Marshall Of Rock

On Tuesday night (June 5), several talented musicians and bands gathered in Central Park to celebrate the music of Jimi Hendrix for the SummerStage Opening Gala, presented by City Parks Foundation and AT&T. Some of the artists participating included: Living Colour, Wyclef Jean, The Roots and G. Love.

The 2012 SummerStage Gala, presented by City Parks Foundation, brought together artists from different backgrounds and genres to honor Jimi Hendrix, who was born 70 years ago. The event kicked off the 2012 SummerStage season, which features over 100 free music, theatre, comedy, and children's programming.

Here is the complete Song List from the evening:

Wyclef Jean – “The Star-Spangled Banner”
The Roots – “Have You Ever Been To Electric Lady Land” & “Fire”
Bebel Gilberto – “Little Wing” & “Wind Cries Mary”
G. Love (ft. Soulive) – “If 6 Was 9” & “Ain't No Telling”
Soulive – “Manic Depression” & “Changes”
Keller Williams (ft. Soulive) – “Castles Made of Sand” & “Up in the Skies”
Amel Larrieux (ft. Soulive) – “May This Be Love” & “Angel”
John Scofield (ft. Soulive) – “Hey Joe” & “Purple Haze”
Karl Densen – “Spanish Castle Magic” & “Third Stone From the Sun”
Living Colour – “Power of Soul” & “Cross Town Traffic” Group Encore (minus Wyclef) – “All Along the Watchtower”

Here's more details, a thorough review of the show and a fantastic photo gallery at: www.charged.fm

Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden will launch Island Sounds: A 500 Year Music Mash-Up on May 11th, 2012. The 18-month, interactive, multi-media exhibition will be mounted in the Main Hall (Building C) on the Snug Harbor campus at 1000 Richmond Terrace and will include memorabilia, instruments, artifacts, photos and videos from musicians and artists who were born, based or performed on Staten Island throughout history.

Beginning Sunday, May 12th, the exhibit will be open Wednesday through Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for students and seniors. Children under 12 are admitted free. The show is scheduled to run through December 20th, 2013.

“We are excited and pleased to present this unique exhibit as a tribute to the countless artists who have played a role in Staten Island’s rich and varied musical history,” said Snug Harbor President and CEO Lynn Kelly. “The exhibit memorializes the contributions of these artists and defines the part they played and continue to play in our diversified culture. I urge everyone with an interest in music, pop culture and the history of Staten Island to come and enjoy the hundreds of unique pieces of memorabilia that make up the Island Sounds exhibition.”

Island Sounds features a timeline of Staten Island’s music history that begins pre-1500, with songs of the Lunaape (Lenape) Indians, and includes Dutch tavern music of New Amsterdam of the 1600s, 1850 classical opera, 1900 vaudeville, jazz of the 1920s, the Big Band era of 1940, disco and folk music of the 1970s, and today’s rock and rap.

Inside the Main Hall, the galleries contain rare and historic items from many of the artists’ personal collections, including: Reunion tour costumes from both David Johansen (New York Dolls) and AJ Pero (Twisted Sister) Guitars from Vito Bratta (White Lion), Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Guns N’ Roses), Richie Castellano (Blue Oyster Cult), and Steve Augeri (Journey) Living Colour founder Vernon Reid’s 1989 MTV Video Music Award for Cult of Personality and custom Starr double-neck guitar, Rare Bruce Springsteen demos, documents, and platinum albums from former manager/producer Mike Appel, A unique collection of over two-thousand hotel keys belonging to drummer Sandy Gennaro (Pat Travers, Cyndi Lauper, The Monkees, Bo Diddley). Plus, many other rare photos, gold/platinum albums and documents.

“I grew up just a couple of blocks from Snug Harbor and when I was a kid this used to be part of my stomping ground,” said David Johansen of the New York Dolls and Buster Poindexter fame. “It’s so great that Snug Harbor is so vital again.”

Island Sounds also celebrates the 120th Anniversary of Snug Harbor’s Music Hall. Built in 1892, the Music Hall is the one of the oldest concert halls in New York City, second only to Carnegie Hall. Designed by Robert W. Gibson in Greek Revival-style, it has been a popular venue for a wide variety of vaudeville, theatrical and orchestral performances. In its long history, it has showcased a diversity of world-famous talents, ranging from Jenny Lind to Tito Puente, Tony Randall to David Bowie, and more recently Ingrid Michaelson. In October 2011, Lady Gaga filmed her biopic music video Marry the Night in the Music Hall and at several other Snug Harbor locations depicted in the exhibition.

For more information about Island Sounds: A 500 Year Music Mash-Up, please contact Lynn Kelly at (718) 425-3501. For more information about Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden and a detailed schedule of events, please visit www.snug-harbor.org.

Members from Cream, Living Colour, Santana and Medeski, Martin and Wood have come together to form a new jazz-fusion supergroup called Spectrum Road. The group includes Jack Bruce on bass and vocals, Vernon Reid on guitar, John Medeski on keyboards and Cindy Blackman-Santana on drums.

"To be able to play and record in this band alongside three of the most creative and stellar musicians in the world is a longtime dream come true," Reid said in a press release. "The idea for Spectrum Road first came about in 2001, and it was the ongoing belief in the kind of record we knew we could make together that made it come to fruition."

Spectrum Road grew out of Bruce's 2003 touring and recording collaborations with Reid and the two musicians' mutual admiration of late jazz drummer Tony Williams' Lifetime project, in particular the second edition of the band. Bruce participated in that version with Larry Young and John McLaughlin and recorded the classic album "Turn It Over" in 1970.

Spectrum Road first performed in Tokyo together back in 2008, but the recent shows were the band's first in the U.S.
The band's self-titled debut album will be issued on June 5th on Palmetto Records, and they'll kick off a tour on June 9 at Bonnaroo.

Spectrum Road North American tour dates:

Jun. 9 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Jun. 16 - San Francisco, CA - San Francisco Jazz Festival at Palace Of Fine Arts Theatre
Jun. 17 - Hollywood, CA - Playboy Festival at Hollywood Bowl
Jun. 19 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
Jun. 21-24 - Seattle, WA - Jazz Alley
Jun. 25 - Vancouver, Canada - Vancouver Jazz Festival
Jun. 27 - Toronto, Canada - Toronto Jazz Festival
Jun. 28 - Montreal, Canada - Montreal Jazz Festival
Jun. 29 - New York, NY - B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
Jun. 30 - Washington, DC - Howard Theater

Jimi Hendrix was named the greatest guitar player in history by Rolling Stone magazine in a list compiled by a panel of music experts and top guitar players.

"Jimi Hendrix exploded our idea of what rock music could be: He manipulated the guitar, the whammy bar, the studio and the stage," said Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello in the magazine, citing Hendrix's "Purple Haze" and "The Star-Spangled Banner" as key tracks.

The panel recruited to vote for their favorite guitar players included Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Jerry Cantrell (Alice In Chains), Elliot Easton (The Cars), Melissa Etheridge, Don Felder (The Eagles), David Fricke (Senior writer, Rolling Stone), Steve Cropper, Dave Davies (The Kinks), Anthony DeCurtis (Contributing editor, Rolling Stone), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Lenny Kravitz, Robby Krieger (The Doors), Jon Landau (Manager), Alex Lifeson (Rush), Nils Lofgren (The E Street Band), Mick Mars (Mötley Crüe), Brian May (Queen), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Robbie Robertson, Rich Robinson (The Black Crowes), Carlos Santana, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Derek Trucks, Eddie Van Halen, Joe Walsh, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Mike McCready (Pearl Jam), Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), Tom DeLonge (Blink-182), Rick Derringer, Warren Haynes (The Allman Brothers Band), and many more.

McCready called Eddie Van Halen "a master of riffs" and Joe Perry praised Jimmy Page's "vision of how to transcend the stereotypes of what the guitar can do."

Below is a list of some of the hard rockers in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."

1. Jimi Hendrix
3. Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin)
8. Eddie Van Halen (Van Halen)
24. Angus Young (AC/DC)
25. Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath)
36. Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne)
40. Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine)
65. Slash (Guns N' Roses)
72. John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
73. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
87. James Hetfield (Metallica)
92. "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (Pantera)

Check out the complete list at www.rollingstone.com