from:"William F. Silvers"


Somebody (John Flippo?) wrote to the list yesterday asking if anybody
was going to this show tonight. It looks like I am. Write me off-list if
you're still thinking about going.

b.s.

Re: V-Roys




Jon Weisberger observed:

  I think the credit belongs to the band. I liked their first record better
  than the second. I think the second one is more "produced" than the first.
  The first album has more of a live feel to it.

 That's what those slicksters of the Nashville machine will do to you.

Heh. Yeah, I hear one of those slicksters has stooped to playing bluegrass these
days. What's that stuff got to do with the V-Roys?

b.s.

Re: clip: Salon reviews Gourds...




Dave Purcell wrote and clipped:

 ...and there's a Postcard mention??? Of course, she got it wrong --
 Postcard is the Tupelo family list, but nonetheless, it's weird to see
 it come up in a review.

 The Gourds "Ghosts of Hallelujah"
 ALLEGRO MUSIC

 BY MEREDITH OCHS | If you read Postcard, the alternative-
 country Internet discussion group, on the right day, you might walk
 away with the impression that the Gourds are the second coming
 of Christ

I'd been wondering where Matt Cook was. Thanks Dave- another mystery
solved.

b.s.

Clip- June Carter Cash


 Tuesday April 27 9:45 AM ET

 June Carter Cash's Turn In The 'Ring'

 By Dean Goodman

 LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Many family gatherings can be wretched experiences, but when 
the members of country music's
 extended Carter clan get together it is pure harmony.

 More than 70 years after her mother achieved superstar fame as one-third of the 
Carter Family, June Carter Cash keeps the
 country-folk tradition alive with fireside sing-alongs at the Hendersonville, 
Tennessee, estate she shares with her husband, singer
 Johnny Cash.

 Sessions may include various children and grandchildren, former sons-in-law such as 
country singers Marty Stuart and Rodney
 Crowell, and longtime family friends.

 Strumming her trusty autoharp, June may perform ``Ring of Fire,'' the hit song she 
co-wrote for her husband, or she may lead
 everyone through Carter Family evergreens such as ``Wabash Cannonball'' or ``Will 
The Circle Be Unbroken.''

 For years family and friends urged her to do an album, but her top priority always 
has been family, specifically traveling the
 world with her husband. But she would always perform a couple of songs such as 
``Jackson,'' the duet for which they won a
 Grammy in 1968, and the poignant ``Far Side Banks of Jordan.''

 ``I've been walking just far enough behind John for him to think that he was way out 
in front,'' June, 69, told Reuters in an
 interview. ``Women, if they've got any sense, will do that.''

 JUNE'S TURN IN THE 'RING'

 But with Johnny Cash, 67, sidelined indefinitely battling a rare degenerative 
disease, he stepped up the pressure on June to
 make an album. She did release a solo album, ``Appalachian Pride,'' in the mid-'70s 
but says Columbia pressed barely 25,000
 copies and it quickly disappeared from shops.

 ``He said to me, 'I want you to do this album. If you can knock me out with 
something you do every day, then you need to do
 this,''' June said. ``I get feeling better if I know I've done something that's 
knocked Johnny out.''

 The result is ``Press On'' (Small Hairy Dog/Risk Records), which June recorded in 
three days at home with family and friends.
 If it sounds rough, that was the whole point. She took requests and sang the songs 
by heart. Most were recorded in one take
 and she did not re-dub her voice, despite claiming to have had a bad cold at the 
time.

 ``Marty Stuart said to me, 'Why don't you sing that one Carter Family song for me 
that I love so much, 'Diamonds in the
 Rough?' And I said, 'Sure I'll be glad to do that for you,''' she recalled. ``I 
didn't even know that was going to be a record. I
 sang it one time and didn't even put the last verse in there, and they said, 'That's 
it! That's it!' That was the first record we cut.''

 CARTER FAMILY LEGACY

 Her mother Maybelle, Aunt Sara and Uncle A.P. Carter would be proud. From their base 
in Maces Spring, Virginia, the Carter
 Family launched the modern era of country music in 1927 by selling millions of 
records and touring incessantly.

 They recorded more than 250 songs in their 15-year career. Some, which will start 
going into the public domain soon, have
 been covered by the likes of Roy Acuff, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Joan Baez.

 ``My mother still sends me money from the grave that I'm thankful for, and my uncle 
and my aunt,'' June said. ``It's quite a bit of
 money, it's amazing really.''

 The three children of A.P. and Sara Carter still run weekly music events at nearby 
Hiltons, Virginia, and June owns the house
 that her father, Ezra, built for his family.

 ``Press On'' also offers exhaustive liner notes and more than two dozen photos of 
June and her family and friends from over the
 years. ``It was like they let me write a book,'' she said. ``People are going to 
know me better.''

 June, the middle of three sisters, has been in showbiz all her life. She first 
performed with the Carter Family, then with her
 mother and sisters, Helen and Anita, after the group broke up. The acknowledged 
family jokester, she also did comedy
 sketches. One who listened to their radio shows was J.R. Cash, an Arkansas boy who 
later won world renown as Johnny
 Cash.

 JOHNNY AND JUNE

 But the paths of Johnny and June did not cross until the early 1960s, when she 
joined his touring revue and was aghast at his
 prodigious use of alcohol and methamphetamines. She cleaned him up (temporarily) and 
they were wed -- his second, her third
 marriage -- in 1968. The union has resulted in a son, John Carter Cash, who 
co-produced ``Press On.''

 Their extended family consists of seven children, 13 grandchildren and one 
great-grandson. Helen died last year and Anita has
 been in a hospital for six months battling complications from rheumatoid arthritis.

 Among the songs on ``Press On'' is ``Ring of Fire,'' which June sings with banjo and 
guitar accompaniment. First cut by Anita as
 a folk song, it was recorded with Mariachi horns by Cash in 1963 and topped the 
country charts for seven

Elastica news


No twang, but an Elastica news update at the NME site:


http://www.nme.com/newsdesk/19990327130253news.html

b.s.

Bad Company quote, URL


Saw this quote in a Rolling Stone bit on the band's new reunion tour.
My quote of the week.


"The original Bad Company was the soundtrack to a lot of
people's lives," says Rodgers. "I mean, if you listen to
some of the music, a lot of the music, actually, it could be
said that Bad Company is responsible for the population
explosion during the Seventies, because so many kids
were conceived to 'Feel Like Making Love.'"



Complete story at:

http://www.rollingstone.com/sections/news/text/newsarticle.asp?afl=mnewNewsID=7530ArtistID=466origin=news


b.s.

Re: questions, news and a rave

1999-04-26 Thread William F. Silvers




Jim Caliguiri asked:

 I'm pretty sure that it's been mentioned here, but what's the general
 opinion on the new Fountains of Wayne CD? I though there were a couple of
 pretty good tunes in the Cheap Trick/Cars pop/rock vein.

My opinion of UTOPIA PARKWAY is that it's not as immediately accessible and
catchy as their fab first record, but it sounds better with each repeat
listening. It's more "produced' than the first record, and there's a lot of
70's pop references here that are done right rather than sketchily. g The
lyrics reward close repeated listens and are as clever and funny as you'll
find. I'm very jazzed on the record, and it's right there with the best new
pop this year.

b.s.

n.p. Tennessee Ernie Ford SIXTEEN TONS

Re: BR5-49

1999-04-23 Thread William F. Silvers




Professor "not Longhair" Barnard wrote:

 That was a former student, Don.  I'm surprised she didn't say "Professor
 Barnard," which is even more irritating g.

File this tidbit away kids...g

b.s.

Re: Dwight Best of

1999-04-23 Thread William F. Silvers




Neal observed:

  I read in the Dallas paper yesterday that Dwight's version of "Crazy Little
  Thing Called Love" (from that Gap commercial) will appear on his new best of
  collection. 

 Funny isn't it, that a song used exclusively for a TV commericial (thus far)
 falls under the category of "best of."

Strikes me as pretty common that they'll tack on a new, typically unworthy track
onto an artist's best-of release anymore.

What I want to know is what tracks made this best of. I'm usually a lot more
cheesed about what makes it and what doesn't than I am the odd new tune. Doncha
think they'll snag a few sales with that hot new soundbite "single"? I bet they
do.

b.s. who bets "Two Doors Down" or "Lonesome Road"  ain't gonna make that best of,
darn it.

n.p. Neutral Milk Hotel IN THE AEROPLANE...

Re: Updates

1999-04-23 Thread William F. Silvers




Todd Larson wrote:

 But the larger point for me, to say it one more time, is the notion
 of blame.   The conversations here (and Mr. Anonymous' assertion that sucky
 bands are a threat to the roots music movement) is like a bunch of
 restaurant critics suggesting that the sucky Malaysian restaurant should
 shut down before they ruin everyone's taste for the good stuff...

I'm getting sort of lost in these restaurant analogies. g I'm not convinced
that Anonymous' opinion on this, as relayed by Mark Rubin, is valid. IMO, if a
sucky band prevents another more worthwhile band from getting signed/played, I
think the music public is going to figure that out in time. Hopefully those more
worthwhile guys kept their day jobs and kept practicing. And as Todd said:

 This kind of thinking smacks of an elitism that I can't tolerate -- as if
 the "sucky" bands are doing something they shouldn't be allowed to do, or
 are actually harming the bands a certain cogniscenti deem to be "real"
 (read, band with chops, bands that are sincere, bands that write "good"
 songs, etc. )  If you think a band sucks, fine, but don't blame them for
 turning off audiences from stuff you happen to like better.

While I can't argue that those unfamiliar with a genre will perhaps be repelled
by a bad band, I expect that folks who are interested and curious about music
are gonna be able to sort the wheat from the chaff, and not quit eating bread if
they get a bad loaf. (Uh oh, that food analogy again) Those that aren't aren't
likely to be doing very much more than buying some of the music they hear on the
radio anyway.

As far as "the roots music movement" is concerned,  there's just too many styles
of music under the alt-country big tent to make the argument fly for me, which
is why I don't think comparing it to bluegrass is particularly apt. Haven't many
of the "best" alt-country acts taken pains to distance themselves from the label
anyway?

 TW -- have any of you popsters out there seen Jason Faulkner?  Thinking
 about checking it out tonight, and hoping it won't turn me off from pop
 altogether

Well, I've read very good things about his new record, but I didn't care all
that much for the first one, but I've never seen him, so my advice to you is to
avoid eating Malaysian food at that terrible place I've heard about, though I
wouldn't counsel you to avoid that kind of food altogether. g

b.s.

n.p. Hillman And Pederson BAKERSFIELD BOUND

Re: Clip: Scott Hendricks post-G*rth




Jon J. clipped, I snipped:

 Scott Hendricks
 Ironically, Hendricks had every reason to think that he and Brooks might
 get along. "I mistakenly believed that there was something common there
 because we grew up 50 miles from each other," he remembers. "We used to
 play each other's high school in sports, and we went to the same
 agricultural college.

This just kind of tickled me. I'm sure there's still a strong ag program
there, but I hadn't heard Oklahoma State referred to as an "agricultural
college" since it was Oklahoma AM, years ago, long before Hendricks and the
ball-eater were attending classes.

 "My first meeting with Garth, I said, `I'll never lie to you or kick you
 under the table. I want to be able to have the kind of relationship where
 we can be truthful with each other.' I found he didn't like for me to be
 truthful."

Well, Garth's human after all, eh? g

b.s.

n.p. Mandy Barnett I'VE GOT A RIGHT TO CRY

Re: Updates




Don Yates wrote:

 On Thu, 22 Apr 1999, M Rubin wrote:

  Just added an essay on the "Alt.Country" showings at the recent SXSW
  conference on my homepages, in case anyone was interested.

  http://markrubin.com

 Y'all might do well to check out that provocative li'l essay.  It brings
 up the same kind of troublesome issues surrounding alt-country that we've
 dealt with here from time to time.  Too bad the writer (and no, it's not
 meg) didn't name names.--don

Well, yeah, it is too bad that the writer didn't name names, and while it
might not have seen print otherwise, it's too bad we don't know who wrote it.
There's some stuff there that I'd like to hear specifics on. I saw a couple
of showcases with some stuff I didn't care for, but by and large I enjoyed
myself. Where was this guy?

And y'know, he might not have seen fit to name names, but we could...

Like I said about pop music last week, there's always a lot more mediocre or
worse bands than good or great ones. Do those bands, in whatever genre, drag
that style of music down for the other people playing it? What makes "the
roots music movement" different?

Anonymous asserts:

 The saddest part is the proliferation of these dime a dozen Americana bands
 is what killing the whole roots music movement. The pie is only so big for
 musicians, clubs, labels, and the more slices there are the less
 there is for the folks who really love this music and deserve an opportunity
 to make a living playing it.

So is this really true? And if so, why more so for this music than any other,
where nobody mentions how the lesser-quality bands are spoiling it for
everybody else?

b.s.

Clip- Music Scene


From this week's Riverfront Times.
Does anybody remember this show or seen these vids? It sounds too cool.


 MAKING THE SCENE

  BY ROBERT HUNT

  Call it laziness, call it spring fever, call it a bad dose of pop culture clouding 
my senses, but the stacks
  of new video releases were getting even higher than usual. Some were worth my 
attention; some were
  worse than you can imagine (Spring Break Uncensored, which advertises itself as 
Better than Jerry
  Springer, Howard Stern and MTV combined, or the sexiest action movie of the 
year, Major Rock,
  fighting for truth, justice and the American babes!), but I ignored the good and 
the bad alike. I had
  allowed myself to be distracted  obsessed?  by a tiny piece of pop history. More 
specifically, I
  was watching Bobby Sherman singing Little Woman to a foot-tall dancing woman. 
Those Seijun
  Suzuki reissues would have to wait; I was hypnotized by a short-lived, almost 
forgotten TV series, by
  the shotgun marriage of TV variety shows and Woodstock. For a few brief days, I was 
hooked on
  Music Scene.
Music Scene, which called itself a super concert of the worlds best music, 
premiered in
  September 1969  the same TV season that saw the first episodes of The Brady Bunch, 
Room 222,
  The Bill Cosby Show (the one where he played a gym teacher), The Bold Ones, Then 
Came Bronson,
  Brackens World and (a glimmer of light in the vast wasteland) My World and Welcome 
to It  and
  staked a claim at the bottom of the ratings for four months before finally being 
put out its misery.
  Though Harlan Ellison, whose L.A. Free Press column The Glass Teat is an 
indispensable guide to
  TV during the Nixon years, had kind words for Music Scene (Its so good the 
scythewielder of TV
  attrition will certainly mow it down forthwith, he warned), a recent look at a few 
episodes released by
  MPI Home Video suggests that the show was doomed from the start, a schizophrenic 
shot at creating
  a self-consciously hip TV show at a time when the mediums definition of hipness 
was the bikini-clad
  dancers on Laugh-In (which, incidentally, ran opposite Music Scene).
It should have been easy: Take a popular standup comedian, David Steinberg; add a 
handful of
  young comic performers (including a pre-Laugh-In Lily Tomlin) to perform brief 
sketches; bring on a
  handful of musical acts ranging from Isaac Hayes to the Everly Brothers, from Janis 
Joplin to Eydie
  Gorme; and wrap the whole thing around the Billboard Top 10 list for the week. 
Watching the
  occasionally delightful, occasionally excruciating but almost always interesting 
episodes of Music Scene
  30 years after they first aired, its rapid path to self-destruction is easy to 
chart. First came the obvious
  contradiction of trying to showcase new rock music while the charts were topped by 
the likes of
  Sugar, Sugar (one episode offers a quirky gospel arrangement of the Archies 
bubble-gum hit, which
  held the No. 1 spot the entire month of the series premiere) and aforementioned 
teen idol Sherman
  (who appears five times on the eight tapes, once to the obvious disgust of host 
Steinberg). It certainly
  couldnt have helped that ABC positioned the show against two ratings champs, 
Laugh-In and
  Gunsmoke, or that it was an irregular 45 minutes long, part of a network 
experiment. By late October,
  the show had recruited the then-controversial Tommy Smothers to offer his 
counterculture imprimatur
  while muttering a few staggeringly unfunny Nixon jokes in a stony haze. (This 
episode also features one
  of the strangest musical moments: Merle Haggard singing Okie from Muskogee on a 
dark
  front-porch set  complete with hound dog  that slowly turns out to be completely 
surrounded by a
  hundred or so small flags.) By the final episode  which includes one of the 
brightest moments in the
  series, an obviously unrehearsed interview with Groucho Marx  the comedy troupe 
has been
  disbanded and the Billboard chart ignored, and a resigned Steinberg, with just a 
hint of bitterness,
  signs off.
Each of the eight tapes released by MPI includes a complete episode, a 
half-dozen-or-so extra
  musical performances (the producers reportedly taped extra performances so that 
they could adapt
  each show to the changes in the Billboard chart) and one of a series of commercial 
spots featuring the
  Rolling Stones (though, curiously, neither the Stones nor Howard Hesseman, who 
appears in one of
  the ads with them, was ever on the series). The musical performances are uneven, of 
course, from the
  bland Gary Puckett to a sloppy but lively Sly and the Family Stone, from a 
lip-synched Three Dog
  Night turning Elis Coming into an unintentionally hysterical comedy sketch to a 
typically laid-back
  Roger Miller obligingly walking through a goofy cartoon set singing King of the 
Road, but as cultural
  relics of the tail end of the 60s, theyre priceless.
MPI

Re: Radney Foster




Jeff Weiss wrote:

 At 11:43 AM 4/22/99 EDT, you wrote:
 
 Saw that Radney is playing in NYC next week.  Several questions come
 to mind:
 
 -is this in support of a new album?
 -is this an industry gig to get re-signed?

 yes and he's on Arista and the record is coming out 5/18.

 -any idea who his band is?

 nope

 but his brief performance at Stubbs, cust short by the worst f'n rain I
 have ever been caught in, was the highlight of my SXSW '99 experience.

He really was good, wasn't he? He'd have had to have been to get me to stand out
there with y'all in that stuff. g Not that I'm surprised, but the new record
is, um, different from anything much he's done solo or with Bill Lloyd.
I found a promo copy of it at Amoeba in SF last fall, and I'm relieved that it's
not gonna be a collectors item. Honest.

b.s.

KC area festival (was Re: MN bluegrass/old-time festival)

1999-04-21 Thread William F. Silvers


Just an excuse to piggy-back onto Jon's festival heads-up with a URL for
one in the KC area, in just two weeks:

http://www.santafetrails.org/index.html



The Santa Fe Trails Bluegrass Festival will feature The Del McCoury
Band (Friday night 5/7) and Ricky Skaggs. (Saturday night 5/8) The Freight
Hoppers will play both nights.

b.s.

Re: Single Most Influential 20th Century Pop Musician

1999-04-20 Thread William F. Silvers




lance davis wrote:

 Or, you could say Louis Jordan, who may qualify as the 20th Century's most
 influential performer that most people tend to forget. His impact in the
 black community was especially remarkable, and the list of performers who
 consider him a PRIMARY influence include: Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, BB King,
 James Brown, and Nat Cole. I believe he had 17 number one hits between 1947
 and the birth of rock 'n' roll, and it was his misfortune to be black at a
 time when blacks were rarely able to translate their influence into dollars
 and cents. Louis Jordan is THE link between the swing music of the '30's and
 the rock 'n' roll of the '50's. Was it jazz? Was it RB? Was it really just
 rock 'n' roll? Whatever you wanna call it, his jumpin music has stood the
 test of time even if his name hasn't.

Amen, Lance. And Louis Jordan's not forgotten in these parts, at least not when
the best, most consistent local public radio show for a number of years, "The
Saturday Night Fish Fry", begins every show with that song. (On both Friday and
Saturday nights)
Still, I think you've managed to merge two long threads into "the single most
criminally underrecognized influential 20th century pop musician." Good job! g

b.s.

n.p. Love Nut BALTIMUCHO!

Re: Wilco @ Pearl Street

1999-04-20 Thread William F. Silvers




Tom Stoodley noted in response to Kevin Fredette's observation:

  Maybe Tweedy's getting road burnout, but for most of the evening, he
  looked like he'd rather be almost anywhere but onstage.  I know life on
  tour can be a drag, but am I expecting too much when I think a performer
  should at least try to look like they're having a good time?

 He did look pretty tired.  I'm willing to write that off as a by-product
 of the strange zigzags the East Coast swing is taking, which necessitate a
 lot more road time than might otherwise be necessary.

Joe Gracey replied:

 I can't recall one time in my life when the road hassles spilled over
 onto our stage performance. After all, that's where it all becomes
 worthwhile. I'd say it sounds more like Tweedy just doesn't like to
 perform much, or he'd snap out of it and enjoy himself.

and Chad Cosper noted:


 thinking about all of the Wilco and UT shows I have seen, I
 began to wonder how much of this is posturing.  He seemed to really be
 enjoying himself onstage with UT and on the AM tour, but beginning with
 Being There, he seems to have become the disenchanted rock star.

The issue of what kind of performance and stage demeanor a performer "owes" an
audience and their best presentation of their work is an important one to me.
I've heard some bad stories about Tweedy's petulant stage demeanor, though
I've never seen it myself. But how the audience's bad behavior affects the
performance needs to be taken into account. At the recent Steve Earle/Del
McCoury Band show, Steve got into it with the apparently drunken guy who kept
shouting for "Copperhead Road".
Earle worked it into his performance (sort of annoyingly to me-I couldn't hear
him in front but apparently Earle could), staring at the guy during songs,
walking to that side of the stage away from the action, refusing to just let
it go. Finally he had to let the guy have it "did you really think I wasn't
gonna play this you stupid %^$#@!?" but Tom had previously said to Kevin's
observation:

  He finally broke out of his funk when he got pissed off at a couple of
  drunks in the front row.  They wanted him to speed up "New Madrid", so
  he deliberately slowed it down to spite them.  The rest of the audience
  got a kick out of it, and it was the most engaged I'd seen Tweedy all
  evening.

 I'm glad he said something to them; they'd been pretty obnoxious
 throughout the show.  (From what I could tell, they'd driven down from
 Ottowa and presumably are following the band for a few shows at least.)
 Jumped up on stage to dance during "Hesitating Beauty", tried to put a hat
 on Jeff's head while he was playing (which he did *not* appreciate),
 pestered Jay to smoke more, threw t-shirts up on the stage...I'm glad they
 enjoy the band, but there's a fine line between being a fan and being a
 nuisance.  Did anyone see why the security guy dove at one of them from
 across the stage during the encore?  I think he was confiscating recording
 gear, but there were a couple of people in the way and I couldn't clearly
 see what was going on.

 Tweedy actually stopped the song completely:  "You know, I don't care how
 fucking far you drove to see us.  You don't give the band directions."

And really, for me, that sort of sums it up. Abstaining Tom caught these
details about these guys, and I wonder how much patience on-the-wagon Tweedy
needed to have with these obnoxious idiots. If the club can't take steps to
quiet, or remove drunken-stupid patrons who are disrupting the performance, I
can't blame the performer for getting pissed-off enough about it to "break
character", so to speak.

b.s.

Re: Hey KC? Frogpond?

you wrote:
Just heard a song by Frogpond on bravenewworld.net
and it was really
something special in a twangless, indie pop sort of way. Anyone know
anything
about 'em? Cantwell? Do you dip in this part of the local-music pool?

Wowee. I love when this happens.
I've never seen 'em Neal. Here's some info from the local music scene site:

Frogpond

Members:
Heidi Phillips - Vocals, Guitars
Justine Volpe - Bass, Vocals
Billy Johnson - Drums

Website:
http://home.earthlink.net/~sjbentley/

Email :
[EMAIL PROTECTED]

Contact/Booking:

Columbia Recording artists Frogpond was formed nearly five years ago in Warrensburg, MO. Heidi Phillips created
the band as a way to explore her emotional and deeply personal music. After releasing their first recorded offering
(the hard to find 2%) they came to the attention of R.E.M.'s Mike Mills, who asked them to play the after-party for
the final stop of the Monster tour in Athens, GA. From there, Frogpond was picked up by Tri-Star Music. (A division
of Sony Music, which has since merged with Columbia Records).

To record their major-label debut, Frogpond asked Everclear's Art Alexakis to produce the album. Recorded at
Butch Vig's (Garbage) Smart Studios, the 12 song result Count to Ten landed Frogpond rave reviews in the music
press both home and abroad.

The supporting tour landed Frogpond shows with such acts as Nada Surf, No Doubt, Pansy Division, and more.
(Kansas City pop favorites, TV Fifty joined the last legs of the tour, creating a truly amazing live show).

Frogpond is currently finishing up their self-titled follow-up to Count to Ten, which should be available in early 1999.

Former members of Frogpond include Tawni Freeland (The Glitter Kicks) and Kristie Stremel (Exit 159)

Re: Clip-Mandy Barnett




Geff King wrote:

 On Mon, 19 Apr 1999, William F. Silvers wrote:

   Mandy Barnett Has No Tears in Her Beer
  
   Three years ago, when she was just twenty
   years old, Mandy Barnett was prepared to
   shake the foundations of country music with
   the release of her self-titled debut album. With
   a powerful voice of stunning intensity and
   precision that seemed to be channeling both
   Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn,

 OHHH! HE SAID IT!! HE SAID IT
 FORTY LASHES - No, FIFTY.

Now Geff, weren't me that channelled, er, said it. g
The interview was the good stuff, the rest a turkey shoot.

b.s.

n.p. Stacey Dean Campbell HURT CITY

Clip-Mandy Barnett


 Mandy Barnett Has No Tears in Her
 Beer

 Three years ago, when she was just twenty
 years old, Mandy Barnett was prepared to
 shake the foundations of country music with
 the release of her self-titled debut album. With
 a powerful voice of stunning intensity and
 precision that seemed to be channeling both

 Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, Mandy was
 declared the Next Big Thing in country music.
 But before the first clap could hit, her thunder
 was immediately calmed by the Next Bigger
 Thing, the thirteen-year-old LeAnn Rimes. Now
 she's back, and this time Barnett's a force to
 be reckoned with. With a legendary producer
 on board and a remarkable, nostalgic wonder
 of an album, I've Got a Right to Cry, Mandy
 proves she doesn't care what Nashville thinks.

 Reintroducing the singer to Nashville is the
 late, great Owen Bradley, legendary producer
 of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Widely
 credited for the growth of the Nashville sound,
 Owen helped to shape Mandy's career,
 grounding her in the traditional golden days
 and ways of country's past. With Owen's
 brother, Harold, and nephew, Bobby, Mandy
 consulted notes left behind by Owen to finish
 the album. And now, with the surefire backing
 power of nine elderly gents that sound like the
 Grand Ole Opry incarnate but look like
 Lawrence Welk's orchestra, the
 cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling,
 twenty-three-year-old beauty is heralding a
 return to country music's good old days and
 ready to give Nashville a good slap upside the
 head.

 Your songs definitely conjure up an era
 when the likes of Hank Williams and Patsy
 Cline dominated the country music circuit.
 Who inspires you musically?

 I've had several musical influences. I started
 out in, being from the south with southern
 gospel music, singing in the church, and a lot
 of the singing groups from the fifties, like the
 Blackwood Brothers and the Stamps and
 different groups like that. Then, later on, I got
 into Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Brenda Lee, and
 Wilma Burgess. To put it in a nutshell, the
 Nashville sound has been one of the biggest
 influences on my life and on my music, and
 not just Patsy Cline. When I say the Nashville
 sound, I mean from Patsy Cline to Ernest
 Tubb to Conway Twitty. The thing about the
 Nashville sound is it's a perfect blend of pop
 standards and country. So I listened a lot to
 Ella Fitzgerald and that kind of thing. And
 some swing.

 You make a striking image fronting a
 gang of older musicians. What's your
 all-male band like?

 They're great! They're the nicest guys I've ever
 known. And there's some of them I've worked
 with for years and years. There's one guy in
 the band, Jason Bells. We played shows
 together when we were about nine and ten
 years old. Incredible banjo player, incredible
 rhythm player. And Harold Bradley, who
 co-produced the record with me, and
 [drummer] Buddy Harman [Cline, Johnny
 Cash, Roger Miller] ... They're two living
 legends.

 Owen Bradley was responsible for some
 of country's biggest hits. How did he help
 shape your music?

 The thing that was just so inspiring about
 Owen was that he just picked such great
 songs, and he just really knew how to get
 inside of you and pick the right kind of songs
 for you and the right kind of arrangement. He
 was all in it to make you sound like you're
 supposed to sound, to find the perfect sound
 for you.

 What is the most important thing you
 learned from him?

 Always to do great songs no matter what
 people are doing, no matter what trends there
 are, no matter what gimmicks people have.
 Always do quality music.

 How do you pick songs that you want to
 sing? Before Owen helped, but does the
 label select the songs now?

 No, I usually pick most of the songs and when
 we were doing the record, I brought a lot of
 songs to the table. I always had a good ear for

 what I can sing -- it's just finding it. I've gone
 down to the archives at the Country Music Hall
 of Fame, and I've gone to record stores, and
 I've gone to publishing companies and looked
 at their older catalogs. Because, in Nashville,
 really what I'm doing isn't exactly what's
 popular right now, so the writers aren't writing
 a slew of songs that sound like "I've Got a
 Right to Cry." I have to go back a little bit. I try
 not to find songs that have been cut to death,
 songs that are so obvious. I try to find songs
 that ... well, there are some of those album
 cuts that really didn't maybe have a chance, or
 if they were hits, it was years and years ago,
 and they haven't been heard from since.

 You played the role of Patsy Cline for over
 two years in the musical tribute Always ...
 Patsy Cline. Are the comparisons to her
 getting burdensome?

 No. I think that when people tell me that I
 sound similar to Patsy Cline that they can tell
 that I've been influenced by her, and it's true --
 I have been influenced by her tremendously,
 but I'm not a Patsy Cline imitator. I'm pretty
 much just doing what

You Am I (was Re: Underappreciated (long))




Chris Hill wrote re Steve Kirsch's note:

  --You Am I--"Hi Fi Way"--the second album by these Aussies, where they
  turn down the Stooges, turn up The Jam and get spectacular results.
 
 Next to Afghan Whigs  Curve, THE best concert I saw last year.
 The lead singer has a charisma that controls a crowd like none
 I've seen, and the band's energy is palpable.  I kick myself for the
 number of their Seattle shows I've missed, and vow it'll never
 happen again.  Amazing show.  I tend to prefer the third album,
 _Hourly, Daily_ and the 4th, _#4 Record_, to their rawer first
 two.

I picked up HI FI WAY a couple of years ago and it didn't do much for me- I
resold it. Late last year I stumbled over a copy of You Am I's most recent #4
RECORD, and it's great. It would certainly been one of my top 10 pop records
last year if I'd heard it longer. HOURLY, DAILY's out of print, but I managed
to locate a copy on ther net and I'm hoping it'll be in today's mail.
Roomie Dave went out and bought a copy of HI FI WAY, and while it's not the
equal of the new record, it's much better than I remembered.

b.s.

n.p. Mandy Barnett I'VE GOT A RIGHT TO CRY

Re: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s




Jake London asked:

 Well, I was laying in bed last night struggling to fall asleep when it
 dawned on me that this would be a good thread to throw out to the list,
 given that the '90s are almost over, and people on this listserve seem to
 love making lists.


Hey, I resemble that remark.

 What are the 5 most criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s?

Seems to me like you could probably look at any P2 best of the year list and
pick out likely targets pretty fast.Me, I'd start with Mike Ireland 
Holler's LEARNING HOW TO LIVE. Sure, it was big *here*, but.
Then I'd add Cheri Knight's THE KNITTER, which sold even fewer copies last I
heard. (Sure the recent one's better, but just sayin') But sales alone
probably isn't the best criteria. I'd add the Posies FROSTING ON THE BEATER,
dismissed by too many pop critics and fans as a betrayal of the pure
Hollies-clone pop of DEAR 23, but in fact an even better record that
successfully merged the early 90's guitar sounds (you know, "before grunge
became an epithet" as Tom Krueger once said) from up your way with the Posies
exemplary melodies and harmonies. It's always seemed to me that the Blood
Oranges never really got their due, despite "our" appreciation of them. All
the records are at least very good, but THE CRYING TREE should be considered
a landmark for whatever you wanna call alternative country the way ANODYNE or
STILL FEEL GONE are.
And to return to Seattle pop, (sorry) I'm a big fan of Super Deluxe, who are
dismissed as sort-of trashy and faux by most folks, but both records, FAMOUS,
and VIA SATELLITE deserve more respect Not everything works, but there are
tunes on both records that just thrill me.

 A plain list seems fine to me. But if you're inclined, a paragraph
 justifying each choice is even better.

Or a couple of pages Jake...g

b.s.

Frosting On The Beater(was re: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s)




Jerry Curry wrote, re: my booming of FROSTING...

 Bill, No more"Can I get a witness?" requests for you.

Aw Jerry, c'mon. If we pop-geeks can't close ranks we'll go the way of the
dinosaur. g

   As for _Frosting._, I find the
 sonic dissonance (along, with the heinous masturbation reference of the
 title) to be damn near a betrayal of everything I thought the band was
 about.

"heinous"? Shoot, everybody does it Jerry. g

 That record basically, made me lose a lot of faith in The Posies.  Faith,
 I never ever fully recovered.

You and many other people I've heard from, as I said.

  Funny, we were just talking about this
 very same subject on the Audities poplist but we could discuss it
 philosophically.

And we can't?

  The consensus is that the Posies received so much grief
 about being "uncool" in a town enraptured with grunge, that they altered
 their sound.  It's a real bitch when you dig a type of music that either
 1) was never considered "cool" or 2) is now considered passe'.

Well, my house-mate Dave's on that list and he sent me some of that. He sent a clip
that I thought pretty effectively countered that "consensus", which I unfortunately
don't have here at work.

Here's a clip from Scott Miller, of Game Theory/Loud Family anonymity, that doesn't
exactly speak for me, but says it well:


 The Posies probably shape my ongoing impression of '90s music more than any
 other group. I loved Nirvana, but to me most grunge bands seemed kind of
 purposefully backward-looking--a cross between early seventies Black Sabbath
 and mid-eighties abrasive hardcore stuff like Big Black. And nothing like "low-fi" or
 "electronica" or any of the hip-hop variations has struck my ears as being new and
 innovative.

 FROSTING ON THE BEATER is to my thinking a state-of-the-art record. It's the
 benchmark for that ultra-compressed '90s sound, which not everyone loves, but for
 better or worse nobody ever used to make records that sounded like that because
 the technology and the know-how just weren't there yet. Which is not to say it's
 just the production and mixing. They're extremely innovative with their guitar
 tunings, and the vocal harmonies are very sweet while at the same time having a
 sort of cinematic pathos to them. All their albums are terrific but that's the one 
that
 places them in my perception of history.


I miss the Posies and hope to goodness, they one day reform and revisit

 those heady _Dear 23_ days.


Well, I miss 'em too, and if it meant that I was stuck hearing DEAR 23 again, I
think I could adjust, he said with tongue squarely in cheek.

 Sorry Bill, we'll have to chalk this one up to our rather severe "edgy
 pop" vs "lush pop" asthetic taste differences.

Exactly. But we agree plenty too, and it's fun speaking the language.
I know I broke off our engagement Jerry, but can't we still be friends? g

b.s.

n.p. Del McCoury Band- THE FAMILY (sure I finally bought it)

Re: Frosting On The Beater(was re: criminally underappreciated albums of the '90s)




Don Yates wrote:

 On Fri, 16 Apr 1999, William F. Silvers forwarded this:

  Here's a clip from Scott Miller, of Game Theory/Loud Family anonymity,
  that doesn't exactly speak for me, but says it well:

Boy, I guess maybe I shoulda stood back just_a_bit further from this maybe?
g

  And nothing like "low-fi" or "electronica" or any of the
   hip-hop variations has struck my ears as being new and innovative.

I *knew* this sentence was a red flag. I didn't edit it out from my clip,
though.I'd love to see you and Scott Miller debate it. Coupla pretty smart
guys.
But I don't hold this sentence up as my feelings on the matter.

The guy's wrong.

 OK, that does it.  Power pop has to be one of the most retrogressive rock
 styles imaginable.  Most power pop bands pale in comparison to the old
 bands they obviously emulate and most often rip-off, the Beatles, Big
 Star, etc.

Well, there's always a lot more mediocre or worse purveyors of whatever form
than interesting ones."Retrogressive" or "rip-off" are value-loaded
expressions, and it seems you don't place much value on this genre.
I mean, aren't (to name just a few) Paul Burch or Wayne Hancock or Dale Watson
or the Derailers (or most any bluegrass artist true to that genre)
"retrogressive" or "rip-offs" by the same token?

 It doesn't surprise me that popheads like Scott Miller can't
 find anything new or innovative in hip hop, or in much anything else it
 seems besides his own little musical world.  What's most hilarious is that
 *real* pop music left him in the dust decades ago.  That's 'cuz -- unlike
 power poppers -- most folks have no problem appreciating modern black
 music.  Jeez, talk about an insular musical universe -- most popheads act
 like black music doesn't even exist, or if it does, it's certainly not as
 "new and innovative" as their pasty-white Beatles imitations.  Whatta
 buncha self-deluded nonsense.  Hell, at least the Beatles knew that pop
 also encompassed black music (one important point that passes most power
 poppers by).

No doubt, the genre is insular. I guess I don't see how that's necessarily a
bad thing. I think folks play, or listen to, what pleases them aesthetically.
Dismissing musical forms because they don't appeal much to you is a natural,
if unadventurous, part of the process. And isn't that what you're doing with
"power pop"?

But yeah, Miller's been at it for 15-some years, two "different" bands, making
records distinguishable from one another more to fans than anybody else. g
His statement is pretty ignorant. Whether that's intentional or not I have no
idea.

  As for the Posies, we always thought they were a buncha
 wussies up here in the NW, even when they pretended to "rock."--don

Well, Marie, er, Don g, Mister "Midwest Pussy Boys", (a badge we're now
wearing proudly, damn it!) I think the "power pop" genre in general, and the
Posies in particular with their sweet, dreamy at times harmonies, invite this
sort of macho bluster.And on the other hand folks like Jerry can't forgive 'em
for cranking up and abandoning the "wussier" stuff.
"Pretended to rock". Oh, whatever...g

b.s.
n.p. Dan Kibler CAPSULE

Re: RantPowerpop/Rant




Don replied to Jerry:

  Before I get into the ethnic *purity* arguement, let me address the
  same-old, tired-ass, application of the "wimp" label to powerpop bands.
  That's the kind of Bullshit that makes most popgeeks feel some kind of
  inferiority complex.

 But they are inferior, aren't they?g--don

Oh. Watch him beg off his June payback Jerry, claiming his s/o can't make
it.

b.s.

Re: Two Things

1999-04-15 Thread William F. Silvers




Jerry Curry wrote:

 Second, the V-roys opening for Cheap Trick?  Holy moly..I can't hardly
 imagine a better double bill.  Silvers, can I get a witness?

This relying on me for backup's getting old Jerry...you're not paying enough.
g

And I'm sure I would co-sign on your assessment of that bill, but the V-Roys
have never seen to venture here, the "Heart of America", much to my dismay. In
fact, I'm a little surprised that they've agreed to cross the mighty
Mississippi for Twangfest, though I'm damn glad they are. The V-Roys are my
favorite current-band-I've-never-seen-live, with the Beatifics and your pal
Walter Clevenger a close second and third.

Geez, is there anybody in the TN/KY/AL/GA/MS area who hasn't had a half-dozen
chances (at least) to see these guys?

As for Cheap Trick, well, I wish I liked last year's record better, but
there's no doubt they'll rock the house.
That braided goatee of Rick Neilsen's scares me though. g

c'mon, c'mon,
b.s.
just another MPB

p.s. Robbie Fulks and Fear and Whiskey at the Bottleneck in Lawrence tonight.
Decent double-bill, eh? bg

Re: speaking of clips

1999-04-15 Thread William F. Silvers




Carl Zimring wrote:

 http://www.pghcitypaper.com/buzz.htm has an interview with Deliberate
 Stranger Tom Moran  a photo of the band.

Nice article, but no Twangfest plug? g

Sniffing around that site, I noticed this clip-

Monday, April 19

 Heather Myles is one country artist who doesn't believe in all that
 pop-Shania Twain nonsense. And thank goodness for that.
 Myles, on Highways  Honky Tonks (Rounder), also steers clear
 of saccharine Music Row tendencies. She performs tonight at the
 A.J. Palumbo Center, Uptown, before John Anderson.

I was lucky and saw her at the Continental Club the Friday of SXSW. She
was terrific, and I'd not pass up a chance to see her if she was playing
in *my* town. Didja say the venue's an arena though?

any chance for a HM plug,
b.s.

Re: Anna Egge and High Fidelity

1999-04-15 Thread William F. Silvers




CK wrote:

 Anna Egge is an Austin singer songwriter (via New Mexico and North
 Dakota) - plays solo acoustic live, a bit more instrumentation on her
 CDs. She tends to get grouped with folks like Iris Dement - mostly
 slower, sadder songs wrapped around great stories - beautiful voice too.
 Check her out.

Sounds good, I'll keep it in mind.

But the really important question that's been bugging me on this score...
How do you pronounce the good Ms. Egge's name?

Egg-y? Edgy? Edge?

leggo my curiosity,
b.s.
doing my taxes...yeah yeah. g

Clip-Columbia MO Saturday

1999-04-14 Thread William F. Silvers


From today's Riverfront Times-


 DERBY DAY: The Missouri Derby is this Saturday, April 17, in Columbia, Mo., and 
should be an
  amazing day of music: Seven Days, Robbie Fulks, Rubberoom, BR5-49, Guided by Voices 
and
  the Flaming Lips. All live, all day long, on the Mizzou campus, south quad. Just 
look for the big
  dome, and youll find the Derby in the back. Free. This was a late tip; at press 
time, there was no
  news on when the music starts. For more info, call 573-882-3780. What are you 
waiting for? Ill see
  you there. (RR)

Re: Falkner (was RE: A Fine Release Out Today (Twangless))




Christopher Hill answered Jerry:

  PS: Anyone captivated by the new Jason Faulkner?


 Listening to this now, after seeing him open for
 Mercury Rev Sunday.  It's still sinking in as an
 album, but "My Lucky Day" and "Eloquence"
 are brilliant, brilliant pop gems.  A good follow-on
 from his previous work.  Haven't heard his first solo,
 but it sounds very Jellyfish (w/o the Beatles/Queen
 bombast) and Grays-ish.

Well, I haven't heard the new Falkner, and wasn't in a hurry to because
his first one did nothing for me. It's not terrible, it's just pretty
thoroughly uncompelling. (He produced the record and most of the noises
on it himself and I think that was a mistake)  Pop-geek roomie (another
audities lister) says he thinks I'd like the new record though, so we'll
see.

Chris, if you like Jellyfish w/o the Queen sound, try their first
record, BELLYBUTTON. It's the second, (sans Falkner-with yesterday's P2
hero Jon Brion) SPILT MILK, that veers that direction. ("Joining A
Fanclub" is great fun, IMO)

b.s.

n.p. The Jam SOUND AFFECTS/ALL MOD CONS

Semisonic (was Re: Clip: Something to Crow about)




Brad Bechtel clipped, then I snipped:

 That doesn't mean her Monday night show at Oakland's Paramount Theater (she plays 
again Tuesday) was the equivalent of an arm-wrestling takedown. But it did have some 
great moments, and Crow turned in a solid star turn.

 Before she even began, it seemed highly possible that Crow's opening act, the 
Minneapolis power-pop trio Semisonic, could blow her off the stage. Always engaging 
to the point of inciting riots, Semisonic began playing to near-empty house (damn 
those 8 p.m. start times!) but by the end of their hefty 50-minute set, had the 
swelling crowd on its feet.

 Frontman Dan Wilson, bass player John Munson and drummer Jacob Slichter - all gifted 
musicians - play with the ferocity of a garage band, but with a joy and sense of 
humor those groups lack. Their songs are acutely melodic, and loaded with creative 
metaphors befitting the brainy Ivy Leaguers they are ("Shaking my mind like an 
Etch-A-Sketch erasing").

 Especially good were the euphoric "Singing in my Sleep," the sweet/sexy "D.N.D.," 
and the screwball rocker "F.N.T." The bespectacled Wilson seems representative of the 
new model of the Hot American Male - more brainy than brawny, sexual yet sensitive. 
The girlish squeals in the audience every time Wilson moved a hip joint proved this 
theory.

Semisonic's one of the best bands around, whatever the genre. *Great* live show and 
very high quality pop music with a brain.
Last year's FEELING STRANGELY FINE is a good record, ubiquitous hit single ("Closing 
Time") notwithstanding. 1996's GREAT DIVIDE is one of the best records of the past few 
years, chock full of great songs, and not a lemon in the bunch.

No more pop from me today, promise. g

b.s.

Ricky Nelson recommendation?


For a long time I've wanted to pick up a Ricky Nelson recording, but
I've been confused as to where to start, not to mention that his stuff
is only rarely in retail stock.

Music Guide recommendations (I checked the AMG and Music Hound) vary a
bit. Both mention the now out of print LEGENDARY MASTERS on EMI America
as the one to get. As for in print stuff there's a single disc ROCKIN
WITH RICKY on Ace available as an import, though I've read that a the
two records RICKY NELSON VOLUME 1 and 2 are more complete and just 5 or
6 bucks more than that single Ace disc.

Any opinions on where to go for this hole in my collection?

thanks,
b.s.

Re: Curry and the Clash (was Re: Weller's Prime




Don Yates wrote:

 On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, Jerry Curry wrote:

  The Clash did absolutely nothing for me.  I NEVER understood the critic's
  fascination with this group and I absolutely never understood my cohort's
  slavish devotion to them either.

 Ya know, a few years ago I would've given Curry a good thrashing for the
 above remarks, but I have to admit their music has not aged well.  Yeah,
 their politics were generally admirable, but smart politics don't
 necessary equate to good songs -- most of Strummer's lyrics now sound
 unbearably awkward and painfully obvious to these ears, and later Clash
 albums like Sandinista and Combat Rock are unlistenable.

There's good, even great tunes on SANDINISTA, ("Police On My Back", "Somebody
Got Murdered", "Hitsville, U.K.", "Charlie Don't Surf" to start) but you have
to work to find 'em. (Reminds me of BEING THERE that wayg)COMBAT ROCK is two
essentially novelty songs, granted.

  Of all the early British
 punk bands, I think the Pistols have aged the best.--don

Matter of taste, but this seems like in a sense you're penalizing the Clash for
standing for something (and that message aging) while rewarding the Sex Pistols
for basically standing for nothing, nothing but themselves anyway. "The only
band that matters"? Well, maybe not, and the message was articulated better
earlier in their career, but I don't think it aged so badly as that some of it
was awkward to start with. And wasn't the tension between Strummer/message and
Jones/music a contributor to the late bloat and eventual split-up anyhow?

b.s.

n.p. THE SEBADOH (here Friday)

b.s.

Re: Weller's Prime




Morgan Keating teased:

 A precursor to the Blur vs. Oasis battle??? g  That shit made headlines
 in the UK no doubt...  Yikes!  OK, got to end this thread now...

Blur and Oasis combined  (and I own the first Oasis record, and 4 1/2 Blur
records) don't equal the qualitative output of either the Jam or the Clash
separately. As far as that's concerned, Supergrass and Radiohead beat the
much more hyped duo you mention. (Though I'm keeping an eye on Radiohead that
way...) And yeah, I know you were teasing, but I wonder sometimes at the
overheated British press.

Anybody ever hear that 3rd Sleeper record that never got released here...um,
never mind. g

b.s. who can't believe he's confessing to britpop here...g

Re: Rhonda Vincent and the Rage




Jon Weisberger wrote:

 Oh, boy, a chance to talk about one of my favorite girl singers.

  I love Rhonda's voice and how she sings with Ron is killer!!  History
  please?!?  I have two of her CD's, Yesterday and Today and The Sally
  Mountain Show, but I would like more of her progressive stuff.

 The notes to Yesterday and Today give a history of sorts, at least of the
 Sally Mountain Show.  I'm assuming the CD reference is to Bound For
 Gloryland, their last album for Rebel.  She did 3 solo albums for Rebel
 before that: New Dreams And Sunshine, A Dream Come True and Timeless And
 True Love.  They're all outstanding, with a mix of pretty straightforward
 bluegrass (though nothing quite as hard-driving as what the Rage is doing
 these days) and country stuff, with pedal steel, piano, drums, etc.; if I
 had to rank them, I'd say New Dreams and Timeless And True are just a hair
 ahead of A Dream Come True, but just by a hair.  All of them are well worth
 having.

I've got A DREAM COME TRUE, like it real well, and now I'll think harder about
looking for these others.

 Rhonda also made two contemporary country albums for BNA in 1994 and 1996.
 Written In The Stars has some great material and some good pickers, but the
 production isn't especially sympathetic, and it drags down the whole thing
 (that's not just my opinion, but hers as well).  Trouble Free, the second
 one, is a dandy album unless you have a real kneejerk reaction to
 "Nashvegas."  The songs are very strong, the picking is great, and the
 singing is just awesome, mostly Rhonda and her brother Darrin, who's in
 Ricky Skaggs' band.  There's also a real solid duet with Randy Travis, and
 Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton both make appearances.  For what it's worth,
 Trouble Free barely snuck onto the P2 Best Of 1996 list, coming in at #39
 (out of 47).  It may be hard to find, but it's well worth looking for.

And I'd wondered about the more recent stuff. Dunno...g

 Rhonda's got a web page at http://www.nemr.net/~rhondav/ , which she's
 pretty good about keeping updated, and Julie Yocum has a page on Rhonda at
 http://www.vicon.net/~juliay/Rhonda.html .

And that page talks about her working on a new bluegrass project on Rounder.
I'll keep the site and the release in mind. Thanks Jon.

b.s.

Re: Big Star




CK wrote:

 Hey there,

 Given...
 *5/6:  BIG STAR AT METRO!

 I _think_ this is close to the original line up.

Jody Stephens and Alex Chilton anyway. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow of the
late Posies fill out the band. They did a live record (for a show they did
at MU in 1993) that's pretty good, and I'd certainly see them if *I* had the
chance. (sniff)

 Any thoughts on whether
 this will be an amazing chance to see a reunited band or a pathetic wank
 or somewhere in between? I saw Alex Chilton a few years back and it was
 pretty damn cool. Thanks.

Ida been more worried about Chilton solo than the above band CK. But who
knows.

b.s.



 Later...
 CK
 Just because nobody understands you doesn't mean you're an artist.

 ___
 You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
 Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
 or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]

Re: Japanese hipsterism....

1999-04-08 Thread William F. Silvers


Junior quips:

 Buford said:

  I work with a couple of Japanese gals who are just as cute and
  botch the English language just as badly. I think I'll round them up,
  pull a Malcolm McLaren, and get them to sing my new hit songs
  "My Dog Like Vanilla Ice Cream" and "Red Car Go Fast Ha! Ha!
  Ha!"

 No, you're getting this all confused.  That band was *Elastica* and
 they were really great!!.

Grrr. Now, don't be ragging on Elastica, who seem to have played their last
gig in the Bermuda triangle.They *were* really great, if as derivative as
it could possibly get.

Oh, hey, now I see your Japanese analogy. g

b.s.
n.p. The Wandering Eyes

Elastica (was Re: Japanese hipsterism....)

1999-04-08 Thread William F. Silvers




Ph. Barnard wrote:

 I wasn't kidding about Elastica, Bill.  As derivative as they were, I
 thought they were terrific.  Truly

Oops.

 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

Well, I missed 'em in Lawrence, much to my chagrin.

I gotta wonder what that club in Pittsburgh was though. We saw Twangburgh
at Rosebud, a nice place, but there was an interesting looking scene just
next door at (affiliated?) Metropol.

Justine under spooky blue disco lights in Pittsburgh. You make me happy
as a little girl...g

 That Justine whats-her-name, yow!!  Now there's a rock n' roll woman
 g  Too bad they disappeared.

Justine Frischman. Hungarian originally, not that I've paid attention.
g She and insufferable twit Damon Albarn (the new Blur record sucks,
just BTW, and I've been a fan of sorts in the past) are very publicly no
more, so it's really too bad she's single again, eh?

The still going on fumes fan site says they've got a single coming out
soon, BTW...

b.s.

Re: Television Live (and twangless)




Former and future Amy Haugesag wrote:

 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.
 
  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.

Well, your using that quote and verifying it despite how it sounds is reminicent
of what always bothered me about Television. I was a naive little midwestern high
schooler when those Television/Talking Heads/Ramones shows were happening, and of
course I never even saw Television live. The level of hyperbole always seemed to
me disproportionate to the way the records struck me- unique and unquestionably
talented, but relatively sterile and uncompelling. The level (and the *tone*- like
"bluebirds screaming"g) of critical praise given the band was a lot higher than
my esteem for them- I liked MARQUEE MOON, played the heck out of it, but never
fell in love despite trying to. ADVENTURE was even less interesting to me.
Now Talking Heads, well, who'd guess that I liked them sorta OK?
But David Byrne's "Sessions at West 54th" interviews...yow. Makes you long for a
competent interviewer like Charlie Rose or  Craig Kilborn...g

b.s.

n.p. XTC APPLE VENUS VOLUME 1

Derailers release date


According to the website, the new record, FULL WESTERN DRESS, will be
released July 13.

This clipped from there:


 New 3/20/99

  Derailers Have a New CD Coming Out and a New Bass Player

 Brian Hofeldt here.

 We're really excited right now about the new record, and are looking forward to its 
impending
 release. Our manager, told us the release date is July 13th, with a single being 
released to country
 radio in early June.

 The record is going to be called "Full Western Dress." As always, we are asking for 
support
 from our friends and fans by requesting the new Derailers single from their local 
country radio
 station. Also, there will be an accompanying video out soon and would appreciate 
everyone's
 support in requesting that on CMT (it worked great for California Angel by the 
way!!).

 Ed Adkins, our new bass player from a large pool of contenders, will join us in late 
March. We are
 looking forward to his arrival in Austin. I guess you know about our upcoming 
touring schedule
 so that is all the info I have at this time. Once again, thank you all for your 
support.

 Your friend,

 Brian Hofeldt

Re: Best So Far - 99


What the heck, I'll play-

1) Damnations TX- HALF MAD MOON
2) Walter Clevenger and the Dairy Kings- LOVE SONGS TO MYSELF
3) Bill Lloyd- STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
4) Kelly Willis- WHAT I DESERVE
5) Steve Earle and the Del McCoury Band- THE MOUNTAIN
6) Hadacol- BETTER THAN THIS

That's enough for just 3 months.g Still marinating on theWilco record.
Haven't heard the new Fountains of Wayne record, just released yesterday
and getting good pre-release buzz in those circles.

b.s.

Re: Best So Far - 99




Carl added to Junior's question:

  There's also the Tim Carroll due out on Sire later this spring or
  early summer, no??

 Or sometime in the next 300 years.  Carroll's gotten screwed pretty
 badly on a fine album.  I hope it comes out this year.

When I saw Tim Carroll with Lonesome Bob back in February, I asked him about
a release date and he just shook his head and smiled. It's not on the most
recent ICE update. (Through May)

b.s.

Re: Chrissie Hynde in Salon

1999-04-06 Thread William F. Silvers




Slim wondered:

 I heard a great old Pretenders song on 107.1 last week, but cant remember the
 name. The opening line was :
 "I tried to talk to my baby, and said
 Oh oh oh oh baby please dont cry."

 I believe it is from the first or second album. any help?
 It would be a great ummm, cover song for a twang band.

That's "Lovers of Today", from the first record, PRETENDERS. Next to last track,
after "Brass In Pocket" and before "Mystery Achievement".

I love pretending,
b.s.

Television Live (and twangless)

1999-04-06 Thread William F. Silvers


Review/commentary on the re-release of Television's live BLOW-UP record.
Seminal and magical or pretty much overrated, you decide.


http://www.salonmagazine.com/ent/music/review/1999/04/06/verlaine/index.html



b.s.

Re: Ooh, baby, go all the way... (non-twang)

1999-04-02 Thread William F. Silvers




Jon E. Johnson wrote:

  No twang here, but I know that there are more than a few fans of
 power pop on P2, nonetheless.  Word from the Posies list yesterday was
 that the Raspberries are going to be touring this summer with the
 original lineup (who are currently in rehearsals), along with the Knack
 and, on some dates, Cheap Trick.  If you're a power pop fan, make a
 Homer-esque drooling sound at this point.

Knee-jerk reflex reply. g Great news Jon, thanks. With the spectre of the
Stones playing here this weekend, I'm just a little dubious, but just a
little. And that Knack record from last year was very good, better than the
old original stuff in many ways, I'll stand on somebody's table in my
crosstrainers and play air guitar to it. gAnd just by the way, I'm just
now halfway through my first listen to one-time P2er Walter Clevenger's new
record, (LOVE SONGS TO MYSELF, on Permanent Press) and it's terrific. This
may be the pop record of the year, and it's just April 2nd. If his first
record was a Nick Lowe clone, (not that there's anything wrong with that)
this one gets twangier in the same vein. Think of it as the long-awaited
follow up to the first Rockpile album. Great stuff.

b.s.
n.p. Guess what?

Re: Drake (Re: Kelly Willis calling the shots)

1999-04-02 Thread William F. Silvers




James Roll wrote:

 On Fri, 2 Apr 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  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...

 Oh my fucking God does Nick Drake rule!!

 I would do the inevitable and buy the four CD box set.  Personally Pink
 Moon and Bryter Later(sp?) are my favorites . . . but 5 Leaves Left has
 Cello Song (the prettiest song ever) and at least a couple of other
 essentials.  And I am afraid I cannot listen to Kelly's cover of Nick
 knowing his version . . . just doesn't cut it, sorry.

I was in Neal's boat awhile back and asked a couple of Drake fanatics (the fan
abbreviation does seem inappropriate here)
and they both gave me, more or less, Jim's answer, per the box set. But as Jim
said, it's not gonna grab you right away and takes some aural marination, so
sounds like you're just outta luck Neal. g
Nah, I bought FIVE LEAVES LEFT and I like it, but the corner hasn't been turned
into fanaticism yet.

b.s.
n.p. Roger Miller box, disc1

Re: Roger Miller Box Set (was: Drake...)

1999-04-02 Thread William F. Silvers




Junior asked:

 Bill:
  n.p. Roger Miller box, disc1

 Oooh!  Now we're talking...  How is that set?  Are there relatively
 straight tonkers, etc. on there, before the full-blown sixties style
 sets in?  I've seen that thing in stores but have never taken the
 time to check it out.

Matt Benz:

 A few honkers, like the much discussed Lock Stock  Teardrops, but not
 much. Has some of his classics (such as Invitation to The Blues) as cut
 by Miller in...um..early 70's? I think. But sticks to mainly to the 60's
 Smash years.

On Disc one, Matt's right, along with some poignant ballads that never
fail to affect me. (I bought the set after hearing Mike Ireland cover "A
World So Full Of Love"-always tears me up) Disc One ends with the hits
that follow- "Chug-a-Lug", "Dang Me", "Do Wacka Do", etc. Disc two's the
big 64-67 super mega hit period, but with some other lesser-known gems
as well. Disc three is the late sixties/early 70's stuff, still
top-drawer though not hits for him, finally concluding with a couple of
tunes from the musical "Big River" that gave him some late-career
success. I love his writing but find myself appreciating the stuff that
wasn't hits even more than some of the more "fun" hit records.

b.s.

Re: Kelly Willis's career change

1999-04-01 Thread William F. Silvers




Jim Catalano wrote:

 Word in the street has it that Kelly Willis will soon be joining the Dixie
 Chicks as the fourth "chick." Think about it-it makes perfect sense. She'll
 soon be the sister-in-law of Emily Erwin (or the other one), who is engaged to
 Charlie Robison, brother to KW's husband Bruce Robison. This move will finally
 ensure the mainstream acceptance that has so long eluded Kelly, but has
 recently come to the Dixie Chicks.

WOW! Now that's big news Jim. Thanks for the poop, er, scoop.

b.s.

n.p. Elvis "Fool Such As I"

Clip-Del McCoury Band


 Del McCoury Stands Up for His
  Genre

  When Steve Earle got it in his head to 
make a
  bonafide bluegrass album, he didn't cut 
any
  corners. By his own admission, he 
wanted to
  write and record bluegrass music that 
would
  stand the test of time. It's a bit 
early to gage
  whether or not he succeeded on that 
front
  (The Mountain was only released in 
February),
  but future musicologists are bound to 
give him
  credibility points for recruiting 
arguably the
  best bluegrass outfit of the later 
Twentieth
  Century, the Del McCoury Band.

  And what, the uninitiated might ask,
  distinguishes a good bluegrass band 
from a
  bad one? Del, the silver-haired 
patriarch of the
  Del McCoury Band and father of two of 
its
  members, ponders the question for a 
minute
  and responds, "You can't use 
electronics. It's
  got to come out of your instrument and 
out of
  your voice. You have to really be able 
to play."

  His son Ronnie, who is now in his early
  thirties and has played mandolin in his 
father's
  band since he was fourteen, adds, "I 
think it's
  about pushing the envelope in the 
singing."
  Robbie McCoury, the banjo-playing 
younger
  brother in the band, points out, "If 
you can
  play bluegrass, you can play any kind of
  music." Although none of them can 
pinpoint
  what defines the music they love so 
dearly,
  they can all agree on one thing: "When 
it's
  bad, it's really bad!"

  But as Earle or any other true-blue 
bluegrass
  fan can testify, the inverse is also 
true, i.e.,
  "When it's good, it's great." The Del 
McCoury
  Band -- it's current incarnation 
rounded out by
  Nashville bluegrass veteran Mike Bub on 
bass
  and fiddler Jason Carter -- reproves 
this slogan
  every time it hits stages across the 
country
  and around the world. Their music is 
rooted in
  the bedrock of tradition but never 
weighed
  down by it. They have the good looks and
  demeanor of perfect southern gentlemen. 
Their
  edge, highlighted by Del's high voice,
  pompadour and short sideburns, is 
offset only
  by their unfailing modesty and
  wholesomeness. All these elements, 
added to
  their virtuoso musicianship, have made 
them
  the most successful bluegrass band in 
years.

  Success is hard-won on the bluegrass 
circuit
  and the type of popularity that the 
McCourys
  enjoy makes them part of a tiny elite 
which
  includes Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss and
  Bela Flek. Of that group, only Del and 
his
  band have achieved their status without
  departing from the rigid paradigm set 
out by

Clip-Steve Earle


 Steve Earle Lets Loose on
  Bluegrass and Country Music

  You'd be a damn fool if you thought a 
clean
  and sober, suit-wearing, hair-combing,
  mandolin-picking Steve Earle had gone 
soft.
  Earle's career is more threatening now 
than
  ever. In the middle of a creative 
renaissance
  that featured stellar back-to-back rock 
 roll
  releases, Earle ditched his 
distribution deal
  with Warner Bros. and decided to put 
out a
  bluegrass album on his own E-Squared 
label.
  Bad idea? Guess again. The Mountain,
  recorded with bluegrass titans the Del
  McCoury Band, is selling faster than 
any of
  his Warner titles in it's first four 
weeks.

  Sit down for a spell with Earle to 
discuss The
  Mountain, and you'll be treated to a 
string of
  colorful anecdotes about bluegrass 
legend Bill
  Monroe, history, politics and scores of 
other
  meaty topics. He rattles off this 
chatter
  between sporadic puffs on his pipe (the 
"two
  pack habit" he sung about in his 
landmark
  "Guitar Town" is a thing of the past) 
as he
  takes a brief breather between 
soundcheck
  and donning his bluegrass uniform for a 
show
  in New York. Despite the stories of the 
angry
  Steve Earle of yore, only his 
conversation
  seems daunting. As the saying goes, he
  seems to know enough about everything 
to be
  dangerous.

  I met Bill Monroe several years ago. He
  wrote "God bless you" on my album, then
  told me to get a haircut.

  Monroe had a very dry sense of humor. 
The
  most famous Monroe New York story is he
  went to Carnegie Deli, and they got him 
a
  bagel and cream cheese. And he finished 
it
  and said, "That's the worst donut I've 
ever
  had." Now Monroe had been to New York
  hundreds of times, but people in 
Nashville will
  tell that story as if Bill Monroe was 
some kind
  of rube who didn't know the difference 
between
  a bagel and a donut. But that's the way 
his
  humor was, you either got it or you 
didn't.

  He came out and played with you in
  December, 1995. Had you met him before
  then?

  I'd been introduced to him several 
times over
  the years. But it was when Monroe 
started to
  pay attention to me that it really 
counted. It
  didn't have anything to do with music, 
it had to
  do with Bill's sense of fairness. And 
it had to
  do with the fact that what happened was 
so
  public. Every time I made a 
[drug-related]
  court appearance it was on all three 
channels
  and in the newspaper. Monroe started 
paying
  attention to me because he felt I was 
treated

Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band over America


Just a few observations about the fine show they did here last night-

-A three hour show, not counting the intermission. Tickets were $23
after the TicketBastard charge, but can't say you didn't get your
money's worth.

-Both Steve and Del fluffed lyrics on a couple of occasions, on their
own tunes. Long tour or what? I'd have sort of expected they'd be pretty
sharp at this point.

-We (Jack Copeland, Nancy Copeland and Cathy Weigel) started out in the
back of the really packed (though not sold out) venue, so the sound had
to compete with the conversations around us, but this may have still
been the worst overall sound I've heard in ages. They shoulda had this
show at the Beaumont Club.

-Local resident Iris Dement got the best crowd reaction of the night,
both on her duet with Steve Earle "I'm Still In Love With You", and the
Tom T. Hall cover (help me out here somebody?) she did. Del and Ronnie
can sing with the best, but Iris killed.

-A little curious to me that bluegrass groups reportedly make %80 of
their show income at the swag table after the show, when THE FAMILY and
Jason Carter's solo discs were priced at $17. I'd have certainly given
them $15 for the record, and fully intended to, but I couldn't find my
wallet when it came to the extra $2, which seemed a little gouge-y to
me. No offense- so I'm a piker. The tables weren't exactly swollen with
buyers of $17 discs and $25 t-shirts.

-Ronnie McCoury and Jason Carter delighted me.

-I've heard lots and lots of good things about that book of Steve Earle
quotes. Maybe he should go back there and recycle, because he's used
almost exactly the same schtick this time as he did last June. Stop me
if you've heard this one before...

If this crew is coming your way, you just have to go see them.

b.s.

n.p. Um, THE MOUNTAIN

Re: Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band over America




Tar Hut Records wrote:

 Jason Carter's solo discs were priced at $17. I'd have certainly given
 them $15 for the record, and fully intended to, but I couldn't find my
 wallet when it came to the extra $2, which seemed a little gouge-y to
 me. No offense- so I'm a piker. 

 You have to wonder how much Rounder is charging them for the
 discs...maybe the only way they can profit off it is to charge that
 much..

Yeah, maybe, but it makes their selling it after the show rather more a
service to fans without internet access than a moneymaking venture. Anytime
a band will sell me their record for $12 and/or a t-shirt for $10- relative
bargains I'll grant- I'll buy them. Otherwise, I'd better be awful darn
impressed, and in a generous/inspired mood. It *does* happen. g

No weasel swag here,
b.s.

Re: Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band over America




CK-wan wrote:

 -Local resident Iris Dement got the best crowd reaction of the night,
 both on her duet with Steve Earle "I'm Still In Love With You", and
 the Tom T. Hall cover (help me out here somebody?) she did. Del and
 Ronnie can sing with the best, but Iris killed.
 
 I'm guessing either I miss alot of Trains, which is on the Tom T Hall
 Project or I washed my face in the morning dew which she did in
 Nashville.

Bingo. "I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew". Band was a little ragged on
backup, (Jason and Ronnie nearly collided at the mic, and were smiling about
it) but the crowd was so up and the band seemed really pleased to be working
with Iris Dement again. After the tumultuous response to the duet, Steve
Earle remarked how much they'd missed doing the tune, since they hadn't since
those Station Inn shows. (You dog.)

b.s.
n.p. Young Fresh Fellows, THE MEN WHO LOVED MUSIC

Re: Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band over America




Jon Weisberger noted:

 Bill also noted that they were asking $17 for The Family, which isn't on
 Rounder, but on Ceili.

Right, which made me a little curiouser, though it's all business of course.

 On the larger question, so to speak, bluegrassers not infrequently are
 willing to pay top dollar at the record table for stuff they could easily
 buy for less at retail in order to 1) feel better about shaking and howdying
 with the artist (they may worry about the artist feeling it's a waste of
 time when they're not buying), and 2) support the artist by buying directly.
 Even at $15 it's usually a couple of bucks over the lowest available
 price...

So a markup to $17 isn't uncommon? Hmm.And I was ready and willing to give $15,
but I was taken aback at $17.
I guess that $15's where the old "indifference curve" flattens out for me.

And now that I've shown my cheap-ass, I'll be sure to buy something when they
return for the River Valley Bluegrass Festival on May 7th. g

b.s.

Re: Steve Earle and Del McCoury Band over America




Jon Weisberger wrote:

  Even at $15 it's usually a
  couple of bucks over the lowest available price...
 
  So a markup to $17 isn't uncommon? Hmm.And I was ready and
  willing to give $15, but I was taken aback at $17.
  I guess that $15's where the old "indifference curve" flattens out for me.

 Everyone's curve flattens out at a different place, I guess, and of course,
 some folks (like, f'r instance, me) will sometimes buy at retail even when
 there's no price differential in order to have an impact there.  Anyhow, $17
 has been uncommon, at least at festivals, although we're heading into a new
 season, and maybe it will soon be the norm.

The problem's been that the record simply hasn't been available at any local
retail outlets, and I think KC's still a top-30 market. Record-store-guy Jack
Copeland blames the distributor. Still, if the country's foremost bluegrass band
can't get their record in the stores, that swag table becomes a lot more
important, which I gather is the norm for other bluegrass acts. Now *that's* a
damn shame- why'd I think this might be an exception?

b.s.

Upcoming releases clipped


From the newly updated ICE website. Highly subjective snipping, use at
own risk:

April 6: Fountains of Wayne Utopia Parkway (Atlantic)
Carl Sonny Leyland (from Fly-Rite Boys) Im Wise (HMG)

April 13: Mike Ness (Social Distortion leader) Cheating at Solitaire
(ICE #145) (Time
  Bomb)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Echo (ICE #144) (Warner Bros.)
Elvis Presley Suspicious Minds (anthology of 1969 Memphis
 sessions; ICE #144) (RCA)
 Bruce Springsteen 18 Tracks (title change; ICE #145) (Columbia)
Mandy Barnett  Ive Got a Right to Cry (Sire)

April 20: Barely Pink Ellis Suitcase (ECD) (Big Deal)
Bill Kirchen (ex-Commander Cody) Raise a Ruckus (w/Flaco Jiminez
guesting
  on accordion) (HighTone)
-For Jack C.-VA Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza (two CDs; w/David
Grisman, Ricky
  Skaggs, Del  Ronnie McCoury, et al.) (Acoustic Disc)
VA This Notes for You Too!: A Tribute to Neil Young (w/Coal Porters,
Steve
  Wynn, Richard Lloyd and others) (Inbetweens)
Greg Brown One Night (live album from 1982 w/bonus tracks) (Red
 House)
Alice Cooper The Life  Crimes of (four-disc box; ICE #144)
 (Warner Archives/Rhino)
Danny Gatton Hot Rod Guitar: The Anthology (two CDs; w/Delbert
 McClinton, Robert Gordon and Joshua Redman guesting) (Rhino)
 Woody Guthrie Buffalo Skinners: The Asch Recordings, Vol. 4 (26
 tracks, 6 previously unreleased) (Smithsonian Folkways)
The Mekons I Have Been to Heaven and Back... Vol. I
 (Quarterstick)

April 27: The Backsliders Southern Lines (Mammoth)
Old 97s Fight Songs (Elektra)
Tom Waits Mule Variations (ICE #144) (Epitaph)

May 4: The Blue Rags Eat at Joes (Sub Pop)
Shaver (Billy Joe Shaver band) Electric Shaver (New West)
The Damned Box Set (Cleopatra)

May 11: Jack Logan Buzz Me In (produced by Kosmo Vinyl; w/Kevn Kinney,
Vic
  Chesnutt, and ex-Swimming Pool Qs, Brains, and Coolies members
guesting)
  (Capricorn)

May 18: The Apples in Stereo Her Wallpaper Reverie (mini-album)
(spinART)
The Go-Betweens Bellavista Terrace (best-of; w/interview disc in
 first 2000 copies) (Beggars Banquet)
-For new dad Paul K.-VA Dark Pleasures: The Vital Gothic Collection
(w/Nick Cave,
 Bauhaus, et al.) (Hip-O)
Marty Stuart  The Pilgrim (MCA)
Radney Foster  See What You Want to See (Arista Austin)

May 25: Luna The Days of Our Nights (w/a cover of Guns N Roses Sweet
Child O
  Mine) (Elektra)
The Rooks (w/Richard X. Heyman) A Wishing Well (Not Lame)
-For Dave and Amyg-Mary Chapin Carpenter Party Doll and Other
Favorites (ICE
 #145) (Columbia)

Tentatively scheduled for June release are  Luscious Jacksons Electric
Honey and Pavements Terror Twilight, among others.

Re: Lila kicks butt




Mike Hays wrote:

  On the other hand,  I started playing Heather Myles a
 couple
 of weeks into the new gig and she's become my top requested artist. PERIOD!

That's cool to hear Mike. Maybe you oughta e-mail the folks at Rounder and let
them know...I saw HM at SXSW last Friday night (she was great) and the label guy
was still making a brave face of how the new single ("Love Me A Little Bit
Longer" ?) would do, but Ms. Myles was sorta downcast...itsa damn shame I say.

b.s.

n.p. Neal Casal FIELD RECORDINGS

SXSW-Austin Chronicle piece


Unable to let SXSW go, and trying in vain to remember every last detail
of the blur, g> I visited the Austin Chronicle site and saw the Dancing
About Architecture column:


http://www.auschron.com/current/music.dancing.html

which has some interesting stuff about the Mike Ness/Continental Club fiasco,
the Stubb's rainout Thursday (oh boy), and further support for Junior's
contention that wristbands are a waste of time and money.

b.s.

Clip-Wacos Saturday night


Junior, you should have showed up...


 T HE WACO BROTHERS

 Jazz Bon Temps, Saturday, March 20

 Who'd have thought that six men in black from Chicago, sporting such musical 
pedigrees as
 Jesus Jones and the Mekons, could bust out such shit-kickin' rock and keep a country 
tinge
 to it? It's a fine line, especially when you think back to the days when "country 
rock" meant
 overly long, watered-down songs about horses and sunsets. No eight-track trips to 
the Hotel
 California here, though; just six guys who rock as hard as bands did back in Ye Olde 
Punke
 Rocke Days of Yore, the bastard child of The Clash and Hank Williams left on the 
doorstep
 with a note that reads "Fuck you" pinned to its cowboy-shirt swaddlin' clothes. 
Their version
 of the spooky classic "The Wreck on the Highway," in particular, is not to be missed,
 informed as it is with jungle drums and Jon Langford's Joe Strummer-ish yowl. Younger
 players could take a lesson from Langford on how to come across onstage; indeed, the
 whole band was as animated as if they were standing in puddles and getting 110-volt 
jolts
 from their instruments. At a time when alt.country bands increasingly lean toward 
tepid
 vocals, languid playing, and gentle singer-songwriterish sentiments, a band like the 
Waco
 boys is a welcome blast of whiskey-tinged fresh air. They may not have cut it on the 
Grand
 Ol' Opry back in the Sixties, but they take country elements and give 'em the 
jumper-cable
 treatment that should have come along years before. No jaded hipsters standing 20 
feet back
 from the stage with their arms folded smoking cigarettes; no tight-Wrangler country 
poseurs
 either that night -- just excited, sweaty rock fans crowding the front of the stage 
like the Wacos were Elvis and it was '57 again.
 Not an easy feat in 1999. -- Jerry Renshaw

Re: Clip-Wacos Saturday night




Will Miner wrote:

 On Friday some geek named Renshaw wrote:

   At a time when alt.country bands increasingly lean toward tepid
   vocals, languid playing, and gentle singer-songwriterish sentiments, a band like 
the Waco
   boys is a welcome blast of whiskey-tinged fresh air.

 Yawn.  I dont know if you've ever stood downwind from a drunk but
 "welcome blast" is not likely what you'd be thinking about his breath.

I don't think he meant "breath" Will, though a more southerly approach might have 
applied,
considering the crowd I suppose...

 Although that's maybe a good analogy for a band who does a Joe
 Strummer-ish "Wreck on the Highway."  I think I might opt for a tepid and
 gentle version myself.

Ignorance is bliss I guess. Wish you'd been there though. I'd have bought you a beer 
and I
probably wouldn't have breathed whiskey on you, though you never know...g

b.s.

Re: Wilco's summerteeth




Bob Soron wrote:

 I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far,
 I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know
 he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a
 half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I
 stopped playing, myself.

Hmm, let's see. Somebody new gets on the list and, having actually listened
to the record, has some positive stuff to say about the new Wilco record.
The uninformed response is "I hate Jeff Tweedy" times six. Now *that's*
analysis.
Lemme know Bob, I'll dub ya a free copy.

grumpy,
b.s.

n.p. Wilco SUMMERTEETH (and it's only just now spring)

Re: Wilco's summerteeth




Bob Soron wrote:

 At 12:00 PM -0600  on 3/25/99, William F. Silvers wrote:

 Bob Soron wrote:
 
  I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money. So far,
  I've succeeded, no small feat in the town he lives in. (I didn't know
  he was opening for Patti Smith, I swear. We only saw a song and a
  half.) If his experimentation tickles you, you're ahead of the game. I
  stopped playing, myself.
 
 Hmm, let's see. Somebody new gets on the list and, having actually listened
 to the record, has some positive stuff to say about the new Wilco record.
 The uninformed response is "I hate Jeff Tweedy" times six. Now *that's*
 analysis.

 Well, now, I don't want to turn this into Postcard, but I think this is
 a useful distinction: I don't hate Tweedy, I hate his work.

Point taken. I was guilty of imprecision there.

 And it
 isn't an uninformed opinion; I've seen him in concert a bunch of times
 (Wilco and Golden Smog only; by the time I'd heard of Uncle Tupelo,
 they were touring with Michelle Shocked, whom I dislike even more, and
 yes I've seen her too, and that's most of the reason). Bought the
 records, saw the shows. Every piece of work he's done has interested me
 less than the last. At this point, I think that declaring I'm not much
 interested in his work is not an uninformed opinion. (And I need to
 say: I've got no problem with him, or anyone else, being a chameleon. I
 think he projects his stage personae very well. They're personae I'm
 not interested in, though.)

Well, I get your point, and I mirror your feelings in that I see BEING THERE as
a significant decline from AM. Dave Purcell said it best, there's not enough
material on there for one disc, let alone two. Tweedy has been increasingly
guilty of some sloppy, unfocused, flaccid songwriting IMO.

But as you implied in your previous post, you haven't heard the new record yet.
A new record which, BTW, has gotten quite a bit of publicity (as would any
Tweedy-Farrar project in this little community) as being a marked change from
anything he's done before. It seems to me that actually hearing the record might
make you better able to critique it, and Tweedy's work.

There is, I'll grant, a fairly rich P2 tradition of criticism based on track
record and press clippings as opposed to what the records themselves actually
sound and "read" like,  (lyrically that is) but it's one I've never cottoned to
or found particularly meaningful or interesting.

you add:

  The thread,
 to me, comes down to, how far can a band drift from its original sound
 before it just starts to drive those original fans away? Wilco's a
 great example and timely enough to be worth discussing. As I said in
 that penultimate sentence quoted above, if some fans like the
 experimentation, they're ahead of the game. It isn't that there's
 nothing wrong with it; it's that they're better off for it, as I say
 there. But this isn't a zero-sum game; folks who didn't like the new
 stuff as much as the old don't lose their right to complain, criticize,
 or sulk. Frankly, my investment in the band was so low to begin with
 that I'm more interested in the general issues than the specific.

Again, it seems to me that deciding whether a new direction is worthwhile or not
would be best served by actual listening. Though I'll defend to the death your
right to "complain, criticize or sulk" about the outcome if so. I might even
join you. g

 Im my defense on my tone, and I guess I should have said this in my
 reply to Bob, he did note that it wasn't indepth, so it's difficult to
 expect me to do so. On both sides, it was just another "Tastes
 great/less filling" call and response. And if it had been indepth, I
 probably would've deleted it without reading for reasons that have
 nothing to do with him and everything to do with Wilco.

While I'll grant that Big In Iowa/Cincy Bob (as opposed to big in Boston/Chicago
Bob) didn't fill several screens with his analysis of SUMMERTEETH, he raised a
worthwhile point about "experimentation" and fans response to it, and added that
his response to the new record was positive. Forgive me for not finding any
point in your initial response but "less filling."

 Lemme know Bob, I'll dub ya a free copy.

 This is the bravest thing ever said on list during two simultaneous
 antibootlegging threads. Um, that's OK, Bill. g (but seriously, too)

Well, you were on record (so to speak) as saying

  I swore Jeff Tweedy would never get another cent of my money.


and I take you as a man of your word. Thus in no way am I robbing either Reprise
or Wilco of any money.
And the offer stands...g

And now that that website is down, you can keep having these arguments more
often again Bob. g

b.s.

n.p. Joe Henry KINDNESS OF THE WORLD

Re: Wilco's summerteeth (fans drifting away)




Lowell Kaufman wrote:

 I like Wilco, particularly live.  I like Summer Teeth a little, but I'm
 not that enamored by it because while he's being more poppy, perhaps more
 accessible to sell more records (Wilco may sell alot for an "alt-country"
 band, but they don't sell that many records in the giant picture), he's
 not that great at doing the pop arrangement thing.  There's quite a few
 smalltime poppy bands I enjoy more (bands like Cotton Mather, Richard
 Heyman, and other "power pop" folks), but it IS interesting how Wilco
 combines this pop with some bleak moods - something alot of power pop
 doesn't do very often.

Yeah, the way in which this new record is "pop" is a bit oversold, I think,
but that's coming from a big devotee of those "smalltime poppy bands I enjoy
more". "Bleak" and pop of that style are strange bedfellows, though one of the
best pop records of the decade, Velvet Crush's TEENAGE SYMPHONIES TO GOD, is
lyrically rather depressive at times, as is a lot of critic's favorite pop
name-check Matthew Sweet's material.

I'm not sold, yet, on the congruence of the lyric bleakness of SUMMERTEETH
with the relative pop sounds it makes, but I'm still listening and I'm still
interested. BEING THERE had lost me already at this point.

 So there's a few thoughts.   Wilco can do what they want for whomever
 will listen - even if the end
 result (I feel) with Summer Teeth is a so-so pop record that's gonna be on
 alot of top 10 lists which will make me shake my head as I play Cotton
 Mather's Kon Tiki and The Orange Humble Band's Assorted Cremes (This
 record sounds ALOT like Summer Teeth to me, but it's much better I
 think) more than I do Summer Teeth.

Well, folks who like the new direction of Wilco who are unfamiliar with Cotton
Mather (who apparently don't have records for sale in Austin?, or at least the
stores I shopped) or even more obscure Orange Humble Band should certainly
check out those records. Or the new Walter Clevenger, or the new Bill Lloyd,
or...

b.s.

n.p. Bil Lloyd STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

Re: Upcoming Dallas shows




*Sometime to Return* wrote:

Dancer! I didn't meet you in Austin. Damn the luck...

 Is anyone going to be at either of these shows this Saturday?

 a.) Richard Buckner w/ Sebadoh
 b.) Slobberbone (in Denton)

 Which do you all think would be the better one to go to...?

As interesting as the "who's mopier?" contest between Buckner and Barlow
would be, g you gotta love seeing Slobberbone on their home turf. Wish I
could...

b.s.

Re: Final Red Meat tourdates

1999-03-24 Thread William F. Silvers




Jamie Swedberg wrote:

 Owen Bly wrote:

 4/9   Keokuk, IA   In-store at the Disc Jockey Record Store  (5 pm)
 
 4/9   Keokuk, IA  Myers Courtyard   (9 pm) w/ Bluezillion

 Hmm, between Chicago and St. Louis you visit...*Keokuk*?!? Not Iowa City or
 Ames? Not, oh, I dunno, MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL? g

 Well, it's all cool news anyway. I am jealous of the more fortunate.

Yeah, apparently Junior and I couldn't weasel a KC-Lawrence visit either...

b.s.

n.p. Wayne Hancock THAT'S WHAT DADDY WANTS

Re: THE OTHER SIDE of Beale Street Music Festival

1999-03-24 Thread William F. Silvers




Jerry Curry wrote:

 On Wed, 24 Mar 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

   you would be surprised how many P2ers like this list better than the
   other one.
  Can anyone say Jerry Curry? g

 Har Harlet's see, I'd take Cheap Trick over darn near any
 alt-country band.  Bill S./ Tom K., can I get a witness?

Well, I'll stand up for Cheap Trick, Jerry. Which bands am I comparing them
with now? g

 Both Peter Frampton  Robin Trower are competitive.  Yeah, I'd love to see
 those guys as well.  As for Hootie  Sammy Hagaregads, even I have
 some standards.

Hmm. I think I'd rather see Sammy Hagar do some of his hits ("Cruisin and
Boozin", "Red", "I Can't Drive 55")than any of the rest of that lot though.
Frampton? Please. Robin Trower? Sorry man, too many high school nights wishing
we had some more of whatever hallucinogen we didn't have. Let's call it a
Hendrix homage.
Hootie? Well, they seem like nice fellers...g

b.s.
wishing he was hearing THIS TIME

Parasol (was Re: $10 off Music Blvd coupon)

1999-03-23 Thread William F. Silvers




Christopher Hill noted:

 Parasol - haven't ordered from them, but hear they're good
and cheap.  Mainly alt/indie music (won't pull customers
from MoM)
 http://indies.com/catalog/catalog.html

I have ordered from them Chris, quite a bit in fact, and I recommend them
highly. Very strong on indie and pop releases especially those central Illinois
and Chicago area bands, many of which are under their "parasol" of labels. Fair
prices, never any problems, check them out.

b.s.

n.p. The Leatherwoods TOPEKA ORATORIO

B.O.C Re: mo' 70s rock (was Re: iggy pop)




Carl Zimring asked:

 Moving the thread from Iggy Pop and the Dictators, [EMAIL PROTECTED] exclaimed:
  Goin' to B.O.C. Thursday night!  Woo!!!

 Who exactly is in Blue Oyster Cult these days aside from Eric Bloom 
 Buck Dharma?  Anybody named Bouchard?

Aw man, make it stop! g Now the opening notes from "Cities On Flame" are stuck in
my head and won't leave.Saw B.O.C. twice back in the day, (opened for the Dolls in
1974, headlined in 1977) and my hearing's never fully recovered.
Quality metal, yeah boy.

yours in tyranny and mutation,
b.s. racing for a twang palliative...

Re: SXSW rain?




Cherilyn diMond wrote:

 Yeah, we'll be there. Bring your raincoats, folks. Forcast is showers.

 Really? Crap. Anyone planning on being at the BBQ -- if it's raining on
 Thursday at noon, call the house (number is in email invite thingy) -- I
 might have to move it to Saturday.

 kill me,
 cherry lou.

Yup, if the Weather Channel website is to be believed, showers and a high of
70 degrees are predicted for Thursday.Friday mostly cloudy, still 70.
Saturday partly cloudy, still 70.
Cherilyn, don't make us choose between your bash and the Saturday ND/Miles
of Music thang, please? g

b.s.

Personal to Chaco Daniel


Chaco, I've lost track of your mailing address.
Please send it to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Sorry for the personal note all,
b.s.

Austin weather forecast


Updated at 6:15 Eastern to showers Thursday *and* Friday, still clear
Saturday.

b.s.

Re: iggy pop




Dave Purcell wrote:

 AND he saw the original
 Pretenders. He's my idol.

Well, I saw the original Pretenders, anyway. They opened for the Who (who
disappointed, as you'd expectg) at Kemper Arena in 1980. They were
great, though there weren't 1,000 of 15,000 there who had much idea who
they were. The way things played out, I was glad to say I saw the
original band.

b.s.

npimh "Talk Of The Town"

Clash tribute


Note the slight relation to a recent thread, or did those 25k posts
constitute a skein? g


 Cover stories

 A tribute to the Clash

 I still remember when I stumbled across an LP of various
 artists performing songs by Neil Young a decade ago and
 thought to myself, "Wow, that's a pretty cool idea." These
 days, of course, tribute albums are a common, even
 mundane part of the endless flood of CDs that arrive in
 stores every Monday at midnight, week after week, on
 big labels and small. I'm not sure why major labels
 continue to devote time and money to the tribute album,
 because for all the publicity generated by compilations
 dedicated to new interpretations of the work of, say, a
 John Lennon, in the end the CDs never sell all that well.
 Old John Lennon fans are probably more interested in
 hearing real John Lennon outtakes than new recordings of
 his old songs by Cheap Trick and a bunch of bands they've never 
heard of. And even if you are a
 Red Hot Chili Peppers fan, you may not want to drop 15 bucks for 
only one Chili Peppers tune
 and a bunch of other tracks by bands you don't care about. My guess 
is that the tribute album has
 survived as something of a creative indulgence for fortunate AR 
types whose jobs otherwise
 consist of chasing new bands around with checkbooks in hand, keeping 
their fingers crossed, and,
 from time to time, getting fired and rehired.

 Whatever the motive, I still look forward to tribute discs, mostly 
out of an abiding fondness for
 cover tunes, a pop novelty unfairly discredited by hordes of GB 
(general business) bands who
 specialize in rote versions of Top 40 hits and, of course, the 
Grateful Dead. Back when I was
 playing in bands, it was considered a point of pride not to do any 
covers -- until we heard the
 Replacements' version of Kiss's "Black Diamond" on Let It Be and saw 
R.E.M. open a show with
 the Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale." Suddenly, reinterpreting a 
classic took on a whole new
 meaning: covers became an integral part of a band's musical 
identity, and it was perfectly
 acceptable to judge an outfit by their choices. Those choices are 
necessarily narrowed down to
 material by a single artist on a tribute disc -- which isn't as 
revealing as hearing, say, a band like
 Hole pull a Duran Duran tune out of nowhere on stage. But you can 
still judge a band by the quality
 of their cover.

 The new Burning London: The Clash Tribute (Epic; in stores Tuesday, 
March 16) offers a dozen
 or so contemporary artists the chance to do what they will with the 
work of a now ancient punk
 band whose songs have never been as popular to cover as the Ramones 
or even the Sex Pistols.
 That's partly because, with a few notable exceptions ("Train in 
Vain," "Should I Stay or Should I
 Go"), the Clash wrote songs that had some universal resonance as 
anthems but were more often
 than not self-referential ("Clash City Rockers," "This Is Radio 
Clash"). Their best tunes were tied to
 a specific time, place, and situation, whether it was visiting an 
unwelcoming Jamaica as naive young
 reggae fans ("Safe European Home") or simply squabbling with their 
record label ("Complete
 Control"). Their songs are so Clash-identified that they don't leave 
much room for outside artistic
 interpretation.

 That's not a problem for Rancid, a band custom-made to play Clash 
covers. They dig their combat
 boots into the rebel rock of "Cheat" as if they'd been born 
auditioning for the part of the Clash in
 Calling London: The Punk Years, with Tim Armstrong singing as if he 
had a copy of Black
 Market Clash caught in his throat. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones 
handle the ska-flavored "Rudy
 Can't Fail" with appropriate care; 311 put a Southern California 
spin on the lyrics to "White Man in
 Hammersmith Palais" (and prove that they've been a good band in 
search of a good song all along);
 and some outfit called the Urge do a respectable job with "This Is 
Radio Clash," though it might
 have been cool to hear what Fatboy Slim would do with what is 
arguably the first ever big-beat
 tune. Third Eye Blind had the clout to score an easy hit -- "Train 
in Vain" -- but they

Re: clip: Steve Earle, Picking Up on Bluegrass




Tucker Eskew clipped:

  Earle first hooked up with the Del McCoury Band in 1997, when he
 invited the band to play on "I Still Follow You Around," a bluegrass
 song that appears on his otherwise rock album "El Corazon."

I like that misnamed song title; sort of adds a whole new meaning to the
song. gNice piece though.

b.s.

Re: Jo Dee Messina?




Jon Weisberger wrote:

  The only song she does that I'm familiar with is
 "Bye Bye", which is a catchy enough pop song.
 
  And more of the same.  A redheaded energetic entertainer with a
  mild Shania flair for performance and POP, POP, POP Music...

 That's about right, at least judging by her singles (I haven't heard any
 albums) and the way she presents herself in the press.

She's been the featured artist on CMT all month. Definitely the pop side of
things though she is entertaining to watch and I think she's pretty winning.
That's from watching cable though, not paying for a live show.

b.s.

Re: [twangfest] Fw: off-sxsw event page

1999-03-11 Thread William F. Silvers




Honorary Austin citizen BARNARD wrote:

 Indeed, there is no shortage at all of great off-festival music.

Damn Junior, could you keep it down? I can hear the gloating all the way from
Larryville. g

b.s.

Re: RIP Stanley Kubrick

1999-03-10 Thread William F. Silvers




lance davis wrote:

 Clockwork as appalling? Um, I think that was the point. (I also think it is
 cunningly funny, and generally not recognized as such, but that's a longer
 story). One of Kubrick's consistent themes was the pretensions, hypocrisies,
 and fragilities of those in power, and how these people create, quite often,
 miserable effects for those underneath them. In Paths of Glory it's the
 hypocrisies of the French and British armies. In Dr. Strangelove, it's the
 buffoons in the War Room. In Lolita, it's the manipulative and lecherous
 Humbert Humbert. In Clockwork, it's the notion that the State can "fix"
 those who are "broken."

True enough (don't remember Brits in PoG) and I agree. I'd add though that Tom's
shown pretty good taste on a bunch of things here and is one of those folks
whose posts I pay particular attention to. (Even if sometimes they're cool
Chicago shows I'll never see) I can cut him some slack on this matter of taste.

b.s.

n.p. Beck ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE

Re: RIP Stanley Kubrick

1999-03-09 Thread William F. Silvers




Ian Durkacz wrote:

  I'm thinking of "Paths Of Glory" with Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker and
  the wonderful Adolphe Menjou.

 That is a fabulous and powerful film.

 As a related note, the obituary for Kubrick published here in
 yesterday's 'Guardian' newspaper here (see
 http://www.filmunlimited.co.uk/news/0308/kubrick1.html, and further
 links) mentions that that film "was banned in France until relatively
 recently because of its unflattering depiction of the French army".
 Amazing.

Well, maybe, maybe not. The French Army did experience a pretty general
mutiny in 1917, which the movie represents in miniature, and hundreds were
executed, either like those guys in "Paths Of Glory" or by the simpler
expedient of having them shelled much as the general attempts to do in the
film. It's understandable to me that this wasn't considered desirable
entertainment by the French censors.  Indeed, until the Vietnam War, I
wonder how many similar depictions of cowardice, treachery, and
malfeasance by commanders would have been seen by the US moviegoing
public?And Ian, BTW, was "A Clockwork Orange" in fact banned in the UK as
was reported here? "A Clockwork Orange" was my favorite movie for years,
and while I can understand why others have quite the opposite reaction, I
wondered why it was banned.

b.s.
n.p. Strawbs HALCYON DAYS

Re: Tweedy quote/alt.country (REAL LONG)

1999-03-09 Thread William F. Silvers




Barry Mazor wrote:

  Terry Smith:
 nr(reading). Great novel. So, was J. Stalin worse than Hitler?

 Well, Stalin liked sports; Hitler liked music.  It bent these men a little,
 positively bent them.

 Barry
 (These are the wages of synthesis.)

Yeah but was Stalin the Tweedy fan and Hitler the Farrar fan, or vice versa? Or
did Hitler think that UT were the progenitors of alt-country, while Stalin
asserted that it was a decades old form that was not being duly recognized as
such by the UT fans, or vice versa? Or...

totalitarianism, the original alt-country? g

b.s.

Re: RIP Stanley Kubrick

1999-03-09 Thread William F. Silvers




Ian Durkacz wrote:

 I'm thinking of "Paths Of Glory" with Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker and
  the wonderful Adolphe Menjou.

 That is a fabulous and powerful film.

 As a related note, the obituary for Kubrick published here in
 yesterday's 'Guardian' newspaper here (see
 http://www.filmunlimited.co.uk/news/0308/kubrick1.html, and further
 links) mentions that that film "was banned in France until relatively
 recently because of its unflattering depiction of the French army".
 Amazing.

I noticed this from the URL you gave (thanks) regarding "A Clockwork
Orange"

 Does wayward human
 intelligence and instinct frighten Kubrick?
 That's what one feels in the very powerful
 Clockwork Orange, a film so disturbing or
 dangerous that Kubrick has had it banned
 in the one territory he controls - that of
 Britain.

Do you know if was Kubrick's own doing? Interesting?

b.s.

Aimee Mann news- (no twang)

1999-03-08 Thread William F. Silvers


No twang, but atypical good news for the cult of Ms. Mann...


 Stand By Your Mann


   Aimee Mann survives
   label upheaval, gears up
   for banner year

   Aimee Mann recently
   received some good career
   news: she still has a home
   at the newly merged
   Universal Music Group.
   Mann had been signed to
   Geffen, which was
   drastically downsized
   during the Universal's
   $10.4 billion merger with
   Polygram. And with more than two hundred acts
   expected to be dropped in coming months from
   labels such as Geffen, AM, Mercury and others,
   Mann, a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter who
   does not typically top the sales charts, was just one
   of many anxious artists wondering if they'd make
   the cut.

   But according to the singer's manager Michael
   Hausman, Mann has been told her next record,
   tentatively titled Bachelor Number Two, will be
   released by Universal's Interscope Records,
   sometime this spring. "It was a little frustrating
   because they didn't come right out and say, 'You
   guys are in,'" says Hausman. "Finally they said,
   'Don't you get it? We only told people who are
   dropped, not people who are staying with us.'"

   Mann, the former lead singer of the Eighties group
   'Til Tuesday, is particularly relieved since she's in
   the final stages of completing her new record. If she
   had been dropped, Mann might have had to buy
   back the record from her label, which can cost
   hundreds of thousands of dollars. Plus, Mann has
   already gone through one label trauma in her
   career. Her 1995 album, I'm With Stupid, was
   recorded for Imago Records, but the company folded
   before the record could be released. After much
   legal wrangling Geffen finally issued the album.

   Helping Mann's case at Universal was the fact that
   her AR rep at Geffen, Jim Barber, was also picked
   up by Interscope, which meant Mann had an
   additional ally inside the company. Also, Mann is
   working on the soundtrack to an upcoming movie
   from box office champ Tom Cruise, which no doubt
   interested Interscope. The film, Magnolia, is being
   directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who won acclaim
   for 1997's Boogie Nights. According to Hausman,
   the plan now is for approximately eight new Mann
   songs to be featured in the drama/comedy, set in
   the Valley outside Los Angeles. The movie will be
   released either late this year or early in 2000.

   For Mann, who's also scheduled to hit the road this
   summer with Lilith Fair, this potentially tumultuous
   year is suddenly shaping up as one to remember.
   Says Hausman, "Things are looking good."

   ERIC BOEHLERT
   (March 5, 1999)

Re: SXSW: off-festival events??

1999-03-08 Thread William F. Silvers




BARNARD wrote:

 Is there a web listing anywhere of all the non-festival events, the
 SXSoWhat shows at various places like the Carousel, etc?

You find out anything Junior, let me know. I still have thoughts of trying to
round up info for a weekend post on the whole affair.Looks like you were on to
something going sans-wristband though...

b.s.

Clip-Buckner reissue

1999-03-05 Thread William F. Silvers


 Also, look for the Slow River/Rykodisc rerelease of Richard Buckner's debut album,
 BLOOMED, on May 18, 1999. Originially released on Glitterhouse 
in Germany in
 1993 and in the United States on DejaDisc in 1994, BLOOMED was an
 out-of-nowhere debut from a then 28-year old drifter who helped 
define the "No
 Depression" movement of the early '90s. Rave reviews from the 
press, including a
 Top Twenty Album of the Year nod from Spin magazine, earned 
Richard a deal with
 MCA; near constant touring and similarly praised follow-up 
releases earned him a
 devoted and rabid fan base. The rerelease of BLOOMED (out of 
print for three
 years), includes 5 bonus tracks, each staples of his live set, 
never before recorded.
 The new release has been completely re-mastered and is presented 
with new
 artwork.

Clip-Old 97's

1999-03-05 Thread William F. Silvers


Good thing the movement they're distancing themselves from here is
decades old and can take the hit. g


 Old 97's Get Feedback From Frank Black On New Record
Old 97's
   28.8 RealAudio

  Coming off the momentum from its just-wrapped preview 
tour, the Old 97's are
  continuing to build up steam towards the release of its 
new album, "Fight Songs," due
  out on April 27.

  According to band guitarist and vocalist Rhett Miller, 
the new Old 97's record -- which
  had been originally titled "Imaginary Friends" -- finds 
the group exchanging its alt.
  country garb for a "slightly more Britpop kind of 
guitar sound," a sound featured on the
  first single, "Murder (Or a Heart Attack) [28.8 
RealAudio].

  A departure from the "cow-punk" chops of the band's 
critical breakthrough, "Wreck
  Your Life" as well as its 1997 major-label debut, "Too 
Far to Care," Miller admits that
  the end result of the new album caught him off-guard.

  After finishing an early mix of "Fight Songs," Miller 
felt a little insecure about whether
  the record might alienate some fans, and sent off 
copies of the album to family and
  friends -- including one Frank Black -- for feedback.

  "I felt very weird after [the record] was done, because 
I knew it was not really in the
  same vein as our other three records," Miller told MTV 
News Online. "It's so far away
  from the 'No Depression' movement that we'd been 
associated with, so I was a little
  worried (laughs). So I sent copies of the CD to a few 
people, one of which was Frank
  Black."

  "He had approached us at an Old 97's show a while 
back," Miller continued, "and of
  course we all love him and the Pixies. So, when [Black] 
called me back and said he
  really liked ['Fight Songs'], I knew we had passed the 
bar. Unfortunately, his favorite
  track, 'The Villain,' ended up getting left off the 
U.S. version of the album, but I think
  we're using it as a bonus track on the Japanese import. 
Sorry about that Frank."

  Even though the new Old 97's record doesn't come out 
until next month, fans can catch
  a snippet of another track from "Fight Songs," entitled 
"19" [28.8 RealAudio], that is
  being used on promotional spots for the WB drama 
"Felicity" throughout March.

Re: The Eradication Game (Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)




[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

 Two words: Bob Seger.

Nah. Even better than Dave Edmunds version, four words:Get Out Of Denver

Seger was cool till LIVE BULLET made him famous, though he did get
bloated and bad awfully fast.
Folks around here forget just how bad the seventies were, course a lot
of 'em were just a bunch of damn kids, grumble grumble

How about Lake, or Missouri? Too easy? How about Little River Band or
Styx?
Just four from the seventies; there's plenty more.

b.s.

Re: The Eradication Game (Re: Grammyszzzzzzzzz....)




[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  try to come up with an artist that all can agree
  should be eradicated from the earth, their history taken with them:

  Two words:  Kenny G 

 Too obvious. Falls into the Michael Bolton category.

 NW

Hey Neal,
Can I get a ruling on the Grateful Dead in-a-barrel shooting in this
thread?
Waay too damn easy 'round these parts.

b.s. sworn to wear his Skull and Roses tee to TF III. g

Re: Production-- Ralph Emery's take on this thread




Terry A. Smith wrote:

 np Bobby Bare/Chet Atkins again. "The Game of Triangles" is a killer song.
 I'm wondering how it would go over here in the late 90s. It has one line
 that goes something like this, "A woman can't steal a husband who's happy
 at home." Yikes.

Interesting question, since there's a nice cover of it on the excellent The
Wandering Eyes collaboration from last year.


b.s.

Re: Wilonsky on Wilco and the sleazy radio programmers