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More than fifty acts have now been confirmed for the 34th annual Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis. The event takes place from Friday, April 30 to Sunday, May 2nd, and among the acts scheduled to play are Jeff Beck, Booker T. & the MGs, Jerry Lee Lewis, Leon Russell, Hall & Oates, Limp Bizkit, the B-52s, the Goo Goo Dolls, Colbie Caillat, and Earth, Wind and Fire.

The Beale Street Music Festival was launched on Beale in 1977 and moved to Tom Lee Park in 1990. It forms part of the Memphis in May International Festival, which also includes the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the Sunset Symphony and an international cultural exchange program. This year’s event looks like it will be a blast, with a great mix of talent, old and new. The eclectic nature of the Festival is summed up by the fact that Colbie Caillat is set to follow Jerry Lee Lewis on stage on the Saturday night.

Click here to purchase Beale Street Music Festival tickets

Eric Clapton and Roger Daltrey rocked Tulsa’s BOK Center on Tuesday night (2 March).

Roger Daltrey opened the show with an hour-long set, including classic hits from The Who catalogue, as well as solo material. He performed the following 11 songs:

I Can See For Miles The Real Me Days of Light Freedom Ride Gimme a Stone Who Are You Behind Blue Eyes I’m A Man My Generation Blues Young Man Blues Baba O’Riley.

Daltrey is varying his set slightly on this tour. The show in Nashville on March 1 did not feature “Who Are You,” “I’m a Man,” or “My Generation Blues.”

“Squeezebox” and “Ring of Fire” were Nashville tracks not featured in Tulsa.

There have been suggestions recently that Daltrey’s voice is failing, based on his performance at the Super Bowl. The evidence from this tour indicates that these critics may have spoken too soon. Sarah Hart reviewed the Tulsa show for TulsaWorld.com and said of Daltrey:

“It was a treat to see Daltrey, and he sounded much better than I’d expected. I wasn’t alone. The Super Bowl show was sub-par. I heard one fan say, “I was kinda worried after the Super Bowl, but he’s been practicing or something, because that was great!”

Her comments echo those of Scott Mervis who reviewed the opening show of the tour in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:

“Rumors of Mr. Daltrey’s vocal demise, based on the Super Bowl halftime, were greatly exaggerated. On the first night of the new tour with his solo band, The Who singer sounded 20 years younger than he did in Miami.”

Roger Daltrey opens for Clapton for five more gigs in the States (New Orleans, Raleigh, Atlanta and Orlando), before returning to London to rehearse for The Who’s performance of Quadrophenia in aid on Teenage Cancer Trust on March 30th at the Royal Albert Hall.

Clapton in fine form

Eric Clapton rocked through a 15-song set, featuring songs from Derek & The Dominos, Cream, and his solo catalogue. His full set was:

• Going Down Slow
• Key To The Highway
• Tell The Truth
• Old Love
• I Shot The Sheriff
• Driftin’ Blues
• Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out
• Running On Faith
• Layla
• I’ve Got A Rock N Roll Heart
• Badge
• Little Queen Of Spades
• Before You Accuse Me
• Wonderful Tonight
• Cocaine
• Crossroads.

Sarah Hart said of Clapton’s performance:

“Clapton filled me with awe. I watched his fingers caress and pluck those strings, and the ease with which they glided. He puts on no airs. He wore his trademark glasses, an untucked black shirt, dark slouchy jeans and what appeared to be white-bottomed Top Siders.”

Here’s a taste of what the crowd witnessed at the BOK Center.

Eric Clapton - Layla

Eric Clapton - Crossroads

Click here for Eric Clapton/Roger Daltrey ticket information.

Music scholars will have a marvellous resource at their disposal towards the end of 2010 when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum’s libary and archives opens. Staffers are already hard at work at the facility, which occupies approximately one-third of the four-floor, 75,000-square-foot Center for Creative Arts on Cuyahoga Community College’s Metropolitan Campus, two miles away from the Rock Hall itself.

Tri-C President Jerry Sue Thornton, a Rock Hall trustee, told Cleveland.com:

“It’s extremely important to have the Rock Hall’s library and archives in Cleveland. In addition to providing unique educational opportunities for students at Tri-C and other colleges and universities, the library and archives will be a big draw for music scholars.”

The archives will hold personal papers, business documents, photographs, song manuscripts, posters and other items from leading figures in rock music. Visitors will be able to view material in a special reading room, under supervision, although in the case of very rare or valuable items, they might have to settle for digital scans.

The Rock Hall has increased its efforts to obtain important rock memorabilia in recent months. Andy Leach, director of the library and archives, wants the facility to be “the world’s preeminent research center for rock ‘n’ roll.” He believes that such materials are better placed here than at the Smithsonian Institute or another museum, because rock ‘n’ roll is the main focus at the facility. Lenny Kaye of the Patti Smith Group and member of the Rock Hall’s nominating committee echoed this point:

“When I go to various libraries looking for rock-oriented material, it’s very haphazard. At most institutions, rock is regarded as some kind of a backwater. My hope is these archives will be a place where the music’s legacy is safely preserved.”

Kaye himself has made an important contribution to the archives, passing on a collection of live cassettes recorded in the ’70s and ’80s at CBGB, the landmark Manhattan club where the likes of Smith, the Dead Boys and Talking Heads used to play.

Buddy Holly’s high school diploma is in the Rock Hall’s archives

Among the rarities already in the Rock Hall archives are:

• Buddy Holly’s diploma from Lubbock Senior High School in Lubbock, Texas.
• Jimi Hendrix’s handwritten lyrics to “Purple Haze”
• Documentation from Alan Freed’s 1959 payola trial
• Jim Morrison’s death certificate, which lists the cause of death as “Unknown, pending Doctor’s statement”
• The passport of Joseph Vernon Turner, aka Big Joe Turner, the blues singer whose hits included “Shake, Rattle and Roll.”

Jimi Hendrix’s handwritten lyrics to “Purple Haze”

The facility is due to open in November or December 2010.

The 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction Ceremony will take place on March 15 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City. This year’s inductees include ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies and The Stooges.

Al Jardine’s forthcoming solo CD, “A Postcard From California”, will include a Beach Boys song from 1978 that has never been released. The basic track for “Don’t Fight the Sea” was recorded in 1978, along with the late Carl Wilson’s vocals. Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine have recently completed the overdubs.

Al Jardine - Don’t Fight the Sea

The full track list for “A Postcard From California” will be:

1. A Postcard From California
2. Looking Down the Coast
3. Don’t Fight the Sea
4. Tidepool Interlide
5. California Saga
6. Honking Down the Highway
7. Driving
8. San Simeon
9. Help Me Rhonda
10. California Feelin’
11. And I Always Will
12. California Dreamin’.

Among the artists guesting on the album are Neil Young, Flea, Brian Wilson, Glen Campbell, Stepehn Stills, David Crosby and Steve Miller.

You can hear some track samples at:
http://www.aljardine.com/photo.html