sunsetcowboy2000 is my AOL name and has been since I joined the Internet Community. But where did I get this name, who in fact was the Sunset Cowboy?

Sunset Cowboy is a song, a song dedicated to the above-named Les Harvey, brother of the late Alex Harvey and lead guitarist of the band Stone the Crows. This song was so called after a horse riding trip the band had taken together shortly before Les death. On May 23 1972 Les was electrocuted on stage as the band prepared for a concert at the Swansea Top Rank Theatre. “As he moved forward to announce the opening number, Les touched a badly connected live microphone and was thrown into the air. He landed with his guitar in contact with the microphone stand and other band members received minor shocks as they tried to pull him clear. Frantic attempts were then made to rescuscitate him”  He was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead. Maggie Bell, who had been engaged to Les for 3 years, collapsed and had to be kept in hospital overnight, heavily sedated. In the Sounds music newspaper Les Harveys dad left a message for the fans

Just a humble intimation to any fan of the late Leslie Harvey of Stone the Crows. Leslie’s ashes will be scattered on Morar Sands, Inverness-shire on Sat. September 9th at 3 p.m.. No mourning garb or useless tears. Assembly by the Sound of Sleat where saint did pass and Prince arose. On Morar Sand in sweet repose

According to the Sounds, Les was the greatest guitarist to have emerged since Eric Clapton and George Harrison. “Had he lived there is no telling .. what degree of brilliance he would have attained”

But, judge for yourselves…

Source: The Sensational Alex Harvey – John Neil Munro

About Les Harvey
[catlist id=54 orderby=ID order=asc]

About Stone The Crows
[catlist id=55 orderby=ID order=asc]

Sometimes someone introduces you to a song, and this song won’t leave you alone. This happened to me a couple of days ago, when I was sent a youtube link to a song by Annie Humphrey (who I admit to never having heard of before) and a song called Spirit Horses.

It is taken from her 2000 album “The Heron Smiled“, which I am afraid I need to own, if only for Spirit Horses, as I haven’t heard any other songs yet.

But this is a complete breath of fresh air! A marvellous song I have been listening to time and time again over the last few days.

Some quotes I have read about this song/album:

“This is as close to heaven I reckon as I’m going to get in this life.” a reader on youtube

“These are not just songs. These are revelations!” a reviewer on amazon.com

Here’s the video for you below…. and the only question left open is: How does a Native American come to be called Annie Humphrey?

I am asking you to define where the most famous music festivals in history took place.

How to play:
Below you will see a map. When you click Start to Play, you will be asked 5 questions. To answer, you are required to click on the map where you think the appropriate festival took place. You don’t have too much time to answer, so don’t waste time enlarging sections of the map. If you want to see the map on full page,  just click on the icon at the top right.

Oh, and when you have finished, don’t forget to tell me how many points you got by entering your result in the comment box below

photo credit: hdport

The optimism that was evident before the European Song Contest turned to despair, as Alex Swings, Oscar Sings failed to catch the imagination of the Europeans and the Jury, leaving Germany wondering what had gone wrong, and prompting the biggest tabloid to say “What has Europe got against us?”

Sometimes I think Germany hasn’t understood what this competition is all about.

The vocalist comes from California, sings english: What’s German about that?
The song is a Swing number: What’s German about that, what’s even european about that?
The producer, Alex Christensen, is European and German, and is a successful producer at that. But one word sort of sums him up: Commerce. And Germany have enough of that…

And after all the hype surrounding Dita von Teese, the European Broadcasting Union forbid her strip and she ended up just doing nothing in particular – but reputedly got 60000 Euros in the process… what has she got to do with Germany, Europe, Music?

Sure it hurts a nation like Germany when they only see the heels of countries like Azerbaijan and Estonia, but that’s the way it goes if you don’t do your homework

When I first read that the German GEMA was blocking youtube, I thought … yeah right, April Fools Day. Especially as all music videos I looked for were right in their place. The only discernable difference I could see was that the whole page was upside down.

But, a couple of days later, it appears that GEMA has indeed blocked videos, but here’s the clou. They have only blocked official videos from artists that have officially been uploaded. All the other stuff, which is probably in excess of 75% I should think, is still there and visible.

Its all about money of course. GEMA wants more money for its artists and is asking youtube to give GEMA information about how many times a video is being viewed. Youtube refuses of course. By the way, we are reportedly talking about 1 (Euro) Cent per view. If I did something similar I would have to pay more than 20 Cents…

So here we are now with a situation where the legal videos have been banned, but its OK to watch the illegal ones. Strange carryings on indeed. And at the end of the day, its the artists that are suffering.

The concert will not be taking place in my front room due to the fact that it is a) not really big enough, and b) my family put in their veto. And after looking around for a while I decided to stage it in a wine cellar in the old part of the city of Hamburg.

This venue has many advantages.  It has a sort of romantic intimacy, and a great ambience, situated, as it is, on the banks of one of the old canals in the center of the city. When the weather is nice, you can go down onto the pontoon, and enjoy your wine there. The Cremon seats about 75 people, so that Luthea will be able to make herself heard above the chattering, without having to resort to amplification. And at the same time the landlord is planning a round of wine-tasting in the next room. Intermingling is included…

Even though being a pioneer is not easy at the best of times, I’m sure it will be a great evening!

Luthea Salom Live in Hamburg.
Saturday, 18th April at 8 p.m.
Cremon Lounge, Cremon 33-34, 20457 Hamburg.

You can book your ticket at http://www.davidscott.de/luthea-salom-live-in-hamburg/

or take your chances on the evening

It was Dave who introduced me to Jack The Lad of course. Jack the Lad were a spin-off from Lindisfarne. With their brand of Good-Time Folk Rock, they were always a great Live-Act. In the space of about 4 years in the early to middle seventies they cut 4 fine albums:-

Its Jack The Lad
The Old Straight Track
Rough Diamonds
Jackpot.

The first three records were on the Famous Charisma Label, but after Rough Diamonds, the record company parted company with the band (threw ‘em out, if I remember rightly). The last LP, Jackpot, was on the United Artists Label. In the between time all these records have been re-released on CD, although Jackpot is rather difficult to find.

In the 90s the band reformed, albeit briefly, and cut another LP – On The Road Again

Came across this video on youtube, brought it all back

Oh, and Dave…. if you ever read this post, get in touch, OK?