A Tale of Two Asias

It was the best of shows. It was the worst of shows. Original Asia were supposed to perform in Syracuse on 12 August at the CNY Market Block Party, but that along with Poison vocalist turned TV star Bret Michaels exploded in a row over money with promoter Mike Banks. There are two sides to every story, yet he is being slated big time for letting people down. I can't remember the last time so much vitriol was surrounding a promoter. Even Harvey Goldsmith must have had the onus on him with Yes's 1980 Drama tour, which had now-Asia members Steve Howe and Geoff Downes, making it a bonafide precursor to Asia if you like. The tour suffered with Trevor Horn singing to the point he could have gotten lymph nodes going from out of key, as fans bought tickets months before the record was out assuming it was business as usual with Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman. Mainly at home, people were cross, but I don't remember fingers being pointed at Goldsmith directly however.
Three decades on, there is no time for Asia to have another go at it here, so I have to go to the Armoury in Rochester, a free show like Albany in '07, but not the cost of travelling! They were last in Monroe County in '06, so everyone there will be glad to see them again.
If Banks can get everything organised for another show, he could compensate by getting Asia featuring John Payne in OA's stead. I won't bring up old news of the "feud" between the pair of them. I think they get on now. Just had to deal with the solicitors on the name. I mentioned AFJP to Banks. He hasn't said anything yet, as he still has his hands full in getting everyone's money back.
Another live open air series in town was cancelled, but due to low attendence. Check earlier posts on my lament in not getting enough acts here.

John Wetton & Geoffrey Downes - Icon II: Rubicon with rare bonus track!

Links to download main album:
Part 1
Part 2

Rare bonus track "The Harbour Wall" here! ("Sleep Angel" from the first one with new lyrics).

Icon 3 with "Live Another Day" is on the way! I'm all set with the original Icon.

The Moody Blues at Stanley Centre for the Arts - Review

Since no one else is gonna do it, it's up to me. Haven't done this in a while.
Last night, I finally got to see the Moody Blues at the Stanley in Utica, NY. Had to get a ride there. Well worth the trip. No meet and greet though. Maybe if I waited outside the tour bus (small town), but I had to get home to bed.
Before show time, fans of three to four generations flooded into the theatre. Not 100% sold out (economy I suppose), but still a sizable crowd nonetheless. The PA played tracks not in the setlist such as those from 1983's The Present. The show started with "The Voice" (though the keyboards couldn't be heard as clearly as on the album Long Distance Voyager. The last number was, as always, "Ride My See-Saw". Messrs Hayward, Lodge, and Edge were in top form, as if they weren't ageing at all. On that note, Graeme Edge did some stand-up comedy about being over-60s in Florida taking Viagara. He's been in the band since day one.
As always with these shows, I memorise the numbers by original release:

Tuesday Afternoon
Peak Hour
Late Lament
Nights in White Satin
Ride My See-Saw
Voices in the Sky (I think)
Lovely to See You
Never Comes the Day
Are You Sitting Comfortably?
Higher and Higher
Gypsy (Of a Strange and Distant Time)
Question
The Story in Your Eyes
I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock 'n Roll Band)
Isn't Life Strange?
Steppin' in a Slide Zone
Driftwood
The Day We Meet Again
The Voice
Your Wildest Dreams
The Other Side of Life
I Know You're Out There Somewhere
Lean on Me (Tonight)

Almost every vintage of the band is covered here. I couldn't find one thing wrong. I guess after doing this for over two generations, you know all the ropes! Just wish I could have met the band. Now I just await YouTube videos, mp3s and a DVD. As it wasn't a big area, I'm sure someone managed to manoeuvre recording the show. I could do audio, but I was too high up to do a decent video. I couldn't get away with such a thing.
I regret missing last year's show across Oneida County at the Turning Stone, and maybe NYC exurb Montclair, NJ (the closest place before Utica was announced), but better late than never!

In Defence of Boris

Couldn't come up with anything better.

No article on my blog has gotten more response than the one I did on Boris Ignatov. a music lover in Omsk, Siberia, Russia. Nearly everybody he asked for CDs thought he was a flim-flam man out to make a fast ruble. I can tell you hes not much different from any of us. Its just things are more limited where he is. He cares about the music enough that he wants authorised releases. Is that too much to ask? I don't mind getting pirate releases in return, as they go great in my collection and I have a few already (see earlier post).
As for Boris, please give him a chance to prove himself before lashing out on him. Eric, the debt he owes you, I'll pay it when I win the lottery. I'm sure there was a misunderstanding.
Even though I spent a bit getting CDs off that list, I am getting something in return. Its just tied up at "Origin Post" right now. I have less trouble doing this with someone in Ukraine! I hope recent events have nothing to do with the delay. I try not to get political with people. Too much vitriol.
I am considering putting an end to this trade thread eventually as I'm no Rockefeller myself! Some albums cost more than others. It just makes going to the same shops less boring.
If you hear from Boris for the first time, you can take it or leave it really. I don't regret taking it as it hasn't open my eyes a bit more.

Paul McCartney - Live in Europe 1990

Erroneously named Back in the USA (not to be confused with the official Back in the US), but is part of a trilogy which includes dates in the States, released by a bootleg label in Australia. I have no idea exactly when and where this was recorded. The corresponding official release of this tour is Tripping the Live Fantastic!, which I have on Russian pirate CD, but is available on many sites already, so there's no need to put it here. Special thanks Vadim Legkokonets.

Got to Get You Into My Life
We Got Married
The Long and Winding Road
Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Can't Buy Me Love
Put It There
Things We Said Today
Eleanor Rigby
Back in the USSR
I Saw Her Standing There
Coming Up
Let It Be
Hey Jude
Get Back
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
The End

Download

An Overdose Of Fingal Cocoa: Sad Café

An Overdose Of Fingal Cocoa: Sad Café

Piracy - The Underground Music Industry

"Mini-LP" style Beatles pirate from Russia, not Japan!

Since at least the '60s, music piracy has been around in some form. It used to be pirated LPs in the then-USSR and even South Korea (where some official Western releases were censored). Even after communism ended in Eastern Europe, many of the ex-bloc countries along with mainland China continue this practise to this day with pirated and even counterfeit CDs, and now there are several mp3 sites based in Russia and Ukraine that offer downloads for free or at prices much lower than iTunes and emusic. The black market has even expanded to the west with CD-Rs of the latest albums (though the police have cracked down on those in cornershops and city street stalls). It costs the real industry millions annually, and the artists and record companies make sod all from it.
In these far-flung countries, its the only way, even for local fare, as people don't make as much money there as they do in more industrialised nations, and the knockoffs are more affordable and available.
Wired have an informative article on the Ukrainian end (I'm in touch with someone in Kiev who I trade US LPs with for these bad boys). Its been likened to the Mafia, though not in a glamourised manner. The discs are usually made in plants like the labels use in the States and EU, though some people use CD-Rs, which I think is too easy, really. There can be typos due to a language barrier.
I guess if you're gonna take the high ground, you may wanna avoid these rogue records and buy the real thing. Believe me, I rather would, though well-made pirates will always have a home with me, as I also have the Russian I mentioned months ago hooking me up, though its more piecemeal with him. We both can only do so much, you see.
I once ordered a Russian pirate of a-ha, but the dated artwork and wrong record companies made it painfully obvious and I was sent the real McCoy from Germany at no charge after e-mailing a girl at their website, selling the phoney edition off straight away since the album was and still is unavailable officially in the US. This is nothing new, really.
Even though the majors have offices in these countries, there are still the John Gottis and Tony Montanas out there trafficking these CDs around Europe like dope.
These countries may have bigger fish to fry, as the situation is as open-ended as a soap opera! That's why its hard to wrap this up!