Tuesday's coming...

Friday morning and after a cool week the heat and humidity are back. Whew! I think I'll do my best to stay inside today. Listening to some music, and reading a magazine. Maybe surfin' the interweb. My friend Michael just dropped off some burned CDs for me. Alfie Smith a local bluesman who played at the Sgt. Pepper's 40th Anniversary celebration last weekend. He bluesed-up "Fixin' a Hole". This one is full of trad-blues like "Nobody's Fault But Mine," "St.James Infirmary," "Amazing Grace," and "Soul of a Man." Very Bukka White I'd say! The other discs are mix-tapes, and while I know that term dates me...the fact is that that's exactly what these are. Blur, Okkervil River, Ane Brun with Ron Sexsmith, Xavier Rudd, Matthew Good, the Skydiggers, Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire, Damien Rice, and more. Geez, I feel like Michael is trying to drag me into the 21st Century! Oh, wait a minute...U2 with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, there we go.
I've been listening more to that McCartney memory almost full CD, and enjoying it much more. I have found the melodies just as contagious as the best Macca albums of the past. Sure, some of it seems unnecessary, even redundant. And he does have a tendency toward coyness...but Sir Paul knows his way around the studio, and around vocal arrangements. Speaking of harmonies, I listened to The Definitive America for fun, and found that I was appreciating some of the stuff they did, even though I have spent the last 35 years mocking them. "The heat was hot..." indeed! And The Thorns do they same sort of thing. I have the 2 disc set wherein they recorded the album on acoustic instruments. Tasty but too much of a sweet thing.
I'm about to review a handful of new blues albums. Jimmy Thackery, Tab Benoit and Paul Reddick. Been listening to them for a couple of weeks in order to get a handle on them. Gotta love that Reddick! And he's Canadian!
Oh...and why did I say Tuesday's coming? Because the Traveling Wilburys package comes out Tuesday! Finally! I have the two original albums on cassette, and then bought a CD version on a Russian bootleg! But now I'll get them in remastered glory, with a DVD and souvenir memorabilia! Oh boy!
Also coming Tuesday...Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings Jukebox. The core of the Guess Who doing cover versions! They were dynamite live last fall...this album should be fun.