The 4th of July in Western South Dakota is wonderful. And after returning from two weeks in Israel plus 4 days in Zurich (we went to Heidiland…Clara sends her best), I intend to enjoy every second of it. We’ll start with the 96th annual Belle Fourche parade. Just show up and get an entry form; make sure you have plenty of candy to throw.
We’ll skip the rodeo, as usual, for a big picnic with good friends and good food and eagerly await sundown. That is when we trek to Beulah, Wyoming (popultion 73) where Kathy will unload her “weapons of mass destruction” and along with others start shooting fireworks in the middle of the main street (which also happens to be a state highway). You drive through Beulah at your peril. If we’re lucky we’ll be home by 11:00 and able to give the neighbors a taste of what they missed. It’s a great day; one I wouldn’t miss for anything. And through it all one song will provide the soundtrack…..here.
Promising New Releases For July: The ever-popular Cradle of Filth releases “Hammer Of The Witches” on the 10th, the same day Four Tet releases “Morning/Evening”. Veruca Salt’s first album of new material in 19 years “Ghost Notes” also drops the 10th. July 17th will be busy with new music from Alan Jackson (“Angels And Alcohol”), The Chemical Brothers (“Born In The Echoes”), Galactic (“Into The Deep”), Pitbull (“Dale” …Spanish for “let’s go” if you’re wondering), Tame Impala (“Currents”) and Jason Isbell (“Something More Than Free”). And on the 31st we’ll get Buddy Guy (“Born To Play Guitar”), Titus Andronicus (“The Most Lamentable Tragedy”), Albert Hammond (“Momentary Masters”) and CFCF (“Radiance And Submission”).
For those of you who don’t have enough box sets you’ll have “Live At The Fillmore East October 4th & 5th 1968” a 4-disc set from Sly & The Family Stone; “The Band: The Capitol Albums 1968-1977” a nine-LP set; Alice Cooper’s “The Studio Albums 1969-1983” a 15-disc collection; “America: The Warner Brothers Years” which covers everything from 1971 to 1977 in seven remastered studio albums and one live performance. And finally as a public service to our readers, you need to start saving your shekels because on September 18, The Grateful Dead is releasing an 80-disc box (I’m thinking “crate” is a better description) set of unreleased concert recordings spanning the band’s career. It’s called “30 Trips Around The Sun” and will take at least that long to listen to it all.
stay tuned. In the next few days we’ll have news about our inaugural Spotify Playlist, an edition of “What We’re Listening To” and links to some very good samplers.