'A friend of a friend of ...': Bonnie Hayes

There's a connection that runs deep in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene.  Mention the name Bonnie Hayes around people in that area, and chances are you'll get an enthusiastically positive response.

Bonnie Hayes

Her brother Chris is the former lead guitarist for Huey Lewis and the News.  Her brother Kevin has been a drummer with the Roberr Cray Band.  And then there's Bonnie, with an impressive musical resume in her own right.

She really started getting noticed in the days of New Wave with her band The Punts and the song "Shelly's Boyfriend."  If you saw the 1983 movie "Valley Girl," her song "Girls Like Me" played over the opening credits.  Remember the Bonnie Raitt comeback hit "Have a Heart?"  Bonnie Hayes wrote that.

Bonnie Hayes makes for a fine pop stylist, as a performer and a songwriter.  It's her songwriting abilities that have made other artists perk up their ears when it comes to her work, penning songs that have been picked up by Cher, Bette Midler, David Crosby, Robert Cray, Adam Ant and Booker T and the MGs, and she's produced more than 40 records.

She's performed with the likes of Billy Idol and Bruce Springsteen.  So she's perked up many ears through her performing as well.

It just keeps getting better for her too.  In the first part of September, Bonnie will assume a new role as chair of the Berklee College of Music Songwriting Department.

That's a resume to be proud of.

The worst -- and best -- of the Billboard Music Awards

My Monday started by seeing what friends had to say about the Billboard Music Awards the night before.  There are many musicians and music fans alike on my Facebook friends list, so the comments themselves were entertaining.

The toughest comments had to do with the prevalence of lip-synching and computerized touches that took away from the human element.  I can't say that I disagree with that desire to see more emphasis placed on the "human touch."

There's a place for the electronic element in music.  But there's more skill and emotion involved when the music is "real."

The Billboard awards had their share of bad moments, "lowlighted" by the poorly conceived leap by R&B singer Miguel that ended up with him landing feet and legs first into two female fans and leading to a "what the ..." moment that was all the rage on the internet.

And then there was Prince, bringing out the best.  He may not be burning up the music charts the way he once did, at least in comparison to the performers taking the stage Sunday night.  But the diminutive one came out looking a bit like Hendrix, and playing a bit like Hendrix too.  When it came to Prince, the best part of the night was saved for last.

Best of all, it was "real."

An example of "vocal gymnastics," anthem style

Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera, and any singer like them, can certainly belt out a tune vocally.  They have impressive voices.

So why is it that their singing can grate on my nerves at times?

It has a lot to do with "oversinging," or melisma, or a term that I've used myself that I didn't know anyone else used until I found a reference to it on Wikipedia -- "vocal gymnastics."

I have nothing against vocalists showing they have the ability to hit a wide variety of notes.  But do they have to hit so many of them on one word?  After all, can't it be just as powerful -- if not more so -- to hit a handful of notes at the most with emotion, the right use of vibrato, those kinds of little "touches."

Or are we resigned to this "vocal gymnastics" style continuing to assault us with reckless abandon, "American Idol" style?

For an example of this craze, I give you how the notes might look when a classic song is performed by the likes of Mariah and Christina at a sporting event.

 

 

Joe South dies at age 72

Singer-songwriter Joe South died Wednesday at his home in Buford, Georgia, of heart failure at the age of 72.

South was perhaps best-known for his 1969 hit song, "Games People Play."  As a songwriter, he penned songs made famous by Billy Joe Royal ("Down In The Boondocks") and The Osmonds ("Yo-Yo"), as well as "Hush" for Deep Purple and Kula Shaker.  Lynn Anderson turned his song "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" into a huge country hit in 1971.

As a session guitarist, he played on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools," Tommy Roe's "Sheila," and Bob Dylan's Blonde On Blonde album.

Joe South's bio appears in the link below.

Joe South biography