Sometimes Facebook is good for things other than drama! Thanks to Facebook, I’ve just discovered Joanna Connor!
If you’re like me, the name Joanna Connor may not mean much the first time you hear it. And actually, the first time I heard this legendary rock-blues woman play, she wasn’t immediately identified by name. Someone posted a video of her playing a wicked guitar solo at a blues festival with the caption “She might not look like the typical rock star but GOOD LORD can this lady shred!”
I watched this and my mouth dropped open in astonishment…
Being a woman in my 40s who is musical and not very fit, I immediately admired Joanna Connor for just being confident, talented, and freakin’ awesome! It’s clearly all about the music and she appears to LOVE what she does. I’ve seen some really great musicians play live who look like they’d checked out of the performance and were playing by rote. Not Joanna Connor. That woman really does “shred”.
I had to find out more about Connor, so I visited her official Web site. I was surprised to find it very simple and uncomplicated. I would expect someone who plays like Joanna Conner to have a beautiful site extolling her tremendous gifts. But no… her Web site is very down to earth. And having watched a few more of her videos, it looks like she’s down to earth, too. I find that as refreshing as her virtuoso guitar playing is.
Can you imagine being in someone’s backyard listening to this? According to the uploader, the neighbor turned on the sprinklers. What a buzz kill!
Joanna Connor is a native of Worcester, Massachusetts, but in October 1985 moved to Chicago to play blues. Not only does she play a killer blues guitar infused with rock and roll, she is also quite the singer.
Here she is singing “Little Wing” last year at a club in Chicago.
She’s also appeared with some pretty legendary rock and blues stars like Jimmy Page, ZZ Top, Etta James, Joe Cocker, and Susan Tedeschi, among many others. I can tell she can hold her own with any of those people. She’s definitely in their league.
A little acoustic guitar magic from Joanna Connor.
Now, at this point, I don’t own any music by Joanna Connor, but I may have to remedy that issue very soon. She’s an artist who’s been around for a long time and I’m just now getting to know her. So many thanks to the random Facebook friend who shared the video that introduced me to Joanna Connor and her awesome band. This makes me want to go to Chicago and hang out in a blues club!
This week, The Gap renounced its plans for rolling out a new logo, mainly due to a massive social media uprising in opposition to the change. And I thought, really? There are that many people that personally invested in a clothing manufacturer’s corporate identity that they would so passionately oppose a logo change? Corporate identities change all the time. Who cares, right? But I turned it around on myself. Wasn’t there a part of me that thought the cover art of Chicago’s 1991 album Chicago 21 delegitimized the record? You may recall (but you probably don’t unless you are a serious Chicago fanatic, of which I believe there are painfully few) that Chicago 21 (or Twenty 1, as it were) marked the first time where the band’s logo didn’t appear on the cover. Okay, so you saw the upper left corner of the logo in the blue background, but the only place the word “Chicago” appeared was in generic block lettering across the top. Fail. Chicago 21The album was a commercial fail as well, effectively ending the band’s decade-long second heyday. But listening to it 20 years later, the record’s no worse, and it is in many ways better than a few of the hit records that preceded it, being one of the most band-written records they’d put out since the 70s and reclaiming the social consciousness they’d suppressed in favor of Peter Cetera power balladry. All this time, I thought I’d hated the record, but I actually like a lot of it. Could I be so shallow that the mere non-appearance of the band’s logo on the cover art would influence my reaction to and memory of the record so thoroughly? Or was my devotion to Chicago – my very ardent devotion (as evidenced by untold numbers of graffitied high school notebooks) – really less about their music and more about brand loyalty?
Chicago VIII (1975)The question disturbs me a little. Because I think that I really love Chicago’s music. Not just the early Chicago that a few charitable rock critics might point out as being not-unbearable and semi-respectable – the Chicago of “25 or 6 to 4” and “Beginnings” and “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” – but also the 80s power-ballad Chicago that no rock critic (except Jody Rosen, perhaps, and that is why I love him) would be caught dead defending. But as much as I love the band, I have to admit I love the brand as well. The logo. The numbered albums. The defiant decentralization of their sound and image that, for years, led them, against all the prevailing wisdom regarding the marketing of pop music, to make sure none of their lead singers ever landed consecutive single A-sides.
Chicago 13 (1979)Until David Foster’s anointment of Peter Cetera as their primary lead singer on Chicago 16 in 1982, the closest thing the group had ever had to a frontman had been its horn section of Walt Parazaider, Lee Loughnane and James Pankow; and though throughout the 80s, that horn section had been increasingly marginalized on record, that trio of players – along with singer-keyboardist Robert Lamm, the only remaining original members of the group still performing today – remained the stars of the band’s live show. [Disclosure: the first three concerts I ever saw were Chicago, in 1987 (at Summerfest), 1988 (a very wet Wisconsin State Fair), and 1989 (co-headlining with the Beach Boys).] Is it any surprise that the group’s most recognizable face and voice – Peter Cetera – would find it impossible to stay in the band?
Chicago III (1971)The band rarely shows up in their cover art. I count only three albums (and a box set) in their 40 year recording career where the band members are depicted on the front cover. Despite their success in the 80s, and to their own eventual detriment in that image-centric decade, Chicago’s most recognizable face remained the guitar shaped script of their logo; and just as Madonna morphs from wily street urchin to boob-tasseled exotic dancer to mystic mother-figure to disco Che Guevara, the Chicago logo morphs from album to album to album. Part of the joy of any new Chicago album – quite apart from whatever they might be doing musically – is seeing what they’ll do next with that logo of theirs.
Chicago X (1976)Sometimes the treatment was political, like the battered flag of Chicago III in 1971. Sometimes it was just timely – the Chicago 13 skyscraper is pure disco (and so was that 1979 record’s lead single “Street Player”), while the logo was seen, partially through a magnifying glass, imprinted on a computer chip for 1982’s Chicago 16. They went through an artsy-craftsy phase in the early 70s – Chicago V was a wood carving, Chicago VII was leatherwork, and Chicago VIII was, inexplicably, embroidered over a cardinal. (That album came with a t-shirt iron-on of the album cover.)
Chicago 19 (1988)For Chicago IX, the band’s first greatest hits record, the logo was featured on both the front and back covers – on the front, the guys are working on painting the logo onto a wall; the back cover shows the finished product. Chicago 19 (one of my personal favorites) was a computer-generated mash-up of the band’s logo with shapes from their namesake city’s skyline. Chicago XI is a map. Chicago XIV is a thumbprint. Chicago X is a chocolate bar. (They won a Grammy for packaging that year!)
Chicago certainly didn’t invent the notion of a band logo, and theirs may not even be the best. The prog-rockers and hair metal bands of the 70s and 80s may be most responsible for turning the band logo into an art unto itself. It’s hard to hear the words Def Leppard or Metallica without picturing the band’s logo. Moreover, current bands like Cake and Weezer, whose members probably graffitied the hell out of their own high school notebooks with KISS logos, have taken the perpetuation of their own band logos very seriously.
Also, even though we often think of metal bands when we think about band logos, it’s generally true that logos know no genre. Like the logos of Chicago and Kansas, ABBA’s mirror-imaged block lettering is a registered trademark. Air Supply’s, though less consistently used, is a flamboyantly calligraphic woosh that pretty precisely represents the band’s musical mission. Similarly mission-oriented (however musically opposite) is the confrontational stencil lettering and crosshairs graphic of Public Enemy.
Still, there may be no other band that has gotten as much mileage out of a single band logo as Chicago has. You sorta have to admire the logo’s tenacity. And if the Chicago 21 experience proves anything, it’s that there are some brands you just don’t mess with. Learn from it, Gap.
Paula AbdulIt’s time to see who is the season 9 winner of American Idol. However, it will take us over two hours to get here. Fox usually packs the finale show with performances, goofy skits, and video packages. Tonight, I have heard they’ll also give Simon Cowell a mighty send off. I just hope that they bring back Paula Abdul to help send him off.
Tonight, let’s do the recap diary style.
8:02 – It’s been 24 hours since last night’s performances and Lee still looks nervous.
8:03 – Ryno Seacrest introduces the judges and Randall Jackson is wearing a suit that would make a pimp blush.
8:06 – Alice Cooper performs School’s Out For Summer with the Top 12, and Siobhan (aka creepy little girl) stole his creepy thunder with her creepiness.
(By the way Idol, way to understand your demographics with that one. Who’s next tonight, Ozzy Osbourne?)
8:13 – Kris Allen is singing some new song and I’m still giving anyone 2-1 odds who doesn’t think he’s getting divorced soon. He has that look in his eyes that says he’s on the hunt for new meat.
8:16 – We get our first Simon Cowell video package, which is a complete waste of time. But at least I got to see Paula.
8:18 – Creepy little girl and Aaron Kelly are singing How Deep Is Your Love. She looks like she wants to eat him.
8:19 – The beautiful Bee Gees came out to join them. Barry had to sing his lines to creepy girl, while poor Robin had to sing his to Aaron. That was awkward.
8:26 – Big Mike Lynche and Michael McDonald are dueting Taking It To The Streets. If Taylor Hicks comes out right now doing his jig, I will smile largely.
(By the way, Alice Cooper, the brothers Gibb, and Michael McDonald have been the celebrity performers so far, and McDonald is the youngest at a ripe age of 58. American Idol, on the cutting edge!)
8:31 – Let’s take a moment of silence for Dane Cook’s career. Bow, there it is.
8:34 – The top 6 girls came out to perform Christina Aguilera’s Beautiful. Lacy Brown led the way and all of America tried to remember if she was on the show or not.
8:37 – Christina herself came out to sing and she’s still number one on my list of those who I’d request to sing me lullabies before I sleep. Rosie O’Donnell is last on that list by the way.
(The roaming camera reached around to Christina’s backside, and I have to say that for a skinny girl, she’s got some junk in the trunk.)
8:47 – The top 6 boys are singing Hall & Oates tunes, which leads me to think…
8:49 – …that of course, Hall & Oates are coming out. I wonder if they’ll get Scott Savol to get on stage and sing She’s Gone? You think Scott’s persona non grata with Idol? All he did was beat his girlfriend. Come on people, where’s your forgiveness!
(By the way, I might be the only Idol blog to mention Scott Savol’s name. I’ll do you one better. How about Corey Clark?
8:51 – Darryl Hall looks like he hasn’t bathed in the year 2010.
8:52 – Janelle Wheeler who was my favorite Idol contestant to look at, and who also dated Tim Tebow is hanging out with Crystal’s fans in Toledo, Ohio. But she’s not wearing those terrific pants that I love.
This Girl Can Wear Some Pants
8:53 – Crystal is out singing Ironic. Wait, does that mean Alanis Morrisette is coming out?
8:54 – Of course it does! I think she’s making fun of Joey from Full House or something.
9:01 – Carrie Underwood is performing. Do you remember what I said about Christina Aguilera being such a skinny girl and having junk in the trunk? Well, as far as having junk in the trunk, it’s the same for Carrie, only the opposite. She has one of the more famous cases of noassatall.
9:08 – Casey James is out singing and Bret Michaels comes out. Wait, isn’t Bret Michaels sick? I have a feeling those guys are going carousing tonight.
9:18 – Lee DeWyze and Chicago perform, and right after, Ryan throws it to Matt Rogers, the former football player who was on Idol many years ago. Rogers looks about 45 years old with a receding hair line. I don’t want to remember my Idols this way. Go away Matt, just go away.
9:21 – General Larry Platt and a bunch of extras from the movie Step Up performed Pants On The Ground. Then William Hung joined the fray and let’s just say that he doesn’t speak English any better than you remember. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I enjoyed this better than Lee DeWyze and Chicago.
9:29 – Yay! It’s Paula Abdul on stage!
9:34 – Boo! Paula’s gone.
9:35 – Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, and Fantasia Barrino all came out to sing with Simon. Ten bucks says that Taylor Hicks didn’t get invited.
9:36 – Damnit! I owe you ten bucks.
9:37 – Holy jeez! All the terrible ghosts of American Idol contestants past came out to sing for Simon. Mikalah Gordon done growed up. Constantine just winked at me!
9:38 – Mysteriously absent was David Cook. And for that matter, Jennifer Hudson. Wait, she hates Simon.
9:44 – The top 12 is out singing Janet Jackson’s Again. Wait, does that mean…
9:45 – Of course it does! Miss Janet Jackson is on stage sans her weave. Her hair is amazingly short.
9:49 – And the junk in the trunk award goes to, Janet Jackson. Holy cow. She’s now performing Nasty. And you know who choreographed that video.
9:52 – I think Randall Jackson is in love.
9:54 – Please answer this for me once and for all. Is the gap in Crystal’s teeth near the side of her mouth charming or a hot mess?
10:01 – Ryno’s going to tease us about the results for about five minutes here.
10:02 – Ok, I lied. He’s getting right to it. And Lee is terrified.
10:03 – And the winner is… (aw man) Lee DeWyze!
10:04 – Crystal isn’t a sore loser at all, but you have to think that she knows she was robbed heartily.
10:05 – I just realized that Lee’s average cover of Beautiful Day is going to top the iTunes charts next week.
10:06 – I also just realized that this show may be entirely different next year. Good night everyone.
Paula Abdul photo shared via Wikipedia through the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license
