The FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow in Germany (mere hours from now, given the time change) and I am all over that action. See, I have joined c’s Blogger’s Paradise peeps on the ESPN Pick ‘Em site. I have logged my initial predictions – and between you and me, I have NO IDEA (really) what I am doing. But I am good guesser. And I can trash talk with the best of them, so no one will ever suspect.
Here is some mood music for the occasion: British band Embrace wrote the official anthem for this year’s games. Although some scoffed, it is pretty dang triumphal sounding — only occasionally lapsing into cheesy — and the Oakenfold remix is even more booty-shakin-in-the-stands.
News From Pete Yorn re: New EP Date: Jun 8, 2006 1:42 PM Subject: WESTERNS EP
So, will someone buy this for me and share? Don’t know if I can wait til July for the Denver show. Pete writes:
“WESTERNS EP. This EP of twangROCK will be available only at the shows…if you havent got yer tix yet…move along move along…and get em. see you soon. py.
WESTERNS EP track listing…. 1.the man (featuring dixie chix) 2.never my love (studio version of association classic featuring FARMER DAVE scher of beachwood sparks fame on pedal steel) 3. dont mean nothing (written for nancy sinatra, and recorded by her for her own record…had to do it myself..love the song too much….also featuring natalie from dixiechicks.) 4. the good advice…(a ripper featuring leon russell on piano) 5. lions (yesss) 6. the golden road (recorded in rami jaffee’s trailer in malibu…a vibe so strong i cant even explain)
PS – Blogger’s been down all day. I have much to say, and no cooperation from the technology gods. Oh, and the superb Yorn portraiture courtesy of rad photographer/Fuel reader Phil Marino on the RAPIDFIX blog.
1. Steve Nash (basketball poster boy from my alma mater Santa Clara University) likes to get all freaky-like (from a MySpace bulletin from Gorilla vs. Bear).
And speaking of Santa Clara, last night at the gym I nearly flew off the treadmill when I looked up at the bo-ring sports channel TV that I always seem to get stuck in front of and saw a USA vs. Ireland rugby match on ESPN-U that was taking place at good ole Buck Shaw Stadium there on the SCU campus (took place on Saturday, aired Tuesday)! It was so cool & unexpected to see very familiar landmarks and maybe even a few faces in the crowd while a few states away.
Pearl Jam has been absolutely shredding the stage these last few weeks since their tour began in May (well, April if you count the London Astoria pre-show). Right out of the gate, Pearl Jam are rocking relentlessly, and bringing out some treats for the setlists. They are converting even the hard-hearted — the jaded who think of them as has-beens who can’t rock any more — and I couldn’t be happier. Here is a sampling of the blistering beauty:
Leash – Boston 5/25 THIS was A Moment. If you only download one track from this post, let it be this one. Leash had not been played live since 1994 (also in Boston, back on 4/11/94) and just hearing the crackling anticipation in the air with the opening notes gives me the chills. It makes me smile because they get the opening order backwards (drums, then bass) and it takes them a few counts to fall into the correct cadence, but then, like a familiar lover that you remember by touch – on a primal level – it all falls back into place.
And if you’ve never heard the kickass song from whence this blog derives its name, now is your chance. I have to say, few things make me happier than the thought of you, the reader, in the heat of a glorious sweaty moment at a Pearl Jam concert, hearing this lyric and briefly thinking of my blog. It’s an anthem to youth and the power of music and everything summed up into a few lines.
“Troubled souls unite, we got ourselves tonight I am fuel, you are friends we got the means to make amends I am lost, I’m no guide but I’m by your side I am right by your side… …Delight, delight, delight in our youth…”
Parachutes – Boston 5/25 There was a sign campaign for this song to be played, apparently. Crazy fans mistaking concerts for democratic rallies. But it worked, and PJ first debuted it live for a very pleased Boston crowd. It is one of my favorites off the new album; a lovely song, even if Ed fudges the lyrics just a little bit here.
And a few from Camden 5/27 . . . A smoldering Memorial Day weekend show, breathless reviews from those who were there. I have to say, it is quite an intense setlist. Here were some searing choice cuts:
Do The Evolution Fresh out of the cage, Pearl Jam starts things out hard, fast, and right. After blazing through two of the hardest songs on their new album, Life Wasted and Worldwide Suicide, they tear into this riff, which would make me want to smash things if I was that kind of gal.
Animal Then without taking a breath they launch straight into this roiling, churning pick from Vs. LISTEN to the crowd sing along with all that is in them.
Marker In The Sand This is still one of my other favorite tracks on the new album. I love the blending of the fierce pace of the opening verse, the soaring anthemic chorus, and the final seamless melding of the two at the end of the song.
Blood After a fairly family-friendly singalong first encore (Betterman, Elderly Woman, Last Kiss, etc), PJ returns to the stage for a thrashing second set. THIS is insane. I almost died once in a pit of people during this song. Between the guttural screaming and the wah-wahs, this is elemental concert power at its best.
Comatose Another tightly-wound and sparsely vicious favorite off the new album.
Yellow Ledbetter –> Star-Spangled Banner Even though some fans have expressed that they could do without this becoming-typical closer, to me the first notes of the sweet electric-bluesy wail is the sound of the end of a PJ show. And what better way to celebrate the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day than some Hendrix-esque freedom rock with the Star Spangled Banner drawled out on Mike’s electric guitar? What a closer.
July 2, Denver, here I come.
Leash? Please?
Credits: Some of these terrific pics are from the Tour Photos section of the Pearl Jam site, taken by the fabulous Kerensa Wight.
Paste Magazine has an article this week trying to pin down the top 100 living songwriters. Now, I am a list gal myself, but would not wish upon myself the task of quantifying the best living songwriters.
But, being the ever-emboldened music writers that they are, they rose to the challenge:
100 T-Bone Burnett 99 Outkast 98 Jay Farrar 97 Josh Ritter 96 Jimmy Cliff 95 Patti Smith 94 Sam Phillips 93 Joseph Arthur 92 Alejandro Escovedo 91 Drive-By Truckers 90 Nick Cave 89 Victoria Williams 88 Parliament 87 Lyle Lovett 86 Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) 85 David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones) 84 They Might Be Giants 83 Fleetwood Mac (Buckingham, Nicks, McVie) 82 John Darnielle (The Mountain Goats) 81 The Flaming Lips 80 Pink Floyd 79 Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, Silver Jews) 78 Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices) 77 Bruce Cockburn 76 Will Oldham aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy 75 Ron Sexsmith 74 Over the Rhine 73 Julie Miller 72 Michael Jackson 71 Vic Chestnutt 70 Alex Chilton (Big Star, The Box Tops) 69 Merle Haggard 68 Allen Toussaint 67 Conor Oberst 66 Charles Thompson (aka Frank Black/Black Francis) (Pixies, The Catholics) 65 Bill Mallonee (Vigilantes of Love) 64 Andy Partridge (XTC) 63 Richard Thompson 62 Sting 61 John Hiatt 60 Jimmy Webb 59 Jack White 58 Sly Stone 57 Morrissey 56 James Brown 55 Dolly Parton 54 Aimee Mann 53 James Taylor 52 Paul Westerberg 51 Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham 50 Public Enemy 49 Cat Stevens 48 Gillian Welch / David Rawlings 47 Sufjan Stevens 46 David Byrne 45 Jackson Browne 44 Al Green 43 Ryan Adams 42 Loretta Lynn 41 Ray Davies 40 Burt Bacharach & Hal David 39 Led Zeppelin 38 Kris Kristofferson 37 Smokey Robinson 36 Beck 35 Steve Earle 34 John Fogerty 33 Pete Townshend 32 Leiber & Stoller 31 Carole King 30 John Prine 29 Tom Petty 28 Robbie Robertson 27 Radiohead 26 REM 25 Chuck Berry 24 Jeff Tweedy 23 Elton John / Bernie Taupin 22 Lucinda Williams 21 Lou Reed 20 Van Morrison 19 Patty Griffin 18 U2 17 Holland – Dozier- Holland 16 David Bowie 15 Willie Nelson 14 Stevie Wonder 13 Paul Simon 12 The Rolling Stones (Jagger/Richards) 11 Randy Newman 10 Prince 9 Joni Mitchell 8 Elvis Costello 7 Brian Wilson 6 Leonard Cohen 5 Paul McCartney 4 Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan 3 Bruce Springsteen 2 Neil Young 1 Bob Dylan
A site that you should really visit if you want excellent live music (for free download) from a variety of up-and-coming independent bands is Daytrotter.com.
They have a new set up from Chicago’s modern answer to T. Rex, The Kinks, and the Beatles: the fuzzy pop goodness of The M’s. If you follow this blog at all, you may be a bit sick of hearing me yammer on about them, but seriously. Take a listen. For FREE!
Daytrotter plans to feature Sunset Rubdown next week, which beats them all for best band name.
And PS – Blogger has been having trouble (MAJOR trouble) with uploading and displaying pictures this week. If the images don’t show, try a refresh. If that doesn’t work, try again later (and sit and think curses upon the tech support at Blogger.com).
Someone with too much time on their hands has designated today (06/06/06) as the official National Emo Kid BeatdownDay, according to various sketchy MySpace pages. Here is a handy guide. Please note that the author of this site does not condone any actual emo violence. As Dashboard Confessional reminds us, “I can bend and not break. Or I can break and take it with a smile. I am so resilient. I recover quickly. I’ll convince you soon that i am fine . . . So won’t you hold me now? Won’t you hold me now?”
That picture would have ground my gears when I was in high school. You know, that angsty time period when you are trying to figure out who you are – and you have this enormous chip on your shoulder like “No one can quantify me. Popular media cannot LABEL me!”
Also, if I currently have the same Docs as the girl in the picture, does that mean *I* am emo? I never even knew.
That reminds me of a hilarious freshman-year note that my friend Shannon made for me while “bored in SSR” (Silent Sustained Reading period every day after 3rd period). I came across it recently in a box of stuff (I don’t throw anything away), and it nicely encapsulates both the fashion trends circa 1993, as well as the apparent horrors of conformity & groupie-ism to a 14-year old.
Thanks to the Ledbelly blog for the heads up on such an important national holiday.
Here is my music journalism debut. You may call it underwhelming, but it is pretty dang cool for me. From Denver’s alt-weekly The Westword. I appreciate all those who offered suggestions for what I should review and their kudos for my opportunity. Hopefully there’ll be more to come!
So, I think Kenny Rogers goes to my gym. I was watching this man (either him or like HIS TWIN) do extremely fast ninja squats yesterday while I mulled over the choices for the Monday Music Roundup with my iPod on the freaking Stairmaster. He had cat-like speed and reflexes. Who knew?
“Chatterbox“ David Mead This is pretty much the most ridiculously infectious and happy pop song I have heard in a while, from Nashville songwriter David Mead. I defy you to not be happy listening to this. I bought the whole Tangerine album on eMusic (click the banner on the right if you wanna sheck it out) and have been quite pleased. Interesting, intelligent instrumentation, catchy as all get out. I also love the completely different feel in the stripped vocal goodness of the track “Reminded #1.”
“Golden Age” (Beck cover) KT Tunstall A lovely Beck cover from the KT Tunstall website-only release Acoustic Extravaganza, recorded over the holidays on the Scottish isle of Skye. One forgets that tiny Beck also has an introspective side to some of his songs, and here Tunstall takes it and suffuses the tune with the warm & rosy glow of sunrise.
“Non-Entity“ The Chesterfield Kings Well, folks, The Chesterfield Kings (oldies that I have never heretofore heard of, from Rochester NY) enter the running and there is now a three-way tie for “Best Rolling Stones Song In Recent Years NOT By The Rolling Stones” (tie with the Deadstring Brothers and the new Primal Scream). This is not a bad thing – I think there is ALWAYS room for a little sloppy bluesy harmonica rock ‘n’ roll, yes? Also on the album (The Mindbending Sounds of the Chesterfield Kings) notably enjoyable tracks are the delightfully Beatles-inspired “Somewhere Nowhere” and “Transparent Life.” Please IGNORE the horrific hairstyles – this is not Whitesnake, even if they look like it. Someone get a pair of clippers, I’ll cut their damn hair myself.
“Landed (with strings)“ Ben Folds I like Ben Folds because of his quirky and honest voice (it’s not traditionally beautiful, but stirring and transparent in its ordinariness) and his absolutely lush & gorgeous piano orchestration. This version of Landed (a bonus track on some editions of Songs for Silverman) goes on and adds insult to beautiful injury by heaping on some delicately rich strings. Will make you ache.
“Song No. 6“ (featuring Ron Sexsmith) Ane Brun This American debut from Scandinavian songbird Ane Brun (A Temporary Dive, V2 Records) caught my eye initially because of this track, a collaboration with my newfound hero Ron Sexsmith. However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the entire disc (Pitchfork gave it a 7.7, if that means anything), even though it is driving me to the Cliffs of Insanity to not be able to peg who her voice is a dead ringer for in the opening lines of this song. HELP? Oh no, is it Norah Jones? I think it’s Norah Jones that she reminds me of. Oh dear. Well, her album is NOT a Norah Jones facsimile, she is in a totally different vein. Good smattering of stuff on eMusic for her too.
BONUS: After my live Eels post last week, Jethro commented that the cover they do of Sophie B. Hawkins’ lusty slow jam “Damn, I Wish I Was Your Lover” was hilarious. And indeed it is. For your listening pleasure (and worth it just to hear E sing “give you something sweet each time you come inside my jungle book”) -
So I finally got to see Tom Cruise save the world (and his Katie-Holmes-lookalike movie wife) in Mission Impossible 3 last night, and I actually thought it was a quite good effort by J.J. Abrams. Dizzying stunts & cool face-duplicating effects, awesome long-shot cinematography, and whole delicious scenes running amok throughout the Vatican and some awesome halls of art.
Since I can’t just GO to a movie without dissecting the soundtrack, well, you know where this is heading. There is something so good about certain movie theme songs. You kind of forget that you know them, but as soon as they cue up, you realize how deeply embedded in your subconscious they are.
It said in the credits that Kanye West and Jon Brion collaborated on one of the versions of the Mission: Impossible theme, but I can’t find it. Anyone know if it is any good? (Not talkin’ the Kanye disaster “Impossible” here).
And there are two others that make me feel like a kid inside whenever I hear them. Didn’t know the same guy did both (and apparently a lot more) until recently:
Michael Giacchino was the movie music guy for MI3 and somehow they got hip to that GREAT Black Crowes Christmas single, Back Door Santa, that the Crowes posted on their fanboards this past December. As far as I can tell, it has not been released in any official way, but there it was in the movie, during the engagement party scene (not at Christmastime, but who listens to the lyrics anyways?). I was very pleased, it is a killer swaggering tune:
I went to the movie with my Dad, who still likes to take each of us kids out on what we have always called Daddy Dates since the beginning of time. It’s been, sheesh, at least a year or so since we’ve gone on one. As I pulled out of the garage at home, my husband yelled from under the car he is restoring (in a laughing way), “Tell your dad he’d better pay!” He did. Popcorn too, even! The large – no skimping here. If we’re gonna die of coronaries from all the butter, we’re gonna do it together, gosh darn it.
After I dropped my dad back off after the movie and drove off down the street, I smiled to myself and realized that no matter how old you get, there is still something really good about knowing that your Dad loves you.
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
The FIFA World Cup kicks off tomorrow in Germany (mere hours from now, given the time change) and I am all over that action. See, I have joined c’s Blogger’s Paradise peeps on the ESPN Pick ‘Em site. I have logged my initial predictions – and between you and me, I have NO IDEA (really) what I am doing. But I am good guesser. And I can trash talk with the best of them, so no one will ever suspect.
And speaking of Santa Clara, last night at the gym I nearly flew off the treadmill when I looked up at the bo-ring sports channel TV that I always seem to get stuck in front of and saw a USA vs. Ireland rugby match on ESPN-U that was taking place at good ole Buck Shaw Stadium there on the SCU campus (took place on Saturday, aired Tuesday)! It was so cool & unexpected to see very familiar landmarks and maybe even a few faces in the crowd while a few states away.
That picture would have ground my gears when I was in high school. You know, that angsty time period when you are trying to figure out who you are – and you have this enormous chip on your shoulder like “No one can quantify me. Popular media cannot LABEL me!” 
Here is my music journalism debut. You may call it underwhelming, but it is pretty dang cool for me. From Denver’s alt-weekly 
So I finally got to see Tom Cruise save the world (and his Katie-Holmes-lookalike movie wife) in 
Name: Heather Browne
