Steve Stav « East Portland Blog

Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman debuts “Freight Train” video; song featured on Grey’s Anatomy, By Steve Stav

By admin, on May 17th, 2013%

Video premiere: Sara Jackson-Holman’s ‘Freight Train’ in USA Today – http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/05/16/freight-train-sara-jackson-holman-video-greys-anatomy/2173893/

For someone untrained in the sweet science, Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman sure knows how to land a one-two punch.

Thursday morning, USA Today‘s website debuted the video for Jackson-Holman’s breathtaking new single, “Freight Train;” that evening, the song was featured in Grey’s Anatomy’s . . . → Read More: Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman debuts “Freight Train” video; song featured on Grey’s Anatomy, By Steve Stav

Cheap Trick – Stop This Game Live at ChicagoFest 1981, By Steve Stav

By admin, on April 27th, 2013%

Rock and roll. Every time I’ve seen Cheap Trick, they played as if they invented it. Most exciting band in the world.

– Steve Stav

New Zealand Icon Tim Finn Reflects Upon Top Of The Lake, By Steve Stav

By admin, on April 10th, 2013%

Tim Finn

The old phrase, “… and the plot thickens,” isn’t quite adequate to describe the episode-by-episode tension-building of Jane Campion’s new mystery miniseries, Top Of The Lake. The 7-parter, now airing on the Sundance Channel, follows a police detective (Mad Men‘s Elisabeth Moss) who returns to her rugged hometown and finds herself leading . . . → Read More: New Zealand Icon Tim Finn Reflects Upon Top Of The Lake, By Steve Stav

Left Hand Smoke to Unleash Tiny Revolution March 22, By Steve Stav

By admin, on March 12th, 2013%

A lot comes along between one’s early twenties and the midst of “thirtysomething” — careers, wives, children — but the spark of youthful, musical chemistry doesn’t always diminish over time. Some fourteen years and six albums after Left Hand Smoke made their first Seatown splash as local-radio darlings, the band certainly still has “It.”

The Waterboys – Big Music, By Steve Stav

By admin, on January 28th, 2013%

“I have heard the big music, and I will never be the same.” Understatement of the decade. I was just saying the other day… one of the great things about being young in the 1980s is that it seemed that every week you’d hear something new and wonderful that you’d never heard before. The . . . → Read More: The Waterboys – Big Music, By Steve Stav

“It Was Weird, But Not Too Weird for Portland” – Sara Jackson-Holman Debuts “For Albert” Video, By Steve Stav

By admin, on January 18th, 2013%

Classically trained pianist. Introspective singer-songwriter. Soul-pop tour de force.

And now, mermaid.

Portland’s Sara Jackson-Holman keeps revealing more facets as she introduces her latest album, Cardiology, to the world. Playing a fin-footed Siren in the new video for her single, “For Albert,” wasn’t an exercise in revelation, however; the supremely photogenic singer says . . . → Read More: “It Was Weird, But Not Too Weird for Portland” – Sara Jackson-Holman Debuts “For Albert” Video, By Steve Stav

Lance Armstrong, Super Creep, By Steve Stav

By admin, on January 17th, 2013%

Disgraced doper-cyclist Lance Armstrong begins his comeback attempt tonight, as he talks to Oprah Winfrey. Reportedly confesses to Oprah Winfrey that he cycled drugs through his blood in an elaborate international cheating scheme that would make rebuilding Steve Austin seem like a mundane affair, by comparison. Perhaps Lance – coached by a small army . . . → Read More: Lance Armstrong, Super Creep, By Steve Stav

Big Country – Steeltown, By Steve Stav

By admin, on January 8th, 2013%

It is too bad that Big Country weren’t nearly as successful at bringing working-class passion and romance across the pond as U2 was. Like the Jam, perhaps too English/Scottish/Irish. It’s a wonder the Pogues or the Clash made any headway here. It’s always remarkable, I find, to watch video of a big drunken crowd . . . → Read More: Big Country – Steeltown, By Steve Stav

Giorgio Moroder – Chase (Theme From Midnight Express) By Steve Stav

By admin, on December 9th, 2012%

With an original single that clocked in at 8:30, one of the granddaddies of late-night, groove electronica. (For the last 20 years, it has served as the intro music to paranormal radio show, Coast to Coast AM.) It should be required that either you have to have the lights off or be in a . . . → Read More: Giorgio Moroder – Chase (Theme From Midnight Express) By Steve Stav

Roxy Music – Same Old Scene, By Steve Stav

By admin, on December 9th, 2012%

The paradigm for the first two Duran Duran albums… This is the shit right here, it doesn’t get much cooler than this.

– Steve Stav

A Charlie Brown Christmas: It Validates, Soothes, Relieves… By Steve Stav

By admin, on December 1st, 2012%

“Everything I touch gets ruined.” Recently I experienced my 44th straight viewing of A Charlie Brown Christmas… yes, I have the DVD, but there’s nothing like recreating the delayed gratification of one’s youth by watching it on broadcast TV. (Sans the Dolly Madison commercials, sadly.) A Charlie Brown Christmas, to me, is like spending . . . → Read More: A Charlie Brown Christmas: It Validates, Soothes, Relieves… By Steve Stav

Nina Simone – Sinnerman, By Steve Stav

By admin, on November 15th, 2012%

An old, passed-down Negro spiritual became even more epic in Nina Simone‘s vengeful hands… you can feel the heat and taste the sweat in this definitive version; over ten minutes of jazz-propelled desperation. With Miss Simone – no stranger to the church – leading a call-and-response from a decidedly rocking pulpit, “Sinnerman” remains popular . . . → Read More: Nina Simone – Sinnerman, By Steve Stav

The Most Fundamental Component of Freedom, By Steve Stav

By admin, on November 6th, 2012%

The right and ability to vote is the most fundamental component of freedom. It took a handful of years for white people in the colonies to secure this and other liberties from oppression; for the rest of those living in America, tyranny took a bit longer to overcome.

Today seems like the most appropriate . . . → Read More: The Most Fundamental Component of Freedom, By Steve Stav

The Ventures – Walk, Don’t Run, By Steve Stav

By admin, on October 24th, 2012%

A bit stiff, a little corny… but what a piece of rock history, televised. The Ventures‘ rock ‘n’ roll version of “Walk, Don’t Run,” which had debuted on Seattle’s KJR radio, was on fire in 1960. “Walk, Don’t Run” was hardly epic or complicated in design, but in the hands of masonry workers-turned-guitarists Bob . . . → Read More: The Ventures – Walk, Don’t Run, By Steve Stav

Culture Club – Time (Clock of the Heart), By Steve Stav

By admin, on October 20th, 2012%

Of all the great, great music of the 80′s, the one number that makes me the most nostalgic is not a political bombast or a depression-dirge. No, it’s a song sung by an androgynous singer for his identity-conflicted drummer/lover. Those who know me might be surprised by this revelation; those who know me well, . . . → Read More: Culture Club – Time (Clock of the Heart), By Steve Stav

Romney Not Likely to Win, By Steve Stav

By admin, on October 18th, 2012%

Think Romney can’t win? In 1972, a highly decorated war hero, history professor, Heartland-bred campaigner on the war on poverty, future champion in the war on hunger and admired, anti-war U.S. Senator got beat in one of the country’s biggest landslides by Richard “tricky Dick” Nixon. At the tail end of the Vietnam war, . . . → Read More: Romney Not Likely to Win, By Steve Stav

Kolchak: The Night Stalker – One of the Most Criminally Cut Short Series in TV History, By Steve Stav

By admin, on October 18th, 2012%

Forty years later, both Kolchak: The Night Stalker and its unforgettable intro have lost little of their “cool factor.” One of the most criminally cut-short series in TV history, the show lives on as a cult favorite… especially during October cable scare-a-thons.

There were so many aspects about that show that made a . . . → Read More: Kolchak: The Night Stalker – One of the Most Criminally Cut Short Series in TV History, By Steve Stav

Adele – Skyfall, By Steve Stav

By admin, on October 10th, 2012%

Why couldn’t they have waited for the film’s debut, instead of tempting greedy bastards like myself? I will say that I only listened to about 30 seconds. Didn’t want to completely spoil it for myself.

- Steve Stav

The Beatles – With a Little Help From My Friends, By Steve Stav

By admin, on September 30th, 2012%

“Would you believe in a love at first sight?” “Yes, I’m certain that it happens all the time.” “What do you see when you turn out the light?” “I can’t tell you, but I know it’s mine.” Once in a while, you need a “Beatles day” – and Sunday was one of those days. . . . → Read More: The Beatles – With a Little Help From My Friends, By Steve Stav

Adele – Hometown Glory Live at The Royal Albert Hall, By Steve Stav

By admin, on September 16th, 2012%

I am a pretty jaded critic… but I did not get on the bash-Adele bandwagon. This always happens with suddenly successful artists, and it is often deserved. Not with her. Adele can fucking sing. Simple as that. She wrote this song as a teenager. She opens with it at the Royal Albert Hall, supremely . . . → Read More: Adele – Hometown Glory Live at The Royal Albert Hall, By Steve Stav

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