Maybe I'm Amazed, that Paul McCartney Played a Surprise Concert

Sorry for the late post,  I've been extremely busy with doctors/hospital appointments, school work, and to be honest, some guitar playing.  But here it is, for your viewing pleasure a post that would drive any McCartney/Beatles fan crazy and filled with jealousy... unless you attended.

Close your eyes, after reading the following description of course, and imagine this;

It's 11 p.m. on Valentines Day and you're sitting amongst a thousand people; lovers, couples, friends... all resided at Irving Plaza, and all whose pockets are just  $40 lighter. You stand shuffling about to get a better view of the stage that lies in front of you, not that you need it, the venue isn't too big. Then, within minutes, it hits you, the thrill of your life, an experience that afterwards you'd be happy dying; Sir James Paul McCartney steps out on stage with his band {consisting of the very talented; Brian Ray, Paul Wickens, Rusty Anderson, and Abe Laboriel Jr. }...

That's right, Paul McCartney went from his usual big venues and ballparks to the much smaller, 1,000 seating, Irving Plaza in New York City to perform a surprise concert for  $40 per ticket; first come first serve.

 "So close you can see my dental work." -Paul McCartney

It's no secret that the once mop-topped, mullet sporting, mustache rocking, musician is a straight romantic; he didn't earn the title of 'The Cute One' easily.  McCartney has written/co-written some of the greatest love ballads of all time, whether it's "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "My Love", and even in February 2012, releasing his fifteenth studio album, Kisses On The Bottom, filled with jazz and traditional pop ballads, one track being "My Valentine".  So it's not like Paul to not show his love and respect to not only his wife and family on Cupid's day but to show his love to his fans and what better way to do that than putting on a performance that brings everyone together for a night of music and love; in fact McCartney even announced,

"Tonight it's all about love."

 The night started with a Beatles classic, "Eight Days A Week", followed by twenty-two other songs, not to mention the three others he performed as an encore;

1. Eight Days A Week - The Beatles
2. Save Us - McCartney
3. All My Loving - The Beatles
4. One After 909 - The Beatles
5. Matchbox - Perkins
6. Let Me Roll It - Wings
7. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five - Wings
8. My Valentine - McCartney
9. Maybe I'm Amazed - McCartney
10. I've Just Seen A Face - The Beatles
11. It's So Easy - The Crickets
12. Every Night - McCartney
13. Another Day -McCartney
14. We Can Work It Out - The Beatles
15. And I Love Her - The Beatles
16. New - McCartney
17. Lady Madonna -The Beatles
18. Jet -Wings
19. Drive My Car -The Beatles
20. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La, Da - The Beatles
21. Back In The U.S.S.R - The Beatles
22. Let It Be -The Beatles
23. Hey Jude -The Beatles

Encore;

1. Golden Slumbers - The Beatles
2. Carry That Weight - The Beatles
3. The End - The Beatles

 I'm sorry for posting the set-list. Yes, McCartney played all/most of his classics from The Beatles, Wings, and his solo career. He also performed his early rock'n'roll roots with Buddy Holly and The Crickets and Carl Perkins, songs he usually only performs during sound checks, if he does play it. The night was filled with love and lustful music and high energy emerging from not only the crowd but of McCartney and the band themselves. From Paul's light hearted singing, bass playing, and piano banging, to Abe's never off-beat drumming, Rusty and Brains's impersonalities  of moving around the stage to subsiding during slower songs, and Winx's cool approach to every song.





Through his charm, Sir James Paul McCartney has  shot Cupid's arrow through millions of hearts.

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57th Grammy Award Ceremony

Last night, 8 February, 2015, hundreds of music icons  from Tony Bennett to Nikki Minaj came together to commemorate the 57th Grammy Award Ceremony.  As usual the event took place at the Staples Centre in  Los Angeles, California and was hosted once again by LL Cool J, making it his fourth consecutive year hosting. The memorable night was broadcasted on CBS at 8 pm EST while being filmed live at 5 pm PST.

Nancy and Paul McCartney

It seems almost impossible to out-due last year's Grammy Awards after Sir James Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited on stage and The Beatles being honored with The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which brought not only Paul and Ringo to attend but Olivia Harrison, Yoko Ono, and Sean Lennon (Read about The 56th Grammys here ). This year however, Starr was not present at the awards but McCartney was proudly seated front row next to his beautiful wife, Nancy.  Without his friend and fellow band-mate, McCartney nonetheless found his way back on stage, this time not as a lead singer or plucking behind his legendary violin- Hofner bass, but standing behind a rustic- style acoustic guitar as a backup with "musician" Kayne West for Rhianna's newest single, "Four Five Seconds", on which Sir Paul McCartney and Kayne contributed. This is not the first time West and McCartney had worked together, in fact earlier last month West released "Only One" which featured and produced by the doe-eyed musician.

LL Cool J provided smooth transitions from award to award and various acts to duos. Amongst these awards and nominees were a few of my personal favorites, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who were nominated for Best Rock Album Of The Year, for their well-written album Hypnotic Eye, but unfortunately didn't win ( Congratulations Beck). Late last month there was a small dispute, if you will, between Sam Smith, who took home four Grammy's last night, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, for similarities in Smith's "Stay With Me" and Lynne and Petty's "Won't Back Down", but all was settled. With that said, not only was Sam Smith present at the awards but Jeff Lynne had made his appearance on stage with Ed Sheeran, where Sheeran accompanied the music legend with two beloved classics, "Mr. Blue Sky's" and "Evil Woman". The two-song concert was greatly admired as Jeff Lynne was trending on Twitter last night and Sir Paul McCartney had to be asked to sit down for dancing during the performance. The Following Video is Jeff Lynne and ELO with Ed Sheeran performing "Mr. Blue Skys";

Later as the night went artist from Miranda Lambert to the duo of Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga took the light, along with those recognized with the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award; The BeeGees and George Harrison where amongst the listed (read about George Harrison being honored here). As mentioned before, Rhianna had made her appearance with Kayne West and Paul McCartney. This would be the highlight of any Beatlemaniac watching the event who were let down by the performance due to Kayne pressing himself close to McCartney guitar and the lack of amplification on McCartney's mic; there wasn't any. Rhianna and West's vocals were both strongly heard but McCartney's mic had seemed to be muted. Anyhow, as Eric Idle would say, "Always look on the bright side of life" and even though his voice may not be heard, his energy and passion for performing was fully registered. The Following Video via Youtube is "Four Five Seconds";

Tune in next week, Sunday 15 February, as The Grammy's pay tribute to the wonder that is Stevie Wonder, as they had done a year ago tonight with The Night That Changed America, an event honoring The Fab Four.

Until next time, Peace and Chaos.

Dhani with his wife Sola and Olivia Harrison accepting George's Lifetime Achievement Award

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Postcards From Paradise

I couldn't say it better than Rolling Stone magazine in 2012,

"Every Ringo Starr album is a concept album. The concept is: Man, Ringo, what a dude." 

It's been three years since Ringo's last studio album was release, Ringo 2012, an album that held promising reviews with some of Starr's greatest solo work, including "Wings".  Since his seventeenth album release Starr has kept himself busy, from book releases, preforming at The GRAMMY'S receiving, on behalf of The Beatles, The Lifetime Achievement Award, becoming a member of GQ Men of The Year, being accepted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, to traveling around the world with his All-Starr Band. It's about time that the beloved drummer and musician got back into the studio to record his eighteenth album, Postcard's From Paradise.

The title of the album is fitting for the recording location; Ringo's home studio in Los Angeles. The album will be revolutionary for Ringo Starr and his current All-Starr Band, as it will be the first album to include a track written and recorded by the band; including Steve Lukather,  Richard Page, Todd Rundgren, and Gregg Bissonette. Amongst other well-known musicians like Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Dave Stewart, Ann Marie Simpson, Richard Marx, Amy Keys, Peter Frampton, Nathan East, Glen Ballard, and others will appear on the new album.

"If I am recording and you're in town and drop by, you're going to be on the record!" -Ringo Starr, RingoStarr.com 

Postcard's From Paradise will be released on 31 March, just after Ringo and The All-Starr's return from their energetic tour dates in the United States and Latin America. The album will contain the following eleven original tracks;

1. Rory and The Hurricanes
2. You Bring The Party Down
3. Bridges
4. Postcards From Paradise
5. Right Side Of The Road
6. Not Looking Back
7. Bamboula
8. Island In The Sun
9. Touch And Go
10. Confirmation
11. Let Love Lead

But as of now you can  Pre-order the album via Amazonmusic by clicking here.


You can also participate in #RingoPostcardsContest by posting a picture of your own Postcard's From Paradise on Twitter or Instagram using the above hashtag. For more detail read here.

As always; Peace and Love.

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