Here are the various updates from the past in case this is your first visit...   AL'S NEWSLETTER 4/28/01 The release date of the boxed set RARE & WELL DONE has been moved to September 25th. This is good and bad news. The bad news is it won't be out in August as originally planned. The good news is SONY is giving me the time I need to deliver you a totally killer package. The RARE CD contains all unreleased tracks from 1964-2001. Demos, leftovers from old albums, great covers of Ray Charles, XTC, Big Joe Williams and an outtake from the Crime Story TV series are just some of the 18 goodies on that CD. The WELL DONE CD contains 15 of the most-requested tracks of Alficionados everywhere. I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know, Season Of The Witch, New York City, I Got A Woman, This Diamond Ring (Al's version!) and Flute Thing are just some of the old favorites that will be remastered properly for the first time. The unreleased Bloomfield/Kooper Fillmore East concert will be released in February alongside a newly re-mastered Super Session CD with many new photos from the actual recording sessions. I'm really trying to give my supporters what they want within the restrictions and realities I have to work under. If these CDs sell well, I can see SONY loosening up and perhaps releasing some expanded solo albums. It's all up to you guys. I promise you RARE & WELL DONE will make even the most cynical fan happy. I'll be in Detroit May 17th & 18th (click on the LIVE icon) Hope to see all you Michiganers (Meshuganahs if you're Jewish) at the FREE show at Wayne State. Thass'all for now. Thanks for logging on & tuning in - Al Kooper AL'S NEWSLETTER 7/28/01 Well things are really moving along with the box set "Rare & Well Done." The advance CDs are going out to the press, the artwork is just finishing, and a special promo CD has been created. I am happy finally to publish the track listings: RARE contains 18 unreleased tracks from 1964-2001 and Al's rare first single from 1965. RARE 1. I CAN'T QUIT HER (new studio version) 2. SOMETHING GOING ON (original demo 1964) 3. AUTUMN SONG 4. I CANT STAND THE RAIN 5. BABY PLEASE DON'T GO (live 1971) 6. I LET LOVE SLIP THROUGH MY FINGERS 7. THE EARTHQUAKE OF YOUR LOVE 8. BULGARYA (instrumental out take from Rekooperation) 9. NUTHIN' I WOULDN'T DO FOR A WOMAN LIKE YOU 10. NEW YORK'S MY HOME (Al's first single 1965) 11. MAKING PLANS FOR NIGEL (XTC cover) 12. I BELIEVE TO MY SOUL (w/Mick Taylor) 13. WENT TO SEE THE GYPSY (out take from New Morning) 14. RACMANINNOFF'S BIRTHDAY 15. HEY JUDE (instrumental rehearsal tape 1969) 16. LIVING IN MY OWN RELIGION 17. THE BIG CHASE (instrumental out take from Crime Story) 18. THEY JUST DON'T MAKE EM LIKE THAT ANYMORE 19. A DRIVE THROUGH THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD Well Done contains Al's most popular tracks and a few rare and live ones all remastered under Al's supervision for the first time ever WELL DONE 1. I CANT KEEP FROM CRYIN' (live '94 w/The Blues Project) 2. I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU'll EVER KNOW (w/BS&T 1968) 3. THIS DIAMOND RING (Al's version 1975) 4. ALBERT'S SHUFFLE (w/Mike Bloomfield 1968) 5. BURY MY BODY (w/Shuggie Otis 1969) 6. SEASON OF THE WITCH (w/Stephen Stills 1968) 7. NEW YORK CITY (YOU'RE A WOMAN) 8. I CAN'T QUIT HER (live 1994) 9. I STAND ALONE 10. FLUTE THING (w/The Blues Project 1966) 11. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE 12. I GOT A WOMAN 13. BRAND NEW DAY 14. LOVE THEME FROM THE LANDLORD There is a full-color 28 page booklet enclosed with lotsa photos and quotes from many old & new friends including: Steve Winwood, Tom Petty, George Winston, Gene Simmons, Billy Gibbons, Brian Wilson, Andy Partridge, BB King, and the late John Lee Hooker to name a few. Each track is as fully annotated as available information allows with little descriptions by yours truly. There are. in addition, wonderful liner notes by rock critic Jaan Uhelszki. As of now, this is due in stores and on-line on September 18, 2001. Also being sent out in advance is a promo CD only with 37 excerpts of tracks I have played on, produced or written. Some of the artists included are Bob Dylan, JayZ, Beastie Boys, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Tubes, Lulu, BB King, The Staple Singers, The Rolling Stones, Donny Hathaway, The Who, Nils Lofgren, Lorraine Ellison, Dion, Gene Pitney, Trisha Yearwood, Ten Years After & Kenny Lattimore. Looks like a collectors item right outa the box. Obviously, I'm very excited. This has been two years in the making and as far as my fans are concerned, this is the best I can do in releasing what I think you would enjoy. SONY has been helpful and cooperative in making this release be just the way I envisioned it. I'm off to Norway August 1 for the first time ever to play at the Notodden Blues Festival along with my Boston/Berklee band The Funky Faculty. We will also be performing selected dates the week before the release of the CD. See the LIVE section of the website for details. Have a great summer!!!   Al Kooper AL'S NEWSLETTER 1/28/02 The first thing is that I lost a dear friend this morning. Andy Kulberg, bassplayer/flautist of The Blues Project passed away today. He was amazingly talented, one of the sweetest people I ever met, and the bearer of a wonderful sense of humor. I wrote “Flute Thing” specifically for him to play in 1965, the year we met. We have been close ever since. After The Blues Project, he founded the band Sea Train and then ran a successful music scoring agency for the rest of his life. He lived to play good music and he sho nuff did that. He was originally from Buffalo, New York and lived in Fairfax, California for at least the last twenty years. He died of lymphoma. In the end, his body was not able to manufacture blood properly. The doctors gave him notice a week ago and he died peacefully at home, surrounded by friends & family. After handily surviving the removal of a benign brain tumor myself on November 12th, a protracted, painful recovery ensued until about last week. There are now moments of pain throughout the day but no intense pain as in the first six weeks. Now it’s just a question of building back my strength and endurance. I was extremely saddened that I was not able to visit Andy this last week but I have to gain my own strength back slowly but surely. Andy & I joked on the phone last week that with my brain surgery, his lymphoma and Danny Kalb’s recent heart attack we are finally, truly, The Blues Project. While Danny & I recover, we will truly miss our blues brother; the likes of which we will never see again. Amen...... At this point, all the audio is finished on the “lost” Fillmore East 1968 Kooper-Bloomfield CD. I am putting together the artwork and notes as you read this. I am also trying to add more bonus tracks to the remastered Super Session CD by remixing some original tracks sans horns. Over the years I have gotten many requests for this so I’m trying my best. The artwork and notes for that CD are also currently being dealt with. I’m guessing simultaneous April-May releases at this point. I am also endeavoring to sell a live CD from last summer’s Norway appearance on the website here with perhaps some long-sleeved black shirts from the Soul Of A Man CD as well. This will probably take a few months to get together. Have patience. I am currently obsessed with my recently purchased Apple I-Pod, which is a cigarette pack-sized MP3 player that holds over a thousand songs and sounds GREAT. Perhaps a listing here of the 1000 songs on it in the future - who knows how long this recovery will take? Finally, thanks to everyone for the emailed get well wishes - they certainly helped my temperament in those painful days of the recent past. I am happy and proud to have such wonderful fans and supporters. God bless you all!  - - - - - - MEDICAL STORIES FROM THE CHAIR AND BED  12/04/01 So, as I creep towards my sixties. I begin to reap the medical monkeys that creep along with age. About two years ago, I lost a blast of vision in one eye from some syndrome I could never pronounce. It involves the flow of blood to the optic nerve and causes a permanent vision loss that they say cannot get worse. Nine months later I got it in the other eye as well, and it took about 2/3 of my sight. I’ve adjusted pretty well to it but lost my ability to drive the car at all and read for long periods of time. While getting an exploratory MRI scan to check said eyes a coupla years ago , a new enemy was sighted - a benign brain tumor - walnut size. The doctor said we should have a look-see twice a year to monitor any progress. After three looks , it began to grow again. The surgeon suggested going on in and pulling it out. I agreed. Surgery was quietly set for November 12th, 2001. I was not particularly frightened because a) it was not malignant b) I have a great surgeon. These are rather long procedures however - mine was from 7:30 AM to 4 PM. Eight and a half rather bloody hours I am told in retrospect. Today is two weeks after said cut. I was released from the hospital Wednesday after said cutting Monday. It is a slow, painful, uncomfortable recovery so far. However, there is no cancer. I blocked out the rest of 2001 so I am resting in comparative work peace. Two days before the operation, I was fired from my monthly column at EQ magazine. Did they know something I didn’t, perhaps? Lovely timing, nonetheless. 2001 has been quite a year for loss - me Mum, me dog Daisy, 9-11-01, and my six-year column at EQ Magazine. Also the release of my box set RARE & WELL DONE on 9/18, which was quickly buried in the rubble of the war. 2002 holds a few possibilities in there. A full recovery would be a great start in January. A local gig in February to celebrate my 58th year surviving this rock stuff. In March we are trying to re-release SUPER SESSION with two bonus tracks and some excellent mastering. A live album with Bloomfield, lost for thirty-several years, was discovered while researching the RARE album. It has been repaired , edited, and mixed an mastered. It’s from the Fillmore East in 1968 with a guest appearance by Johnny Winter. We are trying to release both of them at the same time in April or May. Keep your eye here for more news on them. Have happy holidays and we’ll talk again in the New Year. Al Kooper UPDATE  MARCH 8TH 2002 Well, there’s always good news and bad news. First the good: I hired a booking agent for the first time in decades and I have pledged to get out there and rock. I avoided serious touring since the mid-seventies, so that it didn't work out that playing gigs supported me. I always wanted to play for the sheer joy of it. Now I miss it so much, I am raring to go. But STILL for the joy of it. My songs have been taking care of me and that affords me the chance to go out and play more often. First on the bill are festivals in Seattle & Portland the first week in July w/ The Rekooperators.. (See the LIVE section here for gig details as soon as they’re ready). Chicago and NY are lined up for May. So expect to see me sweatin’ away on a stage near you this summer. I’m having difficulty with the booklets on the two Bloomfield projects I’m working on, so they have slowed down. As of now, don't know when they’ll be out. I really miss writing the monthly column I churned out for EQ magazine for the last six years. Not only did they pull the plug on that, but their book division nixed the book we were planning of all those columns collected under one cover. Must have been something I wrote. Hope I can get back in print soon - it was a great release and I know I made a lot of people in the industry chuckle a bit. And speaking of people in the industry, the manufacturing of CDs that cannot be duplicated for anything is the stupidest, greediest , and most insulting thing the record companies have done to the consumer yet. Hopefully, artists with bigger followings than mine will ask their fans to boycott purchasing these insults. The record companies, trying to end Napster-like websites, are ENCOURAGING them by this brainless move. Glad I left that end of the biz in ‘89!!!!! My health is 99% back and I can't wait to get out there and show you how much fun it is to play with The Rekooperators and The Funky Faculty. Keep writing in, your mail is half the reason I’m 99% back! Al UPDATE  JUNE 4TH 2002 Hello again, gang! Some great highlights since the last update: Being on the cover for the first time of one of my fave mags GOLDMINE. It's the June 14th issue on sale June 3rd. There's some errors in the interview, but nobody's perfect - least of all, me.     Playing on the bill with the omnipotent Joey DeFrancesco at The Bottom Line on May 3rd. Seeing my fans & friends in Chicago after seven long years on May 18th. The most email I've EVER gotten from one gig. Thank you all! Attending the late Andy Kulberg's memorial in Fairfax, CA on April 28th. Seeing old friends, playing with musicians I never or rarely played with before (David Grisman, Bannana, Mark Naftalin, Norton Buffalo) and of course paying tribute to my dear departed Blues Project brother. Update on the remastered SUPER SESSION: This will include four bonus tracks; an outtake from the actual sessions, a live outtake, new remixes of Season Of The Witch and Albert's Shuffle without horns. Many fans have asked for this over the years, so here it is. The Lost Fillmore East Kooper/Bloomfield Concert CD featuring Johnny Winter on one amazing track, will be released, along with the remastered SUPER SESSION, the second week in January, 2003. And after years of anticipation and failed attempts, Allen Bloomfield and myself have reached an agreement with SONY Legacy to produce a way overdue Mike Bloomfield box set. Between Michael's brother and I, we hope to compile the best of Michael's playing along with rare photos and sensitive writing about this sadly overlooked guitar monster from the ''60's & '70's. Proposed release date? Fall 2003. The Rekooperators are looking forward to seeing all their old & new friends in Seattle & Portland July 4th-6th. All concerts are basically FREE, so be independent on Independence Day weekend and come rock with us! Details if you click LIVE at the top of this page. Have a wonderful summer - take care of yourselves and drop in here from time to time for updates and laughs! Al Kooper June 4th, 2002 UPDATE  JULY 9, 2002 Well, I just returned home from my July 4th week on the road. It was great to see fans in Seattle & Portland. I got home at noon on the 8th and slept from 1PM to 5PM. Then again from 9:30 PM to 2 AM. It's now 6 AM and I'm rarin' 2 go again. What a wacky life. People have been emailing about difficulty in purchasing my book BACKSTAGE PASSES AND BACKSTABBING BASTARDS. I've also gotten a great deal of enquiries about the availability of the CDs REKOOPERATION, SOUL OF A MAN and DO, WHAT NOW by Jimmy Vivino & The Rekooperators. I have tried in vain to get some answers from the companies that put these items out and now I think it's probably best if I plug you all into these companies directly. Don't be afraid to email them, in fact, I believe it will help both of us if every one of you sends an email asking how you can purchase these now-seemingly-out-of-print items. For the book, the email address is bnirkind@watsonguptill.com For the CDS, the address is musmasters@aol.com Your solicitation should be To Whom It May Concern - and your content should include where you tried to purchase these items and how long you've been unable to get them. I think if we work together, it may be possible to end these inconveniences to both of us. Thanks for your interest and help. In August, I begin work scoring an as-yet unnamed documentary. On September 14th, we hope to see all our Detroit friends at the Arts Festival that evening. I am attending the NAMM convention (National Association of Music Merchandisers) July 18th-21st in Nashville, TN and seeing all my old friends as well. On the way home on July 21st, I will stop in New Bedford MA to play the blues festival with The Funky Faculty. It's been a brutal summer so far in the East, but we're not flooding or hosting out of control fires, so I guess I cant complain too loudly. Have a great summer and be careful - RIP John Frankenheimer Timothy White John Entwhistle Rosemary Clooney & Ray Brown NOVEMBER 1ST UPDATE Vis a vis last month’s political diatribe, the response was reassuring. Only two negative replies (one from the UK) and scores of supporters. As usual, since then, George Dubya is telegraphing his intents by months, so I’m sure Saddam is readying for our inevitable “attack.” What incredible insensitivity to lives and stabilization. I can't believe Congress just pushed it through. So much for voting....But - I digress - let’s talk about personal appearances.  I have a new plan. For the past six months, I have dueled with two separate booking agents trying to get out onstage more often; to places that friends e-mail about that are hoping to see me perform. I had been booking myself up to then with obvious limitations, but my attempts to have an agent further my ambitions were VERY disappointing and actually cost me a Fall & Winter schedule so far. The opposite of what I was looking for. So I wanna try something that's never been done. I want you folks to help me. Pick a venue nearby you enjoy hearing live music in. Either call or visit and find out who the person is who books the talent there. Ideally, it must hold between 300 - 600 people. A smaller or larger venue messes with the economics, trust me for that. Tell them that you and your friends would love to come see me play there and that I book myself and give that person my e-mail address. This way, I can get to where I’m wanted (one agent said practically no one wanted to hire me) with the help of those who really enjoy the music and have unfinancial motives. If it works, what could be better ? If it doesn’t, I’ll continue my seemingly hopeless search for chemistry with a booking agent. Needless to say, if you’re a worldwide booking agent and you’re reading this and you think you can help, I’m all eyes.  Coming up: a remastered Super Session CD with four bonus tracks; a “lost” Fillmore East concert with Mike Bloomfield and I from 1968. Both released by SONY-Legacy on January 15th, 2003. A track on a Canadian Beatles tribute CD (“Eleanor Rigby”), a track on a George Harrison tribute CD (Koch) (“Don’t Bother Me”) release dates unknown at press time. A sit-in with the band Yo La Tengo one night the first week in December at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, NJ. A solo show in NYC in early February as a nod to me 59th birthday (yikes!!!!) Gonna pitch a bitch in 2004 for the big 6-0. Gone by: a great spontaneous sit-in with Little Feat here in Boston last month. Old friends, great music.  Have a great Thanksgiving and pray for every one’s survival at the hands of people who should be incarcerated, not “elected.” Notice the similarities between Saddam’s recent election and George Dubya’s ridiculous Florida debacle two years ago? Let’s get bookin !!!!! Al Kooper 11/1/02 UPDATE: DECEMBER 18TH, 2002 Well here we are a week before Xmas...... George Bush and pals still  threatening the world; Trent Lott slipping and showing his true self and having the NERVE to appear on the Black Entertainment Network. Allow me to  talk a little closer to home: I want to thank all of you who sent in venue suggestions over the last  six weeks. They were duly noted and through a connection with old pal Chuck  Prophet, I finally have hooked up with human booking agents. So now it’s just  a matter of time before we get to your town! Already in the works - a belated return to Japan in June for three shows in Tokyo and one in Osaka. Haven’t  been since 1978 and can't wait to go CD shopping there as well! I’ve upgraded my home studio to 5.1 surround-sound mixing capability and  am currently mixing SUPER SESSION and CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN in  surround-sound for release on SONY SACD. No release date has been set and  that gives me the time to do as good a job as I possibly can. The engineering  on the master tapes is wonderful. Hats off to Fred Catero, Bob Berault & Roy  Hallee for amazing 1967-1968 use of technology. Hope to see my northern CA fans on January 8th at the Sweetwater Saloon  in Mill Valley for a solo show. It’s been a few years, but it’s always great  to get back and perform in the SF area, especially on Elvis’ birthday. Watch  out for Alvis! Have a wonderful holiday season (maybe turn off the TV news and don’t buy  the paper for a few days) and thanks to all of you for your gracious emails  and your support of this website. Elliott Randall (Webmaster) & I will try  and make it even better in 2003. Til then... All the best Al Kooper UPDATE - FEBRUARY 5,2003 As I sit here observing my 59th birthday today, I thought it would be expedient to update the website. Finally according to SONY, the re-mastered SUPER SESSION, and the LOST CONCERT TAPES / FILLMORE EAST will be instore on March 4th. Sorry for the delays, but I don't know what causes them. The first reviews are starting to come out and the critics seem to agree with me about the quality of Bloomfield's performances on both CDs. I hope all of you enjoy them as much as I did getting them out to you. There is talk of a Japanese tour June 15th to 23rd this year. With new booking agents, I am trying to get out to see all of you, but evidently it is a slow arduous process putting these gigs together. I am trying my best however. The economy is not on our side at the moment, as you all know. Last weekend I was interviewed for an upcoming Discovery Channel show called THE TEMPLES OF ROCK. Should be onscreen in the fall/winter. I will advise when I know more. I have been in my basement studio working away on 5.1 SurroundSound SACD mixes of CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN & SUPER SESSION. This is very rough work because the source tapes are extremely primitive in sound options. I am using the latest technology to make them sound as robust as possible, but it is taking an incredible amount of time and effort. SONY has thankfully removed any deadlines. I'd like to recommend Joan Osborne's latest album. It is all cover tunes and the combination of Joan and producer John Leventhal is quite magical. The arrangements and performances are about as good as you can get and the sonic quality is wonderful. I'd love to hear that album in 5.1 !!! Some good news - SOUL OF A MAN (2 disc live at the Bottom Line 1994), REKOOPERATION (Hammond B3 instrumental album w guests) & DO, WHAT NOW? (Jimmy Vivino & The Rekooperators) all out of print for quite awhile now, will be available through an upcoming link on the website in the next month or so. If you use the link, an additional discount will be subtracted from your purchase. We are just getting the mechanics of that together with the label they are on, MUSICMASTERS. In addition, I am slowly concluding the red tape with Billboard Books and my autobiography BACKSTAGE PASSES & BACKSTABBING BASTARDS will soon be in my ownership again. Instead of attempting to resell it, I think I shall publish it myself and make it availabler on the site here and at live shows. EVERY copy will be signed and individually printed. I will also try and update the book to 2003 as well. All this will take some time, however, but should be worth it in the end. In terms of finding my older albums on CD, they do exist, just not in the USA. There are import sites suggested in the intro to the solo album part of the website under WORDS. Hope this helps you get that dog-eared vinyl replaced! There are TV shows, Broadway plays, filmscores, documentaries, and all sorts of madness being discussed lately. If you're a regular attendee here, you'll be the first to know about all of it. Once again, thank you all for your wonderful emails and interest in me at the dawn of my old age. If we live through the Bush administration, this should be a great decade for all of us. God bless, Al Kooper UPDATE - MARCH 4TH 2003 So, like I imagine a few of you reading this did as well, I sauntered into the record store this morning to see what was what. What I found was what was not. For no reason I can put my finger on, the most delayed albums of my career waltzed to an April 8th release. Admittedly, there is a shakeup going on at SONY, so I guess as I've often pointed out: "Murphy's Law follows ME like a stalker!" I apologize to everyone who made that record store journey today, but as you all know, this is not under my control at all. If it was, you'd have been in possession of those CDs in January, when they first assured me they would be released. There's really nothing else I can say except "I'm sorry..." The in person crusade is moving along slowly but surely. I have accepted new gigs in Florida, Maryland, Syracuse and had to turn down a tempting tour in Italy cause of scheduling conflicts. Please check the LIVE section of the website in the next few weeks as a little momentum has begun in personal appearances. The economics of the road prevent me from always having a band with me. Over the last few years I have compensated by putting together a strong solo show that has lately played to extremely receptive audiences from coast to coast. The success of these shows assures the various clubowners and promoters that you will come out to enjoy the SOLO music and makes it easier next time for them to confidently afford the band. So what I'm saying is: the solo shows have become as strong as the band shows; they're just different. It gives me the chance to explain what inspired each song or where they came from, and indulge my latent ambition to become a "sit-down comic." My dear friend, actor Peter Riegert (LOCAL HERO, THE MASK, TRAFFIC, CROSSING DELANCY, ANIMAL HOUSE) has begun shooting a documentary on moi that he is directing. Guaranteed to pull no punches, it will explore all the goods and bads of the music industry that have passed b4 my eyes in the last six decades. (It's frightening to realize I turned pro in 1958!!!) We're shooting it leisurely, in our spare time, and when it's done, THEN we'll decide how to exhibit it to the public. Having a cold snow hell winter here in the northeast, exacerbated by what looks like the forthcoming World Armageddon. I ordered my radiation suit but they don't have any dog models for BeBe !!!! As I said before, cross your fingers that SONY will deliver the remastered SUPER SESSION and The Lost Concert 12/13/68 on April 8th. That's really all we can do 4 now...... AL KOOPER UPDATE - APRIL 1, 2003 Well, these are scary times. Whether you support the war or not, you can’t turn a blind eye towards the condition of the economy and the potential war debt in dollars and lives. It looks to me like it’s entirely possible we will recapitulate the crash of 1929. When the stocks meet the same fate as the WTC, when airlines are forced to stop flying, when gas prices are out-of-reach, when grocery stores are depleted and cant afford to restock, and that green paper becomes virtually worthless. How does one raise the national debt to astronomical heights and still promise to lower taxes? This eludes me completely. When the rich are no longer rich (unless they’ve got a coveted war supply contract or an oil well or ten)) and MOST are poor....then perhaps we can start all over again and reinvent ourselves image-wise and sociologically. It wasn’t that long ago, that we at least had the sympathy and understanding of the world after 9/11. It sure ain't like that NOW. I shudder to think what will happen when North Korea rears it’s nuclear head.  Ya gotta admit, it’s potentially getting to be a day-to-day existence.... A P R I L F O O L !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Colin Powell says George W was just kidding and we’re pulling out of Iraq today and sending all our troops home. Sean Penn is taking over Rumsfield’s job and ............okay okay - just diggin for a smile!!! In spite of the world condition, I am moving ahead with plans to make Kooper fans happy as best I can. Within a month or two, one will be able to purchase at a reasonable fee on this website, copies of the CDs, SOUL OF A MAN, REKOOPERATION, and the rare Rekooprators album - DO WHAT, NOW. These have been out of print for years now, but we will soon work out a deal with the record company MUSICMASTERS, so that you can purchase signed copies right here!!! Also for sale will be black long-sleeved T shirts (XL - one size fits Al!) with the cover of the REKOOPERATION CD on the front , also signed!! We are about six weeks away from all this. Next up after that hopefully will be the book BACKSTAGE PASSES & BACKSTABBING BASTARDS sadly out of print for the last year. The book should be up & running in about six months, signed and available ONLY on this website. I am praying that everything stays calm with North Korea so I can play my Japanese Tour in mid-June. Since it has been announced, I have received wonderful emails from Japanese and Korean(!) fans and I sure don't wanna disappoint a single one. The Super Session and The Lost Fillmore Concert CDs will be out in a week (April 8th) and the advance reviews have been great so far. So we’re doing what we can here.  I’m currently working on scoring the film THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, an independent feature directed by friend/actor Peter Riegert (Local Hero, Animal House, Traffic, Crossing Delancy) in his feature-directing debut. The film stars Peter, Eli Wallach, Rita Moreno, Isabella Rossellini, Eric Bogosian and Dominic Chianese. It’s a serio/comedy about mid-life crisis and we hope it will be released in early 2004. LATE FLASH: Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards, now out-of-print, for sale at BAMM.com for below Ebay prices. Act quickly, I suspect and good luck! So, keep your chins up out there, say a prayer for America, and we hope to see all our friends in Lake Worth, Florida and Annapolis, Maryland this month. Always check the LIVE section of this website to see where we’re playing in the near future. Thanks to all of you for your supportive emails and good feelings! God bless ya! Al Kooper UPDATE - MAY 20, 2003 Hi out there ! Been very busy the last six weeks. Have finished an eye-opening 5.1 Surround SACD mix of SUPER SESSION. This has got to be the finest way to listen to music if it is prepared correctly. So many people are doing it in the digital domain and losing the sonics of the sixties, as it were. I was working with engineer Steve Rosenthal who prepared the recent multi-CD Stones re-releases that came out a few months ago. Steve also engineered most of the REKOOPERATION CD and Jimmy Vivino's solo album DO WHAT NOW which I produced. We worked in the analogue domain to match the tones of the original tapes first recorded in 1968. Next up is a Surround version of BS&T's CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN, with the additional assistance of original producer John Simon. That will be remixed in late July. Don't know release dates yet. Stay tuned here however for those details. I am hoping they will additionally allow me 2 remix the first three Skynyrd albums and the first Tubes album in this format. The Funky Faculty and I are now preparing for our Japanese tour. I leave for Tokyo on June 11th for a few days of press prior to the kickoff date of June 15th. I am so excited to return to the only country, that sees fit to release my entire catalogue on CD and will RE-release it in minpaks just for the occasion of the upcoming tour! To score any of these imports, log onto www.redtrumpet.com - I know they'll have em when they are released June 4th. Pre-orders are being taken as well. In the comments section of the order form, tell em you're from Al's website and they'll tack an extra discount on as well! In July we'll be appearing in NYC & Syracuse July 16th and 19th respectively. See the LIVE section of the website for details. In August, I'll be in my home studio scoring actor Peter Riegert's directorial debut, which just finished shooting this week. Currently untitled, watch this space for details. Every Friday night on the Letterman show, Paul Shaffer sings my song I LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW, and aux-collapses onstage James Brown style during the fade. Each week, a special guest trots out and places a cape around Paul, JB-style, comforting him towards offstage. Cape holders in the past year have included Donald Trump, Nathan Lane, Solomon Burke, Bill Murray, George Pataki, James Brown himself (!) Don Rickles and many others. It usually happens after Dave has interviewed the headline guest. The band goes into the song, they cut to commercial and then return to the cape-antics after the commercial. Then during the NBA play-offs, when a few teams were in the 4th quarter throes of an inescapable loss, the strains of I CANT KEEP FROM CRYIN SOMETIMES, came wailin' outa the TV speaker. I am extremely flattered by all this unsolicited TV coverage although in disbelief as well. Thanks to those behind the scenes, who see fit to play my music! Well, I have a rare few days off to rekooprate and away I go. Thanks for logging on... See ya next month! Al Kooper UPDATE - June, 2003 This is Al's diary of his Japanese tour . The full text can be found here. UPDATE AUG 1, 2003 I have finally completed mixing the 5.1 Surround Sound SACD mixes of Super Session and Child Is Father To The Man. I'm guessing March 2004 as the release date. I worked at Magic Shop Studios in SoHo in NYC. It was a great team of engineers: Steve Rosenthal & Matt Boynton, who helmed that massive Rolling Stones SACD re-release of over 20 albums plus the latest Sam Cooke re-releases pitched in with their dynamic engineering skills to make these 1967-recorded tapes sound incredible! I still have to master both albums with Bob Ludwig probably in December. I am very sold on 5.1 Surround Sound. Instead of an 180 degree stereo field, now we have 360 degrees PLUS height! This means at least double the amount of room to allow breathing space for each instrument & voice. Most people handling this new medium work entirely in the digital realm. Steve, Matt & I lovingly coaxed the warm sounds out of a custom NEVE analogue console and then directly into the Sonoma SACD system. Also. as a fan, I am quite annoyed with most 5.1 mixes. They just sound like glorified stereo mixes - no one is having any fun or taking any chances with their mixes. Not the case here. Both these CDs were approached with their original bravado will be great demonstrators of SACD 5.1 Surround systems. So have patience and it will be rewarded in March (hopefully). This month I am buried down the basement scoring Peter Riegerts indie-film directorial debut as yet un-named. Peter and I have been good friends since about 1975 and this is a great chance to work together. Peter has acted in some wonderful films over the years (Animal House, Crossing Delancey, Local Hero, Traffic, The Sopranos and the last episode of Seinfeld to name a scant few) and is enjoying his new role immensely. I haven't done any scoring work in awhile, so I'm having a GREAT time. Plans are FINALLY afoot for the release of a proper solo album of new songs ( a first since 1976's Act Like Nothing's Wrong!) So far, it will be released in Japan in April or May, but other offers are coming in and it may be world-wide by then. Entitled SONGS FROM THE BASEMENT, it is the best of over 130 unreleased tracks that are hiding down there. Many are one-man band demos turned masters. At least three are with The Funky Faculty playing back up, and one collaboration with Jimmy Vivino on a Beatles cover. I am very proud of the songwriting on this album and hope all of you will enjoy it. I think I am going to take most of December through March off from the road to avoid the usual winter hassles and finish the new album and the older remasterings. As I approach the big 6-0, I am constantly inspired by Muddy Waters and BB King, who played out their later years for all to enjoy. With the recent addition of The Mongrel Agency for booking, I am able to get out to see all of you in person with more frequency than ever before. This is a good thing. Enjoy the rest of the summer - play the lotteries or turn in Saddam Hussein and make millions..... Peace & love Al Kooper UPDATE SEPTEMBER 8 2003 I don't even know where to start in the tales of movie scoring. Okay - I’ll start here. I work on Apple computers using Digital Performer 4.1 I do all my scoring in my home studio. The movie was sent to me on a 120 gig hard drive, so I decided to put all the scoring files on that external disk because my two internal 80 gig disks were nearly full. Miraculously, in 10 days I had my first draft of the entire score. I would work in 4 hour shifts, then sleep two hours, work four hours, sleep two hours, work four hours, eat something, sleep, work, etc. I get real focused on projects like this. So imagine my dismay, when the external disk crashed taking the movie AND the entire score to Byte Heaven. I think in retrospect, that when those two 80 gig disks got near full, they started to act a little crazy and that's what caused the crash. At any rate, I lost everything. I had to wait a week to get a new copy of the film so I took out my two 80s and put in two new blank 160 gig disks. I also updated my system from 9.2 to OS X 10.2.6. I lost the use of much plug-in software, but I enjoy the included plug-ins on Digital Performer and felt I could do just fine with just them. When the movie arrived, I dove back to work and in another ten days I was done; this time with TWO sets of backups. Now they put the music in the film, see how it sits, and then make final corrections and send them to me. I think I get about 6 weeks off before I have to deal with it again. As of today, the film is called THE SALESMAN and they are gearing it up ro make the festival circuit of 2004. So lets all cross our fingers. My lawyers are in the final stages of closing the deal with SONY-Japan for my new solo album, and then I will go fulltime into getting that one all finished and ready for release. The 5.1 Surround versions of SUPER SESSION and CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN go with me to Bob Ludwig’s Gateway Mastering facility in mid-October and I imagine they will be scheduled after that. Stay tuned. A rare West Coast swing this month: McCabes in Santa Monica on 9/26 and the San Francisco Blues Festival you know where on 9/28.October has some technical work and private Berklee shows. November has first time shows in Westchester, NY, Vienna, VA and Bryn Mawr, PA. Check the LIVE section here for details. I usually sign whatever you bring after all my shows, so come on down and say hello. Webmaster Elliott Randall & I are getting a bunch of rare photos together to go up here soon. Just about all the recorded original Al lyrics are up on the site under WORDS. They are in chronological order at the moment. We are always trying to make the site current and fun and hope you are enjoying it. In the future, Allen Bloomfield & I will begin work soon on the Mike Blomfield box set (3 discs-some waiting). I am trying to decide playing-wise, what to do about my 60th birthday. Gotta make THAT decision pretty soon. Thanks again for your interest and emails and talk to ya next month!! Al Kooper UPDATE - OCTOBER 9, 2003 Backatcha!! Last month’s California trip was kind of a yin yang thang. McCabes in LA was a great show and it was nice to meet so many fans after the show. The San Francisco Blues Festival was strange and is covered in the Diaries section under WORDS. Elliott Randall (webmaster) and I finally got all the photos up. Look under - you guessed it - PHOTOS. Hope you enjoy some of these perverse cameos from the past.  October is something of an inside month. I did get to sit in with my current fave band two nights ago - The Black Keys at the Paradise Club in Boston. Their first album, THE BIG COME UP is one of the best first albums I’ve ever heard. Due to a death in the family I was unable to attend the Audio Engineering Society convention in NYC. I will soon be on my way in mid October to master the 5.1 Surround mixes of SUPER SESSION & CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN with the esteemed Bob Ludwig in Portland Maine. Still no release scheduled, natch. After that The Funky Faculty and I play the annual Berklee fund raising Gala, this year at The Downtown Sheraton Hotel in Boston. This is how we got together originally, so now we superstitiously play each year so that we stay together. This is our sixth year.  I’ve also joined the ranks of homeowners who are remodeling their master baths. This is something I don't recommend to people who live in houses originally constructed before 1900. Every ripped out particle reveals a new, expensive headache. We started September 1, and we are hopelessly far from the light at the end of the tunnel. No lawsuits YET. Bebe walks us twice a day.The contracts for the Japanese solo album are STILL being negotiated by the various lawyers on both sides. Can you say 2005? I am looking forward to November stops in Westchester, NY, Vienna, VA & Bryn Mawr, PA. Remember to bring what you need signed to each show and afterwards it shall be done. Well I must let the carpenters in now, so enjoy the autumn weather and we’ll speak next month. Al Kooper ON THE TURNTABLE OCTOBER 2003 1) The Big Come Up - Black Keys 2) North - Elvis Costello 3) Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross 4). The Best of Jackie Mittoo 5) The Best of Redbone (curiously refreshing) 6) Pet Sounds - Beach Boys - 5.1 Surround Sound version 7) Producers Choice - Emmylou Harris - 5.1 Surround Sound 8) OLDIE OF THE MONTH***** If Loving You Is Wrong - Luther Ingram 9) Memphis - Kirk Whalum 10) Polaris - North Mississippi All Stars UPDATE - NOVEMBER 4TH, 2003 Hi - welcome back to the outa Site! This month we’re gonna start reprinting the columns I used to write for the Pro Audio magazine EQ. I received a lot of email requests for this so I’m happy to oblige. We’ll add a new column each month with the original date it was published on it. Hope you enjoy them. They’ll be under the WORDS banner under OLD COLUMNS. In November we come upon the last three gigs of 2003. The Little Theater in White Plains, NY on the 15th, will be the last gig of the year with the Funky Faculty. November 20th will be a solo gig at The Barns Of Wolf Trap in Vienna VA - just outside of DC. The 22nd will be the last gig of the year, solo again, at The Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. I usually don't gig that much in the winter, so if you’re of a mind, come on down, As usual I’ll be signing whatever you foist on me after each show. Remember, I draw the line at silicon. Still no release date for the 5.1 Surround versions of Super Session & Child Is Father To The Man. They will be hybrid SACDs featuring: 1) a 5.1 Surround Sound mix 2. An SACD 2 track remaster 3) The original mix newly remastered I wouldn’t buy it if I didn't have an SACD compatible player, so check and see if your CD or DVD player can handle it. If they can, you’re in for quite a ride. If you are just about to purchase a DVD player, make sure it can play back SACD and DVD audio. I noticed one model at $249 list, so it’s not so bad. Surround Sound is amazing. We have our first meeting at SONY on the Mike Bloomfield box set on November 17th. We are trying to have bonus DVDs in the original released sets. Looks like 2005 for that one. I am hoping the folks at Universal will let me do surround mixes of the three Skynyrd albums I originally mixed & produced. The current regime has never let me put my hands on them so I doubt it, but it don’t hurt to ask. What a weird business. Glad I’m mostly retired from all that political crap. Since it’s getting quiet around here, there probably wont be an update in December. In late January there will be a 60th birthday gig in Boston and possibly one in NYC the first week of February. Details in January or in the LIVE section of the site. This summer already has festivals booked in Italy & Belgium, so keep posted. Have wonderful holidays this season and thanks so much for all your emails! Al Kooper   ON THE TURNTABLE NOVEMBER 20O3 1. Damian Rice - Volcano 2. Betty Lavette - The Stealer 3. Elvis Costello - North CD 4. ZZ Top - New Box Set 5. Shelby Lynne - Identity Crisis 6. Joss Stone - The Soul Sessions 7. Soundtrack - Igby Goes Down 8. ***Oldie Of The Month*** Sara Smile - Hall & Oates 9. Various Artists - Cellarful of Motown (UK compilation) 10.Kirk Franklin - Lookin Out For Me  UPDATE - JANUARY 1ST - 2004 Well, here I sit in disbelief. Primarily that I’ve lived this long, and secondly, that I will be sixty years of age in 36 days. Happily, I have been blessed with my second grandchild, Chloe Miranda, on December 11th. Otherwise, the world I live in makes no sense to me. My New Year’s resolutions are prayers. Prayers that we get out of Iraq as quickly as possible in order to save the lives of our soldiers/children, the climate of normalcy for the people of Iraq, and the economy of the US workingman. I believe it’s now possible that 50 years from now, they will look back historically at this time period and call it the beginning of the decline of the once-super powered United States. A U.S. that clearly pioneered stockpiling weapons of mass destruction itself, but felt it had the right to dictate who else could and could not. A U.S. that felt it had the right to demand of other countries how to run their airline security, when it’s internal policing was one of the worst examples exemplified by 9/11.  It looks as if the Democrats are committing candidate suicide, so I steel myself for four more years of madness and then I’ll be a senior citizen and no longer a danger to anyone (not that I am now.) So forgive me if you’re a Bushhead and at least let me speak my first amendment rights and don’t waste your time sending me hate mail. The only ironic thing comparatively, is that, in retrospect, Bill Clinton was brought to the brink of impeachment for screwing just one person. I guess it’s a different century now. Let us also bemoan the passing of The Bottom Line Club in NYC. The most comfortable place to hear myriad musics in Manhattan has been done in by an institute of alleged higher learning, NYU, the BL’s landlord. Thirty years of great listening gone bye bye in 2004. Those that know will miss it. At the last moment, the staff of Joe’s Pub has indulged my fantasy of playing ON my birthday in New York City. On February 5th, as I actually turn 60, I will play a solo set at 7 PM ($30) and the Rekooperators will join me at 9:15 ($35) for a second show. A cozy, pleasant room, alas only 150 partygoers can fit per show. Forewarned is foretold. Hope to see ya there. The Boston show on January 31st has 1200 seats, my current band, The Funky Faculty, my first post-fame band ; a re-united Frankie & Johnny, and possibly a special guest or two. My favorite activity is playing live. I hope to see as many of you as possible in 2004. We’re workin on it as I type. I also promise that we will begin to knock the lazyman chip off my shoulder in 2004 and sell things onsite. We have recently uncovered sealed “SOUL OF A MAN’ boxsets, and a bunch of 50th birthday longsleeve black tshirts all XL. On the front is the cover of the REKOOPERATION album and the back has the line-up of the 1994 three February shows at The Bottom Line. The book is in the works, but it will take quite awhile to redesign, update and print it. Perhaps early 2005. God bless you all and Happy New Year Al Kooper ON THE iPOD IN DECEMBER 1. Ron Isley & Burt Bachrach duet album 2. Ruben Studdard debut album 3. Michael McDonald Motown album 4. Jimi Hendrix - “Red House” 5. Otis Redding “White Christmas” 6. Staple Singers - “Last Month Of The Year” 7. The Best of Sam & Dave 8. Joss Stone “The Soul Sessions” 9. Bettye Lavette - “Souvenirs” album**** 10. Percy Mayfield “My Jug & I” LP (soon to be on CD!)   UPDATE - FEBRUARY 7TH 2004 Well, first off, thanks to all those who sent birthday emails. I actually got more of those than the mailing list ones from the virus. I don’t think the virus actually works on Apple Computers, so I’ve shone it on so far. So, lets see - the birthday gig in Boston: sick as a dog from a lingering cold. Now I don't really get sick per se; the last time was at the gig for my 50th birthday. Is that weird or what? Wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t scheduled birthday gigs this year. Some clown would have thrown me a surprise party (my worst fear) That's why I schedule gigs on all my birthdays so that cant happen. Anyhoo, sick a s a dog. I played a half-hour solo set, then had an amazing blind pianist from The Perkins School For The Blind who eventually graduated Berklee with honors, Tony Debloise (sp). He played two incredible solo numbers and then we took a short intermission. I returned with The Funky Faculty and we played a bunch, then brought special guest Peter Wolf up onstage for “Growing Pains” from his last album and “Wait-Stop A Minute” one of my fave JGeils numbers. People seemed to enjoy it and I was pleased I could even walk at that point. A few days rest and then off to NYC for the actual birthday shows on Feb 5th. Could not shake that cold So a solo set for a great audience, and then a rare Rekooperators set for the noisy, yell stuff out crowd. We played Like A Rolling Stone for the first time ever, and did rare versions of Downtime, Alberts Shuffle & Mississippi Kid. At one point I had to leave the stage I was coughing so hard. Jeeeez !!!. I’m still coughing as I write this. My only solace is knowing that many in the area. had this cold, a two-weeker.. In terms of the 5.1 Surround versions of SUPER SESSION & CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN, it looks like a late spring/early summer release right now. The “new” Japanese solo album is incredibly embroiled in silly paperwork which may delay it til next summer if they don't clear it up soon. Based on email I get from you, I want you all to understand that I don’t select what CDs come out in the USA. It is NEVER my decision. Needless to say, if it was up to me, it would be like Japan in the US - all my CDs would be re-released. So I hope you all understand that. This week I’m gonna start listening to the Bloomfield material and start picking tracks for the box set. Thass a lotta listening !!!!!!!!!!  I guess it’s a different century now. In March, I’m lecturing at Harvard Law School(!), playing at Camden College in Cherry Hill, NJ with the Rekoops, and possibly playing solo at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, MA. I try to stay off the road in the winter. It is so strange being 60 that I cannot even put it into words properly.  Have a great month !!!! Al Kooper On The iPod in JANUARY: 1. Prototype - OutKast 2. When You Really Love Someone - Alicia Keys 3. MoreThan A Woman - Angie Stone 4. Back In Baby’s Arms - Allen Toussaint 5. God’s Radar - Dixie Hummingbirds 6. You’re Not The Only One - Robert Palmer (RIP) 7. I Spy - Guster 8. Cant Take My Eyes Off You - North Mississippi All Stars 9. 23rd Chromosome - The Honeydogs 10. Sorry 2004 - Ruben Studdard UPDATE - MARCH 10TH, 2004 Gonna come in like a lamb, and hopefully, go out like lion. We are in the final stages of setting up shop on the website and our initial offerings will be: a) autographed copies of “SOUL OF A MAN”. the 1995 double live album that has been out-of-print almost since it’s release! Don’t know how many we can get or exactly what they will cost yet, but I’m guessing less than half of what they are charging on Ebay! AND each one will be autographed.... b) black heavy duty long sleeve T shirts with the cover of “REKOOPERATION” on the front (16 various Al photos in his various stages of development over the years) These are the only official Al shirts in existence at the moment. all XLs; one size fits Al Payment will be through Pay-Pal© and should be easy for all. We are just checking the shipping options and that is what is holding us up at the moment. Then it goes to our website commander, Elliott Randall, and he will make it fit in nicey nice on the site ASAP. We hope to be up by April Fools Day (heh heh) Now I am one who has been extremely fickle about merchandising over the years, but the great thing about this site is I get to hear right from your emails, EXACTLY what you want and when it is possible for me to impart that to you, I promise I will. So much of my previous work is tied up in other people’s hands, that it is usually impossible for me to make your requests happen, i.e. release certain albums in the USA. Whenever I can personally honor your requests, I promise I will.  While I have your eyes for a moment, let me address a common request. People ask to mail various items to me in self-addressed envelopes, so that I can sign them and send them back. The volume of these requests is amazingly flattering, but makes it impossible to fulfill. I am not able to drive at this point in my life, and if I honored all the latter requests, I would be commuting to the post office daily. To compensate as best I can, I sign whatever you bring (drawing the line at silicone) at the conclusion of most concerts. So if there is something you want signed, bring it along when you come to see me live and I will do that for you, no problemo. Occasionally, at summer festivals, they make it impossible for me to do that, so keep that in mind. But for instance, this month in Blackwood, NJ and Great Barrington, MA I will be signing away after each show! While I’m at it, let me also remind you about things on the site you may not have crossed paths with. Under WORDS on the homepage is a plethora of collected writing: My old columns from EQ magazine, various diaries from on the road goings-on, the lyrics from the original songs from every album I ever released, a selected discography of what has been released and recorded by Al the artist, writer, producer, and sideman, my favorite 100 produced recordings, and some silly things like 15 places I’ve lived over the years, etc. and that's just under WORDS! There are quite a few amusing, amazing photos from an almost 50 year career under dare I say.... PHOTOS. So, when you can't make up your mind between Kerry, Bush or Nader, log on and amuse yourselves for awhile in a world where it ain’t that easy to find amusement. Once again, thanks to all of you for making this site exist and for keeping it existing. Don't be afraid to write in (alfonts@aol.com) and speak your mind, make requests and get expensive/inexpensive bets resolved. I am so lucky at this point in my life to have such wonderful friends like you. Remember, the average age of a person that comes to my concerts is...............deceased. See the rest of you next month!!!! Al Kooper ON THE iPOD IN FEBRUARY Some favorite new bands: 1. Ollabelle - debut album just out !!!! Gospel, Americana, blues, etc. Great singing & playing! On tour now.. 2. Hella - amazing two-man instrumental band from Sacramento. Their roots are extremely Captain Beefheartian. This group is not for everyone, but I love it. Just listening to: 3. Allen Toussaint box set on Rhino Handmade 4. Percy Mayfield box set on Rhino Handmade 5. The Fruit Bats 6. Kathleen Edwards 7. Keep It Simple - Keb Mo 8. old Gap Band trax 9. “Taylor” - Jack Johnson 10. “I Wonder” - Adrian Belew   UPDATE - MAY 17 - 2004 First off, thanks to those who emailed to inquire about my actual existence when there was no update for over 2 months. It’s nice to know that SOMEONE is paying attention out there.  I apologize to one and all, but if you’ve ever remodeled a part of your home, than I don't have to explain another word. Second off, the 5.1 SACD Surround Sound versions of SUPER SESSION and CHILD IS FATHER TO THE MAN are completed and ready for release. There are many difficulties in the world of Surround nowadays. The latest is thus: SONY wants to release a hybrid disc with a: 1) two track remastered stereo version plus a 2) two track remastered SACD stereo version plus 3) a 5.1 SACD Surround Sound version. Music publishers are balking about this and demanding to be paid three times the normal royalties because of the three “versions” This has put our babies on hold until all this greediness gets sorted out. Its COMPLETELY out of my hands when these masters will be released. When I know for sure, I will post that info up here ASAP. Soooo, no need to ask about that anymore, okay ? Our online store is moving along at a better pace now. What I did not know in the last update was how complicated and massive this transformation is. All 87(!) pages of the website must be altered link-wise; new art work is needed; shopping carts must be added; photos of merchandise must be shot; etc. etc. etc. Elliott Randall has his hands full with this as he does have other clients as well. Friends of mine Chris Lewis and John Park are assisting Elliott in an effort to get this done ASAP. Just trust that we’re doing the best we can. The summer gigs are slowly coming in. I’ll try and add what I can to the LIVE section when we publish this. I’ll probably be at the Consumer Audio Convention at the New York Hilton May 20-23 to demo the 5.1’s in the SONY listening rooms. August 8th I’ll be solo in Portland ME and July 13th I’ll be solo in Rochester NY. I’ll be at the NAMM convention in Gnashville, TN July 22-25. All other confirmed dates are in the LIVE section now. If there’s anything left of NYC after the Republican Convention, The Rekooperators will play a tribute to Mike Bloomfield on September 12th at BB Kings Club. One show only and we’re workin on Washington DC and Annapolis for October. My thanks to Brad & Chris at the Mongrel Agency for all their help. Well, that wraps it up for now. There were even requests for what I’ve been listening to: Additions to Al’s iPod for April-May I would never hear all this wonderful music if it wasn’t for the iTunes Music Store online. It has my highest regard......... So Fine - Mario Winans You Dont Call Me No More - Eddie Hinton New Lamont Dozier CD Saturnia - Roger Kellaway Strollin On The Waterfront - Cool John Ferguson Salt - Lizz Wright When Ya Get Back - Jon Cleary Tenderness- Kristine I’m Still Here - Verical Horizon Welcome to the Jungle - Hella All The Things She Said -t.A.T.u Cant Stop Thinkin About Mixmas - Umiversal Honey Getaway Car - Audioslave Daylight - Jump Little Children Sunday Kinda Love - Renee Olstead & Chris Botti Joseito - David Torres This Magnificent Bird Will Rise - Deerhoof I’m Beginning To See The Light - Lyle Ritz (on uke) Let Me Put Love On Your Mind - Con Funk Shun They Need To Belong - The Canton Spirituals UPDATE - JULY 13 - 2004 I'm sitting in a hotelroom in Rochester, NY it's 6:30 AM. I'm going on the radio at 7:30 for a few hours in "drive time" to promote my show at the Montage Grill tonight. Aint life grand??? There's good news and bad news. The good news is that my dear friend Elliott Randall, our webmaster here, has found renewed interest in his musical skills in the UK and is producing, playing on sessions and having the time of his life over there. The bad news is, he's cutting back on his webmaster chores and we must replace the founder of our site, who has agreed to advise and consult however. Filling in for Elliott will be the esteemed John Park, aided and abetted by my assistant Christopher Lewis. The transition, a rough one, has slowed us down, temporarily, but we are closing in on an eventual smooth sail/sale. Future plans include the much talked about online store and sound-streaming.... The big buzz this month is the Blonde on Blonde gig in Gnashville on July 22. (see LIVE) In a coupla days we will hit the Canadian shores for our first Canadian visit in almost thirty years (also see LIVE) I have decided to cut my CD buying by 90%. i-Tunes has become my alternative. First off, I'm through supporting record companies that treat me (as a producer) like a plumber that's come to fix the toilet. They are not gonna get as rich on my dollar a song as they are on my $17.98 an album. On i-tunes you can hear 30 seconds preview of EVERY track. So I listen to each track on an album I'm interested in and only d/l the tracks I like, which is usally 6-8 per album. That way I get the album I want with zero filler for six to eight bucks. Thats more like it ! Their complete albums are usually $10 anyways. Other than my hard drive, no storage problems - no more shelves to build. If Steve Jobs started a record company that JUST did downloads, he would/could pay the artist 75% and keep the rest which is a lot better than the 15-20% the recod companies have been paying artists for over 50 years when they actually do pay the artists. I'dn even come outa retirement and be presiodent of that record company! Have a great summer out there. Hope to see ya on my journeys. Next update soon as we get the site stable again. Thanks Elliott - we love ya!!! AL KOOPER ADDITIONS TO THE iPOD June-July 2004 Short Stacks 2:47 The Ditty Bops Walking As Two 6:23 Little Feat Sirens 3:12 Lisbeth Scott Shovel 3:44 Lisbeth Scott Remedy 3:50 Tarralyn Ramsey Just Like You 4:12 Anthony Evans Shortwave 1:13 Fastball Love Stop 2:59 Robert Palmer Hackensack 3:00 Fountains of Wayne Rainy Day 2:42 Shuggie Otis Drawing a Line in the Sand 2:57 Brandtson Someday One Day 4:32 Christina Milian Springville 5:16 Conshafter Gentle Hum 4:36 The Finn Brothers Homecoming King (Live Version) 3:52 Guster Wake Me Up on Time 3:22 The O.C. Supertones Simply 4:14 Pillar The Peacocks 5:39 Stan Getz I'm Goin' to Live the Life I Sing About It My Song 4:24 Mahalia Jackson Letter Read 3:44 Rachael Yamagata Eleanor Rigby 3:19 Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops A Day in the Life 4:44 Jeff Beck Gettin' in Over My Head 4:27 Brian Wilson Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel 4:17 Brian Wilson Fairy Tale 5:27 Brian Wilson Make a Wish 3:49 Brian Wilson Thank You 4:36 Chronic Future Shell Shocked 4:35 Chronic Future Play Around It 5:04 Fourplay Never Say Goodbye 3:51 JoJo Vaseline Machine Gun 3:09 Leo Kottke Groovy Gravy 8:14 Quincy Jones Things You'll Never Know 4:18 Sweetback I'm a Wheel 2:34 Wilco Muzzle of Bees 4:52 Wilco Gimme a Minute 4:26 Little Menace For Worse or for Better 3:57 Little Menace Black Coffee 5:32 Ray Charles Doodlin' 5:54 Ray Charles Meet Me by the Water 3:58 Rachael Yamagata Singin' in the Rain 4:07 Jamie Cullum I Said (Paradise Reprise) 4:17 Dwight Yoakam Kitty Wu 4:36 Jaga Jazzist Day 3:07 Jaga Jazzist The Stix 7:02 Jaga Jazzist Is It You? (Duet) 4:33 Shelley Campbell Dance Dance Dance 2:00 Wilson Phillips Bottles and Cans 3:54 Angie Stone Mad Issues 4:49 Angie Stone How I Feel 4:41 Brandy Belle 3:05 Al Berard Writing It Down 4:37 Uncle Kracker Quatre Parishe 2:14 Dr. John I'm Goin' Home 2:21 Dr. John Goin' Up Yonder / Get Ready 4:42 Generation J I Give You My All 2:50 Generation J Intercessory Prayer 4:54 Generation J UPDATE AUGUST 4, 2004 Well, my July Canadian tour of 2004 will be remembered for many a year. I started out by plane from Boston to Rochester in one of those teeny 37-seaters that barely qualifies as a jet. Not one of my favorite modes of travel. A four-hour delay began my most recent campaign. I was going a day early to do some press for the clubowner and lost a big TV show appearance because of the delay. Got there, had dinner and retired early to prepare for a 7 a.m. appearance on a drive-time radio talk show with Weez, the King of Rochester morning radio. Now I am an early riser, so this was no big deal. But I found it utterly bizarre that the show was catered at 8:45 AM by a full-on Italian eatery serving nothing resembling breakfast; but rather a pasta-filled lunch with veal parm, fettucine alfredo, chocolate cake, Cokes, etc. As a diabetic, I made out the best I could, but the rest of the crew was in heaven. Here it is not even 9 AM and the garlic is flowing like nearby Niagra Falls. Then it was back to the hotel around 10:30 for a well-deserved nap. At 1 PM I headed over to the Montage Grill to make sure all the rented gear was in order for my solo appearance there that night. After a lengthy soundcheck, it was back to the hotel again for two hours of NOT sitting backstage, twiddling one’s thumbs. I got back to the venue five minutes before showtime (my favorite modus operandi) and set about my two-hour musical journey. As luck would have it, I had a guy about ten feet to my right who insisted on yelling things out every few seconds. I asked him nicely to cease and desist, as there is much narration in my solo show; stories behind the songs, etc. He acted as if he didn't understand English. I offered to buy him $20 worth of drinks at any bar BUT this one and that quieted him down about 50%, fortunately, but he still dogged me throughout my hour-long attempts at entertaining others. After doing the best I could under the circumstances, I retired to a makeshift dressingroom for 15 minutes to prepare for my usual apres-show signing meet-and-greet. After completion I returned to the hotel for packing & sleeping. In the ayem, I arrived at the airport for a flight to Detroit, where the promoter of two of my Canadian shows was to pick me up and take me through Canadian customs to a hotel in Windsor, Ontario. When I went to check in for said flight, I was told that the computers for Northwest Airlines were down throughout the entire Northeastern corridor and all flights were cancelled. The earliest they could get me onboard was 7:15 p.m. It was now 11:30 a.m. in Rochester. I quickly called the hotel I had just checked out of and booked a dayroom until 5:30 PM. I was much luckier than my compatriots and band members in Boston who were attempting to join me in Detroit. They were similarly delayed, but unlike myself, were bumped every two hours until their plane finally took off at approximately 8p.m.! When I finally landed in Detroit, I was actually met and taken through customs to a seedy motel comparatively in the middle of nowhere compared to where the gig was. It was one of those jobbies where you park your car in front of your room. I had no car, however. I was stranded on some comparatively super-highway, which reminded me of Syosset, Long Island's sunrise Highway, transplanted to urban Windsor, Ontario. Bill Graham set a new standard for concert promoters back in 1966 with his Fillmore East & West set-ups. Musicians were treated like artists and dressing rooms and road accomodations were regal (see”The Last Waltz”). When Graham died suddenly, his standards primarily died with him and things went back to the way they were before him. In order to save money, we are put into places by current promoters (not all; but many) we would never stay in if we were paying for them ourselves. The promoter absolves himself of even considering what this might do to one’s spirit in preparation to play a concert on the road because the promoter is not also rooming there. I am diabetic and 60 years old. I had to walk a-mile-and-a-half, roundtrip. so I could get breakfast at McDonalds when I woke up, as that was all that was available at that hour. It was 85 degrees and it did not put me in the best mood to deal with the remainder of the day. My band, by the way, had arrived at midnight at the motel, also not in a great mood after their airline travails. We were scheduled to play at 6:30 that next evening. The gates were scheduled to open at 6 PM. I love playing for people walking through gates and finding their seats. We arrived at the venue at 4:30 PM. I had spent the last two weeks trying to confirm my equipment rider with the promoter. His wife was in charge of said equipment and with all due respect to her, she knew nothing about what makes musical gear work. In 2001, I permanently lost 2/3 of my sight. I pretty much play by touch now. When I play far from home, the promoter is obligated to supply the keyboard gear that I need to perform my show. I need specific items with no substitutions because I am dealing with touch familiarity. To make a long story short, the promoter for my first two Canadian festivals was not knowledgable enough to rent or locate a stock Hammond B-3 organ, a Triton synthesizer (arguably the most popular out there), and a few other items. I called the company (KORG) that makes the Triton and they helped the promoter get one for the shows a week before I arrived. The promoter knew three days before the show that he could not deliver an organ specified in the contract and just neglected to inform me of that. At 4:30 PM I sat down at said organ and was unable to play it. In fact, the organ he supplied was listed in my rider as an example of what was NOT acceptable! We had come all this way, waited for delayed flights, slept in sleazy motels because we love to play music. Contrary to poular belief, I don’t play concerts for a living - I do it when I want to because of the joy it brings me. I asked to see the promoter immediately and sat there fuming for 90 minutes(!) until he showed up. I was told he was in a meeting on the premises and could not be disturbed. At 6 PM he walked into what he called my dressing room -- an air-conditioned trailer with nothing in it, no chairs, no water, no hangers -- an empty room. Typical of his anti-Bill Graham regard for the musician. He apologized graciously, paid me for the gig, and asked me if I would play the next night. I told him I did not trust him to provide the correct organ, and after the last two nights' accomodations, I was not looking forward to the college dorm rooms (!!!!!!) into which he had booked us. We agreed that he would announce that I was unable to play due to equipment problems and that people could get an immedaite refund if they asked. In the newspaper the next day, he claimed he offered me more money to play the next night. I truly believe money is the only context in which the man can think. The next morning we also read in the paper that our third and last appearance (in Toronto)would not take place because the entire Toronto Blues Festival had been cancelled that morning. I had three festivals booked in Canada and played not a single note -- no fault of mine. I got hate mail for a few days from people who had travelled great distances to see me play and were told the equipment wasn’t up to my standards and I had walked out. When I was completely sighted, I would make the best of all situations and get up and play anyway. In Canada, I realized those carefree days were over and for the first time in 46 years of playing professionally, I had to cancel a gig because of equipment. I felt worst of all for the audience and my band, who had travelled many miles to have fun. I have amended my contract & rider now so that the importance of the equipment rider is apparent and if they want me to perform they now know what it takes to take care of buisness. I apologize to everyone who came to see me perform and I sincerely hope that incidents like the above can be avoided in the future. I certainly, will do my best to see that they are . Playing music is the #1 joy in my life - how ironic is it that (some) people that hire me to do that are the ones that prevent me from doing it? I pray that the above were isolated incidents and I can get on to the next town and share that joy with all of you out there as soon as possible !!!! Al Kooper iPod additions for July Galaxy 2:53 Lonesome Brothers Little City 2:34 Lonesome Brothers I Aim Low 2:17 Lonesome Brothers Section 12 (Hold Me Now) 4:30 The Polyphonic Spree It's Over Now 5:11 Ricky Fanté Time Will Reveal 4:20 Boyz II Men You Make Me Feel Brand New 5:23 Boyz II Men Warsaw Concerto 7:57 Frank Chacksfield Loving Is Better Than Leaving 4:15 George Benson Good Things 3:43 Rival Schools River Bed Blues 3:00 Woody Herman Making Memories of Us 4:06 The Cherry Bombs Ship to Shore 3:50 Chris De Burgh God Is Good 3:54 Deitrick Haddon The Joker 3:31 Fatboy Slim There Is Nothing Left 3:34 Frayne Frayne's Soul Lounge, Pt. 1 3:58 Frayne Tell Me a Lie 4:20 Griffin House Waste Another Day 4:08 Griffin House Fields In Glass (Radio Mix) 3:31 The High Dials The Beat of Black Wings 5:22 Joni Mitchell After the Gold Rush 4:01 k.d. lang The Valley 5:30 k.d. lang Lady Grinning Soul 4:10 Lucia Micarelli Tell Me Something 4:41 Novecento Everything Is Everything 3:01 Phoenix Bliss 4:03 San Ilya You Burn 3:04 The Swift Never too Much 5:03 Paul Jackson, Jr. Forever, for Always, for Love 5:53 Lalah Hathaway UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 Hi again !! We are re-organizing and restructuring the website under the aegis of our new Webmaster John Park. After six years we are finally bidding farewell to our original Webmaster and designer, Elliott Randall. Because he is also a great friend, El willcontinue to advise and suggest, so we are lucky to have the best of both worlds. We are, as usual, closing in on opening “Al’s Big Deal”, our online shoppe. We vow, from the bottom of our bytes, that it will be open in 2004. Other items we are working on are message boards, and a link to the iTunes Music Store, my second home nowadays. The Rekooperators are gearing up to play the 2004 section of the Mike Bloomfield Tribute Tour. As of now we will be at BB Kings in NYC on September 12th, The Barns At Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA on November 6th, and The Rams Head in Annapolis, MD on November 7th. With a little luck, commemorative T shirts will be on sale at each show. I have a mid-west swing performing solo in October : The Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland OH on October 6th, Fitgeralds in Berwyn, IL on October 7th, The Tenny Street Roadhouse outside Detroit MI on October 9th, and we are trying to get a place in Minneapolis, MN on October 10th. A few days later, I am going to Nashville to play on Frank Black’s next solo album. So it is turning into a busy Autumn, and keeping my mind off the poltical Armageddon possibilities. If you missed this elsewhere on the site, I have a new radio show on Radio Caroline in England. It’s called Obscuritiva and features yours truly playing favorites from my massive collection of obscure recordings. The first show will be broadcast on September 16th, 2004 sometime between 4 PM and 7 PM EST. Go to www.radiocaroline.co.uk and click on Listen Live. There's a broadband stream as well as a good Abacast stream for dial up. I have also begun recording myself reading my out-of-print book “Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards” and hope to release it as an audiobook in 2005. Actually easier than trying to get it back in print. I have finally finalized my record deal with SONY-Japan, and hope to get a brand new solo album, “Songs From The Basement” , out there in 2005. There is actually interest in England and the USA for this as well, and we hope to close deals there ASAP. I am extremely proud of this album and cant wait for all of you to have the opportunity to hear it. It is promarily recorded in my basement studio, and covers the best of my writing and recordings over the past twenty years. I have not had a proper solo album released since 1975’s "Act Like Nothing’s Wrong", so you can imagine how thrilled I will be when this is finally available. Okay then, that is this month’s news and I’m always happy to hear from all of you. We are also going to put up a mailing list signup and I urge you all to sign in so you can be notified of all the fun first. God bless you all and thanks for your constant support Al Kooper iPOD ADDITIONS - AUGUST ENTIRE ALBUMS Are You With Me? -Paul Thorn Genius Loves Company -Ray Charles Dial W for Watkins -Geraint Watkins Home Once Again - Live In Detroit -Twinkie Clark The Soul Lounge/The Vibe Collection -Various Have A Little Faith -Mavis Staples Adobe -Tony Malaby SINGLE TRACKS The Nearness Of You -Al Jarreau I’m Beginning To See The Light -Al Jarreau Bri’s Dance -Joey Calderazzo Emily -Paul Desmond Golden -A Girl Called Eddy Close My Eyes -Incognito Sugar -Julia Fordham Now I Understand -Lisa Loeb All My Yesterdays -McCoy Tyner Cant Quit You Baby -Michael Powers Pink Lemonade -Unbunny Hidden In You -Watermark Holy Roar -Watermark Within -William Joseph Alan Corday -Chick Corea Eleanor Rigby -Chick Corea Anything You Want -Richard Rogers Dream Lover -Richard Rogers It’s Only Divine Right -New Pornographers Whats Life Like -Raphael Saadiq Save Me -Jem I Cant Let Go Now -Michael McDonald The Drifter -David Poe Aint No Sunshine -Horace Andy Cheating Man -Anthony David Sleepwalking Ballad -Apostles of Hustle Baby You’re In Luck -Apostles of Hustle Bad Times -Bionic It’s All In The Game -Keith Jarrett If -R Kelly When I Think About You- R Kelly All Night Long -Shades Of Soul Enjoy Yourself -Shades Of Soul I Thought You Should Know -Steve Earle Probably -timewellspent Blue Eyes -Cary Brothers Stardust -Nat King Cole Alone Together -Chet Baker Fallen -Mya Dont Wait Too Long -Madeleine Peyroux Sit Right Down & Write Myself A Letter -Madeleine Peyroux Crazy He Calls Me -Aretha Franklin     UPDATE  - SEPTEMBER 27th, 2004          Here we are, six weeks away from choosing our next President. I see you reaching for the keyboard to get out of here, but I’m not a Democrat, and I’m not a Republican.  I’m merely an American in the throes of the worst predicament I’ve ever been in facing Election Day.      Bush has not left us in a great place after his four years:  We are in a war with questionable motives. Our sons and daughters have fallen at least a thousand-fold, and we never hear the accrued casualty reports of the Iraquis themselves. Every day gets worse instead of better (daily car bombings and ambushes undetected and undeterred by the world’s greatest fighting force hopelessly out of it’s environmrnt).   There really doesn't seem any way out of there with a positive spin on it for the country we invaded against the wishes of The United Nations and most of the world.      The econony of our own country is heading for dire straits - jobs are really hard to come by andbuisnesses old and new are going under daily. As a senior, I pray daily that Medicare and Social Security survives for the sake of my peers; that older folks can afford to deal with American medical expenses for the ravages of time. And I wonder why our government is still decades away from socializing medicine. Rumors of the draft starting back up soon with far less exemptions than last time doesn’t make me feel like “War is over if you want it.”      John Kerry doesn’t look like a knight in shining armor to me.  In fact, we’ve seen what Bush does and, if we are realists, it doesn't seem to make half of us sleep better at night.  Kerry arrives with a huge question mark - his campaigning so far has not reduced the size of that question mark, either. That he was allegedly a war hero is only a rejoinder to Bush’s non-existent war record. It won't really help him in office. I understand why many of my peers are out there now performing anti-Bush concerts, but if Kerry is elected I wonder what they will be playing four years from now.      General Clark was the only candidate I felt made any sense. He was far more experienced than either of these manufactured choices, and he seemed more real and down to earth. I was not surprised when he slipped out of our grasp. We are a country that stamps out manufactured everythings; even Presidents. I don't see any difference in the concept between Kerry, Bush, Brittney or Hanson. That's what this country manufactures and you buy it or just shut up and tolerate it.      I have travelled the world over in my sixty years and untill recently, always felt that this was the greatest place one could live. Now, I truly wonder.  The last time the world was in a condition like this, weather far more severe than Ivan or Jeanne encompassed the globe and washed away all the corruption and lunacy in180 days time.      Where is the New Millennium Noah when we really  need him?      If you’re young, I feel for you. The 60’s were a turbulent time, but it was safe to live on these shores. We had Viet Nam; similar in many ways to Iraq. We put our tails between our legs and backed out of there years and many deaths after we should have. Sound familiar ??      If it weren’t for music, I dont know how I would make it through all this. Music is my Prozac; my mood elevator.  Until last year, I felt abandoned by new music. Everything on the radio was manufactured, Remember, that’s how they do it in the United States. But I logged on to the iTunes Music Store and auditioned the excerpts from every new release on Tuesdays when they come out. I could not do this at the local record shop or at amazon.com. Not with the ease and totality I can at iTunes. A dollar a song seems reasonable to me. $9.99 for most albums seems reasonable to me as well. I can also craft an album of my choosing in that I can just select the tracks that reach me and not buy the others, So in that way an album can cost from $4- $7. But most of all, I hear young people making unmanufactured, vital music. I haven’t heard that in decades. Now I know it’s always been there, but I was kept from it. I’m back to listening to music everyday  now and enjoying it. Names I never would have gleaned from publicity or radio play or MTV dot my playlists all the time: Hella, Deerhoof, Madeleine Peyroux,  Unbunny,  Ollabelle, Fruit Bats, Mike Sanchez and countless others are delighting me daily in this time of insanity.      I dont know what the outcome of the election will be. I don't mean who gets elected, I mean the fate of the World in the next four years. I dont know if I will be able to afford to take a band on the road or whether a record company will still be interested in putting my new music out.  But while I’m waiting for The New Noah, thank the Lord there is a steady stream of challenging music to ease my troubled mind. Here’ some now...                                                               Al Kooper   iPOD ADDITIONS  - SEPTEMBER 2004 It's All Gone     5:21     The Robert Cray Band Love Scene (Vertigo)     6:17     The 12 Cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic Man With a Plan     5:36     Assembly of Dust Satin Doll     6:12     Buddy DeFranco God Give Me Strength-live     4:41     Elvis Costello Even If     3:25     Girlyman Reach Out, I'll Be There     3:42     Michael McDonald Circle of Friends     4:49     The Rowan Brothers I Know     4:08     Sarah Hudson It's All About You     4:55     Smokie Norful Can't Nobody (Radio Mix)     3:24     Smokie Norful I Want to Know You (In the Secret)     4:09     Sonicflood I Could Sing of Your Love Forever     3:34     Sonicflood Exhibit of the Year     2:38     Down to Earth Approach Peace Piece     6:43     Bill Evans Enough About You      3:26     Endochine Separate Reality     6:58     Gov't Mule Don't Cry Baby     3:18     Madeleine Peyroux Lonesome Road     3:11     Madeleine Peyroux Weary Blues     3:40     Madeleine Peyroux I'll Look Around     4:48     Madeleine Peyroux Careless Love     3:51     Madeleine Peyroux Trouble     4:01     Ray LaMontagne Adagio for Strings, Op. 11     5:34     London Voices & Terry Edwards Kodo     3:43     The Yoshida Brothers Evening Calm     4:25     The Yoshida Brothers For What It's Worth     3:58     Keb' Mo' The Times They Are A-Changin'     4:11     Keb' Mo' People Got to Be Free     3:45     Keb' Mo' Get Together     4:00     Keb' Mo' Imagine     4:54     Keb' Mo' More Fun In the Swamp     5:46     Adrian Legg Chanson d'amour     3:32     André Rieu Nothing Clings Like Ivy     4:16     Elvis Costello & The Imposters The Judgement     3:52     Elvis Costello & The Imposters Heart Shaped Bruise     4:07     Elvis Costello & The Imposters I Will Walk With You     3:03     John Fogerty Sugar-Sugar (In My Life)     3:30     John Fogerty Yummy     4:06     Kevin Tihista's Red Terror Hypnotic Love     5:06     Maysa She     5:26     Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Old Time's Sake     3:57     Nitty Gritty Dirt Band In Tanqueray     3:39     Ski Johnson You Only Disappear     3:44     Tom McRae Walking 2 Hawaii     4:24     Tom McRae Karaoke Soul     3:48     Tom McRae Midnight Rider     3:02     Willie Nelson Twice Upon a Time     3:41     The Zinedines Tilt Ya Head Back     4:13     Nelly & Christina Aguilera Can U Handle It?     5:45     Usher Burn (Radio Mix)     4:16     Usher 100 Years     4:04     Five for Fighting I'm a Mess     3:10     Nick Lowe Think It Over     3:57     Allison Moorer Dummy Discards a Heart     2:39     Deerhoof Hallelujah (Club Mix)     6:27     Happy Mondays Such Great Heights     4:26     The Postal Service Friday's Dust     3:35     Doves Inside Straight     3:23     The Cannonball Adderley Quintet Come Around     4:58     Marc Broussard Wax     5:20     subthunk     UPDATE - OCTOBER 26, 2004 I cannot believe the amount of email I got from folks curious about my opinion of: a) Bob Dylan's book, Chronicles b) Brian Wilson's SMILE album c) Brian Wilson's SMILE tour Well, you asked for it - so here goes: Being nearly blind and not having much reading endurance, I have not put much of a dent in Bob's book. I did naturally go to pages 137 &139 to make sure he didnt savage me in print and was relieved to see that he figures I am the "white Ike Turner." I hope that people realize he is talking about music and not the treatment of women! As far as I can see, the person narrating this book is a person I have not met up with before. This could be the "real" Bob Dylan or it could be another character, like Renaldo, that Bob has created. That's up to the reader to ascertain, I guess. It's a pretty smooth read so far, but I' m still in the Village scrounging around The Gaslight w/Dave Van Ronk. So far, so good. The Brian Wilson situation is a bit more complex. First let' s deal with the newly-recorded album of SMILE. The negatives are obvious - we are missing the vintage sound of the Beach Boy blend and the studio crew that worked on Pet Sounds. Songs we have gotten used to are changed in various ways: Good Vibrations, Heroes & Villians, Surf' s Up, Vegetables & Wind Chimes, primarily. After listening to the album twice, I searched my collection for stereo versions of the latter and inserted them in my computer in place of the new versions. All transitions between songs were undisturbed by this transfer, and it makes it more listenable for a guy like me. Try doing that if you' re having familiararity problems. After that fix, I really understood the concept a lot better and began to enjoy SMILE for what it was. History shows that it was a one-off. It certainly doesnt resemble Pet Sounds at all on any level. It's not better or worse,it's more like apples versus brocolli. The problem is it's being virtually unheard for 37 years and yet massively discussed. The missing masterpiece ? Who could live up to a reputation like that ? Also the inevitable comparisons to Pet Sounds disappointed many. Thats why I'm saying that they are not comparable; two different animals (pets) Once that is ascertained, then SMILE begins to get the genesis of a fair chance from the listener. The live SMILE tour is another thing entirely. It opens with a casual, kind of hangin'-around-the-lamppost acoustic look at portions of Brian's catalogue. Very enjoyable for me-almost every choice a singalong. Then, the full band enters and the scope flares out to 70mm widescreen. It is a marvelous, impressive band; full of passion and creativity and deep respect for the music they are reproducing. An intermission takes place and I went backstage to say hello to Brian. I am introduced to him and he says "Oh, yeah - I remember you!" I remind him how David Anderle brought me to his house two weeks before Pet Sounds was released and how he played it twice for me. "Well, to be honest, Al - I maybe dont remember that incident," he replies, with sincerity and confusion co-mingling in his words. Satisfied, I beat a hasty retreat and congratulated various bandmembers on their performaces so far. The second half opened with the entire SMILE performance and it was masterful this night in Boston Town. I understood it, my way, for the first time. It was more like the soundtrack to a Broadway show than it was comparable to a pop album like Pet Sounds. With that light bulb on, I really got into it. The bandmembers were obviously enjoying themselves up there and thats always something good to see & hear. For me, their performance of Surf's Up was the highlight of that set. What an amazing composition that is. Leonard Bernstein was right. After Smile, they all left the stage and came back for an encore, but I had to leave than as I had an early plane to Tennessee just a few hours later. I was filled with the joy of the live Wilson experience for days afterward. This was my second show since Brian started performing solo again. Hope this answers everyone's questions & curiousities. Now for the Kooper News: A miracle has happened. A record company in the United States pursued me and wants to put my long shelved solo album out. Howard Gabriel of Red Ink Distribution is helping me get my particular “SMILE”album released in the spring. The last proper solo album I made was ACT LIKE NOTHING'S WRONG in 1975. So I guess, 30 years is enough time to wait before a proper follow-up! I have 140(!) tracks in the can, and I have selected what I think are the best 15 or 16 for this April-May release. The album will be called I AM WHERE I WANNA BE and I am hard at work finishing it up now. We are also endeavoring to release a live solo show DVD and an audiobook of BACKSTAGE PASSES & BACKSTABBING BASTARDS at approximately the same time. KooperKill, so to speak. John Park and Christopher Lewis are helping me expand the website and I think/hope you will enjoy all the changes as they slowly unveil themselves to you. Radio Caroline has taken my DJ show Obscurativa on a monthly basis. The best thing to do is go to www.radiocaroline.co.uk where you can get details on all broadcast platforms. Obscurativa will play live between 10:30pm and 11:30pm UK time, or 5:30pm and 6:30pm NY time on Thursday November 11th and December 23rd same time. None of the shows are archived I'm afraid, as they don't have that facility on their website, so mark your calendars and check out my favorite obscure music on the dates and times above. It was great to see all the fans in Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago last month and I am looking foward to Virginia, Maryland and Philadelphia this month. Click on LIVE for details. Thanks to all of you for being aboard. Vote what you think is right and God help us all Al Kooper iPOD ADDITIONS FOR OCTOBER THE SMILE ALBUM - BRIAN WILSON Tenderly 4:20 Soulstice Steppin' Out (BBC Sessions) 3:36 Cream So What 3:54 Elek Bacsik Once Upon a Time: The Battle of Life and Death 2:24 Good Charlotte Right to Be Wrong 4:40 Joss Stone You Had Me 3:59 Joss Stone Snakes and Ladders 3:35 Joss Stone Exodus 3:48 Slide Hampton Power 3:55 Smokie Norful Ice Cream Man 4:28 Tony Joe White The Lengths 4:54 The Black Keys Keep Me 2:52 The Black Keys Mink Coat At the Bus Stop 4:50 Rickie Lee Jones