Scotty usually throws out an oversized post full’a music-related links every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But it’s a light day out there, I’m already semi-bored at work, and I thought it’d be nice to skip outside the music bubble for a change.
So first we’re gonna take a gander at the greatest self-defense video ever made, and then we’re movin’ on to some other shit. Just remember, I can deliver a head butt out of nothing. Dangita, Dangita, Dang.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled nonsense: Here’s some music.
Like Cosmo Kramer with the Elaine’s friend, the High Talker’s ex-girlfriend Noreen, this story from late Friday slipped right past my news goalie.
Queen guitarist Brian May ain’t just a pretty face and an inexplicable amount of ’80s hair — he’s also a doctor…of astrofuckingphysics:
He was awarded his qualification Thursday by London’s Imperial College after submitting his 48,000-word thesis, “Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud,” which seeks to prove that planets and dust clouds in the solar system orbit in the same direction. Mr. May was an astrophysics student at Imperial College when he joined Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor to form Queen in 1970, but dropped out as the glam-rock band became one of Britain’s biggest music groups in the 1970s, with hits including “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You.”
Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud? I swear, I almost wrote the same exact one, but some yuppie pre-frosh tripped the wire and everyone in the computer lab lost all our theses — I ended up with “Motion of Helium Atoms In An Excited State.” I was then informed to watch out…it’s a scorcher.
Lame and relatively obscure old-school Piven references aside, it’s not every day you meet someone with a C.V. that boasts “guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, astrophysicist.” But sure enough, May will be formally presented with his doctorate in May (what other month would it be) at a ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Awesome. Kudos bar to you, Mr. May. Sorry, Dr. May.
1964 was a killer year for jazz (and for metallic green Buick Skylarks), and we’ve prepared a short list of highlights to kick off your work week.
Thelonious Monk’s Stuffy Turkey — a loping, playful number from the Alhambra in Paris — focuses first on a lyrical line from tenor man Charlie Rouse, allowing Ben, Butch and Monk to lightly roll off on little sides. Monk’s following solo is spacious and off-kilter, with cool comping from the bass: absolutely classic Monk. Speaking of classic, All Blues is performed by the first great Miles Davis quintet with George Coleman at a concert to benefit black voters in Mississippi and Louisiana — simply brilliant; Tony Williams was only 19 at the time!
Within months, Wayne Shorter would take the tenor chair in Miles’ group , but before that he issued his first album as a band leader, with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones and Reggie Workman — all Coltrane men — and Lee Morgan on trumpet. At the time Wayne was under the shadow of Trane, criticized often for the similarity in approach and sound, so his choice of cohorts is interesting.
Despite such criticism though, Oriental Folk Song shows that a man now widely regarded as the greatest living jazz composer was already in full bloom more than 40 years ago. The final track this week is from the recent Mingus Live at Cornell recording, with Eric Dolphy. While Take the A Train might seem a jazz cliché, you’ve never heard it like this. Enjoy!
MCA of the Beastie Boys is breaking into the virtual world, where he will be a character in the new Tony Hawk video game. Tony Hawk: Proving Ground will be released in October, and if you are good enough at the game you’ll be able to unlock MCA’s character. Jewish skateboarders…what will they think of next?
We ain’t just Beastie X Games…we’ve got plenty of other news to report:
And as usual on Mondays, read on after the jump for a full slate of setlists from the weekend, including but not limited to Arcade Fire, Black Crowes, Kings of Leon, Rage, Ratt, RAQ, TLG, Umphrey’s, Wilco and many more…
Tonight’s your first chance to catch the second season premiere of the altogether funniest television show of 2006. And since many of us missed the first season altogether when it aired — even me, I downloaded it on iTunes — I’d suggest setting your newfangled digital video recording devices post-haste.
I can’t promise that this season of Frisky Dingo will deliver the goods of last year’s genius, but I know it’s worth a shot. The show’s cut into manageable 11-minute episodes, and the entire first season is full of more involuntary laughs than a Pat Robertson sermon. There’s billionaire Xander Crews, there’s the villain Killface, there’s the XTacles, there’s an ensemble cast of hysterical characters, there’s last year’s cliffhanger…and then of course there’s this:
Everyone needs to buy season one on iTunes — you’ll thank me later.
One last, unrelated item — I’ll let my friend Eric ask a question of the audience here after we all watch Miss Teen South Carolina answer this pageant query perfectly: “What’s more pathetic? This girl, or the fact that we all would seriously still marry her? America. Fuck yeah.”
Just an edumacated guess here, but we’re thinking Ted Nugent’s campaign contributions are not going to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. (Wait, this batshit crazy video was taken in Anaheim? Just how many hardcore redneck assholes live in or around Anaheim? Now I’m flat-out confused.)
It’s time to look back at a week in which we learned of a new Amy Winehouse album: Cut-Cuttin’ with the Dap-Kings. Please, Daptone, can this once and for all spell the end of the International Winehouse of Crazy’s strumpeteer affiliation with the best backing band on the planet? Sharon Jones don’t need no knife.
Before we begin our weekly looky-loo, check out the first single off Bruce Springsteen’s first album in five years — here’s Radio Nowhere off Magic. Now, a backwards glance at some of the old(er) news:
Let’s go out on a high note: This is a must-watch clip from The Onion called Live from Congress: The Skull-Fucking Bill of 2007. Classic.
This one needs no introduction — it’s an almost perfect piece of satirical craftsmanship, and the very reason YouTube exists. Well done.
I will be spending the weekend with my new nephew Oliver, but my DVR will spend the weekend recording the following:
Friday [all times Eastern]:
- Mando Diao will be Conan’s musical guest on Late Night [NBC 12:35 AM]
- Ronnie James Dio leads Black Sabbath through Heaven and Hell Live From Radio City [VH-1 Classic 12:00 AM]
- Warren Haynes’ Benefit Concert allows you to see Warren in all his high definition splendor [Rave HD 10:00 PM]
Saturday:
Sunday:
By Uncle Neddy‘s count, we’re down to the last week of summer. So here’s a little
one-a-day to take us all the way through to Labor Day. Gosh darn, that Neddy kid is so clever it hurts my sides the way my rickets does.
01 Sunday Noises — Califone: [Roots & Crowns]
02 Monday — Wilco: Irving Plaza 11 April 1999
03 Tuesday, Oct. 24th — Clem Snide: Soft Spot
04 Wednesday Night — Dubtribe Sound System: Bryant Street
05 Thursday — Morphine: Lehigh 26 April 1998
06 Friday Night — Girl Talk: Night Ripper
07 One More Saturday Night — Grateful Dead: Steppin’ Out With The Grateful Dead
08 Out On the Weekend — Neil Young: London 27 February 1971
After 11 years the Kirkwood brothers have once again reunited, and they’ve released a new Meat Puppets album entitled Rise to Your Knees. Scott Mervis of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette does a fine job profiling the Meat Puppets rise and fall: The piece includes a wide-ranging interview with Curt Kirkwood. Kirkwood discusses opening for Phish and Blues Traveler as the Meat Puppets prepare to play moe.down in Turin, NY next weekend. But what else is goin’ on? Let’s take a look…
- Will Sunday’s show in London be the last Rolling Stones concert ever?
- Eddie Vedder will perform at the world premiere of the Body of War documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11
- Thievery Corporation, Spoon and Modest Mouse are headlining the inaugural outing of the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco Bay
- Broken Social Scene has been added to the lineup of Sunday’s Revenge of the Book Eaters concert at the Beacon Theater
- Jenny Lewis and Neko Case are two redheads taking the alt-rock scene by storm
- Dickie Betts and Great Southern impressed during a recent gig in Buffalo
- Cold War Kids are playing a tour that will hit all of the major cities in November and December
- In a sure sign of things to come, Comcast has started sabotaging their user’s bit torrent connections
- Slash lists his five favorite guitar solos
- Lefsetz feels the same way about The Eagles’ new album as I do
- Wilco’s Nels Cline discusses the adult chicken pox that took him out of action for a while
- The songlist for the Rock Band video game is growing larger and larger
- Paul McCartney is releasing a 3 DVD set filled with concert footage and music videos from his solo career on November 13th
- Morrissey refused a $75 million offer to reunite The Smiths
What else ya got for us on this glorious Friday? Fill us in below…
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 kicks off a two-part series in which we’ll feature the best soundcheck videos on YouTube. Some are hilarious, some rock, and others are simply…bizarre.
The first 10 videos follow after the jump, so read on for little-seen footage of Marley in Canada, Steve Vai showing off, Randy Rhoads rockin’ out, Mastodon, Macca, Axl Rose and more. Go on…
We hope you’ve been taking our advice and downloading the MP3s that the Grateful Dead and Rhino Records have been giving away through its Taper’s Section on dead.net, because the party may be over. Rhino recently changed the format of every file to shitty QuickTime and Windows Media files — we can’t get these new files to work, and we don’t seem to be the only ones with problems.
David Beach does a nice job of recapping the situation, including quotes from angry deadheads. This story is still developing, so look for more on what went into this decision soon from the record company and members of the band…
Every once in a while we receive some hilarious e-mailed thoughts that don’t make it into the comments section. Today we’d like to feature one of these letters.
Occasional HT collaborator Chilly Jackwater responded to our Tuesday post on 50 Cent’s ongoing feud with Lil’ Wayne and how jambands should start gang wars to reinvigorate the scene. Chilly weighed in with his thoughts:
“The 50 Cents piece was straight gangster. Strong to quite strong stuff. The scene definitely needs to put itself back on the map, because the music sure as shit ain’t doing it. And no matter how many side projects the members of String Cheese form, the bottom line is (in my Rick Pitino voice): Jerry Garcia is not walking through that door. Trey Anastasio is not walking through that door. And if they do, they’re gonna be old and grey. And, I’d add, hooked on heroin. We need something big to happen. A MMF bukkake sex tape featuring someone from The Hills, DJ Logic and Keller Williams, perhaps.” That’s how it’s done.
Jerry Garcia, Rick Pitino, and bukkake…you all can learn something from this man.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney are by far and away the greatest songwriting team of all-time (save maybe Hall and Oates). But for all the good times, the two also bickered like dogs and cats after The Beatles broke up. I Guess I’m Floating does a fantastic job of reviewing all of the insult songs and comebacks.
- Check out a Billy Idol show from The Malibu on Long Island from 1982
- You Must Be From Away kicks down a Danko/Helm concert
- Keep The Coffee Coming found one of the earliest Byrds recordings ever
- Blog Stoned shares an unreleased Rolling Stones live album
- Frank Sinatra Live in Hong Kong has some amazing cover art
- If you are into Radiohead, you’ll love this Thom Yorke bootleg
- A Journey boot without Don’t Stop Believin’ can still rock hard
- The Grateful Dead Taper’s Section features killer tracks from 4/22/78
- Soundaboard provides two killer Thin Lizzy boots in one download
- The Roadhouse has a bootleg from The Pixies reunion tour
- Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad is a new band from Rochester that is getting some buzz
What did we miss, what else is out there? Sound off in the comments below…
