The latest press-generating tactic the Lips are enjoying is a collaboration with Wu Tang’s GZA. (That’s the foursome below with a badass looking GZA. Or maybe his bad-assness is mere confusion, like, “Who are these guys again and what real benefit am I getting from playing with them?)
For the last few months I’ve been thinking about ways I could utilize my twitter account to capture my immediate feelings about things before they have the ability to be filtered and clouded by time and/or sobriety. Then along came the Katy Perry show and I decided I wanted to go, not because I am a fan of her music (though I know her two hits), but because I thought it would be a fun show. More on that later. Somewhere along the timeline from finding out I had a press pass for the show to actually getting to the show, I decided it would be the perfect candidate for testing the “live blogging via twitter” idea out at the show. Here are those tweets:
I came about my musical addiction naturally. When I was a young-un my parents had an extensive vinyl collection. I can remember weekend trips from Plant City into Tampa to buy a new record and long nights with my parents and their friends sitting around listening to music. Once I finally reached and age where I could be trusted, my father let me sift through the albums and play DJ on some of those nights.
One of the albums they had was The Amazing Rhythm Aces album Too Stuffed To Jump, and as a kid I loved this album — at the time not so much for its content as its cover:
The series is tentatively titled “Spider and Son” and will focus on Kiedis’ relationship with his father who sold drugs and mingled with rock stars on the Sunset Strip, all while aspiring to get into show business.
This will probably be half “Entourage“, half “Kids“.
Here’s the info from WeHo.com:
HBO announced that Independent writer/director John Sayles will write a series treatment of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s singer Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography about his West Hollywood youth, “Scar Tissue.”
Posted by Nick Truden on Apr. 29, 2009, at 12:14 pm
Its official: Billy Corgan has lost his mind. What once was a name of stature and notoriety in the music world, and our playlists, has become nothing more than dirt and tarnish. Some of you may be familiar with the Smashing Pumpkins’ headmaster and his various eccentricities as of late. For those who are not, I’ll give a little recap… Read the rest of this entry »
I hate to perpetuate a rumor, but this is a juicy one worth mentioning: Tupac is Alive in New Orleans! No…. freakin’…. way!
BallerStatus.com reports:
We’ve always heard that the late rapper was hiding on some island somewhere, locked in a studio, recording all the music you’ve heard released following the years after this death.
But, that’s all not true. He’s alive, and has been hitting the town.
TMZ obtained a few photos of the Tupac, alive and well, drinking and have a good ole time at Hand Grenades in New Orleans.
Lawrence Bonk has begun a year long journey and music project called Another Day On Earth. This project requires Lawrence to write, record, and post one song each day for an entire year. He says, “Some may be good. Some may be bad. Whatever. I guess I’m trying to teach myself to let go and be happy with things as they are. Here are the rules I have come up with: They have to be written and recorded that day. However, once a week I am allowed to post something I had laying around to give myself a break. That’s it, pretty much. There are no rules regarding length or epic-ness of content. We’ll see how I’m feeling that day.” As if recording a song a day isn’t enough of a challenge, Lawrence’s recording set-up doesn’t make it any easier. His equipment includes an old laptop and a karaoke microphone that was made for a Nintendo Wii game. (Full interview after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
Radio behemoth Clear Channel is one of the latest victims in the music business downfall. The official news is as follows:
US radio giant Clear Channel Communications has announced a new round of layoffs, with 590 workers in its radio division to be cut. The new layoffs, which follow a round of 1,850 in January, will include employees in programming, engineering and customer service. The January layoffs were primarily in sales. Shows canceled due to the layoffs will be replaced by nationally syndicated shows. Clear Channel also said that it has suspended matching contributions to employees retirement accounts, but would resume making contributions if the company is successful in reaching 90% of its internal cost saving targets.
It sucks that people are losing their jobs, but is anyone really surprised? Radio has been a corporate game for so long, that it’s no longer relevant. So what now?
The Mars Volta’s fifth studio album, Octahedron, will be released June 23 by Warner Bros. in the U.S. and on June 22 via Mercury Records to the rest of the world.
“It’s more mellow. It’s a little more of what we consider our ‘acoustic’ side,” singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala told Australian radio station Triple J of the new record. “We know how people can be so linear in their way of thinking, so when they hear [the new album], they’re going to say, ‘This is not an acoustic album! There’s electricity throughout it!’ But it’s our version,” the singer said. “That’s what our band does — celebrate mutations. It’s our version of what we consider an acoustic album.”
Hailed by The New Yorker as “perhaps the most musically adventurous act currently signed to a major label,” The Mars Volta formed in 2001. The band’s recorded output includes their 2003 debut full-length, De-Loused In The Comatorium, as well as Frances The Mute (2005), Amputechture (2006) and the Grammy-winning The Bedlam In Goliath (2008).
Posted by David Warner on Apr. 28, 2009, at 6:30 pm
The new 3-DVD set Streisand The Concerts is being marketed as the perfect Mother’s Day gift, and it’s true that in the two live concerts captured here — “Live at Arrowhead Pond/July 1994,” from a multi-city tour that marked her first public concert appearances in 27 years, and “Live in Concert 2006,” recorded in Fort Lauderdale — there are more than a few moms (and a few gentlemen, too) swooning in the audience. But this package is of interest not just to fanatic Babs fans but to anyone interested in the art of singing.
Because what this set confirms is just how extraordinary a singer Barbra Streisand is. You knew that, of course, but over the years the sheer size of her public persona — the mannerisms, the speechifying, the self-aggrandizement — has tended to obscure the talent. Tracing the arc of her career from the groundbreaking ’60s TV specials (excerpted here on the third DVD), it’s clear that her musical intelligence was not only there from the beginning but has only improved over time. It’s also fascinating to see the development of Streisand the entertainer, from wacky ingénue to ultra-polished diva to the woman we see in 2006 — relaxed, open, wryly humorous. And all the way through there’s That Voice, with its tonal purity, bang-on pitch and astonishing power; even at 64 (her age at the 2006 concert) she can still hold a note like nobody else, soaring up to a big finish that leaves audiences awestruck.
Dead Confederate, which hails from Athens, Ga., is hard to describe … their stage set-up suggests metal while their stage presence more like grunge, but the music itself is decidedly clever. The Onion suggests that Dead Confederate is forging a new genre of music … check them out and decide for yourself! Read the rest of this entry »
Ian Svenonius (ex-Nation Of Ulysses, Make Up, Etc) is, was, and will always be one of my favorite “voices” of underground culture. His critique and commentary “RE: the transformative capacities of music / art / aesthetics” pretty much always inspires. Whether it be through song, prose and/or the series of interviews he’s done on teh Internets over the last couple of years, Soft Focus, Svenonius is always advancing a dialogue that’ll stimulate both thought and laughter … often simultaneously.
Anyway, I’m pretty jazzed about Season 3 of Soft Focus and the subjects — Mike Watt, Steve Albini, Jennifer Herrema, Ted Leo, Jello Biafra, Etc — he has lined up for it. Check out Part 1 (of 4) of his interview with Stephen Malkmus, after the jump … Read the rest of this entry »
This cover of Stand By Me was recorded by completely unknown artists in a street virtual studio all around the world. It all started with a base track—vocals and guitar—recorded on the streets of Santa Monica, California, by a street musician called Roger Ridley. The base track was then taken to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Grandpa Ellitott—a blind singer from the French Quarter—added vocals and harmonica while listening to Ridley’s base track on headphones. In the same city, Washboard Chaz’s added some metal percussion to it.
And from there, it just gets rock ‘n’ rolling bananas: The producers took the resulting mix all through Europe, Africa, and South America, adding new tracks with multiple instruments and vocals that were assembled in the final version you are seeing in this video. All done with a simple laptop and some microphones.
She is a singer/songwriter whose band is also named Geri X. They’re based in St. Petersburg. Why am I asking her nine questions? Well, primarily because I’ve had her CD playing in my car for a couple of months now and I think you should know more about her & it. This is a local group that doesn’t sound local, they sound beyond this place, and beyond all the places of their past. Their latest album is called “Anthems of a Mended Heart.”
I imagine that for Geri, this album is something of a destination. The exhalation of a breath held too long, the sigh of relief at the end of a storm. It seems like she has landed in a place both personally and musically where she has made some decisions and settled herself into a more peaceful bed.
I’m not saying it’s entirely angst-free, but those of you who search out singer/songwriter types to get your angst on will not be disappointed. I guess I could try to compare her to another artist that you’ve already heard of, but I won’t. First of all, I personally find that to be bad music manners. (Stop asking musicians who they sound like — stop today!)
In this post I will impart the 6 things to keep in mind when making a flyer for a show or event. It may seem simple and trivial, but a good flyer/poster will give people all the information they need to make up their mind to come to your show or not.
The purpose for the flyer/poster is to entice people who don’t know your band or the other bands playing to come check you out. You are asking them to take their leisure time and hard-earned money and spend a fraction of it with you. Also, the flyer needs to communicate to your fans and provide them an incentive to return to your concert. Here’s what 10 year of making flyers has taught me:
1) Highlight the date – The most important element is the time element. “When is the show?” is the most important question in your potential concert-goers mind. Also, the time the show starts is a nugget of information to never omit.
Despite leaning heavily on the signature instrument for the bratwurst-and-polka crowd, Bob Dylan’s new album, Together Through Life, manages to wring rhythm and soul from an overgrown squeezebox.
David Hidalgo of Los Lobos plays accordion on each of the album’s 10 tracks and much of the backing band’s beat reminds us of the best work by Hidalgo’s group. Hidalgo adds great Flaco Jiminez touches to Dylan’s new songs, and at times Together Through Life sounds as if we’ve wandered into a Ry Cooder album.
But it’s Bob Dylan, of course. That blown-speaker growl of his is unmistakable, and although this is an album of purported love songs — what else would the title Together Through Life suggest? — nothing is ever so simple or straightforward in Dylan’s world. And, for that matter, when was the last time he wrote a conventional love song?
Case in point: “My Wife’s Home Town.” A stock-in-trade tuneslinger from Tin Pan Alley might come up with a rhapsodic reverie about visiting the place where his beloved grew up. But not Dylan. The refrain on this tune is “Hell is my wife’s home town.” And then . . . and then . . . a couple of times during the song, Bob . . . cackles. In his 47-year recording career, has he ever cackled before?
Posted by Vinyl Fever on Apr. 28, 2009, at 10:02 am
Black Crowes – War Paint Live Clutch – Slow Hole To China (remastered rarities) Rivers Cuomo – Live at Fingerprints Omar Kent Dykes w/ Jimmy Vaughan – Big Town Playboy Bob Dylan – Together Through Life (regular and deluxe edition with bonus Theme Time Radio Hour CD and DVD!) Esquivel – Infinity in Sound, Volumes 1 & 2 Ben Folds Presents: University A Cappella (Best of Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five as performed by University a cappella groups. Selected and produced by Ben with his own a cappella versions of Effington and Boxing.) Heaven & Hell – The Devil You Know (members of Black Sabbath, you know?) Mike Jones – The Voice Kool Keith & H Bomb – StonedRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Apr. 28, 2009, at 12:00 am
When guitarist/singer/songwriter Jason Isbell put together his solo debut, Sirens of the Ditch, it was a prolonged process carried out over several years while he was a fulltime member of Drive-By Truckers, those purveyors of raucously rockin’, whiskey-drinkin’ alt-country music.
“I only had a day or two to record it at a time,” Isbell told me during a phone interview a few days before kicking off the second leg of his spring tour with his band The 400 Unit (pictured).
Squeezing solo studio time into an already jam-packed gigging schedule might’ve been easy for your standard hired hand, but Isbell made up a third of DBT’s triple axe attack and was a productive songwriter throughout his six-year tenure with the band. He’d always brought his own distinctive flavor to the Truckers’ sound and as he drew closer to finishing his record, it became clear he was headed down a different path than the rest of his bandmates, both musically and personally. The dissolution of his marriage to DBT bassist Shonna Tucker didn’t make things any easier, so three months before he released Sirens in 2007, Isbell made his amicable exit.
Sirens sounded a lot like a DBT record, and though it was well received by critics and fans alike, there was a lingering curiosity about the direction he’d take with his follow-up. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, recorded in Muscle Shoals and released on Lightning Rod Records in February, is a clear departure from the Truckers sound. It’s also more cohesive than his solo debut. Isbell’s pleasantly husky drawl is set against rootsy, Southern-fried rock ’n’ roll with countrified pop melodies and the soulful, gospel-tinged Muscle Shoals sound: tough, passionate, unflinching, melancholy, and sincere. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Eric Snider on Apr. 27, 2009, at 2:35 pm
Prince Lotusflow3r(NPG)
The good news is that Lotusflow3r is the best Prince album since 2004’s Musicology. It’s his most guitar- and rock-oriented in years — perhaps ever — and includes a few songs that deserve consideration for the upper echelon of the Prince canon.
The not-so-good news is that Lotusflow3r is inconsistent and acts as a general reminder that Prince’s genius appears to be a spasmodic proposition. Lotusflow3er, part of a three-CD set sold at retail through an exclusive agreement with Target, is further proof that we’re not likely to get anything like a masterpiece from the mercurial artist again.
Let’s quickly dispense with Lotusflow3r’s sidekicks: Prince’s MPLSound is a collection of mostly brainless dance-funk, only partially redeemed by a couple of seductive soul ballads. Elixer, a Prince-produced disc by the latest of his ingénues, Bria Valente, is destined for the dustbin of R&B divas.
It’s worth noting that the three-disc package costs just $12 at Target, so if Lotusflow3r is the only one worth spending time with, it’s not exactly a rip-off.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Apr. 27, 2009, at 2:27 pm
Much randomness has arrived in my inbox, made headlines, been ranted about, premiered, revealed … you get the idea. Here’s a breakdown of news stuff that caught my eye over the past seven days.
Tonight, the Decemberists (pictured) make their first appearance on The Colbert Report since the 2006 ShredDown between Funk and Colbert fill-in, Peter Frampton. Portland’s indie chamber rock ensemble is set to perform “The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid.”
Newcomer pop-soul singer/songwriter Priscilla Reneais the latest webcam-owning self-promoting musician who’s used YouTube to get noticed. She’s got a real nice voice, young and velvety sweet, so teen-attractive that she was scooped up by Power/Capitol without delay and released her debut EP, Hello My Apple, March 31. Here’s the adorable vid she put out in honor of her release. Whaddya think?
Posted by Eric Snider on Apr. 26, 2009, at 10:29 pm
Let’s start with the obvious: James Brown was among the two or three most incendiary performers of the rock ‘n’ roll era. He presaged the likes of Michael Jackson, Prince and all the other brothers with soulful voices and slick dance moves who came after them.
In the 1960s, Brown didn’t cross over to a white audience; the white audience crossed over to him. He achieved widespread commercial success without ever sanitizing, without ever suppressing the essential African-Americanness, of his music.
Yet as much as white folk listened to Brown on the radio, bought his records and watched him on TV, attending his concerts remained a shaky proposition, one that brought out the pervasive fear and distrust of the black inner city — because most of the time that’s where you had to go to see James Brown in concert.
Many a white JB fan walks the earth today having never seen the man on stage in his prime (me included). That ship has sailed, of course, but the loss can be mitigated a little with the release of a three-DVD set titled I Got the Feelin’: James Brown in the ’60s (Shout! Factory).
Actually, the set’s title underplays its value. These DVDs do more than show an extraordinary entertainer on stage, they capture a fascinating slice of American micro-history. Spring of 1968. James Brown’s status as a figure in the black empowerment movement is on the rise. He is not a believer in Dr. Martin Luther King’s policy of passive resistance; neither has he aligned himself with strident black militancy. But he respects and supports both.
Then King gets shot down in Memphis. Riots beset many American cities.
On the morning of November 5th, 2008, the day after the historic election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, I was performing in a highschool in Palatka, Florida. The students, approximately 1/3 of whom in this particular district were African American, were palpably stoked. Many of them wore bootleg Obama t-shirts featuring images not just of the President Elect, but of his whole beautiful family. I started out my program by asking, “Does anyone know who won yesterday’s presidential election?” The students erupted into a chant of “O-bam-a! O-bam-a!” that made the aging media center feel more like a football stadium.
One would think that spending a day surrounded by so much pride and exuberance would be the ultimate spiritual jumpstart; that I packed up my gear that afternoon and floated back to St. Petersburg on a cloud of contentment knowing that the platitudes I’ve spent my life singing are true, that ”the times they are a’changin.’” Unfortunately, that was not the case. That day, which was such an unblemished triumph of justice and hope over prejudice and fear to all those young people, to me was a painful reminder that a well funded and well organized segment of my state’s and country’s body politic does not think me or other gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people like me their equal. November 5, 2008 taught me that in America a black man can (finally) take the Presidential Oath of Office, but a gay man or woman can’t even exchange a marriage vow.
As I drove back home that afternoon, I scribbled a line on a Dunkin’ Doughnuts napkin: “I’m gonna love you, no matter what they say.” Months later, I found the napkin and decided to finish the song.
Posted by Eric Snider on Apr. 25, 2009, at 10:17 am
This just in:
New York Dolls Announce May US Tour Dates!
Play the State Theatre on Tues., June 9
Legendary NYC proto-punk glam rockers the NEW YORK DOLLS announce the first dates of the US tour starting in May. The band that kick-started the NYC rock scene with their self-titled debut back in 1973 reunited with producer Todd Rundgren for their May 5 release, Cause I Sez So, on the newly revived Atco imprint.
The album comes roaring out of the gate with a classic Dolls riff on the title track and ends 12 tracks later with “Exorcism of Despair,” an anarchic rocker that’s vintage Dolls. The quintessential NYC band performs a private show on Tuesday, May 5 at the John Varvatos store on Bowery, the site of landmark punk club CBGBs.
Austin-by-way-of-Orlando’s New Roman Times were on their best game this past Saturday, April 18, at New World Brewery as they celebrated the release of their full-length, On The Sleeve, on New Granada Records. Frequently compared with indie greats like The Pixies, Versus and Sonic Youth, NRT successfully fuses quality songwriting with dance-worthy guitar-driven rock ‘n’ roll.
One of my favorite rock bands of the last coupla years, these Georgia sons are playing a coupla one-off headlining gigs after a run of dates opening for the almighty Dinosaur Jr. (and a co-headlining European tour w/ A Place To Bury Strangers directly before that) … and we were lucky enough to land one!
I didn’t get to see Dead Confederate’s set in support of Manchester Orchestra in late ‘08 at Orpheum … but I do know they absolutely laid waste to a New World Brewery crowd the day after their Langerado set earlier last year.
The band’s sound: an intoxicating blend of alt-country, grunge, psych, etc; think My Morning Jacket meets Nirvana meets Pink Floyd. Sure, you’ll dig their authentically Southern (ie: slide geetars, trucker hats, unpretentious stage presence, etc.) vibe … but that’s probably not what you’ll focus on. Instead, you’ll just get lost in the ROCK.
Okay, last month we stumbled, both technically and performance wise, through the debut podcast. Come month two, we’re ready to drop the cream of Americana podcasts (from one of the best Americana blogs) on you, and our tech is prepped for the amount of awesome that you’re likely to find yourself listening to multiple times a week. I know I’m coming off like the Kanye West of the Americana blogging community, but I don’t give a fuck. I like fish sticks and I’m telling you, you’re gonna love it and you’re gonna listen to it numerous times. I feel that confident.
So, here is the tracklisting for what very well may be the only thing you listen to for the rest of this week:
Drive-by Truckers – Nine Bullets
Autopsy IV Commentary
Strawfoot – Cursed Neck
Pinebox Serenade – Woven Arms
Uncle Sinner – When Jesus Comes
Autopsy IV Commentary
Olin & The Moon – Call Me Up
American Aquarium – California
Eileen Jewell – Sea of Tears
Autopsy IV Commentary
Drag The River – Old Sad Songs [extended] (Lucero Cover)
Gillian Welch & Old Crow Medicine Show – The Weight (The Band Cover)
Scott H. Biram – Sinking Down (FD Session)
Jon & Chad (Drag The River) – Dancin’ In The Moonlight (Thin Lizzy Cover)
Autopsy IV Commentary
Grayson Capps – Going Back To The Country
Chris Knight – Enough Rope
Autopsy IV Commentary
Two Cow Garage – Should’ve California
IF YOU LISTEN TO THIS AND ENJOY IT PLEASE FORWARD IT TO SOMEONE ELSE!
Ume (pronounced ooo-may) is a My Bloody Valentine/Sonic Youth-influenced rockin’ three-piece from Austin, Texas that is one of the more exciting bands I have heard in a while. Critics from all over are drooling over the beautifully brutal songs delivered by easy-on-the-eyes frontwoman Lauren Larson. Check it out:
Posted by Leilani Polk on Apr. 23, 2009, at 1:32 pm
Friday, April 24 Bay Area Beat presents Adrianne w/Francilla Two stylistically contrasting artists take to the acoustically impeccable Pro Star Sound Stage. Adrianne (pictured), who claims Atlanta and Los Angeles as bases, is a singer/songwriter who favors cozy melodies and spacey arrangements often built around acoustic guitar. Francilla — Tampa by way of the Virgin Islands — has a more beat-oriented dance sound, although it seems unlikely that the show will turn into a rave. Fri., April 24, 8 p.m., Pro Star Sound Stage, St. Petersburg, $10. —ES
Those Legendary Shackshakers w/Nervous Turkey/Tailgunner Joe. For more on the Shackshakers and MP3’s, check out Autopsy IV’s post here.Fri., April 24, 8 p.m.,The Garage, St. Petersburg, $12.
Arturo SandovalA predominant figure on the Cuban jazz scene, Sandoval formed Irakere with Chucho Valdes and Paquito D’Rivera, and was mentored by Dizzy Gillespie in the U.S. His post-bop trumpet style is also spiced by flavors of his homeland, where he still resides. Sandoval is a gregarious performer who knows how to please a crowd. Fri., April 24, 2 and 8 p.m., Largo Cultural Center, Largo, $30 in advance/$35 dos. —ESRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Joel Weiss on Apr. 23, 2009, at 11:26 am
Ticketholders for the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour (May 9 at Ford Amp), cross your fingers that Jane’s makes it that far. They’ve been fighting again. Perry Farrell isn’t concerned though. “I’m not going to tell you it’s been all smooches and hugs. But it shouldn’t be because that would be a bore … As long as they can handle it, I can handle it.”
Morrissey(pictured right) gave Coachella concertgoers a moment to remember last weekend. Midway through the set, he said, “I can smell burning flesh, and I hope to God it’s human.” A few minutes later, Moz left the stage! He would return, explaining, “The smell of burning animals is making me sick. I just couldn’t bear it.” The rest of his set concluded without incident. Moz, you may remember, is an outspoken vegetarian. One of The Smiths‘ albums is titled Meat Is Murder, after all.
More stories about Depeche Mode, The Cure, Pixies, Breeders, Pearl Jam, and Smashing Pumpkins after the jump.
Posted by Eric Snider on Apr. 23, 2009, at 9:23 am
A little more than halfway through their set at the St. Pete Times Forum last night, Fleetwood Mac played “Say You Love Me.” A Christine McVie song. She is the only member of the re-assembled (yet again) Fleetwood Mac who opted out — she departed, apparently for good, in 1998 — and to these ears her presence was sorely missed.
Photo: Jamie Ostrand
Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham traded verses on “Say You Love Me,” and although it was nice they included the song, this version lacked the airiness of the original pop gem. Buckingham played the brief guitar solo note-for-note, which made the performance seem obligatory.
“Say You Love Me” was also a reminder of all the McVie songs Fleetwood Mac did not play last night. And seeing as Chrissie was always my favorite of the combative quintet, to me the concert was left lacking.
Fleetwood Mac — which also included drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie, two sidemen and three female backup singers — ran through a compendium of their mostly impressive songbook, touching on some obscure stuff (“I Know I’m Not Wrong”) but mostly sticking to such recognizable tunes and monster hits as “Dreams,” “The Chain,” “Monday Morning,” “Gypsy,” “Sara,” et al.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Apr. 23, 2009, at 7:17 am
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival observed its 10th birthday earlier this month. The 3-day weekend event, held in the Palm Springs desert each spring, is generally considered (along with Bonnaroo in suburban Nashville) the preeminent music festival in the country.
Bilinda Butcher of My Bloody Valentine (credit: Mitch Perry)
The festival’s domain has been indie and dance music, but in recent years heavyweights like Roger Waters, Prince, and this year, Paul McCartney, have provided heft to the lineup, as well as some controversy.
But the 66-year-old McCartney wasn’t even the oldest performer on the bill this year. That would be 74-year-old Leonard Cohen, who played right before McCartney on the festival’s opening night. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t give stoners an excuse to stay home, they’ll take you up on it just about every time. Exams approaching, play-off basketball, a sluggish economy and, well, it was Monday night on 4/20 after all. Those who ventured out to New World Brewery Monday night were treated to the awesomeness that is The Show Is The Rainbow.
TSITR’s compact set was comprised entirely from his new album Wet Fist, including “Made of Cardboard,” “Roar Means Run,” “Who He Say He Is” (with Kurt Cobain and Slash video), “Come Dry Your Flower” and “Whisper At Once.” Darren Keen is the one man, tour-de-force behind TSITR. He grew up on classic rock and Frank Zappa, moving onto punk rock and gangster rap as a teen. Now, he’s making an exhilarating mix of tripped-out, indie hip-hop. His shows — often just him with a guitar, computer and video projector — are a captivating, sweaty solo dance party. Shirtless, uncut and sporting long locks, Keen refuses to submit to the unspoken line between performer and fan. Running up and down the covered porch of New World, Keen spent most of his time directly in the faces of the sparse crowd, encouraging dancing, banter and on-your-knees guitar and/or air guitar solo’s that stretch your belly flat. (Photo by Phil Bardi.)
Fellow Nebraskans Beep Beep followed, with Keen (also a member of Beep Beep) taking up duties on bass and keys. Seeing Beep Beep was like watching my new favorite blog — lookatthisfuckinghipster — coming to life. They were good enough, but if they were as good as they were awkward, then their set could have been special.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Apr. 22, 2009, at 3:37 pm
We published that underground Nashville-based roots rockin’ multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Jeff Black was to play the Studio@620 Thursday, April 23; he’s actually playing the show on Sunday, April 26. Black, who’s recorded with Iris Dement and Jeff Tweedy, and counts among his fans Sam Bush (who played on Black’s ’05 album) and Waylon Jennings (who covered Black’s “Carnival Song”), produces music that has a wholesome, genuine quality not unlike early Springsteen or Bob Seger. A great Sunday evening show. Sun., April 26, 7 p.m., The Studio@620, St. Petersburg, $20 general/$15 students and seniors.
I came about my musical addiction naturally. When I was a young-un my parents had an extensive vinyl collection. I can remember weekend trips from Plant City into Tampa to buy a new record and long nights with my parents and their friends sitting around listening to music. Once I finally reached and age where I could be trusted, my father let me sift through the albums and play DJ on some of those nights.
HBO is planning a series based on 
I hate to perpetuate a rumor, but this is a juicy one worth mentioning: Tupac is Alive in New Orleans! No…. freakin’…. way!
The Mars Volta
Ticketholders for the 
