Johnny Meza, "Mr Entertainment" Lights Up The Desert

Johnny Meza is one of the most talented and exciting entertainers performing in the California Desert.  I him on Wednesday, Jan 19 at the Jackalope Ranch in Indio. Johnny is so much more than just a singer, he also plays great piano, guitar and drums. When you add his great personality and wit to the mix, he truly is a pleasure to hear.  Johnny also writes music and lyrics and his lastest song, "Dirty Martini" recently moved into the top twenty best selling new songs as ranked by Billboard Magazine. This great new song is on Johnny's new CD "The New Standard".  I recommend that you preview the songs on this CD on iTunes.  Johnny is performing at Jackalope Ranch on Wednesdays, The Spa Casino Lounge on Thursdays and at the always great Arnold Palmer's Restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays.  If you are ever in the desert over the next few months, make an effort to see Johnny. It will be well worth it.

I will be doing a full review of Johnny's new CD shortly.

The iTunes Top 10 Jazz Songs

I found another list of the best selling songs on iTunes under the title: "Jazz Essentials".  Since I love Jazz, I was interested in what songs would be on this list.  However, with a title of "Jazz Essentials" I was at a loss to guess what performers and what songs would be included.   My first guesses were: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman and maybe Billie Holiday.  Well, I wasn't too far off.  There were two songs on the list that surprised me.  I like "So What" by Miles but was still surprised to see it as one of the top selling songs on the list. This song is from what most consider the best CD every recorded by Miles, "Kind of Blue".  The other surprise song was "Strange Fruit" by Billie Holiday.  I had not even heard this song before so I went to iTunes to listen to it. After listening, I am still not sure why this Billie Holiday song in on the list?

             The Top 10 Selling Jazz Essentials on iTunes

1.    "So What"--Miles Davis

2.   "Take Five"--Dave Brubeck Quartet

3.   "In a Sentimental Mood"--Duke Ellington/John Coltrane

4.   "Summertime"--Ella Fitzgerald

5.   "In The Mood"--Glenn Miller

6.   "Sing, Sing, Sing"--Benny Goodman

7.   "God Bless The Child"--Billie Holiday

8.   "My One and Only Love"--John Coltrane, Johnny Hartman

9.   "It Don't Mean a Thing"--Duke Ellington

10. "Strange Fruit"--Billie Holiday

The 10 Top Selling Jazz R & B/Soul Ballads

I am always looking for information about the music buying habits of today's music consumers.  The other day I found an iTunes site that listed all of the music that iTunes currently sells by sub-groups. I first came across a list that was entitled "Adult Music" expecting to find singers and songs from the Great American Songbook but no... the list was for songs with lyrics that might not be appropriate for younger listeners.  I did not know any of the songs so I searched on.   I found two other lists that did contain songs I recognized.  I want to talk about the first list that was titled "R & B/Soul Ballads". I was surprised to discover that the number one selling song was my all time favorite Golden Oldie, "In The Still Of The Night" by the Five Satins. Can you believe that a rock & roll song that was recorded over 50 years ago is the number one R & B/Soul Ballad song sold by iTunes in 2010. I loved it in the sixties and still love it today. Of the top 10 best selling songs, there was only one that I was not familiar with, "Pledging My Love" by Johnny Ace.  It seems that Johnny Ace was a noted R & B singer in the fifties who committed suicide back stage on Christmas Eve in 1954. Mr Ace still commands interest from music fans to this day.  Take a look at the list below and share any comment about the top 10 or other candidates you think should have made this list.

                                TOP 10 BEST SELLING R&B/SOUL BALLADS BY iTUNES


1. "IN THE STILL OF THE NIGHT"- THE FIVE SATINS


2. "WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN"- PERCY SLEDGE


3. "I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU TOO LONG"- OTIS REDDING


4. "WHAT'S GOING ON"-MARVIN GAYE


5. "PLEDGING MY LOVE"- JOHNNY ACE


6. "I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU"-THE FLAMINGOS


7."CHAINS OF LOVE"-BIG JOE TURNER


8. "LET'S STAY TOGETHER"- AL GREEN


9. "STAND BY ME"-BEN E KING


10. "Ooo BABY BABY"-SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES

Amazon Takes Only A Tiny Bite Out Of Apple

I recently read that the research firm NPD Group reported that iTunes now controls 66.2% of online music sales.  In just a few short years, iTunes has taken over a massive amount of the online market and it is not over yet.  However, they are getting some intense competition from Amazon who is now in second place with 13.3% of the online market.  In an attempt to take market share from iTunes, Amazon has been selling selected CDs below cost in order to attract customers.   Still even with lower prices than iTunes, Amazon sales only grew 2.3% compared to 3.0% for iTunes. Some industry people have been saying that iTunes has been putting pressure on labels to pull back on the deals they have been giving Amazon.  ITunes needs to be very careful with any attempt to limit Amazon's ability to discount prices because it begs for an antitrust action. iTunes should be happy with their huge market piece and let Amazon continue to lose money selling CDs below cost. iTunes in my opinion, needs to be very careful not to do anything to slow or block competition because they already control the keys to the online market with their iTunes program that so far no competitor has been able to match.

iTunes Top 10 Best Selling Beatles' Songs

Just about everyone in the world knows that iTunes was the winner in the hot contest to get the rights to sell Beatles' songs. I just read an article in Entertainment Weekly (EW.com) that reported that iTunes sold over 2,000,000 Beatles' songs and 450,000 albums in its first week of sales. It has been several decades since these songs were released and I can only say it is truly amazing that, "The Beatles' Song Book" is still so popular.  I don't consider myself an expert in Beatle music but I am interested in any current list of their most popular songs.  So I have listed below the "Top Ten Best Beatles' Songs Sold On iTunes During Their First Week".  Personally, I am in agreement with all of the selections on the list except for one, "Dear Prudence".  I would like to get some comments from anyone who thinks they know why "Dear Prudence" would be on the Top Ten list because I don't have a clue.  Also, is there any Beatle fan out there that would have guessed that "Here Comes The Sun" would be the most popular selling Beatles' song this first week of sales?  All other comments about these Top Ten Selections are welcome.

1.  "Here Comes The Sun"

2.  "Come Together"

3.   "Let It Be"

4.   "In My Life"

5.   "Blackbird"

6.   "Something"

7.   "With A Little Help From My Friends"

8.   "Yesterday"

9.   "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"

10. "Dear Prudence"

I want to mention that I did read a few blogs that thought the iTunes Beatles sales numbers were not good.  They came to this conclusion because the top selling Beatles song for the week did not come close to the sales numbers for the best selling songs on the week. I think these writers missed the point very badly.  Consider the fact that most of the millions of current Beatles fans already have all of the old Beatles albums.  And even if they didn't, considering these albums/CDs have been available for years, I believe these sales numbers are remarkable. Who bought 2,000,000 songs and 450,000 albums?  I believe the answer is the younger generation that is the heart and soul of iTunes who are just discovering the Beatles. Just the other day, I was talking to an 11 year old who had just recently become a Beatles fan and was buying their songs for his iPod.  I am sure this is what is happening all over this country. It will be interesting to see if iTunes sales of Beatles songs continues over the next year. My guess would be that they will.