The unofficial end of summer has arrived incredibly quick. Enjoy your three-day weekends, and be sure to set your DVR to record the following shows:
Friday (all times Eastern):
- Showtime debuts a concert film featuring Interpol, recorded at Lupo’s in Providence [Showtime Next 10:00PM]
- Beck is the musical guest on London Live! [Mojo 12:00AM]
- Corinne Bailey Rae, Paul Simon and Primal Scream perform on the latest episode of Live From Abbey Road [Sundance 2:00AM]
Saturday:
- If by some godforsaken reason you haven’t seen The Last Waltz, now is your chance [Showtime Next 1:00PM]
- John Mellencamp plays for the wounded vets at Walter Reed hospital [HDNet 6:30PM]
- Widespread Panic is featured in an encore presentation of Austin City Limits [PBS check local listings]
Sunday:
Hey, so, if you were the early twentysomething guy in the Kid Ray suit behind me in the queue to board last night’s Bustle In Your Hedgerow cruise, the dude who uttered the title expression in response to “How you doin’?,” then I really hope at some point in the night someone wound up and kicked you in the junk. Very hard. Just because Camp Bisco “changed [your] whole perspective on shit,” it doesn’t entitle you to commit flagrant acts of douchebaggery. Stop it.
Uncle Neddy may still be sleeping off last night’s Bustle show, but somehow he’s found stolen time to throw down a pre-Labor Day minimix: “Here’s some crunchy stuff for a long weekend. New music in the rootsy realm, more or less — perfect for the hard working All-Americans amongst us looking for something up-to-date…old masters, up-and-comers, and some in between.” Enjoy.
01 Sunken Treasure — Wilco: 26 June 2007
02 Pretty Girl From San Diego — The Avett Brothers: Emotinalism
03 Oh My God, Whatever, Etc. — Ryan Adams: Easy Tiger
04 Living In The Moment — Jorma Kaukonen: Stars in My Crown
05 Planes And A Girl — Frank Smith: Heavy Handed Peave & Love
06 Farewell Blues — Tony Trischka: Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular
Can NYC handle all of the new venues that are opening in the city this year? The New York Times takes a look at these new concert halls that aim to make their mark, and one of the many tidbits found in the article is the news that Wetlands founder Peter Shapiro is opening a 20,000-square-foot combination bowling alley and performance space in Williamsburg. Spectacular.
We’ve got plenty of other stories left over as well:
Have any interesting links to share? Leave a comment below so we can all kill some time until 5 o’clock…
Bake a cake made of crazy and decorate it with scarecrows and gnomes and bicycles: It’s time for a Syd Barrett celebration. On September 4th, EMI Records will honor the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd by releasing special edition two- and three-CD sets of their debut album, The Piper At The Gates of Dawn.
Now, as part of our recurring Everybody Wins When I Plug Something And In Return We’re Offered Free Shit To Give Away Contests, we’re happy to offer up a free copy of the two-CD special edition to the lucky commenter that best answers this simple query: Piper, The Wall, Dark Side, Animals, or one of the other classic albums — which is the best Pink Floyd album from top to bottom? Explain your answer in 10 words or less (bonus points for Barrettesque insanity).
Read on after the jump for the full details of the special edition releases…
As we mentioned last week in Vol. I, soundchecks are a touring band’s chance to work out new material, get comfortable with a stage and, sometimes, let loose with each other (non-sexually). This week’s B List concludes a two-part series in which we’re featuring the best soundcheck videos out there on The YouTube. Some are hilarious, some rock, and others are simply…bizarre.
So make sure to read on after the jump for 10 awesome soundcheck videos, including Genesis, Skynyrd, Floyd, The Misfits, Zappa and many more…
The intentionally oxymoronic Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued a 20-page report on illegal file-swapping and peer-to-peer sharing, and the results are exactly as you’d expect. Four years after the RIAA filed its first lawsuits against often unsuspecting individuals, the EFF concludes that you really don’t make friends with salad: “Suing music fans is no answer to the P2P dilemma.”
So if filing 20,000 lawsuits against college kids, grandparents and other societal menaces with no sign of abatement is not the answer, then what is? The EFF advocates a “voluntary collective licensing regime” whereby users pay a monthly fee that allows them to legitimately download and keep any music in the collective.
That’s not a bad plan. Some lawsuits would still be necessary to prevent widespread illegality under the new system, but the targets will likely change. We’re not exactly sure how that would shut down illegal file-sharing once and for all, but it would at least provide a more reasonable outlet for legal downloading.
Here’s our modest proposal: Product Placement, Advertising and Licensing. All music, in all forms, from this point forward will be free or low-cost to the consumer, and the artist will be responsible for financing the albums and growing rich through advertising income, selling the songs to movies and telly, and touring the country. Sure we’ll have to put up with more songs about the Whopper, hip sneakers and cellular telephones, but hey, think how free of guilt you’ll be when Wilco’s new album, Crying With My Sears Craftsman Portable Power Tools, hits the iPod.
Licorice Pizza has posted some of Eddie Vedder’s demos from 1988, a few years before he joined Pearl Jam. The blogger unearthed a bit of information about the four tracks, including this description which comes with the files:
“This tape was sent by Eddie to the guy who lived downstairs from he and Beth in San Diego when he moved to Seattle. A collective group of fans…purchased this from Eddie’s neighbor/friend.”
Alright, what else we got out there for you today? Let’s check below…
Now it’s your turn: Have you downloaded any killer bootlegs you think the world should hear? Let us all know by leaving a comment below…
Back in the ’80s and ’90s it wasn’t easy to find unauthorized live concert videos. Even if you found a local record store that sold videos, the prices were outrageous and you never knew what you were gonna get when you popped the tape in your VCR. The advent of DVDs and broadband internet have opened live concert DVD collecting to the masses.
Now we can head over to torrent sites like dimeadozen and thetradersden that have a virtually endless supply of incredible footage. Many of the DVD torrents are so well-seeded that you can download them in less than 24 hours with a broadband connection. While we may not have been around for the early days of U2, or made it out to Bonnaroo for Radiohead, we can get a glimpse into what those performances were truly like by popping in a DVD. With the digital age upon us, it has become easy for collectors to transfer their old videos onto their computers and then distribute them quickly via bit torrent.
It seems like everyday incredible DVDs that we didn’t know existed come out of the woodwork. So this edition of Grousing The Aisles looks at four high-quality videos that have just started to make the rounds. Read on after the jump for a three-camera cut of Radiohead at Bonnaroo, The Police on its 2007 reunion tour, the Grateful Dead in ’82 and U2 in 1981. Enjoy.
Two of this here rag’s favorite touring bands are headed out on the road together next month: Assembly of Dust and JJ Grey & MOFRO will join forces for eight shows throughout, yes, the Northeast in late September and early October.
Photo of AoD’s Reid Genauer by Adam Kaufman
The bands will be alternating the headlining slot along the way, but no matter the order, this promises to be an evening of incredible music built on strong songwriting and cohesive musicianship. We’d just love to see some collaboration…
AOD and MOFRO on TOUR
TU Sep 25, 2007 – Washington DC @ 9:30 Club
WE Sep 26, 2007 – Millvale, PA @ Mr Small’s Theater
TH Sep 27, 2007 – Philadelphia @ The Fillmore @ The TLA
FRI and SAT Sep 28 & 29, 2007 – New York @ Highline Ballroom
TH Oct 4, 2007 – Boston, MA @ The Roxy
FRI Oct 5, 2007 – New Haven, CT @ Toad’s Place
SAT Oct 6, 2007 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
“Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has demanded an apology from Swedish newspapers for their scathing reviews of the group’s performance in the country earlier this month.” Good fucking lord. From now on, Keith, Sweden and the rest of the world promise only the most positive fanboy write-ups and forty online licks of your taint. Gimme shelter from your douchebaggery. [USA Today]
The next two nights offer a rare opportunity to see two of the best cover bands while cruising around New York City on a boat. Tonight, Give Us The Money Lebowski show off their jukebox-like repertoire, frenetic improvisations and sparkling wit on the 200-capacity Half Moon at 8 pm. Tomorrow night, Led Zeppelin face-melters Bustle In Your Hedgerow takes to the seas in honor of Rocks Off founder Jake Szufnarowski’s birthday at 11 pm on the 500-person Temptress. Both of these concerts should be, dare we say…epic.
The past two days have brought us a slew of interesting stories. Check ‘em out:
That’s all we have for now, but we’re sure the list will grow again by Friday. If you have any news tips for us leave a comment below…
NBC tonight will be showing a special called Live From New York: The First 5 Years of Saturday Night Live at 8 pm. While we’re sure there will be plenty of hilarious clips from the likes of John Belushi and Bill Murray, we’re far more excited for the musical performances they’ll be dredging up.
SNL was one of the first shows on television that gave artists an opportunity to play without a net on live television. Not only that, the bookers at SNL were always willing to feature bands that weren’t exactly in line with the mainstream. Who else at the time would have let Frank Zappa borrow Don Pardo to perform an edgy satirical song like I Am The Slime?
Many of the best musical performances in SNL’s history occurred during the first five years of the show’s run. Featured on tonight’s special will be clips of The Grateful Dead, Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello and George Harrison accompanying Paul Simon. If you can’t catch tonight’s show, check out the YouTube’z below:
We’ve got big news for fans of The Boss (no, Papa Steinbrenner’s not dead yet). Bruce Springsteen today announced an extensive fall tour that will once again reunite him with the badass E Street Band. The Boss also announced that Radio Nowhere, the first single from his new album, will be available exclusively as a free track on iTunes for the next week. Full dates listed after the jump…
Feisty Canadian singer-songwriter, um, Feist, played the ol’ Letterman program last night, and she brought a few of her all-star indie friends with her. Joined by members of Mates of State, Broken Social Scene, The National, New Pornographers and Grizzly Bear, the all-white ensemble (clothes, you racist!) surrounded the darkly clad Feist and turned in a pretty sick performance of her 1234.
I don’t mean this as an insult, but can’t you see that song being played through the credits of a super schmaltzy film? Something like a Phenomenon.
(Okay, I asked for it, and I’ll deliver: Voices That Care — How sad is it that I still know every word to this song? I’m guessing “quite sad” is the answer.)
