Kim Wiseman & Mark A. JohnsonKim Wiseman & Mark A. Johnson, Visiting Old Friends at Christmas

 

This holiday album announces itself with three trumpet blares, and by the time you've checked the case to make sure you haven't made some mistake - Is this mariachi? - the familiar lyrics of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" have clarified what's going on: The CD from Quad Cities vocalist Kim Wiseman and producer/arranger/musician Mark A. Johnson is a modern take on Christmas classics and a few more contemporary songs.

Wicked Liz & the BellyswirlsIf your Mondays are anything like ours here at the River Cities' Reader, they're probably not the cheeriest days of the week. But I think I can speak for everyone here in saying that the next couple of 'em might not be so bad. Work on Monday, December 24, and then - blam! Day off, baby! Work on Monday, December 31, and then - blam! Really lethargic and cranky day off, baby!

Yesterday With so many recent pop albums offering up only one or two decent, memorable songs and top-selling artists taking years upon years between mediocre releases, it's no surprise that music continues to slide into nothing more than computer files shared between MP3 players, personal computers, and 10-cent blank CDs. Not to sound like a crusty ol' curmudgeon, but sheeeee-it, I can feel my cerebellum shake when I think that over the course of 28 months, from August of 1965 to November of 1967, the Beatles released Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Magical Mystery Tour. Imagine my joy, when my teenage son's pals' Christmas wish lists are yearning for "real" copies of The White Album or gift certificates to buy "classic" used vinyl LPs at the ever-dwindling local record store. Wanna save American youth? Pick up any working turntables you might come across at yard sales, and place them at the feet of the next generation.

Jacqui Naylor's Smashed for the Holidays'Tis the season for hipster kids to rock out all that nutty tree-trimming with a brand-new beat in a chunky stocking full of new holiday CDs.

the Chicago Afrobeat Project The Chicago Afrobeat Project could not have a more plainly descriptive name, yet the band's new CD transcends the ordinary. The group, which returns to the Quad Cities with a show on Friday at the Redstone Room, does its fair share of aimless jamming - all pleasant - but on several occasions it reaches highs that lift up the whole endeavor.

Folksongs of Illinois It's 1927, the jazz age, with poet Carl Sandburg toting a funny little guitar and strumming carelessly to the old tunes: "Whisky Johnny," "Where O Where Is Old Elijah?" The Galesburger/Chicagoan published his wildly popular American Song Bag with 280 songs from sailors, cowboys, railroad hands, pioneers, prisoners, and preachers. Sandburg, motivated by The People, Yes, finds democratic merit in these common songs.

Punk 365Punk rockers old and new can get their literary fix in four terrific new books that revel in the spirit, the lifestyle, and the humor of banging the drum their own way. It's not a sex confessional, but the spurts and snorts of My First Time are just as charged with sweaty adolescent discovery. Originally conceived as a small-run fanzine and now expanded into a full book from the AK Press, editor Chris Duncan invited more than 40 rock writers, artists, band members, and fans to share their first-punk-show stories. Not merely recollections of the concerts themselves, each tale is more the story of where the author was in life at that time, the cultural and social zeitgeist, and the often-hilarious anecdotes of getting to that show. Highlights include passages by Jack Rabid, Blag Dahlia, Jade Tree Records' co-founder Darren Walters, Joe Queer of The Queers, and scene historian George Hurchalla.

RockapellaIn every concert performed by Rockapella, the a cappella quintet that first garnered fame with its appearances (and title-song crooning) on PBS's long-running children's game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, a segment is devoted to a solo by the group's vocal percussionist, Jeff Thacher.

AIDS Wolf When you look at publicity photos of the band on its Web site and elsewhere, stereotypes about hippies come to mind. There are rural settings, and some long hair, and some naughty bits - yes, a pair of breasts, pubic hair, and even a penis or two.

Led Zeppelin Crashed Here While it might be a little dreary to think of a cross-country road trip, a fun guide to rock-and-roll landmarks across North America has me itching to load up, head out, and touch the sacred grounds of infamous debauchery, birthplace homes, and final resting places of rock's greatest legends. Published by the Santa Monica Press, Led Zeppelin Crashed Here is peppered with modern-day photographs and a detective's keen eye for tracking down rock history in its original scandalous settings, and the pages turn like attacking a bag of chips. Travel writer Chris Epting collects more than 300 pages of these famous (and hidden) sites, sure to put a smile on the face of any music nut who finds his new book in a stocking. From directions to the concrete Woodstock marker in the earth outside Bethel, New York, to a deeper understanding of what Joni Mitchell was singing about in "they paved paradise and put up a parking lot," Epting's research makes me want to visit the location of famous album-cover sites for a personal snapshot, like in front of Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti brownstone or shaking hands at the Warner Bros. studio lot where Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here cover was created.

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