Happy Birthday Keith...

Happy Birthday Keith, you don't look a day over 113.

On a "sad"/"wow, it's been that long" note...

Can you believe it has been 10 years to the day since the untimely death of Chris Farley?

on this day

38 years ago today the Stones Played Altamont Speedway.

Today would be a good day to watch "Gimme Shelter" the movie which chronicles the 1969 tour.

My favorite line in the movie comes from Mick when viewing footage of Ike and Tina Turner, who was the opening act:
"It's nice to have a chick occasionally"

The Vault

Love Concerts? Where do you go when you want to see Judas Priest, Rolling Stones, and um... Roger Miller? Wolfgang's Vault That's where.
Concerts from your favorite bands, unless your favorite band is REM... Sorry Beth, they're not on this site.

OK, so not ALL the bands but quite a lot - check it out.

New book about the The Replacements... Just in time for Christmas

"All Over But the Shoutin': An Oral History", by Jim Walsh sounds like a "must read" for all us Mat fans. Greg Gaston from
Crawdaddy interviewed Jim Walsh about the book and I can't wait to read it.

“It was kind of daunting to do this project, it stopped many writers. There was fear of the band, and fear that they wouldn’t get it right and be laughed at by all the smart Replacement fans—who are the smartest, most persnickety, demanding fans of all. But you start getting older, and friends of mine started dying, and maybe important stories weren’t going to get laid down if I waited any longer. It’s like you’re in the middle of your life and you’ve lived these stories—and I lived it.”

I'm rushing to my iPod now to listen to some Mats!

Twang, Twang, Twang..... Twang of FOOLS!

The past couple of weeks: Been Listening too...

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Jason Isbell: Sirens of the Ditch

80% of this cd was produced by fellow Drive-By Trucker, Patterson Hood. 20% of the CD is self produced.

Truley a great record, don't make the mistake like me and think you are going to get a stripped down DBT CD. Even though DBT bassist, Shonna Tucker, and DBT drummer, Brad Morgan play on it. Patterson Hood even plays piano on the song "Shotgun Wedding" and his father the great, David Hood plays bass on a couple tracks. This CD celebrates Jason Isbell - you can hear every little nuance he adds to the DBT all wrapped up in this CD.

I found it interesting he thanked The Black Crowes, and Bobby Bare Jr. in the liner notes... and if anyone out there knows of any CDs where Jason teams up with Bobby or the Robinson Brothers, please let me know.

Songs like "Brand New Kind Of Actress", and "Try" (which sounds like an old Eagles song) immediately got my attention, soon to follow was the song, "Hurricanes and Hand Grenades" (a great little bluesy number).
After about the 3rd or 4th time I listened to Sirens in the Ditch, other songs started to become favorites. "Dress Blues" where Jason writes about a high-school classmate who lost his life fighting in Iraq. "Chicago Promenade" a tribute to his late Grandfather (bit of DBT trivia, Jason also wrote the song "The day John Henry Died" about his beloved, grandfather).

This is a great record and I highly advise you to go purchase it.

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Run C & W
INTO THE TWANGY-FIRST CENTURY

Bluegrass versions of Motown classics! No need to say any more. If you like bluegrass AND motown and your busy schedule does not allow for you to take time to listen to both separately - go get this CD in the Bargain bin.

Jim Photoglo formed this band in the 90's with: Russell Smith of The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Bernie Leadon of the Eagles (often referred to as the Forgotten Eagle) and hit-songwriter Vince Melamed.

I like to play this band as well as the next one on set breaks. It's funny to see someone's reaction to these cover tunes.

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Hayseed Dixie - Any or All CDS are worth it.

My drummer, Shawn turned me onto Hayseed Dixie - The first song I ever heard from Hayseed was Shoot the Thrill by AC/DC. After that I was hooked - I went out and bought everything they had.

WARNING: BLUEGRASS MUSIC CAN BE ADDICTING - IF YOU START LISTENING TO RUN C&W OR HAYSEED DIXIE IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND -
**THESE ARE STEPPING STONE DRUGS. BY LISTENING TO RUN C&W OR HAYSEED DIXIE YOU WILL START ON THE HARD STUFF... LIKE: David Grier, Del McCoury, Earl Scruggs, Gary Williamson, Gene Wooten, Glen Duncan, Larry Perkins, Leroy Troy, Alisa Jones, Alison Krauss, Andrea Zonn, Ron McCoury, Terry Eldredge, Benny Martin, Billy Rose , Vassar Clements and MORE!
SO BE CAREFUL AND LISTEN IN MODERATION.

Here is a list of Hayseed Dixie records:

A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC

A Hot Piece of Grass

Kiss My Grass: A Hillbilly Tribute to Kiss

A Hillbilly Tribute to Mountain Love

And most recent release:
Weapons of Grass Destruction

scream yell and yodel

week of 09/08/07: Been Listening to:

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The Distillers: Sing Sing Death House

I could listen to Brody Dalle's sexy voice all day long - her scream is like a slice of heaven.
This CD was originally released in 2002 so it's nothing new, go buy it in the used bin. Brody is now in the band Spinnerette with former Distiller, Tony Bevilacqua and Alain Johannes from Queens of the Stoneage.
Favorite song: City of Angels

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Drive-By Truckers, "Dirty South"

Drive-By Truckers was co-founded by Patterson Hood (son of legendary bassist David Hood of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) and longtime friend and musical "partner in crime", Mike Cooley in Athens, Georgia, in 1996.
8 records later they are still going strong. Dirty South is one of the best records I have owned in the past 10 years. 3 singer/songwriter/guitarists in the band, the songs never sound the same: "Where the Devil don't go" and "cottonseed" show off Mike Cooley's "GangstaBilly" style.
"Tornadoes" and "Putting People On The Moon" show the storyteller side of Patterson Hood.
"The Day John Henry Died" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" Show that Jason Isbell's country style is a perfect match for the band (his slide steel work is pretty damn nice too).
There are two ANTI-Buford Pusser songs on the CD (remember Buford from the "Walking Tall" Movies? One in 1973 the other in 2004 with THE Rock) - "Boys From Alabama" and "Buford Stick" are songs about "The other side of the story".
Favorite song:If I have to choose one... it's impossible. Carl Perkins Cadillac and Danko/Manuel are pretty awesome.

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Hank 3, "Straight to Hell"

Hank Williams III, Grandson of the great Hank Williams, Son of the crazy Hank "are you ready for some football" Williams Jr.
Hank 3 is an interesting cat - He looks and sounds exactly like his grandfather (He has that signature yodel down pat). He is backed by an incredible group of players.
His songwriting has no limits, just when you think he may be a "one trick pony" he surprises you on the next song.
To make Hank 3 even cooler... He fronts a death metal band called ASSJACK. Whenever you see Hank 3, ASSJACK always gets the last set.
I dig anyone who's name sounds like either an action movie or video game.

Favorite Song: Thrown Out of the Bar, Country Heroes , and Pills I Took

Rodeo Clowns

Words for all young women to live by.

The disco ball spinning all the music and the women
And the shots and tequila man they say that they need ya
What they really need
Is just a little room to breathe
Teeny boppin disco queen
She barely understands and dreams of belly button rings
And other kinds of things
Symbolic of change
But the thing that is strange is that the changes occur
And now she's just a part of the herd yeah yeah yeah
Man I thought that you heard yeah yeah
The changes occurred yeah yeah yeah
She's just a part of the herd yeah yeah

new videos for your enjoyment

I have some new videos from YOU TUBE for your enjoyment...

Warren Haynes - "Slide Guitar"
From Govt Mule / Allman Bros - showing off some slide skills.

Peter Case - "After Hours On Pico Blvd"
Peter Case - you know? the guy from the Plimsouls? That only scratches the surface of this incredible troubadour ... TA had a great post about The incredible Peter Case

Kelly Joe Phelps - "Goodnight Irene"
This is the second video I am showing - this guy is incredible - I will blog about him soon... until then check him out

Jack Johnson, Donavon Frankenreiter and G-Love - live at the orange lounge doing "Rodeo Clown".
I've been a G Love fan since his first album, all I really know about Jack Johnson is, my kids love his work on the "Curious George" soundtrack.

Ben Harper - "When it's good"
From the Carson Daly show... Carson is a total pussy, but I won't hold it against Ben.

Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes - "Old Friends"
Backstage acoustic version.

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
A couple songs from his new CD "Easy Tiger": "Off Broadway" and "Oh My God, Whatever, Etc."

Finally, classic Uncle Tupelo from back in '89 doing: "Graveyard Shift" and "Factory Belt"
From a local cable access show!

Hope you enjoy... there is a bit of a slide theme happening here...

TMBG - The Else

There are only two types of people when in comes to They Might Be Giants (pictured above... I think): Those who like TMBG, and those who hate TMBG. I define myself as a big fan of the Giants. If you are part of the "haters" You will hate the following post, and most likely make a comment on how TMBG are nothing more than Joke Rock and should never be compared to REAL bands like Creed or Nickleback.

Driving to work today while listening to They Might Be Giants most recent CD, The Else. Very solid. I picked this CD up last month and just realized today how much I have it in the rotation.
I was huge fan in 80's and 90's then something crazy happened when my wife and I started making babies... TMBG started doing kid DVDs and CDs - my kids still listen to "here come the abc's" - other great kid's CDs are, "no" and "Bed Bed Bed".
"The Else" brings TMBG together with the Dust Brothers to create a great listening experience. The song that comes to mind for anyone who liked "Flood", "The Bee of the Bird of the Moth" is like taking a time machine back 15 years.

I'm not going to on and on about this but I will say - if you like good old TMBG - got get "The Else".

Oh yeah, check out their podcast, if you are a podcast geek like me, very cool.

Van-Halen Announce New tour With David Lee RothSans Michael Anthony... huh?

I'm sure by now everyone knows Van Halen announced tour plans, but what I did not know is Michael Anthony will not be part of the show as he is currently on tour with The Red Rocker himself.
In Anthony's spot, Eddie's son Wolfgang will be playing bass (pictured).
I don't think the bass parts would be that difficult to learn, it's the background vocals I am concerned about. Michael Anthony's harmonies are what make Van Halen, well Van Halen no matter who they have singing.

I think I would rather see Sammy's tour, at least I know I can drink plenty of Cabo Wabo.