Finding Peace ...Do You Feel Like I Do? David Bowie Tribute

Peter Frampton Conquers 'Stubbornness and Fear' for 'Acoustic Classics'

2/22/2016 by Gary Graff

Peter Frampton

Jason Tang

Playing acoustic is hardly alien to Peter Frampton -- "Baby, I Love Your Way" from Frampton Comes Alive, anybody?  But it did take him awhile to wrap his head around the idea of doing a whole album that way.

"People have been trying to get me to do it for years, and I just didn't want to try it," Frampton -- who releases the 11-track Acoustic Classics, premiered exclusively below, on Feb. 26 -- tells Billboard. "I now think it was just stubbornness and fear -- or fear and then stubbornness because I was scared."
Frampton put those fears aside to record Acoustic Classics in his Nashville studio, playing acoustic guitar and bass and a bit of piano on "I'm In You." Regular collaborator Gordon Kennedy joins on the lone new song, "All Down To me," but the album is mostly populated by a combination of favorites --- yes, even "Do You Feel Like I Do" and "Show Me The Way," the latter complete with Talk Box -- and lesser-known gems such as "Fig Tree Bay," the first track from his 1972 solo debut Wind of Change, "Sail Away" and "Penny For Your Thoughts."

Peter Frampton Pays Tribute to 'Dear Friend and Mentor' David Bowie: 'I Can Never, Ever Thank Him Enough'

"When I started the CD I thought, 'Ha ha, it's gonna take me a couple of days,' and yes, was I wrong," Frampton says with a laugh. "I have such a high standard of my own output that when I did two or three tracks, I came into the control room and listened to them and I was just, 'It's OK. It's good. It's fine,' but I wanted more. So I spent a few months going in every day doing different performances of different songs until I found the ones that worked for me and I thought people would like. I wanted it to be like, 'Hey, sit down, I've just written a song' and I sit down and play you 'Lines on My Face' or whatever and you were likely drawn in 'cause you're the only person in the room besides me, and that's how I look at it, like a one-on-one experience."

Frampton acknowledges that given the iconic epic it is as a live piece, he initially did not consider including "Do You Feel Like I Do" on Acoustic Classics." But towards the end of the recording process changed his mind. "I thought, 'Look, I've done all the others. Let's give it a go,'" Frampton recalls. "I think the most important thing for me was that the instrumental portion of the beginning came off well. It's just a different take on it, y'know? It's an acoustic 'Do You Feel.' I can understand if some people just won't listen to it because they only want to hear the other one, but for me, going from 'I can't do that' to 'Yeah, it's not so bad,' it works for me."
Frampton, Kennedy and Frampton's son Julian toured acoustically last fall and are headed out for another 13-show run of the west coast on March 9. In addition to the Acoustic Classics, Frampton also performs Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue," the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood," material from his Humingbird in a Box EP and a couple of Humble Pie tracks -- and, he notes,"We talk a lot between songs." One of the show will be filmed for broadcast on AXS later this year, and a live release and perhaps a second acoustic album are under consideration. But Frampton, who plans to be on the road with his full band this summer doing dates with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gregg Allman, is also looking forward to plugging back in for his next album.

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"I need to move forward as well; I don't want to get stuck right there (acoustically) too long," he explains. "I want to move on to something different and then maybe the album after that might be a live acoustic show. Some people in this industry have said that the more senior artists like myself, no one wants to hear new music from them, so don't worry about it. I get it. But that's what I do, you know? You can't just stop. So even though new music from me isn't going to leap to the Top 40 stations or streams or whatever, it doesn't matter because it's what I do every day. I'm always creating. Whether people want to hear it or not, I'm gonna do it."

Frampton's mind these days is also on the passing of good friend David Bowie, who Frampton has known since school days in England and played with both then and as part of Bowie's 1987 Glass Spider Tour Band. "It's hard to talk about for me, still," Frampton says. "He was a great, dear friend, and as an artist he was totally unique. We grew up together. We went to the same school, so obviously it's hit me very hard. That was a tough day -- for everybody. I"m not saying I'm special, but it just so happened that I knew him all my life so it was hard. It still is hard. I miss him greatly."

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6882856/peter-frampton-conquers-stubbornness-fear-acoustic-classics 

PeaceOnEarth Film Festival Chicago A Delight in the Face of World Issues

   

For the past six years, I have served as VP of the board for Peace On Earth Film Festival

sponsored by WBEZ Public Radio running March 19-22nd 2015

Each year, I marvel at the film selection at the Peace On Earth Film Festival.  The hours upon hours the founding team put into choosing representative, high quality films sent in from all corners of the world provide a viewing platform for many little known producers and issues. And, its an important place to showcase and empower controversial, entertaining and insightful stories.

If it's impossible to attend, or even if you do, please consider donating to this amazing organization so that Nick, Melissa and their team can continue to bring this art to the world.   www.peaceonearthfilmfestival.org Chicago Cultural Center - Claudia Cassidy Theatre 78 E. Randolph Street. 

Thank you,

Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz

www.peacejourney.com  

Sponsorship For Causes Makes Big Difference in Consumer Purchases

Isn't It Time to Step Up, Using Our Purchasing Power to Make the World Better?

1. "Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems. A trade-off may exist between economic development, in the material sense, and the welfare of the society and environment."

   Peace Journey Productions is now on our quest for the best and most socially responsible companies to work with.

   Let's face it, very, very few of any of us wake up in the morning thinking of ways to destroy the planet, our families, animals and neighbors.  In fact, for most thank goodness, it's exactly the opposite.  

   It is difficult to keep up with corporations and small businesses who stand out in the world for good, isn't it?  

   In my personal quest to find out the Who's Who -- Best Of  in the area of corporate social responsibility,  I am sharing this report from MacLeans Inc.  There may be many more lists that you find so please post your list below in the comments and we can share more of this good news with the world.  While this list is for larger companies, I would be remiss to not include the social responsibility by now of our key sponsors, PeaceSpaProducts.org

   All I know is 15 or 20 years ago,  one would be hard-pressed to find companies rated and reported on as the top companies in this category, and now through Google and other search engines, information is so readily available.

   This makes the process of choosing where to spend our dollars in our hands.  And there is no better time than the present, during the holiday season! 

   Choosing the top rated socially conscious companies to buy from means we still have to do our homework and be sure that the stories aren't just public relations stunts, but at least we have a guidepost for information gathering.

   
   

   Jeannette Barcelos Kravitz