One of my favorite guitar-players has just released a new CD. “Kill to Get Crimson” is the title of Mark Knopfler’s latest and Rolling Stone is giving it four stars. This is the fifth solo outing for the former frontman for Dire Straits and the first since his highly-regarded collaboration with Emmy Lou Harris. I listened to some samples for a couple of tracks and each time I hear new music from Knopfler I’m always surprised by what he commits to plastic.  For such an accomplished guitar-player he tends to focus more on crafting a song than demonstrating his playing technique. I suppose this is a good thing, but since his voice is decidedly limited his broader appeal is also limited unless paired with someone like Emmy Lou Harris. He’s also avoided anything that hints at rock since putting Straits on hold. Fortunately this still leaves a lot of musical territory to cover and since Knopfler can pick a fretboard like Chet Atkins he can credibly venture into country and blues with worthwhile results. To hear a track or to read more about the guitarist check out his site at http://www.markknopfler.com. According to his tour itinerary, he’ll be on the road in North America in the near future.

This year’s nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced (drum roll please Mr. Moon), they are: Madonna, The Ventures, The Dave Clark Five, Leonard Cohen, Chic, John Mellencamp, Donna Summer, the Beastie boys and Afrika Bambaataa. To be eligible, the nominees would have had to release their first single no later than 1982.

At this point, most of the obvious choices have been inducted so now we’re getting into the early eighties music scene (yawn), and the leftovers from the sixties and seventies. All of these current artists certainly qualify or they wouldn’t have been nominated, but if I had to pick someone, I would be pulling for Leonard Cohen (who writes the best depressing songs that every artist wants to cover) and the Ventures (the 60s guitar nerds who wrote tunes so cool they didn’t need vocals). Okay and maybe John Mellencamp, as long as he doesn’t play “Little Pink Houses,” if he gets inducted.

I’d be interested in hearing who you think is worthy to be added to the Hall for 2008 or if you think that there’s a deserving artist who’s been overlooked let me know.

Btw…Why in the hell were the Stooges overlooked again this year? They got robbed last year and weren’t even nominated this year!!! Might as well tune into Partridge Family reruns (they haven’t been nominated yet, have they?)

I had a chance to catch a sneak peak of Sean Penn’s soon to be released, “Into the Wild,” last Thursday.  The movie was brilliant, any Oscar buzz is spot on. Especially for Eddie Vedder.

For those who don’t know, Eddie Vedder wrote all of the songs on the soundtrack and had a hand in the score. My friend is a huge Eddie Vedder fan, so she wore her “I Love Eddie Vedder” t-shirt.  The girl who took our tickets did not know who Eddie Vedder was.

Is that possible?

Am I old, or do I just have an unrealistic view of the importance of the grunge music that I, and many of my generation, once held so dear? Freakin’ Eddie Vedder! He was in Singles! He hated MTV before it was cool to hate MTV!

This girl wasn’t even that much younger than me. Girls, especially, are SUPPOSED to know Eddie Vedder. He’s the cute one, right? That’s what all the girls used to tell me. They loved him, didn’t they? I thought… Never mind.

My world is now turned upside down.

The subhead for Record Envelope bills itself as a reference for vinyl geeks and graphic artists (two categories that I fall into). They’re a virtual museum displaying numerous retro 45 RPM record sleeves. Thanks to Rob Gorczyca, our neighbor at Techbox for turning us on to this.

Actually this came out a year ago (I’m always the last to know), but in case you haven’t heard, there’s a “Hendrix Electric Vodka” on the market. What Jimi has to do with liquor is beyond me, but the bottle certainly looks sharp. From a marketing standpoint, it’s actually unfortunate that another vodka producer didn’t nab the merchandising rights first. Some ad agency could have had a field day with an ad campaign for “Scuse me While I Kiss the Skyy” vodka. Or maybe not.

Announced today: the Sex Pistols will be reforming for a one-off concert to mark the 30th anniversary of their one-and-only (but much influential) album, “Never Mind the Bollocks.” Original members Johnny (Rotten) Lydon, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook will take the stage in London in November. Bassist Sid Vicious died of a drug overdose in 1978.

One of my favorite songwriters on the planet has returned from a self-imposed exile to release her first new recording in years. Joni Mitchell has joined Paul McCartney and James Taylor to produce work exclusively for Starbucks’ own music label, Hear Music. They must have done something to make her happy, because the last time she spoke publicly about her music career, it was in the past tense. It looks like their angling for the adult contemporary audience (aging boomers) that mainstream labels have been giving the cold shoulder.

Anyway, it’s good news for fans of the Canadian songstress. Song samples can be heard at Mojo magazine’s site. 

Disney has pressured concert promoters Live Nation to cancel shows by Machine Head at the House of Blues in Anaheim and Orlando which are housed on Disney property.

Sure sounds goofy to me….

Okay Plant, Page & JPJ finally announced that they will play a show together as Led Zeppelin. So far it’s only a one-off tribute concert to Ahmet Ertegun (the recently deceased record executive) that was suggested by his widow. The show will take place in London on November 26 at the 02 Arena. Their opening acts are no slouches either, scheduled to appear are: Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Stars (former Stones bassist), Pete Townshend (Who), Paolo Nutini (who?) and Foreigner. Oh yeah, sitting behind the drumkit will be Jason Bonham, son of the late John Bonham.

Whether a tour will follow is still unknown, but classic rock radio should have a field day with this. Just one more excuse to play Stairway to Heaven…

The Onion’s AV Club compiled a list of songs NEARLY ruined by saxophone.

Ha!