But, the good news is that in the meantime, I can enjoy some live performances from both of these great artists right on YouTube. I’ve picked a couple of my favorites and I’m posting them below for you to enjoy as well. If you are going to the show, I’ll see you there! If not, I hope you enjoy the videos below as much as I do:

Lido Shuffle – Boz Scaggs

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Lowdown – Boz Scaggs

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Breakdown Dead Ahead – Boz Scaggs

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JoJo – Boz Scaggs

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I Keep Forgetting – Michael McDonald

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What A Fool Believes – Michael McDonald

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Ain’t No Mountain High Enough – Michael McDonald

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It Keeps You Running – Michael McDonald

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I’ll post more as I find them, but this should keep you and me entertained for a little while!

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Song List:

1. Sweet – Love Is Like Oxygen
2. Argent – Hold Your Head Up
3. The Guess Who – No Time
4. The Rolling Stones – Time Is On My Side
5. The Doors – Riders On The Storm
6. The Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
7. Doors – Light My Fire
8. Don McLean – American Pie
9. Christopher Cross – Sailing
10. Styx – Fooling Yourself
11. Styx – The Grand Illusion
12. Don McLean – Birthday Song
13. Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
14. U2 – New Year’s Day
15. Beatles – With A Little Help From My Friends
16. Dan Fogelberg – Leader Of The Band
17. Beatles – Here Comes The Sun
18. Beatles – The Long And Winding Road
19. Cat Steven – Morning Has Broken
20. Eagles – Hotel California
21. U2 – With Or Without You
22. Eagles – I Can’t Tell You Why
23. Jim Croce – I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song
24. Spandau Ballet – True
25. Stephen Bishop – On And On
26. Frank Sinatra – It Was A Very Good Year
27. James Taylor – Handyman
28. Eagles – Desperado
29. Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight
30. Manfred Mann – Do Wah Diddy Diddy
31. Aerosmith – Dream On
32. Rare Earth – I Just Want To Celebrate
33. Yes – Roundabout
34. C.W. McCall – Convoy
35. Blues Brothers – Gimme Some Lovin’
36. Gary Glitter – Rock and Roll
37. Maynard Ferguson – Gonna Fly Now (Theme from “Rocky”)
38. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird

 

To me, just one anthem doesn’t cover the breadth and depth of my love for America. “The Star Spangled Banner” covers the birth of our Nation and it reminds us of the struggle it took to birth this country. But we’ve got two hundred years of trials and tribulations under our belt and there are some parts that shouldn’t be forgotten. Ever.

The American Revolution birthed our collection of individual states, but the War Between The States solidified our loose collection of states as more than just the sum of the individual states and truly made us one nation indivisible under God. With that in mind, I want to suggest Elvis Presley’s version of “American Trilogy” as an additional anthem that everyone should hear. In the past few months, whenever I’ve appeared on WMOX AM1010, I’ve opened the show with the audio version of this performance. It is truly an American Classic sung by the only King we’ve every had in America. ‘Nuff said, watch it below and pay particular attention to Elvis’ face when the horns come in strong around the 3:30 mark. Wow!

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But that’s not the only song that comes to my mind as an additional anthem. Everytime I hear Lee Greenwood sing “God Bless The USA” the tears well in my eyes because it is a song that comes closer to where I live everyday than any other. A lot has been written about this song, but I won’t. Just watch this live performance of Lee Greenwood from 1985. You’ll get the point.

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And finally, my third selection for an alternate anthem would be Van Zant’s “These Color Don’t Run” from their latest album, “My Kind Of Country.” This song doesn’t have the history of the other songs I’ve discussed so far, but the first time I heard it, every line was either describing the way I feel or the way I live. Have a look and a listen:

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Now you may not agree with my choices, and that’s ok. Leave a comment and tell me your suggestions and maybe I’ll add them to the list. But this is enough for now. Oh, wait, there’s the one that started this discussion, “The Star Spangled Banner” and we can’t skip it! Check out this version by the Cactus Cuties:

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You can check out his website here, but it’s not a fancy website and looks more Stanley built the site himself and updates it on the weekends. Regardless of what you think of his website, take the time to investigate some of the articles and educational stuff he works with. It is fascinating and pretty cool. I’ll get back to discussing Stanley’s music in a bit, but first, I’d like you to take a few minutes and watch this video of Stanley playing ‘Stairway to Heaven’ so you can see how he plays and hear what his technique can produce:

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Stanley Jordan: "Standards" Cd

I “discovered” Stanley Jordan’s music for myself back in the late 80′s when I purchased a copy of his 1986 cd ‘Standards.’ This cd contains solo tracks including titles: The Sound of Silence, Sunny Georgia On My Mind, Send One Your Love, Moon River, Guitar Man, One Less Bell to Answer, Because, My Favorite Things, and Silent Night. I was mesmerized by the sounds this guy could get out of his guitar. Sadly, now this album is out of print, but you still might be able to find a copy on eBay or some used cd store.

One of the cuts on the ‘Standards’ album that I want to single out for notice is his version of ‘Silent Night.’ When I first bought the cd, I put it in my cd player in my car and didn’t think too much about it other than playing it. Most of the other songs were instantly familiar, but I kept noticing that the last song on the record was hauntingly familiar, but I just couldn’t place it. Finally, I got the cd and the liner notes together at the same time and realized that the song I couldn’t place was Stanley’s jazz version of ‘Silent Night.’ It was amazing to me that a song that was so familiar to me that I should have know it anywhere was so fresh and enjoyable in this new style.

Stanley Jordan says of this album, “I was extremely busy in those days. This music was my calm within the storm.” I have to agree with him, this is one of the most relaxing albums I own. However, don’t worry. Even though this cd is out of print, there are plenty of Stanley Jordan cd’s still in print and available and they are all just as enjoyable.

Try your local record store first and if you can’t find him there or they can’t order for you, try Amazon or some of the online outlets. I promise, if you like popular tunes with a jazzy feel, you can’t go wrong with Stanley Jordan.