EC Again!

Sorry for my lack of recent involvement. Thank God I pay Eric to take up my slack. April is the cruelest month at school, unless you count March and February. Anywho, I'm back bitches and I'm taking no prisoners. Next Sunday will mark my next appointment with my idol and godhead, Elvis Costello, who brings his Spectacular Spinning Songbook to the Durham Performing Arts Center. As a nod to the diversity of this amazing guy, here is a list of my concert history and EC's show format for each:

1) Berkeley, CA in 1991. Supporting Might Like a Rose and playing with the Rude 5 which includes Marc Ribot and a couple of the original Elvis' 70s band.
2) New Orleans, LA in May of 1994. Supporting Brutal Youth. Drove from Jackson to see this show which featured the Attractions together again. The next night....
3) Memphis, TN. Saw this outdoor show at Mud Island with some bastard. I only have four words to say about the opening band: Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm.
4) Philadelphia, PA 1999. My girlfriend took us to Philly to see Elvis as a birthday present. Tower Theater was great, and so were EC and Steve Nieve. I got them both to sign the limited edition EC/SN box set, my prized musical possession (besides my Subteens CD that has one of Jay's boogers on it).
5) New Orleans, LA 1999. EC and keyboardist Steve Nieve play a gorgeous set and Elvis actually gets the noisy ass crowd at the House of Blues to STFU when he sings off-mic. You coulda heard a pin drop.
6) Oxford, MS. EC plays at Proud Larry's, a tiny bar downtown, in order to warm up his new songs for the recording of the Delivery Man. Most of those new songs were played twice with lots of classics and deep cuts scattered in. Amazing to see him in a dive. The next day I got Steve's autograph when I ran into him in a record store on the town square. 
7) New Orleans, LA 2005. Elvis with the Imposters at the HofB. Bob Andrews of the Rumour (a New Orleans resident) hops up to play a couple of songs with the boys. My only picture with Elvis is ruined when some jackhole walks in front of the camera. I have a pic of EC and my right hand.
8) New Orleans, LA 2005. A scant month later, EC plays the JazzFest. David Hidalgo of Los Lobos joins for a few songs. Three months later, Hurricane Katrina comes and leads EC to record The River in Reverse, which leads to the next show in...
9) Vienna, VA in 2006. Elvis and Allen Toussaint are touring together with the Crescent City Horns and the Imposters. A very joyful show with great new brass arrangements of the songs, deep cuts from AT's catalog, and a nice salve for the still painful memory of Katrina.
10) Washington DC 2007. Elvis celebrates thirty years in the biz and plays stuff from just about every album. Allen Toussaint is in town and joins in towards the end. An amazing setlist and a great time with yet another bastard. Cover highlight: Hey Bulldog!
11) Cary, NC 2007. A few months after the raucous show in DC, EC and SN perform with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra. Lots of new arrangements and a peaceful night under the sky enjoying an outdoor show.
12) Cary, NC 2009. Elvis brings his bluegrass band and plays rearranged versions of his hits plus stuff from Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane. Cover highlight: Femme Fatale and Mystery Train.
13) Durham, NC 2012. Sunday Elvis brings his spinning songbook. People from the audience get to spin the wheel and he'll play the song. Included are thematic jackpots like 'Time' and 'I Can Sing a Rainbow'. Recent covers have included Please Please Me, Out of Time by the Stones, and Purple Rain.

Post your concert obsessions!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Pt. 2

Saw this show in Cleveland at the House of Blues. Very random, didn't even know it was happening beforehand. Turns out I stood next to Squeeze's bassist and keyboardist at the pub during the World Cup Final. (Spoiler Alert: Spain won). Great show, both bands in good voice and with great energy. Good recap here.

Riverboat Gamblers, The

These guys seem poised to be the next big thing. New Album, 'Underneath the Owl,' is blissful straight ahead punk. Jay will love 'Robots Will Break Your Heart.' I've road tested this one and am confident it will get heavy windows-down-blazing-down-the-highway rotation time. I saw them in Austin a loooong time ago, but can't say I remember much about them. Sadly. The Protocol that Transfers Files has been followed.

I was late to this party......

I didn't get into Guided By Voices until a couple of years ago. I was so out of it, I didn't even know the band was the source for Jay's old blog's name. This is a great slice of Big Star style pop rock that the rest of you were probably sick of several years ago.

I'm pissed....

....that you Bastards have let me live all these years without filling me in on the amazing Brit punk band 999. Contemporaries of the Stranglers, the Pistols, the Clash, etc., these guys were fantastic. I'm angry with Jay as he is our local anglophile and I'm angry with Andrew because he is an actual Anglo.



Carry on- but don't you ever let me catch you not informing me about a great band ever again.

You got your Wilco in my Radiohead. No, You got your Radiohead in MY Wilco!

Lost Anyface EP surfaces; media goes into frenzy

OK, not really. But this is a 'lost' EP. Actually, can something be lost if no one is looking for it? This was a fully recorded effort that was mixed but only existed on cassette. The fidelity is lacking as it was dubbed from the tape, but I am really happy with the performances, most of which were live in the studio. The songs:

1) Pophead- lots o' feedback and nice drums
2) Stolen Iron Heart - written and sung by bassist Johnny. The vocal is a little overwrought, but it is a nice melody.
3) Long Ago Blown - one my all time favorite compositions, and killer drums from Paulie.
4) Happy Fight - the only Young Brians composition I ever recorded without them.
5) Jolene - Johnny sings the Dolly Parton classic. Nice solo.
6) Holly Hates Rock and Roll - my favorite recorded vocal, the whole song, solo and all, done live in the studio. Enjoy MoFos, and let me know what you think.

FourX The Pleasure.

To peruse while you digest your turkey.....

Popdose has a fun list, Favorite Singles of the Last Fifty Years, as compiled by their contributors. I like it because it isn't claiming 'best' or 'greatest'. Just favorite. Check it out Bastards.

Cardinology + IV

Picked up the new Ryan Adams yesterday, as well as the latest from one my new favorite bands, Chatham County Line. Haven't listened yet, so no review, but Finding The Product is easy.

For Your Consideration: Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

I really like Nick Cave but I can't claim to be a huge fan. I've only got a couple of albums (Murder Ballads is an all-time fave) but every time he has something on a compilation album, it ends up being my favorite piece. Look for his cover of 'Let it Be' on the I Am Sam soundtrack, his cover of 'Tower of Song' on the Leonard Cohen tribute I'm Your Fan or his own 'Until the End of the World' on the Until the End of the World soundtrack.

His new one, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! is really fantastic. The sometimes wordy monlogues are couched in really nice melodies and the band sounds spiky and great. Check it out for yourself at the Fickle Tickling Pickle. Reactions, please.

Oh Hell Yes.

I've always had a soft spot for R.E.M. Although I used to love hardcore punk, I didn't really find 'college' rock until 1987 and I got into Document. That led me directly to The Replacements, The Smiths, Camper van Beethoven, etc. Because of this, I've always cut Stipe and Co. some slack. Their past three albums have been 'challenging' for me. I figure I can stitch a great album out of combining the three, and I admired their willingness to experiment and get out of the box, but the music was mannered and more than a little cold.

I'm pleased to say that Accelerate returns an urgency to the band I haven't heard since the late 80s. Many will compare this album to Monster because of the LOUD guitars, but this is actually a lot more like the faster stuff on Life's Rich Pageant. The songs are catchy on first listen and Stipe has never sounded better. Back too are the great harmonies of Mike Mills, which were pretty much missing in action for the past ten years. And did I mention that the eleven songs take a scant 33 minutes to tear through? I will soon Feature This Presentation. Welcome back fellas!

Never Mind the Broads, Here's the Replacements

From the excellent music blog I Am Fuel, You Are Friends comes this slew of great Paul Westerberg and Replacements B-Sides, outtakes, and live performances. Some of this was pretty rare to me, especially the Mats outtakes and the Paul b-sides. Check it out and discuss!

I (Heart) DBT

Man, I loves me some Drive-by Truckers. I picked up the new album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark this weekend and it hasn't left my CD player since. I don't know if you bastards go for this kind of thing, but they're one of my favorites, mostly due to having seen them live a few times.

Hilites for me are a couple of the Cooley compositions, "3 Dimes Down" and "Self Destructive Zones," and Patterson Hood's "The Righteous Path," and "That Man I Shot" (one of two "anti-war" songs by him on the album). I missed their last album, but would have to say this ranks up with their best, even if it could stand to be three or four songs shorter. If you're interested in other earlier stuff, let me know. This one is For The Peterbilts.

I'm planning on heading over to Asheville at the end of March to see them. Live, they are full-speed ahead, and their audience loves 'em. They're playing in Memphis on the 14th, but I don't think I can make it over.

A nice Pitchfork interview suggests they may do a tour with the Hold Steady. Be still my beating heart.

You Can Thank Me Later

Here's a blog that has an amazing number of mp3s for you music collecting bastards. Don't be put off by some of the strange selections on the main page; scroll down a ways and look at the alphabetical archives on the right hand side. A treasure trove for looking for that 'one' song of a band that you like. I have spent hours on this site, and the fruit of my labors is inspiring. Have fun, and don't forget your families.

The Good, the Bad, and the Queen

No, I'm not talking about Dave, Lurker and Jay! It's the newest effort from Damon Albarn that includes Paul Simonon from thee Clash. I'm sure you've all heard of them, but they have emeddable samples on thier site. A couple here:



More on their site here.

Grohl in Memphis

I saw the Foo Fighters Friday night from, of all things, a corporate luxury box at the FedEx Forum. Terrific show, as huge rock extravaganzas go, 2+ hours of solid music, well-formatted and executed. But I have to say, my concert days are really past. The light show is annoying, all the screaming, the surging drunk crowd, I don't have the patience anymore. Can't complain about the music, though. And I don't mind the drunk dancing and singing along, they're at least all engaged in the music. But the young girls around me having shouted conversations while the music was happening was the kicker. My indignation had so little company that I eventually kept my dirty looks to myself and just tried to block it out.

Live music is dead to me. If the venue is small and the band good, I'll take it in, but no more concerts. Were we that annoying when we were young? Maybe, but I can't ever remember being at a concert and being as disconnected from the music as many of those around me Friday night.

Meet the Supercarters

The Supercarters is my permanent side project. Supercarters are songwriter and vocalist Ed Mitchell, bassist Dave Baker, drummer Elzy Lindsey, and me. The other three played together in a number of classic New Orleans bands before forming the Supercarters several years ago. They had recorded a demo and decided the band needed a little more guitar muscle, so they recruited me to play solos and add color. We played lots of shows and had a generally good time before Ed's schedule and ambivilence ended the band.

Dave, Elzy, and I formed Coverboy with Mike Werts and Adam Campagna and mastered the new wave covers genre and Ed continued driving truck and hanging around.

Last fall, a newly rejuvinated Ed visited Dave and Elzy in Asheville and the three recorded several songs in Elzy's basement. Ed had rediscovered his youthful love of gospel music and it got the creative juices flowing again. Ed is a pretty spiritual guy, which you'll hear reflected on parts of this album. I came over two weeks later and laid down 20 or so guitar tracks in one day. A touch of violin here, a trumpet there, and some fantastic harmonies later, and we had our first album. This group has been really liberating for me as a guitarist. It has been fun to not think about singing or driving the song. I do a lot of chickin' pickin' stuff and more atmospherics than I'm capable of otherwise.

The other thing I love about this album is that other than our collective time and energy, a few cases of beer, and gas to and from Asheville, this entire project cost nothing to make. Baker worked like a dog on it, but for the rest of us, it was nice and easy and no 'red-light' pressure at all. My favorite songs are 'Layin' Low', 'Carolina', 'Here's to You' and 'Life Awaits the Dead'.

I hope you guys like it. Ed is a great songwriter from the 'less is more' school, and his unpretentious words and incredibly hummable melodies will stick with you. Fractionally Tempstuous Process.

The best article ever written on any subject by anybody

This article on the Replacements recording 'Pleased to Meet Me' is just incredible.

Most Played Albums 2007

What albums did you play more than any other in 2007? I find my list surprisingly easy to compose:

- Smoking Popes - Born to Quit
- Manic Street Preachers - Holy Bible
- Flop - World of Today
- Weezer - Pinkerton
- Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, are you the destroyer?

And best discoveries of 2007:

- Flop
- Of Montreal
- Eagles of Death Metal
- BRMC
- M. Ward

Kevin Dubrow dead at 52

Back in my metal days, I was a real snob about 'American' vs. 'British' metal. I loved the British, detested the hair bands. Quiet Riot's first album was a bit of a mix between the two, and while I can't say I was ever a big fan, my young metal mind did find itself drawn towards a couple of songs. In their own way, QR did for metal what Nirvana did for alternative music: had a number one album hit which helped, for better or for worse, to open the commercial floodgates for a genre that had previously been underground.

Kevin Dubrow was found dead this weekend in his Vegas home. No cause of death yet, but I'm sure we'll hear all about it. RIP Kevin.