The Top Irish Albums of All Time

A little late for St. Paddy's Day, but what the hell.  Note that U2 is NOT finish in top spot in this poll taken by a Dublin radio station.  (Thanks to Larry for the Link)

1 Heartworm - Whipping Boy
2 Achtung Baby - U2
3 Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
4 The Joshua Tree - U2
5 Astral Weeks - Van Morrison
6 O - Damien Rice
7 1977 - Ash
8 Jailbreak - Thin Lizzy
9 I Am The Greatest - A House
10 Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - The Pogues

Musician Maltreatment on the Titanic

Yesterday I had a story about a violin that had been used by someone in the dance band on the Titanic as the ship sank in the North Atlantic.  

Today, there's this piece from ArtsJournal.com that details how badly musicians were treated on the boat.

For example, all musicians were listed as second class passengers.  This way, the ship company could avoid paying them union rates.  

James Cameron?  Are you reading this?

Cover Songs Better Than the Original

Many music fans are fascinated by cover versions.  I'm one of them.  I especially love it when an artist takes a song that shouldn't work for their style and sound and manages to make it their own.  And sometimes, the cover ends up being better than the original.

Diffuser has a list of 10 covers that fall into this category (Thanks to Stu for the link).  Then there's this list from Buzzfeed that looks at the same sort of thing.

If these were my lists, I'd also include this semi-obscurity from the 90s.

And speaking of The Catherine Wheel, they also do this one.  Brilliant.

Click to read more ...

The Most Powerful Man in Music Today is Canadian. And Now There's a Movie on Him.

Two years ago, I was hired to help kick start a documentary film about a guy I'd never heard of.  

"Arthur Fogel?" I asked Ron, the producer, "Who the f**k is that?"

He smiled.  "Exactly."

Turns out that Arthur Fogel was a former security person at a long-defunct Toronto club called The Edge that later went on to manage Martha and the Muffins.  At the time of my meeting with Ron, Arthur was overseeing U2's 360 Tour--and he still didn't even have so much as an Wikipedia page.  Who was this guy?

I spent about a year working through hundreds and hundreds of pages of transcripts as well as hours and hours of interview footage to come up with a rough idea of some stories.  From there, the project moved into different hands so it could be finished.

And now it's done.  This Friday, Who the F** Is Arthur Fogel? will have its world premiere at the Bell TIFF Lightbox as part of Canadian Music Week's Film Festival.  

Click to read more ...

A Genuine Titanic Violin

We've all heard the stories of the dance band that played while the Titanic sank.  I'd just assumed that all the instruments used in their legendary (mythical?) performance of "Nearer By God to Thee" on that night in April 1912 were gone forever.

Nope.  A series of forensic tests have proven that a violin found in an attic in Britain is the real thing.  Given how hot Titanic memorabilia is, this thing is going to sell for a LOT of money.

Full story at ABC News.