KRS Blog To Fuel Up Again; Visit Our Companion Blog Denvertainment

King's Record Shop blog has fallen way behind, as you can see if you scroll down and check the dates (and I know you will, as nothing gets by you, am I right!?).

Ha! It's still far behind, as I write this in late October 2013. Try again in a month. If you remember. I'll try to have some things written. Thanks for visiting.

It's time we got this up and running again.  So while I can't promise you that there will be immediate updates and new posts, we are going to get to it here and have new posts in the King's Record Shop blog for your amusement, enjoyment and information.  We're going to make it of a more personal nature perhaps, with trips into the Record Wayback Machine, Sherman.  Sometimes we'll even set the date for the current year and maybe even the current day!  So check back here and see if we've made some improvements in this old blog.

Meanwhile, we've had an affiliation, lol, to say the least, with another blog, one that features photos and reviews of entertainment events going on around town, including, right now, a lot of music, though that will most likely be expanded to cover all sorts of entertainment, arts and leisure activities going on in Denver.

We'll get things going here on the King's Record Shop blog soon.  And for now, and the future too, I want to direct your attention and your flying fingers on the keyboard to Denvertainment, which you can find right here: http://denvertainment.blogspot.com/

GENESIS: A HISTORY [VHS] (1991)

This autobiographical documentary of the prog rock band lead by Peter Gabriel, and then Phil Collins for many years, is extremely watchable, well-paced, with great video, with participation and reflections from band members, especially the three who were the foundation of the band through most of the years, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks.

We hadn't watched this video in quite some time, so it was enjoyable all over again the other night when we viewed our VHS copy that has held up extremely well. From the earliest days of the band, including outdoors shots of the school where they met and get together, with Phil Collins on scene. Clips of Genesis in the early days with the eccentricities and flamboyant theatrics of Gabriel are included, and musings by each member as to what Genesis is really about, the musical transitions through the years, presents an ever-engrossing and mesmerizing account of the group.

Many fans of the earliest incarnation of Genesis, as conceived by founding member Peter Gabriel, didn't want the band to change. They wanted the band to continue to toe the line that Gabriel created, with oblique lyrics and long, instrumental, classically oriented passages, and not veer away from it. However, if you have an appetite for a rich, varied musical palette, then you can probably enjoy more than one style of music, as the band themselves obviously can too. Also, we would argue, there's really nothing inherently wrong with going through transitions and for a band to morph into something different than they were when they were conceived. This is a healthy process that stimulated continued growth and interest, both by real fans and also by the band members themselves.

And this fact is part of what makes this History so captivating. If Genesis had remained the same from their inception to the recent reunion tour of the three primary members (and not sure if the reunion included additional great drummer Chester Thompson or not, who was used for double drumming between Collins and Thompson in many concert tours), then likely this autobiographical documentary of the band would seem too much, too long of the same thing from start to finish.

But this video has highs, lows, excitement and depth.

If you are or were a fan of Genesis, or if you would like to know more about them, then GENESIS: A HISTORY is an energetic, active documentary that will both inform and entertain you.

I think I'll watch it again. Soon.

Unbelievably not available on DVD.

Thanksgiving Day

What are some of the songs and music you listen to on Thanksgiving Day? I listened to Arlo Guthrie's classic Alice's Restaurant this morning when I put it on my MySpace profile. It's still a lot of fun, even though a lot of people have no idea what a local draft board is anymore.

Another favorite of mine is Thanksgiving Day by Ray Davies. I think Ray has a knack for writing lyrics that matter, that tell the story and really bring home the way it is on this holiday for many people.

Almost Thanksgiving Day by Graham Parker is a good one to spin today as well.

It's an instrumental, but Turkey Chase by Bob Dylan and friends off the Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid soundtrack album is a fitting prelude to eating the gobbler.

If you have enough energy to get up and dance after eating dinner, you could listen to Little Eva's song Turkey Trot.

Then, in the spirit of thankfulness, try The Scaffold's Thank You Very Much and The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society, which has a great list of things to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Soundtrack to the Snow

In case you haven't heard, it's been snowing today, continuing from yesterday, here at our home base in Denver. Westword, the weekly free news, arts and entertainment paper here, has a blog about music for snow, specifically favoring Brian Eno. A good choice, for sure. Here are some others.

As the snow falls, I like to get into a trance, staring at the snow with some ambient music and space music to serve as a soundtrack for the snow.

One album that is fit for the snow is Michael Hoenig's 'From The Northern Wasteland.' It's a terrific spacey journey. Then, to regain some balance, guitarist Brian Keane's (not the other BK) album "Snowfalls." If you listen to the music as it opens on the Crystal Lake side of Klaus Schulze's album "Mirage," it sounds like twinkling snowflakes. If you can imagine snowflakes twinkling. I could also go for Tangerine Dream, maybe "Ricochet," and Pink Floyd's title track to "Atom Heart Mother."

The Westword blog talks about Brian Eno. For a Brian Eno selection, there are several good ones. In fact, all of them are good ones. One of my favorites is "Ambient 4: On Land." But since I listen to that one a lot, maybe today I'd go with "Fourth World Vol.1 Possible Musics" by Jon Hassell/Brian Eno.

For non-instrumentals, I'm sure there are a lot of songs suitable for the snowfall as well. I think of Al Stewart's song Roads To Moscow from "Past, Present and Future." You can just picture this soldier as he makes his way through the heavy snows wondering if he'll see home again. For a laugh, I might pick Greg Lake's Humbug, which was the flip side of the 45rpm I Believe In Father Christmas.

What music do you like to listen to when it snows?

Despite Snow, Steely Dan Is A 'Go'

*INCLEMENT WEATHER UPDATE: The show will still begin at 8pm. Doors at 7pm* - That's the word we get from the Wells Fargo Theater about tonight's Steely Dan concert. How many of you who have tickets are still going to go? Will you drive? Will you take RTD? Will you ski there? Send your comments about tonight's show, getting there, as well as reviews of the concert, to us right here, or you can email them to us, if you prefer, at kingsrecordshop@yahoo.com.