Re: Meat Puppets (was Re: Speaking of Noise)
I'm in "Day Late and Dollar Short" mode, I'm afraid. Steve Kirsch said: Yup, and I'd suggest further that from the second album (MP2) onwards they never really released a clunker until that horrible No Joke record. They were a hell of a band. I'm skeptical about the new lineup without Cris and Derrick, but we'll see. You have reason to be skeptical, judging from the new lineup's performance at Liberty Lunch during SXSW. They were disappointing at best, mediocre at worst, and not very much like the Meat Puppets, really. It was an unfortunate way for us to close out what had been a pretty solid, if not breathtaking, string of shows at SXSW, and an unfortunate reminder that the Meat Pups now belong to the past. --Amy
Re: New York P2ers rise again!
Will the new and improved NYC contingent be at the Damnations/Elena Skye show next Sunday at Maxwell's? Hope so, 'cause I'm making the trek up from Philly and it'd be nice to see some of you folks pre-TFest. I'll be there, you betcha. (Oh, sorry, thought I was still in Minnesota for a second there.) I don't know that I'm going to make it to the Damnations' Mercury Lounge show the preceding Monday; they are my favorite new band but sheesh, Monday night shows...But I will be at the Maxwell's show no matter what. As far as I understand it, there aren't advance tix for that one. That appears to be correct, and I'd recommend getting there early. I doubt that Maxwell's will actually sell out, but the Damnations are a "buzz band," so you never know. And besides, everyone should get there early to see Ms. Skye Co. I know I'm looking forward to finally getting to see them. I'll second Barry's sentiments about the newly thriving NYC P2 contingent and note that I too was delighted to meet Nina, Micah, and (briefly) Jason, especially since I left without having the chance to mention this to them in person. I had to get my husband home, since as I was sure he would be, he was falling asleep at a table in the bar--though he assured me that he had only been napping for a minute and that he had seen and enjoyed the entire show until the encore. He agreed with me that Ms. Willis was as captivating and charming a performer as I had figured she would be. There were a few stumbles, and on the other hand a couple of moments of excessive slickness, but overall, it was an excellent show. And Mr. Kelly Willis did a pretty gosh-darn captivating opening set himself. --Amy np: Real: The Tom T. Hall Tribute. I haven't been able to get Kelly Willis's version of "That's How I Got to Memphis" out of my head since hearing her do it beautifully on Saturday night.
Re: Meat Puppets (was Re: Speaking of Noise)
Neal: Do you include the Bottle Rockets, who played right before the Pups at that same venue, in your string of breathtaking shows? I'm curious because I thought the were pretty awful, as well as arrogant as hell, refusing to play *any* old material at all and practically taunting they they were twangless. What was left was southern and crotch rock not unlike Radar Gun, which is the band at its worst. imho. And then there was that one song that was so rudimentary in its rhymes that you had to wonder if it was real. Me and Copetas sure had fun playing "guess the next line" during that one, which I don't think was the reaction the band had intended. I was afraid that sentence would be read wrong; I should have said "a pretty solid, *though* not breathtaking, string of shows" What I meant, in fact, was that very little that I saw at SXSW knocked my socks off. I thought Hayseed was wonderful, even though I left in the middle to go see the Damnations), and Hillbilly IDOL, who I saw only at an in-store, were a highlight, as were Slobberbone, Amy Rigby, the Meat Pervs, and a few other acts. But I saw a lot of fine-but-ordinary shows too. And though I didn't feel as venomous about them as Neal did, I thought the Bottle Rockets were definitely "off" at Liberty Lunch that night. Robbie Fulks, who preceded them, was a pleasure, as always, and Reckless Kelly, who preceded him, were much better than I'd expected. But the BRox were a big letdown, as were the Meat Puppets. --Amy
Re: See Ya
Rick Cornell, abandoning us, writes: Stay in touch. You do the same, Rick. I've enjoyed your all-too-rare contributions to the list, and I'll miss those as well as the playlists. Try to make it back when you can. --Amy
P2 heaven
What a banner day in my P2 mailbox. My favorite Norwegian is back, Erin Snyder's posting again, and Roy's back. It's enough to make a gal get all mushy. --Amy
Re: NYC Willis Weekend Gathering
I was hoping someone in the know regarding the P2 meet 'n' greet in conjunction with Kelly Willis this weekend could tell me what's the plan. Where ye meeting? When? Which night? and anything else. I've been lurking long enough, it's time to get out in the world. I know this has all been covered, but I had to find out what my weekend was going to be like before I knew if I was going to be able to go. I don't think it has all been covered, Jason, but I'll go ahead and suggest that we meet at the Mercury Lounge at 7:00. Any members of the NYC-and-surrounding-areas contingent, come on down! We can figure out then whether we want to go grab a bite to eat or just have a drink at the bar--I'm leaning toward the latter myself, as I'm having a late brunch/early dinner with friends that afternoon. It also appears likely that I'll have an extra ticket, which I will sell at face value to anyone who needs one. See y'all there, I hope. --Amy
Re: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s
I know we're done with this thread, but I can't resist: As others have said, I wonder about the definition of underappreciated, especially since many of my favorite records turn out to be critical faves too (though few are big sellers). Here are some that spring to mind: Lori Carson: Everything I Touch Runs Wild and (especially) Where It Goes Sam Phillips: Omnipop De La Soul: De La Soul Is Dead Karan Casey: Songlines Jerry Douglas: Restless on the Farm Jones and Leva: Light Enough to Find My Way and perhaps my number one choice for criminally underappreciated record of the 1990s: The Harvest Ministers: Little Dark Mansions --Amy
RE: Kiss Kiss Hug Hug
...then you can make fun of my hair... Us follicly-challenged folks generally stay away from that. Besides, John, I'm the one who makes fun of your hair. Do try to keep your p2 nemeses straight. g --Amy
Re: Come And Go, Molly Snow (was:RE: Devil's Dream (WAS: ColdMountain))
Kelly's post reminded me to mention my favorite novel about country-type music, specifically bluegrass. Written by Mary Ann Taylor-Hall, Come And Go, Molly Snow is a story about a young woman fiddler struggling to reconcile herself to the accidental death of her daughter; it's got some of the best writing about the experience of playing bluegrass I've ever read. I believe it's out in paperback now... I'll second that recommendation, as I have when it's come up in the past, and add that the passages that Jon refers to are among the best descriptions of playing music (of any genre) that I've read; she captures the feeling of it just perfectly. A wonderful book. --Amy
RE: seeking like-minded new yorkers
Lurker Nina writes: I'm a like-minded New Yorker who lurks in Digest mode (thus the late reply). I have sometimes had to descend to treating my friends to twang-type shows just to have someone to go hear live music with; usually I give up and go alone. Since I live in the Bronx and have to get myself back up there on public transportation after the show, this position has its drawbacks. But sad as it is, has its moments; I will always treasure the memory of the looks of pure horror on the faces of a group of friends when I asked if anyone wanted to go hear Ricky Skaggs. Anyway, can I join the gang for Kelly Willis, too? I would love to meet some people who don't always ask "who?" when I mention the music I listen to. Well, NYC folks, it's starting to sound like we might just have a quorum for the Saturday night Kelly Willis show. Should we plan a pre-show drink in the Mercury Lounge bar? I'll be husband-less that evening, I think, and I'd love to have the company of some like-minded female New Yorkers as well as the always-reliable male P2 contingent. --Amy
RE: Weller's Prime
Jon says: Dunno where the Clash fit in - not my cup of tea, you might say - but Weller was pretty heavily involved with the Labor Party-related Red Wedge, at least during his Style Council days. Or so my not-always-reliable memory tells me, anyhow. Jon is correct (and I'm amazed that Jon has even heard of Style Council--pretty impressive for a guy who pays so little attention to rock that he's never heard "Stairway to Heaven") that Weller made the leftist politics of the Jam's records more overt by doing the Red Wedge tours with Style Council. But what Junior is remembering is an earlier (mis)perception on the part of many in the punk orthodoxy that the Jam were conservatives. This stemmed almost entirely from one Melody Maker interview in which Weller hinted that he was thinking of voting Tory in the next election (the one that put Maggie Thatcher in power) because he was so fed up with the Labor party's inability to do anything about unemployment, etc. He didn't vote Tory, probably couldn't have voted Tory unless forced to at gunpoint, but it tarnished his reputation for a while among the punk and press orthodoxy in the UK. He had to get fairly explicit in his leftism to fully live down the comment, I think, and that happened mainly in the last days of the Jam and then during the Style Council years. Before that, he was often accused by the British press of fence-sitting and being too noncommital politically, because his songs tended to be sort of slices of working class life rather than sloganeering polemics (like, say, the Clash's later work). And the perception of Weller as a conservative wasn't helped by his Mod infatuation and the tendency of the British press to sometimes cast the Clash and the Pistols in the role of the original Mods' arch enemies, the Rockers; in their pre-revival form, Mods were generally viewed as lower middle class and establishmentarian, while the rockers were viewed as working class laborites. (As Iain Noble, I think, has explained, the reality was that both groups were generally working class, but that wasn't the stereotype.) I'm not sure that the idea of the Jam as center-rightists got entirely lost in the US translation, at least at first; in NYC there were even some punk fans who wouldn't bother to go see the Jam on their first tour, dismissing them as poseurs. If the whole debate never gained much widespread attention here, it's more because the Jam themselves never got much attention here either; they were simply too parochially British to capture the attention of a lot of US fans (though the small following they had was certainly fanatical), and most US critics didn't like them much either. The Clash were the band that changed everything for me, but they lost me after London Calling. I was a huge Jam fan and remained one long after I'd given up on the Clash, and though I love to delve back into the Clash's pre-Sandinista stuff, in general I find that the Jam have worn much better than the Clash. I'll agree with Junior that Stiff Little Fingers have aged well, but I won't grant Don the Pistols; though the first record still sounds great, it's a much less fresh, more nostalgic listening experience than either the Jam or the Clash, IMHO. And if all this doesn't flush Gary Wilson out of hiding, he must have unsubscribed. --Amy
Re: MIKE NESS
Steve says: One other comment on it--I'm not sure Mike's vaguely Richard Butler-esque snarl really works in a rootsier context. It gets tiring a little sooner when he's out of the slam/bang Social D setting. I've always been afraid to confess this amid the Social D lovers around here, but I've never been able to listen to the band because I just can't stand his voice. It gets tiring for me with Social D in about .002 seconds, so I probably couldn't even take the shrink wrap off the solo CD without getting annoyed. If we're talking SoCal punk, I always liked the Minutemen about 1000 times better than Social D. (and if you listen very carefully you can hear the sound of Purcell's head exploding right about now...:)), Amen to that. (Er, the Minutemen thing, that is, not my little bro's head exploding.) --Amy
Re: Weller's Prime
Marie says: Once again Jerry is wrong! This is too easy. Like shooting MPBs on the fluff list. Scritti Politti is another fine, fine band from Leeds. They were formed in the British punk rock movement of the late 70s, but moved into a much more poppier, soulful sound in the 80s. And I really think it worked for them. Cupid Psyche 85 is one of my more favorite lps from that time. I still love to listen to *Perfect Way* and *Pray Like Arethea Franklin*. And "The 'Sweetest' Girl," one of the best Marxist/poststructuralist love songs ever written. I loved that band. Oh, and I just had the name of the band Jeff Weiss called The Blueberries: It was the Bluebells. A fine Scottish band in the heyday of all those great Postcard (!) bands, though I don't think the Bluebells were on Postcard themselves. --Amy
Re: Wilco's new horizon
Bill just loves to disagree with me: Hmm, for a small hypothetical, if you removed the vocal track from all three Wilco records, and just listened to the instrumentals, you wouldn't find each record different from the other? (What's the degree of difference significant to your mini-analysis here? "Drastically different" is a self-justifying measure of judgement. And what constitutes a "breakthrough?") To me, BEING THERE sounds notably different from AM, the transition from twang-rock into twang-pop into the notably different pop stylings of SUMMERTEETH. Being There sounds mildly different from A.M. (which was poppier and less twangy than Bill is suggesting, to my ears) if you subtract the vocals, I guess, but it's a point on a continuum, not the sort of reinventing of a sound that so many critics made it out to be. What I've heard of Summerteeth sounds like the next point along the continuum; the production is the biggest difference, obviously. To put it differently, I'd say that: --for A.M., Jeff spent about five minutes writing each song, and the band spent about ten minutes on each song in the studio; --for Being There, Jeff spent about five minutes writing each song, and the band spent about a day on each song in the studio; and --for Summerteeth, Jeff spent about five minutes on the melody of each song and ten minutes on the lyrics, and the band spent about two weeks on each song in the studio. You'll note a certain similarity in the creative process for all three records. g I'm withholding full judgement until I've heard the whole record more than once, but for now, I give it an "it sucks." g I'll be holding my breath until the big light bulb comes on and the sheer brilliance (or even the barely-marginal OK-ness) of SUMMERTEETH reveals itself to you. g Geez, if you were the judge of most any Tweedy endeavor, I'd get a change of venue, begging your honor's pardon. I'm not sure it's accurate or justified to characterize me as a relentless Tweedy-basher. It's true that I didn't like them live, enough so that I don't plan to see them perform again. But I liked A.M. reasonably well and still listen to it from time to time. I liked parts of Being There very much and parts of it not at all, and I rarely find myself with the urge to listen to it. I love Mermaid Avenue, and though I'm more of a Billy Bragg fan than a Wilco fan, I like Jeff's songs on the record a lot too. Summerteeth, so far, just sounds like a big ol' muddle to me. Still, I remain convinced of Jeff's and Wilco's ability to make a great record; I just don't think they've done it yet. And I'll continue to pay attention to what he does, if not nearly as avidly as I do with his former bandmate. off to mow two yards, b.s. n.p. A Replacements overview show on KCUR. How about some "objective" analysis on that new Westerberg record? I just heard 3 tracks and they didn't suck, though I wasn't sure if it was my cup of tea. g I don't even pretend to be objective about Westerberg, but I've listened to the new record as open-mindedly as I can, and I think about half of it is almost embarrassingly bad. The other half, though, is probably Westerberg's best solo work, and it contains more (apparently) real emotion than I've heard in his previous solo work. It's not the masterpiece I hope he still has in him, but it's an encouraging step. --Amy
Re: Wilco's new horizon
PS: For the record, I don't hate ELO nearly as much as many others around these parts seem to; I love early (i.e. Syd Barrett-era) Pink Floyd, and though Sgt. Pepper is my least favorite Beatles record, I can't say I hate it either. Nonetheless, I still don't like Summerteeth. --Amy
Re: Up for Kelly Willis Bruce Robison NYC?
Bob says: Amy gets my vote for P2 party animal of the year. But don't award it at Twangfest, since she'll have to be awakened to receive it... They've already awakened me at Twangfest once, although in my defense, that was at about 4:15 AM. And remember, I am the woman who says "Fun is overrated." g Any other members of the mostly rumored NYC contingent planning to go? To sleep on your couch? Would they fit? This may be much more interesting than Twangfest... Well, it is a big couch... --Amy
Re: Japanese hipsterism....
At last Junior and I can find common ground again: I wasn't kidding about Elastica, Bill. As derivative as they were, I thought they were terrific. Truly But you did sort of imply that they were a prefab, manager-created band, Junior, which they weren't really. I had a great music week in 96, or whenever it was they toured, when I saw them on a Thursday night in the Union ballroom here at the University of Kansas, then two nights later in Pittsburgh while I was at a conference there. In Kansas they ended up with the whole crowd up on stage dancing with them for the last number (that big hit of theirs, what was it called...); then in Pittsburgh they absolutely tore it up in a weird futuristic looking club that looked like something out of a Terminator movie I saw them in Minneapolis, and they were a little bit disappointing--kind of shell-shocked, it seemed, and short enough on material that they did one song twice, something I hadn't seen a band do since about 1981, when I saw British post-ironists ABC perform fourteen songs, three of which were "The Look of Love." But Elastica's lone full-length record was perfectly swell. Derivative, yes, but derivative of stuff that was well worth imitating. That Justine whats-her-name, yow!! Now there's a rock n' roll woman g Too bad they disappeared. That would be Justine Frischmann, the finest Jewish (not Hungarian, btw, Bill; her father was a Hungarian refugee who moved to England in the '40s, I think, and is a noted architect and professor) rock diva since Susanna Hoffs. g The band were plagued with endless lineup problems, and though they did eventually write enough songs for a second album, it has yet to see the light of day. In fact, references to the next Elastica record are sort of a running joke in some of the British music press. --Amy
Re: Leon Payne Albums
Boudin Dan writes: If you can find it, the "George Jones Sings Leon Payne" release on Hollywood () is a pretty good substitute if you can't find the real deal. But you can't find that one either, or at least I haven't been able to in three or four years of trying. There's a record that's ripe for reissue, if ya ask me. --Amy
Re: Emmylou, Gram tribute, Crow the hack
The Welch is wonderful. It has a hint of Beth Orton-like electro-ambience that is very cool. I am confused. Please explain. Sounding like Beth Orton--a hugely overrated critics' darling whose voice is almost completely without timbre and whose songwriting reminds me of the sort of bad poetry that teenage girls scribble in their diaries--is a good thing? I am confused. --Amy
Re: X in L.A.
CK says: Name Droppin Dave I talked to Doe briefly on the phone the other night, and he didn't think they'd be coming out east anytime soon. Yeesh, you're getting bad as your sis, Amy Hockeystick. g Rather than pointing out that I haven't name-dropped in ages (or at least since the last time the Replacements were discussed around here), I'll just say that I, for one, would really like to know how and why my younger bro came to be chatting with The Handsomest Man in Punk Rock on the telephone (and why he didn't put me on conference-call when this was happening). So give, bro. --Amy
Re: Best So Far - 99
Jenni says: I PROPOSE IT SHOULD BE A PUNISHABLE OFFENSE TO COMPILE A TEN BEST LIST IN APRIL! Go outside! Get some sun! Kiss a girl I agree. The punishment should be not being allowed to post another best-of list until after December 15. (And maybe 50 lashes with a wet noodle too.) Especially if a significant percentage of your ten best haven't even been released yet. --Amy
Re: former future frimfram on the fritz
Adding to the fluff -- even if it is twang related fluff -- Earle's still married to wife #6. Y'all wouldn't want Earle to participate in bigamy, now would ya? It should also be noted that I'm still married to husband #1, and intend to stay that way. That's why Steve Earle is my *former* future husband. --Amy
Re: Dashboard Saviors
Brent Best wrote: They had three records all on Medium Cool. "Kitty", "Spinnin' On Down", and "love, sorrow, hate, madness", and they were all very good. Todd McBride (lead guy) was/is an excellent songwriter, very adept at pullin' off a rocker then turning around and hittin' you with something subtle and moving. As for what they are doing now, Todd put out a solo album this past year that is also very good, I believe it's called "Sketchy" (can't seem to find it at the moment). The drummer, John Crist, I believe, is now playing with someone in Minneapolis. Marlee McLeod. I'm not exactly sure what's up with the rest of them. Someone in the Athens contingent could probably tell you more. I hear rumors that they're reforming, or maybe that they have reformed already, and are recording. Deb Sommers might know more about this. I think I like KITTY best of all their releases, but they're all pretty solid, as Brent says. --Amy
Re: Television Live (and twangless)
Junior says: And that Patti Smith quote was hilarious, thanks for that one! g. It's even better if you imagine it being said in Patti's weird South Jersey hippie accent. So maybe Verlaine needs to do a tour with the Ex-Husbands now... Shudder
Re: Television Live (and twangless)
Bill writes: I'm with you, which is why I baited the hook that way. (Though "Prove It" does end up as a song I get stuck in my head from time to time) Wondered if any NYC types who maybe saw them back in the day had different ideas. Yep. And evidently Robin Hall did too (in fact, we were probably at the same show(s); my very first CB's show was Television with Talking Heads opening, back in fall 1975). And I'm certain that Barry Mazor saw them a few dozen times back in the day. Evidently Junior and I just can't agree on anything lately--the Ex-Husbands, Television...The Ramones (my fourth or fifth CB's show) were wonderful, and more seminal than they're given credit for, but the twin guitars of Richard Lloyd and Tom Verlaine were revelatory. Patti Smith once said of Tom Verlaine, "He plays guitar like a thousand bluebirds screaming," and as pretentious and silly as that sounds, it's oddly accurate in a way. Television were a band like no other, and the relative unevenness of Verlaine's solo output and the reunion record shouldn't distract or detract from that fact. --Amy, who is bound to get back to talking about twangier stuff any minute now
Re: Good covers (was: Kelly Willis calling the shots)
At 4:39 PM -0400 4/4/99, Amy Haugesag wrote: Well, referencing Peggy Lee's "Fever" isn't going to win any points with me, as I don't love either the song or her toneless version of it. If this loses me major kitsch-cred points, that's fine with me. Well thanks, I guess, for pointing out to me that I'm just respondingly ironically to the faked sensations of artistic rubbish. How ever could I have thought I sincerely liked the song on its own merits? g Whoa there, Dr. Ross. I don't recall mentioning anything about irony, faked sensations, or artistic rubbish. All I said was that I don't like the song or Peggy Lee's voice, and I mentioned its kitsch appeal (which I think is undeniable). I've been known to rail against ironic detachment at the least provocation, but this wasn't one of those instances, and I wasn't commenting on your reaction to the song (about which I know nothing) at all. Sheesh. --Amy
Re: Good covers (was: Kelly Willis calling the shots)
Dr. Ross writes: I love the whole record, even the not-as-good-as-the-first-version "Fading Fast," and I'm especially impressed with the Nick Drake and Replacements covers, which are reinterpretations rather than rehashes, just like all good covers should be. Tsk tsk. So Peggy Lee's "Fever", Bob Dylan's "Broke Down Engine", and Merle's "San Antonio Rose" (to name just three rehashes that immediately came to mind) are not good covers? I'd say there are lots of way to make good covers. An artist with a strong, distinctive voice -- and I'd put all of the above in that category -- can make a note-for-note remake of a song and still make a recording I find valuable on the strength of the subtle variations that that distinctive voice brings to the song. Stepping up for Jon W. who is probably tired of making this point (except he probably would not require even subtle variations if the cover was performed with good grace and skill), Well, referencing Peggy Lee's "Fever" isn't going to win any points with me, as I don't love either the song or her toneless version of it. If this loses me major kitsch-cred points, that's fine with me. But I used the word "rehash" advisedly. I think it's possible and even fairly common to do a note-for-note rendition of someone else's song and *still* bring something of oneself--usually having to do with the distinctive voice that Ross mentions--to it. A rehash, on the other hand, is nothing more than a carbon copy of a song, one that doesn't add any distinctiveness of voice or anything else. A talented artist can sing a note-for-note rendition of a song they didn't write and still make it their own, by virtue of having a) a distinctive voice and b) emotional honesty, and specifically the ability to give the listener a sense that the song resonates emotionally for the singer as it did for the writer or original performer. In fact, radical reinterpretations tend not to work as well for me (for the most part--though I do like some complete overhauls, including the aforementioned punk rock version of "Pink Moon" that Sebadoh did) as do subtle reinterpretations like Kelly Willis does with the songs by Nick Drake and the Replacements. The songs are still recognizable (though "Time Has Told Me" may not be immediately so, at least on casual listen), and they don't stray all that far from the originals, but they're twangified enough to fit Kelly's style; hearing her do an English-folkie-style "Time Has Told Me" or an indie-rock "They're Blind" would have been weird. Way more detail than I wanted to get into. --Amy "Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
Re: Kelly Willis calling the shots
Bob Wray writes: I am somewhere in between of these two on my evalution of the entire album but I wanted to bop out of lurker land and say that Willis' cover of "Time Has Told Me" is just incredible to my ears. As a minor Drake fan(atic), I almost always prefer his originals to others but Willis' cover blew me away and made the purchase of an otherwise so-so album worthwhile. I can imagine this cover might contend for my song of the year, but the album will not. FWIW. I love the whole record, even the not-as-good-as-the-first-version "Fading Fast," and I'm especially impressed with the Nick Drake and Replacements covers, which are reinterpretations rather than rehashes, just like all good covers should be. When I first heard that Kelly was going to cover a Nick Drake song, before I actually heard the record, I had trepidations; Lucinda's fine rendition of "Which Will" Sebadoh's great version of "Pink Moon" notwithstanding, I've always seen Nick as one of those artists who just shouldn't be covered, because the originals are nearly impossible to improve upon. But by slightly reworking the tempo and phrasing of "Time Has Told Me," Kelly Willis makes the song fit the record's overall style and gives it an entirely new feel. It's nothing like Nick Drake's version, really, and that's why it works. And the choice of "They're Blind," much of which can serve as a metaphor for Kelly's whole career, is inspired too; with her heartfelt delivery, the song sounds convincingly wounded rather than just pissy (as the 'Mats version did). Definitely in my top 10 of the year and certain to stay there. --Amy
Re: Drake (Re: Kelly Willis calling the shots)
Neal: Which reminds me, any minor or major Drake fan want to offer up a good starting point into that artist's catalog? I need to go buy yet another CD that I've never gonna have enough time to appreciate to its fullest. Sigh... Neal, Neal, Neal. How can you call yourself a rock critic if you don't know and love Nick Drake? Don't you know that all rock critics are required to love Nick Drake, along with the rest of the "critics' darlings"? Does the Rock Critic Licensing Office know about this? We may have to turn you in. The sampler culled from the boxed set (I think it's called Way to Blue, but CRS syndrome is affecting me tonight) isn't a bad place to start, but I'll agree with Jim Roll and recommend just buying the boxed set. Once you fall in love with Nick Drake--and you will, Neal--you'll want to own all of his stuff anyway, and though buying a boxed set of an artist you're not familiar with may sound kind of drastic, there is virtually no risk that you won't be glad you bought it. Three equally gorgeous records, plus the four harrowing, beautiful posthumously released tracks--you really can't go wrong. If you insist on starting with a single record, though, Bryter Layter is the record that most people consider Nick's best. (I can't pick a favorite, myself.) --Amy
Re: Howdy
Newly returned Greg Harness asks: 2. What's the official P2 take on the Freight Hoppers? I don't think there is one--they don't get discussed around here much, though I know there are quite a few P2ers who are fans. Including me. 3. I have a recipe for a meatless 'lasagne' made with polenta instead of those flat noodles that is absolutely to die for. The fluff list would love to hear about it. What's the fluff list, you ask? It's a long story, but basically, it was created so that people could plan parties, trysts, and other meetings during Twangfest and at other times without cluttering up the main list. It's also a haven for those who believe that there is meaning to be found in the endless Miracle Whip vs. mayo debate. It is not, and should not be, a place to discuss music or related topics that belong on P2 itself. To subscribe, go to www.nashvegas.com/listserv. --Amy
Re: The F Word
I would like Freakwater okay (not a lot; to me, their stuff seems watered down rather than enhanced by its rock influences, unlike some alt-country) if it weren't for Catherine Irwin's indescribably lousy voice. The only time I saw them live--at a Mercury Lounge show that Barry Mazor and I dragged ourselves to in the interests of giving Freakwater a fair hearing--they had Max Johnston with them, and I could listen to him play all day. Janet Beveridge Bean is also a pleasure to listen to. But Catherine Irwin sounded, just as she always does, like a dying cat whose voice was being played through a foghorn. Yecch. --Amy
Re: Clip-Wacos Saturday night
My younger bro writes: At a time when alt.country bands increasingly lean toward tepid vocals, languid playing, and gentle singer-songwriterish sentiments Oh, for fuck's sake, they do not. The reviewer's line above (though not Dave's) should probably be added to the list of rules for rock critics writing about alt-country: discuss all alt-country bands as though they were a) identical to one another and b) mopey and/or wimpy. It's hard to even imagine who he's referring to here. Certainly not *any* of the bands I saw at SXSW, some of whom were more alt and some of whom were more country, but none of whom exhibited any remotely languid, tepid, or even gentle tendencies. And unquestionably not any of the other bands on the Bloodshot roster. Sheesh. --Amy
SXSW update: final
This is the final SXSW update that I'll be giving, since I'm leaving for Austin bright and early tomorrow AM. Apologies to anyone I've left off this or previous lists. These are the lucky P2 attendees: Marie Arsenault Austin Motel Junior Barnard I'm sure Junior mentioned where he's staying, but I fergit Doug Baxter and his wife, Christine Town Lake Holiday Inn (I managed to pry this info out of Doug) Dan Bentele Austin Motel Rusty Berther (upping the Australian P2 quotient to 2) accomodations ??? Sophie Best staying at Smilin' Jim's Jim Catalano HomeGate Suites Jim Cox staying in some generic apartment he rented John Flippo Austin Motel Richard Flohil staying at Erica Wissolik's Randi Fratkin staying at Erica Wissolik's Ms. Wynn Harris staying at HER dad's Joyce Homan staying at a friend's house across from the Austin Motel Chris Knaus Meshel Watkins Austin Motel Jake London Austin Motel Barry Mazor Omni Hotel Alex Millar Austin Motel, room 152 Linda Ray accomodations to be determined Tony Renner HomeGate Suites Jim Roll and Laura Eckenrod staying at a friend's house Bill Silvers Austin Motel Deb "Numbers" Sommers staying somewhere, I'm sure Tiffany Suiters, Kim Di Pietro HomeGate Suites Jamie Swedberg Austin Motel Stacey Taylor Austin Motel Jeff Weiss Corrie Gregory Homegate Neal Weiss Colleen Morrissey Austin Motel Sarah Wrightson and Vince Bell who I'm mortified to have left off both previous lists Don Yates Deborah Malarek staying at Laura Fowler's me and my husband Eric Austin Motel and of course, the Austinites: Jim Caligiuri Jayne Cravens Cherilyn DiMond Jim Fagan Laura Fowler Jerald Corder Chad Hamilton Lurker Cory Horan Slim Kelly Erika Wissolik Due to unforeseen circumstances, Steve Kirsch will not be attending. We'll miss him. See y'all in Austin. We'll raise a Shiner Bock or three to absent P2 friends.
RE: Clip: The state of country radio
I frankly think that what's happening is that the novelty factor is wearing off for a lot of the newer country listeners, and they're off to look for the Next Big Thing without much concern for whether it's labeled rock or pop or something else again. I haven't seen even a whisper of a desire for twangier, more hardcore country stuff in the coverage of the CRS that's been posted here - and in fact, the positive references to "outlaws" merely underlines the point, as the musical content of The Outlaws boom of the 70s consisted in large part of "breaking the rules" and "taking risks" by bringing more rock influences into the country mainstream. The best thing that can happen to country music right now is for the audience to shrink. Using up my "me too" quotient for the month, I'll say that I think Jon has this exactly right. The line- dancing-for-yuppies era is pretty well dead and buried, the suburbanites who embraced HNC in the late 1980s and early 1990s have moved on, as Jon notes, to whatever--Hootie or Lilith Fair or God knows what--and pop acts like Shania Twain and, er, Shania Twain have begun to give up any vague association with country music. That's the most convincing explanation for why the balance seems to be shifting, on country radio and on CMT, back toward a preponderance of music that we may or may not like, but that we can all agree, I think, is indisputably what we think of as country music, unlike some of the more pop-oriented HNC stuff. That's why Junior and other folks, me among them, are finding it so much easier to listen to mainstream country radio lately. --Amy
Re: SXSW update II
Don't I qualify as an Austinite? I realize I've only lived here for twelve years Or maybe I don't qualify as a P2er... Well, either way, I'll be around and looking forward to seeing everyone everywhere I go. Erm, the omission was purely unintentional, John. I left off a few other Austinites the first time too. And hey, at least I didn't get your gender wrong, as I did with Wynn Harris. --Amy
RE: Covers and a defense of irony (long)
The other Junior writes: Sorry - just practicing for my trip to New York later in the year. Junior "Can you tell me the way to Staten Island or should I just go fuck myself now?" Walker A common misconception is that if you stop a New Yorker on the street and ask a question, the response will be rude. This is not true. New Yorkers love to talk. They especially love to give opinions, whether you asked for them or not, and they will gladly tell you why their way of getting to Staten Island is the best way, and why you shouldn't listen to what the other guy who has walked up to join the conversation says about how to get there, and how nobody in New York can give directions properly anymore anyway, because they're all from, y'know, Idaho or someplace, one of those Midwestern states. Except that Staten Island is a bad example to use, because though most New Yorkers know how to get there, they'd rather not, and they don't understand why anyone else would either. New Yorkers may be seething with suppressed rage, but they're still friendly, or at least talkative. --Amy
RE: Is It or Is It Not?
Of course, I find it hard to imagine why people wouldn't like bluegrass g, but I'm not sure that the, um, stringency with which some people offer pretty narrow "definitions" of bluegrass actually drives many people off. I'll be interested to see what folks who are more peripherally involved in/interested in bluegrass - enough to have run into some of the folks Phil's talking about - have to say on the subject. I've never actually run into a bona fide bluegrass purist; I've only encountered bluegrass musicians and enthusiasts who talk about bluegrass purists and how difficult they are to please, and who quickly distance themselves from the purist attitude. So I haven't been put off by anyone's purist attitude. Besides, I've always wondered if the attitude developed out of defensiveness in response to widespread indifference to bluegrass--a sort of "who cares if most people aren't aware of bluegrass; it's too good for them anyway." I'm not condoning that attitude anymore than I'm condoning indifference to bluegrass, but I think it's there. At the same time, though, I don't think it's implausible that some potential bluegrass enthusiasts have been put off by the attitude of some purists--I don't think that explains why bluegrass hasn't found a huge audience, but I think it may have kept a small audience even smaller. --Amy
Re: cheap rental cars for SXSW?
Anyone know of any special rental car deals? We're gonna be rentin' one down in Austin this year (and we may even let some of you in itg). Feel free to email me privately, or to the list if you think it's of somewhat general interest.--don To the list, please. We're renting too--partly so that I don't have to put my life in jeopardy again by getting in a car that Don is driving vbg--and since we rarely rent cars, I'd like to know the scoop from people who know more about the topic than I do. And just a reminder: if you're going to SXSW and haven't let me know yet, please do. I'll post the tally right before I leave for Austin on March 16. Austinites, of course, are not required to let me know that they'll be there, though you can if you want. --Amy "Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
Re: 50/90
Excerpts from internet.listserv.postcard2: 23-Feb-99 Re: 50/90 by David [EMAIL PROTECTED] Well, I agree you gotta pick a Tupelo--and Anodyne's awfully damn good; I won't argue against it--but I'd go with Still Feel Gone myself. Wow. David, you're the first person I know of who agrees with me on that score. I still think Looking For a Way Out is Jay Farrar's finest song, and the album's held up well. I favor Anodyne by just a notch over Still Feel Gone, but either one of them would have made vastly more sense than Wilco's forthcoming Summerteeth. I won't judge it too severely till I hear it in a format other than Real Audio, but what I've heard so far sounds truly wretched (okay, I guess that's kind of severe). What bothered me about the 50/90 list, in addition to the tendency to pick the wrong records from included artists that Lance pointed out, was its utter predictability. Public Enemy, Portishead, Beck, Pavement, Yo La Tengo...does the guy like any bands that aren't rock critics' darlings? Sheesh. --Amy "Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
Re: cheap flights
Tar Hut Jeff writes: priceline is horrible. those people are evil and they rob. I don't know about that, but I've had no luck with them in three attempts. Either they've been unable to get me a ticket or their fares have been higher than the airlines' published ones. Travelocity.com is pretty reliable, and much better than Microsoft's Expedia. I've also had great luck with Worldspan, which is one of the services that travel agents use. Unfortunately you can't get to them directly; you have to go through a travel agent. There are lots of online agents that work through them, though; it just takes some hunting around. I booked my SXSW fare through Cheap Tickets (www.cheaptickets.com), who got me a far lower fare than any others I'd seen. But they also sent me two different sets of tickets--one I'd ordered and one I hadn't--and charged me for both. I'm right in the middle of trying to get this straightened out, but their customer service people have been very hard to reach so far. If they refund the cost of the extra tickets, I'll be able to give them a qualified recommendation--qualified because they screwed up and because their customer relations are, shall we say, lacking. --Amy
Re: Kansas was Cowboys to Girls
William Cocke writes: Off the top of my head, Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas" in the decade or so leading up to the Civil War because it was a hotbed of unrest and violence due to the fact that it wasn't certain which way it would enter the Union -- slave or free. Thus it became sort of a magnet for extremists on both sides of the slavery issue. Shoot-outs, murders, lynchings, and what we would call terrorism today, all took place in Kansas in the 1850s, as both sides tried to win the upper hand. In a way it was a ghastly foreshadowing of what was to come. It's an interesting and mostly successful songwriting attempt in an album full of good songs. I especially like the imagery of (I'm paraphrasing here) the singer being frightened of "an old man standing there hot as a pepper." I get the image of some fanatical John Brown-type ready to kill everyone in sight or maybe a bitter slaveowner come to retrieve his "property." I don't know if the word "salivating" used in the song was in common parlance at the time, but poetic license I always say... The John Brown image is one that comes to my mind when I hear the lines William is referring to: "What we've all come to fear/Is a pepper on fire like that old man." The lyrics I've been able to decipher thus far are approximately: I'm the law I've been sent over yonder mountains From the civilized side, this all looks so wild A land that has never been tempered Can't properly quench this savage call What we've all come to fear Is a pepper on fire like that old man I don't know why you're standing there salivating When folks have taken to naming This Free Soiler state you're laying in They say "Kansas, yeah, Kansas bleeding Kansas," back home I'm fuzzier on the second verse, so I won't attempt to transcribe it here, but it's got references to jayhawks and rifles and other Kansan sorts of things. I can't begin to guess what prompted them to write it--maybe Amy was reading Russell Banks' recent novel about John Brown--but I think it's cool as hell, and I admit, a little reluctantly, to being pleased to see a girl lyricist covering things other than conventional girl songwriter topics--y'know, like love and that kind of thing. Before anybody flames me, I'm not suggesting that Amy and Deborah are the first girls to write about a range of topics other than l-u-v; I'm just admiring their lyrical approach. --Amy, who could talk about the Damnations all day long
Re: Austin Motel
Randi Fratkin asks: So when and where (here or on the fluff list?) do we get to start talking about who's going to SXSW, and where they're staying? Who's in charge of compiling the P2 directory? Because I am insatiably nosy, I will volunteer to do this (even though I barely have time to read my e-mail and all my friends are beginning to hate me because I never write them back). If you're going to SxSW and you want others on the list to know you'll be there, please send me an e-mail to say so. You can also let me know where you'll be staying, if you feel really daring. (NB: Alex will be staying at the Austin Motel, and the party is in his room.) --Amy
Re: Radio M show about No depression music
Bob Soron--an editor, I might add--wrote: I liked the lead singer better than Tracy Really? Does Tracy know about this, Bob? --Amy
Re: sxsw criticisms (my take)
Kiplet says, On Tue, 16 Feb 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Despite what y'all say about SXSW or any event like it, I think that when playing a showcase, or any CSRF like it, it is up to the artist to make the most of what's available. You *do* have the opportunity to get important people out to see your band/act if you take the initiative to let people know you're out there. Again, if you go into SXSW with a buzz on your band, then sure, you might realistically expect some "important people" to come to your show, chat you up afterwards, etc. etc. But I suspect if you're in the Joe Blow Band from Scranton, PA and you try to convince a rep from Hightone to make your set, it's probably not gonna happen. As an ex-weasel and one-time band manager, I'd say that Kip is exactly right about this. Letting people know you're out there only goes so far, especially if you haven't been to whatever the last CSRF on the calendar was and thus haven't had an opportunity to chat up the AR guys at the labels you're hoping will sign you. It's all about buzz, really, and bands can't do all that much to manufacture a buzz (other than being a really great band, and God knows that doesn't always make a difference); it's either there or it isn't. Label weasels are people like anyone else (well...sorta g) and they want to go to the shows their friends are going to, go to the clubs that are supposed to have the coolest bands playing. Some have every intention of trying to take in as many bands as possible on a given night, but it doesn't always, or even often, work out that way, particularly not at CSRFs like SxSW, where there are so many good choices at competing times. Even if a band does all the self-marketing stuff right, there's no guarantee and not that much likelihood that they're going to get seen by anyone who can make a difference to their careers. It's probably true that the bands who pay the most attention to self-promotion and are the most marketing-savvy are fairly often the ones that come away from events like SXSW with contracts. Maybe that's because that type of band is also marketing-savvy enough to have come up with a commercial sound. But I don't think it's the case that simply doing a good job of self-promotion is going to lead to a contract or to the big-deal weasels showing up at your gig at SxSW. There are too many other intangibles involved. These things are really about networking, getting the word out about what makes you different or better than what else is out there. I agree there's worth here in the sense of meeting other bands, trading shows with them, meeting some lower level label reps, d.j.'s, yadda yadda. But all of the emphasis here on schmoozing and networking and "taking it to the next level" and so on...I dunno, I think it would behoove a lot of these bands to simply concentrate on their music and spend less time trying to figure out how they're gonna get the attention of AR. Indeed. Not that that will guarantee future success either, since it's painfully obvious that talent and skill don't automatically lead to success or recognition. Look: SXSW sells a dream. That's why all those bands make the drive (well, that and it can be fun to hear all the great music, depending on how superhuman you're feeling that week, as Junior Barnard once said). And let's not forgot there's a group of people making an *enormous* amount of money off that dream. The actual musicians are not among this group, for the most part. Which was Nancy's point, I think, or part of it, and I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that the founders of SxSW could do more to make the event band-friendly, even if that meant higher expenditures on their part. But bands also need to go into any CSRF with their eyes open. If you're expecting it to be the music-biz equivalent of winning the lottery, you're right only in that the odds of your winning are so microscopic as to be virtually nonexistent. (And why any band would want to score a big fat contract with a big label in today's completely unstable biz is somewhat mystifying, but that's a topic for another day.) Unfortunately, Jim's statement: If you go into it thinking that you've got no shot and no one cares, your probably right. If you work at it and actually have something interesting to say or maybe think of different way to grab some attention, the right folks will find you. strikes me as more wishful thinking than anything else. --Amy "Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
Re: Alejandro Escovedo/Buddy Miller/Railroad Jerk
OK, I realize I should be publicly flogged for being completely ignorant of ND's "Man o' the Decade," but I saw an AE disc sitting patiently in the used section of a local record store and wondered about it. It was called "13 Songs" or something like that--the one with the "Theme Song." Anyway, I also saw a Buddy Miller disc that had the word "lies" in the title. Well, anyway, you get the picture. These are a couple dudes whose names tend to get dropped every day or three, so all you fans let me know what's up. _Thirteen Songs_ is a pretty swell record, though not exactly cheerful. It's fairly hard to describe Alejandro in a convenient sound bite, but he's got elements of punk (he was a member of seminal SF punk band the Nuns), singer/songwriter, honky tonk, and alt-country in his sound, along with lots of other influences. Buddy Miller is much more of a straight country/country-rock artist, in the Steve Earle vein, and everything he does is good. IMHO, of course. g And for the fella who asked about Railroad Jerk, I think "One Track Mind" may be one of the sleeper records of the decade. If you like the JSBX--but grow tired of the schtick--and you like Beck's wacky electro-folk-hipster-hop-damnation, check it out. Clever without being too cheeky, methinks. I thought Third Rail was a step backward, but good enough to buy used. Are they even around anymore? I haven't heard from them in awhile. Railroad Jerk just played in NYC a couple of weekends ago. I missed them on the same night that I missed the Old 97s. I haven't heard rumors of any new records in the works, but what do I know? I'd like to hear what they do next, though; they're an underrated bunch, and Lance's comparisons to Jon Spencer and Beck are apt ones. --Amy
Re: Damnations TX (was Re: best so far
Marie says:
My favorite song on the cd is dedicated to the memory of a beloved amp.
Heck, my favorite song on the CD is about a dog ("Spit and Tears"). Go figure.
--Amy
Re: Damnations TX (was Re: best so far
Why Dan, you make P2 sound like the U.S. Congress g. I protest! I'm sure we'll have naysayers on the Damnations and that is indeed the P2 way. It sure is a good record, though. My prediction is that some of our more lyrics-oriented folk will find it less that stellar on that end. I'm digging it, in any case. FWIW, I'm one of the more lyrics-oriented folk, and I love the Damnations' lyrics; they're one of the highlights of the record for me. Funny, imaginative, moving--and they may earn a spot or two on my "obscure words used by songwriters" list. --Amy, who promises that she's done talking about the Damnations for at least a few days "Ain't no use in hanging around/Emptiness swallows its own path/I watch my weakness go down easy/And I pray it won't last..." (The Damnations TX)
RE: Whiskeytown FYI
See, I don't think it is a contradiction. It is completely unreasonable to think (hope?) that impassioned, creative geniuses might also beconsiderate, thoughtful human beings? Besides, Adam is 24 now, he ain't all *that* young anymore. And really, why do people pin Westerberg's lameness on him getting older, as if his actual chronological age is the key to this? Maybe he's simply said all that he has to say. The problem is, he keeps talking g. I hasten to note that *I* don't pin Waterbug's lameness on his age; he's not that old, for one thing (at least not relative to some of the people who are occasionally mentioned in the same breath as him), and more important, I've long maintained that the reason he sucks so much these days is indeed that he's run out of things to say. There's more to it than that--there's the fact that he doesn't listen to anything remotely related to the kind of stuff he plays, which puts him in a sort of vacuum that doesn't seem conducive to his producing good records, and there's the whole business about how the quality of his records started declining around the time he quit drinking (but let's not get into that whole discussion again). But basically, the 'Mats put out approximately six brilliant, era-defining records, and that seems to be the extent of what Westerberg has in him to produce. That's a lot more than many other musicians have in them, so I can't get too worked up anymore about the unlikelihood of him ever putting out another good record, at any age. --Amy
RE: Whiskeytown FYI
Kip sez: On Fri, 29 Jan 1999, Jim Cox wrote: Ok, the article is a little ridiculous. And Ryan is ridiculous, or maybe he was fucking with the guy, or both. Anyway, who cares. Sometimes I think the same people are at once upset at Westerberg for growing up and at Ryan for not growing up. If he makes another Stranger's Almanac, wouldn't that be great? I rooting for him (but heck, I was a McEnroe fan). Oh contraire, I'm glad Westerberg grew up. Now I just wish he'd stop making crappy music. Or are you making the case that artists of a certain age aren't capable of being as good as they were in their youth? I don't think that's what Jim is saying. He's saying that people complain because Waterbug isn't the impassioned genius/brat that he once was--he's a boring old fart, in essence, and his recent records would be dullsville even if he were Ryan's age--but they also complain because Ryan is still young and stupid enough to play the impassioned genius/brat without apology or regret; they wish Ryan would act more like a mature adult. And that's a contradiction. FWIW, I think Jim is exactly right on this. I also think that Ryan is, as Jim says, a little ridiculous, as are lots of extremely talented people, and he's probably never going to sound humble or mature in interviews. That's what the McEnroe analogy is about--there's no denying that John McEnroe was a complete prima donna and pain in the ass throughout his career, but there's also no denying that he was one of the most talented tennis players ever. I'm not prepared to make such claims for Ryan quite yet--I've never seen him play tennis, after all--but if his next record is as good as the first few have been, he can be as big a windbag in interviews and press releases as he likes. The music speaks for him more eloquently than he can for himself anyway. --Amy
Re: Bloodshot party
Our Listmeister writes: Whoo hoo! Now we don't have to worry about those weaselly Weiss brothers sneakin' off again this year.g If you haven't been to it before, Cherry Lou's SXSW P2 BBQ is not to be missed: Beer, Maker's Mark, Bands, Brisket, and your favorite P2ers makin' drunken fools of themselves (and no, I wasn't referring to you, Linda Ray -- I swear!g).--don Don forgot to mention the main highlight of the BBQ, though: arm-licking. 'Least that's what I'm looking forward to observing at my first visit to Cherry Lou's extravaganza. --Amy
Re: Question about TV bands (for parents of preschoolers)
We just saw an Arthur episode on PBS the other day where Arthur and his pals wanted to go see their favorite group, Binky (who look suspiciously like ABBA), perform. Turns out they are holograms. (OH NO!) Then yesterday Arthur and his pal Buster auditioned musicians to be in their band (vaguely reminiscent of the audition scene in the movie, The Commitments). Those kids, er, puppets, on Puzzle Place can really rock whenever they've got an important moral to hammer out. Let's not forget that Mr. Rogers tickles the ivories whenever the mood strikes and quite frequently jams with guests like Yo Yo Ma. And last but not least (for now), "You Gotta Put Down the Ducky (if you wanna play the saxophone)" with Hoot the Owl and Ernie on Sesame Street. I was trying to stay out of this thread, because I can't remember a lot of the shows that are being mentioned and I wish I didn't remember the rest, but now that Jeanne has brought children's TV into the discussion, I have to add that the Muppet Show in the late '70s was pure genius. Debbie Harry singing to Kermit, Rudolf Nureyev dancing with Miss Piggy in "Swine Lake," which then segued into a duet of "Baby It's Cold Outside"...brilliant. Not to mention Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem themselves. Apparently the Clash watched every episode faithfully. --Amy
Re: Lucindavision (was: Re: Night Flight (was: Re: I can't helpit...McHale's Navy TV-Rock Fluff))
Jerald writes: Also worth mentioning that the new ABC show "Cupid" recently featured a Lucinda Williams song. I don't know enough about her songs to tell one from the other, but it had the lines "I thought I'd lost, but I'm glad I found it" or something like that. One of the creators of that show is a former Austinite, Rob Thomas. Former Austinite and current young adult novelist--and a damn good one, too. Rob Thomas always peppers his novels with interesting and un-obvious music references, so it's a good bet that he's the source of any good music on the show. --Amy
Re: Outlaw Blues
As for Kimmie, we finally finished her new CD masters, which is why I'm back here in this esteemed forum. It's a helluva record, which her son Gabe produced. For a tiny taste (which is not necessarily representative of the whole record, only part of it) check out our website and get you an MP3 player ready to go... The prospect of a new Kimmie record and our own Sir President Joe Gracey Sir back amongst us is almost too much good news to take in at once. Luckily, there's no heat in my apartment (er, that is, the one room of my apartment that's habitable), so I can't get *too* happy all at once. Welcome back, Joe. You've been missed. --Amy
Re: Americana guesswork
Geff King writes: You know, working on the fringes of the environmental industry as I do, the term 'sustainable development' comes up a lot. Makes me think of 'Americana' as perhaps a sustainable form of music - just enough popularity and acclaim to let artists make a living without having to buy the farm or sell the soul? Hey, there's a catchy new name for the genre: Sustainable Country. Okay, maybe not... But it's true that there are countless musicians out there in a number of genres (including our own) who are making apparently adequate livings from their music and getting their music heard by an apparently adequate number of people, and maybe, realistically, that's the best we can hope for for alt-country/Americana. For a variety of reasons, some of which have already been mentioned here, I don't think a massive breakthrough is likely for either the "Tupelo Rock" (what an atrocious term) side of alt-country or the more countryish side, the folks like Dale Watson, Sara Evans, Kelly Willis, et al. who are playing music that's "too country for country radio". (And FWIW, I don't see any reason that the latter is a vastly better candidate for such a breakthrough than the former, as John Riedie and others have suggested. The Americana stuff clearly has a better shot at a breakthrough on country radio, but the country-rock stuff has a better chance of breaking through on AAA and rock radio; regardless of the size of the teenage (or 18-24, in marketing terms) component of country audiences, which I think has always been considerable in many parts of the country, Son Volt and Whiskeytown are still more likely to appeal to the vastly larger 18-24 audience for rock radio, who are the folks who most often create the sort of Nirvana-sized breakthroughs that we're talking about here. But I digress.) But like Bob Soron, I don't think it's inconceivable, either, that some alt-country/Americana artist might achieve a big breakthrough that would catapult the whole genre to the mainstream, leading to big sales, millions of signings of acts with even the vaguest alt-country connection, and eventually, an alt-country fashion section at K-Mart (and from there, a rapid fall from grace for the genre, followed by snide references to it by late-night talk show hosts and a vague sense of embarrassment among those who jumped on the trend and then abandoned it--"geez, remember that alt-country phase we went through?"). What I can't conceive of is why anybody thinks this would be a good thing. Another Nirvana? Yeah, all that success worked out wonderfully for Kurt Cobain, didn't it? Not to mention for people like Mark Lanegan and others who had the megawatt spotlight of supertrendiness trained on them for a fleeting moment. And it's worth remembering that the grunge movement, such as it was, featured, to a great extent, bands who were either riding the coattails of the movement, and it came way too late for bands like the Replacements who'd laid the groundwork for bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. An Americana breakthrough would likely feature a lot of the same thing, and might well leave the real pioneers in the dirt. Don't get me wrong; I'm not one of those who hopes that my favorite bands remain cult faves, eking out meager livings and being dropped by label after label just so my friends and I can feel all avant-garde for knowing about them. I'd like all the musicians I admire to make tons of money, or at least to make as much money as they want to make. I just think that there are ways that this can happen without forcing them into flash-in-the-pan status. --Amy, really enjoying this thread, which is one of the more substantive ones we've had in a while
Re: Why I Love Austin #446
Cool story from John on the Derailers recordings. While we're on the subject of the Derailers, I noticed that Columbia House's Web site has a special promotion on "The Best Records You've Never Heard," culled from the '50s through the '90s. _Reverb Deluxe_ is listed as one of these. It's amazing how far Dina's influence reaches, really. --Amy
Re: Hank Williams
"Guitar Town" has a verse about Hank, though it would be a stretch to say that the song is about him. In truth, it's only part of a verse: But I heard someone calling my name one day And I followed that voice down the lost highway --Amy "If I said I don't want what I don't have/And all the answers are in love/If I said I believed in myself and that's enough/I'd be lying"--Sam Philips
Re: Query:Archive this list?
Herr Listmeister writes: I haven't explored the site enough to give you a definitive answer. Does anyone know if it's possible to easily access the P2 archives through that website? Does anyone even know who built and maintains the dang thing?--don I don't have a clue who built it, but it's maintained by someone or other at Emory, apparently. It stores only a couple of days' worth of posts, or in particularly high-traffic times, one days' worth; I think the limit is on the number of messages rather than the number of days, and it seems to top out at around 500. I'm in favor of archiving the whole history of p2 somewhere, as long as access is limited somehow so that we don't all start getting endless amounts of Spam. A password might be kind of complicated to implement, but it would be great if our e-mail addresses could somehow be deleted. --Amy "If I said I don't want what I don't have/And all the answers are in love/If I said I believed in myself and that's enough/I'd be lying"--Sam Philips
Re: Stuff I Think is Interesting
Quotable Matt Cook says: Both of these guys left bands that have WAY more financial potential than The Gourds. Keith left The Damnations who signed a major label deal and have been getting unending positive press in anticipation of their debut. (snip) I hope it stays the same in March when Wilco and The Damnations' new records are selling like crazy, and GHOSTS is being ignored. I don't want to take any credit away from the Gourds, of course, but I think you might be overstating the case here, Matt, at least as far as the Damnations are concerned. "Unending positive press" and "selling like crazy" are relative terms. I've heard that the Damnations themselves are worried about the amount of attention they've gotten this early in their careers, and though that's understandable, it's not like they've gotten *that* much attention. They've gotten lots of nice local press in TX, and they've turned more than a few heads in the alt-country world at large (mine included), but that's not necessarily going to translate to massive radio play or record sales, or even features about 'em in Spin or Rolling Stone; in fact, it's a fairly safe bet that their record won't sell like crazy among the buying public in general, even if it sells well among p2ers and our ilk. They're a great alt-country band, one of the best to come along so far (if we're using the narrow definition of alt-country, that is--the one that some folks would call country-rock). But that's a pretty limited market, and for a variety of reasons, I don't see mass success in the Damnations' future. For that matter, the Gourds have gotten plenty of good press themselves, and when they first emerged, there was certainly a lot of buzz about them, too. So I think casting the Gourds as underdogs here is a little disingenuous; they may be underdogs in the music biz at large--as are the Damnations and most of the other bands that get discussed here--but I'm not convinced they're really underdogs in the world of alt-country. Wilco are another matter; I'm told their forthcoming record has a shot at earning them mass success, in which case maybe the Gourds can look forward to having their next record stickered with "Featuring Max Johnston, formerly of Wilco!" --Amy "If I said I don't want what I don't have/And all the answers are in love/If I said I believed in myself and that's enough/I'd be lying"--Sam Philips
