Stop this ride, I wanna get off. Wow, it has been pretty busy these last few weeks and unfortunately, when things get moving a little to briskly, the first thing to go is the MMMBlog. But, we are back this week and with a vengeance and back out of fear of Mr. Bizosky who is a loyal reader to the Maroscher Magical Mystery Blog. The last few weeks brought us U2’s newest CD, some Ray Charles, and my personal favorite (and consequently Mrs. Gratz least favorite) Jeff Beck’s Live CD. Jeff Beck, for those who are not familiar with him, is one of the original guitar slingers from the early guitar hero era, and is often mentioned in the same sentence as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Jeff Beck is a flat picker that has a command of the guitar like none other. Nimble and quick on the fret board and a great ability with the whammy bar and feedback. Here is a link for those of you out there that want to see the master in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2rD2eWsY7k
Now on to this week. This week is all about LHS’s organization, LEAF. This week’s CD was compiled by LEAF and is a celebration of LEAF and Earth Day as well. It is a CD of 15 tracks each with some reference to the environment, the Earth and all things green and wonderful. Here are some tracks to give you an example as to what is on this CD. Here Comes The Sun, by the Beatles, Nothing But Flowers, by the Talking Heads, Fake Plastic Trees by Radio Head. So, enjoy the week’s music, tell LEAF members thanks for the good tunes and as always, think green.

Does the wait for Spring Break have you feeling down? Hey, nothing some blues harp can’t fix, I say. This week we are listening to some “for real” blues from the likes of Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson, Billy Branch and many more. These blues tracks all come from a CD called This IS The Blues Harmonica compiled in 2000. Each track has some great blues harp, come chromatic harp, but mostly either double reed harp or straight up key of A harp. I am not saying it is going to make the week before the last week prior to Spring Break arrive any faster, but what I will say is that it will make your voyage though the halls seem just a little bit better. The photo for this week is none other than the legendary Little Walter (aka, Marion Walker Jacobs). Little Walker pretty much epitomizes the blues. A school dropout at 12, then when he was at his peak as a blues man, playing with the likes of Muddy Waters he was in a fight at a gig and died from those injuries that night. He was only 38. That is pretty much the deal with blues. Good folks with bad stuff happening to them. Anyway, if you listen closely, you will hear the different styles of the harp players on this cd throughout the week. Even if you don’t “get” the harp, you will like what you are hearing. Enjoy.

With this shortened week we are showing our appreciation to our Foreign Language Departments. What, we are playing the album “Foreigner 4” this week?….no, sorry, to obvious Bizosky. Rather we are playing some sa-weet Italian music on Tuesday, some tasty German music on Wednesday, some robust French music on Thursday and some spicy Spanish music on Friday.

Now, moving onto next week’s music. Next week we are getting climbing into Peabody and Sherman’s Way-Back Machine (children of the 70’s know of what I speak) and digging out some classic Santana. Hey, Rob Thomas is great an all, but I am talking about Samba Pa Ti, Jingo, Oye Como Va, Se A Cabo` and other amazingly well constructed music that is Carlos Santana. The thing about Carlos Santana is that he is a guitarist (played a Les Paul Jr. back in the day) but writes music for his whole band and that means music for his fantastic percussion section, he keyboardist, and bassists. If you are not familiar with Carlos Santana, or maybe just know him from his Supernatural CD (which is worth the download price I might add) jump on YouTube and watch some of his live stuff. Once you become familiar with his sound, you will always know when you are listening to Santana. He has a unique sound all to his own. Cheesy to say but he is often imitated but never replicated. Santana embodies true expressionalism as it relates to the guitar, music and music’s connection with peace and the world as a family. Sound kinda like Hippie Speak? Well, it is. Carlos is a living hippie and should you invest the time to actually listen to his stuff on your own, you will see it is about peace, happiness and music. In the words of Carlos…”Open your eyes. Let it begin with me. Brand new day. Fresh new way to live. The mornin’ is callin’. Walk with me into the sun. Everything is comin’ our way.” Have a great week!

Dobet Gnahore` is a singer, percussionist and dancer from Africa. Specifically she is from a place called Village Ki-Yi M’Bock in the Ivory Coast. It is a place where resident artists live and create a variety of art forms together. Her self-titled CD has some 15 wonderful tracks on it, 12 of which will be rotated randomly as passing period music during the week of February 9th. I think you will enjoy the sound of her music style. It is peaceful and fascinating all at once. Now, on a different note, things have been kinda busy in the world of the Magical Mystery Blog and I haven’t had the time to blog on the other passing period artists of late, so here is a quick re-cap for those who are keeping score, and mostly that comes down to Mr. Bizosky, the one true fan of the blog. Over the past four weeks we played, in order, music from Matisyahu, who is a Grammy-nominated artist, and an American reggae musician. He is famous for blending Reggae, hip hop and traditional Jewish themes. Sounds like a weird combo, well so did peanut butter and chocolate until Reese’s came along. Next we had Soulive. Soulive is a group that like Matisyahu, blends music, but in this case it is modern jazz, funk and killer grooves. Next up to bat was Meshell Ndegeocello. Man, this is one mega-talented artist. She fuses together poetry, funk bass, rap, R&B and jazz. She is sort of an unknown, but has been nominated ten times for a Grammy. Next, a favorite artist of our very own Mrs. Torrence, and that is Umphrey’s McGee. They are now listed as one of the top 20 jam bands of all time! Take that Fish. Anyway, that is the wrap for now. Enjoy Dobet, and do yourself a favor…steer away from the Top 40, leave American Idol alone and check out something new, different, unfamiliar, something musically you can’t necessarily put into a category. Try it, you might like it. Outtie.

Happy New Year! We start off the new year with the latest CD from a band called Fall Out Boy. I can hear it now, Mr. Leone is saying, “Who in tarnation is Fall Out Boy?” Well, I will end that suspense for him and say that they are a band from of all unlikely places, Wilmette, Illinois. Wilmette, not really the Mecca of rock and roll, but hey, that is, well, rock and roll. Anyway, Fall Out Boy are pretty “pop” but not so much in that sappy way I typically think of “pop.” They have some pretty clever transitions and percussive grooves. They are not The Ramones, but I am going with the flow. Sometime during the first quarter a reader, (yes, I actually have a reader of this blog…who-da-thunk-it) suggested Fall Out Boy and I figure, any student willing to read this blog and take the time to send me a nice e-mail, well, they will get their request. Did I just open Pandora’s Box??? We shall see. Until the next blog, have a great 2009 and be good to one another.