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Stairway to salsa
Combine a hot yet suave, jazzy Cuban band and some rock stars who want to save the planet, and what do you get?
The new album "Classics" by the Cuban group Rhythms Del Mundo, who enlist such guest stars as the Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, the Killers and Fall Out Boy as they cover such rock classics as "Hotel California," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Beat It," "Imagine" and "Purple Haze."
Latin, salsa and Afro-Cuban vibes abound, of course. Who knew that a Spanish-language version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," replete with horns and Latin percussion, could sound more tragically grandiose than Freddie Mercury's original?
The highlight is a majestic Latin guitar version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" featuring RDM with Rodrigo y Gabriela.
The album, due out Aug. 11 on Decca Records, benefits Artists Project Earth, a British organization that works to fight climate change.
Stairway to salsa
Combine a hot yet suave, jazzy Cuban band and some rock stars who want to save the planet, and what do you get?
The new album "Classics" by the Cuban group Rhythms Del Mundo, who enlist such guest stars as the Rolling Stones, Amy Winehouse, the Killers and Fall Out Boy as they cover such rock classics as "Hotel California," "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Beat It," "Imagine" and "Purple Haze."
Latin, salsa and Afro-Cuban vibes abound, of course. Who knew that a Spanish-language version of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," replete with horns and Latin percussion, could sound more tragically grandiose than Freddie Mercury's original?
The highlight is a majestic Latin guitar version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" featuring RDM with Rodrigo y Gabriela.
The album, due out Aug. 11 on Decca Records, benefits Artists Project Earth, a British organization that works to fight climate change.
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Woodstock was, like, far out man!
If you can remember Woodstock, then you weren't there.
So says one of the myths that has grown around the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, that "Aquarian Exposition" that was held 40 years ago on Max Yasgur's farm in upstate New York.
But, evidently, a lot of hippies do remember the mud, the stink, the drugs -- and some even recall the music. The Web site woodstock69.com includes a segment where vets of Woodstock have posted their memories.
"I had a really bad trip there," writes Theresa (Lily of Peace). "Thought I saw a dog. Not an ordinary dog though, he talked. Scared the livin' S*%# out of me."
"I WAS THERE!" writes Atlanta Lassiter of Phoenix. "My daughter, Siouxsie, was conceived there! But by whom I will never know!"
OK, Baby-Daddy Dude, wherever you are -- it's time to drop the hookah tube, 'fess up and take on your paternal responsibilities. You other ex-hippies, and even you ones who still pay your annual hippie membership dues, can e-mail your Woodstock memories to the site.
LISTEN
Their method is crystal
Do those 29-second song sampler previews on Amazon bug you?
Sure they do -- who can absorb and judge the essence of a song in 29 ticks of the clock?
Electronica duo The Crystal Method, pictured at left, have avoided that irritation of their potential fans. Listeners can preview their entire new album, "Divided By Night," at thecrystalmethod.com.
For greedy music connoisseurs who still expect more of something for nothing, the site also includes a free download of the track "Drown in the Now."
Woodstock was, like, far out man!
If you can remember Woodstock, then you weren't there.
So says one of the myths that has grown around the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, that "Aquarian Exposition" that was held 40 years ago on Max Yasgur's farm in upstate New York.
But, evidently, a lot of hippies do remember the mud, the stink, the drugs -- and some even recall the music. The Web site woodstock69.com includes a segment where vets of Woodstock have posted their memories.
"I had a really bad trip there," writes Theresa (Lily of Peace). "Thought I saw a dog. Not an ordinary dog though, he talked. Scared the livin' S*%# out of me."
"I WAS THERE!" writes Atlanta Lassiter of Phoenix. "My daughter, Siouxsie, was conceived there! But by whom I will never know!"
OK, Baby-Daddy Dude, wherever you are -- it's time to drop the hookah tube, 'fess up and take on your paternal responsibilities. You other ex-hippies, and even you ones who still pay your annual hippie membership dues, can e-mail your Woodstock memories to the site.
LISTEN
Their method is crystal
Do those 29-second song sampler previews on Amazon bug you?
Sure they do -- who can absorb and judge the essence of a song in 29 ticks of the clock?
Electronica duo The Crystal Method, pictured at left, have avoided that irritation of their potential fans. Listeners can preview their entire new album, "Divided By Night," at thecrystalmethod.com.
For greedy music connoisseurs who still expect more of something for nothing, the site also includes a free download of the track "Drown in the Now."
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