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Deep Purple will be performing on The Today Show this Thursday, July 23rd. The Today Show airs on the US TV network NBC daily at 8 a.m. Selected fragments of the show are also posted online, including live music performances.
Thanks to deeppurple.com for the info.
And just when you thought that nothing can top the Siberian throat take on the Highway Star, or the infamous in certain quarters Firemen of Edo, another gem comes your way.
This is one for the tech geeks (both of us). Smoke on the Water performed by an orchestra of recycled floppy drives. Behold our new robotic overlords:
<geeky stuff>My guess the most difficult part was designing a controller that translates MIDI into proper sequences of track seeking commands. And then — quite literally — fine tuning the whole orchestra.</geeky>
On a related note, recently uncovered evidence suggests that the certain Bulgarian top hat transmitter may in fact have been an Azerbaijani one:
The esteemed scientific jury is still out on the final attribution, though.
Thanks to jamoore60 and the Association of Electrical Technologists at Purdue University for the overlords, and to CaspianTimsah for the top hat research and to Deep23 from deep-purple.ru forum for bringing it to your attention.
The official YouTube channel has a couple of clips that offer view of a gig from quite a unique angle:
These were shot in 2003 in Rome.
Another one, from Jon Lord’s farewell tour. Hammersmith Apollo, September 6, 2002:
Last night Deep Purple headlined the Ottawa Bluesfest. Local newspaper Ottawa Citizen reviews the gig:
Together, the five men joined forces to make the 2015 edition of Deep Purple a formidable beast, leaping out of the starting gate to let ‘er rip on the classic Highway Star. Strange Kind of Woman was also rolled out early in the set.
With selections from their latest album, Now What?! included in the mix, it was not a greatest-hits show, although the creepy Vincent Price and the bluesy Hell To Pay fit in well. Each musician also had the chance to strut their stuff in an extended solo, a practice that might have been tedious for the casual fan.
But it all came to a thrilling resolution with killer versions of Space Truckin’ and Smoke on the Water, during which the line “some stupid with a flare gun” inspired a perfectly timed (and completely unauthorized) pop of fireworks in the crowd.
Ottawa Sun concurs:
While Simple Plan captured the singalong portion necessary of any concert, Deep Purple’s set was filled with five-minute long solos coming from every instrument on stage.
“We’re done with the jazz section of the show, time to get onto the funk portion,” lead singer Ian Gillan joked to the crowd.
Nothing could have been further from the truth as they broke down into the darker Vincent Price from 2013’s Now What?! album.
At 69, Gillan, in a black T-shirt and black jeans, surprisingly had no trouble hitting all the high notes.
And perhaps it’s time to remind you that if you have your own review of a gig, you can publish it right here, on The Highway Star. Head over to our submission form and start typing.
A track called The Other Side from upcoming new Blackmore’s Night album All Our Yesterdays:
The album is due to be released on September 18th.
Thanks to Blabbermouth and Nigel Young for the info.
Today, on the third anniversary of Jon Lord’s passing, JonLord.org has revealed a previously unreleased live recording of John Lennon’s Instant Karma performed by Jon Lord.
Filmed on Armed Forces Day in July 2009 at an event in Jon’s local community, the band includes Micky Moody, Steve Balsamo, Steve White, Willie Wyffe, Sam Brown and Joe Brown.
The footage was sponsored by a fan on the promise that we use it to remember Jon on the day of his passing.
To coincide with the anniversary, JonLord.org has also launched a special commemorative sale of *All Those Years Ago*, the *Jon Lord photo book* from *Rufus Stone Limited Editions*.
For a short period ending on July 20th, 2015, the special limited edition book will sell at £150 incl. world wide delivery.
As a special bonus, the first 25 copies will come with a postcard signed by Jon Lord. Jon signed these while on tour, and they only recently came to light.
Also available will be the *Jon Lord Signed Edition* of *All Those Years Ago*. Signed by Jon Lord, these will sell at £300, and there are five copies only. These signatures were signed by Jon, when the *California Jam Books* were produced by Rufus Stone. Jon signed them 3 weeks before he died.
Both editions will be available only from JonLord.org. As always, a portion of the profits will be donated to Jon’s favorite charity The Sunflower Jam.
Special commemorative offer ends July 20th 2015.
Orders can be placed now only at: JonLordShop.org.
Flying Colors have been nominated for the 2015 Progressive Music Awards in the Band of the Year category, as well as their Second Nature album for the Album of the Year. To celebrate this, they have released a live-in-the-studio music video for Fury of My Love:
The band is also running a contest through their website with prizes including:
Thanks to Classic Rock for the info.
Steve Morse will guest on the WVOX Metal Mayhem radio show this Friday, July 17, at 9:30pm EDT.
WVOX is a New York City area community radio station that broadcasts locally at 1460 kHz AM and worldwide through their website.
Thanks to BraveWords for the info.
Jon Lord sitting down at a piano backstage circa 2000 tour:
Thanks to the official DP Youtube channel for posting this.
British tabloid Daily Mail reports that Blackmore is suing HEC Enterprises and Deep Purple (Overseas) for £750,000 in royalties owed to him.
Now, bear in mind that the article starts with the claim that he helped to write a song called Black Knight and left the band 40 years ago, so all the usual caveats of the depth of research in tabloid journalism apply here.
According to the article, Gillan, Glover, Lord, and Paice have successfully sued both management companies in 2003 and reached a settlement, but Blackmore was not involved. He is now pursuing a similar claim on his own. The figures mentioned are:
The article also states that a former director of both HEC and DP(O) admitted last November that £370,561 was due to Blackmore, but later revised this number to £480,638.
This concludes our laundry airing for today.
Thanks to Andrey Gusenkov for the info.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing