gotta own up on my own.

Hope you might check out Forgotten Disc Friday.

A long time acquaintance of mine made this suggestion.

Check it to see who.

-March

New Editors video! Very cool.

Check out the very cool new video from "Editors". The track is "Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool" from their cd "In This Light And On This Evening" which is in stores (and iTunes) now.

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Stream the new LCD Soundsystem

You can check out the full album stream here.

Like what you hear? You can pre-order the album off iTunes via this link.

The new LCD Soundsystem record "This is Happening" lands in your local record shop (in the US) on May 18th. The stream listed above is active until just before the street date.

Enjoy.

I push the seed

Hope you might check out Forgotten Disc Friday.

Its been a long time since I've spun this hip/hop classic album.

Check it to see who.

-March

Sonny Rollins - Symphony Hall, Boston MA 4/18/2010

Sonny Rollins
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA
Sunday, April 18, 2010

I will admit I am a very casual jazz fan. I do have my favorites and sort of keep them close to me. Where I might have 30+ cds from Miles Davis I might only have one from Duke Ellington for example. Like many, what I know I know, and what I like I tend to really like.

Sonny Rollins has been on my radar for a few years now and I finally had the chance to see him. He had performed in Boston 5 short days after the September 11th attacks and played a slot in Newport since. It had been a long time since he had been in the area.

Arriving on stage about 7:30 pm Sonny walked slowly, slightly hobbled to the stage. The audience rose to their feet and he was showered with every bit of affection a lifetime of music had warranted.

Facing the stage you had Bobby Broom on guitar to the right, Victor See-Yuen on percussion, Kobie Watkins on drums and Bob Cranshaw on bass. Sonny would spend the bulk of the 1hr and 25 minute show on Cranshaws side, but he'd slowly move around the stage.

I don't know the set, and have been looking for it so if anyone can help. Hard to do a review when you can't offer much up, but what I can tell you is the band COOKS.
*update - various sources seem to have the set as Pantanjali, Memsa, Serenade, J.J and Global Warming as being played.*

The opening tune clocked in about 17 minutes (Pantanjali) and Sonny hardly stopped playing his tenor sax the entire time. Running up and down the notes the band was locked in to a groove with him. Broom was given a little space to solo, but kept it all in check.

Watkins flashed on the drums, and he was so very tight it was a feat to watch him.

Rollins at the conclusion of most songs was more about giving the "sidemen" their just due. He'd point to each after a solo, or politely remind the ravenous audience he couldn't do this all alone.

Sonny finally took a moment to talk to the audience. He introduced the band, thanked us for coming and said he was sorry our baseball team kept losing (they'd lose all 4 games over the weekend). He was moved by the ovation(s) that came from each song.

Finally the band waved and said goodnight. He'd see us "real soon" and I thought they'd come back out to do one more song. The ovation was thunderous and maintained enough for the band to come out and salute us with their instruments but that is all we got.

I was a little bummed out, but then I had to remember Sonny will be 80 on September 7th of this year and that I got winded walking up the one flight of steps to my seat.

Was it short, well of course, moments like this you want to last forever. The more I thought about it on the ride home, the more perfect I realized it was.

Legend is a term that is tossed around far too often, but in this case, I know with all my heart, I saw a true legend perform on this night.

**update** The Boston Herald did a review as well and had many of the songs listed. You can see the review here.

Don't use nothing that you buy at the store....

Hope you might check out Forgotten Disc Friday.

One of the best American Bands..perhaps ever.

Check it to see who.

-March

In the News

Typos earn google 497 million dollars per year. About 68 million people per day mistype the name of highly trafficked web sites landing on bogus sites (called typosquatters) to which google supplies ads.

The French spend an average of 31 minutes eating lunch, down from over 90 minutes in 1975. - The Economist

More than 10,000 children go to the Emergency Room each year because they are choking on food, of which 17% are hot dogs. - USA Today

For the Winter Olympics the organizers stocked each village with 100,000 condoms - 14 condoms for each of the 7,000 athletes, coaches, trainers and officials that were housed there. At the Sydney Games in 2000 they handed out 70,000 and had to order 20,000 more. MSNC.com

Olympic bronze medal winners are, on average, happier with their finishes vs. the silver medal winner. Bronze winners are just happy to have won, while silver medalists fixate on the near miss.

Itunes recently sold its 10 BILLIONTH recording since being introduced in 2003. Over that time, the record industry's total revenues have declined from 14.3 billion to 6.3 billion. - Theatlantic.com

U2 was the top touring act in 2009 making 109 million from touring, merchandise, record sales and other methods. The runner up? Bruce Springsteen at 58 Million. Billboard.

When Gatorade severed their ties to Tiger Woods it was estimated that the contract which was signed in 2007, was valued at over 100 million dollars. - USA Today

A lack of clean water is killing 1.8 million children under age 5. More people die from polluted water than from all wars and other violence. MSNBC.com

Fewer than half of the 229 million doses of H1N1 vaccine the government bought to combat swine flu have been administered, as the demand faded off. About 71 million doses, already in syringes and vials will soon have to be discarded as they will hit their expiration date. The Washington Post

Colleges received more than 1 million more applications for federal financial aid in early 2009 vs. 2008. - The Wall Street Journal

You're rockin to the next big thing...

Hope you might check out Forgotten Disc Friday.

One of the finest debut records ever that not many have heard. Pure power pop..go check it!

-March

Tonight.!!!

I get to watch this happen before my very eyes.

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Perk up your ears! New Artist - Merrily James

Hot Artist watch: Merrily James

Merrily James has performed for Linda Ronstadt and Smokey Robinson, and on “Showtime at the Apollo.” She has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin, Phillip Bailey (Earth, Wind, & Fire), Don Was, and Rocco Prestia (Tower of Power). She was selected as the sole performer for Google's Grand Opening Celebration in 2008 and has been featured with the New York Songwriters Circle. She has performed in 1,200-2,000 seat venues such as The Paramount Theater (Seattle), The Moore Theater (Seattle), and the Berklee Performance Center (Boston).

Whew, all that AND she is a Boston artist?! Wow.

Cafe 939 [site]
939 Bolyston St.
Boston, MA
Tix $5 students/$8 general admission (Please purchase tickets in advance through ticketmaster or by calling 1-800-745-3000, tickets can also be purchased at the door day of show).
Doors 7:45pm

8pm - Margaret Glaspy
8:45pm - Merrily James CD RELEASE!
9:45pm - Ramzy & The Newscasters

She’s decided to forsake the normal business model, and has decided to offer her debut CD for free all the way up till her show on April 9th! Songs can be found right
here .

Her website is here.

Be on forefront of this one folks, people will mention her and you can be way ahead of the game.

Check her out on myspace for more info and tour dates.

Margaret Glaspy on myspacehere
as well as Razy Suleiman on myspace.

Advance tickets can be purchased using this link.

Wilco - Lupos Heartbreak Hotel, Providence RI 4/4/2010

Wilco
Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Billed as "An Evening with.." so no opening act.

Where does one even really begin? 15 years as a band Wilco still refuse to rely on being just a brand and are slowly creeping in to the collective conscience of the mainstream. The Chicago band put forth what many report as being 3+ hours of music. That is VERY close to being correct. Actually 2hrs and 55 minutes of music/spaces between songs/banter. By all counts 35+ songs were played touching on all the bands studio releases.

Taking the stage about 8:15 the band launched in to the title track of the new album simply called "Wilco (the Song)" (the album is called "Wilco - The Album after all). The guys, who really just look like your quirky neighbor hardly slowed down the whole evening.

Guitarist Nels Cline continues to impress, and wow new and old fans. He absolutely shredded on his guitar just beating it to a pulp but always maintaining such a terrific sound. Bassist John Stirratt held down such great bass lines and wonderful harmonies to lead singer Jeff Tweedy all night.

Tweedy, the bands front man is a wonderful storyteller and I looked forward to his banter, but he kept me waiting. It seemed like we were a full 30+ minutes in to the show before he said more than just "hi" to use (or thank you). He was very humble with the thunderous roar given nearly constantly from the sell out crowd. He talked how he disliked Easter so much but wasn't sure why he didn't like it. He'd come back to that from time to time mostly asking us if we were having fun.

The band shifted gears for an "acoustic" set in the middle. Most shows/bands would give you 3-4 song TOPS but Wilco gave us 7. It was met on both ends with great electric songs. The band really didn't slow down all night. It actually kept getting me to look at my watch and say "how long can they keep doing this?"

The main set ended and since they had been at it for 2hrs and 30 minutes or so I figured it was going to be a "thank you..good night" no encore sort of deal, but I was wrong. Coming back out and doing three more songs the band seemed like they could go on forever.

The band seems to be slowly creeping out of the shadows over the last few years. Audiences are bigger, but all the more ravenous and the band feeds off that energy. They are honestly one of the best live bands you could possibly see.

Check out the final few US dates here.
Oh, I saw them a few years ago and dug em that night too. The review for that show is here.

The full set if you are in to such things:
Wilco (The Song)
Bull Black Nova
You Are My Face
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
One Wing
Radio Cure
Sonny Feeling
Summer Teeth
Misunderstood
She's A Jar
Handshake Drugs
Impossible Germany
California Stars
Poor Places ->
--
(Acoustic Set)
Spiders (Kidsmoke)
What's The World Got In Store
Forget The Flowers
Heavy Metal Drummer
Not For The Season
Passenger Side
Airline To Heaven->
(End Acoustic Set)
--
Shot In The Arm
Jesus, etc.
You Never Know
I'm Always In Love
Hate It Here
Easter Party (improvised joke song for Easter)
Theologians
Too Far Apart
Walken
I'm The Man Who Loves You
Red Eyed And Blue->
I Got You
Thank You Friends (Big Star Cover)
--
Dreamer In My Dreams
Casino Queen
Outtasite (Outtamind)

Big Big Plans are made for my sisters wedding day...

Hope you might check out Forgotten Disc Friday.

Not a huge huge fan of the band and the re-listen didn't do a lot for me, but people like em..sooo

Happy Easter weekend!

-March