This month Van Morrison performed a special 2 night engagement at the Hollywood Bowl to deliver his seminal classic Astral Weeks in it’s entirety. The original recording of this work was from back in 1968 yet still today makes many top 10 lists for greatest record of all time. The album is really unlike any other I’ve heard and there are not enough words to describe it’s unorthodox combination of instrumentation and vocals. The performance at the Bowl was likewise flawless, and Van’s voice met and exceeded the challenge of the complex material. The sets were recorded and will be released on CD and DVD in the coming months and that will be highly recommended. One note - lots of ‘Hollywood’ persona were at the show - we sat right behind Will Ferrell, and I had to resist the urge to yell out ‘More Cowbell!” all night!

 

Spoon played at the Fillmore auditorium this week in San Francisco on a three night stint. We went to the second of three shows and I give them an A for effort though there were slow patches. Best moments happened with they ventured into “Wilco-like” territory, expanding on tracks and adding color to their solid foundation. Additional horns picked things up a bit the few times they joined. Their release from last year was highlighted - will continue to follow this one.

 

Intacct is the SaaS provider we selected at Ingres for our accounting software over 2 years ago.  They provide on line Financials including general accounting, purchasing, inventory and order management capabilities. Their order entry and receivables applications are pre-integrated to Salesforce.com and we utilize this key capability.  Their annual conference was held last week in San Jose at the Hayes Mansion.

Intacct has been expanding their strategic partnerships and have been working on their platform and integration standards to make these offerings seamless and compelling.  (more…)