2010

For this installment of Through The Years we look at a Tom Petty video from each year between 1976 and 2010. Usually we aim to show you how much the appearance and sound of the featured artist has changed over the years, but we were struck with how little Petty’s music has changed over the years. The Florida native never altered his classic sound to fit with the times.

The playlist starts with a look at Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the studio recording Breakdown in 1976 and contains 28 more high-quality videos featuring dozens of big hits and a few choice covers. Highlights include Petty and his band backing Bob Dylan on Positively 4th Street in 1986, an intense take on Don’t Come Around Here No More from 1985, Tom and Prince delivering a sizzling While My Guitar Gently Weeps at 2004’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and a beautiful acoustic version of Won’t Back Down from the Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline in 2000.

READ ON for the complete track information for this playlist…

For musicians who want to figure out how to cover a song, there’s no better tool than isolated tracks. Isolated tracks are audio files in which one instrument is boosted over the other instruments. Not only are they useful for figuring out how to cover the song in question but they also show off the skills of the instrumentalist whose track has been boosted. We recently came across a trifecta of isolated track videos on YouTube covering all the parts of Rush’s Tom Sawyer. Take a listen to Geddy Lee’s work on the bass…

Rush – Tom Sawyer (Isolated Bass)

READ ON to hear Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart’s parts…

[Updated With Official Video – 09/06 2:30PM] Chicago prog-jammers Umphrey’s McGee have a long history of covering contemporary songs from tackling SNL’s Dick In A Box on Dec. 31, 2006

While the official end of summer isn’t for a few weeks, Labor Day marks it’s “unofficial” ending. For those of us in the real world it just means no more

Ray LaMontagne will make two late-night TV appearances this week stopping by Jay Leno on Wednesday and Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday in support of his new album God Willin’ &

Nearly a year after tickets went on sale, we’re finally approaching Pavement’s series of shows at Central Park Summerstage here in NYC. The band will visit Late Night with Jimmy

For this week’s Friday Mix Tape we turn to SupDudeSupGuy for his extensive Summer Closeout Mix featuring dozens of fantastic summer-related tunes from a wide variety of HT-approved artists. Among

Last week’s introductory post, F4tF: Los Angeles Adventure, Pt. 1 – The Neville Brothers @ Hollywood Bowl started out my recollection of my recent first trip to Los Angeles where I had the opportunity to see some wonderful places as I was staying with an old friend who is a private chef and showed me all of the markets and local places to check out. Since last week’s story took place on the Wednesday evening of my week-long trip I thought I’d share with you what I did earlier in the day.

We went to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market

The Wednesday market has been around since 1981. Here is the history of the market from its website:

The Wednesday Market opened in Santa Monica’s downtown retail district with the modest goals of providing reasonably priced, high quality produce to the city’s population, and bringing more foot traffic into the area. The market met with instant success in its first year. Now, more than twenty years later, it’s widely recognized as one of the largest and most diverse grower-only CFM’s in the state. Some nine thousands food shoppers every week, and many of Los Angeles’ best known chefs and restaurants, are keyed to the seasonal rhythms of the Wednesday Market. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say, at mid-week in the heart of the city the mother of markets comes to town. Whether you’re looking for a common, exotic or experimental variety of fruit or vegetable, this market is a treasure trove of agricultural diversity.

That last line about the market being a “treasure trove of agricultural diversity is so true.” Upon our entry, one of the first things I wanted to try was fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juices. I found two separate vendors. Some of the best juice I have had in a long time. First stop was for Valencia Orange Juice from Polito Family Farms. Refreshing doesn’t even begin to describe the taste of locally grown and squeezed oranges juice.

READ ON for more of this week’s Friday For the Foodies…