Odds & ends
Nope, I am not dead, just bit zonked today as I recover from my last two days & nights of rock ‘n’ roll excess. There are a few things I wanted to share with you:
Ray LaMontagne = out of the Guster tour
Nada Surf = in with the Guster tour
I had tickets to the Denver show, and I am hoping that now Ray LaMontagne will reschedule with solo shows. I hear that the dear Guster fans were not very supportive of Mr. LaMontagne and his music, which is unfortunate. I’m just sayin’, is all.
Oasis has hand-assembled their favorite tracks for a best-of CD coming out in November, called Stop The Clocks. Grandiosely they’ve announced that these are “the songs they believe encapsulate their remarkable career to date.”
Stop the presses. One of the members of N*SYNC (did I get the star in the right place?) Lance Bass is gay.
Shut up. Didn’t see that one coming, right?
Since we’re chatting about boy bands already, Justin Timberlake has his new sexxy video on the web (and yes, it is “sexxy” with 2 x’s). You know you never listen to Justin Timberlake, right? As my friend Chad says, those songs you have in your iTunes library are just free software packages that came with the computer or something. Hey, how did those get on there? (“I feel like somethin’s heatin’ up – Can I leave wich u?…”)
James Hunter, whose disc People Gonna Talk is a new summertime favorite, is doing a free in-store in San Francisco on Friday (Virgin Megastore on Stockton) at 6pm. Check out this fantastic blend of Van Morrison, Sam Cooke, and sheer goodness. Some Velvet Blog has two live songs from him for exclusive download.
You can watch the newly reformed New York Dolls perform “Looking For A Kiss” on the Henry Rollins show. Don’t you think that Henry Rollins could totally take on all four of the Dolls in a barroom brawl? Maybe with just one massive, massive arm?
Fuel favorite LUCE has some new tour dates announced for August & September (including one here on my Dad’s birthday. I think I should take him). Read about this great San Francisco band here.
Oh, and paparrazzi stalkers record 18 minutes of new U2 off Bono’s patio. Creepy, yet oddly irresistable. And yes, yes I know that Pearl Jam is opening for U2 in Hawaii. Cara and I are trying to think of ways to jumpstart our pro-surfing careers to get some all-expense paid trips to Hawaii. We’re working on it, and will let you know how it goes.
An absolute orgy of Pete Yorn goodies coming later, for those so inclined. Audio, video, interview – it will be a thing of glory. Just wait.
Name: Heather Browne
don’t know if you heard what happened at the nashville show but it was pretty sad. i’m sort of surprised by him cancelling the rest of the tour but not totally.
basically at the nashville show ray got upset with a guy who laughed during his last song, ‘burn’. he asked the concert goer, ‘are the blues funny’. and then he went on to say ‘we have a f*ck in the audience who thinks the blues is funny. you should be at home, getting drunk and waiting for your kids to get old enough to rape.’ that was pretty harsh. according to a post on ray’s message board, the security at the venue were bracing for ray’s father to be in attendance. ray doesn’t have a good relationship with his father and apparently actually has a restraining order against him. so that may have had him on edge all evening and the laughter just made him bubble over. i presume the laugh wasn’t at the song, it was probably at something a friend said. ray’s a sensitive fella. i just hope he can tour again soon, and play that show for you in denver!
anyway. sorry for the novel. thought i’d throw that out there…again, the dad thing was all via the message board so take that with a grain of salt. the actual occurrence at the show is all true..and it was weird.
-Owen
Anonymous — July 26, 2006 @ 5:37 pm
Hi Owen,
Yes, I had heard that story, which I why I was not surprised when I heard he pulled out. Sucks, but maybe it is for the best. He should be headlining his own small shows with respectful fans.
heather — July 26, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
Heather…
I think I may have a HUGE story on that last clip from U2…
If the clip is legit then it is without a doubt a song written by Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes. I’m 1000% certain of it. I won’t only recognize it being a maniacal strokes fan, so either they’re using the song or its a hoax, which is a distinct possibility.
If you visit http://www.thestrokes.com and click on the videos section, load the video called “Construction at New Office” and you’ll hear exactly what I’m talking about…
I’m pretty sure this qualifies me as a complete and utter music geek… I’m okay with that.
Dav — July 26, 2006 @ 7:04 pm
Can’t wait for all the Pete stuff! Hope you had a great time at the concert.
Anonymous — July 26, 2006 @ 7:51 pm
I love that James Hunter cd. Along with CHeap Trick’s Rockford and Grace Potter & The Nocturnals NOthing BUt THe Water, they ARE my summer music!
Natsthename — July 27, 2006 @ 6:41 am
Nada Surf will be a much better show with Guster- I just saw Guster & Ray last weekend, and Ray put on one of the worst performances I’ve ever paid to see. Guster, on the other hand, still does a great show!
Jamie — July 27, 2006 @ 7:36 am
I had tickets to the Nashville show but had to sell them due to a conflict. I hate that some idiot was laughing during a song like “Burn” because it’s such a serious and melancholy song. Actually, it’s my favorite of his. Reminds me of that time that the guy yelled out, “Play 1969!” or something like that at a Ryan Adams show at the Ryman several years ago, and he jumped into the crowd. I’ll be there next Tuesday to see Ryan, so hopefully no one will do anything to disrupt the show (although that would’ve been really funny to see).
Kelli — July 27, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
The guy laughing during “Burn” had actually been heckling Ray a lot during the show. Ray just had had enough of it. That’s his most emotional song to me, and he really puts himself out there when he sings it. He’s such a sensitive guy. Not that I’m justifying what he said at all, because actually it repulsed me.
BTW I love your blog!
Sarah — July 29, 2006 @ 6:43 pm
I was there sitting right in front of Ray at the Ryman… the guy was laughing near the door to the concessions stands… I never heard him heckling during the show, but was laughing outloud in the doorway between the audience and where to buy beer. There were different people talking outloud, being disrespectul, etc… between the doors… basically Guster’s fans don’t necessarily like LaMontagne… and they were rude enough to talk and laugh through his show.
BL — July 31, 2006 @ 7:41 pm
Hey,
I owe you-I just picked up the James Hunter album and can’t stop listening to it! Thanks for the recommendation.
-Glenn
Anonymous — August 4, 2006 @ 9:23 pm