2008 In Review

Favorite Record of 2008:
The Raconteurs- Consolers of the Lonely

Honorable Mentions:
MGMT- Oracular Spectacular
Portishead- Third
Cold War Kids- Loyalty to Loyalty
Does If Offend You, Yeah?- You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into

Favorite Single of 2008:
Death Cab For Cutie- I Will Possess Your Heart

Honrable Mentions:
The Kills- Cheap & Cheerful
The Presets- Together
Cold War Kids- Something Is Not Right With Me
Santogold- L.E.S. Artistes

Least Favorite Single of 2008:
Leona Lewis- Bleeding Love

Favorite Show of 2008:
Justice (WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden)

Honrorable Mentions:
My Bloody Valentine (Roseland Ballroom)
Neil Young/Wilco (Madison Square Garden)
Stone Temple Pilots (Mohegan Sun)
Lou Reed (Highline Ballroom)
Metric (Highline Ballroom)
Iggy & The Stooges (Terminal 5)
Tegan & Sara (Terminal 5)

Least Favorite Show of 2008:
Scott Weiland (Irving Plaza)

Albums to look forward to in 2009:
Metric
Wilco
Blur
Built to Spill
Silversun Pickups
Muse?

Tours To Look Forward to in 2009:
Metallica
Guns N Roses?
Social Distortion?
Smashing Pumpkins at Lollaplooza?

Have a safe and happy new year!

See y'all in 2009!

someecards

Do you guys know someecards (http://www.someecards.com/) ... its a funny site where you send people sarcastic cards often about sex but here are a few that have been floating around the office today.

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now

MUSE- Starlight
From the album Black Holes & Revelations (2006)
One of the more romantic songs from the English trio. You have never really heard or experienced Muse until you see them live. The songs are extremely complicated and never really have dull moments.

Metric- IOU
From the album Old World Underground, Where Are You Now (2003)
You know my feelings on Emily Haines and the boys... well you also know my feelings on Emily Haines. This is their opening songs from their 2003 album and the album is named after the first line!

Lou Reed- Rock Minuet
From the album Ecstasy (2000)
This song is even sleazy by Lou Reed standards! Stories of sex, bars, dancing, whores, murder and the neighborhood I just move to are pretty much the reason I have been listening to this one lately.

Wilco- Walken
From the album Sky Blue Sky (2007)
Every now and then I have to give some love to bands from Chicago. I kind of slept on the record for a while, however, once I did finally check it out, this was my instant favorite. I lucked out when they played on Saturday Night Live that I attended (hosted by Ellen Page) and they played this song as the final part of the night.

Cold War Kids- Something Is Not Right With Me
From the album Loyalty To Loyalty (2008)
Ok, ok I know its the single of an album that came out this fall and I know its doing well on the satellites, but, can you look me in the eye and tell me this song isn't catchy as hell? I know that its a safe call when I hear this song in the Murray Hill bars.

Good Music Videos

MSTRKRFT - Easy Love

My favorite song by half of Death From Above 1979.

*Warning, there is no nudity, but this video is pretty sexual*

MSTRKRFT Easy Love
Uploaded by modularpeople

Did Coldplay rip off Joe Satriani?

This has been pretty popular in my office and in a few other websites that I look at... clearly this video is swayed in one direction, but take a listen and decide for yourself.

did coldplay really copy joe satriani
Cargado por thrashcopycats

Good Music Videos

Stone Roses- I Wanna Be Adored

One of my all time favorite songs.

Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Uploaded by jesus_lizard

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now

The Presets- Together
From the album Apocalypso (2008)
The Australian electronic duo comes back with one of the most underrated dance songs of the year. For the longest time I couldn't figure out who the song was by. Think Interpol making a song with MSTRKRFT.

Sound Team- Your Eyes Are Liars
From the album Movie Monster (2006)
Six buddies from Austin, TX create an album using electronic sounds mixed with run of the mill 80s and indie rock. A great track to listen to before, during and after going out for the night. This was always my favorite part of their live show, unfortunately, they broke up shortly after the record was finally released.

The Ponys- Turn The Lights Out
From the album Turn The Lights Out (2007)
So I had to show a little love to the Chicago boys for a second. Chicago's version of the garage band/indie rocker. If you are unsure of what their sound is like or what their "cred" is like, this was their first album that they released with Matador.

Tegan and Sara- Time Running
From the album If It Was You (2002)
My love for the sisters Quin is far from a new idea. I am a huge fan of their work. This is one of their more rocking songs that I have ever heard. Tegan takes the lead in this one that seems to get played more than once everytime it comes up on my ipod.

Death From Above 1979- Do It (Live)
From the EP Heads Up (2002)
Canada's duo of Sabastien Grainger (Sabastien Grainger & the Mountains) and Jesse F Keller (MSTRKRFT) kick out another raucous jam. In this effort, the normal shouting vocals from Grainger turn into a synth voice half way through the song and end with the cheers of a crowd... one of the better songs the duo did before calling it quits.

A Cross The Universe -- Justice DVD Trailer

Click the link to see the trailer for the new live Justice DVD/Documentary.... warning, the this video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1885460481/bctid1885486209

Good Music Videos

The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution

Classic Albums In The Form Of Legos...

Amazingly nerdy... so I dig it.

Some kids decided to recreate 20 Album Covers... check it.

Shows This Past Week

NOFX

Irving Plaza

http://www.myspace.com/nofx

This was my second time seeing these guys in the past few years. As you may guess when you go to their shows, its half a punk show, half a comedy act (and a little bit of an anti-Bush/anti-Republican rally). The show was great though it was little light on White Trash Two Heebs and A Bean, my personal favorite by the SF punk outlet. Fat Mike is a showman in his own regard... in the lets get drunk and look like jerks sorta way. But that is why everyone is there. Their opening act was The Dillinger 4 who were up to the challenge of comedy punk as well. Their lead man told the crowd, "we don't like when you cheer after songs. If you want us to know you like it, just chant NOFX after each song."

Non-Music Related High Point.

The bouncers at Irving Plaza told me how to spot fake tickets even if the print on it is flawless.

JJ Grey & Mofro

Highline Ballroom

http://www.myspace.com/mofroband

In 24 hours I couldn't think of two different shows. The Jacksonville, FL "front porch soul" and Country Ghetto is second to none. If you like the blues, soul, the use of organs, slide guitars, a horn section and/or harmonicas, look no further. The banter between songs both southern and whiskey infused was surprisingly welcome. This is a band who's shows that I will never miss and its been that way for about 3 years now. The best song in my opinion that they played the down tempo version of Circles, of course Lochloosa is always a fan favorite. The horn section moves in unison, the drummer smiles the whole time and JJ Grey gives the whole band their time to shine.

Non- Music Related High Point:

Went to the show with a friend who I hadn't spent time with in a long while and no one appreciates the band as much as she does.

Do you think Sarah Palin is a crazy person?

Check this out

be sure to click around.

http://www.palinaspresident.us/

Good Music Videos

Echo & the Bunnymen- The Killing Moon

Good Music Videos

Joy Division- Love Will Tear Us Apart

classic.

Good Music Videos

The Methadones- Say Goodbye To Your Generation

Shows This Week/Check'em Out

Pete & J
Nokia Theater
http://www.myspace.com/peteandj

This is a band that I have been talking to for a little bit and I have seen countless times. They are a cross of Hall and Oates and 70s folk. Though the band is named after the two front men, there are 4 guys in the band. They are really great guys and they put on a great show. This past week I saw them open for Rusted Root. It took the fans a second to warm up to Pete and J since they were there to see a jam band and they got two singers instead, but once they got into it, it was fantastic. They are doing some northeast dates for a while and they play a ton in New York City, so if you ever have a chance, their show is highly recommended.

Check out a video from them on Philly's NBC 10.




Non Music Related High Point.

I have been trying to get my girlfriend to come to one of their shows for weeks and we finally got it done!

Final Baseball Article For The Year, I Promise.

Scot Moore (of Wheaton, IL now living in Minnesota) is auction off his allegiance to the Chicago Cubs via, eBay. I heard this this morning while listening to Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio. Apparently this is how it would work. He would burn all of his belogings that have anything to do with the Chicago Cubs. The winning bidder would get the video of him doing so. According to the Huffington Post on Tuesday night the bid was up to $455. His idea is to "hex the Cubs for another 100 years for the poor treatment of their fans."

Poor treatment of their fans? Bringing in big name free agents the past few years, winning 2 division titles in a row? Keeping their stadium when everyone else is getting rid of theirs (sometimes for no real reason)?

You Mr. Moore are an idiot.

I'm back...

The computer is fixed... since the last time I was able to update everything, I went to see a great Pete & J show and my Cubbies officially made it 100 years of being World Series-less... but the computer is back so there will be more updates soon.

Sorry...

my computer fried!  its currently getting fixed by some nice Eastern European guy... hopefully we'll be back running soon.

yeah yeah, i miss you too!

Shows This Past Week

My Bloody Valentine

Roseland Ballroom

http://www.myspace.com/mybloodyvalentine

The single best word to describe this show is LOUD. It was definitely louder than the Mission of Burma show at Irving Plaza and that says something. Roseland Ballroom is noticeably larger than Irving Plaza. This show was so loud, that there was a sign on the merch booth written on a piece of cardboard (like a lunatic with a "The End Is Near" sign) that said, "MBV recommends you wear earplugs." That was a first for me. They were handing them out but I decided to bring my own pair based on what I had heard. I went a few songs without them and I couldn't do it. Even with the plugs in, they sounded amazing. It would have been easy for them to totally bleed all the distortion together to the point where it sounded like white noise but they didn't. Of course the highlight for me was "Only Shallow." To be honest, as excited as I was, I really only know a handful of their songs in a way to differentiate them from the rest. They never really stopped for longer than 3 seconds between songs. They just kept playing and playing. Then Kevin Shields said, "thanks for coming." Those were they only words of the night.

That was also when the shit hit the fan! They then went on into the loudest part of the night. A literal 15 minute distortion fest that sound like nothing but jet engines. It was so loud i had to see what it sounded like. I took out my earplugs and lasted maybe 10 seconds. They finished the sounds of engines with a 10 second melodic riff and walked of the stage. It was amazing.

Non Music Related High Point.

I had never experienced anything that loud and it had become apparent by looking around (so i know I wasn't the only weirdo there), you could feel your inner organs and bones vibrating to the music. It was intense!

Congrats to a Friend

For Immediate Release: Acey Slade featured in Rock Band 2 and Releasing new E.P. this Fall!

This September Harmoix Music and Mtv are releasing Rock Band 2, the premier interactive music video game. Rock Band 1 received widespread critical acclaim and has sold over 3.5 million bundled units over all platforms. Players have also downloaded over 21 million songs since Rock Band's release. The game's success has prompted the development of a sequel, Rock Band 2, due to be released on Xbox 360 in September 2008 and on other consoles in the following months. With this kind of success Harmoix Music could have cast any notable celebrity to model their characters after, who they chose for 2 of the biggest roles was Acey Slade. All the moves, style and motion for the Male singer of the ‘Punk’ band and the male guitarist for the ‘Rock’ band were ‘Mocap’ed’ (Motion captured) at Curious Pictures in New York in January of this past year before Acey headed out on a U.S. and European tour where he rejoined is former band mate Wednesday 13 (Murderdolls) who was sidelined from guitar duties due to a broken collar bone.

Focused solely on his solo album, Acey will release an EP featuring Re-Mixes from Skinny Kangur of Deathstars, Piggy D of Rob Zombie, Loopy from Hanzel Und Gretyl and DJ Speedranch. The E.P. will be a limited release and some of the remixes will be exclusive to the E.P. only! It will also include stickers and patch exclusive to this E.P.

A full-length album is 90% completed and should be released later this year or early next. The album and the EP are collaboration between Acey and Producer Shaun ‘Stakka’ Morris, a legend in the Drum and Bass scene. The album blends guitars with electronica, and pop with darkness hence the tentative title ‘Dark Party’. Shaun handled the programming, while Acey played bass, guitar and lead vocals. Andee, who will be a part of the live band, added additional guitars.
One new song is available for streaming at http://www.myspace.com/aceyslademusic

Good Music Videos

Ok... this time we aren't presenting the official video. This time the Chemical Brothers had their fans make their own videos that were compiled and made into a really cool video while hoping around on Google Earth, to show where the videos were made.

The Chemical Brothers- Midnight Madness

Shows This Past Week

GZA

Irving Plaza

http://www.myspace.com/gza

We went to see my favorite member of the Wu Tang Clan perform his classic album Liquid Swords. I am usually not a huge fan of hip hop shows as it usually doesn't translate live. However, Irving Plaza is a pretty decent venue for it. Again, it wasn't the best show I have ever been too, but they handled the sound well. The show wasn't sold out, but it was pretty packed and we had to watch from the upstairs. Had the show not been in celebration of Liquid Swords, I am not sure we would have been there. It was a great time though, as he performed an album that we all loved and are able to get down with. I just wish hip hop still sounded like this. RZA Masta Killa, and Raekwon were there as well, which was a nice bonus.

Non Music Related High Point.

Being able to be a teenager with 10 of my closest friends for an hour an a half. It was more of an event than a show.

Good Music Videos (a double dip)

I prefer the Tegan & Sara version of the song, but I will let you decide for yourself.

Tegan and Sara- Walking With A Ghost

The White Stripes- Walking With A Ghost

Congrats Big Z!

Last night Carlos Zambrano (my favorite member of the Chicago Cubs) pitched a no hitter against the Houston Astros. It was the first time I have seen a no hitter as a Cubs fan (the last was Milt Pappas in 1972, my dad was 19!).

To add to the enjoyment, it was done in the Brewers home and on ESPN, they interrupted a White Sox game to show the final inning.

'The Twist' is top song of Billboard Hot 100 era (Yahoo and Billboard)

09/11/2008 5:00 AM, AP
Nekesa Mumbi Moody

How's this for a twist: Of all the No. 1 songs in the 50 years of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Chubby Checker's "The Twist" ranks as the most popular single.

Elvis and the Beatles didn't even make the top five.

Checker's ranking may come as a surprise to some, but not to the classic rocker.

"I'm glad they've finally recognized it," said Checker of his early 1960s hit.

He compared "The Twist" — named by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock 'n' roll — to the creation of the telephone as a groundbreaking moment because he said it was the first time people were dancing "apart to the beat."

"Anyplace on the planet, when someone has a song that has a beat, they're on the floor dancing apart to the beat, and before Chubby Checker, it wasn't here, and I think that has a lot to do with me being on the charts," he said.

Santana's "Smooth," featuring Rob Thomas, is the No. 2 most popular, followed by Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife," Leann Rimes' "How Do I Live" and "The Macarena" by Los Del Rio.

The Beatles did make the top 10, coming it at No. 8 with "Hey Jude." But Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" and Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life" are ahead of that hit. Rounding out the top 10: Mariah Carey's "We Belong Together" at No. 9 and Toni Braxton's "Un-break My Heart" at No. 10.

Geoff Mayfield, director of charts at Billboard magazine, acknowledged that the list might not jibe with some fans' personal thoughts of the most popular songs of the past 50 years.

"This is simply a chronicle of how each of these songs performed in their era on the Hot 100. We're not saying these are the most memorable songs of your life. That would be something that's almost impossible to determine," said Mayfield. "Everyone has a subjective frame of reference."

The Beatles do top Billboard's all-time Hot 100 artists, followed by Madonna, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and the Rolling Stones. Billboard.com is breaking out some of the other chart achievements (the list of most No. 1 singles by an act is topped by the Beatles) on its Web site.

The Billboard Hot 100 chart measures airplay and sales information (and more recently digital downloads) in determining the nation's most popular songs. To determine the most popular song of the Hot 100 era, Billboard used a formula to determine the top song — not always relying on weeks at No. 1 since the data was reported differently in its early days.

Initially, Billboard relied on stations to report the most popular songs, and got sales surveys from record stores. But Mayfield said stations often stopped reporting on a song's popularity if it was no longer a priority for record labels. And in 1991, Billboard began relying on sales data from Nielsen SoundScan and airplay data from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. So Billboard weighted certain songs from different eras to make sure all songs were on an even playing field.

"We went through each era, and we looked through the rate of turnover. The rate of turnover was very high in the late '50s and early '60s, and we had to put a weight on that to make the chart runs of that era equal to the chart runs that can be accomplished since 1991," he said.

Checker's "The Twist" spent a total of only three weeks at the top of the charts, but did so twice in two separate runs more than a year apart.

"It's the only song that was ever No. 1 in two different chart runs," he said.

Checker said he was gratified that Billboard noted the popularity of "The Twist," and lamented that both the song and his career have been at times overlooked.

"My music is less played that any performer that has been a No. 1 chart man on the planet," said Checker, who also had hits with "Pony Time," "The Fly" and "Let's Twist Again," which earned him a Grammy. "I don't get the respect that Rod Stewart gets, or the Rolling Stones, or Frankie Valli. ... But I have to deal with it."

Good Music Videos

Death From Above 1979- Romantic Rights

100 Years...

Please check this out from ESPN...

Made my eyes water up a few times.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=cubs100

Which franchise rules your city? I know the answer. (ESPN the Magazine)

Here is an interesting read from Rick Reilly in ESPN The Magazine.
------------------

Which franchise rules your city? I know the answer.

If your town could save one sports team—college or pro—and the others had to relocate to Vladivostok, Russia, which one would stay?

In Denver, for instance, the fans would keep the Broncos and happily drive all other teams to the airport. Proof: If you added your name to the season-ticket waiting list now, it'd be nearly 190 years before you got a call.

Some cities are easy that way. St. Louis is a Cards town. The Skins own DC, lock, stock and pork barrel. Dallas belongs to the Cowboys, and if you don't believe it you better be wearing steel-toed boots. The rest of America? Glad you asked:

ATLANTA Georgia football. Every SEC grad gets a job in Atlanta. The Braves can't even sell out playoff games. Everybody thinks the Hawks moved to Calgary years ago.

BALTIMORE Ravens, in a squeaker over Michael Phelps.

BOSTON Red Sox. Once, Boston was a hockey town, and Orr's Bruins ruled. It's never been a Celtics town—despite Russell and Bird—partly because of the finally fading racism. Patriots? Pssshhht. They're not even in Boston. The Red Sox, though, sell out a cramped, rusted ballpark as though there were Hope Diamonds under every seat. Says longtime Boston sports yakker Eddie Andelman: "Who can have a decent conversation about anything else?"

CHARLOTTE NASCAR. Bobcats players could give fans halftime mani-pedis and still not draw.
CHICAGO Bears. The Cubbies are the Windy City's cute Labradoodle pets, but the Bears are in the blood. "Everybody in Chicago loves the Bears," admits Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot. Pro football is to Chicago what airplanes are to Dayton. In third, the Bulls. Fourth, Notre Dame football.

CLEVELAND Browns. Name one other city that lost a team and had the league give it back! Name, uniforms, everything! If the Cavaliers left, two janitors might look up.

DETROIT Red Wings. It's called Hockeytown, not Basketballtown.

HOUSTON Yesterday. Everything in Houston was better in the old days—Luv Ya Blue, Hakeem the Dream, the Ryan Express. Now everything is an Applebee's opening.

INDIANAPOLIS Colts, which is funny. Four years ago, they couldn't even sell out the RCA Dome, smallest venue in the league. Now they've got brand-new digs.

LOS ANGELES Lakers. The real folks in town—bus drivers, gardeners, school-teachers—own Lakers jerseys. Dodgertown is in Florida. "There's a radio guy here with 'I Slept with Shaq' tattooed on his forehead," marvels Laker Derek Fisher. Think anyone's got "I Slept with Chris Kaman" tattooed on his forehead?

MIAMI Dolphins. Second: U. of Miami football. Third: Miami spring football. Last: Marlins, once again the C-SPAN of MLB attendance.

MINNEAPOLIS Vikings. The Twins get no love. Once, they were playing a Saturday afternoon game in the HumpDome, and it went extra innings. The game was stopped so the stadium crew could get the field ready for a football game that night. Ouch.

NEW YORK You see more Yankees hats in NYC than all other teams combined. Win 26 titles, that happens. Then there's this: MoviesUnlimited.com lists 21 flicks about the Yanks, four on the Giants and Mets each, two on the Knicks and one on the Rangers.

PHILADELPHIA Used to be Eagles, now it's Phillies. This is partly because of the Phils' young stars and partly because the Iggles owner has handed it to them. Jeffrey Lurie is a Boston guy who's made $800 million so far on his Eagles purchase but not many friends. You always get the feeling that his jet bound for his beloved Beantown is double-parked.

PHOENIX The Suns are hanging on, with Arizona State closing fast. Suns owner Robert "Foam Finger" Sarver has turned off so many fans while the ASU AD, Lisa Love, has turned so many on. Cardinals? Worst ownership in the history of owning things.

SAN FRANCISCO Says San Francisco Chronicle columnist Scott Ostler: "A second-string 49er having his chakras aligned is bigger news than any other team's top player winning the MVP, a Nobel Prize and dying, all on the same day."

SEATTLE Seahawks, but that's new. "When I first got here," says Matt Hasselbeck, "we'd play at Husky Stadium. They'd get 72,000 on Saturdays. We'd get 25,000 the next day, and 10,000 would be there for the Raiders."

TAMPA Bucs. "How can the Rays be ahead of two of the top franchises in baseball history and still get only 14,000 some nights?" asks Bucs corner Ronde Barber.

So there you have it. Meanwhile, I'm getting a time-share in Vladivostok. It's going to have some sick teams.



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Good Music Videos

My Bloody Valentine- Only Shallow

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now

Magazine- Shot By Both Sides
From the album Real Life (1978)
Post punk classic proves that sometimes a catchy hook is possible without a lot of production work. The guitar riff in this song makes it a classic.

Velvet Underground- Sweet Jane
From the album Loaded (1970)
The most popular song from New York's most influential band. Sometimes keeping it basic is all you need.

Cracker- Teen Angst (What The World Needs Now)
From the album Cracker (1992)
A song about being selfish, smug, horny, full of angst and needing a drink is all you need. When you listen to the lyrics I bet you were able to at some point.

My Bloody Valentine- Only Shallow
From the album Loveless (1991)
This is one of those songs that you have no idea what the lyrics are by listening, but they become a part of the music. The ethereal shoegazing sound get stuck in your head on repeat.

Santogold- L.E.S. Artistes
From the album Santogold (2008)
Former Stiffed front woman, moves to New York and decides that the Lower East Side is really pretentious, but explains this using a New York hipness.

Ghidrah (9/5/08) -- Pat McGee Band, Steve Wynn, War Stories

To hear the music on this week's Ghidrah, click on each head of the three headed dragon on the right side of the screen.

These songs get updated each week. The Ghidrah is part of Rock Ridge Music's song of the week program. If you would like to get your band involved, email Rebelde Radio at illorange[at]gmail.com.

Rage Against The Machine Performs At The RNC... Kinda... (The Tripwire)

Here is an article I thought was interesting from The Tripwire (http://www.thetripwire.com/).

And notice the headwear.

------------------

Rage Against The Machine Performs Acapella At The RNC

Making an unscheduled appearance at a rally yesterday on the grounds of the Minnesota State Capital, Rage Against The Machine set forth to headline the rally concert on the same stage where Anti Flag had just wrapped up their set. But when it came time for the band to perform, officials shut off the electricity and the Minnesota State Police formed a barricade around the band refusing to let them on stage.

As reported by Above The Fold, after 20 minutes of the crowd chanting "Let Them Play," "Music is not a Crime," "We'll be good, we promise," and a riveting rendition of the national anthem, the band came into the crowd and performed two songs acapella. Armed with only a megaphone, and thousands of fans, RATM played a 10min "set" of "Bulls On Parade" and "Killing In The Name Of".

By Derek Evers Sep 03, 2008

MPR News: Rage Against the Machine at the Minnesota State Capitol

New For The NFL Season (Ladies Locker Room)

My good friends at Ladies Locker Room decided to invite a guy in... me!

Each week the Ladies of LLR ft. IO will be posting our picks.

Be sure to check it out before each weeks games and as always feel free to tell us how bad we suck.

http://www.ladieslockerroom.blogspot.com/

Good Music Videos

A Tribe Called Quest- Electric Relaxation

Someday We'll Go All The Way

As you know a friend of mine writes for a sports blog called Ladies Locker Room. I was asked to write something for it about what it is like being a Chicago Cubs fan. Here it is. Please check out Ladies Locker Room at http://ladieslockerroom.blogspot.com/

------------------

Someday We'll Go All The Way

So there are couple things that are different about me from Boogie and Stars who you normally hear from on LLR. The first and most obvious is I, in fact, do have balls. However that is of no importance in a sports blog. The difference that is more important is the fact that I am not an NL East guy. More specifically, I am not a New York Mets fan. I am a Chicago Cubs fan.

I am one of the bigger Chicago Cubs fans you will meet. I don’t really know the stats and remember every play of every game the way some of my brethren (and sisters) do. I, however, am one who allows the emotions of the game get to him. I actually do this for all of my teams (Chi Town stand up!). It changes my day when my teams lose. If my teams lose, its hard for me to watch Sportscenter that night. This has been very difficult over the past 27 years of being a Chicago Cubs fan...you miss a lot of ESPN.

While I have been struggling with this difficult task of being a supporter of the Loveable Losers for my whole life, my dad and his generation have in fact doubled my sentence. While my biggest heart wrenching moment has been 2003 (the year it was blamed on poor Steve Bartman), my dad has been old enough to sit through 1969 (Mets comeback), 1984 (“Go Cubs Go” singer Steve Goodman dies, Cubs win 2 then lose 3 in a row to SD), 1989 (Will Clark leads the Giants into Chicago) and 2003. Now, the Cubs have been competitive a few other times, but these were special teams that seemed like they could be the one. They seemed that they could be the one, but 1908 is still forever tattooed on all of our minds.

1908. William Taft was elected. It was the first time a ball was dropped for the New Year in Times Square. The first oil was discovered in the Middle East. Jack Johnson knocked out Tommy Burns to be the first African- American Heavyweight Champion. You get the picture. The things like “avoid Times Square on New Years Eve,” “lets go to war to get oil from the Arab nations” and “always bet on black” weren’t even ideas yet!

We are not accustomed to seeing a lot of success on the North Side of Chicago. At the same time in the past few seasons, we have watched the two other longest streaks in the Boston Red Sox and cross town rivals Chicago White Sox each win. We also saw our biggest rival the St. Louis Cardinals win as well. Now I don’t believe in curses or any of that, however it should be noted that we blew it in 2003, the Red Sox won in 2004 and the White Sox won in 2005. The two teams that were our suffering partners got invited to the dance right after we got our hearts broken.

The most dangerous thing a Chicago Cubs fan can do is get comfortable with success. I was taught at an early age by my dad to never say things that may come back to haunt you. It scares me when they show the people in the stands at Wrigley with signs that say, “This Is Our Year,” “This Year Is Next Year” or “Its Gonna Happen.” That is asking for trouble. Eddie Vedder, a big Cubs fan, and performs a song this summer that he wrote called “Someday We’ll Go All The Way.” The song is about Wrigley and us fans waiting but still having the Cubs backs 100 years later.

I simply prefer to take it one game at a time… bottle my excitement and hope… hope like you have to idea. All you can do is cheer and wait… and hope that our hearts aren’t ripped out again.

I just want them to win so our dads can see what many of our grandfathers didn’t. But, if they don’t win… There’s always next year.

Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go!

Hey Chicago What Do You Say?

The Cubs Are Gonna Win Today!

-illorange

Check'em Out

The Rosewood Thieves.
New York, NY
http://www.myspace.com/therosewoodthieves

For fans of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, throwback bands.

Here is one of my favorite LES bands out there... they actually have been for a couple years now. I present to you the Rosewood Thieves.

Shows This Week

Iggy & The Stooges.
Terminal 5
http://www.myspace.com/iggyandthestooges

This was the third show from the Michigan rockers I have seen in the past, oh, 18 months or so. They have yet to disappoint. Once again, I was among the younger people in the whole place. Once again, I was impressed with the sound at Terminal 5. Its not often that you get your face melted by a guy 60 years old. Its not often that you see a guy over 60 hump more inanimate objects than my college roommate. The show was great nonetheless. I heard every single song I wanted to hear, including I Wanna Be Your Dog twice. It was a great night and I had more plans after that.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
As always, the high point of a Stooges show is Iggy's energy and of course inviting 200 plus people on stage isn't so bad either.


Metric.
Highline Ballroom
http://www.myspace.com/metricband

Oh, Canada! Its not often that you see two of your favorite bands in one night. Right after the Stooges show, I headed downtown to see Emily and the guys. I love Emily Haines. If you have met me before you already know that. The show started at about 1 am. They came out and rocked a small little crowd which I had never seen them do before. The playlist was perfect and they sounded great. And really the weekend was just beginning because I would be seeing them the next day at All Points West.


The opening act was a band called Black Angels from Austin, TX. They were like a psychedelic throw back that I recommend checking out.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
Emily Haines rubbed my head after the set from the stage.


All Points West.
Jersey City, NJ

This was a festival that included Metric, Chromeo, Kings of Leon and Radiohead. We didn't stay for Radiohead as we learned from the week prior.

For Metric please see above.

Kings of Leon had a great show and again played every song that we could have wanted to hear. I have to admit though, I am ready for some new songs from Team Followill. I also have to admit that I hope when they do come with the new songs, they are more similar to the Youth & Young Mandhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak. I am just a big fan of the whiskey soaked country, blues of the first two records. The set was great though and Caleb's vocie sounded distinct as ever. Like them or not, they seem to put on a better show almost every time I see them. Again, a band that I don't like to miss when they come to town.

We missed Chromeo because we were drinking and well we left during Radiohead.

I do have a couple complaints about the show though. They are both beer related. The five beers for person thing was lame. When you got a bracelet, you weren't allowed to have more beers than one for each of the numbered tabs on your wrist. One got ripped off each time you bought a beer. Then when you did get a beer, you couldnt leave a fenced in area. That means you couldn't see the stage. Bullshit!

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
This is more than just a high point. I have been saying for years that New York needs a good rock festival of their own. Good job here guys. Oh, nothing against you Siren and CMJ.

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings.
Central Park Summer Stage
http://www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

This was a great show that kind of fell in our laps on a Sunday afternoon. My girlfriend and I were enjoying lunch at (several) drinks at the Boat Bassin Cafe when we found out about the free show. We headed over pretty much just in time and caught Ms. Jones and her army of friends. The show was fun as they always are. I have noticed she is way more fun in smaller settings and this was a great size for her. As always she got peopel to join her on stage and talked to the people in the front. She talked about her outfits, her shoes, everything. The playlist was good not great (only becuase they didn't play All Over Again). If you are a soul or old school R&B fan, this is a show worth checking out.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.

It was free and outside on a Summer Sunday!

Fashion of Lollapalooza 2008

So one of the interesting things to do at Lollapalooza when you are walking from show to show, is to notice people's the shirts. With Rage Against the Machine being the no doubt favorite band of the weekend, there were plenty of their shirts, Che shirts and other political statements. Here are a few others that caught my eye.

Most Offensive-

The most offensive shirt of the weekend was a cartoon drawing of the Sears Tower giving someone the finger. The speaking balloon coming out of it said "Hey Fuckers, fly into this!" I was not impressed. Worst shirt of the weekend.

Most Random-

It simply read:

"Haiku's are easy

But sometimes they don't make sense

Refrigerator."

Random Movie-

It simply read:

"Los Locos kick your ass, Los Locos Kick your face, Los Locos kick your balls into outer space!"

Made Me Stop The Person-

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 3 Review

The day of that started with the most gripping hangover of the weekend, started with a little hiccup on the festivals end also. We got their in time to see The Weakerthans but they were no where to be found. Something happened with travel that caused them to miss. I was pretty disappointed since I was ready to see Manitoba's finest. Instead we got a lackluster set from Office. We then walked across the park to catch the last few songs from The Whigs. A band I wasn't really paying attention to since I wasn't really familiar.

We were able to stay on that end of the festival since we went to see New York's own, Brazilian Girls. This was one of the better sets of the weekend. The guys came out and started playing their grooves when they joined by the only actual girl in the band... in a short skirt, frilly white shirt and parisol. She looked like she was ready for a little burlesque action, which was totally fine. The set was great and they had a much bigger showing than I thought.

Next up was 80 dance cheesiness, Chromeo. This set was a lot of fun. We started in the back where it was hard to get into it, but when we made our way closer things improved drastically. Their stage show was nothing to write home about but the music takes care of that easily.

Then we caught Eli "Paper Boy" Reed & The True Loves. This show was a lot of fun, just because it was so different from everything else we had been seeing. It was like a throwback to the old days of blue eyed soul. We also for the first time (yes on day three) realized there was a tent with beer other than Bud and Bud Light. After enjoying a couple Stella Artois, it was off to see what turned out to be the most fun band of the entire festival.

From the stage the announcement of "are you ready, ya bastards?" and Flogging Molly began their set. Drunken Lullabies was one of the high points of the entire weekend for me. The band was great, the crowd was great, even the between song banter was great. The guy is hilarious. I got seperated from the group quickly as I found myself at the stage doing a lot of dancing.

Then it was time to see some 80's throwback and went to see Love & Rockets. The guys played well, it was my frist time seeing them. I was very young in this crowd too. Most of my group went tot he other side to see Gnarls Barkley, but I had to stay. No New Tale To Tell made my decision worth it.

The National played but I couldn't hear them at all since I set up shop to see Nine Inch Nails. Trent and the boys killed it. One of the random funny moments of the weekend had to do with the guitarist. We had been making fun of a guys hair at my hotel. My mom especially. That guy was there on the stage playing with Mr. Reznor. Any way, the set was great, Terrible Lies or Hand That Feeds were the two high points I thought.

It was another great year in Grant Park and I am already excited to see next year's lineup!

Brutal Overlap Of The Day-
Brazilian Girls and John Butler Trio

Band That I Had Never Seen And Don't Want To Miss When They Come To New York-
Flogging Molly

Best Show Of The Day-
Flogging Molly
Nine Inch Nails (Honorable Mention)

Check'em Out

Here is a band for y'all to check out.

Blind Pilot
Portland, OR
http://www.myspace.com/goblindpilot

For fans of Fleet Foxes, Margot & The Nuclear So and So's and Conor Oberst.

These guys are currently on a bike tour... thats right you read that right. They are riding their bikes from spot to spot. Gangster.

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 2 Review

The day started much easier on day two. No bad lines, we just walked right in. The first band we went to see was Margot & The Nuclear So & So's. Again, this was another band I had never seen before, which you will see is a common theme on day two. The show was great, the band was tight and all the precussion going on was fantastic. It was a shame they only got an hour. The highpoint in my opinoin was Barfight Revolution.

From there we headed over to see Does It Offend You, Yeah?. The show was fantastic! Loud as hell and they didn't miss a beat being outdoors. Though we only caught the last thirty minutes, they were easily one of my favorite acts of this year's Lollapalooza. Highlights included Let's Make Out and We Are Rockstars (which had people losing their minds).

After that very loud an upbeat show, we headed back to the other side of the park to catch Dr. Dog. This was the least impressive show to me. It was quiet, it was boring and a ton of people were sitting.

We didn't last very long before we headed to get a good spot for Gutter Twins. Again, this show was really surprising. I love this record, but I wasn't sure how it would translate live, let alone at an outdoor festival. IT WAS GREAT! Mark and Greg's voices worked perfectly together. Mark was a statue and Greg stayed with his guitar but they both managed to be as charismatic as anyone else at Lollapalooza. Yet another band who's shows I really don't want to miss again. Too bad that I have to wait until November.

We didn't have to walk to far to go see MGMT. One of the most popular afternoon bands of the entire festival. They seemed to be the talk of Lollapalooza even the nights before the shows even began. The didn't disappoint. The only draw back was there were to many people their for their own sound, so unless you got closer it was a little quiet.

We took a break for a while to have some food and knock back a few more beers before movin g on to the next show. Unfortunately this was the longest downtime we had the whole weekend and all it did was cause arguing and boredom amongst the group (at this point there were 12 of us).

Then it was off to Broken Social Scene. They were good, but it wasn't their best show I had ever seen. We stayed for half before we decided to get more beers and catch the end of Battles. That didn't seem too exciting either as I find them to be hit or miss.

That brought us to Toadies. Being someone who was in middle school and highschool in the 90s, this was a must see. They played some songs and people who were there for them we loving it, people who weren't just kind of saw them as a rock band. My brother (born 1990) said, you can tell this is a 90s band and then made an obnoxious guitar noise. I told him he was an idiot. The high point of course was when Vaden Todd Lewis said, "we're the Toadies, we're the band that did this song." They of course then went into Possum Kingdom. I ate it up.

Last of the night was those loveable rebels themselves, Rage Against The Machine. This was easily the most crowded show I have ever seen in my three years at Lollapalooza. Though it had to be stopped a few times to get people to stop pushing the kids in front into the fence. It was great, it had all the elements of a Rage show. Zack de la Rocha was losing his mind on stage. Tom Morello's signature guitar not to mention the thousands of people moving and pumping their fists. The show was fantastic even though we got split up and I watched most of it alone.

Brutal Overlap Of The Day-
Rage Against The Machine and Wilco
Toadies and Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings (Honorable Mention)
Does It Offend You, Yeah? and Margot & The Nuclear So and So's (Honorable Mention)

Band That I Had Never Seen And Don't Want To Miss When They Come To New York-
The Gutter Twins
Does It Offend You, Yeah (Honorable Mention)
Margot & The Nuclear So and So's (Honorable Mention)

Best Show Of The Day-
The Gutter Twins
Rage Against The Machine (Honorable Mention)

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 1 Review

The day got off to a rough start since we were waiting in a monsterous line. Unfortunately we missed Black Lips and Holy Fuck... I was not happy about that at all.

We then made our way over to the BMI stage to check out New Jersey's own, The Parlor Mob. These guys may have been the surpirse of the festival. I had never seen them before but I will surely never miss a show of theirs again. They didn't miss a beat live and their guitars and the vocals were spot on and loud. They made it very difficult to stand still on such a hot day and so soon in the festival.

We then caught the beginning of Louis XIV, which was a little bit of a train wreck. Their performance seemed to be trying to hard to be cool to the point that they caused their own uncool backlash. They definitely played to a good size crowd the only problem was that it was on black top and it got warm. Fast. We left them after my girlfriend heard the songs that she wanted to hear. We headed over to the nearest stage to see The Kills. Its easy to blame the sound guy, but the sound wasn't translating their songs at all! We caught No Wow but it seemed to lack that punch that it has on the record and in smaller indoor settings.

We caught the beginning of Gogol Bordello and though its not my thing, it was pretty fun. We didn't stay to long though because we had to go see the blues gents at the other end, Black Keys. The Kills wish they had their sound guy. It was loud and it translated great... well they are seasoned Lollapalooza vets at this point so they knew what they were getting themselves into. My only thing about them is they seem to get tired and then just rock and some of the instrumentation gets to be a little much... stop jamming and play a song! That is kind of harsh since I did love the show.

We then grabbed more beer and wine and parked ourselves in a good spot to catch The Raconteurs. In my opinion, these guys have played two Lollapaloozas and have dominated their day both times. If you haven't seen these guys live yet, you are doing yourself no favors. Jack White is fantastic live and the band is up to the challenge of his shadow. Would have been nice to have a horn section for The Switch and the Spur.

Last was Radiohead. This was the biggest disappointment of Lollapalooza 2008. The sounds was quiet. The setlist was boring. Thom Yorke was a statue. It was a bummer. Even my friends who are big fans weren't that psyched about it. The highlight however was during the song Fake Plastic Trees, there were fireworks going off at Soldier Field from Bears family night. It was totally random but it worked perfectly.

Day one down... time to get drunk(er) with the guys!

Brutal Overlap Of The Day-
The Raconteurs and Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Black Lips and Holy Fuck (Honorable Mention)

Band That I Had Never Seen And Don't Want To Miss When They Come To New York-
The Parlor Mob

Best Show Of The Day-
The Raconteurs

Ghidrah (8/18/08) -- Reel Big Fish, Patrick Droney, Push Play

Check it out, the GHIDRAH, in its new format: http://www.rockridgemusic.com/ghidrah

That's right - the GHIDRAH has been upgraded from cool to totally kick-ass!!!




This week's Ghidrah songs:

Reel Big Fish – Everybody’s Drunk
Patrick Droney – Save Me
Push Play – Situation

Reel Big Fish was one of the legions of Southern California ska-punk bands to edge into the mainstream following the commercial success of No Doubt and Sublime. Like most of their peers, the band was distinguished by their hyperkinetic stage shows, juvenile humor, ironic covers of new wave pop songs, and metallic shards of ska. The group cultivated an underground following that broke into the mainstream in summer 1997, when their single "Sell Out" became a modern rock radio and MTV favorite. Over ten years later, eleven to be exact, they're wrapping up headlining Warped Tour in support of their latest release Monkeys For Nothin' And The Chimps For Free.

Most extremely gifted musicians never get the opportunity to cite prestigious venues and festivals such as The Montreal Jazz Festival, Antone’s, House of Blues, The Whiskey A-Go-Go, B.B. Kings Blues Club & The Bamboozle Music Festival as been-there-done-that’s, much less have been requested to provide guidance & instruction to aspiring artists alongside the likes of such inspirational innovators as Steve Vai & Joe Satriani.
Awarded the Robert Johnson Star Award Recipient for 2006 as the country’s most promising blues musician, Patrick Droney hails from coastal Southern New Jersey. Steven Johnson, grandson of the legendary bluesman and Chief Operating Officer of the Foundation, hails - “Patrick blew us away. We were amazed that a musician that young could play with that much skill and dexterity and with that much soul."


Push Play is an edgy pop rock band coming to the scene first on Long Island and reaching as far as the Midwest in cities such as Menomonee Falls, WI, and Chicago, Illinois and as far as Boston, MA. Comprised of 4 young men, this talented group was named Best Band on Long Island by the Long Island Press. Their debut album "Deserted", released last December, represents all of their own material. Through MySpace, their music has reached over 44,000 fans across the globe. The "Deserted" iTunes release stayed on the top 100 for the first2 weeks, which is unheard of by any unsigned band that had not begun touring outside the tri-state area.

Good Music Videos

Silversun Pickups- Well Thought Out Twinkles

Getting Back On Track

I want to start by saying sorry for the lack of updates. I recently was back in Chicago and had a flight get delayed to the point that it took 10 hours. Thats right, 10 hours from my parents house to my apartment.

The flight was delayed a few times and then we sat on the runway in Chicago. Then when we finally got to Newark, we were put in a holding pattern, then sat on their runway.

A pain in the ass cab ride later and the day was shot. I have a ton to catch up on but I will be updating normally again this week.

Let the hate mail fly!

5 Song I Am Into Right Now

Joy Division- No Love Lost
From the EP An Ideal For Living (1978)
The second track off the post punk icon's frist EP, was recorded when they were still a late 70's Manchester style punk band. The musical introduction to the song is ideal for walking rapidly down the street in an urban area.

Genius/GZA- Duel of the Iron Mic
From the album Liquid Swords (1995)
Again, the second track off this Wu Tang member's first solo record. One of the heavier songs off of one of the Wu Tang Clan's heaviest albums any of them ever did. The way thuggish hip hop should still sound.

Datarock- Computer Camp Love
From the album Datarock (2005)
A funny song from these Norwegian, dance punk gents. The song takes a slow dance music to sit to groove and throws in a funny conversation from Revenge of the Nerds and even a little from Grease.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?- We Are Rock Stars
From the album You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into (2008)
Heaviest song on their wonderfully schizophrenic record. These guys don't know if they are rockers or ravers. Any way, if you like this song when you hear the recording, wait til you hear it live.

Dax Riggs- Living Is Suicide
From the album We Sing of Only Blood or Love (2007)
Take a dark bluesy singer songwriter. Now, realize that he used to be in metal bands, gets punky and is as sludgey as anyone. He sings about gothic themes and writes folk songs. Oh fuck it... just listen.

Good Music Videos

Yes.... the Lollapalooza 2008 rundown is coming soon... in the meantime, enjoy one of my all time favorite bands with the sexiest singer in the business.

Metric- Combat Baby

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now -- Lollapalooza 2008 Edition

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now -- Bigger/Older Bands

Nine Inch Nails- All The Love In The World
From the album With Teeth (2005)
Reznor's insecurities of being alone are displayed for everyone,...It starts with feelings of sadness and helplessness when it seems like the song is almost over, it totally changes gears and has a brand new upbeat/angry feel.

Rage Against The Machine- Township Rebellion
From the album Rage Against The Machine (1992)
In the best way Zach and company know how, they explain the similarites between Johannesburg, South Africa to the problems of South Central Los Angeles (written during the Rodney King riots). Just like all Rage songs, this song inspires the listener to get up and fight.

Radiohead- Lucky
From the album Ok Computer (1997)
Thom Yorke's most Dark Side of the Moon-esque moment on their third album.

Love & Rockets- Kundalini Express
From the album Express (1986)
Former goths, bring on more of a psychedelic (dare I say hair metal?) sounds that going with the Baushaus route. Bauhaus can tend to be a little pretentious, Love & Rockets left that behind.

The Raconteurs- The Switch of the Spur
From the album Consolers Of The Lonely (2008)
Jack White's other band offers the account of an escaped convicted riding through the desert. This extremely theatrical tale includes Western film/Mariachi style horns. Good luck listening to this song and not getting the horns part stuck in your head.

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now -- Lollapalooza 2008 Edition

5 Songs I Am Into Right Now -- Smaller/Newer Bands

MGMT- Electric Feel
From the album Oracular Spectacular (2008)
Brooklyn's eclectric indie boys decide to make a catchy throwback to a little 70s discoesque soul.

The Weakerthans- One Great City!
From the album Reconstruction Site (2003)
Fromer Propagandhi front man tells a story of how Brooklyn and the L.E.S. aren't the only places suffering from unwanted urban gentrification, but its going on in Winnipeg as well.

Does It Offend You, Yeah?- Let's Make Out
From the album You Don't Know What You Are Getting Yourself Into (2008)
The UK gives their version of !!! meets Death From Above 1979 at a Muse show. Half dance punk, half electronic rock, this song won't to let you just stand there listening with your hands in your pockets in your favorite statue-like pose.

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's- On A Freezing Chicago Street
From the album The Dust Of Retreat (2006)
Indianapolis shows that indie folk doesn't only come from the UK or New York's East Village. This song offers a story of two people who seem to care about their own vices more than they care eachother.

The Gutter Twins- Seven Stories Underground
From the album Saturnalia (2008)
Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (Afghane Whigs) join forces for this stoneresque track, that sounds like it could be on a QOTSA record. The song has a way of being haunting and comforting at the same time. Well, I guess kinda like getting stoned.

Good Music Videos

Marble Index- We Always Complain

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 1

Great Live Show Alert!
12:15-1:15
BLACK LIPS
Atlanta, GA
Garage Punk, Sounds like a throw back to early Stooges.
This band is most known for their live shows. I am not sure what is going to happen in a festival setting but when I saw them at SXSW in 2007 their show included nudity, animals, flowers and fire. It was rather interesting.
For fans of 70s Glam (Stooges, Velvet Underground).
Download:
Cold Hands
Veni Vidi Vici
Lock and Key
Dirty Hands

Death Cab Junior Alert!
1:00-1:45
MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA
Atlanta, GA
Pop leaning indie, only have one record
For fans of Death Cab For Cutie, a little schizophrenic ranging from rockers to downtempo
Download:
I Can Barely Breath
Wolves At Night
Now That You’re Home

No, Its Not Zeppelin or Wolfmother Alert!
1:30- 2:15
THE PARLOR MOB
Red Bank, NJ
Big guitar classic rock, only have one record
For fans of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Wolfmother, Classic Rock Radio
Download:
Bullet
Everything You Are Breathing For
Can’t Keep No Good Boy Down

Amy Winehouse & Lily Allen Have Started A Trend Alert!
3:15-4:15
DUFFY
Nefyn, Wales
Soulful alt pop, ala Amy Winehouse, has only one album right now
For fans of Amy Winehouse, Dusty Springfield
Download:
Rockferry
Mercy (hit single tearing up the charts)
Syrup & Honey

Let’s Pretend We Are Cocky English Guys Alert!
3:15-4:00
LOUIS XIV
San Diego, CA
Indie, Brit Pop, more Neo Glam (think Bowie’s Suffragette City)
For fans of old Bowie, T Rex
Download:
Finding Out True Love Is Blind (hit single from 2004)

Dance Punk Alert!
3:15-4:15
THE KILLS
W (Florida based), Hotel (UK based)… yes she goes by W and he goes by Hotel (not their real names, they are just weird)
Indie punk, garage, lo-fi, dance
Stripped down Metric, good for music snobs
Download:
No Wow
Cheap and Cheerful

Bluesy Classic Rock Guitar Alert!
4:15-5:15
THE BLACK KEYS
Akron, OH
Guitar heavy, lo-fi, bluesy hard rock
For fans of White Stripes or guitar heavy classic rock
Download:
Strange Times
When The Lights Go Out (don’t think its on an album, from the movie Black Snake Moan)
I Got Mine
10 AM Automatic
Your Touch

Gypsy Punk Alert!
4:15-5: 15
GOGOL BORDELLO
Kiev, Ukraine
Gypsey punk, old world sounding punk rock sounds, sounds weird but great live show
For fans of Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphy’s lighter side, the Borat of Punk
Download:
Wonderlust King
American Wedding
Start Wearing Purple

Dance Twee Alert!
5:15- 6:15
MATES OF STATE
Lawrence, KS
Electronic, dance, twee, male and female vocals, very upbeat
For fans of dancy music and the “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” song
Download:
Goods
Jigsaw
Fraud In The 80s

Don’t Miss Them Live Alert!
6:15-7:45
THE RACONTEURS
Nashville, TN and Detroit. MI
Fantastic indie, blues rock band that was one of the best acts of Lollapalooza 2006
For fans of The White Stripes, good things, great blues guitar
Download:
Salute Your Solution (current single)
Steady As She Goes (2006 hit single)
Hands
Blue Veins
Consloler of the Lonely

Indie Icon Alert!
7:15-8:00
STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
Santa Monica, CA
Stephen Malkmus was the singer for Pavement
For fans of 90s college radio, indie rock, classic rock, Wilcoish at times
Download:
Dragonfly Pie
Gardenia
Baltimore
Cold Son
Hopscotch Willie

World’s Most Creative Big Band Alert!
8:30-???
RADIOHEAD
Abingdon, UK
No real introduction needed
Download:
National Anthem
Creep
Paranoid Android
Karma Police
Fake Plastic Trees
Lucky

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 2

Fun Indie Dance Rock Alert!
11:45-12:30
DE NOVO DAHL
Nashville, TN
Indie rock that doesn’t take itself to seriously
Sounds like the Strokes not being posers, mid 70s radio
Download:
Shout
Shakedown

East Village Style Folk Indie Rock Alert!
12:15- 12:45
MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO’S
Indianapolis, IN
More downtempo, slow, folky indie rock, only one album (one of the first bands I tried to sign)
Sounds like a less poppy version of Snow Patrol, less snooty than Bright Eyes
Download:
On A Freezing Chicago Street
Skeleton Key
Vampire In Blue Dresses
Barfight Revolution

Silly Electronic Europeans Alert!
12:30-1:30
DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?
Reading, UK
Electronic, aggressive rock, known for a great live show, only one record
Sounds like Justice and Muse had a kid together
Download:
Epic Last Song
Let’s Make Out
Being Bad Feels Pretty Good

Buzz Band From iPod Commercial Alert!
12:45-1:30
THE TING TINGS
Manchester, UK
Dance punk, electronic sounding indie, that sounds like a cheer routine, only one record
Sounds like Justice and Toni Basil had a kid together
Download:
Shut Up And Let Me Go (ipod commercial, hit single in the US and UK)
That’s Not My Name

New Band Sounds Like An Old Band Alert!
1:30-2:30
DR. DOG
Philadelphia, PA
Psychedelic indie slow rock
Sounds like a mix of the Beatles, Ziggy Stardust with occasional backing from a Stax band
Download:
Worst Trip
Ain’t it Strange
The Girl
My Old Ways

Yet Another Spin Off From Queens Of The Stone Age Alert!
2:30-3:30
THE GUTTER TWINS
Los Angeles, CA
Alternative rock (very 90sish), singers are Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) and Mark Lanegan (QOTSA-Lullabies To Paralyze)
Dulli is more rhythmic while Lanegan is more deep blues think Tom Waits, the songs are very down tempo, not the happiest group at Lollapalooza 2008.
Download:
Seven Stories Underground
Bete Noir
God’s Children
Who Will Lead Us?

New York’s Buzz Band Alert!
3:30-4:30
MGMT
Brooklyn, NY
Alt pop/electronic and strange sounds are part of very song.
Sounds like a combination of electronica and at times plastic soul, a step beyond Sound Team
Download:
Electric Feel
Time To Pretend

Canadian SuperGroup Alert!
6:30-7:30
BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE
Toronto, ON
Musicians and singers from Canada’s biggest indie bands (and everyone knows Canada has the best indie music) including, Feist, Jason Collett, Emily Haines and other members of Metric, Stars, The Weakerthans, The Dears, Holy Fuck and many many more.
Download:
Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl
Lover’s Spit
I’m Still Your Fag
Cause=Time
7/4 Shorline
Almost Crimes

Soul Is Back Alert!
7:30-8:30
SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS
Brooklyn, NY
Sharon has been called the female James Brown, amazing live show- includes strings and horns
Sounds like James Brown, Ann Peebles, don’t miss it
Download:
All Over Again
Fish In My Dish
How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?
100 Days 100 Nights

Forgotten Song Of The 1990s Alert!
7:30-8:30
TOADIES
Dallas, TX
Great live show, rather loud, you know a song by them even if you don’t remember the name Toadies
Sounds like post grunge alternative rock
Download:
Possum Kingdom (you all remember this song)
Tyler

Indie and Chicago Icon Alert!
8:30-???
WILCO
Chicago, IL
Great live show, alt country, indie rock
For fans of Spoon or My Morning Jacket… but you likely know that already
Download:
Heavy Metal Drummer
Walken
Jesus, etc.
Impossible Germany

They’re Back Alert!
8:30-???
RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Los Angeles, CA
Mix of rap, metal and punk… political political political… so prepare for some annoying rants
Best live band I have ever seen (aside from Justice) at 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concert
Download:
Sleep Now In the Fire
Bulls On Parade
Renegades of Funk
Bombtrack
Bullet In the Head
People of The Sun
Township Rebellion

Lollapalooza 2008 Day 3

Saturday Night Hangover Beware Alert!
11:30-12:30
OFFICE
Chicago, IL
Cult favorite Chicagoans on the indie scene, almost tweeish, happy, sunny indie rock
Sounds like a dancey rock ie. Kaiser Cheifs or Franz Ferdinand or Utopia Parkway era Fountains of Wayne and more refined than the Arctic Monkeys
Download:
The Ritz
Company Calls

Punk Guy Grows Up Turns Indie And Becomes Story Teller Alert!
1:15-2:15
THE WEAKERTHANS
Winnipeg, MB
Band led by former member of the punk band Propagandhi, now he is in a indie pop but likely to smart for radio band with a little new wave kick… a nice combination with the stories that are told in each song in a sort of Ben Folds sort of way.
Download:
Plea from a Cat named Virtue
One Great City!
Aside
Night Windows

Southern Indie Rock Alert!
1:15-2:15
THE WHIGS
Athens, GA
Pretty fun, energetic band that sounds southern with out sounding alt country.
Sounds like Kings of Leon’s Because of the Times with a more traditional rock singer and a little less hip than Spoon.
Download:
I Never Want To Go Home
Right Hand On My Heart
Sleep Sunshine
Violent Furs

Lounge Music Alert!
2:15-3:15
BRAZILIAN GIRLS
New York, NY
These guys are the house band at a very hip and hidden bar in Manhattan… they play from 2am-4am every night.
Sounds like you are at lounge in either Sao Paolo or Paris, with a Lower East Side style electronica element added.
Download:
Pussy
Don’t Stop
Jique

Get Ready To Dance Alert!
3:15-4:15
CHROMEO
Montreal. QC/New York, NY
The self described “only successful Arab/Jewish collaboration since the beginning of time.” One does the keyboards and synthisizers and one plays guitar and sings. One is a famous DJ in NYC one is the road DJ for Kanye West.
Sounds like Justice, Daft Punk, dance music, electronic…
Download:
Tenderoni
Fancy Footwork
Bonafied Lovin
100%

Buzz Band That I Tried To Sign Alert!
3:30-4:30
BLACK KIDS
Jacksonville, FL
Indie pop, indie dance group, who doesn’t even have a record out yet… it will be out July 22nd… so I only know one song by them, other than what I saw from a live show so I cant really tell you much.
Download:
I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

Blue Eyed Soul Without The Big Name Producer Trying To Make It Sound New Alert!
4:15-5:00
ELI “PAPERBOY” REED & THE TRUE LOVES
Brookline, MA
Yes I was talking about Justin Timberlake… this act sounds like a throw back to R&B the same way as Sharon Jones.
Thinks Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Stax… all that good stuff, just with a White Boy Masshole.
Download:
Take My Love With You
Won’t Give Up Without A Fight

Celtic Punk Icons Alert!
5:15-6:15
FLOGGING MOLLY
Los Angeles, CA
Half punk band, half Irish folk band, full of Guinness band
Sounds like Against Me! Doing a commercial for Lucky Charms. Or Social Distortion and Bouncing Souls preparing to play soccer but first are having a drink at your favorite Irish Pub.
Download:
Drunken Lullabies
If I Ever Leave This World Alive
Salty Dog
Laura
Am I Wasting My Time

80s Gothic Rock Icons Alert!
6:15-7:15
LOVE & ROCKETS
Northampton, UK
Of course 80s Goth is a little different from Goth today… these guys are Goth from a time of Joy Division, Bauhaus, The Cure, New Order,Echo & The Bunnymen, etc.
Sounds 80s but appealed to a different crowd than Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.
Download:
Kundalini Express
Ball of Confussion

Don’t Count On iTunes For This Alert!
6:30-7:30
GIRL TALK
Pittsburgh, PA
DON’T LOOK FOR THIS ON ITUNES YOU WILL GET SOMETHING ELSE.
Girl Talk is a dj that does mashups better than any other dj in the world. He has a knack for taking 2 songs from a different genres and putting them together perfectly. The Jay-Z/Linkin Park stuff is a yawn compared to what he does. This will just be a dj set but worth noting if you are into that stuff.

Bruce Springsteen’s Favorite New Band Alert!
7:15-8:15
THE NATIONAL
Cincinnati, OH/Brooklyn, NY
The band has gotten tons of album/band of the year form magazines and blogs for the 2007 album “Boxer.”
Straight/honest folk rock band that doesn’t lose its New York cool for not longing for a hipster edge. You can tell why Springsteen loves them.
Download:
About Today
All The Wine
Mistaken For Strangers
Fake Empire
Apartment Story

You May Not Be A Fan But Check Them Out Trust Me Alert!
8:15-???
NINE INCH NAILS
Cleveland, OH
Not much to introduce here… Trent Reznor does everything on the record and has hired guns on the road with him. NIN does have a lot of hard songs but I tend to like some of the softer stuff better. March of the Pigs makes me think of hanging out at Brandon’s in 1994.
Download:
Everyday Is Exactly The Same
Right Where It Belongs
The Hand That Feeds
Head Like A Hole (not on itunes)
Terrible Lies (not on itunes)
Only
All The Love In The World
Closer
Hurt
March Of The Pigs

You All Know This Guy So I Am Writing Nothing Alert!
8:30-???
KANYE WEST
Considering the Bannaroo debacle, I am sure he will be ready to go, especially in his own home town.

MLB Picks

Check my picks for this baseball season. I was the guest baseball Nostradamus, for my friend Boogie's blog, Ladies Locker Room...

Check out the link to see them... feel free to leave comments telling all of us that we suck!

http://ladieslockerroom.blogspot.com/

Good Music Videos

MRNORTH- Speak No Evil

CBGB Almost 2 Years Later

As you all know, the legendary New York City rock club has been closed for almost 2 years now. I was just as sad as anyone when I heard the news that it was real. Granted a lot of nothing bands played there in its last days, but it was also a place where bands I love such as Television, Misfits, Ramones (obviously), Blondie, The Dictators, among countless others cut their teeth. Plus a lot of my good friends who are in bands had played there and loved being on that shit stage.

As you know I love the music scene, tend to hate on massive pop culture and am a well… a snob when it comes to those things. I am also a fan of the Morrison Hotel store down in SOHO (for those of you not in New York http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/). In what used to be CBGallery, there is currently a great exhibit that is for sale from the photographer Bob Gruen. He has stuff ranging from John and Yoko to the punk years (Sex Pistols, Clash) to the glam years (Lou Reed, New York Dolls, Iggy). It was a great exhibition.

While hanging there, the guy running the gallery told us to check out the John Varvatos store (formerly known as CBGB). I was a bit skeptical, he told me he was too and to just bite the bullet and check it out. So I did. For those of you who don’t know, John Varvatos is a total audiophile and supposedly has a world class vinyl collection.

I am not scared to admit… John kudos my man. The store looks great. He did his best to keep the… um… charm of CBGB and of course clean it up (the urine smell is gone!). They even framed the original walls in a few places so you can see what it used to look like in there. The registers are located on the same bar where a bartender actually once handed me a Bud Light missing half its neck and up. He also decorated the walls with vinyl and promo posters for bands that would have or did play CBGB.

Good job Mr. Varvatos… its not quite what it used to be but I was pleasantly surprised. That isn't to say that I wouldn't rather CBGB be landmarked. If it were up to me it would still be CBGB and it would still be pumping out a killer PA with local and national acts playing shows nightly. At this point that just isn't reality. Nothing is sacred in the world of gentrification and frankly I understand that. All I am trying to say, is that if its not going to be a rock club, I am glad it has fallen into the hands of someone who understands what used to be there. Imagine it turned into a Duane Reade or a Starbucks! Yikes!

27 Club

Hey All,

Just wanted to let you know I celebrated my 27th birthday last week... in other words I am now the same age as...

Jimi Hendrix
Janis Joplin
Jim Morrison
Kurt Cobain
Brian Jones
Louis Chauvin
Robert Johnson
Jesse Belvin
Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson
Les Harvey
Ron "Pigpen" McKernan
Dave Alexander
Peter Ham
Gary Thain
Helmut Kollen
Chris Bell
D. Boon
Pete de. Freitas
Mia Zapata
Kristen Pfaff
Fat Pat
Sean Patrick McCabe
Jeremy Michael Ward
Bryan Ottoson

All Star Game (ill logik)

So last night was the Major League Baseball All Star Game. Every where you read about it or heard about it was followed with the tagline, "This Time It Counts." Of course, that is referring to the fact that the winning team will give their league champion home field advantage in the World Series. Here are a couple reasons that I have a problem with this.

Fan Voting- How are you going to leave something like that in the hands of the fans? There were a few people in the All Star game that were voted in that should not have been. Jason Varitek was voted in and his number are as follows: .218 BA, 7 HR, 28 RBI. These are far from All Star numbers… They are even less than average! He is one more bad run away from being at the Mendoza Line! This is not someone who should be in a game of this magnitude. There are certain teams that are always going to get more love from the voters than others. How can a deserving player from Kansas City, Cincinnati or Minnesota compete with players from New York, Chicago or Boston?

Everyone Represented- No! This doesn’t make sense. A game that will chose the location of the first two games of the World Series should not be up to a game that will have a single player from a last place team in it. It should be only the best players, not the best players and the best player from Team X because they have no one in the game.

Roster Problems- Certain pitchers were only allowed certain amounts of work based on what they had done and games that were coming up. Webb, Dempster, Marmol, Kazmir were only allowed to pitch one inning while Baltimore closer George Sherrill was asked to pitch 2.1 innings.

Here is my proposal. I do think the fans should vote. I do think every team should be represented. It just should not chose the World Series. If you want a creative way to get the location figured out. Go by the league with the better interleague record. That actually means something.

Shows This Past Week (or month)

Lou Reed.
Highline Ballroom
http://www.myspace.com/loureedfanpage

This show was a lifetime memory. I had never seen Lou Reed before and have been a big fan since I was a kid. My dad taught me about Lou Reed and Velvet Underground at a very young age. He told me about them, I believe when I was in middle school when people started throwing around the term “alternative music.” This didn’t just end here. I went to Syracuse University (Lou’s Alma Mater). The last time I was supposed to see him, there was a tiny snow storm that cancelled the show. New Yorkers bug out from little nothing snow storms. Any way, this show was at Highline Ballroom in the Meat Packing District. The crowd wasn’t so cool… one stupid bitch pushed my dad for having a good time and dancing a little.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
No question… I got to see Lou Reed with my dad.

Tegan & Sara.
Terminal 5
http://www.myspace.com/teganandsara

I was shocked how good this show was. Between the quality of the performance and the sound of room at Terminal 5, this was a fantastic show. Not only great songs written by two very talented women, but their chemistry between and during songs can’t be beat. Of course it helps that they are sisters, but they were cracking me up. Usually, I don’t like talking between songs and just want them to play but this was an exception. I liked the jokes. I liked the whole Vh1 Storytellers vibe to the show. It was really cool seeing Tegan’s prankster like personality and Sara’s more cute and appreciative side. Very fun, a show I will definitely go see again.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
Before the show, I went to an Irish pub for some food and a couple pints. It wasn’t a sports bar, but it was a place full of regulars watching the Mets on the tvs. It was hilarious watching them looking around thinking, “whats with all the girls with Mohawks and muscle shirts?”

Mike Ness.
Irving Plaza
http://www.myspace.com/mikeness

I am a music nerd. I like all of my favorite bands side projects. This one is one of my favorites. He doesn’t get so far away from the Social Distortion formula… at all. He adds a little country flavor to it and I love it. While there were plenty of Sick Boys walking around (I dressed in my finest Sick Boy attire myself), a lot of the people there traded in their work shirts and chains for cowboy hats and plaid shirts. It was a really cool half punk half hootenanny vibe. Mike played his album of originals, some Hank Williams covers, some Johnny Cash covers and Ball and Chain. While it wasn’t exactly a Social Distortion show, I will take it as an appetizer until the come back.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
I went to this show alone, but ran into one of my favorite bartenders from my favorite bar… she and I have the exact same taste in music. The country punk vibe was cool too and the girls dressed as punk rock pinup girls is always ok by me.

The Wombats.
Gramercy Theater
http://www.myspace.com/thewombatsuk

As you know I have a special place in my heart for this band. I consider myself one of their American finders. I have known them for about 18 months now. They put on another great show and its amazing watching them get bigger and bigger every time I go see them. They also seem to be just as quirky and just as fun loving as ever. For more see April 4th report.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
Their manager took really great care of me and my friend at this show… thanks Simon.

Mission of Burma.
Bowery Ballroom
http://www.myspace.com/missionofburma

Loud… it was loud. Almost too loud. This was a very significant show. In this show, they warmed up with a random potpourri of songs and then played Signals, Calls and Marches from start to finish. I was impressed with how well the vocals sounded the instruments were a little bit hard to really hear since it was as loud as it was. This is another band that I have been wanting to see for a long time. They didn’t disappoint at all. The crowd was very into it and that of course just made everything better. I am not sure I am a big enough fan to watch a regular show, but since I love every song on the album they played they made it a great show. In other words this was a show made specifically for me. Thanks guys.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
The mix of people. Punks. Metal heads. Indie kids. All drinking Brooklyn Lager and enjoying a great show together.

Coldplay.
Madison Square Garden
http://www.myspace.com/coldplay

I know what you are thinking. Really? Yes, really. My girlfriend is a big fan, and I won tickets to the free show so we went. I am not afraid to admit I was impressed. It was much better than I thought it would be. I also am shocked how many songs I knew. Not necessarily to the point that I was jumping and singing and going nuts but it did make it fun. I am not quite sure why, but for some reason I didn’t think Chris Martin’s voice was going to be able to fill The Garden. It wasn’t a problem at all his voice is much bigger live than it is on the records.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
The show was free! They made a few mistakes tuning, starting at different times, lyrics mistakes. The dress rehearsal vibe was kind of cool. It made one of the world’s biggest bands seem human. On the bands mistakes, at one point Chris Martin sang, “I can’t believe we are embarrassing ourselves at MSG atleast all of the fans are here for free!” He also came out and apologized to everyone for the high ticket price which got a large cheer.

Pearl Jam.
Madison Square Garden
http://www.myspace.com/tenclub

I have seen Pearl Jam three times, this being the most recent, obviously. This was probably the best show I have seen of theirs allow to me to explain by telling you about all three.

Show one was at Izod Center at the Meadowlands. It was far. It was raining. There was a line for the bus. There bus was stuck in traffic. We get to the show. They run out of beer early. Pearl Jam plays maybe 4 songs I knew in the entire set. The next night apparently they played a huge playlist. Lame.

Show two was at Lollapalooza 2007. It was amazing. Clear night. They played everything that a festival wanted to hear. Everyone knew every song. They did a version of Another Brick In The Wall about British Petroleum dumping in Lake Michigan. “Hey BP, leave out Lake alone.” Of course a political singer from Chicago is going to have to bring that up.

That brings us to show three. An amazing mix of the two. I know Pearl Jam shows aren’t supposed to be greatest hits playlists. This was far from a greatest hits playlist… I would say as a medium Pearl Jam fan I knew a lot of songs certainly not all. However, the crowd knew every song. It was by far the loudest crowd I have ever been to a show with. They every song incredibly loud and the Knicks and Rangers have never gotten a cheer at the Garden the way they did after each song. It was incredible to be a part of.

Random Non-Music Related High Point.
Two songs in, Eddie Vedder announced, “we spoke to the people here at tonight and they told us we don’t have to worry about curfew, so we may play for a while is that ok with you guys?”