January 7, 2012

Forever if (N)Ever

That awkward moment when Jon McLaughlin refutes your latest blog post...

I had that today.

From my blog post on Jan. 5th:

"...he was absolutely phenomenal, quite possibly the best piano player I've ever heard, and more than worth the $10 I spent to pick up his latest album (Forever If Ever)...Do yourself a favor--go to iTunes, youtube, Spotify, jonmcl.com, etc. and listen.You won't regret it."


From Jon's blog today (Jan. 7th):

"my last record Forever If Ever is no longer up on iTunes, Amazon, my site, stores, anywhere. It has disappeared. So if you have already purchased your copy then great! It’s value just went up. It’s a collector’s item now. It once was worth $10.00 but now I estimate that it’s value has sky rocketed to at least $11.20-11.25."

You can check out his full entry here for further explanation, but you get the point.

So ah, maybe don't go out and look for Forever if Ever. But do keep this guy on your music radar.

And I for one will not be selling my copy for a $1.25 profit. With the autograph, it's got to be worth at least $12.50.

January 5, 2012

These Crazy Times


I have a confession: I'm glad Hanson canceled their show in Albany in October. True, I was more than a bit frustrated to suddenly find myself without a show to see or even a place to sleep, but sometimes you just have to go with the unexpected twists and make the best of them.

The silver lining presented itself when we remembered that Stephen Kellogg was playing a show in Albany the same night Hanson had been scheduled to play. We had tried to match up a day off from Hanson's tour to a SK6ers show along the way, but it just hadn't worked out. We ended up getting what we wanted, just not in the way we expected.

But even though Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers are great and always put on an amazing show, this still isn't the reason I'm glad Hanson canceled on us (what can I say? I already knew that about SK6ers). So what can make me glad to miss a Hanson show? Here's the full list:

Jon McLaughlin.


Not my first choice, not even my second choice--but the third string entertainment of the night. I'm sure he's had better compliments, but the bottom line is he was absolutely phenomenal, quite possibly the best piano player I've ever heard, and more than worth the $10 I spent to pick up his latest album (Forever If Ever) at the merch table after his performance. It provided an important part of the soundtrack for the next several thousand miles before I finally made it back home and still couldn't take it out of the CD player.

Why am I writing this three months later? Because I'm still obsessed with this album, and whoever is reading this right now should not have to miss a Hanson concert and find themselves on the street with no place to go in order to discover this music. Do yourself a favor--go to iTunes, youtube, Spotify, jonmcl.com, etc. and listen.You won't regret it.

Not my video, but someone managed to capture the song that won me over and shared it on youtube. Enjoy!

P.S. If 2:33-3:18 doesn't win you over, I don't trust you as a person.