MARTY BALIN (1942 - 2018)

Marty Balin, the co-founder and vocalist of the classic rock band, Jefferson Airplane and later a part of the revamped Jefferson Starship, has passed away on September 27th at the age of seventy-six.

He was born Martyn Buchwald in Cincinnati, Ohio but his family moved to San Francisco when he was a teen. He changed his name to "Marty Balin" after he began his professional music career when he was twenty and was later a part of a folk music group, The Town Criers. Balin met fellow folk musician Paul Kantner in 1965 and they eventually found other musicians, blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, drummer, Jerry Peloquin, acoustic bassist, Bob Harvey and vocalist Signe Toly Anderson to form their own group.

They called themselves, "Jefferson Airplane" (based on the name of a friend of Kaukonen's dog) and admiring the success of the Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles, this band moved away from folk and towards a pop-rock sound. As they began to play around the bay area, several band members left and were replaced until Jefferson Airplane's second album in 1967, "Surrealistic Pillow". The line-up (now considered the classic) featured Kantner, Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, drummer Spencer Dryden and Grace Slick who shared vocal duties with Balin. The album featured two top-ten hits, "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit" and sold over a million copies.

The band enjoyed great success and popularity until excessive drug-use and ego-clashing caused Balin to leave the band in 1971. Jefferson Airplane officially came to an end in 1973. Kantner and Slick went on to form a new band called "Jefferson Starship" in 1974. They eventually got Balin to join the following year and the band had hits with "Miracles", "With Your Love" and "Count on Me". Balin eventually decided to leave the band again by 1978 and embark on a solo career.  He recorded several solo albums and had a top-ten hit with "Hearts" in 1981. Balin, as a member of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. In honor of this gifted artist, here are two my favorites songs performed by Marty Balin:

GTFO

Mariah Carey has dropped a provocative new promo single called, "GTFO". If you don't know what that stands for, let's just say it's an impolite way of telling somebody to leave. With hot alt-r&b producers, Dvsn on board, Carey delivers another one of her trademark slinky ballads but the beats and the language are clearly of the moment. I'm really loving this slow-jam and think it puts the singer back on the right track. In the music video for the song directed by Sarah McColgan, the clip only features Carey, in a variety of sexy lingerie, still trying way too hard to be sultry and seductive. Have a listen:

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

Steve Perry was the dynamic voice behind the popular 70's rock group, Journey who had such memorable hits like "Open Arms", "Who's Cryin' Now", "Any Way You Want It" and one of their most famous, "Don't Stop Believin'". But by 1998, Perry, who had suffered a hip injury and burned out by the pressures of fame,  decided to walk away from the band and music. Now after almost twenty-five years, Perry will be releasing his third solo album, "Traces" which is due out in October. He actually began work on this project back in 2015 and has co-written all of the songs. With two singles released, "No Erasin'" and "No More Cryin'", the sixty-nine year old singer's voice may no longer have the power of his younger days but the passion and deep emotion is still there.



And here is a bonus of two of my favorite songs that features the incredible voice of Steve Perry:





Here are a couple of recent songs I'm digging right now:






Two more great performers from the past have released new material. Janet Jackson dropped a surprise song, "Made For Now" that has a lively Afrocentric beat. It was inspired by her desire to put out a much needed dance tune about love and positivity and features reggaeton performer, Daddy Yankee to deliver a Latin flavor.



British blue-eyed soul singer, Lisa Stansfield is also back with new music. Her eighth studio album, "Deeper" was already released in Europe earlier this year and the fifty-two year old vocalist went on a successful tour to support the record. I'm excited to learn that Stansfield plans on hitting the road for a North American leg of her tour which should begin next month. The second single, "Never Ever" is a shimmering slice of disco heaven that is highlighted by Stansfield's sensuous voice.



And we finally have a proper tribute to Aretha Franklin which was performed during the recent BET Black Girls Rock telecast. Ledisi, Jazmine Sullivan, Cynthia Ervio, Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams and Fantasia are the powerhouse talent that showed respect to the Queen:

DAVID BYRNE: AMERICAN UTOPIA TOUR

While Talking Heads were definitely a band, it was David Byrne who was actually the musical and creative director behind the group. With his former alt-rock band now just a footnote in his career, Byrne has continued to create in his own name and after releasing his seventh solo album, "American Utopia", the sixty-six year old performer is on the road to promote the record.

I caught the L.A. show on August 25th at the Shrine Auditorium (thanks to a dear friend who had an extra ticket) and it was an incredible merging of art performance and rock concert. The stage was completely bare and surrounded by a curtain of long, individual strings. With just a table and chair placed out before the start, Bryne emerged solo with a song from the new album, "Here" where he sat holding a human brain as an unusual visual aide.

He was soon joined by his two highly-energetic background singers/dancers who literally moved throughout the entire show. The rest of the band featuring ten musicians eventually appear, all wearing the same identical gray suits and barefoot like Bryne, while each carrying their own instruments (including drums and percussion) and moving along wirelessly throughout the stage.

After a performance of the British electro-duo, X-Press 2's "Lazy" where Bryne was a guest vocalist, he launched in to some Talking Heads songs with "I, Zimbra" and "Slippery People". I thought for sure he would keep his former band's material to a minimum but I was quite surprised for throughout the night Byrne did quite a few including "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)", "Blind",  "The Great Curve", "Once In a Lifetime" and "Burning Down The House".

I knew there would obviously be plenty of middle-aged Heads fans but it was nice to see just as many millennials in attendance. Byrne was in great voice and, still utilizing his signature nerdy dance moves, effortlessly kept pace with his younger band as they filled the auditorium with vibrant sounds and positive energy.

Politics did manage to find it's way in to the show but the approach was subtle and low-key. Bryne, who has an organization on tour with him to help people register to vote at each stop, stressed the importance of making change happen not only nationally but at a local level. And during the encore, Bryne does an artist approved, altered cover of Janelle Monáe's "Hell You Talmbout" which shouts out the recent names of people of color that were questionably killed during police interactions.

With the world in such turmoil and conflict, Byrne has stated that the album and the tour was inspired to promote optimism and offer some comfort through song in these trying times. I can honestly say that he has achieved his goal with a concert that featured vivid style, unparalleled creativity and great music.

CHER HAS BECOME A "DANCING QUEEN"

After finally returning to the big screen this summer with the hit musical sequel, "Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again", the Oscar-winner, Cher was inspired to return to what started her career; music. She had been a fan of ABBA's music (and saw the "Mamma Mia" stage show three times) and decided to make her new album a collection of the Swedish group's greatest hits.

"Dancing Queen" will be Cher's twenty-sixth (!) studio album and is due out on September 28th. The record features her versions of such classic ABBA tunes like "The Name of The Game", "The Winner Takes It All", "One of Us", "Fernando" (which she performed in the movie) and, of course, the title track. The first taste of the record is Cher's covers of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" and "SOS". If you are a fan of this legendary performer, then you are in for a treat:





And as a bonus here is a mash-up by Alex Simpson of Cher's song and Madonna's 2005 tune, "Hung-Up" which used a sample of ABBA's original track.