Autumn Souvenir

Whatever your thoughts on Steve Earle relative to his music, collaborations, political views or acting skills, one thing can't be debated: He has an incredible ear for talent. Earle launched E Squared Records in 1996 with longtime pal Jack Emerson and the label acted like a label should, releasing new, exciting and important music. If not for Earle, who knows if The V-Roys, 6 String Drag and Bap Kennedy ever would have found a home. And these three, along with Cheri Knight and a few others, rounded out a label that discovered some of the best rock bands of the 90s. Like many of Earle's collaborations, E Squared was short lived and many blame Earle for the demise of a number of the bands on the label. But whatever the end result, the goods delivered while the label was active are remarkable. And the best of the lot just may be 6 String Drag's High Hat . It's rare that an album is great from top-to-bottom, especially one that goes generally unnoticed by the general public...

Thu 05/07 - Dallas, TX - Granada Theater Fri 05/08 - Springfield, MO - Randy Bacon Studio Sat 05/09 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway Mon 05/11 - Chicago, IL - Schuba's Tue 05/12 - Minneapolis, MN - 400 Bar Wed 05/13 - Dekalb, IL - The House Cafe Fri 05/15 - Austin, TX - The Parish

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I could never have imagined that he'd be as successful as he's been thus far. In addition to passing a stimulus package, ending torture, vowing to close Guantanamo, siding with science on stem cell research and expanding health insurance for children, perhaps most importantly, he's beginning to restore our image throughout the world. I mean, the guy can shake hands with Hugo Chavez and the cries from the right are met with shrugs. He's taught the country to finally ignore the adolescent garbage recycled by the right. It's like we live in a country of adults again. And these realities have left the republicans literally paralyzed. If they can't turn to homosexuality, religion, guns and evil-doers, what do they have? Despite all the challenges that we face, and they are massive, the country feels very good about Barack Obama. In addition to all of this, he's vowed to get us headed towards major health care reform within his first year. He is a man of limitless...

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Over there. I now plan on changing it every night before heading off to sack out. That's right: every morning....new tune for you to start your day. This could change the music industry as we know it.

$24 via Fat Possum

The Essential Beatles Hey Jude We Can Work It Out Here, There and Everywhere Blackbird Hello, Goodbye I'll Follow the Sun Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) I Will Let It Be I'm Looking Through You Eleanor Rigby Don't Pass Me By For No One Yesterday I'm So Tired And Your Bird Can Sing Dear Prudence

This is an exercise in extreme boredom. I estimate I've seen Bruce Springsteen about 35 times and Wilco likely around 30 times. In an effort to review a bit, I decided to go through what stubs I still have. And here they are: Bruce Springsteen 8.21.85 Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.23.92 The Meadowlands, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.30.92 The Meadowlands, E. Rutherford, NJ 8.10.92 The Meadowlands, E. Rutherford, NJ 6.24.93 The Meadowlands, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.15.99 Continental Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ 8.6.99 Continental Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ 8.9.99 Continental Arena, E. Rutherford, NK 8.12.99 Continental Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ 6.15.00 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 8.7.02 Continental Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ 8.12.02 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 7.15.03 Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.18.03 Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.21.03 Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 7.27.03 Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 10.4.03 Shea Stadium, New York, NY 5.5.05 Paramount Thea...

Amazing that we're only a few months away from being able to rank the records of the decade. I can remember "turn of the century" night like it was a few months ago. With very little thought, the following are some records that have a strong chance of landing on my "Top 50 Records of the 2000s," which will be posted sometime around Thanksgiving. Aimee Mann : The Forgotten Arm Richard Buckner : The Hill Josh Rouse : 1972 Brakes : Give Blood M. Ward : Post War Centro-matic : Love You Just the Same Eels : Blinking Lights and Other Revelations Elliott Smith : Figure 8 Beck : Sea Change Bobby Bare Jr. : Young Criminals Starvation League Jay Farrar : Sebastopol Bonnie "Prince" Billy : Master and Everyone The Wrens : The Meadowlands The Arcade Fire : Funeral Wilco : Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Josh Ritter : Hello Starling Son Volt : Okemah and the Melody of Riot Absentee : Schmotime Damien Jurado : On My Way To Absence Others

When considering truly great rock documentaries, I've always considered the top achievements to be by Scorcese, with The Last Waltz and No Direction Home . And of course, there's Don't Look Back , Gimme Shelter and a few others, but I've often found most concert DVDs to be poorly produced, rushed and pretty light in depth. Wilco's first concert DVD Ashes of American Flags falls in line with the aforementioned classics. The camerawork is stunning, the performances are as energized as I've ever seen the band, and the subplot of a band traveling throughout a part of America that's literally on its knees works into the story perfectly. When bassist John Stirratt speaks of his hometown in Louisiana and the Wal Mart-ization of a town he loves, it's hard not to feel a lost Americana spread throughout. When Pat Sansone steps off the bus to take photos and appears choked up as he talks about the loss of the American town as he tries to capture moments with his...

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"Nice try, Boner."

It hasn't gathered a whole lotta dust, but this record was so grossly overlooked last year, that it's worthy of a little revisit. Gravity is arguably their best record since 1999's Fight Songs and came as a huge surprise after the 2004 clunker Drag It Up . Blame It On Gravity is far from the recycled sound that the 97's have tried in the past. These songs are fresh and stand as some of the best songs this fantastic band has ever recorded. "No Baby I" could very well be their best song to date and "Color of a Lonely Heart Is Blue" and "The One" round out one heck of a return to form. The strange thing about this album is that they decided to include just a few absolute clunkers, most notably "Dance With Me" and "Early Morning," the latter being perhaps the worst song any band has ever put on a record. But if you excuse a few duds, this is an excellent record, one that gets better and better on repeat listens. After Rhe...

Word is that Ryko will still operate under the ADA/Warner umbrella, but who really knows what this means for one of the greatest labels ever to put out records. If Ryko's days are over, this is another truly sad development in the dismantling of the music business. Two of the industry's most important creative labels, Touch & Go and Rykodisc, are now seemingly on the outs. In the spring of 1996 as I began my search for a "job," I sent my nearly blank resume to two companies: Rykodisc and Tony Margherita Management. I never heard back from either (I almost landed at Margherita's company years later), but these were the first places that struck me. During my late-teens and early-20s, whenever I walked into Tower Records or Compact Disc World in Paramus, Soundtracks or Ramsey Books & Records in Ramsey, NJ or Nuggets or Newbury up in Boston, if I saw a disc packaged in that clear case with slight blue-ish coloring, I knew it was something good. My CD racks are...

Paul McCartney : Ram Capitol, 1971

Unless I am offered and accept a position in the next six hours and eight minutes, tomorrow will mark my six-month anniversary without a job. I've generally kept quite on this here blog regarding my employment search (or lack thereof), but I suppose I can share a few of the developments over the past half year. For one, I imagine I've hit the ranks of the unemployed at perhaps the worst time in my lifetime. And as far as business development jobs go, well, there just don't appear to be many out there. I have had interviews at five or six companies and every HR person I've met with claims to have received hundreds of resumes. Some of the folks applying are overqualified, many underqualified, and an enormous number fall within the normal level of experience. Competition is fierce. There was one job that I was after ever since SNOCAP headed towards sale. My love for the site last.fm has never been a secret. It is the one music site that I check daily. I've always loved...

And this is why I loathe Twitter. No, not the business or its founders or the platform or whatever; I think these guys came up with a simple and seemingly brilliant idea. And I caught one of the founders on Colbert recently and actually found him to be interesting and pretty down-to-earth. Why I detest this whole idea has finally come to me. To my eyes and ears, Twitter falls right in line with Wal Mart, hipsters and mass media. In addition to being things that I disdain, they share in the watering down of America. Companies and people see a thirst for immediacy and short cuts and Twitter and the like fill that need. People no longer look to live in the moment or the next moment. We're being pushed to sound bite everything and there's little to no time for mystery. I can say with little doubt that if some of my contemporary heroes, say Jeff Tweedy, Springsteen and/or Obama, started sending out regular Twitter updates, I would be absolutely disgusted. There needs to be some unkn...

Face Value: $2,625. Almost three grand to watch a baseball game? You could knock the first 2 off this number and I still wouldn't *consider* it, regardless of my salary, which right now is $430/week via Obama. What a joke.

There's nothing like a show that continues to deliver well after the encores have concluded and the drum kit has been shuffled offstage. Of all the bands I saw down at Coachella, the performance by Brian Jonestown Massacre did one thing: It reminded me that yes, there are still great rock bands playing today. It seems as if the majority of today's music attempts to do just about everything. Image is king and the majority of the bands touted by say Pitchfork or Stereogum strive to find their place, and in doing so, lose sight of the real force behind the damn music. They want to look different (while all looking the same) and sound a little different (while all sounding like ass), but in the end, it's nothing but a repetitive void of crap. (I really do not know what that means at all.) Brian Jonestown Massacre took the stage with five guitar players and absolutely tore through a 45 minute set of pure and raw rock and roll. That's it. It was loud, unbelievably tight and t...

Enjoy some good tunes.

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Overall The festival is run quite well. Parking is a breeze and it's but a 15 minute walk or so to the gates. There are more than enough bathrooms. The food is surprisingly good for a festival. A bottle of water only runs you $2. Sure, it's scorching hot during the day, but this is known going in. There's a slight overflow of sound between the two main stages, but it's not enough to overpower or ruin a performance. Brief Reviews of the Bands I Caught M. Ward Run-of-the-mill set from Ward. If you've never seen him, I'm sure it was enjoyable. I was a bit bored. Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band I've never been a fan of Bright Eyes, but I did find myself listening to his latest solo record a bit. That said, his set was pretty bad, and he has the charisma of Bobby Jindal. This guy should *not* speak in between songs. Leonard Cohen I've never understood the whole *legend* status thing about Leonard Cohen. However, it was a good set. I was thrilled ...

Don't forget this one: Brakes' Touchdown

Oh, how this pains me. Unfortunately, it turns out that I won't be able to make this show. I have one ticket that is gratis to the first person to leave a comment mentioning something related to Buckner or maybe Bruntnell. Santa Cruz is about 75 miles south of SF.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning , History, 2006: 7.5 A Drinking Life by Pete Hamill, Memoir, 1995: 8.2

I can't recall the last time I've been to a double feature. I think I've done it maybe once in the late-70s or something when I was too young to even care. On Wednesday, The Castro Theater is showing Double Feature : The Intimate Epics of Terrence Malick . It's 90 minutes of one of my all-time favorites Badlands followed by nearly three hours of one of N's all-timers The Thin Red Line . We will be inside the theater by about 115pm and out a bit before 7pm. Thank god I no longer smoke butts.

According to Political Spectrum Quiz , this is where I stand. Does this mean I love Bob Barr? My Political Views I am a left moderate social libertarian Left: 4.76, Libertarian: 3.22 Political Spectrum Quiz

The Essential Pavement Shady Lane Gold Soundz Father to a Sister of Thought Major Leagues Cut Your Hair Date With Ikea We Dance Silence Kit Summer Babe (Winter Version) Range Life Here We Are Underused

The Essential M. Ward Poison Cup Here Comes the Sun Again Carolina Lullaby + Exile Vincent O'Brien One Life Away Requiem Never Had Nobody Like You Fuel For Fire So Much Water To Go Home Radio Campaign

If pressed to name the best band since say, 1997, I'd probably consider a few and then ultimately land on Austin, Texas' The Gourds. As far as recorded output and live shows, I really don't see any comparison. Co-fronted by Kevin "Shinyribs" Russell and Jimmy Smith, and backed by Claude Bernard, Max Johnston and Keith Langford, not only have they released just shy of ten fantastic records, but they have been arguably the best live act for over a decade. Sure, there have been bands competing for that badge, most notably Centro-matic, Slobberbone, Arcade Fire, Wilco and Josh Ritter, to name a few, but as far as longevity and spirit, no one touches The Gourds. Stadium Blitzer is their second record, just a year past the wonderful debut Dems Good Beeble . Songs such as "Magnolia," "Boil My Strings," "LGO," "I Ate the Haggis" and "Cold Bed" remain fan favorites, and the lesser known tracks such "Pushed Her Down,...

Justin Townes Earle : Respect for Another Artist .

Max Richter : Songs From Before Fat Cat, 2006

A discussion about Jeff Tweedy recently covering Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" led to this e-mail from a friend: My mom’s sister lived on Ocean Pkwy in Brooklyn when we were kids. She had Songs in the Key of Life on vinyl and loved the song “Isn’t She Lovely.” One holiday we were there messing around jumping on the beds and stuff and we broke the record. She was not happy. I vaguely recall that her anger subsided when she realized we broke the disc that did NOT contain “Isn’t She Lovely.”

If Roby doesn't record another record, I may stop listening to music altogether.

What a few weeks of new additions. Philip Glass : Music in Twelve Parts Paul McCartney : Ram Songs: Ohia : Axxess & Ace Little Wings : Discover Worlds of Wonder Duane Jarvis : Certified Miracle Townes Van Zandt : Anthology 1968 - 1979 Max Richter : The Blue Notebooks Nico Muhly : Speaks Volumes Brakes : Touchdown Max Richter : Songs From Before Susanna : Flower of Evil Nico Muhly : Mothertongue Christopher O'Riley : Second Grace: The Music of Nick Drake The Backsliders : Hicktopia The Plimsouls : The Plimsouls Wilson Pickett : The Very Best of Wilson Pickett John Adams : Hallelujah Junction If you have any eMusic recommendations, please share. I still have about 30 downloads to shed in the next few days.

It's far too early to really say how the policies Obama's initiated and continues to put forth will fare, but I can say that, thus far, Obama has surpassed even my wildest hopes on Nov 4. Almost every single day I awake to news and moves from the White House that make me proud. Remember how nervously democrats pushed for health care reform in the 90s? Granted times have changed, but Obama makes it seem like a foregone conclusion. Remember how we shunned the world for eight years under Bush? Now we're looking to engage even those "evil" countries. Torture seems unfathomable on Obama's watch. Unlike his predecessor, Obama's making bold (and yes, risky) moves to get our economy back on track. The environment matters again. His presidency has only just gotten underway and we still have little idea how things will turn out on countless fronts that require immediate repair, but his bold and open-minded moves thus far have made it clear that he's exactly the ...

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Popmatters has a pretty good look back at Springsteen's bleak and haunting 1982 record Nebraska , a record that sits firmly next to say Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads followed by a viewing of Terrence Malick's fantastic film Badlands . But whenever I listen to Nebraska (which is often), I find myself first lost on the Jersey Turnpike at 3am (which again, for many years, was quite often) or the impact I felt watching Sean Penn's 1991 directorial debut The Indian Runner , which was actually based on the Nebraska track "Highway Patrolman." Starring Viggo Mortensen, David Morse, Patricia Arquette and Dennis Hopper, I saw The Indian Runner at age 18 or 19 and the images and horrors brought Nebraska to life. Prior to seeing the movie, my callow mind at the time saw Nebraska simply as a "dark" record. The Penn film made it much bigger. And after viewing this fantastic movie, I went back to Nebraska and its true meaning came alive.

-If you saw new GM CEO Fritz Henderson on Meet The Press this morning, I bet you agree that this company's done. What a godawful performance from the new chief. This dude represents just about everything that's turned the economy south. -I must say, David Gregory has improved quite a bit. Today is the first time I've watched MTP in some time, and he was quite good. -N's fish tacos last night were pretty great. -Thanks to KYC for sending me all this great new music. -I really can not wait for baseball to start. And I really hope Alex Rodriguez just never returns. Just put Toby Harrah at third. -Justin Townes Earle, Jason Isbell and the movie Ikiru really made for a great weekend arts-wise. I see another movie on the horizon tonight. I think N and I may build a fort. -I have so much new music to listen to. Man do I feel lucky. -This morning I was reading a piece about Obama in the NY Times and was once again hit with that, "I can't believe he's our presid...

AL East: Yankees AL Central: Twins AL West: Angels Wild Card: Red Sox NL East: Mets NL Central: Cubs NL West: Dodgers Wild Card: Phillies AL Championship: Yankees over Angels NL Championship: Cubs over Mets World Series: Cubs over Yankees AL MVP: Mark Teixeira AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay NL MVP: Albert Pujols NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb

It's rare to get a double-bill as promising as former-Trucker Jason Isbell and a son of Steve Earle. Connections aside, it was the artist's work that made this bill so appealing. JT Earle took the stage alongside a mandolin/harmonica/vocalist who matched Earle's Hank Williams/Carter Family singing and playing to perfection. At the outset, Earle's throwback style, complete with back-and-forth banter about "riding trains from Memphis to Nashville," among many other simple and charming bits, seemed slightly contrived, but once you let your guard down, it's clear that it's absolutely not. Earle's a fantastic singer, a solid lyricist and has a stage command that, despite being unique in its own right, was clearly borrowed from his pop. "Mama's Eyes" was the highlight of the night, but every single song was met with exuberance from the nearly-packed room. Whenever Earle would be close to wrapping up a song, you could sense the room ready to...

Today ranks up there with the best days I've had in this beautiful state I now call home. , originally uploaded by ccsbandwagon .

And I couldn't get this song out of my head. I'm now in a coffee shop playing it over and over. I can't believe that I had never heard this song until last night. And I own about six Townes records. What an absolutely beautiful song.

Mark Olson & Gary Louris @ Great American Music Hall, SF No official tour confirmed, but they have two dates slated: May 30th: Barcelona, Spain (Primavira Sound '09 Festival) July 10: Minneapolis, MN (Basilica Block Party) This is the word from Gary Louris: "Our approach right now is to look forward. Olson and I have a record out, we're going to record another, maybe make solo records and do the Jayhawks occasionally," Louris explains. "I think the plan is that we're going to play festivals, next year we're hoping to play Bonnaroo and things like that. We'll see if it grows from there. I don't know how much Karen can tour, or how much any of us want to do a full band tour. As far as recording together, we don't have any plans to do that. But if we continue to do it and we're just loving it, then of course you need new songs." When Olson left the band in 1995, Gary carried on and recorded a trio of fine post-Olson Jayhawks rec...

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Neko Case : Middle Cyclone Anti, 2009

There are few people I respect and admire more than those who bypass the easy paths in life in favor of something less tangible. Some turn out to be known by the masses, a few make a great living, but most continue to write, sing, paint, film and so on, despite the massive challenges of going this route. Most don't have health insurance and few can rely on a steady paycheck. But they do it anyway. And what's always grabbed me about these people is that the majority of them are incredibly intelligent. If they had wanted a job in insurance or on Wall Street, most would've had little trouble doing so. But they were after something greater. The financial returns weren't a part of their plan, and I can only guess, in many cases the potential monetary troubles weren't even considered all that much. They went with their hearts and they followed a road that proved erratic, taxing, but in the end, the only road they could take. By all accounts, Duane Jarvis was one of these ...