Get Out to Live Music!

The sound can be heard loud from Melbourne, Australia…

“A Government plan to tackle alcohol-related violence at venues resulted in massive licensing fee rises and extra security requirements for venues with live amplified music.”

A huge crowd of musicians and music lovers gathered to show their support of live music and the venues that serve them.

We love live music…  Thanx go out to the thousands who support it all around the world.

See the full article here:  http://www.news.com.au/national/huge-crowd-gathers-in-central-melbourne-to-support-threatened-live-music-venues/story-e6frfkvr-1225833594574

There are many sides to this story.  So I will give you mine.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/index.htm?hpt=Sbin

This article is about the decline in sales of music.  It presents a few different angles.  Mine is simple.  I buy a lot of CD’s and purchase from iTunes from time to time.  My music collection is nearly sanitary.  There is one more CD from Jonny Lang I need to purchase, and I will own it all.

My conviction is not so much from a legal or moral standpoint but from a person dedication standpoint.  I love Live Music and attend many festivals.  What the artists bring to me and my life is beauty.  So, I purchase a lot of CDs (over 1,200 in the last 8 years), and most of them directly from the artists.  I figure it is a symbiotic relationship.  I buy music and attend their concerts, and they make music which brings sooo much to my life…

Follow your heart.  If you like the music, buy it.  The music will be there next year again for you to enjoy again.  If not, it will fade away.  Nobody can work for nothing forever and survive.

Dead Confederate played at the Tennessee Valley Credit Union stage on Wednesday night. This band is one of the best at the festival this year. I had not heard their music before, so I didn’t know that a real treat was in store. This is a fanatastic group of talented young musicians. Their music is very new with hints of Pink Floyd. Be sure to catch them live when you get the chance.

We also caught up with Cornmeal on the Unum stage. What a surprise! I had not heard Benny and the Jets done by a bluegrass band! Steve described their style as Electronic Bluegrass — could have been the piece that reminded us of Colonel Bruce Hampton’s work.   You’ve got to see this band perform!

The Beale Street Music Festival was amazing…for the music, the food, the rain, and the mud.  This three day festival began on Friday and ended on Sunday night. We arrived on May 1, Friday evening just in time to catch up with Lurrie Bell in the Blues Tent. We followed up Lurrie with Katy Perry, All American Rejects, and the Steve Miller Band. And all of that music started at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday, we caught Susan Tedeschi, Los Lobos, Shane Dwight, Hubert Sumlin with Billy Gibson, Michael Burks and Curtis Salgado. The big day for us was Sunday. We saw Bonnie Raitt for the first time. Others on Sunday, were Reba Russell, Damon Fowler, Jerry Lee Lewis, and James Taylor. What a line-up and we didn’t get to see a lot of really great artists. We will do everything we can to get there again next year!

This was our first Beale Street Music Festival. There was an interesting item about festival wear…everyone was wearing shiny rubber rain boots. The ground was still semi-solid at that point, so we didn’t quite get what that was all about. We would learn about that in the next two days. By Sunday, we walking in mud up to our ankles…in sandals. You can bet that next year, we’ll be wearing those shiny rubber boots, too!

 Brenda

www.getouttolivemusic.com