Many of the people in my generation were not even born at what is considered the Golden Age of Radio. Where stories were told and tales were woven through the Radios in the kitchen and family dining rooms.

Occassionally I was fortunate enough as a kid to get some live baseball games from the East Coast. On a clear night I would somehow manage to pick up Yankee, Met or Red Sox games all the way clearly into my room in Nova Scotia.

As a kid I used to have to fall asleep with a Radio on at night. Today I need the complete opposite, total silence!

Sirius 118 Radio Classics plays great classic Radio dramas like Dragnet and The Shadow, plus material from some comedy pioneers like George Burns and Jack Benny. Spend enough time with Radio Classics and you will be transported back in time. This is where you paint the imagery with your mind and therefore in my opinion, you make the stories much more enjoyable.

What the Golden Age of Radio reminds me in today’s age of Satellite Radio is to really listen to what people are saying. All of the great (and even the not so great) talk show hosts on SiriusXM do what they can to tell their stories so they capture and keep an audience.

Many of the on-air hosts on the music stations also do an excellent job of telling stories. One needs to only turn to Sirius16 Deep Tracks for a great example. Bob Dylan and Tom Petty tell excellent stories related to the music they play on their respective shows.

Give Radio Classics a listen some evening and check out old storytelling at the Golden Age. It is a lesson in Radio history worth learning.

This past weekend, Sirius16 Deep Tracks has been pulling out great live performances from its’ massive collection of on air performances from great acts. Hearing some of these great performances is a reminder of how genuine and talented most of these great acts are. Acts like the Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, Jethro Tull (to name a few) are excellent to hear live because you are given a first rate account of the musicianship these people share.

I am reminded of great live albums that have been released over the years and the impact some of these records have had on modern music as we  know it today. So I thought I would share insight onto some records which are stand-outs as far as live records.

The KISS Alive series – KISS Alive still stands out to me as the most cool example of how amazing the original KISS lineup sounded live. Tight musicianship and great songs are what KISS has always been about. The Alive record was so successful that KISS did two more great Alive records which act as glorious continuations and celebrations of the music.

The Who “Live At Leeds” – The Who’s masterpiece live performance from Leeds University is considered to be the greates live record of all time. There are many reasons for this. Namely because it showed this core group of musicians at their absolute best. It also showed the world how powerful the crafted songs were when played live. Anyone who recently saw the disaster performance from Townsend and Daltry at the Superbowl probably wished they had put this record on instead.

Other Honourable Mentions -

Peter Frampton’s live recordings

All Pink Floyd and Roger Waters live recordings

Black Sabbath – Live Evil

Cheap Trick – Live at Budokan

Ted Nugent – Intensity In Ten Cities

I have debated for some time if I was going to wade into the discussions and silly rumours about Howard Stern going to American Idol to replace Simon Cowell. The only reason I am now speaking out is because it seems to be one of the few main topics being thrown around on the Stern show. I am amazed at how many people have come up to me saying that it was going to happen and how “horrible” it will be.

First, I do not enjoy watching American Idol. I never did and never will. I agree with Howard’s assessment that the show is nothing more than a Karaoke contest. Even though the show has discovered some (albeit few) great vocal talents, overall it is a joke.

If these strange people would actually listen to Howard talk about his feelings about the show, you know full well by how he is talking that he would likely be the last candidate to join this judging panel. His constant slamming of the show and the judges is pretty clear cut to me. No producer in their right mind would look at someone who is slamming the very show and offer a contract to that particular person!  It is simple logic!

Howard may also be posturing somewhat in order to draw attention to his deal with Sirius being up at the end of the year. If Howard is telling the truth, then negotiations have yet to commence on whether Sirius is going to have him back. I am certain that given the traffic Howard has confirmed to have brought over to Sirius, it would be another costly business mistake if Sirius lets him go back to Terrestrial Radio.

Howard merely mentioning American Idol while tiring, has served to produce a few hilarious pieces of dialogue. As for his real future, the wait continues.

Dann

Sirius 15 Classic Rewing has been running great sets of music this weekend revolving around the guitar heroes. For me even as a bass player, I have been inspired by some great guitarists of the world who compose music that has made my life and this world a better place. So I find myself reflecting on some of the great guitar heroes whom I admire. These guitar heroes may not be on Classic Rewind, but they qualify as guitar heroes none the less.

Yngwie J. Malmsteen – The swedish guitar legend is my all-time favourite guitar player even if not my favourite composer. Malmsteen has worked the realms of forging classical music with metal. One needs to look at his album “Odyssey” to see how far off the planet his technique is. Malmsteen uses his techniques to serve the purpose of the music, and it serves him well. Much of his classic material will be heard on Sirius23 Hair Nation.

Tony Iommi – Black Sabbath is what it is because of the guitar work of Tony Iommi. Tony’s superior ability to write killer riffs and blow through melodic solos makes him one of the all-time greats. As a major fan of Black Sabbath, I never stopped being amazed at how Tony can just make guitar look and sound so amazing. Tony’s musical contributions to Black Sabbath and other projects make him stand alone. He deserves credit for inspiring legions of guitarists who followed into metal and hard rock.  Black Sabbath can usually be heard on Sirius19 The Boneyard or Sirius 27 Liquid Metal.

Rewind will be playing sets from guitar heroes like Eddie Van Halen, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and others. Worth a listen to and a reminder of the great contributions of the real guitar heroes.

Ask any bona-fide music fan what they think about the “Grunge” movement that tornadoed into the music world in the 1990’s and you will get a variety of personal opinions. Seattle Washington was already home to some of the most revered acts in louder music, noteably Traditional Metal masters Queensryche. A guitar-wielding drone voiced blond haired dude named Kurt Cobain along with Bassist Kirst Novoselic, Drummer David Grohl and Guitarist Jason Everman formed Nirvana. While it was not until Everman was gone from the group and the band’s genre defining record “Nevermind” came out that the world suddenly woke up to this sound.

Nirvana brought riffs and anger directly from many of the great classic punks like the Ramones and Misfits into a new audience. Alternative Rock became more mainstream literally overnight.

Metal bands from the area that were caught up in the Nirvana sweep thankfully received some great record sales and media attention as well, despite being re-categorized. Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, who are featured regularly on Lithium, were metal acts. During an awards ceremony where Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell accepted an award for a metal performance connected to a track from the band’s great album “Superunknown”, Cornell proudly proclaimed to the audience that they were metal.

I can argue with anyone the opinion that Soundgarden to me were one of the best Seattle metal acts since Queensryche, and Alice in Chains not far behind.

While I personally can acknowledge the great acts that came out of this era, I feel many acts heard on Litihum did not get the critical acclaim they truly deserved.  Some of these acts like Screaming Trees, were in my opinion much more original than some of the bigger names.

Listening to Lithium for a couple of hours these past few days, I have been able to get an entire scope of the music the channel represents. You get the great Seattle acts and tracks from some great artists. You also hear overtones and riffs from 70’s and 80’s punk that helped to define an anger a generation of teens and old school punks. I also have come to appreciate and accept the impact altnernative rock had on music, especially as someone who went to high school in the 90’s.

Sirius 19 The Boneyard recently paid tribute this past weekend to the late Bon Scott of AC/DC. Bon passed away 30 years ago February 19, 1980. The Scotch born vocalist was found in his car and passed away as a result of alcohol poisoning.

AC/DC as you all know was featured after the merger as a lengthy limited engagement where their music was played for several months straight. For this tribute, Sirius would spin a track from the Bon Scott era at the top of each hour.

I took time to remember what was great about Bon and how excellent he was as a peformer. My favourite AC/DC album is his last one “Highway to Hell” because of the great songs and Bon’s performance. It almost felt like he was really trying to deliver a last set of stories before vanishing. Sadly this turned out to be true. I am grateful that my introduction to AC/DC was through the Scott era. I am also grateful that AC/DC was able to continue with Brian Johnson. Some of the best Hard Rock of my generation has been turned out by the Johnson era which continues.

Bon was a living embodiment of how the music of AC/DC was and what it would become. They were happy when critics gave them hell for making “the same album ten times”. Bon was about telling a story, giving it 100% on stage. Even if he was inebriated! Some of the best material from the Bon era are great stories and catchy titles like the aforementioned “Highway to Hell”,”Big Balls” and ”Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

30 years later, the music community remembers Bon Scott of AC/DC.

I learned late last week that effective March 1, 2010, Sirius Canada subscribers will now be forced to pay the Canadian Music Royalty Fee. I was extremly disturbed to read this given that I figured after Sirius axed lifetime subsriptions and the backlash that came from it, that the company was done clawing back these sorts of things. I am of the understanding that Sirius has been absorbing this cost for some time but in order to continue its climb out of the red, they needed to pass this on to the customer.

I will personally get over this cost increase that has been passed on. I am able to make my subscription pay for itself really quickly. I encourage all subscribers to voice their concerns and any anger over this directly to Sirius Canada, but also please feel free to express your viewpoint on these pages. I will respond to every comment with my own two cents. Rest assured I will understand anyone being irritated by this.

I find myself conflicted. On one hand I am happy to see the company as a whole slowly getting itself back into the black. At the same time, I think customers (all of us) have seen enough clawbacks. Axing lifetime subscriptions was a poor enough decision, and now we are paying the price that terrestrial radio has always been able to pay through its raising of advertising revenues.

Even with that in mind, I will still never go back to terrestrial radio. I keep reminding myself today that I still have Howard Stern, and all the great options that are not available on the regular dial.

Moving forward folks, I hope all of us as customers get some good programming this year and the right contracts are renewed with the right talent….

Although the Olympics in Vancouver started on Friday the 12th, it is not too late to tune in to Sirius 85 Iceberg for coverage and interviews with artists who are at the games, and live performances from Whistler’s Live Festival. 

Barenaked Ladies, Wintersleep and Bedouin Soundclash are among just some of the artists who will be there.

Be certain to also tune in to any of the Sports Channels on SiriusXM for occasional snippets of coverage from the Olympics. While I have been unable to ascertain if the US channels will be covering any Olympic events, I will be periodically checking to see if they will be doing any of their own updates or live coverage.

I personally look forward to watching the hockey coverage as Canada looks for gold performances from both the mens and womens teams amongst a competitive field.

On the day I write and post this, February 13, 2010, metal fans across the world are celebrating the 40th birthday of “Black Sabbath”. This record by a group of 4 guys from Birmingham England would revolutionize the world of Heavy Metal and dare I say it, modern music. Those of us who are Sabbath devotees are celebrating this occasion all month long. For me, this particular record is my favourite record of all time and still a blast to listen to from start to finish.

It is safe to say that SiriusXM Liquid Metal would not exist without the music of the almighty Sabbath. Sabbath influenced every metal band that would come after them. Sabbath defined Heavy Metal with dark imagery and dark themed lyrics while maintaining solid musicianship.

The tracks from this and other Sabbath records will also be heard regularly on Sirius 19, The Boneyard. 

Sabbath’s history in metal is permanently secured thanks to the wide influence on metal musicians that followed. A rock and roll hall of fame induction further cemented this place.

I am eternally grateful for the influence Sabbath has had on my life personally and as a musician. I am pleased to spin this record a few times over the weekend!

I mentioned not that long ago on these pages that we have been fortunate to experience some great limited engagements over the last couple of years. My personal favourite was having Sirius18 The Spectrum become John Mellencamp Radio for a good period of time. We also went through a Metallica Month and an extended period for AC/DC Radio right at the merger period when the various channels were combined. Recently The Who Radio took over Sirius 16 Deep Tracks for the course of Superbowl weekend.

Who would you like to see on Sirius for a limited engagement? If you can think of anyone, I encourage you to post your suggestions here and send them along to Sirius for feedback. I will share some of my ideas here, and welcome your feedback.

Tom Petty – I already mentioned this before but it is worth mentioning again. Tom has a wealth of music to select from as well as great recorded live performances worth hearing a few times over. This could easily be a one week event, maybe two.

Black Sabbath – Heavy Metal’s greatest outfit deserves a one week engagement on The Boneyard. All of the albums, all of the singers. It is still Black Sabbath at the end of the day. It would be a great listening experience for those who assume Ozzy is the only real Sabbath singer.

George Strait – One of the greatest and most honest voices in Country music could easily have a one week engagement on Sirius 62 or 61. George Strait has a massive collection of songs, well chosen and well sung.

Hopefully Sirius will host some more great limited engagements this year, and I am anxious to see what will be coming next.