Hells-yeah

Did I mention . . .
WILCO IS COMING!

October 20
Charlottesville Pavilion
Tickets on sale September 7

End of summer jam

Yo! It's Labor Day weekend and as we flee the city and it's concrete for the shore I'm sharing some tasty tidbits from my it's-a-4-day-long-weekend playlist. These are tracks I've found just recently and am ready to listen to at high volumes whilst driving to Kill Devil Hills. I have super friends who invite their dear, (and poor) single friend to vacation with them every summer -- sweeeet!

1. Shakedown on 9th Street Ryan Adams Live from Berkely, 7/24/07
2. I See Monsters Ryan Adams Live from Berkely, 7/24/07
These tasty little tracks are from Ryan on his current tour. It's required that if you go here and download them (or go to the Live Music Archive) you listen to them in this order. The segue from Shakedown to I See Monsters is worth the download.

3. Song for the Fields Fields
This was a recent iTunes Single of the Week. It's been a while since a Single of the Week has stuck with me like this one. It starts off slow and then hits full throttle, opening wide into a head nodding tune. I plan to pick up the CD on my way out of town tomorrow. I've listened to snippets of their other stuff and I really like what I hear.

4. Is There a Ghost Band of Horses
This is a new track from Band of Horses I read about (and downloaded) from a new blog I've been following -- My Old Kentucky Blog. This beats most anything on Everything All the Time -- and that's saying something.

5. Mr. Columbus Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Enough said.

6. Goin' Through the Motions Marah Home Demos 2/03
When I read the blog post connected to this download, I couldn't right click and download fast enough. I didn't think we'd hear anything new from Marah ever again, and then I find this never released demo and hope was renewed for a brand new album due in January.

7. Passing the Hat Cold War Kids
When I heard this song over the closing credits of a recent episode of Entourage I was immediately online trying to find it. Networks have become very smart with their music placement and have added sections specifically for the songs featured. The HBO folks even linked each song to a scene so it's super easy to find out what you just heard. Nice.

8. Valhalla K-OS Atlantis
Another Entourage closing credit ditty. I could not resist the energy this song puts out. Try not to bob your head while listening to it. About a minute in, it gets really good!

9. Staring at the Sun TV On the Radio
This track is a slow grower but at about 35 seconds you'll start to hear what about this song really turned me on. I imagine driving down the expressway late at night going faster and faster with the lights blurring by as this song speeds up.

10. The Moneymaker Rilo Kiley
Moneymaker is the first single from the new Rilo Kiley release, Under the Blacklight. Watch the video for this track and you'd probably agree with No Filter friend, Inbound Gowanus. They have totally sleazed it up -- and I think that's what I like best about this track!

Love me some Internets

The Internet Live Music Archive goes on my list as one of the best things about having access to the internet -- and ears.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Berkeley, CA
24 July 2007

Listen on.

iMiracle

My iPod has been giving me fits for weeks and this weekend it seemed to give up all hope. I was facing Sad iPod messages and given support website addresses. I followed the instructions, learned a few trouble-shooting things and still, nothing. It would freeze seconds after starting and sent iTunes into a tizzy of restarts. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. Hitting play actually made it play and it has, all evening. Fearing a jinx, I can't bring myself to turn it off . . .

Which isn't so bad. I've been reminded how much I heart Andrew Bird by revisiting his catalog of albums. I can't quite contain my excitement everytime I open my wallet and see the ticket for his Richmond show in September. I plan to recruit new fans. Bird's music is far better than anything you'll hear on the radio locally -- which for me is always a fine endorsement. It's fantasticly unique with champion whistling and plucky, singing string instruments. His music takes you away from the ordinary.

UPDATE: Geesh, just when you think everything is a-ok -- shit blows up. The iPod decided against being nice and playing again. I was finally able to complete a proper recovery and reloaded several thousand tracks and, for now, we are a go. A play when you're supposed to sort of GO!

Late summer listening

So, it was 100 degrees here in the RIC again today. A reminder that yes . . . 'tis still summer. I've listened to some great new stuff this summer and have seen a satisfying number of shows but over the last week, I've not had a desire to listen to anything in particular until . . .

I read a snippet about Grace Potter's new material and remember making a mental note to listen to several tracks. One fell into my lap tonight, Ain't No Time. It starts nice and simple and builds and builds into a great summer song with a chorus you want to sing along to. I just downloaded the entire new album and plan to add it to my keep-a-copy-in-the-car stash as it'll be a perfect for a few more late summer evening drives. The review I read compared Potter's new album, "This is Somewhere", to Cheryl Crow, and I totally hear the country-crossover comparison and the same soaring, smoky vocals.

As a sidenote -- WOW, there are a lot of great acts lining up to play Richmond (finally!), Charlottesville and Norfolk. I love that I can pick up a Style Weekly, flip to the music section and know that odds are, I'll read about another show I want to go to in the area. Today I learned about The Shins coming to the Norva in October and conveniently, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are touring with Gov't Mule and are making a local appearance at Toad's Place. Hoorah! I'm really anxious to check out Toad's Place. Their lineups gets increasingly better. It's a grand thing to see and hear quality, live music in this city.

The Black Bar

First, they ruined a livefeed of this year's The Nightwatchman set at Bonnaroo by chopping it into pieces with censoring and now AT&T Blueroom has done this.

Apparently mentioning George Bush in front of a mic is worse than uttering Voldemort at Hogwart's.

Damn the man, let them be heard!

Something Bigger

This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the Last 5,000 years, but it may be as long as 60,000 years before it happens again.

The encounter will culminate on August 27 when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles of Earth and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye and will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August it will rise in the east at 10:00 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3:00 a.m. By the end of August when the two planets are closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at 12:30 a..m. The location and time frame will make it possible to see something that no human has seen in recorded history. So, mark your calendar at the beginning of August to see Mars grow progressively brighter throughout the month.

Share this with others and experience something bigger than us all.

UPDATE: Bummer. http://www.snopes.com/science/mars.asp

The pleasure of a second spin

The bloggers are all a chatter over a recent comment from Amazon.com. The web giant is already predicting Josh Ritter's forthcoming release, "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" as ". . . the best album of 2007, hands down . . ." That's a pretty heavy statement for an album that isn't slated to drop until August 21, though in the current age of music distribution, some of you probably already have it loaded on your iPods.

Ritter's 2006 release, "The Animal Years" came with it's own critical acclaim, but somehow I ignored everyone -- including several wise, musically minded friends' Best Of lists -- and never got into it. What a fool I was! After downloading Rumors, a sample track from the new album, my interests were heightened and I took the 2006 album for a second spin. I seem to remember, at the time of my first listen last year, being overwhelmed with other seemingly similar albums and didn't give it the attention it deserved. I've learned my lesson and am now anxious for his new material, which I've read, should be a "raucous, occasionally dizzying affair, with pounding keyboards, strings, horns . . ." Yippee!

Just because . . .

. . . they rock! And, I was there.
One Big Holiday
My Morning Jacket, Bonnaroo 2006

Found it!

Here is a video, courtesty of YouTube, of the awesome Fiona Apple/Nickel Creek bluegrass version of Criminal from the Friday, August 3 show. Enjoy!

Well Played

What a weekend! Friday night's Nickel Creek/Fiona Apple show exceeded expectations. Nickel Creek took the stage and at the first strum of Chris Thile's mandolin I was happy to be there. The combination of the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and stand up bass are some of my favorite sounds. Chris and the band played several songs but there was no mistake most of the audience were there to hear Fiona. Each time her name was mentioned on stage most of the crowd around me erupted into screams. One my friends spotted her sitting primly off stage-left waiting for her entrance and when she finally took the stage, her performance was most unexpected.

With Nickel Creek as her backup she began singing selections from 2005's Extraordinary Machine and 1999's sophomore release, When The Pawn . . . and the blend of bluegrass with her awesome voice was fantastic. The highlight of the show, besides Nickel Creek's The Fox and a Patsy Cline cover with Apple on vocals, was the bluegrass version of Apple's hit Criminal from her debut album, Tidal . (I am anxious to find the live version online so if anyone has any leads, please fill me in.) Criminal was one of those songs and Tidal was one of those albums, that my best friend in college and I listened to on repeat and could sing every last verse of -- and to hear it redone and refreshed with a bluegrass flavor made it all the more timely for me now. Bravo Fiona for a grand tour matchup with Nickel Creek -- and just in time, as after this tour the band will part ways (for now) for solo endeavors.

Saturday brought a trip to Pimlico in Baltimore for day one of the Virgin Festival. Funny thing about festivals is that I never end up hearing exactly who I bought the ticket to see -- Modest Mouse, Peter Bjorn & John, The Fratelli's, and we were a little later arriving than planned and missed Amy Winehouse -- but ended up hearing other stuff that was totally unexpected -- Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Incubus and The Beastie Boys.

I never thought of Incubus as my type of music, but they have awesome stage presence and damn is that lead singer hot! Next up were Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, who I now love. They put on a great performance and man, can Ben wail on that guitar. The groove was perfect festival sound and for their hour long set, the atmosphere and all of its sweet, sweet smells took me back to Bonnaroo and I was totally into it.

If nothing else came out of Saturday's shows, I can now say I've seen/heard the Beastie Boys live -- though half of our group decided we couldn't handle the throng of fans jostling each other around nearest the stage and took a break further back for dinner and beers until it was time for The Police. It was pretty obvious that the crowd were there for them and the band did not disappoint. With a setlist of favorites, they blasted out two + hours of music and could totally hold their own against bands half their age. Well played boys!

Lil' bit

Before I head out west to see Nickel Creek with Fiona Apple at Innsbrook tonight -- a dual show, should be interesting -- wanted to share this post from I Am Fuel, You Are Friends -- of whose blog I have been a shamefully neglectful reader.

Reading her review of the Ryan Adams show in Berkeley gave me shivers of anticipation for the newly added second show for which I scored an orchestra level ticket in a pre-sale earlier in the week. I think it might just be my most anticipated show of 2007 -- and what an awesome surprise that I even get to go. The original sold out date was slated for mid-July, in the middle of my beach trip, but was rescheduled along with the second show for mid-September. Fate can be so kind.