Soundtrack of My Life – If I Ain’t Got You

January 25, 2015
by Rodney Olsen
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Highlighting some of the songs that have been part of the soundtrack of my life.

Remember those annoying websites that used to play music as soon as you opened them? Most of the time it’d be some horrible electronic noise and you’d immediately jump for the mute button or the volume control. I must admit to closing many websites as soon as the music started. I figured that if they were prepared to assault me with something like that there probably wasn’t anything worth seeing on the site.

There was one time, however, that I didn’t head for the hills after hearing a website cranking out some music. In fact I turned the music up and listened to it a number of times. It was absolutely stunning and I was hooked from the first notes I heard. I then began a quest to discover the name of the song and artist. It was If I Ain’t Got You by Alicia Keys.

The song was released in February 2004, a single from the album The Diary of Alicia Keys which had been released a couple of months earlier. The lyrics contrast those who chase after riches with someone who seeks what really matters.

The song has won a number of awards including a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

It’s certainly one of my very favourite songs of all time. Alicia Keys is remarkably talented and this is an incredible song. If you’ve never heard the song before, check out the video below. If you have heard it before watch the video anyway just to remind yourself how good it is.

Unfortunately they’ve cut the end of the video and I wasn’t able to find a full version but it’s still worth checking out.



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The Maddens and Music Memories

November 8, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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How times have changed. (This is code for, “I’m getting old.”)

Back in the day when I used to go to many, many concerts, I could never have imagined sitting near a couple of young girls texting and Facebooking their way through a live show. Mainly because those things didn’t exist back in the day, but I just couldn’t imagine paying to see a concert and then not watching the stage for 90% of the night.

Anyway, enough reminiscing …. at least for a couple of paragraphs.

Last night Pauline and I headed to Crown Theatre to see The Madden Brothers. It was a great show with heaps of humour, fun, great musicianship and some amazing vocals. It was great to hear a bunch of Good Charlotte songs as well as the brothers’ more recent music.

Seeing a great band playing live was a great reminder of some of the dozens of concerts I’ve seen over many years. I’ve put a bit of a list together of some acts I’ve seen. I know that I’ve forgotten several over the decades but here’s a large selection of the live music I’ve experienced. Most were concerts but some, like Tina Arena’s 3 songs in a shopping centre, were shorter performances.

Not all have been personal favourites. Some were support bands for other acts that are listed here. Sometimes the support acts were better than the main act. Some I’ve seen several times with others only once. As you’ll see there are even a couple of ‘kids’ bands that I saw with Emily and James when they were very young.

I don’t get to as many concerts as I’d like these days so the list is a bit ‘retro’.

Adam Hall and the Velvet Playboys, Amy Grant, Aneiki, Angry Anderson, Australian Crawl, Billy Joel, Birtles, Shorrock Goble, Bob Carlisle, Bob Dylan, Bogarnis, Carman, Clannad, Cliff Richard, Colleen Hewett, Daryl Braithwaite, David Bowie, David Meece, DC Talk, Diana Krall, Dion, Dire Straits, Divinyls, Elton John (with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Elvis Costello, Feargal Sharkey, Gangajang, Garth Hewitt, Genesis, Glen Campbell, Grace Knight, Hi-5, Hoi Polloi, Hoodoo Gurus, Hothouse Flowers, Human Nature, INXS, James Morrison, James Reyne, James Taylor, Jimmy Barnes, Joan Armatrading, Joe Jackson, John Farnham, Jon English, Kate Ceberano, Keith Green, Kenny Marks, Larry Norman, Leslie Phillips (now Sam Phillips), Linda Ronstadt, Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Lou Reed, The Madden Brothers, Margaret Becker, Mental as Anything, Motels, Neil Diamond, Newsboys, Olivia Newton-John, Paul Kelly, Perfect Strangers, Phil Collins, Randy Stonehill, Ray Charles, Ray Davies, Rez Band, Robert Cray Band, Rogue Traders, Ross Wilson, Roxette, Sade, Sensitive New Age Cowpersons, Simple Minds, Spandau Ballet, Split Enz, T-Bone Burnett, The Angels, The Saints, The Wiggles, Tina Arena, Tom Burlinson, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, U2, Van Morrison, Vijay Benedict, Violent Femmes, WA Symphony Orchestra, Wendy Matthews, Whiteheart

I’d be interested in hearing about a few of the concerts you’ve seen. How many do we have in common? How many of the acts that I’ve listed here have you seen live?

I tried to list a few of my favourites but it was too hard to narrow down.

By the way, if you went to any concerts with me that I’ve missed, please let me know. I’ll probably update the list from time to time as I remember more.



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Soundtrack of My Life – This Song

April 27, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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SoundtrackLife

It’s sad to think that there are many young people who have never heard of The Beatles. Of course for those who do remember them, there has always been discussions over favourites. For some, Paul McCartney was the favourite, for others John Lennon, some thought George Harrison was the best Beatle and there were even some who marched to the beat of Ringo’s drum.

While I wasn’t really around in the early days of Beatlemania, (they exploded onto the charts the year I was born) I do enjoy a lot of their music and you’d find heaps of their work on my iPod. When it comes to the matter of favourites, I’m definitely with George Harrison.

I love a lot of George’s music, including the track I’ve chosen to highlight today, This Song. It’s a song about the song itself and it was written after a famous court case where Harrison was accused of copying someone else’s work.

“This Song” was written after the week Harrison spent in a New York courtroom, unsuccessfully trying to convince a judge that his 1970 song “My Sweet Lord” did not intentionally infringe the Chiffons’ 1963 hit “He’s So Fine”. According to Harrison, the plaintiff got ridiculously in-depth, breaking “My Sweet Lord” down into several melody lines, or “motifs”, as they referred to them. Apparently, the plaintiff also drew up several charts with large musical notes on it to prove their point. Harrison said in his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, that after several days, he “started to believe that maybe they did own those notes”. – Wiki

The subject matter wasn’t veiled at all. From the first few lines you knew exactly what it was all about.

This song has nothing tricky about it
This song ain’t black or white and as far as I know
Don’t infringe on anyone’s copyright, so . . .

This song we’ll let be
This song is in E
This song is for you and . . .

This tune has nothing Bright about it
This tune ain’t bad or good and come ever what may
My expert tells me it’s okay

As this song came to me
Quite unknowingly
This song could be you could be . . .

This riff ain’t trying to win gold medals
This riff ain’t hip or square
Well done or rare
May end up one more weight to bear

But this song could well be
A reason to see – that
Without you there’s no point to . . . this song

It’s a catchy, fun song that never really lit up the charts but I love it. I also love watching the video. It’s a lot of fun. Look out for appearances by a bunch of Harrison’s friends including drummer Jim Keltner as the judge and the Rolling Stones’s Ronnie Wood dressed as a middle aged woman miming the words, “Could be ‘Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch’ – No, sounds more like ‘Rescue Me’.” which was recorded on the song by Monty Python’s Eric Idle. You can watch it below.

George Harrison might not be your favourite Beatle; in fact you might not even like The Beatles at all, but This Song is part of the soundtrack of my life and I wanted to share it with you. Let me know what you think.



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Looking Back with Chris Falson

September 21, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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98five, the radio station where I work, began broadcasting full time on the 26th of January, 1988 and over the past week we’ve been celebrating our 25th Anniversary Year.

As part of the celebrations we looked back at some of the milestone moments of our history, like the massive concert in 1993 for our fifth birthday.

Sonshine Under the Stars featured local, national and international acts. The concert at Belvoir Amphitheatre was recorded and later broadcast across Australia on Channel Seven. One of the most popular performers on the night was singer-songwriter Chris Falson.

Chris is a singer-songwriter, studio musician, composer, producer, entrepreneur, church-planter, touring artist, published author, teacher and inventor, having co-written several patents on interactive digital media distribution.

With 14 solo albums to date, Chris has performed all around the world for audiences of between one and one hundred thousand. Some of the highlights include Wembley Stadium, The LA Coliseum, Shea Stadium, a bell tower in Burglen and for Pope John Paul’s visit to the US in ’93.

He has written songs and or composed/produced music for film, TV, advertising, gospel choirs, recording artists and musicals. Some of his credits include Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, Without a Trace, Star Trek, Castle, Brothers and Sisters, Las Vegas, Yes Dear, Punk’d, Ron Kenoly, The Oslo Gospel Choir, Avon Breast Cancer, Bloodwork, Tavis Smiley and the CSI franchise.

I spoke to Chris and asked about his memories of Sonshine Under the Stars and of 98five twenty years ago. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player below.



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Alban Gerhardt In Perth

September 5, 2013
by Rodney Olsen
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Over the past decade, Germany’s Alban Gerhardt has established himself among the greatest cellists of our time. He’s in Perth with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra for their Masters Series, performing tomorrow and Saturday evenings, as well as performing a recital on Monday.

Of particular concern for Alban is his desire to help audiences break with old listening and concert habits and to open classical music to a younger audience. I spoke to him this morning during my radio program. He was even kind enough to play a short piece on his 303 year old cello. It was an honour to watch and hear him play.

Classical music can sometimes be thought of as elitist or old fashioned but Alban is convinced that the kind of music he loves and plays can be appreciated by everyone.

I played all Bach’s Cello Suites in 2010 in an ‘alternative’ Berlin performance venue, in front of an audience that had not had much experience with classical music. I was amazed how well they listened and I realized that this old, rather intellectual music can be understood by everybody.

That same year I embarked on a so-called radio tour: travelling in Northern Germany for a week to different radio stations and giving a free concert of the Bach suites, only the listeners had to call in and suggest the venue and provide the audience! I ended up playing at a maternity ward, a fitness studio, a café, the headquarters of some anti-nuclear waste protesters in a pub in the middle of nowhere. When I suggested it to the Cleveland Orchestra they set up a Bach concert at a local supermarket. People reacted incredibly well; people who had never heard a single piece by Bach listened to the entire Suites (including all repeats!). Now I am convinced that although Bach wrote the bible for us cellists, his genius can be understood and appreciated by everybody.

On the train home after the last performance of this radio tour, I saw a musical performance of some kind in the main train station in Berlin. Immediately I thought of the idea of performing Bach there. A year later, amplified only by a small, portable sound system, I played all the suites there and the success was huge: hundreds of people came, stopped by, listened and were touched. One lady even claimed that she had never listened so intensely to any music; in concerts she often dozes off, but during that performance at the train station, because of all the distracting noises by trains and other disturbances, in order to focus on the music, she had to listen so carefully and concentrate so hard, that she got more out of it than during a normal concert in a normal hall. Bach’s music transformed the train station into a concert hall.

You can hear our chat by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Alban will play at Perth’s underground train station tomorrow afternoon before his WASO concert.



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