John Paul George and .... Jimmy?

Beatles fans know the history of one Jimmy Nicol, but if you don't, you should click over to John Paul George and Jimmy, a great blog written by my pal Tim, about Jimmy Nicol and his 12 days in 1964 as a member of the world's most popular band, The Beatles.

From Wikipedia:
"When Ringo Starr collapsed and was hospitalised on 3 June 1964 with tonsillitis on the eve of The Beatles' 1964 Australasian tour, the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and their record producer George Martin urgently discussed the possibility of using a stand-in drummer rather than cancelling part of the tour. Martin suggested using Jimmy Nicol, as he had recently recorded a Tommy Quickly session with him. Nicol had also drummed on the Top Six budget label album of Beatle covers entitled "Beatlemania" as part of a session band called The Koppykats, and so knew the songs.

Although John Lennon and Paul McCartney accepted the idea, George Harrison needed persuading, initially telling Epstein and Martin: "If Ringo's not going, then neither am I - you can find two replacements". Tony Barrow, who was the Beatles' press officer at the time, would later comment: "Brian saw it as the lesser of two evils; cancel the tour and upset thousands of fans or continue and upset the Beatles'." The whole thing happened very quickly, from a telephone call to Nicol at his home in west London inviting him to attend an audition-cum-rehearsal at Abbey Road Studios to packing his bags all in the same day. A reporter asked John Lennon why Pete Best was not given the opportunity of replacing Ringo, to which Lennon replied: "He's got his own group [Pete Best & the All Stars], and it might have looked as if we were taking him back, which is not good for him."

Here's an interview clip introducing Jimmy as Ringo Starr's replacement during Ringo's illness.

Rock Clip of the Week - Iggy Pop, "Raw Power"

It's an exciting week in rock 'n roll! Iggy & the Stooges will rock London's Hammersmith Odeon this weekend in celebration of the new Sony/Legacy release of the band's original 1973 "Raw Power" masterpiece!

You get Raw Power's original Bowie 1973 mix (the much-maligned Bowie mix, I should add) along with a second CD of a fall 1973 live show - the Stooges at Peaches in Atlanta - showcasing the band at their fiery best. And thanks to Sony/Legacy for spreading the Power, Waved Rumor has a FREE COPY to give away to its kindly, elderly readers.

You'll get one of these physical CD goodies below if you follow these simple rockstructions:
1) Go to the comments, and write in why you love rock 'n roll, and how Iggy & the Stooges 'Raw Power' has contributed to your love of the punk rock.
2) Make sure you leave a genuine email with your comment.
3) I'll pick the fun housest best comment after the weekend and email the person to get a physical address to send the CD. They win, we play. Igyy rocks! Enjoy the weekend!

"Color Me Obsessed": The Replacements' Doc Tease

Eventually....eventually....it will get done. A documentary film on The Replacements.

"Color Me Obsessed" is the name of the work-in-progress film on The Replacements. Help the filmmakers chronicle the band's rock 'n roll journey from misfit Minneapolitans to shattered journeymen, an original quartet of two brothers and two creative types, mixed together with speed and beer and laced with 1970s glam rock and AM pop. Yeah, you'd like it too.

The filmmakers have a blog, where they chronicle their shoots and requests for interviews. They also have a Kickstarter page, where they are soliciting your donations. (You want a Replacements rock doc? Then help 'em out!)

The film is being directed by all-around creative guy Gorman Bechard. But he ain't using band members' contributions, Bechard explained in an online interview:

AP: I became aware of your project while reading an update on Paul Westerberg’s website. How many former members of the band are participating in the film?

GB: None. You will never see any of the band members in the film. Nor will you ever hear a note of their music. I’m going the God route. There are tons of films about God…however we obviously never see or hear him/her in the film. Yet people still believe. I’m going to treat this band like God, the potentially true legend, and allow viewers to go and discover their music for themselves."

Here's an early trailer below, featuring Trouser Press legend Ira Robbins, Minneapolis rock here Dave Minehan (Neighborhoods), Jesse Malin, etc describing their memories of the Replacements.


I have my share of Replacements stories - some of them were chronicled 15 years ago at Skyway, the '90s Mats email list (just scroll down for Dave Murrow reminiscing here). There might've been a '82 or '83 Tuts Chicago show story with Stinson wearing a dress and a leather jacket one night, and we all ended up later at AOF's Big Blue house for a party or something. And then that time seeing the band rip through an afternoon soundcheck, then having drinks at Cubby Bear with Westerberg and shooting the shit about Kiss and what not....good times. The Replacements were the real deal.

Pollard Speaks! (and Rocks!)

Maybe it's me, but I haven't seen many recent Q & As with Dayton music maestro Robert Pollard, so when I saw this one today from AgitReader, I wanted to pass it along. Here are a few pops from Robert Pollard.

Q: I’ve read that the bulk of the songs from your upcoming 'Moses on a Snail' album came from a single songwriting session and that a handful of your albums over the years have come together this way. When this happens, is it something where you intend to write 20 songs in one sitting, or is it just something that happens naturally?

RP: "I hadn’t done it in a while, not since Earthquake Glue, but I’ll write down a bunch of titles—50 in the case of Moses On a Snail—and proceed to attempt a song for every title. I got to 22 songs for Moses before burnout. Out of those 22, I selected 10. I had already written two songs about two weeks before that. So I put all 12 on a cd for the final selection and took it from there. It worked out very nicely in the case of Moses on a Snail."

Q: It was just recently reported that you’re contributing a song for Glen Campbell’s new album. How did you get hooked up with him? Is this a collaboration or is he recording a song you previously wrote?

RP: "He’s recording a song I previously wrote. I think it’s “Hold On Hope.” I had heard originally that it was going to be “Window of My World.” They’re being a bit secretive about it and won’t let me hear it, but I hear that it’s happening and is coming out later this year. I think it’s his Johnny Cash sort of thing, where he’s recording and working with younger alternative rock musicians and songwriters."

Q: Do you have a few favorite records that you’ve done over the years?

RP: "I really like my new solo album, Moses on a Snail. Zero to 99 and Brown Submarine are personal favorites, although I think all four Boston Spaceships albums, including the new one coming out in August, are really good. Working backwards, I love Off to Business, Coast to Coast Carpet of Love and From a Compound Eye. From GBV: Universal Truths and Cycles and Bee Thousand. I also like Kid Marine a lot."

Motoring Down the Music Way

Waved Rumor is back from the Dead - Well, yes, literally (May Grandma rest in peace after 99 funtastic years on earth!) and figuratively (What the hell am I interested in writing about these days??).

I've got some new promo stuff to get to later this week, but how about a backlot cleaning of some tasty licks and cool riffs:

- Get some live 2002 action by The Strokes over at Never Get Out of the Boat.

- Paul Weller has announced November and December tour dates in the UK. And Q Magazine says it's "Paul Weller Week".

- Stereogum has pics and some words on Hole's return to an LA stage. Courtney triumphs, sort of.

- The New Pornographers' new CD 'Together' is streaming this week over at National Public Radio.

- Scottish band Idlewild is gonna take a break after this current round of dates, sez leader Roddy Woomble to the NME.

- And here's a song I used to sing a long time ago for kicks: Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks"

More Rock Next Week

Blogging will be light to non-existent for the rest of the week. Unexpected travel due to a death in the family. See ya next week.

Green Day's 'American Idiot' opens on Broadway

This post is from the "Never in my wildest imagination did I see this one coming" file:

Green Day has come to Broadway with the production of 'American Idiot'.


CNN's Marquee Blog writes:

"Punk rock is coming to Broadway. On April 20, the musical "American Idiot" opens at St. James Theatre. The production is built lyric-by-lyric upon Green Day's 2004 Grammy Award winning album of the same name. "American Idiot" features 24 young actors singing and dancing their way through ambivalence, rebellion and drug abuse. With a set that seems to hit the roof of the theater and television screens everywhere, the show pulls no punches. Images of President George W. Bush, 9/11 symbolism, and the war in Iraq are all part of "American Idiot."

As a band, Green Day has comfortably sat in the punk rock spotlight since their formation in 1987, and that history is made blindingly clear as the cast rages on stage through 95 minutes of the Green Day songbook with high octane angst. The lead in this production is definitely the music. All 13 tracks from the "American Idiot" album are performed in the musical as well as some songs from the band's latest release "21st Century Breakdown," including "21 Guns."

Here's the Trailer:


Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the book for the musical with director Michael Mayer, who directed and won a Tony Award for "Spring Awakening."

Can't make it to NYC tomorrow to see the play? Well, here's good news: You can log onto American Idiot on Broadway at 5pm Eastern time Tuesday 4/20 to see see exclusive coverage of the opening night fun.

One commentor wrote: "Saw American Idiot on Broadway over the weekend. Amazing is a word that doesn't do the show justice. Jaded NY'r or not, a fantastic show that represents a generation in music. Show opens and closes on fantastic songs and truly lived up to it's standing ovation at the end. Bravo to Green Day – this is one everybody who likes you and doesn't hate you."

More on American Idiot (the play) from (who else?) Playbill!

PHX band Kinch on Spring tour

Phoenix pop-rockers Kinch are on a solid April-May tour with underground Chicago rock band Local H. The tour started in early April. Remaining tour dates are below.

Have a listen to the band's "Carolina Cannonball", from last year's 'Collars and Sleeves' - it's a great rollicking riff rabble rouser, with hints of lovelorn lust intertwined. Keep those eyes closed, baby.

Here's a clip of Kinch playing a San Jose, CA in-store earlier this year:


Apr 20 8:00pm San Antonio, TX Scout Bar w/ Local H
Apr 21 8:00pm Fort Worth, TX Lola’s Sixth w/ Local H
Apr 22 7:00pm Little Rock, AR Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack w/ Local H
Apr 23 7:00pm Urbana, IL Canopy Club w/ Local H
Apr 24 8:30pm Dekalb, IL Otto’s In Dekalb w/ Local H
May 01 9:00pm Tucson, AZ Plush
May 14 9:30pm Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig w/ Local H
May 15 7:00pm Lancaster, PA Chameleon w/ Local H
May 16 8:00pm Washington DC Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Local H
May 17 8:00pm Philadelphia, PA The Khyber w/ Local H
May 18 8:00pm New York, NY Gramercy Theater w/ Local H
May 19 8:00pm Allston, MA Harper’s Ferry w/ Local H
May 20 8:00pm Providence, RI Jerky’s w/ Local H
May 21 8:00pm Syracuse, NY Westcott Theatre w/ Local H
May 22 9:00pm Toledo, OH Frankie’s w/ Local H
May 23 6:00pm Chicago, IL The Metro w/ Local H
May 24 9:00pm Lawrence, KS Jackpot Music Hall
May 25 9:00pm Denver, CO Marquis Theatre

Spin's Best and Worst of Coachella

Major kudos to SPIN Magazine which brought this weekend's Coachella experience directly back to us old guys who don't attend music festivals anymore. Rock. Except for that waiting-in-line shit to get in on Friday. Ugh.


Muse

Best and Worst of Coachella
- Day One
- Day Two
- And I suppose highlights from Day Three will be up at the Spin site by the time I get up in the morning. Go get 'em tiger.

Dead Weather


There's a load of great pics from the Phoenix New Times Jonathan McNamara - check em' here. Here are Day One pics and Day Two pics.



More from the LA Weekly on Day One and Day Two of the Coachella festival.

Sting's Eyes!

A commentor on the video below wrote:
"Sting was filming the film Quadrophenia earlier that day, he ran off the plane just in time for a few minutes of makeup before tv. He sprayed hairspray in his eyes and he ended up blistering his eyes. He borrowed Stewart Copleand's oversized sunglasses in order to hide his blistered red eyes, not to make a bad fashion statement. True story."

Butch Walker: Two sides of "Pretty Melody"

Here's a fine in-store clip of Butch Walker (currently producing Pink's next effort) two weeks ago at a Florida in-store performance singing his new song 'Pretty Melody'. Nice stuff. The camera person FINALLY pulls back from the extreme closeup after about 2:10. Thanks.



Butch and his band have been touring to promote his new CD "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" Here's a recent SPIN story about the official "Pretty Melody" video (see the Kung Fu epic below):

Weller's "Wake Up the Nation" coming in June

UK Modfather Paul Weller has a new release out in the US on Yep Roc on June 1st. It's called "Wake Up the Nation" and its UK release is already Weller good reviews.

"A departure stylistically from the more pastoral sounds of his last album, Wake Up is lean, mean and as uncompromisingly focused as its maker. It also brings Paul Weller full circle: twenty-eight years on from The Jam's split, two tracks feature the former bassist Bruce Foxton. The album also sees contributions from My Bloody Valentine guitar alchemist Kevin Shields, ELO's Bev Bevan and legendary session drummer Clem Cattini."

New Musical Express put together an early track-by-track rundown of the LP a few months back. I can't wait to hear what parts Kevin Shields plays on....

The Guardian UK writes:
"If anything, Wake Up the Nation – 16 songs in under 40 minutes – ventures even further out than its predecessor. You can tell as much from the credits: there are guitars by My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields and vocals by the Woking Gay Community choir, the latter, alas, merely a pseudonym for Weller's daughter. The fearless try-anything spirit of Paul Welly, it seems, is still alive and well."

Even more exciting news is that Paul just got engaged to his 24 yr. old GF Hannah Andrews, and it looks for reals, so that could be a good source of his renewed energy.



Here's Paul and the Band on Jools Holland the other night playing the title track.

Coachella Sold-Out Success

"As one of the first major music events of the year, Coachella is a bellwether for the entire concert industry, which makes most of its money in the summer. And many concert executives said they expect that this year, like the last, will be good for big tours and big festivals. But how good it will be for smaller, less star-studded affairs is unclear.

Gary Bongiovanni, the editor of Pollstar, a concert industry trade magazine, called Coachella’s sellout “an excellent sign” for the overall business. “Our numbers show that 2010 is off to a good start,” he said, “and coming on the heels of a surprisingly good last year, which flies in the face of what you’d expect given the economic environment. The festivals that are going forward this year all seem to be doing fine.”

That's what the NY Times writes today about Coachella, the three-day modern rock fest being held for the 11th year out in Indio, California.

Here's the Friday-Sunday band schedule and I gotta ask: Whose sick joke was it to slot Vampire Weekend IN-BETWEEN UK stalwarts Echo & the Bunnymen and Public Image on Friday night? Nuts!


Public Image Ltd.

There are a lot of bands on Saturday's list - definitely the crop of indie rock today. White Rabbits, Frightened Rabbit, Beach House, The Dead Weather and others spread around the stages.


Frightened Rabbit

Sunday's highlights include consecutive same stage sets by Yo La Tengo, Spoon and Pavement! Though Matt & Kim followed by Julian Casablancas is also a decent double banger. Thom Yorke of Radiohead will do his eclectic jam band musings but ther real highlight may come late Sunday during the set of Gorillaz, when former Clash members Mick Jones and Paul Simonon play along with the Damon Albarn-fronted band.

Here's a glimpse of how Gorillaz sounded a few weeks ago in their club rehearsal tour:

The Wedding Present - Bizarro shows

Leed's UK favorite sons The Wedding Present played NYC's Bowery Ballroom over the weekend to play the entire 1989 'Bizarro' LP and a few new songs.

Spinner was there to write about it.

"Then came 'Brassneck,' the pistol-shot start of the 'Bizarro' sprint. The song is, in many ways, the quintessential Wedding Present number, at least in terms of how the group sounded in its early days, when it caught the ears of college students, influential British DJ John Peel and those recovering Smiths fans ready to let other jangle-pop groups into their hearts. 'Brassneck' begins with 40 seconds of brittle rhythm guitar, done in Gedge's trademark elastic-wrist style, followed by the kind of lovelorn lyrics that define the band's catalog."

I'd seen the Weddoes at the Kilburn when living in London at the time of Bizarro's release and remember thinking that they played a 15-minute version of the LP's penultimate song "Take Me." I might be wrong, but it seemed so damn fast and terrific. One day I'm gonna do a cover of this.

Yeasayer, A Place to Bury Strangers, The Big Pink, Vampire Weekend and Arctic Monkeys ALL in Phoenix this week

The Coachella spillover of awesome new rock bands is hitting Phoenix this week. Thanks to local promoters Lucky Man Online, Stateside Presents and Psyko Steve, this week's as good as any for indie rockin' music lovers to get their live music fix on.

- Tonight there's Murder by Death, just a week into a long spring/summer tour, hitting the Rhythm Room.

- Tuesday night there's the sold-out Vampire Weekend show at the Marquee club in Tempe. I won't be at that show. If you go, wear your cardigan and make sure you don't step on any of the teenage girls there.


A Place to Bury Strangers

- Wednesday night sees the British band The Big Pink paired with NYC loud band A Place to Bury Stranger at the Rhythm Room. This will be the killer show of the week, methinks. Both bands are no doubt trying to blow each others' band off the stage every night of this tour and the fireworks could get awesome.

The Big Pink/Place to Bury Strangers show hit Denver last night and local writer Tom Murphy wrote:

"It seems remiss for A Place to Bury Strangers not to have the headlining slot. Pouring every fiber of their being into every show they play, the band makes it difficult for anyone playing afterward to even remotely measure up. Chopping up its influences and piecing it back together in new and interesting ways, the band blasted the Bluebird with savage grace."

I don't know how all that volume, feedback and light intensity of A Place to Bury Strangers will play to the warmed over beer hall that is The Rhythm Room, but get there early to find out.


The Whigs

- Thursday night, The Whigs and Band of Skulls rock it out Thursday at Martini Ranch. A good double bill. Hope the cool kids can make it to the Martini Ranch on Thursday.


Yeasayer

- Oh, and there's also a sold-out Yeasayer show at the Rhythm Room on Thursday night, on the same night that the Arctic Monkeys near the end of their long US tour with a visit to the Marquee Club in Tempe on Thursday.


Arctic Monkeys

What a week! And with my current commitments (possible video shoot, band practice, etc), right now I'm not even sure which of these I'll be able to hit.

Here's The Big Pink singing 'Dominos' last month in Los Angeles:


And here's NYC's A Place to Bury Strangers (MySpace description - "total sonic annilhilation") rockin' their song 'Keep Slippin' Away' same venue, same night:


Thanks to NoSaintinla for both clips - nice work there.

Elvis Costello - Solo, Live, Scottsdale, 4/9/10

Couldn't have gotten any better weather in beautiful Scottsdale, AZ for a solo live show from Elvis Costello. Glad to have gotten the chance to see him play. Kudos to the Scottsdale Civic Center Amphitheater team that put this show together.

Clad in a full suit and tie combo (see this here pic, courtesy of AZ Republic) and capped with a swell fedora of sorts, Costello looked elegantly Edwardian for the show. He sipped a bunch of hot teas (I *think* that's what the stagehand kept bringing out) throughout the show, eventually warming up a somewhat hoarse throat.

The Republic's Ed Masley really captured the show well in his review. My perspective comes from being upfront right side of the stage, near Elvis's sitdown segment of the show where he played a few of the jazzy new numbers and a few older songs from his catalog.

Costello opened with the song that kicked off side two of his debut album, (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, then into Either Side of the Same Town and 45, featuring some heavy wacked out fuzztones on his amplified acoustic.

Costello had about 7 or 8 guitars on stage, not sure if he played them all, but he seemed to favor this smallish roughed up old acoustic guitar on the sitdown jazzy numbers. I loved the new song called 'One Bell Ringing' - it had chords unlike a lot of Costello's other songs played Friday night, and a gorgeous melody that to these old ears sounded like he may have subconsciously borrowed a bit from the old 60s hippy dippy song "White Bird" by It's a Beautiful Day. Who knows? Sounded close in some spots...

I loved hearing 'God's Comic'; it's one of the highlights from 1989's "Spike" LP for Costello. 'Radio Sweetheart' started out fun and bouncy, and Costello worked with the crowd to get some "Alright" refrains from the crowd before launching into "Jackie Wilson Said" writen by Van Morrison and made popular in the 1980s by Dexy's Midnight Runners.

The Phoenix New Times Jason Woodbury also caught the show and wrote... "Costello tried out plenty of new songs on the crowd, and the songs were intriguing; typical Costello characters, cowboy singers riddled with tuberculosis, madmen sentenced to the electric chair, waltzed over dark ragtime rhythms. "This is what rock 'n' roll sounded like in, about 1921," he said before starting into a song about a "forgotten man in an indifferent country." Great stuff right there.

'Watching the Detectives' was electrified and downright dangerous - I'm not sure what the folks up front were getting, but it was a guitar loop freakout. The show zoomed by in its 85 minutes or so with little chat between songs by Costello. I thought it might've been a missed opportunity by him to get a little more intimate this night (the way Billy Bragg does so well) but it was not to be - cliche be damned, he let his songs do the talking.

As the Republic's Masley wrote better than what I can muster tonight...
"A spirited "(What So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?" was triumphant - a crowd-pleasing highlight, as expected - followed by a slow, dramatic "So Like Candy" that somehow segued into an encore-closing version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," the old Animals hit Costello so memorably made his own on the "King of America" album."

It was great to see Costello live and still filled with lyrical wonder, heard Friday night wide and clear without a loud backing band. Long live Elvis.

Here are some of my crappy pics. Thanks to my pal Roger for his setlist snag and my photo above.

Rock Clip of the Week - Elvis Costello, I Want You (live)

I'm seeing Elvis Costello solo in my neck of the woods tonight and figured I'd pass on a stunning 10 minute version of EC doing "I Want You" back in 2008 with the Imposters. Amazing. Happy Friday. Be Stiff.

Malcolm McLaren dead at 64

Ah rats, all these old seminal punk figures are falling dead way too soon. The latest to die is Malcolm McLaren, known in his life for being among other things a retail shop owner, sex enthusiast, rock 'n roll band manager and conniving swindler. And all of the above while he managed The Sex Pistols.

The NY Times reported McLaren's death today:
"Malcolm McLaren, an impresario, recording artist and fashion designer who as manager of the Sex Pistols played a decisive role in creating the British punk movement, died on Thursday in Switzerland. He was 64. The cause was mesothelioma, a cancer of the linings around organs, said Young Kim, his companion of many years. She said he had been under treatment at a Swiss hospital. The couple had a home in Paris."

NY Dolls guitarist Syl Sylvain is quoted in NME as remembering Mclaren as "Me and Malcolm [McLaren] always stayed friends throughout the years," he explained. "He always had a great sense of humour, he always had a smile on his face. He would cheer you up if you were down."

Adding that he thought McLaren had "opened up the doors" for punk music across the world, he revealed that New York Dolls would dedicate their song 'Jet Boy' to McLaren at their upcoming show at London's Koko on April 19.

ITN Reports:


Besides his rock 'n roll managerial and promotional work with the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols, he also had a hand in launching Bow Wow Wow, Adam & the Ants and other bands of the 80s. After this, McLaren became a musical star of sorts himself with the seminal hip hop song "Buffalo Gals" and my favorite of his solo stuff "Something's Jumping in My Shirt" - a great track about, um, the flowering of a young woman.



RIP Malcolm Mclaren. Thanks for helping the Dolls and the Pistols.

How Jim Greer wrote GBV's "Trendspotter Acrobat"

Jim Greer is a musician, published book author and all-around good guy. He played with Robert Pollard and Guided by Voices for a spell in the mid-1990s circa Alien Lanes, then went on to write to thus-far definitive GBV story: Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll. His new book is called The Failure.

Jim's blog is called "North of Onhava" and in yesterday's post called Hunting Accidents: The further adventures of Guided by Voices, cont'd, he wrote about how Bob Pollard asked him to write a song on his own back in the GBV days. Jim writes:

"The way it happened was this: we were in Refraze Studios in Dayton sometime in 1995, after the Albini session in Chicago and the aborted Memphis session that was meant to produce the Power of Suck concept album, but for a number of reasons, most prominently Bob’s impatience with the studio environment, didn’t.

"As we were leaving Refraze one evening, Bob gave me a homework assignment. “I want you to write a song,” he said. I don’t know why he wanted me to write a song. I think part of him always wished that we were the Beatles, with three good songwriters, but where he was obviously John, the best one." Ha!

Jim eventually came back to the band with "Trendspotter Acrobat" a driving little acoustic number which eventually showed up on GBV's Sunfish Holy Breakfast release. He writes more about it in the post.

For even more old-school GBV fun, read the first part of Jim's posts about old GBV days and Robert's Rules. :-)

Dirpy for your Boss YouTube Action

Lately, I find myself listening less and less to actual music albums and CDs in favor of YouTube files. It seems that for whatever audio or video I have running around my head, it's there on YouTube. Jack Ruby plugging Lee Harvey Oswald? It's here. The new KickAss movie trailer. It's here. Paul McCartney telling a reporter why he couldn't talk about the Beatles' LSD use in those c-r-aaa-zy 1960s?? Right here.

YouTube is like this great big sucking history box, where one can find anything and everything that has taken wing under the last 100 years to just five minutes ago. For that, I love it. And now, I've learned of a web site in beta that allows you to make MP3 files of partial or entire YouTube favorite clips! Really. It's called Dirpy, and I first read about it this morning at Netted, though it's been around since last fall.

I tried it out by clicking to Dirpy, seeking David Bowie clips and finding his Spiders from Mars doing 'Starman' back in the day for live British TV. Click that and it will take to this transcoder page, which is set up to make a 128kbps MP3 file. Fill in your tags, pick the start times and end times, click the download button, and voila, you have your audio file of all or part of a YouTube clip.

Think of the awesome mixes you'll be able to make weaving in best bits of all your favorite stuff! Go ahead, make a Dirpy audio clip of my rough YouTube take through my song 'Drinkin' from early 2008 - I dare ya!

National Record Store Day - April 17th

Woot! It's national Record Store Day on April 17th and that means...um...what exactly? Is this akin to saying..."Hey, it's NEWSPAPER Day this Saturday - everyone go out and get yourself a paper and READ - we can all look as old school as these guys!

I *guess* Record Store Day is one well-intentioned way to help 'save the diminishing species' sort of thing. I'm not gonna get all rah-rah on ya on this. Old school music lovers and record buyers can get all misty-eyes and weepy about record store closings and such, but running a record store *is* a business too. And when consumers are asked to subsidize businesses purely so they don't go away, that smacks of desperation in a way.

Maybe you haven't actually bought a new CD or record in a year or more, instead preferring a digital delivery system for your tunes. That's OK. But if you are one of the passionate ones, maybe Saturday October 17th is a time to lay down by buying a vinyl record or a CD and helping to feed a starving musician. Continue our path towards arts revitalization. Buy a turntable. Something like that.

Locally here in Phoenix, Zia Records is celebrating its 30th anniversary and Record Store Day with a big day of performances and a cool 2 disc compilation "You Heard Us Back When - Volume 4" of songs by Phoenix area musicians and bands who submitted songs. I was one of those submittees and the Zia judging panel chose my song When I Go Away for inclusion on disc 2. Good on 'em for their rock taste. Zia writes:
"To celebrate, we made this year’s compilation the biggest yet and includes 2 Discs with 30 tracks from 30 great local bands to celebrate 30 fantastic years! In addition, we will be releasing the compilation on National Record Store Day, Saturday April 17th! Record Store Day is like Christmas for us and one of the biggest days of the year so please remember to stop by the store to pick up some great exclusive limited items!"

Last year, I attended the musical festivities held at Phoenix record store Stinkweeds - cool goodies were handed out and local artists played. It was a good day. The store is planning another big shindig for this year's event - click here for more details.

Regardless of whatever side of the digital divide you hang, Record Store Day is roaring forth. In the video below, QOTSA and Them Crooked Vultures frontman Joshua Homme answers the question "What is Independent Record Store Day and how does it affect me?" with some wonderful answers like ..."Indie Records Stores are a hotbed of discovery and bacteria for music lovers, both young and old, filled with aisles and aisles of hot tasty jams." Plus Josh says having knowledge of what's in indie record store can help overcome those awkward first date conversations! It's win-win all around.

The Doors documentary "When You're Strange"

It seems that over the years there has been an overabundance of video and live material related to 1960s organ-led rock band The Doors, but this week brings the first full-on rock documentary on the band called "When You're Strange". The rock doc was written and directed by film guy Tom DiCillo and comes out Friday 4/9 in theaters (and airing on PBS May 12).

TV show "Law & Order" production honcho Dick Wolf (of Wolf Productions) is the money behind the "When You're Strange". Sounding like a typically overheated '60s rock boomer, he's quoted at the film's site:

"They say if you remember the ‘60s you weren't there," said producer Dick Wolf. "I can state definitively that one of the things I do remember is buying THE DOORS first album the day it came out and then listening to it about ten or twelve times in a row. Both sides. Every song. I've been a fan ever since. This movie is the story of the band but it is also an insight into a moment in time that will never be repeated."

Rolling Stone has a short item on the inclusion of Johnny Depp as the narrator of the film. The Village Voice writes "the archival Doors footage he has assembled is anything but banal—the band compelled to perform with house lights on and within a police perimeter, Morrison mixing with his audience at the Singer Bowl or mixing it up with the cops in New Haven, the career-capping Miami debacle that locked him in permanent martyrdom mode."
But The Canadian Press writes:
Tom DiCillo's "When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors" does boast unseen archival footage of Doors band members Jim Morrison, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore rehearsing, performing, hanging out backstage and, in the case of singer Morrison, defining, for better and worse, the rock-star template that some musicians still follow to this day. But, in the process, the doc creates a formal exercise in redundancy, offering no new insights into the much mythologized rock band."

Here's Dick Wolf, Tom DiCillo and Doors drummer John Densmore in a film Q & A after a Berlin, Germany screening - the video is weak, but the audio's fine. And I think it's where they announce Johnny Depp as the film's narrator.


Last bit - Here are The Doors in 1968 on the Smother Brothers Comedy Hour doing a live version of 'Touch Me", with Jim Morrison flubbing his bit into the second verse. National TV too!

Speaking of Peter Buck

It's "Speaking of Peter Buck" day today at Waved Rumor.

- So Much Silence brings us the musical update behind The Baseball Project (aka Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and awesome drummer Linda Pitmon) as they chronicale the 2010 MLB season. New song 'Cubs 2010' just posted up at ESPN.

- Speaking of Peter Buck, Paste Magazine writes that Buck will appear on the Decemberists' sixth LP. No surprises there - Buck's made a history of appearing on other musical projects for a long time.

- Elvis Costello plays in Scottsdale, AZ on Friday night. Buy your tix here. Glance over to the right hand column for songs recorded live at Hollywood High back in 1978. Read a fine Popmatters review about that concert and the resultant recording. Not sure if Peter Buck and Elvis Costello ever collaborated together. Maybe they should have.



- Speaking of Peter Buck, you can help R.E.M. celebrate 30 years of existence! As Rolling Stone notes: "Thirty years ago today, a fledgling unnamed band of University of Georgia kids performed their very first concert at a friend’s birthday party. That date was April 5th, 1980, that band was eventually called R.E.M."

- Check some awesome early R.E.M. shots here. Peter Buck is a subject in some of the photos.

- This is the Wikipedia entry for Peter Buck.

Electric Light Orchestra - Live, Winterland, 1976

Wolfgang's Vault has a particularly terrific offering this week with a 1976 Electric Light Orchestra concert, recorded live at San Francisco's Winterland. If you're registered with Wolfgang's Vault, you can stream the tracks, or simplay download the whole show for $4.

Here's a sample of Eldorado/Can't Get it Out of my Head. Fine stuff.

Good Rock for Good Friday

Tickets are available for rock legend Elvis Costello next Friday April 9th in my neck of the woods at the Scottsdale Civic Center Amphitheater. Costello’s recent projects include his 2009 album, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane, and his celebrated talk show, Spectacle, on the Sundance Channel.

Jam Music wrote of his February show: "If anyone can pull off a solo show and make it sound so much more than just one guy and his guitar — and not even a round-the-neck harmonica holder or knee tambourines to fill out the sound — it’s Elvis Costello."

============================================================================

Heading to Britain for the the August rock n roll Reading Festival and the Leeds Festival? Goods news - the lineup has been announced, and what a crazy mixed bag it is: the headliners for the event will be Blink 182, Arcade Fire AND Guns & Roses!$#%#! But better are the backups - The Libertines (reformed - see clip of the band below from this week's press conference), Paramore and Queens Of The Stone Age.



===========================================================================
The Rolling Stones 'Exile on Main Street' is being reissued. Rolling Stone magazine writes: "On May 18th, Universal Music Group is re-releasing the album with 10 never-before-heard tracks, including “Plundered My Soul,” “Dancing in the Light,” “Following the River” and “Pass the Wine,” that were produced by Jimmy Miller, the Glimmer Twins and Don Was. The disc also features alternate versions of “Soul Survivor” and “Loving Cup."

Mick Jagger gave Rolling Stone magazine a few choice quotes on how the band was approached for the project
"Universal wanted to rerelease Exile, and they asked me if there were any tracks that we didn't use when we released it originally. And I said, "Well, I doubt it very much." One, 'cause I thought we probably used most of the tracks anyway, 'cause it was a double album. And secondly, 'cause I couldn't really be bothered. But then they said, "Please, will you look?" I was quite surprised to find the tapes in such a good state. They all had to be baked in ovens [to] last forever. I added bits and pieces here and there."

Nada Surf cover of Dwight Twilley's "You Were So Warm"

Nada Surf kicked off their 2010 tour with some New York shows last week. They covered the Dwight Twilley nugget 'You Were So Warm' from the classic 1976 pop LP 'Sincerely'. It's included on Nada Surf's new LP of covers called "If I Had a HiFi", which is available at shows now and as a digital download in June. The Nada Surf live version was bolstered by the talents of Doug Gillard, former GBV guitarist and current solo songwriter based in Brooklyn. Here's the live Nada Surf clip, with Twilley's original below it.

John Meeks - Been Down By Love

San Diego, CA-based acoustic alt-roots rocker John Meeks has been wowing the folks there with his melancholy acoustic music for a while now. But there's a new LP on the horizon 'Old Blood' and it's already got fans excited.

"Old Blood is Meeks' debut record, but the alt-country singer-songwriter already has some mighty praise from critics. "His sound [combines] Whiskeytown's classic, Strangers Almanac, Uncle Tupelo, and the solo work of Old 97s' Murry Hammond," said Pop Matters. And NPR called Meeks' music "free of artifice" and said that his songs "sound effortless.""

Here's the first single - 'Been Down by Love'. I love it, but wish the arrangement on it would've taken off at some point later in the song. That would've rocked. But the melody and the song are great. Have a look and a listen. Old Blood comes out in mid-May on Loud and Clear Records.

Is it Rock? Is it Roll? Is it The New Loud?

I'm throwing this one out there for ya - this is a new video "Heaven" from the Milwaukee-based band The New Loud. On their MySpace page, they use the words "Bombast. Melody. Half-Electronic. All Electric" as their profile words. Sounds accurate.

"Heaven" is the new maxi-single and video from “Can’t Stop Not Knowing”, the current EP by Milwaukee-band, The New Loud. The track listing for the release features the single version of “Heaven” (MP3) mixed by Mark Trombino (Jimmy Eat World , Rilo Kiley, Drive Like Jehu) alongside remixes by dub legend Mad Professor (MP3). “Heaven” is available now digitally and as a limited edition clear vinyl 12-inch available exclusively through the band’s webstore. Shot on location throughout Milwaukee and Chicago, the video assembles a cast of fellow musicians, local actors as well as some of the band’s friends and fans. Live band footage was shot at Milwaukee’s historic Turner Hall Ballroom. Look out for The New Loud’s full-length album, Measures Melt, coming this summer."

I've watched it twice, and am not sure I like The New Loud or despise this. I sorta like the white look, the aggro guitar and the big chorus harmonies, but I'm on the fence over the arty poses of the band, the band's name, and the beeping synth. What do you think?