The stars look very different today

We share the shock and sadness of the passing of David Bowie.
On Friday January 8, we listened to his much anticipated new album, Blackstar.
It’s rare to have such a massive release at the beginning of the year, but it was his 69th birthday;
…so cool !
The album’s title track is the first single, and is accompanied by a short film visual by the acclaimed director Johan Renck. The album features musical assistance from Tim Lefebvre, Mark Guiliana, Donny McCaslin, Ben Monder, Jason Lindner, James Murphy and longtime producer Tony Visconti. Blackstar features seven tracks including “‘Tis A Pity She Was A Whore”, “Lazarus”, “Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime” and the title track.
Bowie’s back !
Maybe he’ll tour again…
Then we heard the news on Sunday night that he had died.

From David Bowie’s last photoshoot:

LRS window display by Josh Staples:

a few more NEW RELEASES
for the weeks of January 8 & 15, 2016:

Charles Lloyd & the Marvels:
I Long To See You

the debut album of a band founded by esteemed saxophonist and composer Charles Lloyd, featuring Bill Frisell (guitar), Greg Leisz (pedal steel), Reuben Rogers (bass) and Eric Harland (drums).

This recording is an updated model of a protest rally. A plea for an end to war through the beauty of sound and the strength of the message. The sequencing and pace of the 10 songs on the album is stunning – from the pounding insistence of Dylan’s Master’s of War, to a mournful Shenandoah, to the Lloyd classics Of Course, Of Course & Sombrero Sam – and then wow! Willie Nelson’s poignantly deep rendering of Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream and Norah Jones giving us Billy Preston’s You Are So Beautiful, as if she were another soulful instrument in the band. I remember reading a Lloyd quote a while back, saying that when he was a young man he wanted to change the ugliness of the world through beauty. He is now one of our most eloquent Elder Statesmen, and the beauty in this recording should have the power to transform a few people, if not the world.

Charles Lloyd is coming to Healdsburg!

Exmortus: Live Forth

New from Prosthetic Records: produced by Zach Ohren (Immolation, Suffocation) and featuring epic artwork by Philip Lawvere (Celtic Frost, Kreator), “Ride Forth” sees Exmortus crank up the shred like never before.

Jason Marsalis:
Heirs of the Crescent City

This music is a celebration of all music from New Orleans past, present, and future as well as the
official soundtrack to an independent film about New Orleans culture entitled “Heirs”.
Piano legend Marcus Roberts makes a guest appearance on Didn’t Monk Ramble.
Everything from traditional, funk, Mardi Gras, and modern styles are represented in this fun-spirited album.

Panic! at the Disco:
Death of a Bachelor

Produced by Jake Sinclair (Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy), Death Of A Bachelor marks the first release from Panic! At the Disco in nearly two years, following 2013’s acclaimed Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! The first single off DOAB, “Hallelujah, ” made chart history for the band with a Top 40 debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 – Panic! At the Disco’s second Top 40 hit and first since 2006’s breakthrough classic, “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies.” The album’s title track, “Death of A Bachelor, ” has been described as, “It’s like some Beyoncé beats with some Sinatra vocals. It’s really crazy… [Sinatra’s] music has been a major player in the soundtrack of my life. So it’s only right that I return the favor and/or pay it forward.”

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown,
engines on
Check ignition
and may God’s love be with you

[spoken]
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past
one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead,
there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you….

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.

~ Rest in Peace David Bowie!