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  Now for some advertising for my hometown Halle an der Saale : The city has the privilege to present visitors The Beatles Museum , it's only some minutes to walk from the birthplace of Georg Friedrich Händel . The house itself was built in 1708 and restored in 1999. The museum front The museum offers more than 2500 exhibits including rarities, curiosities and known stuff of the Beatles era (until 1970) and solo stuff (1970 until now). The complete musical development of the band with words, sounds and pictures.  Almost every room has a sound station or movies. Three floors which are fully packed (no exaggeration!) with everything you need to get back to these days: first gigs in Liverpool, photos and autographs from the Hamburg era, rare vinyl, posters and also a fully equipped Beatles Rock Band to play Beatles songs as a full band. The founder of the museum has excellent relations to Beatles surroundings: Beatles-photogra...

Maybe it's a bit early this year, but here they are - My Top Ten Records of 2011 : 1. Mike Viola - Electro de Perfecto  The long awaited follow up to Lurch: 10 songs. No filler. Fab. More info here . 2. Bleu - Besides It's still not released, hopefully it will in 2011. Most of the songs are known to the fans - it's great compilation. More info here . 3. David Mead - Dudes The kickstarter - crowd funded record from Mr. Mead. More info here and here . 4. Brandon Schott - 13 Satellites  Brandon Schott's new, indiegogo - crowd funded record, filled with beautiful songs! More info here . 5. Teitur - Let The Dog Drive Home A strong album, breathtaking melodies and lyrics. More info here . 6. Jeremy Messersmith - The Reluctant Graveyard Though the record was out in 2010, I discovered it not until this year. More info here . 7. Jay Clifford - Silver Tomb For The Kingfisher More info here . 8. Feist - Metals  Darker tunes than on T...

Some days ago I stumbled upon the name Jeremy Messersmith . (Thank you Brandon!) He is an indie pop musician from Minneapolis. Messersmith released 3 LPs: 2006 The Alcatraz Kid  2008 The Silver City  2010 The Reluctant Graveyard  Let's see what the press says: " It's hard to listen to The Silver City, the new CD from Minnesota chamber-pop artist Jeremy Messersmith , without thinking of Sufjan Stevens . Both artists have strikingly similar voices and a love of richly orchestrated story songs. " -NPR Second Stage " Imagine Elliott Smith driving in a convertible, the wind flying through his hair, singing about sadness and somehow creating joy enough to forget his troubles for a while. " -The Onion "His second album, The Silver City (...) is a breathtaking work of craftsmanship and heart. Picking up where his delicate and profound debut The Alcatraz Kid left off, The Silver City adds layers of instrumentation and harmonie...

Here's a live stream of the Mike Viola concert in Brooklyn on November 4 2011 (feat. Todd Jasko) - thank you Yoshi: theknitbrooklyn on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free There's also a download of this stream - just contact me as usual.

A month ago I started a poll - " Which artists you would like to see performing together again? ". So here are the results: 1st place Jason Falkner & Andy Sturmer & Roger Manning Jr Jellyfish - 80%    Jellyfish   2nd place Bleu & Mike Viola - 28% Bleu Mike Viola   3rd place Justin Currie & Ian Harvie & Andy Alston Del Amitri - 12% Del Amitri So, a conciderable first place for Jellyfish - which is no surprise. It seems as if also a new Bleu/Viola project would be very welcome. Well, Jellyfish and Del Amitri will be unlikely (but you CAN prove me wrong), but maybe Mike Viola with Bleu ?

Ocean Grove is recording their first full length album. And they ask you for your support. At kickstarter.com you can pledge for this project. In return you can get amongst other: the digital album a tour poster a t-shirt white vinyl a day in the studio a photo shoot a private concert Ocean Grove - Music - More Music Videos