It was a Friday afternoon in April of 1993 on Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills, California.  The busy mid-week breakfast rush had given way to a languid early afternoon with the occasional order being taken on the phone and placed in the work window. The Room Service phone rang again and a new order was quickly placed in the work window.  Thinking it may have been an order for the pool and an opportunity for a brief respite from the tedium of the shift, I grabbed the slip out of the window and put it down on a pre-prepped roller table. It seemed like a pretty non-descript order and unfortunately wasn't bound for the pool. Cheeseburger (swiss), medium rare, order of fries and a chocolate milk shake.   Room 1404. I immediately noticed the floor that the order had come in from and wondered who was on the other end of the phone.  The print-out stated the guest name as B. Holland but previous experience had proven that guest names were often intentionally incorrect.   The 14th floor was typically reserved for high profile guests; in fact, sometimes an order received from the 14th floor would also prompt the elevator door to open shortly thereafter with private security ...

With the end of  Bob Dylan's recent fall tour, we now enter the 'off season' and will wait in anticipation for Mr. Dylan to fire up the band and commence touring again sometime in late February or early March 2010. On the occasion of Dylan's recently released new "Must be Santa" video I thought it would be worthwhile to assess some of the key moments on film and video featuring none other than Robert Zimmerman.  I've assembled these in no particular order or ranking and I'm limiting my number to what you see below. I'm sure there will be arguments and observations made on other video moments that perhaps should have made the Subrosacafe cut.  Feel free to let me know your thoughts and enjoy the show!  Do you have kids who are in need of a Dylan primer course?  Sit 'em down in front of the family PC and show 'em this.  Dylan management, when will we get a career retrospective live performance DVD set? (Click on each Video below for full-screen views) The Last Waltz Concert, final curtain call for the original line-up of the Band, Winterland, San Francisco, 1976 My favorite Dylan celluloid moment; sublimely filmed by Marty Scorcese and his crew, this ...

Regular readers may have noticed the new banner ad on the site recently.  As of now, that's the only "directly recommended" advertising I've allowed on this site.  There's been lots of talk in the blogosphere lately regarding sponsored posts and blog promoted direct and indirect marketing and advertising.  I prefer to present an impartial and personalized take on items and news that I hope may be of interest to readers out there.  But....I'm going off topic here a bit. Mario and Luciano Duse are a unique father-son collaborative partnership; working together and independently to create distinctive and compelling photographic art.  A disclaimer here....I've known both personally for over 25 years.  Second disclaimer..I really love their artwork and some of it is in my home. Born and raised in Venice, Italy, Luciano moved to America in 1965 and settled in the beautiful Lake Michigan resort town of Petoskey, Michigan. Luciano is known for his environmental and landscape photography and creates evocative settings by capitalizing on optimal natural light and a masterful eye for stunning compositions and vantage points.  He has been known to wait for hours and days "in the field" to capture the penultimate image that nature makes available to him. I'm particularly partial to his northern Michigan images but Luciano has also ...

The rain had just subsided after a very soggy Saturday in Boston.  Bob Dylan was in town for a three night stand at the beautifully restored Citi Performing Arts Wang Theatre, formerly known simply as the Music Hall.  Dylan has been here before of course, it was the host of two memorable  nights of the Rolling Thunder Revue back in the autumn of 1975. From my Orchestra Row G seat I marveled at the range of ages that were there to see another performance of the Never Ending Tour; for some their first show ever and for others the second show in a row here in Boston. As usual, the fanfare began at approximately 7:45 with the now familiar piped in introduction coupled with wafts of incense emanating from stage left.  Suddenly, the lights went up and there was Dylan and the band striking up the  opening riffs of Cat's in the Well and we were off.  I won't go into a full dissertation on each song tonight but I am pleased to say this was my most satisfying Dylan concert to date. I had last seen Bob and crew back in July 2008 on consecutive nights in southern Spain, Lorca and Jaen ...

They finally got around to removing the dust and restoring the entire Beatles catalog.  Some reports mention that some of the actual master tapes were locked away in a dark vault at Abbey Road...bring on the documentary DVD! Why they're not available on iTunes or Amazon for digital download is still a mystery.  Get the CD Box Set here, The Beatles Stereo Box Set. You know Steve Jobs has been licking his chops to have the catalog available since way before the advent of the iPod. Anyway, check these two tracks if you're curious about the remastering job and sound quality.  Mind blowing clarity, sonic depth and best listened to with quality headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 Over-Ear Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones (Black). The most influential rock band ever?  Probably.  Classics which stand the test of time?  Certainly. The End, Abbey Road, Stereo Remaster, The Beatles (2009) Tomorrow Never Knows, Revolver, Stereo Remaster, The Beatles (2009)

Eddie Vedder made a wise choice and dropped the long-ish story songs that began to show up increasingly in the early to mid '90s.   This new album sounds incredibly fresh, vibrant and provides an urgent blast to your senses.  Very similar to R.E.M.'s Accelerate, Backspacer doesn't waste time in getting to hooks and putting the point across.  Pearl Jam have always been a great live band and have never been afraid to take risks, often deviating from set-lists to throw in covers from the many bands who have influenced them (usual suspects being The Who, Ramones and Neil Young).  This past Halloween, they added Devo to the list and closed down Philadelphia's Spectrum in full Devo-regalia. Whip it - Pearl Jam (Devo Cover)

Who agrees that Sunday night offers a phenomenal mix of quality television? Personally, I can't think of a specific night on TV over the past 10 years or so that presents such a wide array of quality television. Allow me to make my case.. Curb Your Enthusiasm This season has to rank up there with the best Curb seasons ever with Larry David reaching new comedy zeniths week on week as the season progresses.   It's great to see Larry and Jerry Seinfeld riff together as they did on the 'Bare Midriff' episode, working across from each other on a studio back lot attempting to write the script for the long awaited Seinfeld reunion episode.  It remains to be seen if the show will ever be written and shot but it doesn't matter; Larry David has ingeniously woven the Seinfeld reunion subplot into the season narrative and refuses to bow to the assumed and hoped for laugh-a-thon with the full Seinfeld cast. Instead, we get genius comic timing and classic Larry David angst in every episode as we build up to the season finale.  Watch out for Larry in Woody Allen's Whatever Works, now out on DVD. Bored to Death Starring Jason Schwartzman, Galifianakis and Ted Danson, ...

  This was the first organized church service I had attended in years and it featured the most charismatic and engaging preacher I've ever witnessed.  I'm only being a little facetious here, Tuesday's Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band show at Charlotte's Time Warner Arena delivered the goods; with flourishes of old fashioned gospel stylings and stellar classic rock in roll in equal lashings. Springsteen's iconic E Street albums are now cornerstones of the classic rock and roll canon and those in the crowd Tuesday witnessed a full performance of 1975's Born to Run in its entirety.  The standout track was Backstreets with Bruce and Little Steven VanZandt sharing the same mic during the chorus, truly spine tingling stuff.  Many of Springsteen's best songs are actually prayer-like, prayers for redemption, prayers for a better life, prayers for forgiveness and prayers for healing; sometimes all wrapped up in one.   Backstreets is among his best and most powerful. Backstreets Live