Country music lost a legend last night. After having been diagnosed with lung cancer, Porter Wagoner was hospitalized on October 15 and then released to hospice care on October 26 before passing away on October 28 at 8:25 p.m. in Nashville's Alive Hospice.
Stoked! They just announced the roster of artists playing this year's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass fest! It takes place from Friday, October 5th through Sunday, October 7th in San Francisco. I got so excited, that I made this Hardly Strictly Bluegrass VII playlist!
Here's a geeky little list of who I want to see this year and why:
1. Jeff Tweedy from Wilco
More hardly than strictly, I'm just hoping he'll pull something like this again.
2. Emmylou Harris
I recently got to interview Emmylou, and aside from the time I put a lobster in Nick Tangborn's hotel bed on an editorial retreat, interviewing Emmylou was the best job related experience I have ever known. She's the owner of my favorite voice and while I agree with many of her fans that she just keeps getting better with age, there's something to be said for her past.
3. Guy Clark
Yeah, I know...Towns Van Zandt has been dead for just over ten years now and I kick myself for not seeing him when he was still around, but I figure getting to see Guy Clark play is like the next best thing.
4. Hazel Dickens
I totally blew it and missed her performance at last year's HSBG fest, so I have to make sure I get to see her play this year because...come on! It's Hazel Dickens! Nobody else can put the chill of Appalachian winds up my spine with her soulfully weathered voice and haunting narratives.
5. The Sadies
How come Canadians are so good at playing country music? You may have seen the Sadies back up twang vixen Neko Case, but you have to see them on their own to understand their otherworldly skills and electric prowess in a live setting, whether they're playing country, rockabilly or old school hot rod music.
Now that alien spacecraft have been documented flying over Haiti, I would like to bestow them with this cosmic themed playlist as a peace offering in hopes that they won't eat my face off or probe me. If they truly are an intelligently evolved species, then they already know that old music is better than new music, so I'll just keep this playlist steeped in the vintage tones of the bygone days before ProTools ruined everything.
Nick Dedina and I went to see Hall & Oates perform their unique brand of Philly soul-inspired, jazz-tinged pop at the Palace Of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco last night. What a show! They opened with "Maneater!" How could they not? Here is a playlist of their entire set (since they haven't recorded their covers of "What's Goin' On" and "Hot Fun In The Summertime," I just put the originals in there). Both their voices sounded well preserved and they had a pretty big band in tow including a string quartet with two violinists, a viola player and a cellist.
I just read that Michelangelo Antonioni passed away. If you've never seen Blow-Up or Zabriskie Point, you are totally blowing it. Blow-Up is easily the best mod film ever. Not only do you get to see Vanessa Redgrave and '60s model Veruschka in their heyday, but nowhere else will you ever see footage of the Yardbirds performing with both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck at the same time. Check this awesome clip of them playing "Stroll On" (which is just a harder version of "Train Kept A-Rollin'" with different lyrics) at the legendary Ricky-Tick club. Any guitar player who has ever depended on a Vox amp will laugh at the portrayal of their unreliability in the aforementioned clip. Zabriskie Point came out in 1969, three years after Blow-Up, and it didn't do as much for the counterculture as did its predecessor, but check out the killer soundtrack it yielded. Antonioni obviously knew more about music than many of today's film directors and producers.
Holy crap! I just realized that last week marked my eight year anniversary here at Rhapsody. I think that means I've worked in the San Francisco building longer than anyone. Back in the day we were called listen.com and what the hell were we listening to in 1999?
I know there are a bunch of better songs missing, but I can't remember a lot from that far back. But I do remember talking with a newly hired Mike McGuirk back then about child actress Kim Richards and he said that when he was a little kid, he used to have recurring dreams about the two of them going to the bathroom together somewhere on Witch Mountain. I was instantly horrified of Mike. But then, I had a lot of growing up to do...
For my fifth year anniversary they gave me a little engraved plaque and a generous check to give to a charity of my choice. Hopefully for my 10th I'll get one of those sweet parking spots in the office garage. But honestly, it could be another eight years before that queue moves up. After my old band broke up, I'm finding it harder and harder to park my beloved blue beast around the streets of San Francisco. Since I'm...uh...in between bands, I usually just use this baby to haul some of my friends out to strange and distant skateparks on the weekends.
Ok, if this last paragraph seems a little too "bro-brah," it's not entirely my fault because someone recently stocked up the men's room here with a stack of Transworld Surf magazines. So anyway, a few weeks ago I overheard my friend Dave (who has an empty pool in his backyard) say that he got the invite from Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament to skate his backyard bowl this summer! I didn't even know he skated (but Steve Turner from Mudhoney totally does). So Dave dude, if you're reading this...I still have a really comfy van that takes road trips like a hungry viking and it doesn't look like I'll be parking it anywhere long term for a while. And you know that the jams will be side splittingly rad...and anyway, that guy's setup looks way better for rolling than for posing.
Today is not only the first official day of summer, but it's also Go Skateboarding Day. Unfortunately, I will not be going skateboarding today because I gotta bail back to Minneapolis in an hour. But before splitting to the city that birthed many seminal musicians, I thought it would be cool to leave you with this summery sounding playlist.
What to do when you wake up in Nashville and look out the hotel window only to see a rainy day?
Go to the Country Music Hall Of Fame, stupid!
Hooked up some more awesome interviews!
We'll post 'em as soon as they're edited.
Geeked out hard on old school twang with Sunny Sweeney.
Check out the sweet playlist she gave us. Girl knows her country!
Eric Shea goes to Nashville and all we get is this stupid blog post. Pics of bullriding and C'n'W stars young and old, after the jump.
Apparently you do need stinkin' badges around these here parts! Check mine out...007!
Once I got my badges, I went inside the Nashville Convention Center where country music fans were getting autographs. Look! It's Cowboy Troy and his wacky pants!
Flatt and Scruggs' old tour bus was on display too.
Speaking of bluegrass, Cadillac Sky picked a stellar set on the acoustic stage.
I got to interview Elizabeth Cook!
We'll post that interview as soon as Fil and Lauren edit it for Rhapsody. I got turned on to Elizabeth's music by way of Dr. Ted Kartzman and where the hell has she been all my life?!? Seriously! She's the only person to mix my two favorite things together: skateboarding and country music!
Ok dudes...more later. I have to go get drunk now but I'll be back with more interviews, pictures and other rad stuff!
Juliette and I recently went to Los Angeles to kick it with some friends.
But before we left, we saw the Moore Brothers join Bart Davenport on an Incredible String Band song.
My bestest friend Elisa Randazzo hosted us at her cozy and stylish Eagle Rock home. Her new tunes have come a long way from her old ones. Songwriting's in her blood! Elisa's dad wrote this fine gem back in the day.
She has this amazingly beautiful abyssinian cat Dolly, named after a Nicky Hopkins song.
Elisa and Juliette were stoked to go record shopping at Rockaway.
I scored some decent vinyl too.
We drove out to Topanga Canyon and paid a visit to Devendra.
Noah is recording his new album there in a dreamy cabin house not too far from Hidden Treasures.
It was really easy to get caught up in the good vibes and friendly faces there.
We checked into the Beverly Laurel for a night.
They have really cool wooden elevators.
Driving down the Grapevine to get back home, we listened to Sky Blue Sky.
Guess what? We're only 31 peeps away from having 500 friends on our MySpace page! Remember when I said that if we got 500 of you on our thingy that Kevin in Seattle would hook us up with a fully loaded Sansa player to raffle? Well we're only 31 losers away from that reality! So come on and get some, Jordache! Join us lest ye fully blow it!
A few fellow losers who have already added us have asked why we don't have any actual pictures of the Editorial Team up in our photo album. So as a further incentive to get you to join us, I recently loaded up an album with our fugly mugs so you can get a glimpse of the actual humans behind the editorial voice of Rhapsody. Add us and you'll be able to find out who amongst us likes to walk around naked and drink beer, or which member of our team was in KISS for a day!
I have to admit that I'm sometimes lazy when it comes to MySpace stuff, so when I couldn't find pictures of certain members of our team I just used pictures of people that I associate those good folks with (sorry, Garrett), so I guess this is also a call out to get Rhapsody Editors to email me pix of themselves to swap out with the placeholder images that I used. Editors, please send me photos unless you're ok with being the classical music editor and looking like this.
Blogging you from Minneapolis!
Juliette and I are in MN visiting her family, and so far we've been able hit up some rad spots you just can't find in California. I also dropped some serious coin on vinyl nuggets at Roadrunner Records and at Hymie's Vintage Records.
Juliette's dad suggested that we check out Bob Dylan's American Journey 1956-1996 which is on exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum until April 29, 2007. The Weisman is at the University Of Minnesota in Dinkytown, the college where Dylan dropped out, shortly before tuning in and turning on.
My shoddy cell phone pictures don't do any justice to the epic experience -- you really have to visit this wonderful exhibit to understand the importance of Dylan's Minnesota roots -- but I wanted to share a few of my favorite things with you.
Standing in front of Dylan's acoustic Martin and chromatic harmonica (replete with wire holster) put shivers up my spine.
As did standing in front of one of the fascist killing six-strings that belonged to Woody Guthrie.
The back of this guitar has his name scratched on it. Seeing that just made my day.
If not too many people know that "Mr. Tambourine Man" was written about Bruce Langhorne, it may be on account of the fact that not a lot of folks know who Langhorne is. He was a session guitar player for a bunch of famous musicians, but more importantly, he scored the most exquisite soundtrack to ever accompany a film -- Peter Fonda's 1971 directorial debut The Hired Hand.
This is Langhorne's guitar and inspirational tambourine.
And this is the camera and one of the reels used to film Don't Look Back.
And my favorite artifact of the exhibit -- a '60s paper mod dress with Dylan's face on the front.
These are all just a few of the many mind-blowing pieces that make up this incredible exhibit. Dylan fans should definitely make the pilgrimage to Dinkytown and check out all the other rare artifacts, listen to the plethora of unearthed recordings, peep the old yearbook photos, read the historical private letters, lyric books and other vestiges of Dylan that make this experience well worth the trip.
Speaking of trips, I'd like to end this post by digressing for a moment to extend a big thanks to Juliette's family for turning me on to this exhibit. I'd also like to voice a big fat SHAME ON YOU to SkyMall. I used to have a lot of fun getting drunk on airplanes and thumbing through your catalog of useless products until a few days ago when I came across this seemingly Michael Hutchence inspired suicide machine.
Have you no shame?
I was a teenage mod.
It's true. I wasn't always the respectably dressed professional that I am today. In the '80s, Berkeley had a thriving mod scene that was pretty different from that of every other city (except maybe San Diego). There weren't too many of those nerdy three-button suited, pork-pie hatted, skinny tied, bowling shoed, parka clad geeks. No, most of us were both geeky and freaky. Boys wore their hair longer and rocked bright colors and big collars. The girls dressed in vintage Biba and looked more like Anita Pallenberg than the frumpy, bobbed, bomber betties you'd see at San Francisco scooter shows. Here's an example of just how ridiculously we rocked our steez 20 years ago back in 1987
(I'm the gum chewing, 17 year-old kook with the bowl-cut, wraparound shades and Union Jack shirt, but see if you can spot Bart Davenport from Honeycut or Xan McCurdy from Cake)
We weren't into power pop. Thinking about this now, we certainly missed out on a lot of rad '80s shit, but back then, our closed-minded subcultural credo held that if it wasn't '60s, it wasn't mod.
Anyway, the reason why I'm reminiscing and writing all this is because I just discovered that Rhapsody has a lot of what we did listen to back then. We were really into Freakbeat.
What is Freakbeat? It is the life-after-mod but pre-psychedelic music from Great Britain that came out in the mid- to late- '60s. In its heyday, freakbeat was a little too trippy for the uptight, well-dressed mods and it was a bit too modernist and baroque for the paint-your-face-in-the-park lifestyle of the freewheelin' hippies. Its look was very pop art with bold patterns and retina crushing op-art swirls, and the sound was some of the first to experiment with guitar feedback.
To give you a better idea, dig this Freakbeat Playlist I made.
Here are some pix of the bands in my mix:
Les Fleur-De-Lys
The Action
John's Children
Pretty Things
The Birds (dig that pic of a young, pre-Faces, pre-Stones Ron Wood second from left)
The Yardbirds
The Sorrows
The Smoke
The Attack
The Easybeats
The Marmalade
The Tremeloes
Happy New Year! Here is my Best Of 2006 Playlist. You'll notice that I threw some reissues and repackaged gems in there as well. Predictably, my favorite one of the year was Gram Parsons' The Complete Reprise Sessions.
Check it out. There are lots of rare gems in there.
Whenever I geek out on GP's music a few folks who fancy themselves music scholars or whatever tend to snub me and ask why I'm so obsessed with "an overrated dead man." Other than identifying with his songs, I really don't know why. Maybe because it's a little too easy to judge him--he was spoiled rotten by a wealthy family (his folks even bought him his very own nightclub to perform in); he perpetuated all the rock star/hipster cliches; he wanted to hang out with the Stones more than with his own band; and he couldn't handle his controlled substances. So on the surface I guess it's not too difficult to dismiss Parsons and pass his legacy up for that of...oh, I don't know...Townes Van Zandt or Gene Clark.
I guess the reason why I identify with Parsons' songs so much is because as an aspiring songwriter, they make me think, "Damn, I wish I thought of that first." But listening to Townes Van Zandt or Gene Clark, I know that I could never write anything as epic, so I guess they just seem further away from my own musical soul (as much as I love what they did and how they did it).
Or maybe it's because he pretty much invented a whole new genre of music that helped blur the lines between country, soul and rock 'n' roll.
Anyway, I'm throwing another tribute show in San Francisco next weekend. If you're in town, please come by and party with us.
This year's benefit is for an especially good cause. Pat Spurgeon from the band Rogue Wave needs a kidney. He's a phenomenal musician, but he's an even better human being. There's more info on his band's site about Pat's situation and what you can do to help if you are so inclined. Thanks for taking the time to check all of this out, by the way.
This past weekend Juliette and I went to the Two Days Of Autumn music fest put on by Folk Yeah at Fernwood up in Big Sur.
Nat Russell from Birds Of America made these rad posters for it.
The music was so inspiring that I made this playlist with most of the artists who played. (Click here if you're on a Mac).
Jenny Lewis showed up sans Watson Twins and played a few songs (photos by Danielle Rubi). She was accompanied by Jonathan Rice and Farmer Dave Scher. Damn, she's got a good voice.
Fresh from touring with Feist, Rubies played an awesome set of soulful funk folk. They just finished recording in Stockholm, so we should have a full length any time now, right Simone?
Winter Flowers showed up and beat the living crap out of a bunch of people in the audience with baseball bats and then they played an exquisite set of beautiful, British psych-folk inspired songs. After that, mandolin player Christof and I burned down the venue and played music around the flames as helpless people ran for help (photos by Rachel Frank).
Just kidding. But we did get to kickstart the campfire sing-a-long jam. After my fingers got sore, Juliette and I sat around the campfire and made like real hippies (photo by Danielle Rubi).
On Friday night I also got to sing one of my own songs as well as Bread's "The Goodbye Girl" with Bart Davenport and Etienne de Rocher.
It was good to see Farmer Dave. Last time I saw him was over a year ago in LA.
Dude was super busy Saturday night. He played steel with Jenny Lewis, Vetiver, Jonathan Wilson and someone else I'm forgetting.
This guy totally stole my lighter.
This gal totally stole my heart (photos by Danielle Rubi).
That's Paula Frazer. She actually brought her band Tarnation along to play.
My old friend Jennifer Maerz showed up and we caught up briefly and then watched Birds of America.
After their performance Nat said we should start a band called Beards Of America. I don't get it.
Vetiver played with Eric Johnson from Fruit Bats. It was cool and all, but I'd much rather hear them perform with Alyssa on cello (just sayin'...)
Giant albino coyotes sang quilted backing harmonies to Matt Baldwin's awesome finger picking and Sam Flax's analog soundscapes. At the time, I thought I was just "seeing things" but this photo proves that it really happened.
Terri Loewenthal was on double duty playing bass with Rubies and the Court & Spark. Here's a really bad photo of her (sorry, Tee) with Elisa Randazzo of Fairechild.
I really wish Elisa would have played some of her new songs, but she told me that she was only there to drink beer and kick ass (you should have seen what happened when she ran out of beer).
I also got to see a horse. I called this one "Old Paint."
On the last day Juliette and I went to Pfeiffer Beach, where there's this doorway cut out of the rock. I'm not sure how it got there. I guess nature did it. But as the sun went down, it started beaming right through the door and I think it was the prettiest thing I've ever seen in my whole life maybe.
Big thanks go out to Britt for putting this on. Can't wait for the next one.
What a week! At the risk of sounding like a cheerleader, this year's CMJ was the best one ever. OK, maybe not, but it was the best one that I've ever attended, although the tone of my trip was set somewhat stressfully -- when I arrived at SFO my flight was delayed four hours. But the airport’s museum was coincidently showing an awesome music themed exhibit entitled, "The History of Audio: The Engineering of Sound."
So I checked it out. There were triumphantly geeky displays of vintage recording devices that would have fogged up the glasses of Steve Albini and the guys from Tape Op magazine. In loving contrast to the invention of high fidelity, I took these lo-fi pictures on my janky, dated Motorola phone:
Day One:
After finally touching down at JFK and checking in to the historical Hotel Chelsea (yes, I am a total sucker for rock and roll cliches), I picked up my CMJ badge, scarfed down a Katz's pastrami sandwich
and hopped on the L train to Brooklyn. I christened my ears at the North Six where my tinnitus was delightfully aggravated with an eardrum bludgeoning set by J. Mascis’ ultra heavy rock outfit, Witch. Singer Kyle Thomas (from the band Feathers) is the perfectly evil frontman with greasy, long hair draped over his face and sneering, guttural vocals that spew out of his mouth like blackened b-movie blood. And Mascis’ drum playing was heavier than a landslide of boulders (yup, he’s back on the kit a-la his early days with Deep Wound).
After Witch, I met my girlfriend Juliette (who was in town visiting her grandmother) and we suited up for Halloween! This was my first All Hallows Eve in NYC and I think we did it up pretty righteously in our Tony Alva and Barbarella costumes, even though the hot costumes this season were very inspired by death metal.
We attended the Monster Mash at the Rockstar Bar where local bands dressed up as famous bands and played covers. My favorites were ZZ Top,
Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie
and Devo (the latter as played by Brooklyn's The Stalkers).
Day Two:
Walking to get lunch (Katz's again) I was stopped in my tracks when I stumbled upon this incredible mural outside the Niagara bar.
It reminded me that our man Tim Quirk (who has kind of inadvertently turned me on to the seminal solo works of the late Joe Strummer) was speaking on the Digital Domination panel, so I went to check that out and then took the subway to a karaoke party hosted by Bart Davenport from Honeycut and ice cream pimp Quinn Luke from Bing Ji Ling. It was off the hook! Especially when the two of them soulfully harmonized on Smoky Robinson's "Cruisin'."
I finished my pint of Stella and decided to zig-zag back to the Avery Fisher Hall to catch some songs by young folkie Willy Mason. Nothing against the bearded hippie psychedelic acoustic scene, but it sure was refreshing to hear an inspired, politically minded folkie who sounded more influenced by Johnny Cash than Gary Higgins for a change.
I went back to the lower east side to meet Honeycut for a slice of pizza and an interview (which I'll post up right here as soon as it's edited).
When I found out that they had Etienne de Rocher filling in on bass I just had to follow them back to the Delancey to catch some of their set. It was a full blown dance party! The place was packed, everyone was grooving and the band sounded tight and buttery smooth. I ran into my old friend, music photojournalist Piper Ferguson and then headed out to the Southpaw to catch some of Laura Cantrell's set. Man, did I blow it. I mean, she's great and everything (maybe even my favorite female Americana chanteuse at the moment), but I totally blanked on the fact that I was supposed to see my friend Kali's band the Affair. Sorry, Kali! I finished up my night catching some bubbly proggy songs by Feathers at the Trash bar in Brooklyn before meeting up with Juliette and catching a late night ride on the L train back to Chelsea.
Day Three:
Would you believe me if I told you that I had my third consecutive Katz's pastrami sandwich for lunch? I just figured that by filling up on tons of meat, I could go the rest of the night just sipping beers and watching bands, the first one being Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. Admittedly I did so by accident. I went back to CMJ headquarters to pick up another festival guide (I left my first one on the subway) and heard some familiar songs coming from the day stage -- songs from their Broom album that I reviewed for work. Then I took a train back to the lower east side to interview Darren Rademaker from summery surf pop band the Tyde. The interview went amazingly well and I promise that I'll post it up right here as soon as it's edited.
Walking back from the interview, I heard someone yell, "Hey! Hippie!" I turned around and it was my friend Tim Mitchell (we went to high school together). The two of us had beers at Pianos and he invited me to the IODA party back at the Delancey, which I forgot to mention, has a very weird urinal trough in the men's room that requires you to pee on marbles.
That was easily the best party of CMJ (and not just because I got to pee on marbles). Open bar? Check! Free pizza? Check! Rad rooftop covered with tropical plants? Uh...check! Oh yeah, and Thurston Moore was spinning all kinds of rad songs on the turntables! The rest of the night was a pickled blur that included meeting up with Jaan Uhelszki and her daughter Haley at a Silversun Pickups show (they're pretty good, but isn't it a bit early for a '90s revival?), dancing to some Small Faces and Who songs at the Darkroom, and watching a gaggle of longhairs freak out, convulse and stage dive during the Blue Cheer reunion at the Knitting Factory. On the way home I realized that someone barfed hot dogs on my shoes. This was the very first time I've ever hoped that regurgitated hot dogs were mine.
Day Four:
I woke up feeling like five bucks and smelling like Oscar Meyer. Somehow in between passing out and waking up, autumn happened. Seriously, it wasn't anywhere near this cold the day before. I ran into our very own Tyler Lenane (who just turned me on to the Black Flag-esque punk album that Jesse Malin and Ryan Adams did in 2003). We had a couple beers at the Living Room, where he totally hooked me up with a Jesse Malin interview (thanks, dude). I promise that I'll post it right here as soon as it's edited.
Malin, who is a part owner of the aforementioned Niagara bar, played a rocking acoustic set. That's right, it was acoustic and it rocked and that's very hard to do. After his set I stuck around to see Jon Langford play a super fun and inspired set with the lovely Sally Timms playing drums on "Hank Williams Must Die" from 1993's The Killer Shrews. After the show I asked Langford if he had seen Tim Quirk at the show and he said, "No, but I just saw a picture of him!" I went over to the very crowded Mercury Lounge and just barely got in to get my shoegaze on with a few Longwave songs before calling it a night.
Day Five:
The last day of CMJ is always a little bittersweet. I ran into Jamie Del Moon (formerly of Women & Children) and tried to see the Priestess show at the Bowery Ballroom, but it was sold out and they weren't even letting CMJ badges in, so I went over to the Mercury Lounge to catch the Tyde open for French Kicks, who played a well received set of songs built on a foundation of melodic post punk angularity, stylishly contrasted with the warm and vintage tones of '60s mod pop gear.
I stumbled back to the Chelsea with a smile on my face, ready to pack my bags, pass out and check out.
This year's CMJ was truly the best I've attended yet. There was so much to do that I didn't get to revisit a lot of my favorite NYC things like the Autumn Bowl or the Corner Bistro burger.
But damn, I got a lot of mileage out of my badge this year. I was able to see more entertaining bands than mediocre/appalling ones (which I have decided not to mention here), all while drinking my weight in Stella Artois. And I also got to wear a Halloween costume for the first time in a long time (Ok, two years ago I dressed up like the Blizzard Of Oz), make some new friends, barf on my shoes, interview some inspiring artists and hook up some more Rhapsody interviews for the not-too-distant future.
But as much as I love New York, it's good to be back home in the Mission district of San Francisco.
1.) Happy 40th birthday, Pet Sounds ! You're much more than the Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band of the west coast.
2.) In the late '80s my friends and I got into the 
Madchester sound. The Happy Mondays were one of my favorite bands from this genre with their pill gobbling, baggy sound. I recently got hold of John Kongos' original version of "He's Gonna Step On You Again" and I gotta say that it blows doors on Sean Ryder and Co.
3.) My girlfriend turned me on to this self-titled Bang debut from 1972 and it's been blowing my mind like the first time I ever rode a motorcycle witout a helmet. It has a lot of phaser on the guitars and the songs are really heavy rock songs with double guitar leads but what really makes this album for me is the singer's voice. It sounds like someone is breaking his heart on every single song.
4.) Frankfurter Sandwiches! Frankfurter Sandwiches! Yes people were even perverted in the 1920s.
5.) Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory is a great album featuring Chris Gunst who also songs for Beachwood Sparks. He still has that kid-with-hayfever sound to his voice, but his songwriting has really come a long way. I still can't wait for the Sparks to reunite. Lately, I've been in touch with my old buddy Brent Rademaker, or B-Rad as his friends call him, and it sure would be rad to hook up and pull out the vintage shred sleds for a catch-up session. Whaddaya say, B-Rad? It'll be just like new times! New times, old decks...
1.) Comets On Fire's Avatar album is easily the best thing they've ever done. It's much, much more than just hardcore blues punk with a wanky ring-modulating contraption. The first time I heard it I thought, "Finally! Someone's ripping off Bo Hansson!" Who's Bo Hansson? Just the most stony Swedish prog dude ever, that's who. Seriously, check just how stony the guy is. But they're not just ripping him off, they're also doing some stuff that reminds me of Goblin and the Allmans and fusing it with their hardcore blues punk with a wanky ring-modulating contraption.
2. Bo Hansson! Yeah, listening to Comets just made me wanna dig up this amazing instrumental adventure rock album that Hansson released in 1970 as a reading counterpart to JRR Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings. Only when I listen to it, I don't wanna read that book at all. I wanna get bubbling with my Frank Frazetta book.
3.) I've been falling asleep to Vetiver's To Find Me Gone every night. I suffer from an increasingly bad case of Tinnitus, which is a constant ringing in the ears (yes, I wear earplugs every single time I play with my band or go to a show). My health care doesn't cover hearing impairment specialists (which is kinda weird when you consider that my job has required me to wear headphones every day for seven years, but whatever), so when I go to sleep I have to get something going that's soft enough to keep my mind off the ringing. This album is hushed and full of dreamy instrumentation like cellos and vibes and brushes on drums and Andy Cabic's wispy voice is just the thing to lull me to sleep.
4.) Mark Lanegan sure has come a long way from the days when he performed in baggy shorts in a Seattle grunge band with a couple of big fat guys. When you listen to I'll Take Care Of You, you kind of realize that the album's moniker must be somewhat sarcastic. There's no way that dude could take care of you or me! If his lyrics are autobiographical, he's way too messed up to take care of anything, including a baby panda who likes to stuff its stupid panda face with tasty desert cakes.
5.) Matthews Southern Comfort's self titled album has been making me a happy hessian. I wore out Later That Same Year, the album that boasts the difinitive version of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock." That album is truly worth wearing out, it's so good...but this one sounds more like his old band Fairport Convention caught up in a twangy timewarp. A lot of my fellow music geek friends always ask me why I champion fey British dudes singing country music over actual Americans. It's hard to explain why, but if you turn your volume up and take a few minutes to watch this amazing performance, I think you'll understand.
1.) BLUE CHEER! I am so stoked I get to see the Blue Cheer reunion tonight. They're one of my favorite bands ever. Hell, I even named my band after a Mose Allison song that they covered (which really pays off when those smug dorks who fancy themselves music historians get their tighty whiteys knotted over our moniker, because let's face it--pissing off music snobs is funny). The Cheer were great at covering the classics, but their own songs were even better. The only bummer is that original guitar player Leigh Stephens isn't with them. But if you've heard the more recent crapola he's been churning out, maybe that's not such a bad thing. Hey, nothing against Leigh. If you can find his 1969 solo debut album, you can just pretend that the aforementioned album doesn't exist. It looks like this.
2.) Mike Therieau finally released his solo album and it's amazing. I'm kinda biased because I used to play in a band with the guy for seven years, but listen for yourself. There's not anyone making this kind of music any more. Seriously, Therieau plays the kind of Memphis steeped country soul rock not heard since Eddie Hinton, but he also has a Ronnie Lane thing going on. Not to mention he's got Paula Frazer from Tarnation singing harmonies on a couple songs as well as Greg Moore from the illustrious Moore Brothers singing backup. And I hate the Counting Crows, but I like their guitar/mandolin player Dave Immergluck, and he unleashes some six string fury on here too. Sorry, Crows fans...I've just always thought that Adam Duritz is a microphone clown.
3.) Jesse DeNatale's first album was championed by Tom Waits, but I like his second one better. He's got this raspy, weathered voice that sounds like he's really lived. And his lyrics just ring so true with people who haven't always had it so easy.
4.) I will be overloading on Love vinyl this weekend because Arthur Lee passed away yesterday. If you've never listened to Forever Changes, you need to sell all your They Might Be Giants CDs and get with it. Rock In Peace, Arthur. You taught me that if my upstairs neighbors are being too loud, I should just shoot 'em....with Love!
5.) Only four more days until the new Slayer album comes out! Dave Lombardo is back on drums for the first time in 16 years! The album is called Christ Illusion and if you can't wait four more days, you can preview the whole thing right here.
Aloha, jerks! Summer's here and the time is right for dancing in the sea! Hey, here's five neptunian things I've been digging lately.
1.) The Five Summer Stories soundtrack. I didn't even know we had this! Five Summer Stories is one of the best '70s surf films ever and it has a killer '70s instrumental soundtrack (good surf movies always have a memorable accompanying soundtrack).
Of course Morning Of The Earth is hands down the best surfing film/soundtrack ever, but you'll have to check that out for yourself as I refuse to attempt to describe its awesome importance with mere words.
2.) Soundtrack For The Surf Move Sprout is incredible for many reasons. First of all it has songs by Hope Sandoval And The Warm Inventions and Mojave 3 that you can't find anywhere else on Rhapsody. Also, the compilation was sequenced by surf artist Thomas Campbell who also directed and produced the actual film (and the film is amazing--lots of tube shooting on old fish shaped boards and long pintail guns). Campbell also did the cover art for the new Mojave 3 album Puzzles Like You.
3.) Killer Surf: Best Of The Challengers This is just classic pachuco soul right here. Maybe it's the native Californian in me, but listening to this compilation reminds me of living in Torrance in the '70s as a little kid and having picnics with the family out at Redondo Beach pier.
4.) Skaterhater by the Phantom Surfers is a pretty awesome album and I don't even really like modern surf music. But these guys hoard all kinds of vintage gear like old Silvertone guitars.
The title of course is a spoof of one of the very first skateboarding movie ever made, 1965's Skater Dater (featuring members of the Hobie Skateboard Team).
5.) This video rules my world. Hell, more bands should make surf related videos.
I'd write more, but I can't just sit here blogging all day. Loads of work to be done. Have a rad weekend.
Gotta bail now!
Damn, I wanna go to CMJ so bad this year! I've been waiting for a while to get the green light from my bosses so that I can buy my registration. I can already think of five things off the top of my head that I wanna check out.
1. Emmylou Harris! No, she's not confirmed yet, but I got word from a good buddy of mine who lives in Brooklyn that she may be doing an acoustic set at the Rodeo Bar with everybody's favorite tripple-A temper-tantrum, Ryan Adams. Not only is Emmylou the owner of my favorite voice, but I recently found out that in her youth, she could really shake it.
2. Leslie Feist is the empress of modern day soft rock. One time I saw her open for Kings Of Convenience and she just melted the audience -- especially Bart Davenport who now plays with Persephone's Bees -- I think he fell in love with her that night. Either that or he stepped on a rusty nail before attending the show and contracted a mean case of tetanus that wouldn't let him keep his jaw off the floor. I'd love to be able to see her play Manhattan after filling my belly with a Katz's pastrami sandwich and a pint of ale.
3. Arcade Fire are gonna play a show with David Bowie. Together. At the same time. 'Nuff said.
4. Sonic Youth are playing and I got word that Thurston Moore may join teenage rockers Be Your Own Pet own stage, which would be godhead. I saw the latter play an amazing show at CMJ 2005 and by the time they were done there were tons of greasy A&R guys sweating them.
5. Admittedly my fifth reason for wanting to attend this year's CJM has very little to do with music. I'm sure you understand...
1. Danava are my new favorite band. These Portland rulers just got signed to Kemado Records. So stoked we're playing with them tonight. Their glammy space rock kind of reminds me of Hawkwind's Space Ritual crossed with the infamously cosmic Zolar X.
2. Hearing Serena Maneesh for the first time made me more happy than when I found out that the Warlocks broke up (no shoegazer band needs seven members). Seriously, if you're going to party like it's 1992, do your homework first. Serena Maneesh sound as if the scene that celebrated itself never stopped celebrating.
3. The new Gram Parsons compilation was sequenced and remixed really well (and there's some rad stuff to geek out on like interviews, alternate versions and outtakes), but we're actually the only folks who have the correct track listing (we had to go into the system and fix it) because the good folks at Rhino Records fully blew it and released a finished product riddled with incorrect information. Way to pay respect to the Grievous Angel, dudes...did you have to hire one of Kim Fowley's new girlfriends to intern over there or what?
4. I found this awesome You Tube clip of the late, great Tim Buckley appearing on an episode of The Monkees. So weird...the episode is about the alien plant that comes to earth in a space ship and spews all this magic smoke that makes people happy (pretty obvious metaphor), but the cops want to kill the happy smoking plant alien and the Monkees have to help it get back home. Then suddenly for no reason at all, the late father of the late Jeff Buckley shows up, sits on an old jalopy and starts singing "Song To The Siren," which was his most heart wrenching song ever. Kinda crazy when you think about how Liz Frazer covered that song before having an affair with Jeff Buckley...
5. Rediscovering Bubble Puppy has made my week.
My old roommate from college came into town recently. He hasn't changed a bit. Back then (early '90s) he was in one of those fraternities. He kept trying to get me to join and finally I had to tell him that it would never happen because I just couldn't listen to all that U2 and Ziggy Marley. Then he called me a music snob. So over the weekend one of the first things he asked me was, "So are you still getting paid to be a music snob? Even I could do that, bro!" And this made me think to myself, "What would it be like if Real Rhapsody had hired him instead of me?" Well one thing is for certain. My blogging would look more like this:
Hey bros! 'Sup? Just blasting some killer tunes I thought I'd share with you. Here's what's been making the rounds at The Sausage House this week. Booya!
That Dude From Men At Work fully rules! I just love Men At Work. Cargo was an amazing album, but it paled under the shadow of the epic that was Business As Usual. Exquisite songwriting, and that song about "Dr. Heckle and Mr. Jive" changed my life! It's as if they were speaking to me--like these men--these men at WORK knew me my whole life.
Huey Lewis & The News is also pretty awesome. Before I hit the Slam Dunk Sports Bar on Friday nights with all my bros, I like to get pumped up and ready to step out in the night with this timeless album. It's so fine. Finer than cracking the seal on a new bottle of Drakkar fragerence for men. I like to crank Walking On A Thin Line as I'm mousing my hair and looking for some pleated slacks to wear. By the time If This Is It comes on, I'm already rolling up the sleeves of my blazer and selecting a chain to wear around my neck. And then when I Want A New Drug comes flying out of the speakers, I'm strapping on a braided belt and combing my hair, ready to greet the crisp air of the evening and hook up with some sluts!
Kenny Loggins is the man, bro. When I first heard Loggins rock that "Danger Zone" song from the Top Gun soundtrack, my bro Jeremy had to stop me from enrolling at the Naval recruiting office. This song fully rocks! So did Loggins! Dude! He was one of the first guys to sport the flat-top and beard combo. And yeah, his contributions to the first Caddyshack film were awesome. But check this out! Nobody's Fool from Caddyshack II is even better! Which makes perfect sense, since the sequel was way better too.
Sting's The Dream Of The Blue Turtles Whoa! What a totally random title for an adult contemporary album! So random! This is such a heartfelt record. Way better than his old band. And that Love Is The Seventh Wave song gets all reggae stylie! Dude, nothing like gettin' irie and dancing with drunk chicks at The Sausage House's annual Reggae Not Rape fundraiser for uh...awareness or something. That first song on there called If You Love Somebody Set Them Free is pretty tight too and it makes perfect sense because after I hook up with one of our frat sisters, I'm usually all, "Get the hell out of my room, Jen!" (For some reason, most girls at my college are named Jen so this works like almost every time).
U2's Rattle And Hum fully rocks! When I put this on, it takes me right back to the dorm room that I first got drunk in. We were sipping Purple Passions and Jeremy's sister popped this bluesy baby in and bro, it's a classic. Especially when Bono sings When Love Comes To Town and the Edge is swappin' hot licks with that old blues dude. Totally hot! I swear, U2 can do anything! They're so talented and smart (and believe it or not, that Bono guy could really teach us a thing or two about foreign policy). But this is the album where they returned to their roots, bro! OK, they're from Ireland, not Harlem, so maybe they're returning to somebody else's roots...but I can just totally dance to this one with my bros like we were Calvin and Hobbs, man.
Ska Funk Rasta Punk, bro!!!
I have to move! Underground hip-hop dudes are threatening my cat!
OK, that's not the real reason why I'm relocating back to my old neighborhood in the Mission district of San Francisco. The truth is that I just really miss living there and it's closer to work. Also, the bars are better (hello my old friend, Tecate on tap), the parties never stop (except when the cops show up), there are more venues to see live music and the plentiful Mexican food simply can not be beat. But another thing that I miss about rocking the Mission position is the sense of community I feel amongst the artists and musicians. At the risk of coming off like I'm writing about some kind of scene, here are some of my favorite Mission musicians.
Kelley Stoltz is very popular out here. His music is like a seance where he channels all the ghosts of his record collection. I swear that when he sings, you can hear old musty vinyl crackling under his lyrics.
Paula Frazer from the band Tarnation (who were an early alt country band on 4AD) has a beautiful voice. Her solo stuff sounds just as otherworldly as Tarnation, but more cinematic and dreamy.
Michael Talbott and the Wolfkings recently put out an amazing first album. My favorite song on there is called "Goodnight." Michael has played in a slew of Bay Area bands, but his debut album blends bits of bygone canyon rock that reminds me of "Papa" John Phillips with a hushed Nick Drake influence on the vocals.
I'm also really getting into this new album by the Court & Spark. I have to admit that when I heard they had left behind their alt country sound for a more atmospheric indie thing, my gut reaction was, "How predictable...." But damn, was I wrong. They've really hit their stride here. Check out the second song. Not only does it have the best title of anything ever, but it renews my faith in life-after-twang. The Court & Spark are also the backing band the aforementioned Frazer and Talbott.
Comets On Fire are probably my favorite Mission band. They're harder than nails but more innovative than any other act out here. Words can not honestly describe the heaviness of their sound, so I'll shut up now and let you listen for yourself.
Sorry to blog twice in one day, but Tim's blog inspired me yet again (for the record I was not calling him a girl in my previous post). But that's one of the rad things about working here--when my coworkers and bosses aren't turning me on to awesome music, they're reminding me of stuff I grew up with. Like when Tim referenced Terry Jacks it totally reminded me of sitting in the back of my mom's station wagon, listening to "Seasons in the Sun" while she drove me to baseball practice (it also reminded me when Nick told me that Jacks used to be a member of the Poppy Family, but I digress).
Maybe you've heard of Yacht Rock and perhaps you've even heard some Dad Rock. But have you ever heard any Mom Rock?
Besides "Seasons in the Sun," the black vinyl speakers of my mom's avocado green Pinto wagon yielded these sweet fruits of womanly music during the summers of my 1970s, California upbringing:
The above album was also a favorite of the babysitter I had a huge crush on (maybe my next post will touch on Babysitter Rock).
^That album changed my life. Today it continues to inspire me as much as it pisses off my friends.
The pinnacle of all mom rock! My mom actually wore the grooves out of her Tapestry record. My father of course, could hardly get into Mom Rock. He was more into 'Nam Rock.
Tim's last blog got me all nostalgic for the punk rock. Growing up skateboarding in northern California, I was exposed to a lot of skate punk. But being too young to skate Winchester Skate Park, I didn't get my first taste of vertical skateboarding until 1984 when I moved to Tahoe City in seventh grade. One day when pedaling my Mongoose BMX dirt bike through the woods to get some beef jerky at 7-11, I stumbled upon Mile High Ramp (those of you with skateboard pasts may remember Mile High Ramp from when Lance Mountain lit his board on fire and took home a first place trophy in 1985).
I couldn't believe it. This thing was practically in my backyard. I tried to roll my Mongoose up on the platform, but some high schooler with a mohawk yelled at me, "Hey dude! No BMX-icans." I understood the part about no BMX bikes on the ramp, but how did he know I was Mexican? So I sat down and watched some older kids skate and then I pedaled my Mongoose back home and pestered my parents into buying me a skateboard every day for a week. My dad finally caved and said, "Hey, anything to get him from hucking ninja stars at the cedar tree all day." I showed him this ad that I had ripped out from a page in Thrasher Magazine.
It worked! The next weekend mom and dad subsidized my first set-up: Powell Peralta's new Tony Hawk model complete with Independent trucks and Bones Mini Cubic wheels!
I went back to Mile High Ramp the next day to get my first taste of vert skating but there was a heated session going on with some local rippers. I was too intimidated by the big kids, so once again I sat down and watched. The skating was incredible, but what really blew my mind was the music they had blasting out of the boom box! I believe this was the very first time I heard this album in its entirety
I couldn't believe that music could sound this cool! I mean in 1984 I was still listening to all the KISS solo albums.
Then somebody put on this album
and the place went crazy! The skating heated up with guys singing along to the album and then this one guy with green hair sat next to me asked me if I wanted one of his beers. I was in seventh grade so the only thing I could think to say was, "Hell yeah!" We got to talking and he was a freshman named Cero at North Tahoe High. He asked me if I liked punk rock and I said, "You mean like the Sex Pistols?" He spit out a mouthful of beer and yelled, "No way! They're like the Duran Duran of punk, dude! I'm talking about real punk rock like Black Flag!"
"Wow, I've never heard of them," I admitted. "The only punk rock I know about is the Pistols and the Clash."
"The Clash?!?" He stood up with his fists clenched and I thought that he just might beat me up now. "That kinda music's for girls, dude!" To this remark, one of his friends said, "Actually I went to see the clash in L.A. with my brother last month and there weren't any girls in the audience. It was like all dudes! I thought I was at a Frankie Goes To Hollywood show!"
Cero laughed and sat back down. And thus my schooling began. I made a mental list of bands in my head and the next time I went to Clementine's Records in King's Beach, I made sure to buy some records by these guys
The first time I heard "Skate And Destroy" I knew it was the anthem of my people. The record store clerk told me that if I was into the Faction that I should check out these guys because like the Faction, they were another skate punk band from San Jose.
Of course he also suggested that I pick up this
and this
and this
and the shop clerk also said that I had to get a seven-inch 45 by these guys
(the A-side blew my mind).
I was only 12 years old then. Today I still enjoy skateboarding at the ripe old age of 35 (especially now that there are tons of new concrete parks popping up all over the world). Hell, I might even have to call in sick on June 21st.
And I believe that my favorite album to skate to is still this.
Hi. I was just listening to the first album by my friend Dave Gleason and his band the Wasted Days.
He plays Cosmic American Music. My old band Mover used to play with him all the time. Gleason prefers to pick a rare Fender B-Bender Telecaster. It's an electric guitar that has a caliper system routed in the back of the body so that the player can bend the B-string by simply pushing the guitar down.
The guitar's shoulder strap is hooked onto this caliper and when that B-string bends, you can approximate the lazy, weeping slide guitar sound of a pedal steel. The Byrds used the B-Bender quite a bit on their later recordings.
Gleason's self-titled debut features a bit of a secret treat for Gram Parsons fans. He happens to know a somewhat obsessive Parsons archivist who has in his possession one of the only known recordings of a lost song entitled "Funky String Quartet." He allowed Gleason to listen to the song with nothing but a guitar and notebook so that he could cover the lost gem on his debut album. It came out sounding great. I know that I'm biased and everything, but listen for yourself.
One time like five years ago Gleason told me his rhythm guitar player had to bow out of a gig and that he needed someone to fill in with his band for three sets. I excitedly volunteered to offer up my rhythm guitar playing (and singing) duties, knowing that we'd be doing a lot rocking of covers of Bakersfield honky-tonk standards, like that Everly Brothers version of Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" or the Flying Burrito Brothers' version of Red Simpson's "Close Up The Honky Tonks."
I didn't find out until the next day that the gig was at the Hells Angels San Francisco club house. I was kind of nervous and I was also kind of excited. I grew up watching all kinds of biker movies like Wild Angels
