Tampa Calling

This will be a big, long booze-filled holiday weekend for many — including your teenage sons and daughters who recently left home to go attend classes and party their asses off at places like USF, FSU and UF. Good for them, I say. The absurdity of these young adults not being allowed to legally imbibe is finally on the table again. University and college presidents have signed a proposal that basically states that it’s utter horseshit for the drinking age to be 21. I opined on the subject in my latest Bar Tab. Here’s a snippett:

In my experience, students are going to drink whether or not they’re of legal age. These people are old enough to vote, purchase a home and die for their country in combat. They shouldn’t be treated like criminals because they want to enjoy a few libations after passing an exam that required a couple all-night study sessions. Hell, they shouldn’t be criminalized if they want to get knee-walking drunk every Saturday night. Opponents slam this argument for the same wrongheaded reasons that propelled the Dry Movement a century ago.

Click here to read my latest Bar Tab column, “Fight for your right,” in its entirety. 

Bookmark to:

Win Win Winter’s EP A Brief History Of… sounds better every time I give it a listen, which has been quite often lately. It’s a brilliantly diverse disc that ranges from cocksure dance rock (”Baker Ave”) to acoustic, steel guitar-kissed melancholy (”Doves and Uppercuts”). Splitting the difference is the mid-tempo, highly emotive mood rocker “New Accents.”

On Wednesday, news arrived that Win Win Winter has finished its debut full-length. The band titled it Viole. The disc “should be out in time for the holiday season on 24 Hour Service Station,” reads the press release.

Be sure to catch Win Win Winter perform Sept. 5 at the State Theatre. Frontman Tommy Simms will be joining forces with his sister Juliet Simms, lead singer of the just-back-from-Warped-Tour emo band Automatic Loveletter, which has an EP out on Sony/Epic. Here’s the info:

(more…)

Bookmark to:

It’s Thursday afternoon. Time to make plans for the holiday weekend, which for many should start in a few hours. Clearwater garage rock foursome  Très Bien kicks things off with a gig at Crowbar and Rod Stewart plays the Ford Amphitheatre tonight, as well. The latter hasn’t cut a solid record since the mid-1970s but the show has my parents excited nonetheless. Here’s to hoping the once formidable rocker turns in a performance that will transport Mom and Dad back to the good old days, before they had four children and all the other perils of middle age to worry about on a daily basis.

Kenny Chesney (more yawning) performs at the Ford on Friday and then on Saturday My Morning Jacket — one of the hottest bands on the planet — plays a road-trip worthy gig in Orlando that will be attended by my esteemed coworker Leilani. Flaming Lips-channeling Gainesville act Morningbell will be at New World Brewery on Sunday. Read about all these upcoming shows and more in Music Week.

Speaking of New World, highly recommended Tallahassee indie pop band Soft Targets headline a three-band show at the rustic Ybor City venue on Friday. Read my advance piece here.

Lastly, gangsta rap fans will not want to miss gravelly-voiced MC and Umbrella Corporation member Jer-Z perform Sun. Aug. 31 at the Orpheum.

Bookmark to:

Jerry Wexler, the music titan who produced Aretha Franklin’s finest recordings and signed Led Zeppelin, died August 15 at his home on Siesta Key in Sarasota. I didn’t see the news online until returning from a late night of revelry. Nonetheless, I felt compelled to write, immediately, and posted this entry here Aug. 16. The piece has since been rejiggered a bit, tweaked and augmented with quotes from the interview I did with Wexler in 2003. Here’s a snippet:

Bob Dylan’s controversial gospel album, 1979’s Slow Train Coming, has always moved me deeply. Despite explicit born-again-Christian rhetoric that I don’t subscribe to, there’s a me-against-the-world passion in the singer’s voice that transcends dogma. Not only did Wexler produce it, but he also witnessed Dylan’s proselytizing firsthand. “I said, ‘Bob, forget about me, you’re talking to a confirmed, 62-year-old, card-carrying Jewish atheist,’” Wexler said. “[Dylan and I] only had good times.”

Click here to read “Remembering soul man Jerry Wexler” in its entirety.

Bookmark to:

Last week, in an admittedly lame (but somewhat funny) post about how Billy Corgan’s lost his mind, a commenter had this to say:

Fan of Fan says:
August 22nd, 2008 at 12:16 pm:

Do you think people think you’re hip because you have such great taste? Consistently putting others down to make yourself feel better is a vicious cycle.

Why not try blogging about something you feel passionately about? Why not try turning others on to these amazing tastes that you have rather than pointing out the flaws you think you see in others?

Ok, I’ll bite. (more…)

Bookmark to:

That’s right, the shock jock will release The Imus Ranch Record through the venerable New West Records on Sept. 16. Confusion struck the moment I opened the package.  At first glance, as in when I spotted the name “Imus” on the jewel case, I foresaw a field day slamming it. But then I read the artist/song-list … and then listened … and now I’m in a pickle.

Granted, the album features several misses, but more hits than is typical for this kind of ad hoc compilation. To complicate matters more, Imus the Blowhard also played a creative role in this rather inspired collection. “The compilation was produced by Imus along with Kyle Lehning (Randy Travis, George Jones) and Tracy Gershon (well known A & R executive),” reads the press release. “Imus selected each song and matched it to a specific artist.”

Imus always annoyed me the few times I viewed his televised broadcast. Then, there was that little Rutgers incident last year followed by, in my opinion the even more damning — as in, yeah, he might be a racist, not just an old-timer idiot — comment he made in June regarding the suspension of Dallas Cowboys’ corner Adam Jones:

(more…)

Bookmark to:

Neil is touring Germany right now ahead of a US tour that will feature openers Wilco and Death Cab, and here is a pretty good audience vid of the third new song he has debuted on the tour, “When Worlds Collide:”

(h/t to Thrasher’s Wheat)

Bookmark to:

I’m so tired of Madonna. Is there anything pop’s greatest sexpot  won’t do for a little cheap publicity? Her latest stunt finds her comparing John McCain to Adolf Hitler. Really, is that the best you can do, Madonna, to drum up interest for your “Sticky and Sweet” tour?

From the L.A. Times:

Madonna lumped the presumptive Republican presidential nominee into a video montage that includes Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe…

McCain’s image is in a video (for the aptly named song “Get Stupid”) that shows him, Hitler and Mugabe juxtaposed with shots of global warming and environmental and social destruction. When the song ends, more peaceful images of John Lennon, Al Gore, Mahatma Gandhi and Barack Obama are shown.

Makes me long for the good old days when Madonna got photographed being balled by Vanilla Ice or made out with pop tarts half her age in order to keep her name in the headlines. At 50, she could actually make a statement by showing off her naughty bits. Here’s to hoping her next stunt involves Playboy, or some straight-to-video soft core. Anything but politics, or “causes.” Stick to what ya know, Madonna.

Bookmark to:

My Sarasota-based coworker Amanda Schurr and her friend Eddie stopped by my place last night after visiting the Ford Amphitheatre to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which Amanda wrote about here. They had no interest in watching headliner Stone Temple Pilots and split as soon as BRMC’s set ended.

We were sitting on my back patio, catching up (Amanda and Eddie were friends of mine when I called  Sarasota home in 2002-2003), and  draining the Tecates they brought over. About an hour into their stay, my downstairs neighbor came home looking thoroughly pissed. “I just got back from the Stone Temple Pilots show,” she said. “They fucking canceled.”

Needless to say, Amanda and Eddie were glad they fled the Ford Amp early.

STP’s PR people are blaming the no-show on the weather. But we all know that’s bullshit. Here’s to hoping lead singer and former heroin addict Scott Weiland, pictured above looking aloof with cig dangling from his mouth, isn’t on a dangerous bender. I don’t feel like being snarky about this one. The guy has bipolar disorder and his brother died of an overdose. I’m not a huge fan of Weiland’s music but refuse to kick a man when he might be down. On the other hand, I understand the outrage expressed by “disapointed 10+ year fan,” who wrote:

shocking he was a no show. amp cut off alcohol sales at 9pm and vast majority of HCSO was waiting along the gates since venue didnt have the balls to make a formal announcement (at least not by the time I left 10:30pm) .. opening act sucked and the 3 tour buses that were backstage when I arrived were gone. I understand having officers nearby but the situation couldve been handled in a more timely fashion.

UPDATE: Here’s the official word from from Ford Amp regarding refunds:

The Stone Temple Pilots performance originally scheduled for Friday 8/22/08 at the Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa has been postponed. Those holding tickets for this performance will have them honored if a new date is announced.  Those requesting refunds can receive them through their point of purchase.  For any questions, contact Customer Support at 1-800-431-3462 Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm EDT, or by email at ticketsupport@livenation.com.

UPDATE 8/24: Here’s Amanda’s review of BRMC’s set.

Bookmark to:

The Hold Steady, to my ears, are basically a straightforward, neoclassic rock band that’s managed to endear itself to the fickle indie set. Will there be any fallout from Hold Steady guitarist Tab Kubler dissing indie gods Radiohead and then praising Oasis, the bane of stateside hipsters? Or is it just silly blog fodder?

“I like [Radiohead] as a rock band, all the buttons and sequencing and stuff like that I don’t really care for,” reads the Kubler quote in NME.com. “I’m a fan of rock music and what they’re doing now I don’t think is very good.”

Bookmark to:

I spent last week hanging with my fam, particularly my lil’ sis Elizabeth, who is pictured with me and “Fins” co-songwriter/novelist Tom Corcoran at The Dubliner, Thurs., Aug. 14. We arrived at the SoHo pub following Hunter S. Thomspon biographer William McKeen’s book signing (Corcoran and Thompson were buddies; co-wrote an unsold screenplay together). The evening made it into my current Bar Tab, as did our Wednesday activities, which included watching Damon Fowler perform at Green Iguana Ybor City. Here’s a snippet of “Sibling pride”:

It takes much booze to get me dancing — especially when no one else in the whole damn room is dancing, which was the case — but by that point I’d been consuming alcohol for about 12 hours. All concerns and anxieties about appearing foolish had been sufficiently drowned. My sister laughed as I failed to properly execute a twirl. Damon grinned from the stage. Good times.

Here’s my current Bar Tab, “Sibling pride,” in its entirety.

Bookmark to:

When the news hit that Jack White and Alicia Keys (pictured) were teaming for the new James Bond theme song, “Another Way to Die,” which I blogged about here, everyone at CL headquarters decided it will either be absolute brilliance or an utter turd. Perhaps sensing trepidation from his fan base, White has offered a statement regarding the super pairing:

 “After a couple of years of wanting to collaborate with Alicia Keys, it took James Bond himself to finally make it happen.  Alicia put some electric energy into her breath that cemented itself into the magnetic tape. Very inspiring to watch. It gave me a new voice, and I wasn’t myself anymore.  I drummed for her voice and she mimicked the guitar tones, then we joined our voices and screamed and moaned about these characters in the film and their isolation, having no one to trust, not even themselves.  Maybe we became them for a few minutes.

The Memphis Horns were there to help us out, along with some of Nashville’s finest.   Might be the first analogue Bond theme in twenty years, I don’t know.  We wanted to push soul into those tapes, and join the family of Barry, Bassey, Connery and Craig.”

OK, I’m stoked. Here’s to hoping it lives up to the skyscraper-high expectations.

Bookmark to: