May 15, 2012 - The ASCAP Concert at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

I just heard from Beardbassman about today’s annual ASCAP Concert at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and Lee’s involvement with it. The concert will be probably not available online for quite a while, so we decided to post the video from last year’s concert instead. Some of the artists Lee played bass with on this occasion were Paul Williams, Jackie DeShannon and Lyle Lovett. You can learn more about ASCAP’s annual Library of Congress gig at the → ASCAP website. Enjoy, and check back with us on the weekend for the new Scrapbook additions. Cheers!

“Toast to Freedom” - Song Tribute to Amnesty International’s 50th Anniversary

Three days ago, 0n May 2, Amnesty International released Toast To Freedom, a new and exclusive commemorative song dedicated to human rights activism around the world and performed by the following artists, including the late Levon Helm: Zachary Alford, Arno, Jimmy Barnes, Mahalia Barnes, Jane Birkin, Bertha Blades, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Eric Burdon, Max Buskohl, Larry Campbell, Carl Carlton, Rosanne Cash, Christine & The Queens, David D'Or, Sussan Deyhim, Donald Fagen, Marianne Faithfull, Gentleman, Warren Haynes, Amy Helm, Matthew Houck, Emmanuel Jal, Essie Jain, Angelique Kidjo, Pascal Kravetz, Kris Kristofferson, Sonny Landreth, John Leventhal, Ewan McGregor, Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, Moses Mo, Shawn Mullins, Nacho Campillo, JP Nataf, Florent Pagny, Axelle Red, Jerry “Wizard” Seay, Wayne P. Sheehy, Carly Simon, Vida Simon, Sir Samuel, Christophe Willem, Teresa Williams.

Written by guitarist/producers Larry Campbell (Levon Helm Band, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello) and Carl Carlton (Robert Palmer, Eric Burdon, Keb Mo), Toast To Freedom is the brainchild of Carlton and longtime music industry executive, activist, and entrepreneur Jochen Wilms in collaboration with Art for Amnesty founder Bill Shipsey. The project celebrates Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary and was released to coincide with World Press Freedom Day.

Toast To Freedom is available for pre-order now on iTunes in many countries around the world and via online retailers worldwide starting Tuesday, May 8. Net proceeds will benefit Amnesty International. For more info please go to the official Toasttofreedom.org website.

To kick off the worldwide release of Toast To Freedom the Art for Amnesty Band featuring Lee, Kris Kristofferson, Jonny Lang, Shawn Mullins, Larry Campbell, Dean Parks and more, performed the song on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC, Thursday, May 3. Here's the line-up for the performance:

Kris Kristofferson - Vocal, Guitar
Larry Campbell - Vocal, Guitar
Teresa Williams - Vocal
Shawn Mullins - Vocal, Guitar
Jonny Lang - Vocal, Electric Guitar
Jeffrey Young - Vocal, Hammond B3
Lee Sklar - Bass
Justin Guip - Drums
Dean Parks - Guitar
Vida Simon - Background Vocal
Gaby Moreno - Background Vocal
Essie Jain - Background Vocal

Due to copyright reasons NBC will not make their web content available worldwide. You can try and see if the official NBC link for the Tonight Show broadcast of May 3 works for your location by clicking → here. If not, you may try with YouTube (see for instance the latest relevant link under the Some Links section of this blog, in the right hand column). Check this one out!

If you want to know more about Lee’s work with Kris Kristofferson you may click on the following links:

Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge

Just released: Arthur Alligood - One Silver Needle

Lee is the bass player on 4 of the 10 tracks in the just released new Arthur Alligood CD album “One Silver Needle”, produced by Mikal Blue and out on April 25, 2012. CD album features the following lineup of musicians:

Arthur Alligood - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Leland Sklar - Bass
Mikal Blue - Bass, Keyboards, Piano
Sean McCarthy - Bass
Jim Keltner - Drums
Billy Hawn - Drums, Percussion
Michael Ward - Electric Guitar
Greg Suran - Electric Guitar
Jeff Babko - Organ, Rhodes, Vibes
Asha Sukumar - Violin
Victor Lawrence - Cello

Please do check back in some days for the relative detailed entry. You can enjoy the following behind-the-scenes EPK and don't forget to check out Mr. Alligood’s website for more info and suggestions on how to order. Album is available on iTunes, Amazon, etc. or at a CD release show. Cheers!