Best In Show 2011




Surprisingly, I haven't done a concerts of the year post since the very first year I started blogging five years ago. So it's a big odd that I am doing one for the year that I have blogged the least. Despite the fact that I felt somewhat disconnected from music last year, I still saw some great shows. So here are the top five...

1. U2
Vanderbilt Stadium, Nashville, TN - 7/2/11

I hate stadium shows. They are big, they are impersonal, and during the summer they are a hot, sweaty, stinky mess. Despite all that, U2 takes the top spot as my favorite show this year. And that speaks to what an amazing live band they are. They overcome the distance between the performer and the poor schmuck who has seats in the top row of a football stadium, and make it feel as intimate as a club show. Sure their massive stage is a spectacle, but lots of bands play on big massive stages and can’t make you feel the way U2 does. Twenty four years after the first time I saw them live, they are still the best live band I’ve ever seen. Read our original review from July.

2. Taylor Swift
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 9/17/11

Yeah, seriously. Ever since she released Speak Now last year, I’ve really grown to not just appreciate Taylor Swift, but actually like her. She is a great songwriter, and if some indie darling wrote a line like “you made a rebel of a careless man’s careful daughter,” it’d be hailed as genius. Her songs are full of clever wordplay, and I think if it weren’t for the fact she’s cute, young, and admittedly a mediocre vocalist, she’d get a lot more props for her songwriting than she does.

That said I’d have never gone to this concert if my wife hadn’t wanted to go. But I’m glad she did. It definitely shattered expectations, pretty much from the moment we entered the building. The first thing we noticed is that the average age of the crowd was a lot older than we would have expected. It was definitely predominately female, and while there were a fair share of teeny boppers, there were also a whole lot of twenty and thirty somethings. As the lights went down to the sound of Tom Petty’s “American Girl,” the crowd went apeshit, and Taylor literally exploded on to the stage to the sounds of “Sparks Fly.” At the end of the song, I half expected her to start quoting Sally Field award speeches as she put on her trademark surprise face, like she didn’t expect to get such a thunderous response. It took a few minutes to get used to completely unspontaneous nature of the show. It seemed like every facial expression and hair toss was choreographed. But as the show went on, you realized this was almost more a broadway production than a concert. There were multiple set and costume changes, dancers and acrobats, and more pyro than you’d see anywhere outside of a Kiss show. Once you got used to the fact that this wasn’t going to be a typical concert in the way you’ve come to expect it, you could just sit back and enjoy what was one hell of a show. Swift is a born entertainer, and on stage she’s as much an actress as a singer. The way she can work a crowd almost gives Bruce Springsteen a run for his money. Combine all that with a parade of hits performed with more enthusiasm than most bands can muster and you have yourself one hell of a fun evening.

3. Guided By Voices
Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN - 1/14/11

Score one of nostalgia. While it wasn’t as magical as the one time I got to see the “classic” Guided By Voices line up at Exit/In back in 1995, it was definitely better than any of their shows I’ve seen since then (and that’s not a knock, GBV has always put on a great show). Even after a year of touring together, you could tell that Uncle Bob, Toby, Mitch, Greg and Kevin were having a blast playing together, and the fact that the setlist was damn near perfect meant two hours of pure pop bliss for indie geeks. Read our original review from January.

Guided By Voices - "Official Ironman Rally Song (Demo)" (mp3)

4. Rush
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN - 4/3/11

I’d pretty much given up on Rush over the last decade or so. Not only had I not bought one of their new albums since Counterparts, but I’d also skipped out on seeing them live on their last few tours. But time heals all wounds, and the stellar documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage not only rekindled my love of the band, but also introduced my wife to them. You pretty much know what you’re going to get when you go see them live… note perfect renditions of their songs played with musicianship that most jazz cats would envy. And though they’ve incorporated videos into their concerts for years, they seem to be doing it with more humor than ever before, which made the concert even more fun. Read our original review from April.

5. Interpol & School of Seven Bells
Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 5/2/11

If I was ordering this list by my favorite concert moments rather than the entire concert, Interpol performing “Lights” at the Mother Church would top the list. It was one of those absolutely transcendent concert moments that only happen a few times during the course of your life. This concert also marked the first time in years that’d I’d been so impressed by an opening act that it necessitated a trip to the merch stand to buy their CD. Read our original review from May.

School Of Seven Bells - "Windstorm" (mp3) from Disconnect From Desire

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posted by Darrin @ 1/17/2012 0 comments links to this post

All My Rowdy Friends Are Going Home




This is Rockin' Randy. He dances to the Monday Night Football theme. Old Randy used to occupy a proud spot in my bachelor pad kitchen. Then I got married. Now Randy occupies a box in our basement.

For the last 20 years, Monday Night Football has been introduced by Hank Williams Jr's iconic theme song, based on his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight." Earlier this week, after Bocephus made a ham fisted comment on Fox News comparing President Obama to Hitler, the Disney owned overlords at ESPN decided to pull his opening in response. After Hank Jr alternatingly apologized and defended his actions, ESPN decided to make the move permanent. Williams responded by claiming it was his decision to pull the song for good after ESPN violated his freedom of speech, which is basically like saying "you can't fire me, I quit!"

How will we know if we're ready for some football now? ESPN made a short sighted, knee jerk move by pulling a song that has been a part of the MNF tradition for two decades. Sure, what Williams said was stupid, but consider the source... he's Hank Williams Jr for pete's sake. He has basically made a career out of saying stupid things. And as Pro Football Talk pointed out, ESPN didn't seem to have an issue a few years back when he choked a waitress. How does revealing yourself as a tea bagger trump battery these days?

Despite the momentary PR black eye, ESPN will lose nothing over this. Ratings will continue to be sky high, at least until the St Louis vs Seattle matchup in week 14 (I'm a Seahawks fan, and I still guarantee you I'll have tuned out by halftime). Bocephus' checking account however will be taking a substantial hit. Those TV broadcast fees ain't chicken scratch.

As the dust is settling down on this whole kerfuffle, I'm left with one nagging thought... why cant Faith Hill make a comment comparing Joe Biden to Mussolini so we could get rid of her godawful Sunday Night football theme too?


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posted by Darrin @ 10/08/2011 1 comments links to this post

Til The Day Is Done: RIP R.E.M.




R.E.M. has called it quits.

A lot of cynics would say this move is coming about fourteen years to late, and that the band never should have reneged on their handshake deal that they'd break up if any of the original members left the group. That opinion would be wrong. Of the five albums Michael Stipe, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills have recorded since Bill Berry left the band in 1997, only one (2004's Around the Sun) was truly a stinker, and the last two (Accelerate and Collapse into Now) have been damn good. And perhaps that's the best reason for them to throw in the towel now... it's better bow out on a creative high than to, as Nashville Scene music writer Adam Gold put it so cleverly on Twitter Wednesday, "go out with a murmur."

R.E.M. was my gateway drug into the world of college radio and alternative music. It was listening to my friends copy of Lifes Rich Pageant, and then my own copy of Document a year later, that probably did more than any other band to shape my current musical tastes. It was those two albums that really primed me for falling so completely head over heals with The Church's Starfish, which lead to The Cure's Disintegration, which then splintered into loving a million different bands, some famous and others very much not.

In honor of 31 years of making (mostly) great music, and having a more profound impact on the American indie scene than most people realize, here are my top five R.E.M. related memories.

1. The first time I heard New Adventures in Hi Fi it was pushing midnight, and my friend Jimmy and I were on our way back to his apartment in Knoxville after having some beers with a friend of ours. A DJ on the UT college station had gotten an advance copy of the album and was playing it front to back. I'm not even sure if "E-Bow The Letter" had been released as a single yet, so it was the first we were hearing anything from it, and it was entirely awesome. We ended up driving around aimlessly for an hour so we could hear the whole thing. I remember when "Departure" kicked in, both of us were kinda of like "wow." It's still my favorite R.E.M. album.

2. When R.E.M. played the Murphy Center at MTSU in 1989, my friend Jimmy and I snuck into the band's dressing room before the show and left a note asking them to play two covers; Television's "See No Evil," which they had recently included on a b-side, and Johnny River's "Secret Agent Man," which had been included on a well circulated bootleg from their early club days. The band did play "See No Evil," though whether that was because of our note or not is debatable. And while they didn't break out the River's tune, Mike Mills did make a reference to the bootleg that it came from when during a jazzy improvised interlude he walked up to the mic and said "welcome to the Starlite Club." For two dorky teenagers who were still on a high from actually having managed to get backstage to leave the note, it was the highlight of our night.

3. When R.E.M. played at Starwood Ampitheater in 1995 on the Monster tour, I went with my Dad. We originally had lawn seats, but the day before the show he got reserved seats from a client, so I sold our lawn seats to a friend and we upgraded. And thank God we did. During the song "Undertow," with it's chorus of "I'm drowning..." the sky opened up and a torrential downpour started. All my friends who were sitting on the grass still say it was the worst rain shower any of them had ever been caught in. Even in our seats well under the confines of the roof, the wind was blowing enough moisture our way that we were still a bit wet. Fun fact - Radiohead opened this show, which makes me possibly the only person in the world who can say he saw Radiohead with his Dad.

4. When Robyn Hitchcock played the Belcourt Theater in 2007, my friends and I were really excited. Most of us had seen Hitchcock three or four times, and on this tour he was touring with the newly formed Venus 3, which consists of Peter Buck and R.E.M.'s touring rhythm section, drummer Bill Rieflin and bassist Scott McCaughey. After seeing nothing but acoustic shows, we were all excited to see him backed by an actual rock band. And then a couple of weeks before the show, the listing changed from the Venus 3 to the Nashville Crawdads. Another damn acoustic show. Once we got to the show though, it turned out to be a pretty amazing night. In addition to Buck and perennial Nashville special guests Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, the lineup also included Led Zepplin bassist John Paul Jones on mandolin. So yeah, no complaints.

5. In 2009, after seeing Hitchcock perform acoustic shows a half dozen times over a decade, I finally got to see him in front of a rock band when the Venus 3 played the Exit In. The show was everything I could have asked for. The set ran the entire gamut of his career, and had just about every song I could possibly have wanted to hear. About half way through the show, one of my friends notice Mike Mills hanging out by the bar. Forty-five minutes later he was a little harder to miss, as he took to the stage to play guitar and the rest of the band played musical instruments (Buck ended up on drums). They tore into a rambunctious and ramshackle version of "Listening To The Higsons," a fun end to one of those "only in Nashville" nights.

Michael, Peter, Mike and Bill, thanks for everything.

R.E.M. - "Radio Free Europe (Live)" (mp3) from the Strange Currencies cd single
R.E.M. - "Begin The Begin (Live)" (mp3) from the Bang & Blame cd single

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posted by Darrin @ 9/23/2011 0 comments links to this post

Sing For Your Meat




Various Artists - Sing For Your Meat: A Tribute to Guided By Voices

Tribute albums are always kind of a mixed bag. Usually no matter how much you like either the artist being honored or the bands and singers doing the covers, you usually end up with an album where you really only like a few songs. That's definitely not the case with Sing For Your Meat. Guided By Voices has always been one of those bands that, while not hugely popular among the masses, they are massively beloved by their fans. And a lot of those fans happen to be fellow musicians.

For most of these songs, the artists strike a perfect balance between using the same lo-fi techniques that have always been part of GBV's appeal and putting their own spin on things. The songs stay true enough to the originals to appeal to the faithful without sounding like carbon copies of the source material. In general, the first half of this album is front loaded with the covers that sound closer to the originals, while the second half gets a little more adventurous, and a little more rewarding. Though there are several good tracks by big names you would recognize (The Flaming Lips, Thurston Moore, Lou Barlow, and ex-Breeder Kelley Deal's second career cover of an GBV song), it's the names that aren't quite so recognizable that really shine. La Sera turns "Watch Me Jumpstart" into organ fueled chamber pop. Blitzen Trapper bring out the undercurrent of bluesiness in "Hot Freaks" until it becomes a juke joint jam. Elf Power's lo-fi remake of "Man Called Aerodynamics" sounds like it might have if Pollard and company had recorded it on Bee Thousand. There really isn't a weak track on this album, and unlike a lot of compilations, it's one that you'll probably end up listening to more than just the first few weeks after you buy it.

Western Civ - "My Valuable Hunting Knife" (mp3)
La Sera - "Watch Me Jumpstart" (mp3)
Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Gleamer" (mp3)

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posted by Darrin @ 9/15/2011 1 comments links to this post

The Sound Of Silence


This gave me goosebumps.



If you've been online at all today, you're probably all 9/11'd out. But take four minutes and watch this video of Paul Simon performing "The Sound Of Silence" at the World Trade Center memorial dedication this morning. It's pretty amazing.

Apparently he was scheduled to do "Bridge Over Troubled Water," but made a change at the last minute. It was a pretty inspired choice.

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posted by Darrin @ 9/11/2011 1 comments links to this post

Anniversary


Five years ago today I wrote this.

Yesterday I wrote this, as part of this project. My friend Tyge has compiled stories from 20 different people remembering their day 10 years ago. It's strange... after 3,652 days, and countless articles, books, movies, documentaries, and TV reports about September 11, 2001, you would think there wouldn't be much left to say that you'd be interested in hearing. But as I sat on the couch this morning drinking coffee and checking out the other contributions to the project, I found that reading other ordinary peoples thoughts and recollections from that day was a lot more compelling than watching a TV news special recounting the events. I don't need to see those images again. They are burned into my mind, and it was something that no one who was alive to experience it will ever forget. Ten years later and this day is still as confusing and conflicted as it was when it was happening.

That said, I will now spend the rest of my Sunday watching football and avoiding listening country radio, which will be full of terrible songs by Toby Keith, Alan Jackson, and that godawful Lee Greenwood song that everyone gets the title of wrong.

Here is a patriotic song that doesn't suck. I even like Neil Diamond's original version.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes - "Coming To America" (mp3) from Have Another Ball

Go Titans!

posted by Darrin @ 9/11/2011 0 comments links to this post

Soul Survivior




Life, by Keith Richards

The Beatles or the Stones? Since the mid 1960's, it's a question that all music fans have had to answer. As Uma Thurman said in Pulp Fiction, you can like both, but everyone prefers one over the other. And despite the fact that I would definitely fall into the Beatles camp, I have probably read more books about The Rolling Stones than any other artist. I think it's because even though The Beatles had a far greater impact on both music and society at large, the Rolling Stones story is a lot more compelling. Sure arrests, drug overdoses, and concert riots are pretty much standard fare for a lot of rock music bios, and any Stones book has those in spades. But it also has murder, political scandals, and inter-band mate swapping rivaled only by Fleetwood Mac. And it's been going on for six decades. No other band can touch that kind of longevity at the level the Stones have done it. And that makes for a great story.

You might wonder if there is any new ground to cover after all the ink that has been laid to paper in recounting the tales of Keith Richards and company. Honestly, the answer is no for the most part, but the book does give fresh insight into the stories and tall tales that have surrounded the Glimmer Twins for years. Richards doesn't hold back, so there really isn't any issue that he doesn't address. He debunks the myths surrounding the fabled Mars bar incident and rumors of having his blood changed in an effort to detox from heroin. He is incredibly frank about his issues with drug use over the years. And he details the ins and outs of both his personal and musical relationships throughout his life. And that is where the book really shines.

There were two things about the book that really stood out to me. First is that it barely mentions Bill Wyman at all. He basically is mentioned only three times in 547 pages: 1) The main reason he was asked to join the band is because he was the only one who owned an amplifier, 2) He was the band member who reached out the most during Keith's arrest in Canada, and 3) that he quit the band three years before it was publicly announced. And the second big surprise was that the bitterness and infighting between Keef and Mick Jagger lasted well past the Steel Wheels album and tour. I always thought that they had kissed and made up in 1989, but Richards talks about how they were still avoiding each other in the recording studio five years later while recording Voodoo Lounge.

The best book about the Stones remains Stanley Booth's The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones. And if you're looking for pure entertainment value and are less concerned about actual facts, the tabloid trash of Tony Sanchez's Up and Down with the Rolling Stones can't be beat. Life will mostly appeal to Stones fans, but it's an enjoyable read for anyone who liked a good rock and roll biography.

Keith Richards - "Wicked As It Seems" (mp3) from Main Offender

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posted by Darrin @ 8/10/2011 1 comments links to this post

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