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Thoughts on culture, politics, music and stuff by Eric Olsen, Marty Thau and Mike Crooker, who are among other things, producers.
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Saturday, August 03, 2002
Grateful? Yes Dead? No I only wish this project well because at least they had the decency to not call themselves "The Grateful Dead." Do you hear that, "The Who", "The Allman Brothers," "Little Feat" and assorted others?
....The crowd was ready and with the band fully agroove, the giant green bowl of Alpine Valley Music Theatre was flush with flailing limbs and thousand-watt smiles. After weeks of tense negotiations between Grateful Dead Productions, Clear Channel Entertainment and local authorities over concerns the concert would be overrun by people who didn't have tickets, 35,000 Deadheads steadily descended into East Troy [Wisc] with little problem. ....Two hours before show time, drummer and original member Mickey Hart was relaxed and predicting big things based on weeks of rehearsals. "Only a few people have heard it, and from what they've told us, it's back," Hart said. "The creature lives. If we play that way tonight, you'll hear the Grateful Dead. We won't call it the Grateful Dead, but it will be better than where we left off, I'll tell you that." Standing in for Garcia on guitar was the slight and unassuming Jimmy Herring, a veteran of tours with the Allman Brothers and Dead-related side projects, whose guitar was eerily evocative of Garcia's but altogether unique. In place of the shimmery, fat curlycues of Garcia was a muscular staccato wah-wah that the rest of the band followed with precision. "He's great," Hart said. "He's a sweetheart. He doesn't play anything like Jerry, and best of all, I don't think he's even a Deadhead." A similar incarnation of the Dead's remnants has played since Garcia's death in August 1995, but never with this much anticipation. Hart and Herring joined original members Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir for Saturday's show. Pile On the Bunny I'll tell you what, my little bunny friend Bigwig has been fielding a blinding sandstorm of abuse over his novel notion to offer a new home to the Palestinians in the U.S. as a method of resolving the mess in the Holy Land. First, I say nothing ventured, nothing gained; and one of the main points of blogs is to throw ideas out there and stir up the dialogue. Maybe the discussion mutates the idea into something entirely different from the original idea, but nothing would have happened without the original idea. We are probably not going to crate up a substantial portion of the Palestinian population and plop them down in the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Compton, or Manhattan. Although it might make more sense to move the Palestinians to northern Mexico than to move Israel there, as Ken Layne had suggested some time back. Regardless, Biggy handled his parboiling with good humor and panache and we are very proud of him. Nomenclature Drift I am confused: this site is like a Samuel Beckett play, with people changing their names and nicknames and blog name like feathers in the wind. Weren't they just full of shit? Now they're modeling male bras, which wouldn't be necessary if they'd hit the gym and lay off the THC. And I always appreciate a link, but it's O-L-S-"E"-N, you freakish Swede. Pulp Reality Things just keep getting weirder at Fort Bragg. Maj. David Shannon was shot on July 23 as he slept in the bedroom of his home. His wife Joan was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy on Tuesday. Now his 15 year-old daughter has been charged in the murder:
“The officer told me to get up,” Eldridge said. “He put me in handcuffs and he yanked me out of the room.” The officer heard a noise come from a folded-out futon in the living room. “They lifted up the couch, saw she was under there, and he placed her in handcuffs,” Eldridge said. Eldridge was not charged with a crime. ....Eldridge said the girl spent most of her time on the couch, watching TV and watching out the window. She never went out. “When somebody knocked on the door, she would jump,” Eldridge said. “She constantly watched the news,” Eldridge said. “They were like her morning cartoons. I just thought she was interested in what was happening in Fayetteville.” Eldridge said the girl paid close attention to TV news about the murder of David Shannon. During one newscast, Eldridge said, Elizabeth pointed to video of Joan Shannon as she was escorted to jail and said, “That’s my mom.” But no one believed her. Perfect, But... Man, it was a perfect summer day in Cleveland today: mid-80s, blazing sun, light air, low humidity. We all went up to Dawn's mother's new condo up near the lake and hung out in and around the pool. Dawn's sister and her two kids were there from Baltimore. Couldn't have been much better until her 3 year-old started throwing up and moaning in a rather alarming manner. Dawn and her sister took the boy to the hospital, and Kristen and I headed home. I assume it's just a flu or something. Kristen has a white Chrysler LaBarron that she loves dearly, and we drove home with the top down, loving the weather and the wind and being together. We stopped for drinks and after about 40 ozs of lemonade for me and horchado for her - and with light sunburns - we felt a bit of a chill. Rather than ruin the mood by closing the top, we just cranked up the heater. I love the decadence of that: the sheer wasteful indulgence of flying down the freeway, air rushing every which way, and hot air blasting on our legs and feet keeping us all cozy. I sure hope Sammy's okay - haven't heard anything from them yet. More later. UPDATE The medical verdict on Sammy: vast gas caused by a stomach virus. The boy needs to fart. Friday, August 02, 2002
Hey, This Is Me
Older Birthdays are in the air, bringing thoughts of the inexorable leak of sand through the hourglass, entropy, the snap of youth replaced by the sag of decrepitude; and of course, the Big Door at the end of the hallway. As someone about to turn 44 in two days, let me tell you, it's all relative: youth truly is a state of mind, although biological youth IS wasted on the young. Let us look at some age issues in approximately chronological order, by birth. Youthful Matt Moore is about 25: when you're that age, the difference between, say, 21 and 25 seems enormous. From my view, it's a small fart in the great methane sea of time. Back in July, Matt wrote:
Of course, DJ Shadow was sold out. There was a time when I didn't have to even think about this stuff, I just seemed to know that Mike Watt was going to be in town in six weeks, and I bought a ticket. Eight bucks: Mike Watt, Pat Smear, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, and I'm sure I'm leaving someone out. But drinking beer in the shadows of the mountains, watching the clouds try to decide, and then getting up to leave just as the rain commenced. All good. Paul Palubicki is a very wise 29: the dude knows shit. He has a measured way of looking at things and a depth of knowledge that led me to believe he is older - probably just ageism on my part. Paul gets called old:
What the fuck do you mean, "Woah"? "How long have you been in?", the little shit asked. "Almost 11 years." "Wooooah." The little fucker's looking at me like I'm supposed to be behind glass at the museum. Staffasaurus Rex I could feel myself fossilizing in my chair. ....I'm getting a lot of shit thrown at me right now, but this just sucker punched me right in the gut. You have to understand that for my entire career, I've been one of the youngest, lowest ranking guys in my shop. ....I come to Travis and it feels like the quaint, stable snowglobe of my world has been snatched by some vicious bastard and given a thorough shaking. ....I'm not used to this sort of shit. I'm used to being around people who know what they're doing, how they're supposed to do it, and the motivation and integrity to do it correctly without constant supervision. Don't get me wrong, most of the airmen strike me as great guys, but today I was made well aware of the invisible wall between us. In just a few short weeks, the tectonic plates of my career have violently shifted, placing me in Old Guy territory just five days shy of my 29th birthday. On the brightside, I did order somebody to go do something for the first time in my life. That felt kinda cool. It also feels good to know that when They come to snag people for some shit detail, they're not going to be looking at me to do it. Being an Old Guy does have its benefits. When I was 29, I was DJing some big dance at a high school. When I came out after the dance to change my clothes and start packing up, I found my mini-truck surrounded by three or four cops. What the hell had happened? Had someone tried to break in? What was up? "Is this your truck, sir?" "Yes." "What are you, about 30?" I kind of recoiled from the accusation - no one had ever called me "about 30" before. It was a blow. "Ah, 29. Is there a problem, officer?" "We saw a six-pack of beer in the back seat and alcohol is illegal on school property." "Oh," I said, relieved. "It's not open or anything. Sorry I didn't know the rule." "Ah, it's okay. Put it where we can't see it next time. A teacher saw it and complained." "Thank you, officers," I said feeling suddenly very "30ish" for the first time. So this was something like that for Paul. It's tough, but I have found if you retain your energy and youthful (open) outlook as you age, you end up with the best of both worlds: zip AND the accumulated authority of experience. I have also found that if someone really pisses you off, they don't expect some 40 year-old guy to punch them in the face, which gives you the advantage of surprise. But that's in another ten years or so for Paul - people still may expect him to punch them. Then Gummi Rebecca encounters 30:
Dawn, who turns 33 in a couple of weeks, responds:
Enjoy your youth my sweaty little gummi, 30 is a wonderful age. On the bright side, I was carded recently at one of those drive thru liquor stores, this was while driving a mini-van with a toddler hurling m&m's at me. So hey, you are as young as you feel, or as old as you look!! Then there is poor Scott, who is having second thoughts about this record reviewing thing:
I'm a picky son-of-a-gun. I like what I like, and I really don't much care for what I don't like. That doesn't mean that what I don't like isn't good music played by good musicians. It just means, bottom line, that I don't like it. It means, bottom line, that it just ain't for me. The flip side is this - something that blows my skirt up over the top of my head doesn't necessarily mean diddly to the next guy in the next cubicle in the next building. I could be stompin' all over the room like a 1915 whirling dervish in Russia, and look up and find that there's not another soul the least bit moved, or moving. Believe me, it has happened to Dork Boy.
And then there's Doc. I'm REAL happy to see Doc starting to ge the kind of recognition he's so due. The techies knew him - now the other guys do too. Doc transcends. Doc is ageless. Doc just turned 55:
I hit the speed limit today: 55. (Although I'm milking 54 to the last minute: around 11am Eastern Time. That's when I appeared at Christ Hospital in Jersey City on this day in 1947. A boom baby.) I hate getting older. It sucks and it makes you caranky. I'm pretty sure I was the oldest guy at OSCon. Most of the other folks there were my kids' ages or younger (my older kids, anyway.. they range from 29 to 32). My youngest kid is 5. That means we'll be able to get the senior and child discounts at some events. It's a blessing I look forward to counting. UPDATE Now this is a proper 30th freaking birthday party!
The Veil Is Lifted Red hot update on the Ft. Bragg murders today in the hometown Fayetteville Observer - reporter Tanya Biank gets behind the veneer of silence:
....some military wives who contacted The Fayetteville Observer said that being in the Army adds to the stress and makes it harder to seek help. The women, many of them wives of Special Forces or special operations soldiers, asked to remain anonymous. They spoke of physical and verbal abuse, infidelity, alcoholism -- and even fear for their lives. ‘‘He threatened me with death, he’d bury me on Fort Bragg and no one would find me,’’ one woman wrote in a letter. ‘‘I believed him. He beat me with his fists, choked me, knocked me out of the door.’’ The woman said she eventually saved enough money to leave the marriage. ‘‘It was worth every dollar to get out,’’ she said. Some women who contacted the newspaper said they were speaking out for the first time, spurred by the deaths of women they say could easily have been them. ....‘‘Many people are trying to say what is happening in Fayetteville is an anomaly,’’ said Christine Hansen, the executive director of the Miles Foundation, an organization that studies domestic violence in the military and offers help to families. ‘‘We’re looking at it more as a symptom of domestic violence in the military.’’ Hansen said her foundation has received ‘‘a serious influx of calls’’ since the Fort Bragg killings. Some have been from abused wives seeking information on shelters and other programs and services. Other calls have been from women who have survived abuse and are now reliving the trauma through the current deaths, Hansen said. ....‘‘The military continues to treat (domestic violence) as a communication problem, a marital issue, a marital problem,’’ said Hansen, the Miles Foundation director. ‘‘This is an issue of deadly force.’’ “These military men are not Jimmy Stewart or John Wayne,’’ Hansen said of abusers. ‘‘Many of them have control issues and when they are deployed can become literally paranoid: ‘What is she doing? Who is she seeing? Is she paying the bills on time?’’’ Several wives who contacted the newspaper said that deployment stresses -- especially infidelity -- can be a significant problem in families. Special operations soldiers are usually deployed for several months each year. Wives of those soldiers said that it is not uncommon for soldiers to cheat on deployments. And some said that is also not unusual for the wives back home to have affairs. “There’s more of it than you can ever shake a stick at,” the wife of a retired Green Beret said. She was talking about cheating by the soldiers and their wives. Some wives said it’s the culture of Special Forces to wink at the infidelity. But, they say, it can lead to violence when it comes to the surface in a marriage. ....‘‘Most of us are afraid to speak out,’’ one woman said. She said she is divorced from a Green Beret who kicked her in the stomach and knocked her off her feet, stomped on her and fractured her leg. He then left for a two-week deployment, she said. ‘‘His team members knew about it,’’ she said. ‘‘Nobody helped me and nobody listened.’’ The woman said she left her husband not long after the beating. For a long time, she said, she worried that he would kill her. He is still in the military, she said. ‘‘I hate to come down on the Army right now, of all times,’’ she said. ‘‘But there is a major problem.’’ Some women interviewed said their husbands do not want to go into counseling because it could adversely affect military careers. And if the husband suffers, the wives can lose benefits and family income. The spouses of Special Forces soldiers said their husbands could be labeled a ‘‘security risk’’ for seeking help. ‘‘It really bothers me that I can’t go talk to the on-post marriage counselor or to the chaplain if I need to,’’ said one Special Forces wife. ‘‘It’s almost like saying, ‘Don’t cry for help, it’s a sign of weakness.’’’ Another wife said it is important in the military to project an image of a perfect home life. ‘‘The motto is if you can’t control your wife, you can’t control your troops,’’ she said. ....But it is families that Sharon Davis is worried about. She was just 6 years old and asleep in bed when her Green Beret father, Rufus Smith, chased her mother, Clara, around the house with a machete one early morning in October 1968. Clara Smith grabbed a rifle and shot her husband dead with a bullet to the chest. ‘‘I remember the lights and getting into the police car,’’ Davis said. Her mother was charged with murder, but a jury ruled the shooting was in self defense. In the years to come, Clara Davis would drink herself to death, her daughter said. She died at age 42. Davis grew up with insults and teasing from other children. Now 40 years old, Davis is a social worker and does independent consulting. She said she wanted to help others, as well as to understand her own parents. She said holds no animosity toward her mother and father. ‘‘If anything, I just feel for them,’’ she said. She thinks about the children who have lost parents in the recent killings. All five of the couples had children. ‘‘Nobody is mentioning the children,’’ she said. ‘‘Once the sensation of it dies down they are forgotten. They are the innocent bystanders in this situation.’’ Blogcritics.com Thanks for the tremendous help in getting the word out, and for your response to the Blogcritics.com concept. I want to emphasize how impressed I am by ALL OF THE TALENT OUT THERE. Ken Layne kicked in some excellent suggestions, which we are going to adopt more or less wholesale. I had a super nice email from Oliver Willis offering technical advice, which I will need more than I'd care to admit. Oliver - who is an author his own bad self - is interested in the literary potential of the concept, as is Matt Welch, and Jeff Goldstein (deepest condolences on the loss of your friend), so I think we are going to incorporate those flappy things made of squished trees from the beginning. I have also made real progress on the other end of this project: I am getting strong interest from my contacts with the labels and indie publicists as well. If you have contacts with indie labels, sub-indie labels, publicists, or LITERARY PUBLICISTS/PUBLISHERS, please let me know and/or have them contact me. So here is our status: we are still aiming for a Blogcritics.com launch of next Friday, but you know how that sort of thing goes. IF YOU ARE ALREADY ON THE ROSTER, PLEASE SUBMIT SOME KIND OF MUSIC/BOOK CRITICISM RELATING TO A FAIRLY NEW RELEASE BY NEXT FRIDAY FOR INCORPORATION INTO THE LAUNCH. Since the response has been so strong and so many people have begged me to reopen the roster, I AM REOPENING THE ROSTER. COME ONE, COME ALL. If you wish to be part of this project, send me an email stating the info asked for HERE, and get me something to post by next Friday, or whenever since we have no deadlines. BUT SINCE THIS IS THE REAL WORLD, YOU MUST CONTRIBUTE TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE GOODIES WHEN THEY COME ROLLING IN. On a side note, I am often surprised to find how I am perceived by people. Several have commended me on being open-minded about all of this, welcoming suggestions and criticism, including my new bud Martin Devon:
BlogCritics.com launches next Friday. Eric, if you can keep it "about the music," you've got me sold. Thursday, August 01, 2002
DaneMail Danish blogger John Fogde has issues with the mail:
Postcards From the Edge David Hogberg has a fascinating photo essay from South Korea (you must register with Yahoo to view) and the DMZ compiled by his brother and his brother's fiancee during their trip to the World Cup:
However, once inside the blue building, you can. The sideways photo is actually from a window inside the blue building from the North Korean side. ....This photo reveals a very interesting little tidbit into the mindset of communists. If you look very closely, you can see some buildings in the distance. (Sorry, but you have to look very closely. My brother was using an Instamatic camera, so the image in the distance is very fuzzy. The little figure rising up is one of the buildings.) It is a city that North Korea built to resemble a modern Western city. The purpose was to show people in the south that things were just as modern in North Korea. Of course, it fools no one. As my brother found out from the tour guide, no one actually lives there. What a sad bit of propaganda. Darkest Before the Dawn Dawn rose over the horizon, Matt came back. Remember Matt, the unexamined life isn't worth living. Musicians In Need Via Glenn: No, we do not want to help these rapacious mothersuckers crush the recording proletariat:
That's what happened to Sam Moore from the famous R&B group Sam & Dave. He had hits with Atlantic Records, which is part of Time Warner, like "Soul Man," "Hold On I'm Coming" and dozens of others. Even though new hits stopped coming, the old ones kept selling. He figured that when he reached retirement, Atlantic would have been paying his pension into his union, which is called AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). When Moore applied for his pension, he was told that he had benefits coming to him. What a relief, he thought. Then he got the bad news. AFTRA was all set to pay him a whopping $67 a month. This is the same AFTRA that now boasts a $1.2 billion surplus. That $67 figure came not from the money Sam thought he was getting from Atlantic, but from radio and television appearances he'd made over the years. It turned out that Atlantic had never paid one dime into his pension fund. Nothing. Nada. BUT, I also know it's much tougher on the artists if they DON'T SELL ANY RECORDS. So this doesn't change my thoughts on FREE CDs for Bloggers one bit. Back to the reamed artist issue - there are a number of foundations and organizations specifically set up to aid musicians in need: The Rhythm and Blues Foundation,
Named in the memory of the Foundation's founding trustees, this program supports the current and specific financial needs of legendary rhythm and blues artists whose contributions have been seminal in the music's development and growth. Since its inception, the Foundation has provided over $500,000 in service and Financial Assistance Grants. Gwendolyn B. Gordy Fuqua Fund This Fund was established in 2000 by Berry Gordy, Founder of Motown Records. It provides emergency financial assistance to living artists in need who performed R&B music of the 60s and 70s under the Motown label.
One of the largest contributions ever made by a music company on behalf of its artists, the Motown/Universal Music Group Fund will be used for health, welfare and medical purposes for artists or their surviving spouses in the form of monetary grants. The grants will be determined and dispensed by a specific committee created by the R&B Foundation. The $2 million will become the “corpus” for the fund, which will generate monies for the needs of artists in perpetuity. ....Added Berry Gordy, Founder of Motown Records, “I am pleased that the Universal Music Group has stepped up with this very generous donation for the welfare of its great artists. Now, more than ever, it is evident that music has the power to heal and bring people together. I commend Universal for recognizing the importance of the R&B Foundation’s great work toward the benefit of artists.” Jim Fifield, Vice Chairman of the R&B Foundation, commented, “I couldn’t be more pleased with the $2 million contribution by the Universal Music Group. They have set a new standard in the industry for giving and recognizing the need for assistance for artists.” Among the classic labels affiliated with the Universal Music Group are A&M Records, ABC Dot, ABC Paramount, Argo, Blue Thumb, Cadet, Casablanca, Checker, Chess, Commodore, Coral, Decca, Def Jam, Def Soul, Duke, Dunhill, Geffen, Gordy, GRP Records, Interscope, Island, MCA, Mercury, Motown, Peacock, Polydor, Rare Earth, RSO, Soul, Tamla, Uni, Universal Records, and Verve, among others. The great jazz writer Nat Hentoff discusses the Jazz Foundation of America here:
It's not only in New York and surrounding cities that there are jazz musicians out of work and out of luck. In the March 5 New York Times, Rick Bragg told of musicians in similar straits in New Orleans: "The outside world-the world of rent checks and health insurance and retirement plans-is for other people, not musicians." New Orleans singer-pianist-songwriter-producer Allen Toussaint added, "It can happen to so many people" - including musicians listed on jazz reissue recordings, who keep clips from old mentions in jazz magazines. Oxenhorn notes that a musician who is on one of the reissue CDs released in connection with Ken Burns' Jazz series "came into our offices and was unable to pay for his $150 diabetes medication." ....Back in New York, Oxenhorn is working on a new project for the Jazz Foundation. "Half of the battles that the JFA fights," she writes, "are eviction-related because many of the elderly musicians live in rent-controlled apartments that landlords could rent for more money." Landlords are trying to evict their tenants at every chance. "Many of the musicians we assist," she continues, "do not make enough to pay their rent or are behind in their rent, because they are not able to play as many gigs as they did when they were younger because illness and ailments slow them down."
Oxenhorn's new project is a Players Residence in New York City. "Housing," she emphasizes, "is not affordable for the aging jazz musician. The musicians that are lucky enough to receive social security, get about $500 a month at most. It's almost impossible to find even a room for rent that is below $600 a month in New York City." The Jazz Foundation is trying to renovate a building that will be a home for elder jazz musicians, with "studio apartments for $250 a month, so that even the most meager income or social security check would pay the rent. This would allow the older jazz musicians to live on the few gigs they get each month. No one in the history of jazz has built a home in honor of the musicians." The Handy Artists Relief Trust was established to provide funding to organizations that help Blues musicians in need. This year’s benefit concert in May supported the Music Maker Relief Foundation of North Carolina. The show featured Willie King, Jerry "Boogie" McCain, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Mudcat, Cool John Ferguson, and Robert "Wolfman" Belfour. More Pandering Joanne Jacobs is, as always, keeping the educational bureaucracy honest:
....I suspect O'Connell is trying to score points with animal lovers without actually doing anything. But this sort of meaningless legislation, multiplied hundreds of times, is what's causing textbooks to grow thicker and flabbier each year. Every pet cause is worth a paragraph or two and an illustration.
I think eating animals is fine, although I am less thrilled about killing animals for sport. But that's more of a personal thing than a policy I would defend. I have no objections whatsoever to hunting for food. I am sympathetic to the karmic argument against taking animal life, but I care more about steak, pork roast, chicken, fish, etc. If the Bible says eat them, then eat them I will. I would agree with Hawkins' first point about animals having no rights other than what we give them, but I believe we owe it our Creator and to ourselves to be kind as possible to all living things, even if we decide to kill them and eat them. I remember an old Prairie Home Companion monologue where Keillor told about being present at the slaughter of a farm pig as a child and horsing around just prior to the kill, as children are prone to do. His uncle, or whoever the relative was, sternly reprimanded him that this was a sacred time, a time for seriousness and reflection as another living being was about to give its life for the benefit of ours. That really hit me and I agree with it - we shouldn't take the life of any creature frivolously, or for granted. But I'll tell you what: if some damn creature is bugging me, threatening me, eating my food, or in any way pissing me off, I'll kill it. And it is also dangerous to imply that murderous Islamofascists deserve the same respect as, say, George Washington. They don't. We should be teaching children that it is okay, in fact imperative, that they make moral/cultural/political distinctions. Right Johnny Taliban? Webicide My station was saved from having to pull the plug on its webcasts by some double-secret codicil of the new webcasting regulations - I believe having something to do with the fact that the station is ultimately owned by the Akron Board of Education - but that doesn't change the dire state of radio webcasts in general. Doc Searls has been championing this cause all along. He has a new article in the Linux Journal on the subject called Hollywood Steps Up Its Assault on the Net While Webcasting Death March Claims KPIG, and a post on same in his blog:
That is exactly what is happening to Internet radio, right now, because the entertainment industry successfully lobbied through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, and the RIAA successfully steered the copyright arbitration process that followed. The result is a regulatory environment so punitive and toxic that the entire industry it was intended to govern is being eliminated. Completely — at least in the U.S. And it's happening right now. Bill Speaks With Unforked Tongue As usual Bill Quick fucketh around not and suffers fools less so. Regarding a WaPo article on the debate within the administration about Iraq:
If this article is true - and I personally believe it's just a major leak of self-serving propaganda from the Powell camp to one of their mouthpieces at WaPo - then George W. Bush really isn't serious about the War on Terror. If so, I guess the anonymities quoted here are right: "You can't force things onto people who don't want to do it." So if that is the case, maybe it's time to think about replacing George with somebody who does want to wage war on the terrorist enemies of the United States. He Is Tall Our eyes across the sea (how does he see that far from SoCal?) Charles Johnson notes this very encouraging news regarding the French and anti-Semitism: they're against it, officially anyway:
Layne-Vision Damn, Ken Layne goes on a fishing trip and comes back inspired! Not only has he joined our merry band of music bloggers, but he's organized Blogcritics.com in a manner bespeaking genius:
When Eric (or whoever) posts a review, he selects a category -- classical, Latin, punk, country, etc. -- and the post goes both to the front page and the top of the appropriate section. But wait! Some music might fit into several categories! Calm down, dude. You can select multiple categories. ....Onward. If the reviewer is signed up with one of those referrer programs like Amazon's, he/she should link up the record in question to earn a few dimes off the sales. I get about 20 bucks a month from this stuff. Not bad considering I would write about books and music for nothing. And there's another idea: if Eric can snag music-related stuff like biographies and DVDs, we should review 'em for the new site (and our own sites). There's no reason why a book about Nirvana or Johnny Cash shouldn't be on the same page with CDs. ....I would hope people only post things with some substance. Don't try to write like a record reviewer, please. Write like you always write and keep an eye out for the spontaneous gems. Sometimes I'll be typing some quick dumb thing and a bottle of wine later, it's turned into a nice little piece of writing. That's the kind of stuff I'd enjoy seeing collected on a music site. ....I hope Eric sets up some deal with CDNow or Amazon like Andrew Sullivan has done with that book club deal. Eric should get some coin for setting this up, and an online store using something like Amazon's developer tools could bring in a bit of income for the Olsen Household. Tainted? The Mighty Pej finds an evocative philosophical look at music "poisoned at the source." Can we still enjoy it?
Porn-no Speaking of salacious pics, Dawn - who is desperately trying to cheer up our big little buddy Matt Moore (cheer up dude, just post SOMETHING and it will all come back) - is riding my ass again about porno. The writen word can of course be stimulating - it all takes place in the mind - although I don't really have the time to sit around and read erotica. As evidenced by the last post, still pictures don't bother me either: I don't go looking for them, and I don't want to see pics with MORE THAN ONE PERSON in them, but non-body-cavity shots of hot women can grab my attention and hold it for a time. No problem. But I really hate "porn" porn, especially on film or video. I am not a prude and it isn't the depiction of sex in and of itself that bothers me: there are many movies where sexual relationships are integral to the grain and fibre of the story - no problem there either. But porn for porn's sake is extremely UNSEXY to me: it is stupid (in a bad way, unlike say, the Ramones), contrived, demeaning, ugly, and by focusing only on the sexual nature of people, profoundly anti-human. I don't want to watch other people having sex, I want to do it myself. Porno is NOT REAL. Even if it was recorded real, it isn't "real," it's just tape. It all just makes me vaguely ill. And on a sidenote, what in the name of Johnny Wad would I want to see what a man is up to? Get that fucker off the screen and leave the woman on if I am forced to look at something. I don't care what people look at, read, smell, or stick up their ass. I'm not looking to ban anything that doesn't involve children (and those sick fucks should be skinned, literally), I just don't want to waste time on something that turns me off, makes me feel vaguely sick to my stomach, and causes me to wonder: "Do I look and sound that stupid doing that? God, I hope not." Not to get all graphic, but I am in the most amazing sexual relationship I've ever had. I've never had a relationship that didn't diminish over time before. Never. But for the last seven years I have. No matter what else gets fucked up in my life, that area is nothing but good, and ever more intense. To me, porn is for people who have problems with sex. I've lucked out, it's almost funny. I've never really had problems with women in general: they've almost always been there for me. I've had no end of issues with individual women - who doesn't? - but REAL women, who you can look at and admire, touch, talk with, smell, and literally lose yourself in ARE WHERE THE ACTION IS. If I suddenly found myself - God forbid - alone, I wouldn't stock up on magazines and videos and books or snoop around the Net, I would walk out the door and GO MEET REAL WOMEN, but that's just me. A Picture Is Worth... I'm getting into visuals a lot more of late. Most blogs - including this one - don't utilize graphic potential nearly enough. It's done wonders for Dawn, Tony, and Maddie; hasn't hurt wKen, Hoopty, or the UnaBlogger one little bit either. Not that you have to get all salacious or anything: check out this great photo series from the AVID site, highlighted by a billboard declaring "The King of the Jews for the King of Beers." I knew about the wine, but wasn't under the impression the Savior was a beer man. The Job Also in the Fayetteville paper: with the emphasis in the last few days over problems in the military, including allegations of rampant infidelity, it is important to remind ourselves what the military actually does:
‘‘I was stunned to see a grenade fly right at me,’’ he said. ‘‘I was trying to get out of there and survive.’’ Vedvick was one of five U.S. soldiers wounded in a four-hour battle on Saturday near Khost in eastern Afghanistan. He discussed his experiences in a telephone interview on Wednesday from his hospital bed in Landstuhl, Germany. ....He suffered shrapnel wounds up and down the left side of his body. He described his medical treatment in Germany as ‘‘great. They have bent over backwards for me.’’ Vedvick expects to return to the United States for more medical treatment. ‘‘They said I should be about 100 percent in about three months,’’ he said. Vedvick received the Purple Heart medal for being wounded in combat. ‘‘Not the badge you go around looking for,’’ he said. ....Two other 82nd Airborne Division soldiers, Spc. Michael J. Rewakowski and Pfc. Ryan S. Worth, were injured in the fight. All three of the soldiers are in the 3rd Platoon of Company B of the 1st Battalion of the 505th. Worth and Rewakowski looked healthy and acted upbeat on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, which interviewed them in Afghani- stan. They are expected to leave the hospital today. ‘‘I had been hit by two grenades,’’ Vedvick said. ‘‘Then Rewakowski had come up. He was helping me get up. We both got hit by the third one. Worth was rounding the corner. He got hit by the first one.’’ Worth said people were surprisingly calm. “There weren’t a lot of people yelling or screaming. ... Everyone knew exactly what to do. We’ve been trained really well,” he said. The battle occurred while the troops were on a reconnaissance mission near the village of Ayub Kheyl, about 7 miles from Khost. U.S. forces are combing the area for Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts. Capt. Chris Cirino said the soldiers were looking for a suspect and had surrounded a compound. A team of Afghan soldiers was sent in to ask those inside to come out. The Afghans returned, saying the occupants had guns. When they went back to the compound to talk again, they were fired on, and two Afghan fighters were killed. Worth said the enemy would throw grenades over the wall and then poke weapons through openings and fire their guns. Despite his injury, he continued firing until air support arrived about 45 minutes later, he said. The unit, which had been in Afghanistan just three weeks, was surprised that the people inside the compound did not surrender. “In my mind, I know that the enemy inside that building that day knew they were going to die once they fired on U.S. forces,” Cirino said. “There was a greatly superior force outside. ... They knew they were going to die, but they wanted to kill or injure a bunch of Americans if they could.”
"He says he wanted to go to heaven by killing himself and also killing infidels and supporters of infidels in Afghanistan," Amrullah Saleh said. Investigators still have not established the identity or nationality of the suspect, captured Monday, but they know that the "very sophisticated" car bomb, almost a half-ton of explosives, was put together outside Afghanistan, Saleh told The Associated Press. ....The capture of the alleged suicide terrorist had sent a chill through this city, especially since the shrapnel-packed Toyota Corolla had penetrated to a spot just hundreds of yards from the U.S. Embassy, Karzai's offices and the headquarters of the international security force patrolling Kabul. It was the latest incident in a series — including the assassination this month of Vice President Abdul Qadir — that have put the Afghan capital on edge in the months since a U.S.-led campaign ousted the Taliban government and scattered the Afghan-based al-Qaida terror network.
Afghan intelligence officials said the information led them to deploy checkpoints and extra patrols in the city. But neither the Afghans nor the ISAF spokeswoman would elaborate. Saleh said the bomb-rigged car originally was driven to the southeastern Afghan town of Khost and turned over to the foreign suspect. Khost lies 20 miles from the Pakistani border. "He has admitted he worked for al-Qaida," the Afghan official said. "He has admitted his first target — he was tasked to kill His Excellency Mr. Karzai." Failing that, he said, the bomber was to target government ministers or foreign compounds or facilities in Kabul. Saleh displayed photographs of the makings of the car bomb — yellow bricks of what he said was C-4 explosives, tubes that he said carried a liquid explosive, heavy batteries and connections, and two "last buttons" fitted by the gearshift to detonate the car. Clearly it took experienced experts to fashion the bomb-on-wheels, he said. "They put a lot of thought into it." Leppards In the Parking Lot Nothing new on the Fort Bragg murders in the hometown Fayetteville Observer today, but there are some other interesting things: Ross the Bloviator just asked whatever happened to Def Leppard. Now we know:
Russell Miller drove from Pennsylvania to the Raeford Road shopping center to sit on top of his white Dodge van and take in the tunes. Susan Perry and Cleveland Brewer got up at 4 a.m. to drive from Yadkinville to Fayetteville for the show. ....Others shopped for fold-out chairs, bottled water, umbrellas, disposable cameras, markers for autographs and Def Leppard’s new release, “X,” which went on sale Tuesday. Still, some just wanted to shop.
....Just a few days ago, the band played at the Mall of America in Minnesota. Def Leppard has also played at a Wal-Mart in Texas to promote the new album.
Bass player Rick Savage wore a blue Wal-Mart vest as he played. As the set ended, the band headed around back before walking into the Wal-Mart electronics section to sign autographs. Fans clogged the front entrance as both women and men crowded in the men’s and women’s restrooms. In the back of the store, Wal-Mart workers set up 19-inch Emerson television boxes as barricades. Three televisions played Def Leppard videos overhead as fans waited with the new CD in hand. The autographs were free, but fans had to buy the new album to get one. The band rushed in about 8p.m. as fans crowded around to take photographs and to get a close-up look at the band, which formed in the United Kingdom about 25 years ago. Wednesday, July 31, 2002
The Roster Pt 3 Further FREE CDs for Bloggers participants. Read and visit. Please see Pts 1 and 2 of roster below, and Blogcritics.com announcement. Ken Layne - KenLayne.com
In 1970, the real art started. The first hints were on the the "Ned Kelly" soundtrack (yeah, the terrible movie with Mick Jagger). Disgusted with syrupy production, he went over his Nashville bosses' heads and made a deal with RCA headquarters in New York: from now on, he would produce his own stuff and just turn in a record when it was finished. In the first half of the 1970s, he released some 15 albums, including "Honky Tonk Heroes" and "This Time," two of the finest country records ever made. They're sparse and weird, dominated by bass and Jennings' baritone, filled with songs of bravado and sorrow. It's hard to imagine today just how much Jennings shook up Nashville. They just thought he was a good-looking dumb Texan with a radio-friendly baritone. They didn't figure on a coke-vacuum lunatic who would threaten session musicians with a pistol. They didn't figure on a guy with his own band (not allowed at the time) and a chunky yet spidery lead guitar style and a taste for Bob Dylan songs and heavy drums. And they weren't too happy when the former Buddy Holly bassist started stomping around town with long greasy hair and a biker beard, just like the rest of his hooligan bandmates and songwriter pals. Along with fellow Texan Willie Nelson and some other talented degenerates, Waylon bridged the gap between the hippies and bikers and the old-time country audience. Gram Parsons and the Byrds had tried, but they never got close to commercial country-western success. Waylon had a dozen Number One hits in the 1970s. He could sound as sad as Leonard Cohen and as doped-up mean as Keith Richards. By the end of the 1970s, he was a serious cocaine fiend and the music suffered. He sold out arenas, sometimes with Willie, and started singing into a gold-plated microphone. The last name wasn't necessary anymore. He was just "Waylon." Nashville got bored of the Outlaws and moved on to Urban Cowboy. But Waylon didn't ever really go away. While his 1980s' records sounded as slick as the stuff he used to hate, he still managed to dig up good songs. He was the first to chart with a Steve Earle song, "The Devil's Right Hand." Of course, Earle was another doper Texan with big romantic ideals. Jennings even made a country hit out of Los Lobos' "Will the Wolf Survive?" He got sick a few times -- heart surgery, his left foot chopped off late last year -- and tried to retire quietly to Arizona, where he worked the honky tonks in the early 1960s. Yesterday he died. The last time I saw Waylon play, it was at one of those country-radio shows, five or six acts, most of 'em bad. But Steve Earle was there, fresh off his first LP, "Guitar Town." I saw Jennings play -- he was still a damned good live act -- and then I got on Earle's bus and we jabbered about the Replacements for an hour. Country music is a weird business run by people who hate country music. It's been that way for half a century. People like Waylon Jennings did more than make great music. They broke rules and threatened bookkeepers and cleared the road. Sure, the road gets blocked again, but sooner or later a Lucinda Williams or Beck comes along and breaks the same dumb rules again. Don't get your idea of Waylon Jennings off the CNN reports of his death. Ignore those video clips and pick up a copy of "Honky Tonk Heroes." It's spooky music. It holds up. Those who appreciate great American music will be listening to that record a hundred years from now. Brian Linse - Ain't No Bad Dude
FoxNews, all of Talk Radio, and the NY Post are reporting that the song, which nobody actually seems to have heard yet, is sympathetic to the views of young Johnny Taliban. This has had the predictable effect in Blogistan of generating a multitude of outraged posts. If you are interested, Glenn Reynolds, Dawson Jackson, and Damien Penny represent the guys who have their heads up their asses on this one, while Matt Welch, Jim Henley, Ken Layne, and Charles Oliver seem to have a much better grip on the issue. As silly as the whole thing may be, it is also a good example of why we all need to take a fucking breath and relax. A relatively unknown, alternative Country Music songwriter doesn't pose much of a threat to our way of life, no matter what he writes. The type of hysteria that this story has generated, and it's potential effects on artistic expression, however, do pose a threat to our way of life. Jason Rubenstein - Tonecluster
Aside from various courses like Music Theory I, II, III and IV where you analyze great works of classical and jazz at insane levels of deconstructed chords, melodies and so on, you will take Ear Training, which is where a teacher plays something on an instrument, and you have to play "Name That Tune" by transcribing onto music paper exactly what was performed. Exactly. And as you go on, the notes get notey-er and the passage become longer and the performance faster until you're transcribing entire symphonies as if they were court proceedings in Los Angeles county. Another class is Sight-Singing, where you sing on sight. "Hey you! Sing!!!" "No, can't you see I'm invisible? Drummers... sheesh!". Sight-signing is where you read a piece of music and have to sing the melody exactly as written. Its is not as easy as it sounds, so to speak, especially after a late night of drinking and, er, drinking. You'll also take Music History, which is exactly what it sounds like it'd be. From Medieval Chanting to Bach to Chopin to Ellington to Bernstein to Eminem. Ok, just kidding about Eminem. Aside from all of these core classes, the real work in music school is the performance work. There is such a thing (in Jazz anyway) as Ensemble Class, where you get together with other students selected by the professorial staff and pretend you're a band for a couple hours each day. You study the greats, and perform them under the tutelage of a teacher who can usually play his ass off at the drop of a dime and knows more about music than all of you student put together and squared. Now, to get picked for an ensemble class, which are ranked in levels of ability and talent from "Monsters and Bad M*****f******" down to "Heinous Suckage, but take their tuition money anyway". In order to get into the best ensembles, you must audition. And the competition is heavy, because the best ensembles get the most attention from teachers and from the great Jazz and Rock professionals that blow through town. And once in an ensemble, you had better learn your stuff. Because if you walk in and you don't have the tune "down". memorized and known to you like the back of your hand, the teacher will rip you a new one in embarrassment and bad grades. You will suck and it will be known. Audition day is nerve-wracking, except to someone like me who was a)a few years older than the rest of the students, and b)taking classes at night as I had a day-job and didn't require attention from passing jazzers for my daily bread. But still, I wanted to play with the best students, so I practiced lots and did my best. Speaking of practice, I did say that you'd be spending lots of time with your instrument. Oh boy. I used to practice like a madman. If I was on a computer contract, practice meant four hours a night during the week and six during the day on weekends. If I was between contracts and living off my savings, I would go at it for eight or more hours a day. Scales, both hands. Exercises, both hands. Speed work, strength work, improvisation, and repertoire. Some guys I knew played for twelve hours a day on weekend and then went out to play gigs at local smoky jazz joints for five more hours. Yyyyikes. Right. So. Auditions. This is where everyone is competing for the top slots, so everyone is out to impress the teaching staff. Which means most people are suddenly stricken with an attack of the 'widdlies' and the need to dress like Generic Rock Star #642 or Eccentric Jazz Bassist #1. The latter were knows as "Jaco Pasteurized" but nevermind. What are 'widdlies' you ask? Allow me to describe: A musician goes onto the platform and launches into his audition piece, but in an effort to dazzle everyone with his technical skill launches into the following: WiddlyWiddlyWiddlyFiddlyDiddlyWiddlyWiddlyBiddleIddleFiddlyDiddle- WEEEEEWOOOORRRRWWWWWWWWWAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHPiddlyDiddly- WiddlyHibblySchmiddlyWiddlyDiddlyDigMeDigMeDigMe..." and so on. One will get the occasional saxophonist who does this: "Bah-da-do-BEE-Woo!! Pah-de-do-DEE-Yoo. {Pause} HOMNK! HOMNK! SkreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepWah da do BEE Fop!" It ain't pretty. It can be intimidating to hear these technical marvels, but since melody has to occur somewhere in there, I wasn't terribly worried. One of the only guys who could out-play me was amazing to hear, a fellow who played piano in a gospel church since he'd been about 5, and I'd open the door for him anywhere. The other was a real jazz-head who had memorized every song written since 1922 and could play it in any style. He didn't need music school, he needed a job in Vegas. Well, luckily I auditioned with two of my friends, and unlike most of the crowd who was dressed like, well, musicians, we dressed like accountants. Dull. Mundane. Boring. No glitz, no glamour. And we played our asses off, and did a fine job too. Afterwards, someone said to us "As soon as I saw you guys get up there, dressed like geeks, I knew you'd be monsters. Its always the ones too busy practicing to shop for clothes that can blow [play well]." To this day I dress poorly. So, once you're into the semester, you generally work like crazy if you want to be any good and not embarrass yourself at recital time. Oh yes, at the end of the term you must perform in front of the school. Its fun, as it is a captive audience and you can pick any songs you want pending approval from your teacher, who usually lets you pick whatever you like. But during the school year, you have to put up with the student body of posers, no-playing fools, the classical school kids who hogged the practice rooms by running over their allotted time by hours and hours, the competition for real work, and the criticism from fellow students about how good you aren't and how much you don't know. Musicians are bitchy. Very bitchy. Since I was a sensitive soul and had my own voice at the piano (i.e. I sound like me, not like a Chick Corea or Herbie Hancock wannabe), I got a lot of "If you really want to make it you have to sound like so-and-so" or "You suck. You can't play the intro to {song} exactly as it was recorded in 1951". But the teachers encouraged my style, and that was good enough. One last thing: you can opt for private lessons, which I did. This is where it is you and a teacher, and the teacher empties his or her head of knowledge and you can fill your own with this knowledge. Amazing if you have a brilliant teacher, and I had a few. You work like crazy as well, but there is nothing like one-on-one instruction with someone who has umpteen brilliant recordings to his credit. Now, this is no where near as terrifying as law school. On the school experience meter, Pejman wins hands-down. But I was inspired, so what the hell. Seth Farber - The Talking Dog
Though I reallt haven't discussed music much (or at all) on the blog, I would, without doubt, if free cd s started showing up (I don't wear one yet-- but I have conceived of a t-shirt that says "Bloggers Do It for Hits"). So indeed, I am interested. Thanks so much for your initiative. Dave Gutowski - Largehearted Boy
A couple of years ago, right after I purchased my first CD recorder, I burned my first mix CD, "Music To Drive My Wife Crazy." Included on this was Beth Orton's "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine" from her Trailer Park album, and every time my bride hears that song tears well in her eyes, because Beth Orton not only sings, she lives the lyrics with her voice.
E.A. Castro - More Inhuman Than Human
Nigel Richardson - The Yes/No Interlude
Don't know if the Velvet Underground and Nico was the first "alternative" rock album. Alternative to what? Example: The Monks' Blank Monk Time also came out in 1966 - admittedly only in Germany - but it sounded like Sister Ray cut into 10 three minute segments. 13th Floor Elevators first LP - also 1966. VU and N is a great LP but it wasn't the stand-alone miracle some people like to think it was. Tycen Hopkins - Captain Mojo
The album is fairly tight, with not much in the way of filler. It’s full of potential singles, but particularly memorable are Die, All Right, Main Offender, Hate to Say I Told You So, and Supply And Demand. The only weak-point I can see, is that aside from one song, everything sounds fairly similar. However, it’s a good enough sound that you shouldn’t mind. And of course, being Swedish Punk-Rockers, the lyrics are not the strongest. Consider their wailing against the evils of Capitalism in Die, All Right: Hey! I've got a message and tonight I'm gonna send it. Yeah! I had a body, men with knives wanted to lend it. Sold my body to the company so I got the money now away I go Thank you Mr. CEO. See what I mean. But lead singer Pelle Alqvist’s distinctive rendition of this sub-par poetry caps the three chord goodness of the rest of the band. Zaldor - Zaldor's World
Pop... Pretty much anything other than Country. Would be happy to put music reviews on my site, just beware that I'm not a big RIAA fan though - so I'd have my little anti-riaa spin and would promote more lesser known artists, not the 'Britney Spears' of the world...
Ben Domenech - The Ben File
BEN'S TOP FIVE ALBUMS: Prepare to be rocked like a hurricane. 5. Live at Montreux 1982 & 1985 Stevie Ray Vaughan On July 17, 1982, blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan went to Switzerland to play in the annual Montreux Jazz Festival. Vaughan turned in a blistering performance with his amazing guitar and Jack Daniels & nicotine voice, bleeding every note. But it isn't just the music that stands out from the 1982 performance: it's the chorus of boos that begin in the third track and carry through all the way to the end. The jazz purists in the audience didn't like Vaughan, with his American style and flashy Texas garb, and ended up booing him off stage. But the audience had two people that liked what they heard--David Bowie and Jackson Browne. The two funded the recording of Vaughan's first album, Texas Flood, which climbed the Top 40, won two Grammys, and spent over half a year on the charts (practically unheard of for a blues album). When Vaughan returned to Montreux in 1985, the fickle Swiss couldn't get enough of him. The boos turned to cheers, and Vaughan gave it his all on stage. When SRV died five years later in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin, Montreux declared a day of mourning. 4. The Joshua Tree U2 After the political focus of their previous albums, many wondered whether U2 had anything more to offer. With Joshua Tree, the Irish rockers staked a claim as the greatest guitar band in the world. This album has no weak points, and is just as thrilling to listen to today as it was when released in 1987. I distinctly remember sitting in a room when I was six, the oversized headphones from the turntable slipping off my head, listening to In God's Country and knowing what rock & roll could be. Since this album, only the postmodern Achtung Baby and the rock homecoming of All That You Can't Leave Behind have come close to matching U2's early material. In my mind, they never will. 3. Live at the Regal B.B. King One top five list, two live blues albums. B.B. King has always been good, but for this one furious night, he's amazing. This recording of a 1964 concert shows the undisputed King of the Blues at his best, as singer, guitarist, and entertainer. You can hear the Chicago crowd on the point of explosion during "How Blue Can You Get"--and King plays them out as only a consummate musician can. This is the high point for the blues; as Bleeding Gums Murphy always said, "The Blues ain't about making youself feel better, it's about makin' other people feel worse." 2. Blood on the Tracks Bob Dylan It's difficult to pick the greatest Dylan album--some would say impossible--but Blood on the Tracks could be it. Largely inspired by the disintegration of his marriage, this is a largely quiet, acoustic-based album, yet the songs are remarkable--both clear-eyed and sentimental, lovely and melancholy. On "Shelter From the Storm," Dylan is a philosopher warrior poet, equipped with three chords and the truth. As much as one can separate Dylan's best from all the other efforts, this album is his greatest achievement. Yet. 1. Abbey Road The Beatles This isn't the Beatles most ambitious album by any means, yet it's their best, a fitting swan song for the greatest rock group of all time. Even as the group fell apart, they were still at the top of their form, with strong songwriting featuring the greatest harmonies ever heard on any rock record (especially in "Because"), the heartbreaking acoustic chords of "Something," a flowing medley of interrelated songs on side two, and the explosive guitar-heavy rock of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "Come Together." This is album hearkens back in many ways to the blend of pop sensibilities with rock experimentation in Revolver--but on the whole, "the one where Paul died" is a better album. I could sit on the shore of a desert island and listen to this album watching sunset after sunset. Dan Haar - Ugly Nora
I saw Eric Olsen’s call for music bloggers and I couldn’t resist. I signed up. I don’t know if I have to wait to be accepted now or what, but I’m going to be doing this anyway. Because. Douglas Wolk read my mind and spilled it out in the new Village Voice. PIL is back! Shit, so’s Gang of 4! Fucking Hell, DNA’s back together! New York is dancing again and it ain’t to no shitty electro. ARE Weapons blew it! At least I like to think so. In my own musical fantasy, ARE Weapons, Fischerspooner and Crossover all had their 30-minute stage slot and nobody cared. Maybe that’s not fair, Fischerspooner was/is interesting. They looked good and had a good concept, but come on man, it’s REALLY about the music. Vanilla Fudge for our times. They've got nothing on the B-52’s. Seriously. Back to Mr. Wolk’s piece, there’s a new gang in town. And they know how to move too. The Liars, Gang o-oops I mean Radio 4, the Rapture (who seem to have gone to the Strokes school of promotion without playing) and a good number of the early afternoon acts at the Village Voice’s Coney Island Siren Festival, all found a way to simultaneously channel Andy Gill’s sound into their own guitars! It’s a fucking miracle. And it all sounds… pretty good. They’ve got the sound down, no problem. They all rock and roll, they’re all shockingly intense live, and the music all moves but they’re all a little blatant. Radio 4, just so you know, was putting on the best shows, but I’ve been hearing bad things lately (they added members which isn’t always a good idea). They were fairly original, with an Arto Lindsay guitar sound and late Clash sounding songs but the new album is a little over the top. Get their singles if you can. I’ll stick with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for now. But isn’t this great. New music in New York that isn’t made by models. Prentiss Riddle - Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada
I like Michele's no-B.S. behavior policy: Campers will be schlepped around by Austin musicians on these outings and are expected to behave as honored guests in our city. Any students who misbehave, endangering the group or themselves will lose their outing priveledges immediately. Any students caught drinking, smoking or engaging in sexual behavior beyond handholding will be put on the first plane home, with no refunds, no fooling. All these activities are AGAINST THE LAW for minors in Texas (except handholding). Hmm -- last I knew minors in Texas could legally do a little more than hold hands, but I don't blame Michele at all for putting her charges on a short leash. Besides the Natural Ear camps there are the Austin School of Music Rock Camp, a day camp for kids 10 and up, and the Austin Guitar School Rock and Blues Camp which apparently accepts adults as well as kids. Sign me up! Veshka Valkyrie - Thought Puddles
I'm a Goldfinger fan. So, when I saw their new CD on sale at a local store, I picked it up. Since I also purchased a few other CD's while I was there, including one of those "I haven't heard this in years" CD's, I haven't put it into my car's rotation of CD's my friends hate. So, instead I decided to listen to listen to it this evening... Turns out to be one of those CD's you can't listen to on your computer. But, it's an enhanced CD, so I opted to poke around instead. For anyone who owns or will borrow this CD, if you're very squimish and are easily provoked to sob uncontrollably at the sight of pain, then I wouldn't suggest this. For eveyone else, I would highly suggest checking out the section called "Meet Your Meat". Although this does not sound like a selling point, but this section is absolutely horrifying! It's actual footage from chicken, pig and cow farms, and how the animals are treated and slaughtered. Chickens were beaten to the point where the only way they could move was to flap their wings violently. Cows were hung to bleed alive. Etc, etc, etc... Just thinking of that video makes me want to vomit. I think I'm going vegie. Chari Daignault - Techfluid
favorite artists: Bonnie Rait, Dixie Chicks, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, etc.... Georgy Kishtoo - Georgy Kishtoo
Le public sur la colline d'en face me rappelait un pique-nique à Hampstead Heath, au son de Carmina Burana joué au loin par un grand orchestre sur une scène en forme de bulle. C'était les premiers jours de beau temps et les anglais découvraient tout ce qu'il pouvait comme peau rose et tâches de rousseur. Ce jour là j'ai compris à quel point les anglaises différaient des françaises, par la carnation (translucide), la taille et la forme de la poitrine (carré, haute et forte) et, moins physique, plus culturel, le goût pour les chandelles et le vin rouge (accessoires indispensables de la latinité et donc de la bella vita). Pour cette photo je me suis éloigné du kiosque pour utiliser ma plus longue focale, car je voulais que l'avant-plan et l'arrière-plan soient écrasés, avec une taille exagérée des personnages de l'arrière plan. Le seul problème est que les musiciens sont à l'ombre et je n'ai pas utilisé de flash, donc l'image est surexposée… Dommage. Ah oui, il y a aussi le son… vous pouvez entendre la fanfare jouer le thème de Mannix. James Durbin - DurbinWorld
Favorite Artists: Frank Sinatra, Mobius, any Russian composer, Depeche Mode, Cure
The price is your False Pride, your Inflated Ego, and your Fear of Rejection. See, NotDating ™ is based on the ideas of honesty and open communication. There is a sense in the dating scene that somehow all of the “Good” people are already taken, and the only ones left are the psychotic, the physically unappealing, and the losers. The problem with that philosophy is if you are not one of the people in a relationship, you feel like you must be the loser or the psycho. To be fair – this could be true – but nothing is forever, and today’s emotional wreck is often tomorrow’s happily married mother of three. The pressure of going out on a date is unhealthy for you, because it teaches you to hide away the beauty of who you are. It also tricks you into thinking that there is nothing you need to change. The other side effects include denial – as if dating every person you meet gives you a sense of False Pride that you aren’t a loser. The problem is this gives you an Inflated Ego, leading you to spurn other good people. The truth is you’re just a victim of your Fear of Rejection. Dan Rosenbaum - Over the Edge
Favorites are Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, Richard Thompson, Bruce Springsteen, Richard Shindell, the Bobs. Jon Dyer - Present Tense
No: Techno, Sad Girls with accoustics. I was a PD for a radio station in college, and I used to get tons of free CD's from the wife who worked in a record chain. That's all gone now. Now I'm paying...and crying.
I never knew all of the really cool bands, but I knew more than the average guy. I was listening to most bands a year before they hit the radio (if they hit radio), and I had sufficient choice of what I could listen to. I could then introduce other people to new music, because I knew how hard it is to find new music when all you have is the radio. Taking a $16 chance on a CD is not everyone's idea of a good time. Most times you get burned with a single, $16 song So, I figured why not take a shot. I just can't stand that the music is getting more and more regulated, and the music that I have access to gets crappier by the day. So, this may be as bad an idea as when I got one of the first Rage against the Machine demo's on tape, and panned it as "pure crap", or it may be something really that puts me back in the loop. But for now, I'm stuck in a locked groove. Chris Puzak - Distorting the Medium
The Metallica/Ja Rule collaboration “We Did it Again”. This is the absolute lowest point in Metallica’s career. It makes “I Disappear” sound like “Damage, Inc.”. I’m going to be sick.
Billy Mabray - News Goat
Amber Nussbaum - My Aim Is True
okay so first i'll talk about tonite's show. then elvis. oh yeah, and i'll prolly post the pics from tonite's show either tomorrow or the next day. i'm too tired to deal with all that tonite. so look for em. okay. on to the rock. heidi and i drove an hour out to newport news to shadrach's (which turned out to be really awesome) to see the facedown recs tour, etc. good stuff. so this cool band called yield was up first. they were young (well, not the drummer) and funny. i was laughing and grinning through almost every song. they sang a song about chinese food, a song about being a punk with a clean mouth...lyrics like, "you think you're so punk. cause you know how to cuss. well i've got something to tell ya. you're not one of us." hehe. oh yeah, and a song about natalie portman. rock. and a song begging people to buy the cd. they were great. the kid had a perfect punk rock singy songy voice and they played pretty decent. i was pleased. next up was my favorite new band (they'd be yours if you heard em too), isra. these guys blew me away again. they sound SO GOOD. like, normally going to a hardcore show, you're like, "i danced..yeah..i had a good time. what? the bands? i don't know. it was kind of loud. i couldn't really tell." isra's sound is so tight. i mean, everything's clean. this guy craig. if you haven't heard his voice. it's like..the best to come along in a while as far as hardcore. i get excited listening to this band like i get excited listening to refused. ok? enough said. i mean, they're just this cohesive unit. everything flows. it looks like they're reading each others' minds or something. crazy stuff. oh yeah, plus...did i mention the fact that they are actually great guys? yeah. they are. i mean, first craig lets me into the show free (thank ya buddy), then they actually all talk to me and heidi and remember our names. plus, they're all excited about the pictures. and their girlfriends are even nice. what are the odds. so yeah. unlike another band which i photographed, that just blew me off even though i was doing them a favor (i won't mention their names out of kindness), isra were all really really great to be around. one more thing. because of my camera being so slow recording those huge files, i did not catch the coolest thing to happen at a local show, like...ever. they set one of their cymbals on fire. sweet. i'm mad i didn't get a pic. but they got it on video so it's all good. who was the other band that did this? was it strife? or murder city devils? i don't remember. prolly both. ok. enough about them for now. next up was hanover saints. i don't even remember what they sounded like. i was upset at the morons in the pit that were beating the living crap out of one another. the band is wondering why no one's watching or clapping, and why no one's in the pit. it was because the same like, 6 or 7 guys that mess up every christian punk/hardcore show were there. doing it again. geez. tell me why i never ever ever see any of these guys at a regular punk/hc show. like one that's not in a church. and i go to a ton of shows. is it because they know they'd get the crap kicked out of them if they tried that stuff there? i think so. so anyway. they took me right out of the punk rock spirit. but finally the band went off and everyone acted ok for a minute. ... Travis Lee - One Golden Spoon
2002, Solid State Not much can be said about this band, and quite frankly it's only due to the fact that they've been together for two years. In those two years, however, this post-hardcore dirty Fugazi-laden band has done nothing but make waves in their genre. Notable about the band is the excessive nervousness and stage presence they bring, which results in an ultimate crowd response and viewing pleasure. A-->B life is nothing but the best release I've ever heard come out of Solid State's new band roster. Forget Dead Poetic, as catchy and rythmic as they are, mewithoutYou pulls out any stops, pulls out any holds against their genre, and orchestrate what is nothing short of pure beauty. Through the dirty screaming - and by dirty, I don't mean refined-use-of-distortion-pedal-screaming a la Zao, Spitfire, Training for Utopia, Hatebreed, or Dead Poetic, I mean passionate screaming that's barely out there - belted out at a tone so refreshing it hits you, this is the best thing in a while. In perfect beauty comes the excellent guitar work. Recorded with just one guitarist, it rang far above any other freshman release I've heard in a while, and live, with two guitarists going at it, brings tears to your eyes. In the short time this band's been out, they've been making a name in [half] the time. I recommend you watch for them, so you won't be 'jumping on the bandwagon' when they get huge. Chris Daley - Daley Weather
I'm an audiophile used to work for a high end manufacturer. I've written about audio issues in my blog- mostly on how the recording industry should be dealing with things like MP3's. Eric Fagerlund - Buzzard's Blog
Today we leave for Martha's Vineyard for the weekend. There is something about this island that makes you just forget everything when you step foot on it. We will be staying with my parents at the house that they rent every year. We take my dad's SUV onto the beach and we won't have a soul for a mile on either side of us. I hesitate calling it paradise but, it as close as I have ever been. Jim Carruthers - Resonation - Words
Dawson Jackson - Dawson Speaks
My Old Friend The Blues (Steve Earle) Just when every ray of hope was gone I should have known that you would come along I can't believe I ever doubted you My old friend the blues Another lonely night, a nameless town If sleep don't take me first, you'll come around 'Cause I know I can always count on you My old friend the blues Lovers leave and friends will let you down But you're the only sure thing that I've found No matter what I do I'll never lose My old friend the blues Just let me hide my weary heart in you My old friend the blues Course it's that VOICE, and the acoustic that makes me get all misty hearted and happy/sad. Ryan McGee - Wading In the Velvet Sea
that's what was just had by myself, my roomie, and my GF. here's how it went down: so i'm at home with the 'rents and the girl, at the Lowell Folk Festival which features many a band, many a food tent, and many a crazy mutherf#cker cuz hey, it's Lowell, my hometown, and homeland of some freaky deaky folk. anyways, we're paging through the ads for used cars, as i am in the process of buying one (more to come on that as to why soon enough...ok screw it it's too good a story...) so i have this car. an '87 cadillac cimarron. called "miss daisy" cuz well, it's old and gets me to tha sto'. the girl and i drive back from the gym. i park, as per usual. i open the car door, per usual. the car door drops to a good thirty degree angle with an accompanying sound of "TWANG". not per usual. long story short, a bolt holding the car in place and plum just fallen off. so i drive the car into a nearby parking lot with one hand on the wheel and one hand holding the door in place cuz well, it won't close anymore. 20 minutes later, the girl and i manage to get the bolt back in place, discover yet another part of the door has broken, the hinge/clasp mechanism which allows the door to close, fix that, and head on our way. (later in the day the car decided it doesnt want power windows to work, so it stops working. i yell at the car, it works. then accelarets on its own accord later on Rt. 495. this is the car's way of saying, "look, mcgee, it's been a good ride. we had some good times, you and i. but babe, pull the freakin' plug, i need rest!" so anyways, when retling all this to my folks, they are sufficiently horrified, as well they should be, and pull out the daily paper and pour through some ads with me. i make the offhanded comment of "so much for new computer" since a car AND a computer is a bit much now. so my folks offer my brother's old computer to me, which has every upgrade i wanted (DVD drive, CD burner) and is also a gateway, therefore compatibility with all i ever have. joy! so, we decide to test out the DVD player upon arriving home. the girl breaks out her copy of "moulin rouge". we pop open the slot. out pops "girls gone wild volume 8". needless to say we're a bit stunned. the girl doens't know my brother quite well enough to openly laugh, but she really wants to. i had already seen the "porno"-labelled folder on his desktop upon booting it up for the first time, so this wasn't a huge surprise. and he's a 22 year old boy, he BETTER have porn lying around. so we're laughing, the roomie asks whassup, we explain, she declares "f^ck it, we're getting pizza, finishing off the beer, dressing like white trash, and watching this bad boy." Scott Bell - Confessions of a Jesus Phreak FREE CDs For Bloggers - Blogcritics.com Parts 1 and 2 of the roster of bloggers, totaling 53 if my count is correct, are up below. Take a look at some of the thinking, writing, and knowledge on display from our critics-in-waiting. I have about 25 more emails from eager participants which I will get to shortly and put up in Part 3 of the roster. If you sent me an email, even if you missed last night's deadline, you are in. Thanks so much for your support and enthusiasm. After reading all of the suggestions and criticisms from a wide array of perspectives, I have modified the program accordingly: something I'm sure we will do again more than once. Special thanks to Glenn Reynolds, Matt Welch, and PBR (see this new post) for the good will and BIG PUSH. Big thanks to Martin Devon, Michael Croft, Tom Ewing (see comments as well), Josh Kortbein, and especially John Scalzi for very specific, constructive criticism, which is what the BLOGOSPHERE IS ALL ABOUT. I am borrowing elements from everyone and fine-tuning the program. John is absolutely right about using the power of the Internet to our advantage here, an idea reinforced by Matt Welch: we are establishing a dedicated site at Blogcritics.com (nothing there yet) which will function as the focal-point and clearinghouse for this operation. As participants in this project, we will place all reviews/essays/interviews/fantasias/whatever on this site, but you are also free/encouraged to place your work on your site as well. I am not dissuaded from working with the major labels, but we will put a specific emphasis on indie and sub-indie (self-released) music, an apt metaphor for the role of blogs in the media hierarchy, and I love apt metaphors. PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD THAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR MATERIAL TO REVIEW FROM INDIE LABELS AND UNSIGNED ARTISTS. Please ask them to email me to make arrangements. I will deal with the majors and the larger indies. How? Taking John's advise, OUR FIRST PROJECT AS A TEAM (anyone who has emailed me expressing interest) IS FOR EVERYONE TO WRITE A review/essay/interview/fantasia/whatever RELATING TO A NEWISH (the last couple of months) RELEASE OR RERELEASE (the only formal requirement is to include artist, title, label in the heading) and turn them in to me for inclusion in the debut of the Blogcritics.com site. THERE IS NOT NOW, NOR WILL THERE EVER BE, A DEADLINE, but I would like to have as much material as possible to LAUNCH THE SITE BY NEXT FRIDAY, AUGUST 9. Art work (photos, etc) relating to your writing is also encouraged. Let us take advantage of all the powers of the Internet. We will then use the wildly impressive new website to present our case to the labels, and suggest they send us vast volumes of swag and booty. I am convinced they will. If we can get over this first hurdle, Blogcritics.com can then also become a showplace/clearinghouse for books, mags, comix, movies, and other objects of popular and high culture. Where is the music for these first reviews coming from? This time around in the interest of time and logistics, from yourselves. Buy it, borrow it, gain access any legal and/or ethical way you see fit. The end result will be FREE CDs for Bloggers and a great new site where our work will collectively appear (you are of course free/encouraged to also post it on your site, sell it to another publication, plaster it on outhouse walls, etc.). As to the idea that this approach smacks of the same old music journalism with pressure from deadlines, scrutiny, conformity, etc. I say BILGEWATER. Here's why: no deadlines you will not be edited unless you ask to be all submissions from project members will be published multiple reviews of the same release will be published - no need to worry about who has done what ANY approach from the most objective to the most subjective is encouraged. You needn't follow any typical music writing format - YOU ARE ENCOURAGED TO BE AS CREATIVE AND PERSONAL AS POSSIBLE - do whatever the hell you want the point is to have fun, express yourself, and point readers to great music and warn them against music that sucks latrine-juice through a dirty straw. As always I welcome your comments, suggestions, criticism, and PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD. Thanks again to all who have helped spread the word and to all of our participants! The Roster Pt 2 Continuing the roster of perspicacious bloggers who have signed up for the FREE CDs for Bloggers program in chronological order, or something. These all came in 7/29 and 7/30. We are no longer accepting applications for now. Pt 1 is here. Chris Cotner - Fly Over Country
....Music Type: Alt Rock, Rock, Alt Country and Americana, Alt Gospel, Bluegrass, and even some mainstream Country. Anything by U2. A record label would get a long think piece if they sent me or Mike the U2 greatest hits coming out this fall. Alwin Hawkins - View From the Heart
Sean Hackbarth - The American Mind
Music makes the day brighter. Music tugs on the heart strings. Music also helps you cope when you're not getting along with reality. It's fair to say that songs have the ability to satisfy our emotional needs. In 2001, serious, adult pop music proved that catchy songs didn't have to come from only teeny-bopper girls and boy bands. In the right hands, pop music can be intelligent, emotional, and catchy as hell. Electronic dance music continued to flex its muscle by being the soundtrack to our technological age. While authorities were going overboard and scaring people about the dangers of raves and ecstasy, the repetitive rhythms and computer-created grooves filled movie soundtracks, commercials and sports features on ESPN and Fox. The events of 9.11 haven't seemed to affect the music scene yet. The biggest affect has been the increased sales of patriotic songs. Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" became a battlecry for the first time since the Gulf War. It even may be fortunate for a highly political band like Rage Against the Machine that they lost their lead singer and haven't performed recently. The public may reject their anti-authority and radical messages in light of the terrorist attacks. I haven't been able to play their well-done, but angry debut album since 9.11. Their sneering and bashing of government and corporate interests is too closely related to the anti-West fury of Osama bin Laden and his Islamist brethren. No more analysis about the intersection of the real world with music. Here are the best albums of 2001..... Andrew Ian Dodge - Dodgeblog
Update: Naturally Glenn has links to serveral others musing about Earle's new song. Andrea has her say as well. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. This is my take on it: 1. He will sell a lot more. 2. This will kill his career. (Especially if there is another attack around the time of its release.) 3. He will find Jesus and repent. (Thus relaunching his career in Hick...sorry Nashville.) His PR team are working over time to get him column inches. Whether or not it works will be interesting to see. Will he go the way of Shinehead O'Connor or the way of Marilyn Manson? John Venlet - Improved Clinch
Dawn Olsen - Up Yours
What are you waiting for? Go over and give Eric your pertinent data and start receiving those free cd's. Listen to me now and believe me later. Daniel Berlinger - Archipelago -
I could provide some exposure to local artists even as I work to get my group going. My thinking is that I need promotional material, there are a lot of artists whose work I love, and that they don't get enough exposure. Everyone can benefit. I can get cool artwork for CD covers, t-shirts, and other promotional goodies, I can share the revenue (such as it is at this point), credit, put some art up on the web for sale, and everyone gets beautiful art and good music. Cool. The first one is the :elements: guy. The "cool guy" is the artwork of Lisa D'Amico. The cheezy "e" on his chest is my own mangling. I love Lisa's paintings and art, I have several pieces hanging in my office. I was looking at one of these pieces which she gave to me as a present, and realized that it is perfect as a representative of :elements:. I quickly scanned the original artwork, stripped the background, and added the "e". Close enough to find out whether it was cool with her, and she graciously allowed me to continue to mangle her work. Fear not, a better version will be created, and will be used in the first set of promotional materials. A limited edition of items, almost certainly signed by the band. These will not be sold through any other channels. Sign up so that you don't miss the chance at one of these babies. We're putting a really nice package together. Besides it'll be a great way to keep up with the band's doings. It's an all little guy production. No big companies, no big money, just a wonderful, hard working group of folks that love art and music. It doesn't get any better. Shannon Okey - Bitter Girl
Susan Kaup et al - Listen Up!
Sean Church - Sean Church
You should see me when the magazine subscription guys show up at the door asking you to help them win their trip / pay for their momma’s kidney operation / work their way through college / stay off drugs. Or worse, the Jehovah Witnesses come knocking about the watchtower magazines I must be stealing, because they sure want to talk about it. Other than that, it could be very cool indeed! J. Shevrin - J. Shevrin.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ben E King and the Drifters Stand By Me -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BB Mak Back Here -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- B-52's Love Shack -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SmashMouth Can't Get Enough Of You Baby (SmashMouth) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sense Field save yourself -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cardigans War -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skee Lo I WISH -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- no artist Get A Clue -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Petula Clark Downtown -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Plastic Bertrand Stop ou Encore -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Hoopty - Hooptyloops
When I worked at a record store, one of the perks was getting promos. As a buyer I'd have to know a lot about tunage, and the record companies [at the time] were very much into hipping people on the latest thing out. I got copies of some great stuff while being a buyer. Things I otherwise would have never known about, much less bought on impulse without previewing. Yeah, in the world of trip and rip, where mp3s are the way to go, why the hell would anybody wanna actually get CDs? I would. I make 'em, so why not hear new ones? So check out what Eric Olsen is doing. It might be up your alley. If so, better sign up today. He's looking for bloggers who like music, have ears and can write about what they feel. Hmmmmm.....sounds like just about all of us, neh?
....we bring you Whatever Happened To Heavy Metal? interviewer: Mr. Hoopty, you were involved in music, particularly the satanic heavy metal music, for some time. Did you suffer any ill effects? hoopty: *stares blankly* interviewer: Mr Hoopty? hoopty: ....um....oh, sorry. Uhn, no....I don't think I did, other than a crooked neck and maybe a little bit of hearing loss. interviewer: Interesting. Do you recommend heavy metal to the casual listener? hoopty: ...um.....only if they are properly medicated. interviewer: There was a song that you composed a few years ago that was a poignant political statement of the times. I believe it was entitled Bang Your Head Until You're Dead. Would you care to elaborate on it? hoopty: ....um...sure. I was the drummer. I can count to four. I hurt myself if I tried to go to five. interviewer: Okay. I can only guess that this is some kind of affect, yes? hoopty: Well, we used reverb. I sang, too. interviewer: So then the writing lacks any kind of intellect whatsoever? hoopty: ....um....huh? interviewer: anyway....would you care to sing it? hoopty: Sure....here are the lyrics so the kids can follow along at home. Joe Klehe - I'm Not a Cowboy, I Just Found the Hat
Michigan, during my undergraduate days, about 30-years ago (I had a personal record collection of about 5000 lps in those days). Current music involvement: I've ripped my entire cd collection to my Apple PowerBook (6079 songs, 16.6 days, 26.95 GB); I use an Apple iPod to listen to mp3s in my car. My collection runs from "Aaron Neville: Ultimate Collection" to "ZZ Top: Greatest Hits." What I'm currently listening to: Julia Fordham "Concrete Love"; Bryan Ferry "Frantic"; John Hammond "Wicked Grin"; Eliane Elias "various titles"; Marshall Crenshaw; Chuck Prophet "Hurting Business"; Dave Alvin; Paco de Lucia; Pretenders "Isle of View". I don't listen to radio at all anymore, it's all too much the same. I used to listen to KPIG and KFOG before KPIG stopped streaming; don't know if KFOG streams any more. Tony Pierce - TonyPierce.com
Four good songs total between the six sides of The River and Darkness? Hardly, here are nine awesome songs on The River alone, in order of appearance: Hungry Heart, Out in the Street, The River, Point Blank, Cadillac Ranch, I'm A Rocker, Stolen Car, Drive All Night, Wreck on the Highway. Meanwhile Darkness only has two clunkers "Something in the Night" and "Factory". Please try to convince me that the title track, "Badlands," "Adam Raised a Cain," "Candy's Room," "Racing in the Streets" and "The Promised Land" aren't six classic tunes. Genuine American rock anthems of struggle, turmoil and compromise in an attempt to do the right thing... that also happen to rock. Darkness is the electric guitar record that Dylan never got around to writing, and if it doesn't float your boat, theres something wrong with your boat. Ross S - The Bloviator
ERIC OLSEN'S FREE MUSIC/BRILLIANT BLOGGING BRAINSTORM Eric Olsen has come up with the greatest idea to hit the Blogosphere since...well, ever, in my opinion. You love music, you have a blog, you like free stuff (except, of course, if it comes from drug reps): why not combine all three? Maybe you'll be the Lester Bangs of Blogdom.
They were the greatest band in the world when I was in 6th grade. High 'n' Dry and On Through The Night, their first two albums, were decent pop-metal albums. Then, in 1983: Pyromania. It was a HUGE hit. MTV couldn't get enough of them. Kids everywhere were writing "Def Leppard" on their notebook covers and getting patches for their jean jackets. Who wouldn't instantly recognize the opening chords to Photograph? (Written and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Which brings up a point: Does anyone else think that "Mutt" Lange should have asked Joe Elliott to be the best man at his wedding to Shania Twain? Sure, Mutt had produced AC/DC's "Back In Black" and "Highway To Hell," as well as a few other fine discs, like "Tonic For the Troops," a couple Graham Parker discs, and got a Grammy Nomination for Foreigner 4. But look at what he produced before and after 1983 and tell me that, were it not for Def Leppard, he wouldn't be married to Shania.) Then, the VH1 Behind The Music stuff started happening. We all know the story about Rick Allen, and the death of guitarist Steve Clark. They had a smash follow-up album in 1987 with Hysteria. And then, the fast fall to the bottom. So, where are they now? Sad. But that's rock n' roll for you. It's better to burn out than to fade away. Phillip Winn - W6 Daily
Jazz, Hard Rock, Piano Rock, Funk, Celtic, Janet Jackson and Alicia Keys. It must be an MOR week! Seriously, I'm not so into the hardest of rock - though a coworker is slowly converting me. I own and listen to Alternative, Blues, Classical, Hip-Hop, Electronic/Dance, Jazz, R&B, World and more. It is easier to tell you what I don't appreciate much of: Country, Folk or Easy Listening. I used to review CDs from a particular independent label back when I started what is now W6 Daily, but that was in 1995 or so. Great albums, but the particular rep that knew me left there. :( Eric Hallstrom - Chilicheeze Weblog
I am not sure how much use I am going to be to the (big) music industry. Eric Hallstrom, Steve Sabo, Kevin Gregorius - No Matter What You Heard
I've been itchin' to start bitchin' about the new album by The Flaming Lips, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." I was incredibly exicited about this album for three reasons: 1) It's the FLAMING LIPS, one of the most consistently innovative and challenging musical outfits of our time; 2) The last album, "The Soft Bulletin" was a remarkable achievement; and 3) I thought the name of the album was a clue that Yoshimi P-We of Boredoms fame had joined the band or otherwise collaborated on the album -- not so, although I didn't let the non-use of Yoshimi faze me. What did faze me was the ennui that set in after listening to the album for approximately 7 minutes. Where "The Soft Bulletin" was epic and sweeping in its sound, "Yoshimi..." finds the band following a quieter, more subdued path. Although the music is still very complex in composition, the minimalist approach seems far less experimental then the 4-disc "to-be-played-simultaneously" set of "Zaireeka", and just isn't as much fun as the mid-90's releases like "Clouds Taste Metallic" or "Transmissions From the Satellite Heart." This isn't to say that the LIPS should pigeon-hold themselves into producing albums that revolve around crazy guitar noise, or that they have somehow "lost it." Rather, "Yoshimi...", for all its beauty, simply seems beneath them. They can and have made better music. They can and have written better songs. My wife Sarah insists that the first track (or "cut" if you're buying vinyl), "Fight Test" is one of the most beautiful songs she's ever heard. I'll admit it's catchy. However, listening to that song -- or any song on the album -- one just doesn't sense the despair that emanates from songs like "Waiting For a Superman." Maybe the LIPS don't want their fan-base to be overly depressed, but "Yoshimi..." isn't the way to achieve that goal. It just makes me ... well ... bored. Kevin Gregorius Problem Drinker - The Minor Fall, The Major Lift
Conversely, if you are, despite our excellent advice, going to take a political stand, please be sure to maintain the courage of your convictions. Don't back down because a position you've advocated or a statement you've made might be unpopular. You big fucking pussy. Ben Wright - El Weblog...
Lennat Mak - Skywriting
Pay's in and to my ultimate horror, I miscalculated my "profit/lost" statement so there's a huge discrepancy from the initial figures. Major background moving back moment. I'm done for in August. Donny Broome - Broomeman
Michael Croft - Ones and Zeros
What I'd really like would be for this to be a bold, artist-supporting step into forging a new paradigm. What if it worked like this? indy/unsigned band sends you a CD. You (an administrator) put up the CD's blurb/availability on a web site. I (a user) sign up to get that CD. You send it to me. I review it and link it to the web page. Someone else asks for it. I send it to them (paying postage, my only cost other than web space for my reviews), they review it, link it, put it back into circulation. Eventually it gets lost or donated to the public library. In exchange for my review, I am given the rights to make a digital copy for personal use on my computer/MP3 player. Pieter K - Cognitive Detritus
I've been going through hundreds of records today...all in their beat up old dusty vinyl sleeves. I'm gathering a selection together for my friend's and collaborator's wedding in NJ. I'm DJing at it. Yes, I've graduated to the ranks of mobile DJ! Anyway, it's been a revelation...stumbling across things I've not listened to in ten, fifteen, even sometimes twenty years. Earth, Wind and Fire's "Shining Star" completely floored me...what a piece of music...what an album. There've been dozens more things that have just made me swoon. But. There's one in particular. One that I listen to at least once or twice every year. And yet, it must be pulled out and played with care. It is not an easy thing listening to this album. It's dangerous. When I think to pull it out, I always seem to forget about the effect it has; I forget that it shrouds the rest of the day in a kind of celestial light and it makes getting anything done outside of standing in awe nearly impossible. I pulled it out, and my day has come to a grinding, beautiful halt. It's B.B. King's "Live at the Regal." This album--the opening refrains even--leaps out of the speakers and grabs my soul so tight that it hurts. Everything else around me stops and fades into background silence, phones go unanswered, work goes undone, food doesn't get eaten...I just stand in awe, breathless, choked up, my spine awash in waves of chills. This album is going to church for me. People like to make lists of top ten or twenty this or that ever. It's a futile exercise, one prone to perpetual revision and modification depending on prevailing moods. One thing I can say for certain is that if I were fored to make such a list, this would be on it. Today, tomorrow, a year from now...when I die, and few other albums can do that. I don't even know if the CD is different than vinyl...this brief, live performance captured on two sides of vinyl is a perfect record.
Eric has expanded on his ideas here, here, and here, and has received a bit of criticism here to which I say, Eric's plan is premised on the notion that bloggers writing about the music are writing about it precisely because they are receiving it for free in their capacity as trustworthy fans of music with a facility for writing about music passionately, not as paid music journalists. They would be writing about it as committed music enthusiasts. Almost the entire totality of bloggers blog for free, because they want to, because they have an opinion, right up to the top of the blogospheric feeding chain, where Glenn Reynolds himself writes about Ritchie Hawtin or BT or Steve Earle. Because he wants to. Not because anyone paid him to. In a way, I'd trust these people as much as--in some cases more than--a lot of music journalists. That's not based on a history of receiving bad reviews from them myself; I've largely been treated favorably. It's just a gut-level inclination based on the notion that the coverage originates from a place of genuine interest rather than from a place of having to meet copy quotas. I spend a lot of time reading and sometimes corresponding, and even once or twice, trading music with many of the blogosphere's brightest bloggers and I feel that over time, it's easy to develop a sense of a writer's trustworthiness and integrity....and for the most part, trustworthiness, integrity and honesty are characteristics I would impute to the great majority of bloggers I read on a regular basis. On a more personal level, with my music, I'm interested in how my work plays with the non-specialists. My audience so far has mostly been limited to what I call specialists: electronic dance music fans, DJs, club-goers and casual listeners. I'm very keen to see how it plays with a much larger, more generalized base of music fans. So, for me, as someone who comes down more on the side of producer rather than blogger (although a little bit of that too), it seems like a winning idea and Eric gets my vote. Let's see how much momentum this gathers and if it reaches a point of critical mass, it's on for me, and I'll do what I can to work with my label(s) to help this happen. If it works out for the positive, it won't be hard for me to convince other CD-oriented labels I know to kick in their support. One constructively critical note: Eric has suggested that the receiving bloggers might have to pay shipping. My initial thought was that they shouldn't, as traditional mailouts to journalists are always gratis. However, it's not going to be entirely easy to convince the owners and managers of indy labels to spend $100 (it's 98 cents last I checked to send a single CD first class in the US) on mailouts to people they've never heard of. I think that in the beginning, asking the bloggers to contribute strictly to postage is a fair compromise to get over the initial hill of resistance with label managers. Whether the artist him/her/themselves wish to facilitate this via PayPal or some other service is up to them; I would do it on behalf of myself and my label, partly as a way to demonstrate good faith with the label. So, those are my thoughts more or less. Let's see what happens. John Scalzi - Scalzi.com John doesn't need the discs - check out his IndieCrit reviews, but listen to his ideas - we will be incorporating some of them into the project. Thanks, John:
In the abstract, I think the idea is fine: Being a professional music critic and amateur music maker, I think it's great when people share their opinions about music. Sharing those opinions online allows you to express your opinion to a wider audience that you might have otherwise, so there's definitely something to be said for doing that. However, on a practical matter, I see several problems in terms of implementation, which will probably keep the idea in the "unattractive" bin for the major music labels. I will, of course, enumerate them now. 1. Major label antipathy towards the online world. This needs no explanation; as far as the major labels are concerned at this point, the only type of music you should get online is the sort where you download and listen to it on their terms. One can argue the long-term wisdom of such a paranoid strategy; be that as it may, approaching the major labels with a phalanx of online writers is likely to cause them to spin out nightmare scenarios, in which the bloggers are provided free CDs which they immediately rip and upload to KaZaa. Moreover, it's difficult for even legitimate (i.e., paid and professional) online music critics to convince the major labels of their validity. I can speak to this from experience. While I was the national music writer for MediaOne, which at the time had an online subscriber base of one million and which featured my reviews prominently to its subscribers, I had a hell of a time convincing major music companies to send me CDs. In the end only Atlantic (and some other random Time-Warner labels) sent me anything with any regularity, and usually they sent the CDs after the release date. This was of course useless to me, since my reviews were timed for the week of release. What I ended up doing was simply heading to the music store on Tuesday, buying the CDs for the Friday review, and billing MediaOne for the cost of the CD. This was a couple of years ago, true. However, the music companies are more distrustful of the online world today, not less. 2. Bloggers aren't pros. On his site, Olsen notes that the music publicists he speaks to have said that they would continue to service him with CDs even if he were only writing his blog, with the implication being that they recognize the power of blogdom. But it's not at all trivial to note that Olsen is also a legitimate music professional and has been for years. He's a known quantity and has earned a measure of professional respect over time. As another example, take me (please). I get free CDs sent to me all the time for my IndieCrit site, so I would seem to be the perfect example of a DIY music blogger. However, what sells the site to indie artists, and to the publicists that work with them, is the fact that I am also a professional music writer -- they have the expectation of a certain level of quality in the critical reviews (I also flog IndieCrit in my paid reviews, which doesn't hurt). Also note that for the first several months of IndieCrit, I didn't get much in the way of free CDs. I went and bought CDs of indie artists on CDBaby. I also paid a few hundred dollars to advertise the site on sites that I suspected had people who would be interested in indie music. In other words, I ran (and run) it fairly professionally, which is why I'm now getting people sending me their CDs to review. On the other hand, the average blogger is (no offense) just some guy who may or may not have any real writing ability at all, much less the ability to communicate critical thought with any effectiveness. Now you can argue whether writing skills really matter to publicists -- if a review is a rave why should they care? But as a practical matter, publicists need to be able to use a review; they have to show their bosses (and the artist, and the artist's management) that they're getting the word out to outlets that have influence and reach. Eric could argue to having some influence based on his years in the industry, although all things being equal I'm sure publicists he works with would rather him continue to do his work with traditional print and radio. I can also argue a small bit influence from IndieCrit, in my case specifically because the number of sites reviewing only indie music is small (my influence as the music critic for Official PlayStation Magazine is rather substantially larger). The influence of the average blogger is zero. Eric believes in the potential of the blogger masses, which is nice. But a publicist doesn't have time for potential. He or she needs results, now. 3. Olsen overestimates the power of the blogger reach and influence. There may indeed be 500,000 bloggers and a multiple of that number as blogger readers. However, the vast majority of the bloggers out there are read by an incredibly small number of readers, both in real, objective terms, and certainly in terms of mass media outlets. Even the most successful of bloggers, which is understood to be Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit, has a reach that is dwarfed by the reach of newspapers and magazines of modest circulation. InstaPundit's readership is arguably more likely to act on a recommendation by Glenn than, say, Rolling Stone's is to a review wedged somewhere in the middle of the review section, but Rolling Stone, or even, say, the Dayton Daily News, my hometown paper, has volume to work with. And, as I've noted before, InstaPundit (or AndrewSullivan.com, another popular example with me) is the exception rather than the rule. The relative readership and influence of bloggers diminishes very quickly once you get out of the top 1 or 2% of blogs. From a publicist's point of view, it makes very little sense to spend time (and money) covering the blog market, with the exception of the very few exceptionally popular blogs. There are only so many hours in the day, and only so much postage in the meter. Or to put it another way, why service 100 bloggers with 100 CDs for a readership of ten or twenty thousand, when I can service one mid-sized newspaper critic with one CD and get the same sort of readership? The economics of servicing bloggers don't work. To be quite honest, if I were a music publicist, the sites I would hit probably wouldn't be blogs at all. For example, the Penny Arcade site is visited daily by more than 70,000 unique visitors, most of them teens and young adults, who are deeply committed to the site and on whom the site's owners have rather a lot of influence. Getting Tycho or Gabe to praise a CD is going to have more of an impact than having Glenn, or Andrew, or Eric (or, sad to say, me) praising it. I'd be flooding those boys with music, let me tell you. 4. It's an organizational nightmare. I pity the poor publicist who decides to service bloggers, because he or she is going to get inundated with e-mail from other bloggers who want their free CDs, too. It's difficult to see how there would be an objective standard of who gets serviced and who doesn't; unlike newspapers and magazines (and professional Web sites like Slate or Salon) there's no industry standard for auditing and verifying readership, so there's no initial way to tell which blogs are useful and which are not, and which are driving sales and which are not. Again, why would a publicist want the headache. Eric, who is collecting names for the free CD project, seems to be willing to be a distribution point of contact, although I wonder why he would want to do that. It seems like he's taking on a management role for no pay, but with heaps of potential for aggravation. 5. Bloggers are consumers. And what this means to music companies is that by providing them with free CDs, they're potentially cutting into their base of purchasers. As it stands, music is already talked about online by bloggers and by people who frequent message boards and newsgroups and fan pages and so on (not to mention by the people busily downloading the CDs online before they're officially released); given all the other factors enumerated above, the calculus for amount of publicity generated vs. cost of said publicity doesn't look very good. 6. Writing is work. Blogging is fun and all, but most people do when they want to. But the idea of being serviced with free CDs is that you will actually be reviewing on a regular basis; you're not enjoined to review any particular CD you might get, but you sure as hell better be doing something. Getting free CDs and writing about them sounds like fun at first, but it'll be only a matter of time before some of these bloggers decide that the benefit of free CDs does not outweigh the time and effort it requires to write intelligent, intelligible critical copy. This will especially be the case when they receive eight or nine truly crappy CDs in a row. It stops being fun and starts being work. If I were a publicist, I would probably come to the conclusion that this is pretty much a scam by a bunch of online geeks to get some free music. I'd point them in the direction of the whatever downloadable singles my company might have grudgingly put out, and then I'd wash my hands of them and get back to my job of servicing media outlets that I knew how they worked. *** Now, this isn't to say it couldn't work, but I think Eric is going about this backwards. He shouldn't present the labels with a list of 100 bloggers (or whatever) and ask for free CDs for them on the possibility that his idea might work. He needs to show that it does work before he goes knocking on label doors. What that means is that he needs to get his group of blogger critics together and start creating reviews and showing that the reviews are having a sales impact for the labels before he starts asking to be serviced. Probably the most efficient way to do this is to create a "club" which consists of a dozen or two bloggers, selected for their ability to write intelligently, coherently and passionately, all of whom agree to review a one particular CD a week (it has to be new, since the labels' primary business is moving new material -- can't have a catalogue if you're not creating it as you go along). They go out and buy the CD in the store, listen to it, and then post their reviews on a predictable day of the week; Friday is probably a good day for this (even better would be the creation of a single site for the reviews: BlogCritics.com, say, which as it happens is an available domain name, though I suspect not for long). Then they start tracking their visits on those days and they also create an affiliate store on one of the online seller sites, like Amazon and CDNow, so they can have some idea of how many of those readers turn into buyers. Do this for a few months until they have real data to show and then start asking to be put on mailing lists. I don't know if that will work, but I would suggest that it would have a better chance than the current idea. Believing in the power of blogdom is all very well and good. But showing it first is a rather more effective course of action. Jimmy Jazz - Analog Roam
This year, he returns to Newport, and Tom Piazza in the New York Times argues that it's been a long time coming. He also beautifully recounts the story for those unfamiliar with it. It's always been a favorite image of Dylan -- while the gentle folkie Pete Seeger introduced the festival with a crying baby, inviting the performers to "tell this kid about the kind of world he's going to inherit," Dylan took the stage among a stack of amps, and cranked out "Maggie's Farm" at an ear-bleeding volume, causing Seeger to completely freak out backstage and try to cut the cables. It's difficult to imagine a song so ingrained in our popular consciousness ever having been offensive (John Lennon is quoted as saying it's his favorite song), but at that time, in that place, it was a gob of spit in the face of anyone who ever thought that Dylan would be their social mouthpiece. It's surprising in a way that people were so shocked by his performance, his statement. He had already turned his back on the folk establishment that had embraced him, by making Another Side of Bob Dylan, which contained not a single protest song, no "Masters of War," no "Oxford Town," only bitter indictments of bad relationships. It was rock and roll in all but the instruments. Then with Bringin' it All Back Home, he did one electric side, which included "Maggie's Farm," along with the surreal "Subterranean Homesick Blues," and even the second, quieter side burned with an intensity far brighter than mere protest music. At one point, he throws out a line that would make any socially-conscious folky cringe: "You feel to moan but unlike before / You discover that you'd be just one more person crying." It's doubtful that his folk following were listening carefully enough to catch that bit of sarchasm. If they had been, he might not have been invited to Newport in the first place. But he was, perhaps in the vain hope that Dylan, with all his popularity, would lend a certain legitimacy to their movement. Dylan said no. Or rather, he let "Maggie's Farm" say it for him, very loudly. He ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more, he ain't gonna do what you tell him, and frankly folks, you've got him all wrong, and he's starting to feel a little used. This time at Newport won't be that kind of event. It will be a show, and nothing more. A venue. But he does fit at anything called a folk festival -- he always did. His split with "folk" music in 1965 was really a split with self-important people who were vain enough to think that their songs could change the world. Dylan made, and continues to make, a different sort of folk music, the kind that tells the stories of folks, that is primarily concerned with what goes on in the hearts and minds of men and women, tells it plain, and pulls no punches. John Paxety - Paxety Pages John Simmons - North Florida Music Association
The Florida Times Union published a story on the project, and it's status in limbo on January 31, 2001. Now, the North Florida Music Association has acquired these tapes has posted them online as MP3 files. They are released for educational purposes only and are not to be used commercially in any way. Armed Liberal - Armed Liberal
Lucinda Williams/Car Wheels BRMC/BRMC Jesus & Mary Chain/Automatic Bruce Springsteen/Nebraska Roseanne Cash/Ten-Song Demo Lyle Lovett/Joshua Judges Ruth Social Distortion/White Light, White Trash Miles Davis/Sketches of Spain Joe Diffy/Third Rock From the Sun Dick Dale/Tribal Thunder Pink Martini/Sympathique ...and I can't for the life of me remember what the 12th disc is...hang on... Will The Circle Be Unbroken I also listen to classical, opera, choral music, and Sondheim. Confusing enough for you?? Ryan Olson - Gimpysoft
He's currently taking applications, and I've already thrown mine in. This would definitely be a good way for me to find good new bands... You're invited to apply here.
Of course, probably my two favorites are Big Smith and The Steve Kimock Band. I go see them whenever they're in driving range for a show, and listen to them plenty in my car. I guess I am getting old, though. I just don't like the music the young whippersnappers are listening to these days. When he asked me what kind of music I listen to, I came up with a nice generic "Jam Bands". Which I guess is about as close to true as it could have been. I devotedly follow Kimock and Big Smith, but I'm currently in the process of trying to find some new bands. I saw a lot of folks at Bonnaroo, but when I look at their schedules, their tours usually seem to go East Coast to West Coast, but don't really hit the middle too much. If they do, they're usually shows in Chicago, Wisconsin, or St. Louis, and invariably during the middle of the week. I could go catch them, but that would involve taking time off of work to do it, and I've done enough of that this year that I'm starting to have to conserve or I'm going to run out of vacation for Christmastime... Bonnaroo did definitely inspire me to start downloading more music. I've been using Furthur, a peer-to-peer file sharing utility that restricts itself to legally tradable live shows. In the last month or so, I've downloaded shows by Drums and Tuba, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Medeski Martin & Wood, Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Disco Biscuits, Jurassic 5, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, some old KVHW and Zero (old bands Steve Kimock was in), moe, The Big Wu, Rusted Root, and Particle. I've had Furthur running more or less non-stop for the last month or so, and I've just about filled up my brand new 80 Gig hard drive. As a matter of fact, I've downloaded so much music, I think I have about a 16 hour backlog of stuff I've downloaded and have yet to listen to. I'm slowly trying to work my way through it, and here are some thoughts so far. The Disco Biscuits and Particle are somewhat similar. They are regular guitar/bass/drums bands that also include some elements of electronic music. The Disco Biscuits have DJs sit in while the band plays, and I'm not sure if Particle is using DJs or synths and sequencers. With both bands, the live band is the driving force behind the music, but they work the electronic stuff in seamlessly, and it works. I've heard other bands try to mix electronic stuff in with an improvisational live performance, and it doesn't always work, but both of these bands pull it off well. I've been listening to The Disco Biscuits Bonnaroo show and a New York Particle show a lot over the last week while driving. I don't really know how to describe Drums and Tuba, but I've been listening to one of their shows a lot while at home working on the computer. Their name is quite literal, they do in fact have drums and a Tuba. According to their press kit, they're a band from Austin that originally started with the idea of creating a stripped down marching band. Two of the guys started playing on 6th Street for tips (that's called busking, you know), then they added a guitarist and formed the band. I know I saw that they were playing in Fayetteville several times, and I know they've been to Lawrence. Now I'm kicking myself for not having caught them before, and they're not touring this summer. They'll be touring in the fall, but haven't annoucned dates yet. I also keep Bela Fleck and the Flecktones on the playlist now, and I may have to head over to Columbia, MO on Sunday, August 4 to catch them, or maybe down to Eureka Springs 9/10. Bela Fleck plays banjo, and the rest of the band is fairly standard. The stuff with The Flecktones is different from what I heard at Bonnaroo, but good as well. I'm still upset that I can't seem to find a copy of the Bela Fleck/Edgar Meyer show from Bonnaroo. That rocked. It was just Banjo and Bass, and all classical sounding music. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Others that I've listened to, but didn't really catch my attention immediately included moe, The Big Wu, and Medeski Martin & Wood. Of those three, MMW really seemed to play well, and they're definitely worth a second listen (I was cleaning yesterday while listening to them), but I think I'd catch moe or The Big Wu if they were ever passing through town. Gary Higginson - Ticqle
Madison Slade - Moxie.nu
Back when I lived In San Francisco, I was equally lucky to have a small market within walking distance. Stavros greeted me there one day with a wink, "I saw one of your movies last night." I was confused, as I have no movie credits in which I am actually visible. "No, ummm, I don't think you could possibly have seen me in a movie," I muttered. He blushed. And winked again. Oh no. It quickly became apparent that he wasn't talking about a New Line Cinema release, or even a Miramax flick. The oafish man was talking about the films in the *back* of the store. "No, no, no, noooooo....that wasn't me. I'd never...I mean, I don't even have the kind of body to do those sorts of films...." I stammered. "Oh well, yeah sorry, But this woman? She didn't have a good body either." Seth Werkheiser - Buzzgrinder.com
Dan Lewis - Dan Lewis
I'll throw out the first suggestion: FocusIn, a band from somewhere near Boston. They have 4 mp3s posted at www.focus-in.net, and I only know about it through a friend of a friend. Why not through a blog of a blog? wKen - wKenShow
From the Inside Via Jim Schwab, 35-year+ music biz veteran Janis Ian wrote a lengthy, balanced, intelligent piece on the Internet/Music Biz nightmare back in May:
Costing me money? I don't pretend to be an expert on intellectual property law, but I do know one thing. If a music industry executive claims I should agree with their agenda because it will make me more money, I put my hand on my wallet…and check it after they leave, just to make sure nothing's missing. Am I suspicious of all this hysteria? You bet. Do I think the issue has been badly handled? Absolutely. Am I concerned about losing friends, opportunities, my 10th Grammy nomination by publishing this article? Yeah. I am. But sometimes things are just wrong, and when they're that wrong, they have to be addressed. The premise of all this ballyhoo is that the industry (and its artists) are being harmed by free downloading. Nonsense. Let's take it from my personal experience. My site (www.janisian.com ) gets an average of 75,000 hits a year. Not bad for someone whose last hit record was in 1975. When Napster was running full-tilt, we received about 100 hits a month from people who'd downloaded Society's Child or At Seventeen for free, then decided they wanted more information. Of those 100 people (and these are only the ones who let us know how they'd found the site), 15 bought CDs. Not huge sales, right? No record company is interested in 180 extra sales a year. But… that translates into $2700, which is a lot of money in my book. And that doesn't include the ones who bought the CDs in stores, or who came to my shows. ....Now, RIAA and NARAS, as well as most of the entrenched music industry, are arguing that free downloads hurt sales. (More than hurt - they're saying it's destroying the industry.) Alas, the music industry needs no outside help to destroy itself. We're doing a very adequate job of that on our own, thank you. Here are a few statements from the RIAA's website: "Analysts report that just one of the many peer-to-peer systems in operation is responsible for over 1.8 billion unauthorized downloads per month". (Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002) "Sales of blank CD-R discs have…grown nearly 2 ½ times in the last two years…if just half the blank discs sold in 2001 were used to copy music, the number of burned CDs worldwide is about the same as the number of CDs sold at retail." (Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002) "Music sales are already suffering from the impact…in the United States, sales decreased by more than 10% in 2001."(Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002) "In a recent survey of music consumers, 23%…said they are not buying more music because they are downloading or copying their music for free."(Hilary B. Rosen letter to the Honorable Rick Boucher, Congressman, February 28, 2002) Let's take these points one by one, but before that, let me remind you of something: the music industry had exactly the same response to the advent of reel-to-reel home tape recorders, cassettes, DATs, minidiscs, VHS, BETA, music videos ("Why buy the record when you can tape it?"), MTV, and a host of other technological advances designed to make the consumer's life easier and better. I know because I was there. The only reason they didn't react that way publicly to the advent of CDs was because they believed CD's were uncopyable. I was told this personally by a former head of Sony marketing, when they asked me to license Between the Lines in CD format at a reduced royalty rate. ("Because it's a brand new technology.") Who's to say that any of those people would have bought the CD's if the songs weren't available for free? I can't find a single study on this, one where a reputable surveyor such as Gallup actually asks people that question. I think no one's run one because everyone is afraid of the truth - most of the downloads are people who want to try an artist out. And if a percentage of that 1.8 billion is because people are downloading a current hit by Britney or In Sync, who's to say it really hurt their sales? Soft statistics are easily manipulated. How many of those people went out and bought an album that had been over-played at radio for months, just because they downloaded a portion of it? Sales of blank CDs have grown? You bet. I bought a new Vaio in December (ironically enough, made by Sony), and now back up all my files onto CD. I go through 7-15 CD's a week that way, or about 500 a year. Most new PC's come with XP, which makes backing up to CD painless; how many people are doing what I'm doing? Additionally, when I buy a new CD, I make a copy for my car, a copy for upstairs, and a copy for my partner. That's three blank discs per CD. So I alone account for around 750 blank CDs yearly. I'm sure the sales decrease had nothing to do with the economy's decrease, or a steady downward spiral in the music industry, or the garbage being pushed by record companies. Aren't you? There were 32,000 new titles released in this country in 2001, and that's not including re-issues, DIY's , or smaller labels that don't report to SoundScan. A conservative estimate would place the number of "newly available" CD's per year at 100,000. That's an awful lot of releases for an industry that's being destroyed. And to make matters worse, we hear music everywhere, whether we want to or not; stores, amusement parks, highway rest stops. The original concept of Muzak (to be played in elevators so quietly that its soothing effect would be subliminal) has run amok. Why buy records when you can learn the entire Top 40 just by going shopping for groceries? Which music consumers? College kids who can't afford to buy 10 new CDs a month, but want to hear their favorite groups? When I bought my nephews a new Backstreet Boys CD, I asked why they hadn't downloaded it instead. They patiently explained to their senile aunt that the download wouldn't give them the cool artwork, and more important, the video they could see only on the CD. Realistically, why do most people download music? To hear new music, or records that have been deleted and are no longer available for purchase. Not to avoid paying $5 at the local used CD store, or taping it off the radio, but to hear music they can't find anywhere else. Face it - most people can't afford to spend $15.99 to experiment. That's why listening booths (which labels fought against, too) are such a success. You can't hear new music on radio these days; I live in Nashville, "Music City USA", and we have exactly one station willing to play a non-top-40 format. On a clear day, I can even tune it in. The situation's not much better in Los Angeles or New York. College stations are sometimes bolder, but their wattage is so low that most of us can't get them. One other major point: in the hysteria of the moment, everyone is forgetting the main way an artist becomes successful - exposure. Without exposure, no one comes to shows, no one buys CDs, no one enables you to earn a living doing what you love. Again, from personal experience: in 37 years as a recording artist, I've created 25+ albums for major labels, and I've never once received a royalty check that didn't show I owed them money. So I make the bulk of my living from live touring, playing for 80-1500 people a night, doing my own show. I spend hours each week doing press, writing articles, making sure my website tour information is up to date. Why? Because all of that gives me exposure to an audience that might not come otherwise. So when someone writes and tells me they came to my show because they'd downloaded a song and gotten curious, I am thrilled! Who gets hurt by free downloads? Save a handful of super-successes like Celine Dion, none of us. We only get helped. John Cale This post has inspired a surprisingly enduring celebration of Leonard Cohen's remarkable song "Hallelujah." My favorite version is by Jeff Buckley, but others prefer the John Cale version. Inspired by this, and by the response to my Velvet Underground feature, I am pleased to put up an interview/bio of Cale from the Encyclopedia of Record Producers (which you can now buy cheap as a bucket of dirt from Amazon), which covers some of the same terrain as the Velvets feature. John Cale Within John Cale lies the dichotomy at the heart of great rock 'n' roll: the contrast between exquisite beauty and naked power. Cale also embodies a temporal contradiction: that of a self-professed anachronism ("I'm a 19th Century personality with 20th Century demands, or urges") who has spent his artistic life ahead of his time. Cale's first band, the Velvet Underground (inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996), was decades ahead of its time, and Cale's subsequent solo work and productions have marched ahead of the pack as well. Cale has put his 19th-century sensibility to work on Nico's tragic romanticism, Siouxsie and the Banshees' melodic goth-rock (The Rapture), and many of his own songs. He has harnessed the raw energy under the hood of rock 'n' roll with the Stooges (self-titled debut), Modern Lovers (self-titled debut), Patti Smith (Horses) and many of his own songs. Cale was born March 9, 1942 in Garnant, Wales. His father was a coal miner, his mother a music teacher. Cale began piano lessons with his mother at age 7, and pursued the viola at school. Within a few years he had composed and performed over the BBC. This success led him to believe he could make a career out of music - an ambition that so concerned his mother, she commanded him to stop playing when he was 11. Cale relates in his euphonious Welsh baritone, "That drove me nuts. I became a rebel and from that point on did nothing but play. I decided to prove to her that you could make a living in music." From 1960-63, Cale studied composition at London University's Goldsmith College, and was drawn to contemporary experimental music. Rubbing elbows with the elite, Cale met Aaron Copland, who induced Leonard Bernstein to grant him a scholarship to study in the U.S. Cale soon came under the sway of John Cage and La Monte Young, pioneers in minimalism. Cale played viola in Young's experimental combo (the Theater of Eternal Music, then the Dream Syndicate) from '63-'65, concentrating on the sonic and metaphysical implications of the drone. Cale then met a young songwriter/singer/guitarist named Lou Reed. After a brief period as the Primitives and a single called "The Ostrich," the pair formed the Velvet Underground, named after an S&M novel. Live, the Velvets were a bizarre amalgam of vigorous R&B, pretty pop songs, extended experimental noise jams (often grounded in Cale's drones), and the performance art of Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The original band lasted just two albums, The Velvet Underground and Nico, and White Light, White Heat: temporary, yet timeless blendings of the centrifugal and centripetal. "It seemed to work even when we were playing in the exact opposite corners of the musical spectrum on the same piece. We were capable of anything. The dichotomy was given as great a value as the ability to unify on something. That was something that Andy believed in as well. It just angers me that there wasn't more work done because we were so good at it," growls Cale. Cale left the Velvets in 1968 and produced fellow Velvets refugee Nico on her second album, The Marble Index. Cale produced the haute-sensitive, doomed glamour queen throughout her sporadic career. "She had problems with the process of recording, which is often tedious and repetitive. Things get bogged down in the middle. But on every project, sure enough, I'd turn around to say something to her and she'd be sitting there in tears, and I'd say `What's wrong, now?' And she'd say,'It is so Beeeuuuteeful.' What can you do? One minute, this vicious onslaught. The next, a very tender moment." Through Nico, Cale met Elektra owner Jac Holzman, who asked him to produce the first Stooges album. "Jac took me to Detroit to see the MC5 recording live. The opening band was the Stooges. . . I fell in love with Iggy's character and personality as a performer. The challenge was to get that magic and impish behavior onto a record." Cale succeeded. The Stooges' debut rocks with the psychedelic blues-rock fervor of a severely distempered Cream. The volatility of the Stooges' live act is implied rather than manifested, but such itchy odes to malaise as "1969" ("Another year for me and you/Another year with nothin' to do") helped set the tone and vocabulary (with the Velvets and the MC5) for punk rock (and its permutations) over the next 30 years. In the early-'70s, Cale climbed into the beast by accepting an A&R position with Warner Brothers Records. For his next major project, he moved to the opposite end of the misfit spectrum to produce Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers' (with future-Talking Head and producer Jerry Harrison) first album. "They dropped off a tape of a song called `Hospital' that sounded very lame at first hearing. What was magical about it was that they took this weakness, this lameness, and by the end of the song, it had become a strength. . . There was an honesty there that you couldn't turn your back on. . . We did a demo, and the demo turned out to be the best record. For some reason, best-known to psychiatrists, when they were formally signed to the company, and formally introduced to management and a producer, the whole enterprise imploded. The closer they got to success, the more disorganized they became." Cale's demo with the Lovers, released in 1975 as The Modern Lovers, is a classic of simplicity, power and beauty which straddles the line between the cloying lameness that Richman eventually succumbed to and the jagged righteousness of rock 'n' roll. "Roadrunner" (about driving, the radio, nighttime, and jumping out of one's skin at the glory of it all) and "Pablo Picasso" ("He could walk down the street/Girls could not resist his stare/Pablo Picasso was not called an asshole") are two of the best rock songs ever written. Cale completed a triptych of exemplary productions with Patti Smith's debut, Horses, also in 1975. "That was a case of recording a poet who was a mother hen over some inexperienced musicians, who had all the heart in the world. Once we were in the studio we discovered, `My God, all of these instruments are warped!' We stopped, ordered in a whole slew of new instruments, and had them record that way. Just that act alone was enough to uproot some of the sensibilities there, and that created a whole new set of instabilities within the band and toward me. I was a little brusque with them. I'm sure I could have handled it a lot better. Everyone has their favorite instrument that they love and have gotten used to. You walk in there with muddy boots and somebody feels insulted: `What, you don't like this gorgeous Fender with a bullet hole in it?'" Muddy boots or not, the Patti Smith debut updated (in a `70s alterna-rock context) a distaff version of the poet/naive musician archetype that stretches back in American music through Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson and Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Smith's "Gloria" twists and extends the original into an odyssey. "Redondo Beach" is a tuneful faux-reggae tableau of a woman's body washing ashore. Smith's 10-minute, stream-of-consciousness opus, "Land: horses," flashes by in a blur of piquant images. The inexperience of the band (led by Lenny Kaye on guitar) translates to raucous authority under Cale's direction. Cale's best outside production since Horses is Siouxsie and the Banshees' The Rapture, from 1995. The single "O Baby" somehow captures Siouxsie's 20 years of angular goth majesty and transports it into a luscious, buoyant three-minute pop shuffle. Perhaps Cale carried some of that buoyancy over from the Eno/Cale album, Wrong Way Up, which blends the tuneful best of two avant-rock giants into a soulful, playful, jiggling joy. Catchy melodies, electronic Afro-Caribbean polyrhythms and paired singing carry the album into a relaxed but grooving space where two men, who have literally seen it all, can muse charmingly upon the wild life ("Been There Done That"), transcendent universality ("One Word"), and an old-fashioned Western tale ("Crime In the Desert"). The best introduction to Cale's large body of solo work is the Seducing Down the Door double-CD collection, highlighted by "Dixieland and Dixie," "Gun," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Pablo Picasso," "Hedda Gabler," "Dead or Alive," "Waiting For My Man," and the duet with Lou Reed, "Trouble With Classicists." Unfortunately, Cale's best solo album, Sabotage/Live, is represented by only one song (an elastic "Walking the Dog"). Sabotage is symbolic of Cale's entire career: a live album replete with aching beauty ("Only Time Will Tell," Chorale"), punishing rock ("Mercenaries," "Baby You Know," "Sabotage"). Cale's purest vocal performance can be found on the Leonard Cohen tribute album, I'm Your Fan. On "Hallelujah," accompanied only by his own piano, Cale achieves an unhistrionic poignancy that brings a tear. Hawkins and the Hacker John Hawkins has a revealing interview with Jon David, who hacked al Qaeda:
Jon David: We have all the IP addresses to the tune of 27 thousand visitors a day seeking Alneda.com (the calling) from every hostile country imaginable. But interestingly enough, 90% were from Saudi Arabia. John Hawkins: Just like 15 of the 19 hijackers...no big surprise there. Jon David: It literally took me 5 days to reach anyone in the FBI that had an even elementary grasp of the Internet. By that time, the hostiles realized the site I had up was a decoy and then advised everyone away from it. I still gave the FBI all the log information and link information to the hostile boards and whatnot, but it's far from what could have potentially been done if they would have acted more quickly. But they are a bureaucracy and as such they move incredibly slow. Dawn and Maddie After they worked together so well in the Blogathon, it is only fitting that Dawn's latest interview be with Madison Slade: they are both lovely, charming, talented and impish. We met Maddie at the LA Blogger Bash, in fact we met her before we got to the Blogger Bash when our rented SUV nearly enveloped her little Porsche on the hill outside Brian's house. She was understandably indignant, but by the time we got to Brian's door we were already pals. Though we were unaware of her site, Moxie.nu, prior to the party, that's only because we were stupid for it is exceptional with cool arty photos, evocative stories, and uproarious blogging. Back to the interview:
Dawn: okay, so what is your most embarrassing moment? Madison: there are so many to choose from... Madison: it's almost impossible to isolate just one as the most embarrassing. Dawn: lol Dawn: Any that make you blush Madison: Probably not.. Madison: But there was this one time at work Dawn: Wow, most of mine are so humiliating. Madison: I was wearing a pair of French pants that had a zipper all the way down one side. That was how you got in and out of the damn things. Dawn: uh oh Madison: It was my first day, (I was a consultant) and the zipper broke. Literally pulled apart, so only one leg of the pants would stay on. The other side of me was totally exposed. Madison: So I had to wait in the women's room until someone came in. Of course I didn't know anyone so it was a stranger. Madison: And she went to get my jacket (thank god it was cool out) and I had to head home to change. Dawn: dude, that would suck big time Madison: it was really embarrassing Dawn: I learned in junior high not to wear complicated clothing Madison: headline: the expensive consultant’s pants fall apart, partial nudity ensues Dawn: I bet people liked you a lot more after that. Um, some people anyway. Striking a Blow for Murderous, Child-Corrupting, Venal Bitches Everywhere Nothing new from the Fayetteville Observer today on the wife-killing side of the ledger, but it would appear the women have struck back:
Warrants charge Joan Shannon, who is 35, with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Police arrested Shannon about 11:30 p.m. at a hotel on Fort Bragg. Three of couple’s four children and a teen-age friend were home at the time of the shooting -- Joan Shannon’s 15-year-old daughter Elizabeth, her friend, 14-year-old Vera Thompson, and the couple’s sons Marc and Christopher. The boys are younger than 11 years old. “We believe financial gain is one of the primary motives of the crime,” said Lt. Tom Guilette.
UPDATE Lori at Rumination, which is a very fine site by the way, has some important thoughts on the overall matter from her site and from our comments section:
....I left the military in '95 during the Clinton "drawdown". One missing piece among all the dot-connecting I've read - the budget cuts didn't just affect hardware, but services available to military personnel as well. The "perks", which are really necessities in military life. I don't doubt that we're seeing more unintended consequences of decreased levels of support in general and support for families in particular. Combine that with overall increased pace of deployment and the growing war. It was a rueful joke that many service people ride the dating /courtship /marriage /kids (optional) /separation /divorce merry-go-round as if they have the lifespan of a moth. Everything is accelerated because you have to grab the chance to squeeze in your 'normal' life before you get transferred to another base. I would guess that involuntary separations make it worse. Tuesday, July 30, 2002
44/33 BLOGGER FIESTA IN CLEVELAND RSVP NOW I turn 44 and Dawn turns 33 in August. We had a sensational time at the gala L.A. Blogger party a couple of weeks ago (thanks Brian! et al). Ergo, we are going to have a combined birthday/blogger party at our house in the Cleveland area on AUGUST 24. All bloggers, and cool blog readers, are welcome. Doug Dever of Clue Society, who got both jiggy and freaky at the Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash, will co-host, or tri-host, or whatever. He'll be there. Several very special special out of town guests are already confirmed. Come to Cleveland and meet your fellow blogoids, drink heartily, eat well, be festive. Probably no Warren Zevon, but maybe we can get TRENT REZNOR to show up. Email Dawn, Doug or me for more information and to RSVP. Space is limited, DON'T DELAY. Many Are Trying Mike Sanders has a thoughtful post on blogging and giving:
One area that I have found blogging useful, is in observing the human condition, especially anger. In terms of anger, some have pointed out that there are three stages. The first phase is the emotion that occurs when a person is provoked. This is to some extent reflexive and can be reduced, but is difficult to totally eliminate. The second phase, rage, is the the reaction to the initial emotion which can range from total silence and restraint through a broad spectrum of responses all the way to physical violence. The third phase, resentment, is the retention of anger and bearing a grudge. Both the second and third phases are within a person's capacity to control. And it is usually considered a sign of a healthy personality to be able control rage and resentment. This past weekend was the blogathon which was a great use of blogs for positive causes ....A wise man once pointed out that although public pledges can lead to arrogance, if they motivate others to give to charity then they are appropriate. So may I suggest that this might be a good opportunity to give some charity in public or private. Every dollar helps and it's a good habit to get into. Superhero? Avian Huntress? For some reason it has taken me until now to catch up with Hawkgirl (I am assuming this is in reference to Emily being pro-war, rather than either a superhero or an avian huntress). She wastes no time in kicking shins and calling names: CNN reports that "Two-thirds of kids surveyed said they had been teased or gossiped about in a mean way in the past month." What did they expect? Children™ in general, and teenagers in particular, are heartless, uncivilized fuckers. This is news? Didn't anybody important die today? ....schools are trying to teach kids to be wussy poof-pies© and impart some brand of "arms are for hugging" garbage on them. Lesson one, kiddies: kick the mean ones in the shins. It really hurts right there. The Roster Pt 1 FREE CDs For Bloggers roster in approximately the order they came in 7/26-28: Jim Schwab - JimSpot
Unfortunately, I don't have a musically talented bone in my body, since I'd love to make my own music, and I HAVE tried. I tried to play guitar, bass and keyboard. I simply don't have the talent for it. I call myself the ultimate music fan. I love to listen to music, I can read music and I know what I like. I, however, cannot play it. So this opportunity has me a tad bit excited. Thanks Eric. Jen Rajkowski - Being Jen Rajkowski
Marc Weisblott - Weisblog
"Islands In the Stream" Bee Gees (1998): I don't care how liberated they are in Australia, hearing three middle-aged brothers singing in falsetto harmony about "makin' love with each other" is positively creepy. "No Goodbyes" Backstreet Boys (1999): I've always dug hearing overexposed pop hits rendered by the original artist in another language, from the Beatles mangling phonetic German circa 1964 to Christina Aguilera's recent "Genio Atrapado". To hear alternate lyrics in English, however, is a different matter entirely--save for the fact that the words to the definitive BSB classic, "I Want It That Way" were totally illogical to begin with. Certainly, whatever melodramatic froth they built up in the more familiar hit version disappears in this alternate take. Why? Just because those three little words, "tell me why," are substituted with "no goodbyes". Just because all those great fin de siecle prefab popwriters were Swedish doesn't mean they were the musical equivalents of Ingmar Bergman. "No Such Thing" John Mayer (2002): Does the generation who grew up listening to the Dave Matthews Band feel less conformist, even though they so obviously are? I swear, during most of my adolescence I never would have made an effort to describe myself as incapable of a conventional existence. But this song's theme assumes that everyone--from the bullies to the cheerleaders--has a square peg complex that lingers at least until their tenth reunions. I sense Mayer's self-consciousness, that he's been wasting his time, stems from the fact that he's still lingering in his twenties. A period where every unproductive hour might as well be a decade. Trust me, I know--after those days are down, that decade really feels more like an hour. Sulizano - Get Your Drawers On
Fun! Food! Fellowship! Hot blonde 2-1/2 year old babes! Adult beverages! All the bloggin' babble you can handle! And what's more, with enough begging, you might even be treated to yours truly performing her very own style of white-female-angst-ridden pull-the-trigger music! I am all over this party like a cheap fuckin' suit! Why the HECK aren't YOU????? Barbara Flaska - Flaskaland
Uno. July 26. Tres Producers dream of opening up the world of music journalism to those who publish blogs. Why ever would they want to do this? Go find out. (posted under "Free Music" and "More Free Music" if you want free music CD's to write about on your very own blog) Alex Whitlock - RAWbservations
Illway - Illway.com
This looks like a legitimate opportunity, folks. Let's help make this happen. Bruce Baugh - Writer of Fortune 2
....I think there are several ways for this to be a constructive influence. 1. Used sales. There are good used music stores, both in physical retail and online - see Django's and Second Spin for examples of the latter. Someone who's decided, as several of my friends have, to refuse to buy any new music from labels connected to the RIAA can nonetheless enjoy good used music. 2. Back to the collection. Anyone who buys eclectically is likely to have albums in their collection that they haven't listened to for a while. A fresh alert can make them go back and give another listen to some of those possibly buried gems. Eric's retrospective essays have done that for me at least once. 3. Artists to look for in other contexts. The industry will continue to break up and fall apart. More and more work will become available through channels and in ways that do not keep the morally brutal status quo in place. And if you know more people you'd like to patronize when their work shows up that way, you are in a position to help the process along. Me too. This is in addition to trading with one's friends - actually handing off discs, that is, to put things you just want to listen to in the hands of someone who does, and vice versa. I hope you do that too; it's fun. Scott Chaffin - The Fat Guy
If you are part of the subset-A (blogger/music) intersection, go check out his post and see if it's for you. But don't do it for the free CDs. As the husband of a wife ("a man for a husband" - Raising Arizona) who is more and more involved in the music biz, there are tons of the things laying around the casa. Some good, some GREAT, and a bunch not so good. I'll send you some of them, if you just want a CD or 50 to fill up shelf space. Lionel Mandrake - A Letter From the Olde Countrie
Paul Palubicki - Beers Across America
I think this is one of the best ideas to come out of the olde Blogosphere ™ in ages. Who can't resist the offer of free music in return for shooting your mouth off about it? Dan Hersam - Amidst a Tangled Web
Martin Devon - Patio Pundit
That's why, I gather, Eric would act as a clearing-house for other bloggers. If I understand it correctly, Eric would get an additional allotment of CDs that he would then spread out to bloggers on the list. Each blogger would get a portion of the CD's on the list, as opposed to each blogger getting every CD. Let's say that Eric's current take consists of each CD that comes out each week. So if Eric's current "take" = 'x', the 100 bloggers would share '2x', or maybe up to '5x'. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Still sounds pretty good though, even of you do have to pay for shipping, doesn't it? Maybe it does to someone less jaded than I am, but I've been on those lists for many years. It is pretty cool at first, but it wears more quickly than you might imagine. It turns out that you get at least ten dreck CD's for every decent one. When I first started getting free CDs I would resolve to listen to each at least once. That lasted six months. I started getting picky about which free CDs I'd even listen to. Why? Because my time is valuable, even the cycles I use listening to something in the background. ....I think that it is really cool that Eric is trying to make this work. I hope that my analysis is wrong, and that Eric manages to get ever one of those 100 bloggers signed up for their own comp list. More importantly, I hope that this idea takes off and allows some great music to break through the current clutter and find an audience. This is worth doing even if it fails. So I kind of feel like a killjoy for saying it, but I don't see this taking off.. Sheila Lennon - Subterranean Homepage News
Interestingly, Eric blogs and responds to a dissenting crosscurrent from Josh Kortbein: "...(Eric) doesn't talk more about the economics involved, that is, about how the overwhelming majority of the "real" journalists (that's not a word he used, but it's one I sense) are paid for their work, as well as receiving free music (and the extra income that comes from unloading it, however slight that is). I'm not sure whether the fact that bloggers doing this would be doing unpaid work is an improvement or not." Sidebar: A note about that "extra income from unloading it": A side business in reselling books and music is considered unethical here at The Providence Journal, so we have, roughly monthly, a "Book and Music Grab" to dispose of the unreviewed books that weren't distributed to libraries and CDs that didn't make the cut. At 3 p.m. on the appointed day, the doors to the fourth-floor auditorium are opened, and anyone in any department is welcome to take 3 books and 3 CDs from the hundreds laid out on tables and on the auditorium stage. After 4 p.m., you can take as many as you like from what's left. If you have niche interests, or such wide musical knowledge that you can spot a rare "before he got famous" reissue, you might score. But after years of these free-for-alls, most of us come away marveling at the dreck that gets published, and our homes are full of truly bad books. Andrew Duncalfe - The Limey Brit
Ed Driscoll - EdDriscoll.com
Come to think of it, that used to be exactly what Rolling Stone did, back when it was fun to read. Andy and Tom - World Wide Rant
Bobby Allison-Gallimore - Caffeinspiration
Here you go, fellow webloggers and music lovers. Eric Olsen at Tres Producers thinks he can get us hooked up with free cd's in exchange for reviewing said cd's on our sites. It's our very own opportunity to become music critics and to hear the latest sounds being produced. If you're interested in signing up (he still needs volunteers) visit the post and follow the instructions he gives. Kent Qian - Mightier Than the Sword
The next batch of bloggers will be up shortly - check these guys out. FREE CDs FOR BLOGGERS - DEADLINE: MIDNIGHT TONIGHT I am busy putting together the list of bloggers who have joined the FREE CDs for blogger campaign - the number is over SEVENTY. This seems like a good place to stop for now. YOU HAVE UNTIL MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO SIGN UP - JUST SEND ME AN EMAIL WITH "BLOG MUSIC" IN THE HEADING - then we will enter the next phase of the campaign. We are making alterations based upon some tremendous ideas and critiques of the concept. All of this is soon forthcoming. If you have already sent me an email today, I have it, will get back to you soon. Thanks! Up Mine Dawn has been cooking with rocket fuel of late. She finishes up the grueling run of the Blogathon just in time to give blood: both ways. Meanwhile she's blogging like a champ all the livelong day, and she has primly cropped one of the hottest photos since the daguerrotype was invented to just say "Hi" to all the folks stopping by. Whatta gal. Beached They say it is a mystery why these whales keep beaching themselves, but I'd say it's pretty clear they are trying to return the clothing. RIAA Seeks Sharia Friend-o-Bloggers Farhad Manjoo has a brilliant new article in Salon about the recording industry's spasmodic attempts to shut down audio file sharing, and other ill-advised lurching in the dark:
Berman's bill, the Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act, allows record companies to respond to the "theft" of copyrighted materials by "disabling, interfering with, blocking, diverting, [or] otherwise impairing" a peer-to-peer file-trading network. As long as record companies do these things to prevent the trading of their copyrighted works, they couldn't be prosecuted under computer crime statutes. ....Berman's efforts are being championed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry's trade group. In a statement, Hilary Rosen, RIAA's CEO, called the measure an "innovative approach to combating the serious problem of Internet piracy." One executive said, "Too draconian - we don't want to cut off our nose to spite our face." To which Rosen replied, "Not the nose, you idiot, the pinkies."
....During the last three years, the battle against file sharing has become the entertainment industry's version of the War on Drugs, an expensive, protracted, apparently ineffective and seemingly misguided battle against a contraband that many suggest does little harm. The labels' main strategy -- busting the biggest dealers in an attempt to strangle the supply of free MP3s, while offering few palatable solutions to stem the demand -- is a classic tactic from the War on Drugs book, and it has failed just as clearly. Despite the RIAA's recent settlement with AudioGalaxy -- in which the trading service agreed to make available only those songs that it had formal permission to list, an agreement that renders AudioGalaxy useless -- researchers believe that more people are trading music than ever before.
In other words, there's no way out of this mess for the recording industry other than to implement real subscription services.
Doc Searls, of course, is all over this theme, including posts here, and here, among others. Ken Layne seeks to punish Berman for his perfidy. UPDATE Jim Schwab has some excellent thoughts on the matter:
The biggest key is content though. If they only have the 100 most recent pop albums, or billboard's top 100, they aren't going to do too well, since most online "pirates" are a little more selective than that. I could go on, since this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Instead of embracing this "revolution" and turning it into the cash-cow it could be, they are trying to backpedal and pretend this technology is inheritly bad. It is much more convienient for the consumer, and has the potential to change the model of the music industry, hopefully for the better. Judge Kicks Traficant In the Balls Traficant gets eight years:
Defiant throughout his trial and ethics hearings, he earlier had filed to run for a 10th term in November as an independent, despite the threat of imprisonment and expulsion. U.S. District Judge Lesley Wells gave Traficant a longer sentence than prosecutors had asked for, saying he had no respect for the government and that he used lies to distract attention from the charges against him. She cited four factors: He abused the public's trust, created a loss of public confidence in government, obstructed justice and took a leadership role in recruiting people to further his scheme. She also told Traficant, 61, that he believes he is above the law. "You've done a lot of good in your years in Congress ... the good you have done does not excuse you of the crime you were convicted of," she told him. Although he's not a lawyer, Traficant defended himself both before jurors and fellow lawmakers, insisting he was innocent and the victim of a government vendetta. Long a critic of what he sees as an overbearing government, Traficant is known for one-minute House speeches that end with the "beam me up" line from "Star Trek" to show his exasperation. Traficant accused Wells of aiding the prosecution and complained that he wasn't allowed to argue during the trial that the government has a vendetta against him. "Why did you tie my hands behind my back?" he asked Wells as she sentenced him. Wells then ordered him to sit down. Prosecutors had asked for a prison term of at least 7 1/4 years and a hefty fine, although they would not specify an amount. They argued that he has shown no remorse and can collect his congressional pension even though he has been expelled. During the hearing, Traficant fired Richard Hackerd, a Cleveland lawyer he had hired to represent him for the sentencing. Hackered had argued for leniency because of the former congressman's long history of public service.
What, then, to make of Northeast Ohio's other tonsorial touchstone, Jim Traficant? What manner of mane is this? It is a question worth contemplating as Traficant faces expulsion from Congress and stands a week from sentencing for his conviction on 10 federal charges. His effectiveness as a representative is debatable, and his guilt will remain a matter of contention. But there is no doubting the impact of the hair. Judges and congressional committees being human, I would challenge them not to be swayed by it, and counsel them to be cautious in considering his fate. For if there is hope for Traficant, surely it rests with the awe inspired by his crowning glory. To say he has a head of hair is like saying that Jim Thome can hit. Traficant has said he grooms it with a weed-whacker. In a world of blow-dried politicians, he stands like a colossus apart. The hair does not defy description. Instead, it invites it, calling like a siren to the bold and the unwary alike. It leaves them broken or baffled, like the blind men of fable describing an elephant. "His hair," says USA Today, "looks as if it was styled with an eggbeater." The New York Times calls it a "helmet hairstyle." CNN, echoing that judgment, sees it as a "shock that sits on his head like a helmet." CBS News apprehends an "always mussed tuft," and MSNBC pronounces it a "bird's-nest haircut." Not missing the embellishing buttresses, the Washington Times describes "muttonchop tendrils" that "snarl down the side of his head." The hair is "unruly," "wild," "rumpled," "multihued," "tousled," "scraggly," "bushy," "mussy," "messy" and "unkempt." It is "disorderly," "feathered" and "vertical." It is a "stack," a "topknot," a "thick mat" and "a disheveled coif." A search combing the Internet for "Traficant hair" yields more than 800 hits. One site features the congressman with Albert Einstein, the "patron saint of bad hair." Another site offers the $10 "Trafican-toupe," with the suggestion, "Be the life of any party or just wear it to court!" Among the envious, it is taken for granted that the locks are synthetic - further evidence of the Traficant wigginess. It is so much taken for granted that one Traficant-watcher could ask, in apparent horror, "What if it's not a wig?" The answer, as on "Jeopardy," was framed as a question: "Why would he purchase a wig to create that effect?" To true believers, it is unbe-weave-able that anyone would contrive such a thing and offer it for sale. Yet it is a thing apart, with a life of its own. Traficant is renowned for his one-minute speeches on the House floor ending with the injunction, "Beam me up, Mr. Speaker!" - a reference to "Star Trek," conceivably not coincidental, that raises the possibility he is wearing or bearing one of its Yorkie-like Tribbles. Or, if not that, then some other living entity is using him as its human host. The National Lampoon, defunct as a magazine but surviving as a Web site, suggested Traficant should attempt to convince fellow lawmakers that "his hairpiece was actually to blame for his role in racketeering, bribery and fraud." We can overlook the "hairpiece" slur to note that the truest things are often said in jest. Perhaps the hair should have been afforded independent counsel and mounted its own defense. The thought of it shorn, constrained or incarcerated is hardly bearable. Traficant may be more concerned with locks of another sort, as he plays his final act on the public stage, but the rest of us should behold it while we can. What is hair today will be gone tomorrow. The Boss Tony Pierce, who is totally down for the FREE CDs to bloggers project, reflects penetratingly and somewhat wistfully on the return of Bruce:
....in a perfect world, bruce would ask me to produce his new record and i would say, first thing i want you to do is throw out any song that john cougar or tom petty could do better than you. next thing i want you to do is write this next record like its your last record, and not in a sentimental way, but in a way that will resonate for generations to come. live up to the hype, bro. bring back the passion of "mean streets" the fun of "rosalita" and the passion of "im on fire". i'll let you do one folk tune, but it's got to be as good as "johnny 99" or "atlantic city" but lots of people have to die in the song and it has to be set in the old west. i want to hear clarence blow the horn, not doodle. i want him to compete against the guitars, not provide ambience. i want to hear nils do a guitar solo that makes me think, ok, that's why you have four guitars on stage. i want to feel the might of the mighty max weinberg. i want to hear a song that i will be forced to memorize again. these are the demands, i am sure, that weigh heavy on the shoulders of the patron saint of asbury park, but i wouldn't ask these things if i didn't think he was capable of achieving them. Dawn and I saw the E Street Band tour here in Cleveland right around when Lily was born, got comped by our pal Chuck Plotkin who was supervising Bruce's sound for the tour. It was just like old times with the crowd singing along to every single song, the band rocking hard, Bruce laying down some vicious lead guitar. It felt like a vindication and Bruce knew it was special. We ran into old bud Michael Stanley, who was reporting on the show for his radio station, WNCX. He had a huge smile on his face - he was thrilled to see a representative of his generation rocking with that kind of authority. No playing it cool for Mr. Stanley that night. We were supposed to go to the hotel bar where the band was staying after the show to hang out with Chuck and meet Little Steven and some of the other E Streeters, but Dawn just wasn't up to it in her "condition." It didn't really matter because the show was so great; it might have somehow diminished the experience to have actually met some of them, and for them to have been all mortal and everything. Sometimes a little distance is just the right thing. Hitting Home Pej has some exceptional insight into how repression in Iran is affecting the Iranian-American community in LA, of which he is a member. I have links there too, as my cousin is married to an Iranian-American woman. Her family is very careful to call themselves "Persians." Going back in time, I DJ'd a series of parties for Persian-Americans in LA in the '80s - we had a ball. Note the demographics of the parties: the men were almost all Persian, the women were almost all Jewish and many were Israeli. Think about that one for a while. According to Pej:
My father would like to return to Iran to see his siblings, and to be able to give a visiting lecture at the University of Tehran, where he received his medical degree, and from which he has received a number of invitations to come and lecture. I want to be able to go back as well--I haven't visited Iran since I was four years old, and I still vividly remember many of the sights and sounds. The problem is that if I do go back, I will likely be conscripted into the military. Fort Bragg Murders WEDNESDAY: nothing new on wife-killings, but an arrest in an apparent husband-killing. 12:30pm, THIS JUST IN In a series of email correspondences with Tanya Biank, the reporter who broke the Fort Bragg murder story for hometown paper the Fayetteville Observer last Friday (see last update below for content), Biank informs me of the following:
I mentioned Ann Salisbury's outrage last night over the lack of coverage of the murder of four Army wives by their husbands at one base in the last month. Matt Welch points me to the Sarge's coverage of this shocking story, which somehow I missed, blinded by visions of CDs dancing in my head or something. I will wear a large DUH on my forehead for the day. Regardless, PBR wrote:
....The Base Commander's feeling some major heat right now, so the word is going out about stress reduction and all that. Plus, they'll probably have mass briefings and smaller classes to "deal" with the problem, but these things are almost always done mainly for the upper echelon's benefit. The base commander can point to all these things he's done to fix the problem so he can take the heat off his ass. Everyone knows it's just an oddball thing that's happening and it'll go away of its own accord soon enough, but until then they'll have to go through the motions. Still, a nice marriage counseling class never hurts Reader Bruce Rheinstein adds these thoughts:
We received a direct order not to discuss the incident with the press or anyone outside the unit. Don't expect the military to give out the straight dope to the press. A little digging by an enterprising reporter would probably ferret out the real story. Word about these things tends to spread pretty fast in a unit and someone is always willing to talk. UPDATE Here is yesterday's USA Today report on the story. They seem bewildered and treading lightly:
Three of the killings involved special operations soldiers who had been to Afghanistan. That has prompted questions about the stresses the soldiers may have been under at the time of the murders. All four slayings occurred in the past two months. The three special operations soldiers -- Sgt. 1st Class Brandon Floyd, Master Sgt. William Wright, and Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves -- were in different units. Floyd and Nieves killed themselves after killing their wives. The fourth soldier, Sgt. Cedric Ramon, a combat engineer, had not been sent to Afghanistan. He is accused of stabbing his estranged wife at least 50 times. ''In our initially looking at it, we're not sure there was any one factor,'' said Maj. Gary Kolb, spokesman for Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg. All four soldiers had been away from their homes for about two months each, officials said. None exhibited signs of alienation. And each of the three who went overseas received, along with their wives, a customary Army briefing on the stresses of being reunited. The Afghan war was the first war in which special operations troops such as Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs took the lead in ground fighting. Special operations forces from Fort Bragg played a major role in coordinating air attacks on forces of the ruling Taliban government in Afghanistan. They also worked closely on the ground with Northern Alliance troops. They endured enormous stress working in small groups and without the usual trappings of a large ground force. The troops were often isolated in the field, fighting against a much larger enemy. Military sociologists say the Army takes great care in counseling soldiers and their families. In most cases, the separation and trauma of war are not the main factor in spouse abuse or domestic violence, says Jim Martin, who teaches courses on military family life at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. ''Most likely, these kinds of things are related to people having significant problems beforehand,'' Martin said. Special operations troops are said to be among the most carefully selected and tested of all military personnel. Merely qualifying to become a Green Beret can take up to a year. Many of the elite units require exhaustive psychological testing for applicants. ''I think in this case, you need to look at each individual's background, possible precipitating events and the context of each marriage,'' Martin said. Military sociologist Mady Segal said the overwhelming majority of military families cope fine with the stress of separation. She said recent research suggests that violence among military families is more common than among civilians. But true comparisons may be difficult to make, Segal said, because military communities are much more likely to report spouse or child abuse. Fort Bragg and the surrounding community has long had a reputation as a Wild West town. In recent years, community leaders have attempted to repair that reputation, but high-profile cases continue to tarnish its image. Seven years ago, an Army sergeant at Fort Bragg went on a shooting rampage, killing an Army officer and wounding more than a dozen other people. The NY Times calls it "a growing problem of domestic violence in the military."
While some soldiers here say the stress of separation and fears of infidelity by wives may have contributed to the killings, Ms. Tucker said the real explanation was more likely a history of trouble in the marriages — including some previous violence — combined with husbands who craved control and felt anxious about losing it during deployment in Afghanistan.
The sergeant, who recently returned from six months in Afghanistan, said the usual problems of family separation during war had been eased during the fighting in Afghanistan because his unit had several satellite phones that allowed soldiers to call home every few days. But some men in his unit still worried about what their wives were doing, either failing to pay bills or having extramarital affairs, he said. The sergeant did not have the problem himself, because he is divorced. In 1997, when he had been married only seven months, he was sent on a training mission to Fort Polk in Louisiana, he said, and when he returned his wife told him she had had an affair. "I was easy about it," the sergeant said. "It wasn't worth it to shoot her and spend the rest of my life in jail." Here is where the "trend" comes in:
The task force has issued two major reports in the last 18 months calling for sweeping changes in the way the military handles domestic violence cases, including requiring military units to keep track of the names of soldiers who are under restraining orders for domestic violence or who have been convicted of domestic violence. The requirement follows the passage of a federal law in 1996, written by Frank R. Lautenberg, then a Democratic Senator from New Jersey, that made it a federal crime for a person under a court restraining order for domestic violence or who has been convicted of domestic violence to buy or possess a gun. The law applies to all Americans, including police officers and members of the armed forces. But Ms. Tucker said the military had responded slowly and unevenly to the requirement, since carrying it out could mean soldiers would lose access to their weapons and could face discharge from the service. Uh-oh:
But Dr. Browne also noted that three of the four killings apparently involved situations where the wives were seeking separations. Studies have shown this is the time when violence is most likely to occur. UPDATE Writing in the Fort Bragg area's home paper, the Fayetteville Observer, reporter Tanya Biank did some digging beneath the surface for this report last Friday:
Yvonne Qualantone, president of the 3rd Special Forces Group’s Family Readiness Group, said her phone has been ringing since the killings. The organization is a support group for families in the unit. ‘‘I’m getting a lot of phone calls, and we’re trying to make sure everyone is getting the right information,’’ she said. She said stress levels are a little higher than normal. And since the killings, she said, some women who have been having problems with their husbands have called wanting to know to whom they should talk before things get worse. ‘‘We’re giving our chaplains a run for their money,’’ she said. ‘‘And just kind of leaving the lines open so we have people to contact.’’ Qualantone said that having husbands in Special Forces is hard on the wives, and they learn to be self-sufficient. ‘‘I think it takes a stronger woman than most,’’ she said. ‘‘Because you are on your own quite a bit.’’ Another woman married to a Green Beret, who asked not to be identified, thinks the service doesn’t do enough for families. ‘‘I firmly believe that the Special Forces lifestyle and demands have played a bigger role (in the killings) than the Special Forces leaders want to admit,’’ she said. ‘‘I don’t know what they are dealing with over there. I think they are doing a poor job of managing the stress of these deployments. Somebody dropped the ball.’’ Military officials and civilian investigators have not indicated that marital infidelity played a role in any of the recent killings, but the Special Forces wife who asked not to be identified said that it can be a problem. Men are gone from home for long stretches; wives are left alone, often in communities where they have no family. The woman said she found out her husband cheated on her during a deployment. They are now working out their problems, she said, but not because of help from the military. ‘‘My husband had cheated, and not one person contacted us to offer support, not one person sent the chaplain over,’’ she said. ‘‘No matter what they say, Special Forces is not about family values.’’ ....Martha Brown, the Deployment and Mobilization program manager for Army Community Service at Fort Bragg, helps prepare units and families for deployments and reunions. Brown said that before a deployment, couples need to discuss such things as finances, home repairs, children and medical needs. After a deployment, couples have to work at reconnecting, she said. ‘‘Their expectations are different,’’ she said. ‘‘The service member may be expecting a nice quiet reunion when he gets home, and then the spouse may have something totally different, a big party, people staying home for a couple weeks. So what we stress is that they need to communicate.’’ UPDATE - THURSDAY Doubting Thomas leaves this analysis:
However, the disturbing aspect of what is happening at Fort Bragg is that senior Spec Op NCO's are the culprits, which is surprising when you consider how much psychological evaluation and character testing these guys go through just to get qualified to attend Spec Op training, let alone pass the schools and training and become a SF, Delta, or Spec Op warrior. Something is amiss here. These guys are the best of the best, and have had their psyches examined under an intense set of guidelines that would make one expect them to be better than common thugs and a-holes who usually perpetrate these domestic crimes of passion. I wonder if the Army's evaluation program from SF, Delta, and Special Operations has been as foolproof as it should be. It certainly takes a man who is capable of great violence to become a Spec Op warrior, one who can handle the moral ambiguities of killing without much remorse, but these guys should also have a better handle of their emotions than REMF-type soldiers who usually commit these acts. FREE CDs For Bloggers Update 2 Tremendous response - we got about ten more participants overnight bringing the total to around 60! - complete list of participants out sometime today. We are #16 in Daypop today - can't tell you how much I appreciate the help in getting the word out! Things are moving so quickly that it will make sense to temporarily cut off new additions BY THE END OF TODAY. I don't think we will need 100 bloggers to get started, and in fact there may be advantages to a smaller number. Please advise your readers that if they want to get in on the first round, they must get their email application in to me TODAY. I am very eager to get started with the next phase of this project. For more information please see here, here, here, and the original post here. Monday, July 29, 2002
Oh O Well, I knew this was coming, and it was easily predictable that O would be the one to come up with it: the FREE CDs for bloggers concept applied to other fruits of the culture:
FREE CDs For Bloggers Update Due to the double-barreled assistance from new and old bloggy friends, there is no way I can compile a list of all the bloggers interested in participating in this project tonight. However, in adding up the emails, it looks like we have FIFTY PARTICIPANTS ALREADY. Thanks so much!! I have also had some very thoughtful critiques and suggestions regarding the concept, all of which will only make it better. I will go through those critiques tomorrow - thanks so much. About the only criticism I can't answer is the one that says getting free CDs will take all of the fun out of music. I realize it is the RESPONSIBILITY of HAVING to write about music that could take the fun away for some people, but having a blog is a RESPONSIBILITY and bloggers seem to handle that just fine. It's all just for fun anyway. Please keep spreading the word and THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP! No Outcry? Ann Salisbury - who now has comments!! - is rightly outraged by the lack of attention given to this story:
Liberty Reduction? Group Captain Lionel Mandrake carries on with Pt. 8 of his fascinating and disturbing series on "Civil Liberties in the UK," powerfully combining the personal with the topical:
I can trace this unease along way back. Some years ago, a distant relative was stabbed to death in particularly horrific circumstances. The police had one of the two people involved in custody at one point. DNA testing proved that this person didn't actually carry out the killing. This person obviously knew the killer's identity. However, he was so scared of the killer, that he referred to face the consequences of keeping quiet, rather than identify him. The police in the UK have a DNA database of convicted sex offenders, but no match was found. The police put out an appeal for everybody within a couple of mile's radius to volunteer to come forward for fingerprinting. Mrs Group Captain and myself did, as did more than 95% ( I think - I have been unable to confirm the figure) of people in the catchment area. Even though the fingerprints were immediately destroyed in our presence, and even though we were vaguely related to the victim, we were both deeply uncomfortable at the other implications of mass finger printing. It felt very Big Brother like (in an Orwellian way - not the reality TV show of the same name). We are both in favour of giving politicians less power, not more. Matt on Glenn So nice to be able to look forward to pearls from Matt again: In response to a Jim Henley (hey, that guy's been around here a lot lately) suggestion that the world needs a liberal Glenn Reynolds, Matt says:
It's an admittedly very fine point, but I choose the prefix "pan" for its connotations of overview and barrier transcendence, over "promiscuous" with its connotations of indiscriminate honeybee flower hopping. Hawaiian Preferences In 2000 the Supreme Court of the United States, in Rice v. Cayetano,
The court also rejected two of the general premises on which the arguments in favor of preferences for people of Hawaiian ancestry were built. The court first held that native Hawaiians are not historically or legally akin to American Indians on the mainland. The court said that preferences enjoyed by Indians were permissible because they are based on politics, not race. The court reasoned that Indian tribes are political units. But Hawaiians, the court held, have no similar political status that would insulate such preferences from challenges. The court also held that the requirement of proof of Hawaiian ancestry was a proxy for race. Racial distinctions, at least when they are made by the government, are almost always forbidden.
It thus came as a wrenching surprise to many here when the schools recently admitted a student not of Hawaiian ancestry. School policy requires students to prove that at least one ancestor lived on the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, when Capt. James Cook arrived. The competition for admission is intense, and few native Hawaiians make the cut. The decision to accept the student, Kalani Rosell, into the eighth grade on the schools' Maui campus was driven in part by a concern that the admission policy cannot survive legal scrutiny. The move has set off furious protests, rooted in historical grievances, cultural differences and the conviction that the legal categories developed by mainland courts to promote racial equality cannot address the needs of a multiracial society that was a monarchy little more than a century ago.
The requirement of one pre-1778 Hawaiian ancestor means that many students are of Hawaiian descent in only a quite attenuated sense. "My goodness," said Gladys Brandt, a former principal of the Kamehameha Schools, "you're one-twenty-fourth Hawaiian, you're in." Indeed, assuming nine intervening generations, children who are less than one-five-hundredth original Hawaiian may qualify. The admission of the non-Hawaiian student by the Kamehameha Schools appears to have been an effort to preempt government action against them:
"There are those in this country that would like to erode if not eliminate rights for indigenous and native people," Mr. Ing said. "We're attempting to protect the admissions policy. To do that it may be necessary for us to give up a pawn here and a pawn there." In an interview in the campus library here, the schools' chief executive, Hamilton McCubbin, said that powerful societal and legal forces were challenging the admissions policy. "We're working against the waves," he said. But the admissions decision appears to have backfired on all fronts. It has drawn attention to the issue at a time when the schools hope to avoid legal scrutiny, and it has alienated the schools' own constituencies. "I assume," said John Goemans, a lawyer who has been active in challenging preferences for people of Hawaiian ancestry, "that this was a surfeit of would-be cleverness."
"All of the civil rights acts provide for official enforcement against racial discrimination, and these agencies have an obligation to enforce these laws," he said. Goemans is challenging federal funding to the University of Hawaii, which he said grants tuition waivers for Native Hawaiians, a $400 million federal loan to provide fiberoptic lines to some 20,000 Hawaiian homes, a 400-home Hawaiian Homes project that he said violates the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and the federal tax-exempt status for the private Kamehameha Schools, which restricts admission to students of Hawaiian ancestry. ....Goemans may have a strong ally in the Bush administration to press his complaints. Solicitor General Theodore Olson, the administration's top attorney, as a private attorney argued on Rice's behalf before the Supreme Court. Goemans told Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the U.S. Departments of Education and Defense have notified Kamehameha Schools they would not longer provide financial assistance because of the admissions policy. "As a result, Kamehameha Schools publicly announced they will no longer participate in those federally financed programs specifically to assure continued exemption from taxation," Goemans wrote. "The conflict between the actions of the (schools') trustees in falsely declaring to the Internal Revenue Service that they do no discriminate by race while simultaneously ending those federally financed programs when challenged is clear."
"Hallelujah" Anyone who starts a music blog today and names their site after a line from my favorite Leonard Cohen song (which was exquisitely performed by Jeff Buckley on Grace, by the way) gets linked, no questions asked. All of you. The Mind Surfs Too "..The heathen would...wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, whipping by like a bombshell." Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1872 The history of surfing touches upon a surprisingly wide array of cultural subjects including the histories of Hawaii and Southern California, popular entertainment of every stripe, our concept of man's relationship to the sea, and has even provided the most common word for perusing the Internet. Now the Laguna Art Museum has taken up the subject:
Sheryl Crow, in the video for her new song "Soak Up the Sun," finds the surfer girl in her and hangs 10. In a commercial for the Toyota Corolla, the car rides ludicrously atop a monstrous longboard. And a Powerade commercial follows a surfer on a horrendously large swell at Mavericks, a Northern California surf break. How did the ancient Hawaiian pursuit of he'nalu, or wave sliding, become an all-American pastime? Is there such a thing as surf culture? And if so, how has it affected pop culture and the arts? These are some of the questions addressed by "Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing," an exhibition that opens here today [7/28] at the Laguna Art Museum. The exhibit addresses the trivial and the profound:
It is organized as a timeline. The museum has ancient Peruvian cave reliefs showing figures riding the waves on boards made from bound reeds. From the 19th century it has rare 200-pound surfboards, carved from koa trees. The boards are displayed alongside a spectacular 1784 etching by a crewman that documents Captain Cook's third and last trip to Hawaii, showing Hawaiians paddling out to greet him on surfboards and in canoes. Cook's visits spelled the beginning of the end for Hawaiians, who in the next hundred years were decimated by disease and a cruel plantation labor system. Surfing was also all but wiped out, partly because missionaries frowned on such a heathen activity. Surfing did not reach America until the early 1900's, when Hawaii began attracting tourists. They brought home souvenirs — carved ukuleles, Hawaiian shirts — decorated with surf scenes. These tchotchkes, several of which are on display, helped spark American interest in surfing, especially on the coasts. Surfing also had an unofficial ambassador, Duke Kahanamoku, a native Hawaiian famous for winning a gold medal in swimming in the 1912 Olympics. Handsome and articulate, he dedicated his life to spreading the gospel of he'nalu, giving exhibitions on the West and East coasts. The museum displays several of his 200-pound koa surfboards, some of the first seen in the United States, as well as photographs of his life.
"Gidget," "Beach Blanket Bingo" and the Beach Boys popularized surfing, but they were scorned by purists. For the surfers, the iconic image was a pop-art silkscreened poster by John Van Hamersveld, of a surfer facing a bright sunset. The poster, a promotion for the Bruce Brown film "The Endless Summer," which was a hit with surfers and landlubbers, became an enduring image. "We hated the beach party films, the Beach Boys and all that," said John Severson, a painter and photographer who founded Surfer magazine in 1960. "That stuff came on the radio and — whap! — off it went. It gave so many people a distorted view of what surf culture was. But it also brought so many people into surfing, that it osmosed into surfing. Some of that stuff can't help but stick."
CHARLIE DON'T SURF AND YOU KNOW THAT IT AIN'T NO GOOD CHARLIE DON'T SURF FOR HIS HAMBURGER MAMA CHARLIE'S GONNA BE A NAPALM STAR THERE'S A ONE-WAY STREET IN A ONE HORSE TOWN A LOT OF ONE WAY PEOPLE STARTING TO BRAG AROUND YOU CAN LAUGH, PUT 'EM DOWN THESE ONE WAY PEOPLE GONNA MOW US DOWN Ultimately, surfing is a feeling:
"Surfing is this pure thing," he said. "You take this board, you paddle out and ride the waves. All the things in this show, all this external stuff is like the road map that tells you about surfing, but none of it is surfing. It cracks me up because I have these mounds of stuff. But surfing; you can't bottle it, you can't package it, and it's not about the money, because you can't sell what it really is. What it really is is all the beautiful things that happen to you when you're riding a wave." Missy Is Back She has "toured the Southland with a traveling minstrel show":
Some Things Export Better Than Others My Australian pal James Russell is all over the Velvet Underground, but has never even heard of Lee Greenwood. This is both gratifying and bizarre. I guess they don't play "God Bless the U.S.A." before Australian Rules Football games, or kangaroo tipping. It is always amazing to realize that the rest of the world is NOT a remote province of America. Happy B-day Doc! Doc isn't getting older, he's getting better. I like the part about, "My youngest kid is 5. That means we'll be able to get the senior and child discounts at some events. It's a blessing I look forward to counting." Critical Mass As I surmised it might, the link from Glenn has moved the FREE CDs for bloggers campaign into a higher gear. The process itself is fascinating. Last week the Steve Earle affair spread like a benign virus through the blogs, now FREE CDs would appear to be following suit. Since Friday's initial announcement, we have 28 bloggers who have emailed me to sign up. Only 72 more to go! When a concept shows up in Daypop and Blogdex, you know you're on your way. I am compiling a list of interested bloggers, which I will post later today; so if you are interested and haven't done so yet, please email me with "Blog Music" in the title and join our merry band. As I discussed yesterday, there is a crosscurrent moving against the idea based upon antipathy toward the major labels. This is entirely understandable as the labels seek to crush competing technologies, among a litany of other sins. BUT, as it now stands, if you are a music consumer, you have to deal with the labels already at least on some level. So why not take advantage of the promotional system now in place, forcing the industry to take bloggers seriously as an opinion-shaping entity and receive music you WOULD HAVE BEEN PAYING FOR ANYWAY without cost to you (other than shipping)? One doesn't have to approve of every aspect of a system in order to glean fruit from it. Don't think of it as helping the labels: think of it as helping yourself and the artists you love. Thanks for your interest and please keep spreading the word. By the way, my initial list of bloggers who write about music regularly CERTAINLY SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED ANDREW IAN DODGE, who writes on music professionally as well as bloggily. I am a fool and a blackguard for not having done so. UPDATE Many have been asking what kind of music will be available in the program. I would say a look at the Cool Tunes playlists will give a fairly good indication of the range of music that will be potentially covered by the program. Sunday, July 28, 2002
New Site I just noticed our young friend J. Shevrin has a brand new site design. Tres chic! He's checking out some Cool Tunes - stop by and say "Hi." Bloggers: A New Breed of Music Journalist More slowly than I had anticipated (what the hell do I know?), but surely nonetheless, word is spreading out through the blogosphere about the FREE CDs for bloggers concept. Response had been universally enthusiastic until I ran across this post by Josh Kortbein. I appreciate the thought Josh has put into this, and I appreciate being forced to define this concept further. Josh writes:
Perhaps pay is supposed to bias people too much (more than they are already biased by receiving free records - I have a few times, and even when I hated the record it was hard not to try being nice about it, or withholding what I thought), and the lack of pay is a way around this problem (but see previous parenthetical remark, ha, I am full of them tonight). I think calling this "journalism" instead of "being used as a tool by the man" entrenches the bias the most, though. Suddenly all the baggage from journalistic music writing is dragged into things: the "objectivity"; the perpetual focus on the new and the popular to the deteriment of the old, the everyday, the unpopular, the personal; the traditional forms of the review the interview, the thinkpiece, the fluff piece; the habitual and lazy techniques of writing, the onesheet rip, the band bio, the cliche, the lack of ideas, the railroad spike through my fucking head. Do these necessarily have to follow? No, but a lot of people seem to fall for them when they think they're doing "journalism" rather than just writing, period. Maybe the possibility for greater respect for non-traditional fora and forms of writing is cause for optimism. But I'm not hopeful, at the moment. "The cultural shoreline": who are the labels and journalists supposed to be, Columbus (oh dear lord please no) or the natives? My purpose: We all agree that the current "software" music system is in a state of great flux. No matter what happens legally, culturally an entire generation has become accustomed to listening to music via digital audio files. Glenn Reynolds mentioned that even club DJs are spinning MP3's as opposed to records, CDs, tape, etc. This unmanageable cat (from the music industry's perspective) will never be shoved back in the bag no matter how many lawsuits they win. The kids (and a great many others) will keep finding new ways to share files and eventually the music biz is going to change radically - it already has. In the meantime, we still have the biz functioning as a filter for all the material that is out there, and as a promotional and marketing operation for the artists selected to join the club. This is not all bad. There is such a vast amount of music being made (and even more on the horizon as digital home music-creation becomes ubiquitous) and, as Rotund Scott mentions here ("As the husband of a wife who is more and more involved in the music biz, there are tons of the things laying around the casa. Some good, some GREAT, and a bunch not so good. I'll send you some of them, if you just want a CD or 50 to fill up shelf space.") the industry already generates a vast amount of music, most of which is in the mediocre-to-excremental range, and the labels are actually doing us as consumers a great service by weeding out an even larger quantity of music that is largely even worse than what they put out. (Of course as an artist, I feel offended that the labels have chosen to filter ME out thus far, but I haven't tried very hard to get a label deal yet either.) Do artists get ripped off, manipulated, abused, discarded, and have their souls killed by labels? Of course they do, but they also get trained, developed, promoted, championed, marketed, distributed, and made fabulously wealthy. It's all a crapshoot, but if you pay attention and watch your ass, you can increase the odds of not getting royally fucked by your label greatly. So the labels - major and independent - do serve a purpose, and as a writer/radio/TV guy I don't have the adversarial relationship that the artists, or even the overcharged consumer, may have with them. As an independent music "journalist," and radio programmer/personality I can take the best of what the labels have to offer and do with it what I see fit. That's what I want to give to bloggers in general: access to to bounty of the record labels free of charge to be used as bloggers see fit. My specific scheme: music journalists, radio programmers, and various others get free promotional CDs from the labels. I get anywhere from 10-50 a week, maybe 1,500 a year. Why are the labels so nice as to do this for me? Because I help promote them by writing about them and by playing them on the radio. I have also reviewed them on TV but not lately. I feel no pressure whatsoever to play or write about any given CD: I just cheerfully accept the bounty I am sent and pick and choose from there based upon nothing more than my own taste, whim, and judgment. Pay has nothing to do with it. If I write something for my blog, I don't directly get paid. If I write for a "professional media outlet," I do. I do both, but it has become clear to me from my conversations with friends at labels that they would still want to send me promotional CDs even if I only wrote for my blog because they know that audience is growing, is relatively affluent, and is very actively engaged with pop culture. It is my contention that taken collectively, blogs reach a large, motivated, engaged, enthusiastic, popular culture-oriented audience that is exactly the audience labels want to reach. Therefore, if we can get a substantial number - say 100 to begin with - of bloggers to say, "I love music. I listen to CDs actively and fervently. Sometimes I write about them. I would love to get a fair number (maybe 5-10 a week to begin with) of CDs for free from the labels with the understanding that I will listen to them and write about AT LEAST SOME OF THEM every week, and I will send you a link of what I have written," then the labels will say, "Schweet, dude. Here are your CDs, Eric. Get them out to the bloggers, send us the links of the reviews, and let's see what happens." All pretty transparent, nothing too sinister. The bloggers get free CDs (probably will have to pay shipping), the labels get a great new, growing source of publicity, and everyone is happy. So send me an email telling me if you are interested in participating, and please help spread the word by posting something about this on your blog. It's a win/win/win situation and that's hard to beat. Please feel free to leave comments or email me if you have any questions or thoughts on the matter. Thanks Josh for making me explain this much more thoroughly. I hope you choose to participate. Cool Tunes Feature - The Velvet Underground One of the greatest rock albums of the '60s and the very first alternative rock album ever, The Velvet Underground and Nico has finally been given the Deluxe treatment it so richly deserves on a new two-CD set that includes the original album in both stereo and mono, the singles, and five tracks from the first Nico solo album, Chelsea Girl. After bravely jousting the twin enemies of indifference and open hostility in its sad lifetime - followed by a few decades of neglect - the world appears finally ready to embrace the Velvet Underground as one of the most important bands in rock history. Recording a mere four studio albums (only two with the original lineup) in the late-’60s, the group established an aesthetic so extreme and alien that it has taken three decades for the world to catch up. The essence of that aesthetic is an unapologetic embrace of the opposite poles of the musical, emotional, and thematic spectrum: naked power on the one end and exquisite beauty on the other - squalid Saturday night nihilism followed by pristine Sunday morning reverence, yin and yang at their widest reach conjured from the urban essence of New York. Brian Eno has famously said that hardly anyone bought the Velvets’ albums when they were originally released, but everyone who did formed a band. Bands as diverse as the Patti Smith Group, Talking Heads, Sex Pistols, R.E.M., U2, and Sonic Youth have claimed the Velvets as their most important influence, not to mention obvious soundalikes like Yo La Tengo, Luna, and the Strokes. The Velvets have received the star treatment of late with an exhaustive five-CD box set, Peel Slowly and See, released in ‘95; induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in ‘96; a vastly expanded version of the Loaded album re-released in ‘97; a single-CD collection in Universal’s 20th Century Masters series (2000); a three-CD set of live tapes recorded by famed guitarist Robert Quine (2001), and now The Velvet Underground and Nico: Deluxe Edition. There is fitting irony in the release of every scrap the Velvets ever committed to tape, considering even the band’s greatest material was barely heard while it actually existed. The Velvet Underground formed in 1964 when singer/guitarist/songwriter Lou Reed (Louis Firbank) and Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale met and decided to form a rock band (eventually with Sterling Morrison on bass and guitar, and Maureen “Mo” Tucker on percussion), drawing upon their mutual interest in R&B, the free-form jazz of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, and the avant-garde minimalism of John Cage and La Monte Young. Prior to his date with rock ‘n’ roll destiny, John Cale had studied composition at London University's Goldsmith College from 1960-63, where he was drawn to contemporary experimental music and met Aaron Copland, who induced Leonard Bernstein to grant Cale a scholarship to study in the United States. Cale played viola in Young's experimental combo (the Theater of Eternal Music, then the Dream Syndicate) from '63-'65, concentrating on the sonic and metaphysical implications of the drone. Reed grew up on Long Island where his rebellious impulses led him to rock ‘n’ roll, as well as sexual and drug experimentation. By the early-'60s he was also attracted to the wildness of avant-garde jazz and the intellectual and emotional stimulation of poetry. Reed was also strongly influenced by troubled poet/educator Delmore Schwartz while studying at Syracuse University. After graduating, Reed lurched in another direction, writing and producing hack pop and rock tunes for Pickwick Records in NYC. After Reed and Cale met, they performed briefly as the Primitives - even recording a dance spoof single called "The Ostrich" - then mutated into the Velvet Underground, named after a particularly virulent S&M novel. They sought not just to entertain, but to challenge: to prove that rock ’n’ roll could be dangerous again. They gravitated toward Andy Warhol - who brought Austrian actress/model/chanteuse Nico into the fold - and became fixtures in Warhol’s multimedia organization, the Factory, and in the Village bohemian art scene. Live, the Velvets were a bizarre amalgam of vigorous R&B, pretty pop songs, extended experimental noise jams (often grounded in Cale's drones), and the performance art of Warhol's touring Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The original band lasted just two albums, The Velvet Underground and Nico, and White Light, White Heat (both ‘67). In an interview, Cale told me, "It seemed to work even when we were playing in the exact opposite corners of the musical spectrum on the same piece. We were capable of anything. The dichotomy was given as great a value as the ability to unify on something. That was something that Andy believed in as well. It just angers me that there wasn't more work done because we were so good at it." In an interesting juxtaposition, pioneering producer Tom Wilson (Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Animals, John Coltrane, Sun Ra) was supervising the first albums of both the Velvets and Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention at the same time. Both “art” bands, they shared a surface freakiness that masked the underlying gulf between them. The Velvets reveled in the sensory-based hedonism that the puritanical Zappa railed against. The fact that both bands performed in Exploding Plastic Inevitable at the Trip club in Los Angeles is a great Warholian irony. The Velvet Underground and Nico, with Warhol’s infamous banana record-jacket art, was originally recorded in ‘66 at the Cameo-Parkway Studios on Broadway with money from a shoe salesman under the vague guidance of Andy Warhol who seemed as interested in the blinking lights on the mixing board as in the music. The floors were ripped up and the walls were gone and only four mikes worked, but somehow the record was made. Then when Verve signed the Velvets, the band was given ten hours at an L.A. studio to re-record four songs with Wilson. “Waiting For the Man,” with a breezy rock groove, follows a Reed character into the black section of town where he deferentially explains to one and all that he isn’t there for the women, but for his “man,” his drug dealer. Reed is almost giddy with self-contempt as his need for drugs drags his social status below that of ghetto dwellers. That defiant self-contempt defines the Velvet’s status as the first post-modern band and the progenitor of the entire punk/new wave movement. “Heroin” takes the external adventure of obtaining drugs into the internal realm and captures the seduction of addiction with a power, beauty and grace that makes it all the more frightening. To this day the song is equally horrifying and compelling, its structure of intense build and release literally mirroring the drug experience, an experience that the singer makes clear will inevitably end in death. ”Venus In Furs,” an unblinking examination of an S&M relationship, captures both the power of the drone and harnesses its ability to convey an ennui of almost black hole density. ”All Tomorrow’s Parties” is Nico’s finest moment: a towering aural monument to ephemeral glamour with the pulse of dread, Cale’s supportive rolling piano, and Reed’s destabilizing frantic guitar. Also on the record are two more pretty Reed-penned, Nico sung jewels, “I’ll Be Your Mirror” and “Femme Fatale” (which is surely Nico’s theme song), and the loveliest song of Reed’s career, the preternatural “Sunday Morning,” which opens the album. Wistfulness is a very difficult emotion to convey: it has the evanescence of a soap bubble and when one tries to capture it, one is likely to destroy it. Reed captures both the hope and regret of a dawning Sunday with a delicacy that encases the bubble and preserves it for all time. Neither the Velvets, nor Reed, nor very few others have created such an original, complete and satisfying musical statement as The Velvet Underground and Nico in the ensuing years. It is perhaps inevitable that after recording a collection of truly great songs, the Velvets would lurch in the direction of noise, so integral a part of their live sound and aesthetic. After the first album, the band parted company with Warhol and Nico and recorded White Light/White Heat, a cacophonous, relentless assault on the ears and taste. In the recording process, crack engineer Gary Kellgran repeatedly threw up his arms in disgust as the vicious white noise and fuzz kept frying out the tracks, creating a steamroller of distortion. Only the title track escaped the self-defeating assault and remains part of the group’s essential body of work. “Sister Ray,” 17-minutes of noise and fellatio, is perhaps the groups’ most notorious and relentless piece. Reed recoiled from the excesses of White Light, which Cale and Morrison were perfectly content with, and began writing “commercial” songs. With artistic and personal differences exacerbated by lack of commercial success, Cale left the group and was replaced by Doug Yule. The group became Reed’s alone, and while it still produced some great music, it never reached the levels of grandeur and balance that the original group obtained. The Velvet Underground, released in ‘69, contains three great songs: the stripped down rock ‘n’ roll of “What Goes On” and “Beginning to See the Light,” and the limpid, wan beauty of “Pale Blue Eyes” (which was redone by R.E.M. on their Dead Letter Office collection). After barely denting the charts on their first three Verve albums, the Velvets switched to Atlantic for their fourth and final studio album, Loaded. Due to pregnancy Tucker couldn’t participate and was replaced on drums by Doug Yule’s brother Billy. The album was named somewhat sarcastically after a remark made by Atlantic leader Ahmet Ertegun that he wanted a VU album “loaded with hits and not sex and drugs.” He got their most conventional album by far, and though not full of hits, it did produce the group’s most famous songs: the buoyant and timeless “Sweet Jane,” and perhaps the most pure assessment of the genre since Chuck Berry, “Rock and Roll,” where “despite all the amputations, you could listen to the rock and roll station, and it was all right.” It was, and is. After Loaded, Reed was drained: he had acceded to the demands of commercialization, yet not become a commercial success. He viewed the Velvets as a dead end, and after a lackluster ‘70 residency at Max’s Kansas City in New York, he left the band. The second best Velvets album, 1969: Velvet Underground Live - which has some truly stunning moments - was released in the ‘74, and proves what a powerful, cohesive unit the band still was a year before its demise. First Nico, then Cale, Reed, and even Mo Tucker embarked upon solo careers. Nico’s career was interesting if minor - a continuation of her doomed-romantic Velvets persona with steadily diminishing returns as her dramatic Germanic contralto deteriorated into a croak. She died in ‘88 following a bicycle accident on the island of Ibiza. Cale’s career has been important and varied as a solo artist (best represented by the Seducing Down the Door double-CD collection and the smoking live album Sabotage) and producer (working with Nico, Patti Smith, the Modern Lovers, the Stooges, and Siouxsie and the Banshees), his own internal struggle between classicism and the avant-garde driving him ever onward. Reed’s solo career has been the most prolific and commercially successful, if bewilderingly uneven. Though he has reached many moments of greatness (including Transformer, Berlin, Rock and Roll Animal, New Sensations, individual songs scattered throughout his 30-year career), his best and most commercially successful work is bunched suspiciously close to his career with the Velvets. Though he is still recording well, the greatest Lou Reed album is, and will continue to be, The Velvet Underground and Nico, recorded 35 long years ago - hear it anew. Cool Tunes Well, they say it takes however long you were away to get back to normal. We were gone for two weeks, we got back two weeks ago today, and I think I'm finally caught up. Here are the last two playlists from Cool Tunes. Both weeks we had a tremendous number of concerts to preview, including: Warped Tour (No use For a Name, Ultimate Fakebook, Thursday, New Found Glory, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, NoFX, Ozma, Hot Water Music), Neil Halstead, Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, Alejandro Escovedo, Lenny Kravitz, Rascals, Beach Boys last week; and American Analog Set, The Shins, Filter, Meg Lee Chin, The Crystal Method, Jurassic 5, Bobby Blue Bland, Little Feat, The Promise Ring, and Jorma Kaukonen this week. An impressive two weeks of concerts indeed. Cool Tunes is a radio show in a magazine format Saturday nights at 10pm on WAPS, "The Summit," in Akron, Ohio. I play new music, reissues, and preview shows coming to town each week. Musically it is among the widest-ranging 2 hours in the country: modern rock, punk, electronica, jazz, reggae and ska, roots rock, Americana, blues, world, funk, hip hop, avant garde, etc. - if it's cool I play it. Cool Tunes has been proudly serving humanity since 1990. Our audio streaming is better than ever - check us out from anywhere in the world. artist, "song" album, label; Cool Tunes 7/20/02 No Use For a Name "Dumb Reminders" Hard Rock Bottom, Fat Wreck Chords; Ultimate Fakebook "Wrestling Leap Year" Open Up and Say Awesome, Initial; Thursday "Understanding In a Car Crash" Full Collapse, Victory; New Found Glory "Understatement" Sticks and Stones, Drive-Thru/MCA; Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Where Did You Go?" More Noises and Other Disturbances, Taang; NoFX "Olympia, WA" Punk-o-Rama 7, Epitaph; Ozma "The Ups and Downs" Punk Rock Is Your Friend, Kung Fu; Hot Water Music "Wayfarer" A Flight and a Crash, Epitaph; Velvet Underground "All Tomorrow's Parties" The Velvet Underground and Nico Deluxe, Polydor; Nico "Little Sister" The Velvet Underground and Nico Deluxe, Polydor; Neil Halstead "Two Stones In My Pocket" single, 4AD; Mojave 3 "Tomorrow's Taken" Ask Me Tomorrow, 4AD; Norah Jones "Cold Cold Heart" Come Away With Me, Blue Note; Beth Orton "Concrete Sky" Daybreaker, Astralwerks; Willie Nelson "Maria (Wake Up and Kiss Me)" The Great Divide, Lost Highway; Alejandro Escovedo "Did You Tell Me?" By the Hand of the Father, TMG; Machito "Holiday Mambo" The Complete Columbia Masters, Legacy/Columbia; Xavier Cugat "Suavecito" The Original Latin Dance King, Legacy/Columbia; Gregory Isaacs "Sad to Know (You're Leaving)" Night Nurse, Island; Jimmy Cliff "Treat the Youth Right" Reggae On the River 10, EarthBeat; Lenny Kravitz "It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over" Mama Said, Virgin; The Rascals "It's a Beautiful Morning" Anthology, Rhino; Kevin Max and Jimmy A "Help Me Rhonda" Making God Smile, Silent Planet; Depeche Mode "Just Can't Get Enough" Me Without You soundtrack, Legacy/Epic; Mood Phase 5ive "Moodlude 1" Super Deluxe Mode, African Dope; Scapegoat Wax "Almost Fine" Swax, Hollywood; Grant Green Jr. "Cantaloupe Woman" Introducing G.G., Jazzeteria; Chris Dundas "Ninety Minute Man" Chris Dundas, B Leaf; Cool Tunes 7/27/02 Superdrag "I Can't Wait" Last Call For Vitriol, Arena Rock; Christiansen "Let Us Die Famous Men" Forensics Brothers and Sisters, Revelation; Sterling "You Don't Try" Sterling, Sterling; Sunday's Best "The Try" The Californian, Polyvinyl; American Analog Set "The Only Living Boy Around" Through the 90s, Emperor Jones; The Shins "Caring is Creepy" Oh, Inverted World, Sub Pop; Neil Finn "Anytime" One All, Nettwerk; Mekons "Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem" OOOH!, Quarterstick; Sonic Youth "Radical Adults Lick Godhead" Murray Street, DGC; Filter "American Cliche" The Amalgamut, Reprise; Meg Lee Chin "Heavy Scene" Junkies and Snakes, Invisible; Tricky "Black Steel" A Ruff Guide, Island; The Crystal Method "Name of the Game" Community Service, Ultra; Karmix "Sabhyata" Asian Groove, Putumayo; Mellonova "Ground Down" Slightly Happy, Aporia; John Vanderslice "Cool Purple Mist" Life and Death of An American Fourtracker, Barsuk; Noodle Muffin "The Money Shot" Magnum Dopus, Fyoog State; 3a.m. "Distant Early Warning" Distant Early Warning, MP3; DJ Spooky "Reaction Switching Strategies" Optometry, Thirsty Ear; Cinematic Orchestra "Man With the Movie Camera" Every Day, Ninja Tune; Jurassic 5 "What's Golden?" (TV) single, Interscope; The Mar-Keys "Pop-Eye Stroll" Last Night/Do the Pop-Eye, Stax; Bobby Blue Bland "Turn On Your Love Light" The Anthology, Duke/MCA; Albert King "Born Under a Bad Sign" Born Under a Bad Sign, Stax; John Lee Hooker "Boom Boom" Top Dog/Underdog, MCA; Little Feat "Fool Yourself" Hotcakes and Outtakes, Rhino/Warner; The Promise Ring "Size of Your Life" Wood/Water, Anti; Jorma Kaukonen "Blues Stay Away From Me" Blue Country Heart, Columbia; Chris Dundas "Simpatico" Chris Dundas, B Leaf; Grant Green Jr. "Umberto" Introducing G.G., Jazzateria; I Love Dawn I am extremely proud of Dawn for completing the 24-hour Blogathon in such fine style!! She raised almost $500 for the Global Fund for Women. She had a ton of help from all kinds of friends, especially Shell and Maddie, who not only helped post, but who provided key moral support as well (see here for Dawn's thank you's). I had a lot of fun filling in now and then and keeping Dawn company until I gave out at about 3:30am. YOU'D BETTER GET OVER TO DAWN'S SITE TODAY IF YOU WANT TO SEE THE PHOTOS BECAUSE THEY ARE COMING DOWN VERY SHORTLY. Can't have that kind of thing lingering around and steaming up the computer. At the 15-hour mark I had some thoughts about blogging and whatnot that still make some sense:
Dawn, with a fair amount of literary and photographic help from her friends, seems to be achieving that goal rather well. Much earlier in the day I looked around at some of the other Blogathon sites - most of which I had never seen before - and some were already saying things like "I don't know what to say anymore, I am just sitting here typing and la la la lala. I wonder what I'll do for the next 18 hours, et cetera et cetera." I shudder to think where they are now mentally and literarily. Besides foretelling a lengthy nightmare for the host, writing like this also breaks the contract with the reader and tells him/her to get the hell out of there and don't come back. No matter how candid a blog may appear, there is still a wall - much like on a stage - that can't be breached without destroying the relationship and betraying mutual expectations. No matter how personal, silly, stark, or prurient matters may get here, that wall will never be breached. So there, and stay tuned. I'm taking Lily to the park - Dawn is still sleeping of course after her marathon. Back later with much more. |
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