Brianland

. The only full concert John Lennon ever played after The Beatles was a benefit for handicapped children held at Madison Square Garden — and fortunately it was filmed by ABC for a TV special that aired in December of 1972.  That multi-camera footage has now been upscaled to 4K, remastered in vibrant Dolby Atmos […]

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Art Is My God   Late on election night November 2024 as the nightmare of America’s choice of ugly over decent became clear, I wrote in my notes — “spend every minute in the world of art.”  And that’s what I’ve done ever since. You can’t control elections — like you can’t control sports.  I […]

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. The Jerry Garcia-directed film “The Grateful Dead Movie” will be back in theaters for one night (Thurs Aug 14th) — and for *the first time* it’s been remastered in 4K for IMAX and remixed for their high-end surround-sound speakers.  (!) Revisiting the film, here’s some deets you may not know … or knew and […]

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  A Portrait of The Artist As A Young Man   Here’s what I riffed to social media after I got home from the advance screening on December 18th . . . Caught the sold-out “A Complete Unknown” IMAX screening in Toronto last night — and boy was it GREAT to see it on a […]

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. I was just living in Taylor world for the ten days she was in Toronto doing six sold out stadium shows — something no other artist has ever come close to doing here. Six stadium shows … and you couldn’t get a ticket. Well, you could if you wanted to pay $4000 for one […]

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. Sphere & Laughing in Las Vegas   photo by Jay Blakesberg for Dead & Company . This is the Acid Tests … in a two-billion-dollar spaceship! I’d been reading about The Sphere for years before it was ever built.  It sounded too wild to be true!  And of course I immediately thought how perfect […]

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“The Greatest Night in Pop” is The Greatest Documentary About Collective Creation . The Greatest Night in Pop (Netflix, 2024) directed by Bao Nguyen, is a spectacular riveting colorful fun documentary about the behind-the-scenes making of We Are The World in 1985 with footage of everybody who was involved.  This is not only one of […]

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. Why this Deadhead Beatnik Beatlemaniac loves Pop’s Princess   I’ve been into Taylor Swift since a New York Times profile in 2008 talked about her confessional songwriting and use of social media — at the time, MySpace.  (!)  Her second album Fearless was set to come out (and would go on to win Album […]

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Imaginestock . photo by Christy Worsoe . Imagine, if you will, a place where music and love fill the air, and every person works for free to build a utopian kingdom. Imagine a secret island hideaway whose location is only shared to people who’ve earned an invitation by a lifetime of good deeds. Imagine a […]

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Poster by Frank McTruck  —  who did ‘Pokes posters in the ’70s .   The Central Continental Cowpokes — Winnipeg Folk Festival, 1977 Laney Hunt, Rick McGhee, Sue Hodgson, Bill Hodgson, Andy Roblin . Sadly, regular Cowpoke drummer, mandolin player and singer Brian Ridd was in Europe this month, but he was ably filled in […]

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