

It was a deliberate choice for singer-songwriter/guitarist Glen Campbell, who Tuesday August 8th at age 81 as a result of Alzheimer’s, to have titled his recently released last album Adiós (“goodbye”). The album, released in June, is also avail on vinyl/LP. The country/crossover musician sadly was well aware that his time to say goodbye was approaching when he recorded the album in Nashville between 2012 and 2013. Those recording sessions, that followed on the heels of Campbell's farewell concert tour with the last show date in Napa CA, was made just as the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s (which he was originally diagnosed with in early 2011) were taking hold. 

Including such contemplative, reflective songs as “Funny How Time Slips By (feat. Willie Nelson)” Adiós was the perfectly fitting farewell album for the Arkansas born musician, and sometime movie actor and onetime TV host. It was also just one of over sixty (studio and live) albums released by the prolific country/pop artist in a five-and-a-half decade career punctuated by such hit singles as “Wichita Lineman,” “Rhinestone Cowboy,”  “Gentle On My Mind,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” and “Southern Nights.”  In a tribute to the artist, music videos to these songs all appear below with links to the albums they're found on. Adiós and rest in peace Glen Campbell.

Following years of it been almost impossible to locate virtually any of the late great Prince’s music videos online, such as “Purple Rain” “Let’s Go Crazy” or “Controversy,” over the past month all these videos and 20 more have been posted to YouTube, VEVO, and other associated accounts by the official Prince website. [Scroll down to view many of these great clips with links to their respective albums]. Posted to the recently established official Prince account, since its launch a month ago, they’ve been uploading Prince videos every Friday: mostly official music videos but some live concert ones too. The first Prince videos posted on July 7th were a batch of Purple Rain era videos, the 1984 album/movie soundtrack that coincidentally was re-released a couple of weeks earlier in various versions: Purple Rain Picture Disc LP, 180 gram vinyl LP), Purple Rain Deluxe CD + Purple Rain Deluxe Expanded CD. As noted upon their recent release by Amoeba the Deluxe version boasts the official 2015 Paisley Park Remaster of the original tapes overseen by Prince himself in addition to a new “From The Vault & Previously Unreleased” disc with 11 unheard gems from the storied vault.