Something special and rare this weekend. A set by the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, recorded live at Hollywood Bowl on August 11, 1967. They were the opening act for a Summer Jazz concert which also included Count Basie and Lou Rawls. I'll be including those in the coming weeks, or the next time it feels like Summer in Los Angeles (it's 90 degrees in Santa Monica today). Perfect hot day music.

Needless to say, this hasn't been available in any form anywhere since it was recorded. So it's a special concert and it's a great one.

Enjoy. And if you're on the West Coast, dip into something cool and turn this up.

Those rather cumbersome, oversized, disgustingly fragile records again this week. Only instead of by way of France they're local. A weekly program that began life in the late 1920's and continued until the 1950's featured two major orchestras on the West Coast - The San Francisco Symphony and The Los Angeles Philharmonic. Sponsored by Standard Oil this one hour program featured some of the greatest names in the Classical Music World performing live in specially arranged concerts.

This one, originally broadcast on March 4, 1945 featured the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by their Music Director at the time Alfred Wallenstein with the legendary Artur Schnabel as piano soloist.

The program is pretty mainstream and aimed at the musical novice (there's nothing wrong with that - we all were). Starting with the Overture to Hansel and Gretel by Humperdinck, and the Prize Song from Wagner's Die Meistersinger. Schnabel joins the orchestra in the Schumann Piano Concerto (with a bumpy start) and ends with Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice.

Certainly historic in retrospect, but if you looked at the broadcast schedules from most American radio networks at the time who carried Symphonic concerts, it was no big deal. Every major (and many minor) symphony orchestras were regularly broadcast around the country. Some were dedicated to new music, some were dedicated to the meat-and-potatoes repertoire, but all of them were performing a service in introducing our culture to everything that was available. And the airwaves were filled with legendary figures at just about every spot on the radio dial

Something that, sadly, exists only in pockets today. With all this access in recent years you'd think we'd be drowning in an embarrassment of riches these days. But no.

Maybe someday. In the meantime - check out this slice of history. You may have heard of Artur Schnabel and you may have his benchmark series of complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas in your collection. Or maybe you just heard about him and never knew what he sounded like.

Now's your chance.

I thought I'd offer a dose of Madchester tonight via a 1990 concert, recorded at Blackburn featuring the one and only Charlatans (or Charlatans UK if you don't want to confuse them with the pre-Dan Hicks 1967 band) by the BBC.

One of my favorite bands of the 90's who I remembered very well seeing in 1990 and realizing something interesting was brewing in the UK again.

They've gone through a number of personnel changes over the years but have weathered most of it pretty well with lead singer Tim Burgess still fronting the band. The latest word is they are planning on a tour in the Spring with confirmed dates in Tokyo and London. Fingers crossed they show up on the West Coast.

But in case you missed them the first time around, crank this one up and enjoy in the meantime.

Since Summer officially arrived a few hours ago, what more fitting tribute to the inclinations of baking in the sun, goofing off, staying up late and wearing as little as possible than playing something by The Beach Boys?

Okay, Summer means different things to different people. Those of us on the West Coast don't really have Summer until some time in October, when parts of Los Angeles have been known to burn down every few years. Until then, we weather through June Gloom and days where it barely breaks out of the 70's, unless of course you're in the Valley, where it is casually known as a "suburb of Hell" until December.

But the Beach Boys, at least on the West Coast, have always meant Summer to a certain degree, or at least an idealized version of it. Probably less now than a generation or two ago, when it was mandatory to have at least one Beach Boys album in your collection, and preferably all the singles.

Tonight it's one of the less instantly hummable Beach Boys songs. The Warmth Of The Sun was written, ironically, as a reflection on the Kennedy Assassination (as legend has it ) and goes under the heading of one of the more introspective of Brian Wilson's songs. Nonetheless, like a lot of their music from the early period (all the way up to Pet Sounds), it offers an aspect of a band that cranked out more than Surf tunes and were, in fact, capable of having something relevant to say.

In the meantime, get ready for insanely long days.

Thanks to a faithful and growing following, the legacy of Arthur Lee & Love is alive and well. One of the pivotal West Coast bands in the mid-1960's Love, like so many artists at the time, weren't quite understood by the mainstream and were, for a period, considered something of one-hit wonders and purveyors of Garage Rock, with the unofficial anthem 7&7 Is. But their turning point came with the release of Forever Changes, an album that has been ranked alongside The Beach Boys Pet Sounds as one of the biggest influences on the West Coast Sound and one of the best albums ever made.

Tonight it's the haunting and poignant Andmoreagain.

Hasn't aged a bit.

April 10, 1979, and if you were living in the infamous Mid-West belt known as "Tornado Alley" you'd be dazed and counting your blessings that you weren't one of the 59 who lost their lives in this worst series of Tornadoes to hit the area in years.

And if you were on the other side of the planet, around Kampala Uganda, and you were Idi Amin, you'd be planning your escape in the wake of advancing troops from Tanzania, who were spelling the end of your regime.

That's the kind of day it was.

If you were a Union Trucker, you'd be looking at a tentative settlement in one of the longest strikes in history, and if you were a Steel Worker your employment would still be hanging in the balance.

In other news on this day - Israel's Menachem Begin did a personal reach-out to Egypt's Anwar Sadat in the form of a phone call to discuss points in the Peace Plan. Iran was busy executing 13 more of its citizens by firing squad on charges ranging from murder to "warring against God".

In the aftermath of the 3-Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant disaster, tests for radioactive contamination in the area around the reactor turned up negative, which spelled some relief for anxious residents.

And after 41 days of testimony, the infamous Marvin vs. Marvin case was heading off to the jury.

All that, and a bunch more for this day, via the CBS World News Roundup and the 9:00 am (West Coast) News for April 10, 1979.

The world spinning only moderately out of control, this March 2nd in 1983.

Save for the worst weather to Southern California in decades, with storms dumping in excess of 21 inches as of this day, compared to 6 inches for the entire season last year, it was a reasonably calm day, as days on planet Earth go.

Pope John Paul II was winging his way to Costa Rica for the first of an 8 country visit to Central America. Billed as an "Appeal for Peace", foremost on his "to-do" list was having a sit-down with his emissaries to figure out why so many priests were joining up with the Sandanista rebels.

Meanwhile, loud calls for increased funding and arms shipments to the Contras were bouncing around Capitol Hill. The old Domino Theory being trotted out for another moth-ridden appearance. Or maybe a smokescreen.

In other Capitol Hill goings-on; the $150bn bailout for Social Security was approved, and the index of Leading Indicator figures were released showing a whopping 3.6% increase - the biggest jump since 1950.

The worst batch of storms in decades was pounding the West Coast of the U.S., soaking Southern California in particular to the tune of 21 inches for this latest storm - a far cry from the 6 inches total for the previous year. And at last report, a whole series of storms was lined up to continue the assault. The weather put a damper on Queen Elizabeth's visit to California, forcing a cruise of the Royal Yacht up the coast to be shelved in favor of flying to Santa Barbara for lunch with the President.

At least it wasn't lava flowing like it was in Hawaii, compliments of the Kilauea Volcano and the 15 foot wall of molten detritus marching relentlessly towards a newly constructed subdivision.

Or the on-going Iran-Iraq War which saw an attack on Iran's Oil fields and the reported sinking of 5 Iranian ships, including oil tankers - that one sent out pangs of apprehension for the gas pump, even though Saudi Arabia and Venezuela proposed to OPEC a lowering of oil prices, rather than raising them.

And Burlington Vermont re-elected their first Socialist Mayor. Bernard Sanders was ushered in for a second term, defeating both the Democratic and Republican candidates for the job. Burlington was the first city in the U.S. to have a Socialist Mayor and all eyes were gazing askance towards New England, wondering if this was going to be a trend or, like Flashdance, just a phase.

And so it went for this March 2nd, 1983 as told to eager ears on The CBS World News Roundup, Newsbreak, the 9:00 am Network news and Reporters Notebook.

Just in case you needed confirmation.

News for this day in 1942 was anything but upbeat. The War in the Pacific had taken a much grimmer turn than was expected. With reports coming from Sydney Australia that, not only had Singapore fallen, but an invasion of Bali was imminent, as was Rangoon and heavy fighting had been going on in Burma and throughout the Dutch East Indies. Fears were now rife that, unless something happenened to stall the advances, an invasion of Australia was only a matter of time.

With Allied forces outnumbered on average of 10-15 to 1, finger pointing and laying blame were now in full bloom. Reports of excessive amounts of bungling, not only in miscalculating Japanese troop and air strength but mismanagement of Allied support were heard all over the Pacific region. From British fliers grounded over lack of orders to U.S. Naval gunners handed ammunition that had expired ten years earlier, the news was going from bad to worse and on-the-scene broadcast reports of the latest news were hard pressed to put an optimistic spin on any of it.

Meanwhile, a state of Martial Law had been declared in Hawaii with a total blackout and curfew being enforced as well as complete prohibition which had been in place since December 8th. Similar measures were being considered throughout the mainland U.S. and already mass internment of Japanese-Americans was taking place on the West Coast. News reports were quick to downplay the internment, saying it was strictly on "a volunteer basis", but reality proved otherwise. Likewise reports that what was going on in American cities was not to be considered Martial Law but a precaution against 5th Column activity and enemy raids, particularly on the West Coast. Even though blackouts and restricted civilian movement were heavily enforced.

On Capitol Hill, debate was underway regarding the War Powers Bill and appropriation of funds was being voted on to establish a Women's Army Corps.

And that's how it sounded, this February 21st in 1942. There are two broadcasts; one is a roundup of War news and the other is a special broadcast from Sydney, Australia by NBC Correspondent Martin Agronsky.

If you were somehow jettisoned back in time and woke up this morning, realizing it was 1978 . . .and you had the misfortune of living on the East coast, you'd be blanketed in snow and contemplating wind chill factors of up to -50 degrees as you staggered out of bed.

And that's what happened on this particular January 10th in 1978. A massive Cold Wave hit the Eastern United States covering just about everything in snow and buffeting everything in its wake with freezing temperatures, as low as -26 in some parts - a veritable heatwave where it got up to -6.

And joining the misery, only in a wet way, was the West coast with torrential rains, flooding and landslides complicating just about everyone's morning.

All in all, the inclement weather was responsible for 8 deaths with the number certain to rise in the coming hours.

But in the rest of the world . . . .The Shah of Iran was flying to Saudi Arabia to make the pitch on behalf of Egypt over Anwar Sadat's Middle East Peace initiative. Sadat was getting a lot of flak from Arab countries over engaging in a peace mission with Israel and supporters were doing their best to paint a positive picture to the suspicious. In Israel through, Menahem Begin denied rumors of a land swap as part of the peace settlement. And so it went between Cairo and Tel-Aviv.

In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) racial violence continued with deaths mounting, primarily among White farmers.

The Supreme Court was getting down to business today, reviewing a mountain of cases before them, including one which argued over the legality of a Mother having her teenage daughter sterilized and whether or not a judge can be held libel for actions not permitted by law. It promised to be interesting year at SCOTUS. And Justice William Brennan had been diagnosed with Throat Cancer and was receiving Chemo and expected to recover.

And that's how this day went, January 10, 1978 as reported on the CBS World News Roundup.

I heard this track a few days ago and it stuck in my brain since then. Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter are one of those great bands that almost defy description, even though they consider themselves a sort of Folk/Psychedelic hybrid (sounds about right). They manage to hit all the right receptive chords and you can't really put a classification on that.

Tonight's track is the title song of their (her) latest album, Marble Son. Like all their material, it's very strong with a purely haunting quality - and maybe that's why it's stayed in my head so long.

Maybe it will you too.