What he said........

Well said Kendall. There's not much I can add about the terrible VT tragedy expect its pointless to attempt to make sense of these things. They don't make sense, and they never will. My prayers are with anyone affected by yesterday's events. Now, speaking of music as a healing power, I will add my two cents (by way of three songs that have always helped or meant a lot to me).

Dave Matthews - Everyday: This is my 9-11 song. This is live from a WTC benefit that was aired on television

And here are two other songs about healing that I think you should hear......

Coldplay - Everything's Not Lost
Ben Kweller - In Other Words

RR

Why?

I am sure everyone has heard about the stuff at Virginia Tech. Really, really sad. I don't know anyone directly or indirectly involved, but as my good buddy Ryan Gordon said, this hits close to home because it occurred on the college campus.

I could rant and ramble over this for a while, but it wouldn't serve any purpose.

Music heals, at least for me, and I hope some at VT are able to feel a little better tonight because of it.

When 911 hit, I was in my Marley stage. It's probably why I turn to him when things like this happen.

Bob Marley: Trenchtown Rock

BK

"Baby, there's no guidance when random rules"

I've been on a circa 1990s indie rock kick in the recent days thanks to my rediscovery of a Pavement mix I got a few months ago (I've also been listening to lots of Dinosaur Jr lately -- their newest due out in May is fanfuckingtastic!). Pavement, led by indie rock giant Stephen Malkmus, is one of those bands that took me a while to warm up to. The hooks have always been there for me, but I didn't fully embrace the quirky songwriting until recently.

Malkmus and Berman rockin' the mike.

I think I came around thanks in part to my interest in The Silver Jews. Fronted by David Berman, him and Malkmus have collaborated for years and exhibit similar styles both musically and lyrically. Berman has a distinct style as well -- this ain't just some Malkmus' side project.

Here are some tunes from both Pavement and The Silver Jews.

Pavement -- Summer Babe (Winter Version)
Buy Slanted and Enchanted here

Pavement -- Carrot Rope
Buy Terror Twilight here

The Silver Jews -- Sleeping Is The Only Love
Buy Tanglewood Numbers here

The Silver Jews -- Dallas
Buy The Natural Bridge here

BK

New Wilco preview...

Wilco is due to release their new album Sky Blue Sky on May 15th. If you surf over to their website, you can get a listen of What Light. Check it out here!

Gotta say, it sounds good to these ears. Wilco is about to kick off a worldwide tour in Australia. For perspectives from Tweedy, John Stirratt, and Glenn Kotche on the making of the record, check out the three interviews below.

The Melbourne Beat
Xpress Magazine
The Courier Mail

Here's to bad ideas....

Well, now they've gone and done it. The Brits have announced perfect plans to eff up everyone's favorite album of all time. In honor of the 40th Anniversary of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, BBC Radio has decided to remake the album with the help of current rock and roll bands. Oasis (duh), The Killers, and Travis (a poor man's Oasis), among others have decided to help out. Oasis makes obvious sense, but after that you get the feeling they had a difficult time getting big name bands to join on (the aforementioned being the only "big" bands).

So, this horrible idea got me thinking. What if I was going to ruin the best album of all time? What bands would I hire on (assuming everyone I asked was onboard for the idea)? I've decided to list the band or artist that I think would do the best cover of every song off of Sgt. Pepper. Some of these were more difficult than I thought they would be. If you've got any good suggestions for any of these, leave your choices in the comments section. This could be fun. Here's what I came up with:

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - Oasis: I'm going to let the most Beatles-esque wannabees around start off and anchor my album. This was the easy.
2. With a Little Help from my Friends - The whole Brushfire gang!!: That's right, I realize Joe Cocker did a pretty damn good version of this song, but I'd like to hear it done all acoustically with Jack Johnson singing lead and Ben Harper, G.Love, and Matt Costa singing the answering portion of the song.
3. Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - A Perfect Circle: Has anyone out there heard APC's version of Lennon's Imagine?? Makes me think they could do a pretty trippy version of this song about....well.....tripping.
4. Getting Better - The Postal Service: I'd like to hear an pseudo-electronic take on the "bounciness" of this song. I think a digital take on the poppy guitar chords would sound cool.
5. Fixing a Hole - Cake: I think Cake could make a pretty decent version of this song. I think they'd do a good job of matching the different sounding guitars.
6. She's Leaving Home - Sufjan Stevens: A harp being plucked over a string arrangement??? Sounds like Sufjan to me.
7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! - Eels: I think you need kinda a oddball group to compete with the oddball sounds of this songs. I also think the Eels would be good at the waltz.
8. Within You Without You - Incubus: This one was tricky but who the hell owns a sitar nowadays anyways??? I was kinda thinking of the song Aqueous Transmission when I chose this one. I realize that's not exactly a sitar, but the song has a very 'earthy' quality to it that I think Incubus could do well.
9. When I'm 64 - Belle and Sebastian: Quite possibly my least favorite song on the album. I can't think of many bands that I care about that sound THIS poppy. Belle and Sebastian would have to be it, i guess. I need help with this one.
10. Lovely Rita - Red Hot Chili Peppers: Flea killing the bassline and Kiedes "rapping" alongside.....
11. Good Morning Good Morning - The Decemberists: Is Deep Purple still a band?? That's the only other rooster intro i've ever heard. Regardless, I think the Decemberists could prog rock themselves a couple of horns in this one as well as anyone.
12. Sgt. Pepper Reprise - Oasis: See above.
13. A Day in the Life - Radiohead: The classic song off this album. Its an epic, so you obviously need someone big to do this one. Someone that would do this song justice. Radiohead fits the bill better that anyone.



So, that's what I came up with. Like I said, this was pretty tough. So, if you've got some suggestions for any of these let me hear them. Most of us know the songs......I mean it is the greatest of album of all time.



RR

"That's a bummer man" Part II

Bummer news from the world of the Drive-By Truckers. Jason Isbell, one of the three-headed guitar attack, is out of the band. Jason posted the first news on his myspace page last night and Patterson confirmed it with an email to the DBT mailing list.

Mixed emotions about it. Isbell was the best guitar player of the bunch, but his songwriting style, which leaned a little more poppy, was my least favorite. On a positive note though, John Neff, pedal steel extraordinaire, will step in full time. Patterson and the Stroker Ace are adequate guitar players and with Neff on board, they should be fine and perhaps return a little to their alt-country roots.

Neff spent previous time with the band and helped record Gangstabilly and Pizza Deliverance. The two songs below are from those albums and might give us an idea of the sound we'll hear.

DBT: The Night GG Allin Came to Town
DBT: Steve McQueen

BK

I hate squirrels......

Seriously, I do. And here a Vanderbilt, it's like the little bastards are domesticated. They're everywhere!! And, for some reason, they're totally not scared of people.They jump out from behind trashcans at you, they jump out of trees, from behind buildings...EVERYWHERE!!! One scared the absolute crap out of me while I was walking into school this morning. He ran right in front of me not 1 foot from where I was walking....

Don't let this one fool you. He may be cute, but this one's got diseases

So, in honor of me not liking squirrels (and the fact that I haven't posted in over a week) here's a couple of links to some songs that deal with other topics that I'm not particularly fond of. The songs themselves are good, but the topics they deal with aren't my faves. Hope you enjoy the songs.....

1. Ben Folds - Prison Food: Everytime I've been to prison, the food has been absolutely atrocious. So, if you're looking for a place to get some decent eats, I don't recommend committing a crime.

2. Death Cab for Cutie - Crooked Teeth: For all you younglings out there with braces, here's a bit of advice: When you get your braces off, don't forget to wear your retainer. Because there's nothing worse than being stuck with braces for 4 years only to have your teeth drift right on back to being crooked, only because you were too lazy to where your retainer.

3. Elliott Smith - Waltz #2: I've included this song to represent my aversion to dancing. Whether it be to rap (which I particularly hate) or classical dancing (for which I have taken a few lessons) doesn't matter. I don't like dancing.

4. Radiohead - I Might Be Wrong: It doesn't happen often, but I hate being wrong.....

5. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byrjun: Now I don't mind foreign people, BUT what I don't like is when I'm on an elevator with two people that speak a totally foreign language than me and they speak it right in front of me. That just seems rude. I have no idea what they're saying and I always assume they're making fun of me, when approximately 98% of the time that's not true. It is my opinion that they should either A) Speak English on the elevator, or B) Wait until either they or I get off the elevator to resume their conversation in the foreign language. I don't think that's asking too much.

Enjoy.

RR

"That's a bummer man"

Tough day for me over here. My sports addictions are taking it on the chin with the Cardinals starting 0-3 and Billy Donovan emphatically turning down the UK coaching job. Thankfully, as Jackopierce once wrote, music as salvation. This podcast pays homage to one of my favorite music websites, Emusic.com. This is a great site for finding obscure bands at reasonable prices. They feature lots of indie greats, heavy hitters, and a wide variety of music. You can even get a few free mp3s by trying out their site. All of the following tracks were gems I found at Emusic. Hope you enjoy!

BK Podcast #3

1. The Bottle Rockets -- Middle Man from Zoysia
2. The Bottle Rockets -- Welfare Music from The Brooklyn Side
3. Alejandro Escovedo -- Don't Need You from A Man Under The Influence
4. Alejandro Escovedo -- Wedding Day from A Man Under The Influence
5. M Ward -- To Go Home from Post-War
6. M Ward -- Headed For A Fall from To Go Home EP
7. My Morning Jacket -- Suspicious Minds from The 930 Club 8/16/2002
8. My Morning Jacket -- Just Because I Do from The 930 Club 8/16/2002
9. The Dexateens -- Neil Armstrong from Hardwire Healing
10. The Dexateens -- Some Things from Hardwire Healing
11. Sun Kil Moon -- Neverending Math Equation from Tiny Cities
12. Sun Kil Moon -- Ocean Breathes Salty from Tiny Cities
13. Hayes Carll -- Naked Checkers from Flowers and Liquor
14. Hayes Carll -- Perfect Lover from Flowers and Liquor

BK

Stagecoach - California's Country Music Festival

This news briefing/post goes out to all of our Left Coast fans out there. I happen to run across this fantastic little country music festival that'll be going on in Indio, CA (minutes from Joshua Tree NP) in the early month of May called Stagecoach. Yes, the headliners are George Strait, Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, and Brooks and Dunn, but look at all the other great bands that are gonna be there! Let's call this a country/bluegrass/rock concert - Willie Nelson, Neko Case, Old 97s, Robert Earl Keen, Earl Scruggs, Nickel Creek, Yonder Mountain String Band, John Cowan Band, Emmylou Harris, Drive-By Truckers, Junior Brown, Ricky Skaggs, Doyle Lawson, Del McCoury, Bela Fleck, The Flatlanders, and Garrison Keillor to name a few. Damn, look at that line up! But, also look at that price - nearing $200 for two days. If I had the money, I'd be there. Looks like our devoted fans are going to have to post a review for us.

AG

This Desert Life

I just returned from a fantastic three day weekend at Joshue Tree National Park in celebration of Cesar Chavez Day. Those scorching tempteratures, cool oases, prickly Cholla cacti, and gigantic boulders set my mind to a burning question - what do you listen to in the desert?

<--- The J-Tree itself

A reoccuring song for the weekend happened to be Friends in Low Places (...where the wiskey runs through the oooooaaasis...) by Garth Brooks, but we figured some Johnny Cash, The Doors, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson, and America might be appropriate. Here are a couple I came up with:

The Doors - Riders on the Storm - Its got some rainy sounds in it, but it could also be a dust storm...

America - Horse With No Name - I need not explain

Counting Crows - High Life - "Oh this desert life, this high life..."

Counting Crows - Mrs. Potter's Lullaby - The part about going out to the desert to lie down beneath this mold of stars is pretty appropriate - the stars were awesome out there!

The Allman Brothers Band - Back Where It All Began - "travel out across the burning sand..."

Beastie Boys - Paul Revere - awesome desert story telling



What are some other good desert songs? Let me know about em!

AG