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Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Culture That Made Me: Music legend Brush Shiels picks his touchstones
Brendan 'Brush' Shiels, 79, grew up in Phibsboro, Dublin. In 1967, he formed Skid Row, Ireland's seminal rock group, which briefly included Phil Lynott on vocals, and Gary Moore on guitar. The band released two acclaimed records, Skid and 34 Hours, before disbanding. He fronted a show, Off Yer Brush, on RTÉ television for two seasons, 1986-87, and he has released several solo albums. He will perform at Connolly's of Leap, Co Cork, 6pm, Saturday, June 14. See: Save the Last Dance for Me We lived in one room on the Phibsboro Road. Beside us was a pub, across the road was another pub. We had no radio. Seven nights a week, people came out of the pub and would sing for another two hours. Some fella used to sing, 'If I can help somebody as I pass along … Then my living shall not be in vain' again and again. Right at the railings, about a yard away. That's how I learned Save the Last Dance for Me and all these songs – from people singing them outside. After that, we got a radio. I started listening to Saturday Club with Brian Matthew on BBC. I remember hearing the very first Beatles live programme, Too Much Monkey Business. It must have been '63. The Beatles had harmonies and a sound I'd never heard before. I loved them for that. Bob Dylan I couldn't believe Bob Dylan when I first heard him. To this day when I hear Like a Rolling Stone, it has the same effect on me. I've learned hundreds of Bob Dylan songs. I love Desolation Row, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall and Mr. Tambourine Man. I still have the same fascination for his use of lyrics and symbolism. Until he arrived, it was Elvis, Cliff Richard, songs like Take These Chains from My Heart, and The Beatles were all kiss me quick numbers and meeting girls. When Dylan came along, it was a different way with words. I never looked back from that. He was my biggest inspiration. We Gotta Get Out of This Place Funny enough, I started off on the guitar because of The Shadows and that sort of stuff. Then around 1965, I started to hear other things. There was a baseline in The Animals' We Gotta Get Out of This Place, something about it influenced me. It spiked my interest – what you could do with the bass. Chuck Berry There was a bookshop up the road. It had a box of music magazines, all the same, called DownBeat. I got them for next to nothing. They were about jazz in America, like Duke Ellington, Count Basie. My mind went back then to this film I saw when I was about 12 called Jazz on a Summer's Day. It was about the Newport Jazz Festival. This film had a big effect on me. It had all the greatest jazz musicians in America at that time in it. In the middle of it all, this guy Chuck Berry came on, and he does Sweet Little Sixteen. When I saw Chuck Berry I realised that's the only way to do it. Brush Shiels. Night Train The jazz thing was always in the back of my head. I was interested in why the jazz scene was so big in America. A lot of it was hard to follow. I could follow them singing the melody, but once the solo came in and went off on a tangent, I didn't really understand it. Then I read in one of these magazines – I became an expert after reading 72 DownBeat magazines [laughs] – that Ray Brown, the bass player with the Oscar Peterson Trio, was the man to listen to, and the album to listen to was Night Train. That Night Train record changed my life. That's where I went next. Unison Blues DownBeat magazines also said, 'There's a great bass player called Vinnie Burke. Have a listen to him.' He had a track called Unison Blues which is the origin of the Skid Row way of doing things. A lot of the ideas about playing, I got from Vinnie Burke, his bass lines stood out. The sax, the bass and the piano playing the same line in unison gave it a particular sound, which, ultimately, I could hear in Cream and Jimi Hendrix. Lucky enough I came across Gary Moore when he was only 15 and he knew exactly what I was talking about. Phil Lynott Phil Lynott performing with Thin Lizzy at Cork City Hall in 1982. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive The first time I got in touch with Phillo, I got the bus out to his house. I knocked on his door. I went in to say hello to him. He told me he was listening to The Velvet Underground. I said, 'Forget about that.' Then he said, 'Paul Simon's I Am a Rock'. I said, 'No, if you want to come along, we'll try this Jimi Hendrix thing, which is going to be the next big thing.' A couple of days later, he sang Hey, Joe, and that was the start of it. Phillo had film-star appeal. Back in the 1960s, he lacked a bit of confidence, but the potential was unbelievable because he had everything else you needed. But life being the way it is, now he's gone. Somebody said to me once, 'How well did you know him?' I said, 'Well, he came on my honeymoon with me.' That's how close we were. Led Zeppelin Skid Row loved Led Zeppelin. We were playing in the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles in 1970. Who turns up only John Bonham, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood. We're playing away and John Bonham wants to get up to sing, and Robert Plant says, 'I'll play drums.' So, the two boys got up. These lads from a band called Slammer – I knew them – took photographs and bootlegged the gig. You can still get it on YouTube. You can't buy it. The sound was just noise, but it's up there. John Bonham Led Zeppelin in 1973: From left to right, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham (1947 - 1980), John Paul Jones. (Photo by) John Bonham had a particular way of drumming that we hadn't heard before. It was thunderous. It sounded like an elephant stampede, like a wildebeest with an outboard motor on its back. Carmine Appice from Vanilla Fudge had a similar style. It was the start of all these great drummers like Ginger Baker, the way of doing it with the two bass drums, even though it had been done years before in jazz. It got lost along the way, but very fast playing made a comeback. Charlie Parker Charlie Parker – one of the great saxophonists, one of my biggest influences solo-wise – was in this café once, and Hank Williams' I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, was playing. Somebody asked Charlie Parker, 'Why do you keep putting that on?' He says, 'It's the words, man.' Like he's soloing all night. He's no problem soloing. So, when somebody is singing something like that, and he has felt that bad himself, and put it into words, he wants to listen. A lot of sad songs are about when somebody puts into words what we're all feeling. There's beauty in it.
Chicago Tribune
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Today in History: Chuck Berry records ‘Maybellene' for Chess Records
Today is Wednesday, May 21, the 141st day of 2025. There are 224 days left in the year. Today in history: On May 21, 1955, Chuck Berry recorded his first single, 'Maybellene,' for Chess Records in Chicago. Also on this date: In 1881, the American Red Cross was founded by nurse and educator Clara Barton in Washington D.C. In 1924, 14-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered in a 'thrill killing' carried out by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold Jr. and Richard Loeb (Bobby's distant cousin). In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh landed his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane near Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 33 1/2 hours. In 1932, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean as she landed in Northern Ireland, about 15 hours after leaving Newfoundland. In 1941, a German U-boat sank the American merchant steamship SS Robin Moor in the South Atlantic after the ship's passengers and crew were allowed to board lifeboats. In 1972, Michelangelo's Pieta, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, was damaged by a hammer-wielding man. (The sculpture went back on display 10 months later after its damaged elements were reconstructed.) In 1979, former San Francisco City Supervisor Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. Outrage over White's lenient sentence sparked the White Night riots that evening. In 1991, former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated amid Indian national elections by a suicide bomber. Today's Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox is 84. Singer Ronald Isley (The Isley Brothers) is 84. Singer Leo Sayer is 77. Actor Mr. T is 73. Actor Judge Reinhold is 68. Filmmaker Nick Cassavetes is 66. Actor Lisa Edelstein is 59. Comedian-TV presenter Noel Fielding is 52. Actor Fairuza Balk is 51. Actor Da'Vine Joy Randolph is 39. Country musician Cody Johnson is 38. Actor Hannah Einbinder is 30. NFL quarterback Josh Allen is 29.
Axios
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
How hip-hop came to dominate the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Hip-hop isn't exactly rock 'n' roll, but the genre has become a dominant force in the museum that honors the music made famous by Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley. Why it matters: Outkast and Salt-N-Pepa's inductions this November will continue hip-hop's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame winning streak over the past decade. It also fuels the Rock Hall's most heated debate over which genres and artists should or shouldn't be honored. Flashback: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first hip-hop act inducted in 2007. The inductions of Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and Public Enemy followed over the next several years. By the numbers: Things have picked up with 11 more hip-hop artists being inducted since 2016, including this year's inductees. 2023 saw Missy Elliott become the first female rap act to earn induction. That same year, the Rock Hall opened Holla If Ya Hear Me, a huge exhibit celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. What they're saying:"The Rock Hall's success in getting hip-hop artists inducted is a reflection of their focus primarily on the genre's biggest names," says Neil Walls, founder of Future Rock Legends, a website covering the Rock Hall. "Getting inducted in your first year of eligibility is the sign of an undeniable Hall of Fame career, and five of the last six artists to go in that way are from hip-hop," Walls tells Axios. The other side: That success rate has drawn the ire of "rock" purists who believe the museum should focus on guitar-driven acts. Yes, but: John Sykes, the chairman of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation who changed Jay-Z's mind, has asserted the name won't change. "Rather than throwing the name out, it's doing a better job of communicating to people where rock and roll came from and what it's truly about," he told Vulture. "Once they hear it that way, they understand." What's next: Hip-hop's streak with the Rock Hall will likely slow, Walls believes, pointing to a lack of obvious inductees from the genre in the coming years.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet Mei Semones, the Berklee graduate reimagining New Orleans vibes with an intricate indie flair
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. 'Have you seen Back to the Future?' asks Mei Semones, back in her Brooklyn apartment after a recent sold-out Camden Assembly show. 'That scene where Michael J. Fox is playing the Chuck Berry song? That made me want to play guitar.' Two decades ago, when she was four years old, the thoughtful and intricate indie musician who's rooted in the jazz era began playing an upright given by her grandmother in Yokosuka, Japan. But as Semones reached double digits, she became conscious of a conflict with the instrument. 'I was like, 'I'm not enjoying this,'' she says. 'Guitar felt more like an instrument I could use to play the music that I was listening to.' Her dad – also a musician – gave her a classical nylon acoustic when she was 10. Her parents sent her to Suzuki guitar lessons, but the fit still wasn't right. 'I was learning Mary Had A Little Lamb, which was not what I was looking to do!' When she switched to electric, the pieces began to fall into place. 'I got a new guitar teacher and started open chords and pentatonic scales. 'They were like, 'You should learn this Led Zeppelin song and this Beatles song.'' Presumably not Stairway To Heaven? 'I did learn Stairway to Heaven!' Even the solo? 'When I was probably 12 or 13!' Noting her enthusiasm, Semones' Dad once again stepped in. 'He bought me an Epiphone Les Paul. Whenever I pick it up, I'm like, 'It's so crazy I played this – it's so heavy!'' Growing up in Michigan, she studied music theory at high school ('If I can play guitar at school, why wouldn't I?') before studying jazz guitar at Berklee. That's where her appreciation for the New Orleans-sourced sound grew. 'My teacher showed me Miles Davis' So What? solo, then I was introduced to modes and more theory.' After releasing her EP Kabutomushi last year (with rave reviews from Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea), Semones has now launched debut album Animaru. The record champions theoretical nous but also nods to grungier tones – and such '90s-era noisemakers is where she found her autonomy. 'Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins were the first bands that were to my taste. I loved the emotion and rawness. It was like, 'Oh, this is real music!'' The most important thing is that you sound like yourself Animaru flirts with some of that ferocity in the Tubescreamer-fuelled Tora Moyo – a love letter to her cherry mahogany PRS. 'It's extremely comfortable, fitting my body and my hand really well,' she says of the instrument. 'My dad and I went to Sweetwater's Indiana headquarters. I spent eight hours playing guitar. Everything was intriguing, but I had no preconception of a brand that I wanted. 'I wasn't familiar with PRS. If anything, I was like, 'Oh, the birds are too flashy!' But the moment I played one I was like, 'Whoa, I can play faster now!' It's light and semi-hollow too.' Semones' intricate arrangements inform more tender numbers like the bossanova-led Dumb Feeling and recent single I Can Do What I Want, performed on a pristine Guild with delicate pinch-harmonics – a technique she says is all in the light touch and little adjustments: 'Sometimes moving even half a millimeter will make it ring out much better.' While Animaru might sound like a wild ride through genres, its creator argues that making music, like buying guitars, is all about what feels natural. 'The most important thing is that you sound like yourself – from having a thread through the album to not interfering with the natural tone of my guitar.' In the early 1960s, Dukes of Dixieland's Jim Hall shook up the trad band format by replacing piano with guitar in the rhythm section. More than half a century on, Mei Semones is innovating again and adding a Gen Z flair. 'I still feel weird being like, 'I'm a jazz guitarist,' because in the grand scheme of things, I'm at step one,' she admits. 'I've not even scratched the surface of what it means to be a great guitarist.' Animaru is out now via Bayonet Records.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
St. Louis's north side envisions future as vacant buildings cleared
ST. LOUIS – A bold new chapter is unfolding for one of the most historic neighborhoods in St. Louis. From boarded-up buildings to brand-new beginnings—residents just packed a community meeting to hear about what's next for one thing in mind: the future of north St Louis. Helicopter training crash in Illinois; crews on scene response The Land Reutilization Authority, backed by the St. Louis Development Corporation, laid out aggressive plans to demolish, beautify and rebuild long-disinvested communities like the ville—home to legends like Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, and Arthur Ashe. LRA says it is on track to demolish 2,000 vacant structures by 2026, thanks to ARPA funds and $15 million from the Missouri Department of Economic Development—200 are already demolished, with 800 more scheduled. 'We're leveraging the funding we received from ARPA dollars to move forward with acquisitions and development of these specific areas for things such as commercial development, mixed-use development, retail development and new housing development,' said Shelton Anderson, director of Real Estate. More than $6.5 million is fueling IRA's beautification program—minority- and women-owned businesses are clearing debris, cutting grass, and giving neglected blocks a fresh start. LRA says its new infill housing plan includes modern construction—like 3d-printed homes, modular builds, and rehabbed properties. It's the first time the agency has had funds to invest in this level of comprehensive revitalization. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Property owners who have already transformed LRA properties are shown before and after photos, inspiring others to invest. The city also unveiled plans for 'The Monarch at MLK.' 'The Vandeventer neighborhood has revived $160 million in private and public funding for development in our neighborhood, so if they can replicate that again for The Greater Ville and going northward, I am happy because we should all live in a neighborhood we're proud of,' resident Michael Von Gevel said. Even local realtors say they left feeling inspired. 'I'm blown away because when I ride through here…you know sometimes it's depressing but to see the development that is going on in the city right now, it just makes me smile,' said Madeline Boykins, a realtor. The building that hosted the meeting is set to become an advanced manufacturing workforce hub—home to offices like LRA, the office of violence prevention and more community-focused resources. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
