Today we launch a new department: We hope that this space will provide a slew of quality music with which you can properly start your week. And to begin this new beginning, let’s give some love to the title of this downloadable column…

Welcome to Stormy Mondays, heavy hitting music for Monday movement. This week’s montage opens with the namesake, a dynamically moody version from the end of last summer at the House of Blues in Atlantic City. Next up is a rare live version of David Crosby’s Cowboy Story with Garcia and Lesh on hand. It has a great little set-up from the songwriter before the ensemble attacks with howling guitar and vocals – Jerry’s playing is simply brutal. The third track, a live Down By The River, is right in the same vein, with a deep groove and weighty tone. Enjoy!

Stormy Monday: Allman Brothers at Atlantic City’s House Of Blues in 2006
Cowboy Story: A 1970 David Crosby performance with Garcia and Lesh
Down By the River: Neil Young and Crazy Horse from 1970

• Click here to download the inaugural Stormy Mondays session

I learned it from snorting you! Turns out, Keith Richards’ longtime manager claims the skeletal rocker was totally kidding when he said “I snorted my father. He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.” Joke or not, the whole incident begs the question: Which dead person would you most like to cremate and snort? We’ll take Margaux Hemingway. Not sure why.

• Jack White: A to Z
• Paul Weller spits on Sting
• Rock Band: Guitar Hero folks branch out into other virtual instruments
• Springsteen set to release a live Seeger Sessions DVD
• Another new edition of Taper’s Section from the Grateful Dead
• They Might Be Giants are back with a new album and a tour
• An Aquarium Drunkard kicks down some CSNY demos from 1969
• A geography-related tour: Chicago and the re-united America 
• Some backstage stories from concert industry vet Bob Sullivan
• Thrillist reviews the new Highline Ballroom…briefly
• Heaven and Hell’s Radio City concert was recorded for a live CD/DVD
• Jake Krolick reviews the Cold War Kids recent Philadelphia performance
• Is GnR’s Chinese Democracy leaking? Probably not. Dicks.

Anyone catch this weekend’s bitchin’ Austin City Limits with Michael McDonald and Joss Stone (I’m told it’s pronounced ‘yoss’, like ‘yogging’)? There’s one more replay later this week, so set your TiVos. Serious Sweet Freedom action.  

Life on the road is tough, so it’s no surprise that many songwriters have used the concept of home as a theme throughout their songs. If I were living with 10 other dudes in a small van, I’d be homesick too. The word ‘home’ may conjure up different images to different people, but it seems the connection is a feeling of security and safety.

In the first six months of this column we’ve tried to focus squarely on the music. But today, this B List takes a look at the lyrics as we check out the 20 best songs about home (in no particular order). As usual, we did our best to find a YouTube video or audio clip to illustrate the songs listed:

1. Sing Me Back Home - Merle Haggard: This death-row tale was written in the late ’60s. As you see in the video, Merle used to play this song at a quick tempo, while the Grateful Dead slowed it down to a funeral dirge in their version. I favor the Dead’s version — nobody was better at emoting that sad soulful feeling like JerBear.

“Sing me back home with a song I used to hear”

2. Home Sweet Home - Motley Crue: Leave it to Motley Crue to write a tearjerker that can be classified as kickass. The number one Hair Metal Power Ballad returns to the B List due to its heartfelt lyrics by Nikki Sixx. I guess between shots of adrenaline and pussy, Sixx got a bit homesick.

“I had to run away high So I wouldn’t come home low”

3. Can’t Find My Way Home - Blind Faith: Blind Faith’s gift to the world is possibly the best song ever written about home. Pre MTV Unplugged Eric Clapton rarely picked up an acoustic. But on the version of Can’t Find May Way Home from Blind Faith’s eponoymous album, Clapton delivers one of his most beautiful performances of his career. To me, Can’t Find My Way Home is about being caught up in the excesses of life so much so that you lose vision of what’s important.

If this was an ordered list I’d have to say this song would probably be number one. My friend Hadley hit the nail on the head when he said “If there is a more hauntingly beautiful tune than this, either the standard acoustic version or the electric one, then I’ve never heard it.”

“And I’m wasted and I can’t find my way home”

Read on for the 17 remaining tunes on this week’s B List…

Is it just me or does it seem like every band is getting back together this year? Is reuniting all about the money, or do these guys actually miss the camaraderie of the road? Hopefully it’s at least a slight mix of both — I’d hate to see bands like The Police, James, and Rage Against The Machine come back just to play the hits. Outside of the Talking Heads, what band is left to fill Coachella’s lineup next year?

While you ponder that, check out this batch o’ links from around the web:

• Ten years after people started downloading music, the recording industry still doesn’t have a clear plan for going digital
• Neddy previews Freaks Ball VII, an evening in Brooklyn this weekend featuring Apollo Sunshine, The Dansettes, and Chris Harford and the Band of Changes (with Dean Ween having just been added to Harford’s BoC)
• The Pogues will be touring this March, including a stop at NYC’s Roseland Ballroom on St. Patrick’s Day
• Scarecrow Collection is Jamband’s New Groove of the Month
• CSNY will soon release both a live album and documentary of their 2006 Freedom of Speech tour
• The 20 greatest guitar solos ever…with videos
• David Fricke reviews the first concert of Rich Robinson and Luther Dickinson’s band, Circle Sound
• Devon Allman’s Honeytribe has been on tour with the Gregg Allman Band: Check out this review of their recent HOB-Chicago show
• Double J Jesse Jarnow has been quite prolific recently
• The Temple News published a feature on moe. and their fanbase
• Yet another ’80s band, Crowded House, is reuniting with a gig at Coachella and a world tour
• Beck will be releasing a deluxe 3-disc set of The Information
• The Grateful Dead shares a new batch of mp3s at the Taper’s Section
• Mike Greenhaus files a report from the Disco Biscuits’ studio
• Last week’s Nero reunion concerts are getting rave reviews
• JamBase asks Pete Townshend 12 questions

And we’d like to congratulate HT reader Baltimoe.ron for winning our Grateful Dead Live at The Cow Palace contest. He receives the three-disc set, along with a sharp set of steak knives and 72 virgins. Congrats, and burn us a copy.

Welcome to the end of another working week. As usual on Fridays we try to keep you entertained with the following links:

• Apple Computers and The Beatles’ Apple Corps may finally put their long standing differences aside and do some business together
• The Live Music Blog has a nice review and great pictures from U2’s tour closer with Pearl Jam in Hawaii
• The Friday Rant features a handy list of 2007 festival dates
• Umphrey’s McGee has added a bunch of tour dates in the northeast and midwest
• The next installment of the Neil Young concert archive series will be a 1971 concert from Toronto’s Massey Hall
• Nearly 50 years later the Big Bopper’s son investigates the day the music died
• Crosby, Stills, and Nash head back on the road this spring
• Double J, Jesse Jarnow has released the 11th edition of his Frow Show podcast
• Glide Magazine has a great feature on Toubab Krewe
• Langerado has added Galactic and The Spam Allstars to their lineup, and more importantly announced there will be shuttle service between the festival and the late night venues
• News about the new Wilco album
• Club D’Elf has announced some upcoming dates
• Ted Nugent caused trouble at the inauguration of Texas Governor Rick Perry
• Rock Music Daily has an mp3 of the Foo Fighters cover of Pink Floyd’s Have A Cigar
• Frank Zappa used to enjoy his Fridays just like the rest of us
• Ick Music provides the mp3s of the infamous Clash set at the US Festival

Have a great weekend and remember to get your entries in for the Live At The Cow Palace contest. As always please share any interesting links you may have with the rest of the class.

Some people might argue that a purple blouse may be a wardrobe malfunction in itself, but the master of androgynous style and ambiguous sexuality will be rocking Miami at the Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show anyway. That’s right, nothing symbolizes the brute force and awesome power of football quite like Prince.

But what Prince lacks in testosterone and masculinity he more than makes up for in fucking amazingtude and coolestcateverness. You have to respect a guy of whom Miles Davis says in his autobiography, “Prince is from the school of James Brown, and I love James Brown because of all the great rhythms he plays. Prince reminds me of him and Cameo reminds me of Sly Stone. But Prince got some Marvin Gaye and Jimi Hendrix and Sly in him, also, even Little Richard. He’s a mixture of all those guys and Duke Ellington. He reminds me in a way of Charlie Chaplin…”

So if you’re counting at home, Miles thinks Prince is an amalgamation of JB, Marvin Gaye, Jimi, Sly, Little Richard, Duke and Charlie Chaplin. Sounds about right. Although, Miles also gushes about the greatness of Cameo and describes his own touring band at the time like this: “The band I had in 1987 was a motherfucker, man.”

Anyway, enough setup — here’s Prince and Miles playing It’s Gonna Be a Beautiful Night on New Year’s 1987 at Paisley Park Studios (more of a Miles clip but whatevs):

Thanks to Pete over at Ickmusic for reminding me of this collaboration in the comments section of last week’s edition. Let’s get on with the rest of the haul…

• I’m not much of a fan of the hip hop, and I don’t know how their community feels about Mos Def, but I’ve always remembered seeing him do one of them there freestyle kinda raps on Chappelle’s Show back in the day, and I really enjoyed it. Super duper shit. Thank the good lord for YouTube: Mos Definitely watch this shit
• Since I was just in Buffalo last week as part of an occupational adventure, let’s honor that fair town with this high-quality Grateful Dead clip from within the city limits in 1989: Man Smart, Woman Smarter, Brent Smartest
• I can’t think of a good intro for this one, so just enjoy it and backdate your own set-up for it: CSNY on Wooden Ships at Wembley in 1974
• At this point, Traffic is probably my biggest classic rock regret. Lately I find myself listening to their shows more than almost any other ’70s band, and I’m wondering why I’ve been so slow to audit their entire history. Anyway, here’s a cool clip of Evening Blue from 1973
• Apparently some solid video of Medeski, Martin & Wood does exist somewhere on the world wide web — check out Part I and Part II of this quality video recording from Brasil back in March

I just spelled Brasil with an “s.” How fucking heady am I? Uber-heady.