Rena and Her Men - Stars Shine Bright
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Member Since: 1/25/2007
Band Members: With apologies to those I've accidentally omitted - Kim Anderson, Peter Anderson, Mike Brady, Bruce Browning, Rich Copely, Charlotte Crabtree, Mike Crabtree , David Max Crawford, John Crozier, Andrea Detwiler, Rick Durgin, Tim DuRoche, Rena Erickson, Matt Gerzema, Mark Greenberg, David Hamilton, Bryan Hannah, Clint Hoover, Steve Ittner, Phillipe Katerine, Jeff Kearns, Dawn Klotzbach, Allison LaBonne, Kevin Matheny, Olaf Medhus, Juan Meguro, Paul Mertens, Jim Ouska, Jim Petroski, Mike Reiter, John Ridenour, Peter Robelia, Chris Ruiz, Jim Ruiz, David Schelzel, Roger Seeling, Danny Sigelman, David Stenshoel, Chris Stock, Mario Suau, Brian Tighe, David Trumfio, Rose Uytuico, Stephanie Winter.
Influences: (question by gail o'hara)What music still resonates? (answer by ljr)*I can now say with a great deal of certainty that my favorite jazz vocalist of all time is Lee Wiley and that the album that is the pinnacle of that genre is her "West of the Moon" album with Ralph Burns. With the exception of the track Limehouse Blues, it is perfection.
*I think everybody should own the Mose Allison Sings album. He's like an undiscovered Ray Charles, he should be a thousand times more famous than he is.
*Le Mans is the most underrated band of all time.
*The first two Françoise Hardy albums, "Yeah, Yeah Girl from Paris" and "In Vogue" are still magical.
*I'm more and more impressed by the maturity of the Would-be-goods songwriting, I just put "The Morning After" the other day and I think that the album has high points that haven't been reached since the eighties.
*Bossa Nova as a genre, particularly as more Brazillian stuff becomes available - a ongoing project.
*60's Soul music, now I'm cheating I suppose.
*Best album of the 90's - Mes mauvaises fréquentations by Katerine
*The Smiths were in retrospect much better than people gave them credit for at the time, myself included.
*Live at the Star Club 1962 continues to be my favorite Beatles album.
*I have to acknowledge that in retrospect the Jazz Butcher/Max Eider alliance at a pivotal moment made me think "hey, I could write songs like that" causing me to throw away my life on a useless dream.
*Even Lloyd Cole still makes me feel happy.
Sounds Like: Imagine a soulful Don Ho. What if Mary Tyler Moore was the Girl from Ipanema? Imagine Jonathan Richman as Tony Bennett in a made for T.V. movie. Aaah, admit it, you're intrigued.
Record Label: Minty Fresh
Type of Label: Indie