palmermix

2003-08-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

News

Palmermix has moved. Please join us at our new location.

2003-08-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Run for the hills

The all-new Palmermix is coming... and coming soon.

2003-07-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

Stoned

Weekend listening. There was a good amount of it, both in the car and at home as I finished the final touches on my pilot before it goes out this week. At home, I listened to Joni Mitchell's Blue -- I know, it's a cliche, but it's just one of Those Albums that is great despite the enormous weight of its reputation. Like Blood on the Tracks. Like Astral Weeks. My favorite song's either "Carey" or "A Case of You" -- the latter being one of my all-time favorite love songs.

2003-07-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

This one's for LS and JA

In that same issue of the Oxford American, one of the other featured artists is Marshall Chapman, a longstanding Nashville singer/songwriter. Her music has never done an enormous amount for me, but... it turns out, when you look at her website, she's written a book.

What becomes more interesting, as you scroll down the website, is exactly who Marshall got to submit blurbs for the back of the book.

Now, if you know anything about the publishing business, you'll know that the majority of blurbs on the back of books come from other writers who already had some relationship, somehow, with the author. Rare are the cases where an established writer gets sent a book by the publisher, reads it, and is so taken with it he allows his name and blurb to be put on the back of the book.

Now, this doesn't mean that if you know or are friends with an author, that author is going to then slap a blurb on your book. Most authors are choosy, and probably won't put their blurb on the back of the book unless they do dig it. That whole credibility thing. Still, it helps to know people.

When my mother wrote her first novel, most of the enthusiastic blurbs came from people she already had some relationship with, whether it was Dominick Dunne, Judith Krantz, or Ted Kennedy. But my favorite blurb on the back of her novel did come from someone she had never met: Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote that the novel was "a weird and visceral experience which gave me the creeps, which I liked."

Now check out the blurbs for Marshall Chapman's novel on her site. There's one of my favorite Southern writers, Larry Brown. Humorist Roy Blount, Jr. Emmylou Harris (well, all right). Former U.S. Senator and failed presidential hopeful Bill Bradley (!).

And there's also this blurb:

"Marshall Chapman deserves an honorary doctorate in verve and attitude. Anyone who thinks that this little rock and roller is saying goodbye has another thing coming."
-- E. Gordon Gee
Chancellor, Vanderbilt University

Yes, disgraced former Brown University President Gordon Gee weighs in! This might be the weirdest collection of book blurbs of all time!

2003-07-16T09:27:00.000-07:00

Oxford Blues

A yearly treat for the music fan might still be on the newsstands, and I bought my copy yesterday at the B&N by the Santa Monica Promenade: the Oxford American's annual Music Issue. The American, "the Southern magazine of good writing," as its billed, the magazine founded by John Grisham and a ton of his money, was saved from the brink last year and relocated from Oxford, Mississippi to Little Rock. Their annual music issue includes, within the cellophane wrap, an annual compilation CD of songs by all the musicians written about it in the issue.

Which isn't just new music, at all. The articles range from being about Willie Nelson to classic scat singer King Pleasure to the Del McCoury Band to contemporary rockers the Gourds and My Morning Jacket. The result is an intriguing, wide-ranging mix CD, which, though at times sounding like one of those Hear Music compilations you can buy at Starbucks, is often as deep as it is wide.

I had to buy it, because it featured the Del McCoury Band covering one of my all-time top 10 favorite songs: Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." Very strange to hear a very British folk song transmuted into a southern bluegrass number. But very wonderful, too.

(Actually, weirdly, the Music Issue probably won't be on your newsstands, as the OA has had two issues since then. But worth checking out and trying to track down. Here, at any rate, is the cover of this year's Music Issue.)

Update: You might not be able to find the 2003 Music issue on newsstands. But you will be able to find a playlist -- complete with liner notes -- of the compilation CD here.

2003-07-10T09:25:00.000-07:00

New Lester Bangs!

Well, kinda. While finding the link to Psychotic Reactions and Carburator Dung -- the sole previous Bangs anthology, edited by Greil Marcus and published about fifteen years ago -- for the previous post, I discovered on Amazon that there's a new Bangs anthology, designed as a second volume of sorts, coming out in early August.

Entitled Main Lines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader, it's edited by John Morthland, a writer from the Texas Monthly -- long one of the better magazines in America, IMO. Published in paperback. You can buy it here.

2003-07-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

Let us now praise big men

So Barry White has died. (Here is the NY Times obituary.) White, like other corpulent celebrities (John Candy, for example), is one where we don't say, "he died too soon," but instead, "well, had he taken better care of himself all these years..."

But of course, Barry White did take care of himself. Great care of himself. He generally wore silkish pajamas almost all the time, and he had a lot of sex with a lot of women, and didn't have to pull Luther Vandross diets to do it.

And his profile had re-emerged in recent years, thanks to a recurring shtick with the Peter McNichol character on Ally McBeal.

But the music? Yes, "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby" and "My First, My Last, My Everything" actually somehow to stand up as great singles of the 70s soul era. (And I do like that Afghan Whigs cover of the former, from the Beautiful Girls soundtrack.)

But let's face facts: Barry White was kind of a lightweight performer, whose stature mostly came from the fact that many people chose him as their hump music, rather than people choosing him as quality material. Put him alongside Al Green, who had both the chops and skills and was appropriate for boudoir madness, and Barry floats away.

If you own Lester Bangs' Psychotic Reactions and Carburator Dung, thumb through it this week to the hilarious piece he wrote about Barry White live. One of my favorite Bangs' pieces ever. If you don't own the book -- well, for god's sakes, man, buy it. Now.

2003-07-07T17:03:00.000-07:00

Summer songs

Apparently everyone wants to get in the act of compiling favorite songs of summer. This from LS, who is himself still resisting posting his own favorite summer songs.

Then again, so are we.

A little bit of overwriting on this list, but I do like his inclusion of REM's "Nightswimming." Too often, in thinking of summer songs, we only think of the springy, happy, go-go tunes. Forgetting that there's some melancholia to be found amidst the humidity and dank evenings, too.

2003-07-04T08:15:00.000-07:00

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July.

Palmermix's favorite Fourth of July songs:

1) "Fourth of July" -- Dave Alvin. (A terrific song! There are also versions by the Blasters and X, two Alvin-related bands, but the best version can be found off Dave Alvin's King of California record.)

2) "Independence Day" -- Bruce Springsteen. (True, the independence day of this cheerless fathers-and-sons song from The River is a metaphorical one. Still, it counts!)

3) "Justice and Independence" -- John Cougar Mellencamp. (A completely ridiculous song -- it practically breaks under the strain of its pretentiousness -- yet with a great guitar riff.)

4) "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" -- Bruce Springsteen. (There's also a nice cover of this on Richard Shindell's live record, Courier.)

5) "One Headlight" -- The Wallflowers. (Okay, so I'm stretching here, but there is that song, "She said it's cold, it feels like Independence Day.")

6) "Saturday in the Park" -- Chicago. Admittedly, Chicago is awful. But you try to come up with more than four good songs that mention the Fourth of July.

7) "I'm So Bored with the USA" -- the Clash. Tee hee.

2003-07-04T07:57:00.000-07:00

Those were the reasons

Fun trivia coming to us from Michael in Gothenburg, Sweden:

Trivia: The Cohen song Chelsea Hotel is actually about Janis Joplin and LC having some hoochy coochy. Note the line: “giving me head on the unmade bed”.

Thanks, Michael. I like this email for three reasons:
1) It's from Sweden.
2) I like emails that use the euphemism "hoochy coochy."
3) The fact that it makes special effort to note the most infamous lyric in the song.

As Dana Carvey used to say as Johnny Carson: "I did not know that!"

2003-07-04T07:52:00.000-07:00

There goes the fear

Doves are a band for which I came a little late to the party. That makes sense; except in the case of Belle and Sebastian, I tend to not be the first among my pals to discover a British band. I never even picked up their first full-length album, 2000's Lost Souls. But after it was recommended to me a few times, I picked up last year's The Last Broadcast.

I spun it once or twice, finding one song I thought was incredible -- "Pounding" -- and finding the rest pleasant enough, but not grabbing. This past week, I pulled it from my shelf and slipped it into my iBook. Every time my little iBook crashed, which is with some frequency, Doves would be playing when I rebooted. This is a swell way to get to know a record quickly, and I've enjoyed it this past week.

How to describe the sound? It has a little bit of the ethereal quality of OK Computer-era Radiohead, but a much happier, soaring sound. Also, with some driving percussion and rhythms. The only downside is that the lead singer Jimi Goodwin's vocals can sometimes be a little too laidback and monotonous.

Still, check it out. And for the Apple Music Store, see if they have "Pounding" -- a great song, which merited a spot on my 2002 YIR discs.

2003-07-02T09:46:00.000-07:00

Listmania

LS passes this along: favorite songs of NYC bloggers. Sadly, Lockhart himself does not contribute. Perhaps he will post something on his blog to that effect. We'll try to post today's version of our favorite songs later on today.

2003-06-26T22:23:00.000-07:00

I don't think of you that often

"She didn't understand him, so she thought he was deep."

Elvis Costello? No, that barbed wit is from the pen of Lloyd Cole, and today I was listening a bit in the car to his '91 effort, Don't Get Weird On Me Babe.

With an album title stolen from a Raymond Carver short story, and melodies stolen from the Beatles via Imperial Bedroom, it's not the best effort of the witty singer/songwriter who now, evidentally, lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. But it's got some swell songs. Particularly "Weeping Wine" -- which reminds me of XTC -- and "She's a Girl and I'm a Man," which almost has the crispness of Pete Townshend circa Empty Glass mixed with Johnny Marr. (In fact, I always felt that LC was a much more interesting version of Morrissey -- more of a moper for graduate student women, with Morrissey better suited for their high school little sisters.)

I've always felt that Lloyd Cole was underrated -- a British singer/songwriter who unfortunately produced his best work at a time when the intelligentsia wasn't favoring British singer/songwriters. His best record was his first one without his backing band, the Commotions -- his self-titled album -- and it is full of wonderful crisp Robert Quine guitar, with Matthew Sweet playing bass on much of it. It was produced by Fred Maher, whom I know I've talked about on here and who also produced my favorite Lou Reed record, New York. (A great guitar record, by the way.)

Lloyd Cole has its share of melancholy, but also a lot of sharp wit, such as in "No Blue Skies" with its chorus:

Baby you're too well read
Baby you're too well spoken
Baby you're far too clear
When I cry, do you hear anything?

There's also "Ice Cream Girl" and "Undressed," both with their wonderful melodies and chimey guitars. Everything in the production is crisp and clear, even though the emotions and states of mind in the songs are often very muddled.

LC still records, occasionally, though I stopped buying his records at one point; nothing was as good as that self-titled album. But he did record the best thing on that inconsistent Leonard Cohen tribute of a decade ago, I'm Your Fan -- a terrific version of perhaps my favorite song by that other LC: "Chelsea Hotel."

When Leonard sang it, it was plaintive and sad. But when Lloyd sings,

Those were the reasons, and that was New York,
we were running for the money and the flesh;
And that was called love for the workers in song,
probably still is for those of them left.

it all feels like a hazy, bright summer memory, yellowed like yesterday's Polaroids. It's everything a cover should be.

2003-06-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Catching up

Some articles and emails to catch up on...

First, Josh sends us the link to this interview with the inimitable Tom Waits, from Onion's AV Club. Waits interviews never disappoint.

Josh also beat his old entrepreneurial partner and current co-author Lockhart in directing our Angeleno eyes to the New York Observer last week, for this Ron Rosenbaum piece. Yes, it starts off as a catty piece about Jenna Bush's summer in NYC, but then evolves into... a piece about NYC Summer Songs. (An oddball list. Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" Not exactly a good beat that you can dance to.) The piece improves when Rosenbaum turns it into a memory piece, of his summer of 1965 and the soundtrack that accompanied it.

PMix reader Jason Lemons also writes in response to our recent Paul Young post. I mentioned in the post that Paul Young was kind of a British Daryl Hall. Turns out that Daryl Hall wrote and recorded the original version of Young's "Everytime You Go Away!" Jason writes:

It's interesting that you mention Daryl Hall as Paul Young's American
counterpart, because Hall & Oates wrote and originally performed "Everytime
You Go Away." It's on their "Voices" album from the early 80s, if I
remember correctly. They also performed it on their Live at the Apollo
album with Kendricks and Ruffin (which is worth picking up, if you can find
it used). I think Daryl prefaces the song on that album, defensively
mentioning that it was covered by a British artist but they performed it
originally. I always thought it funny that he never mentioned Paul Young by
name... you'd think he'd be appreciative of the royalties he earned thanks
to that version, but he sounds almost resentful.

Anyway, I generally like both versions of the song. Paul's version was the
first I ever heard, and I remember dedicating it to a girl I had a crush on
at summer camp (it worked... for that summer, at least). Hall and Oates'
version has a Righteous Brothers sound and it works for them. Still, I'd
love to hear someone like Sam Moore or Ben E. King give it a little more
grit.

Incidentally, the only other PY song I remember is a cover of the Chi-Lites'
"Oh Girl" he did in the early 90s. He sings it pretty well, but it suffers
from lite-rock production. I love the Chi-Lites' version, but we can thank
Paul for making the song safe for suburban housewives everywhere.

Frightening amount of Hall and Oates knowledge there, Jason. Yet, I confess, I find them a guilty pleasure. Less so for Maneater and Private Eyes, more for "She's Gone" and Daryl Hall's underrated solo "Dreamtime."

2003-06-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

One more cup of coffee (or Dylan post)

Just had to post this. Forgive the copyright violation.

Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape
We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape

City's just a jungle, more games to play
Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away
I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down

Got nothing for you, I had nothing before
Don't even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down
Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around

All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well, the devil's in the alley, mule's in the stall
Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all
I was thinkin' about the things that Rosie said
I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed

Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too

Some people will offer you their hand and some won't
Last night I knew you, tonight I don't
I need somethin' strong to distract my mind
I'm gonna look at you 'til my eyes go blind

Well I got here following the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me

Everybody movin' if they ain't already there
Everybody got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interesting right about now

My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin' to be kind
So give me your hand and say you'll be mine

Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long

When I read lyrics like that, I can't help but think of what George Harrison once said about Dylan: "Dylan is so brilliant. To me, he makes Shakespeare seem like Billy Joel."

2003-06-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Not for all the tea in China

It would be hard to avoid the Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs, even if you tried. (And, even given its inconsistency, why would you try to avoid it?) "Absolutely Cuckoo" can be heard while listening to the played-endlessly-on-HBO Ashley Judd-Hugh Jackman Someone Like You.

This past weekend, I watched an episode of The Shield on DVD. Using Stephen Merritt as the backdrop to the tough and complex cop show on FX might sound out-of-whack.

Yet the use of "All My Little Words" was perfect in a montage showing different characters in their home-lives before ending with the discovery of a hideous love crime. (If you haven't watched the series, get on the Netflix ball or go to your local vidshop and check it out. One of the best narrative series on television.)

2003-06-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Guilty pleasures

Caught the last twenty minutes of John Hughes' sole non-teen film that was any good -- Planes, Trains, and Automobiles -- this morning on some random cable channel. I never quite understood why John Hughes made the decision to leave behind Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink for work such as Curly Sue and Baby's Day Out. But then again, I guess Hughes wouldn't have made the zillions of bucks he made from producing/writing the Home Alone movies had he continued making Jon Cryer vehicles.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles has hilarious moments -- I kinda think of it as part of Steve Martin's best period, a period starting with All of Me and heading through Planes Trains and Roxanne (I always found L.A. Story so-so, Hollywood jokes being as easy a target as bashing Republicans and televangelists). And at the end of the movie, there's an instrumental version of a song which, I gotta confess, I always kind of liked. Paul Young's "Everytime You Go Away, You Take a Piece of Me With You." (That's admittedly not the title, but it sure is fun to type all of it.)

It was Young's one song to hit big in America -- though in the UK he did have some other hits, like a nice slice of bland reggaelite called "Love of the Common People." Paul Young had your typical blue-eyed British soul voice, a bit higher than Rick Astley; if he had an American equivalent in terms of singing, it was probably Daryl Hall. The production of "Everytime You Go" feels as over-polished and dated as a Dexy's Midnight Runners song, but what does manage to come through all the synth is the fact that it's actually a very good song, in terms of the melody and writing.

Don't believe me? Next time you hear it, imagine it without the synthesizers and polish, and instead imagine it being sung by not a British white boy but a soul singer -- Sam Moore, say, or Solomon Burke. I've always felt that the best soul singers can find the terrific song inside a bubblegum hit -- I think of Etta James' version of the Eagles' "Take It to the Limit," or, better still, Wilson Pickett's upturning of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar."

Someone should do the same with Paul Young's "Everytime You Go Away, You Take a Piece of Me With You." Because there's a beautiful song in there, crying to get out.

2003-06-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hot Canadians make good music

A friend often will ask me when I pick up an album by a young twentysomething female artist: did I buy it for the Kasey Chambers factor?

Chambers is the fine Australian alt-country singer, whose first album, The Captain, is very good; her follow-up, Barricades and Brickwalls, a little less so, kinda a B-. She has good songwriting chops, a slightly too girlish voice, and nice friends like Buddy Miller and Lucinda Williams who appear on her records. But Chambers is cute, very, very cute, and she's the kind of cute singer whose album you might actually buy because, well, she's really cute.

When I picked up the Kathleen Edwards record, Failer, that's received a good deal of press, Phil asked me if I had bought it for, yes, the Kasey Chambers factor. Yes, Edwards is certainly cute. But I bought it because the little sticker that the record label slapped on the album included a journalism quote likening Edwards to both Lucinda and Neil Young in the same sentence.

I don't hear much of Lucinda in Kathleen Edwards' songs, and I hear even less Neil Young, but some of the songs have the nice dichotomy of cheery, airy melodies with lyrics describing desperation and loneliness. I always kinda liked songs that felt like contradictions, arguments inside one's head.

Edwards' sound and voice remind me of another Canadian singer/songwriter, who, lo and behold, shares the same label as Edwards -- Sarah Harmer, whose "Basement Apartment" is a wonderful song that I've written about in these pages before. Her voice has some nice textures to it, it's not just all sugar and sweetness, which allows her singing of "wired cars and whiskey" a little more plausible.

The down-side is that her songwriting is not quite there yet -- there are some boring slow songs that didn't do much for me (in my advancing age I'm realizing that it takes a lot for me to like a ballad).

That said, there are at least three big winners here -- the opener, "Six O'Clock News"; "One More Song the Radio Won't Like," which almost lives up to the huge promise of that great title; and "Westby," with its frank chorus: "If you weren't so old, I would keep you/If you weren't so old, I'd tell my friends/But I don't think your wife would like my friends." If they have 'em on the Apple $.99 store, they're well worth your time and three bucks.

2003-06-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sawdust on the floor

Joe Henry -- better known to some as Madonna's brother-in-law -- has never done too much for me. But then, I came kinda late to him, by the time he had already left his roots rock/Americana style behind for a more "experimental" -- there's a word which should trigger the red flags and alarms -- sound, involving drum loops, feedback, atmospheric production -- he swapped country for city. I bought his Fuse record of a couple years back, used, and except for one terrific, driving pulse of a song -- "Skin and Teeth" -- I was unimpressed.

Phil made a mix for me a few months ago that featured a song, "Short Man's Room," from the album of the same name, a record from '91 and one of Joe Henry's two records that feature a more stripped down, Americana sound. (Short Man's Room, the album, features as backing band for all its tracks the Jayhawks, to give you any indication of its Americana credentials.) I liked the song, and I was curious to hear more.

Then a month or two ago, at Aron's Records, I stumbled upon a sampler of Joe Henry's songs. It had a few songs I already had, from Fuse, but also songs from earlier and newer albums -- it wasn't something that was available in stores, but instead one of those radio samplers the label sends stations to get airplay for the new release. I picked it up.

I only got around to listening to it a couple weeks ago, and the songs which I liked the most were those from JH's two Americana records -- a duet called "Kindness of the World" from the album of the same name, and the songs from "Short Man's Room," including a wonderful, melodic, fiddle-infused song called "One Shoe Up."

Last week, on a trip to Aron's, I bought Short Man's Room new, and I've been listening to it a great deal while driving the last week. Joe Henry's lyrics on it are evocative, occasionally venturing towards the over-written, but more often than not, feeling lean and eloquent along a backdrop of fiddles, acoustic guitars, and mandolins. (His voice reminds me of that of Walter Salas-Humara of the before-their-time band the Silos, a group that was ten years too early before alt-country caught on.) It's a very good record, and I'm glad I came to it late, rather than never.

2003-06-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

Tell Tchaikovsky the news

Sorry about that. We're back now. Though we're desperate for a new graphic design. Blogger has scaled back their template choices, and all of them are ugly. Our dream is to meld this blog with our sister blog, on a single page with little extras. You know, like a linkbox.

Designs welcome!

2003-06-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

The heat is on

There's some movie on right now that has an amazing 80s cast: Rick Rossovich (the hunky guy in Roxanne), Michael Schoeffling (the hunky guy Molly Ringwald wants in Sixteen Candles), Ben Johnson (who won an Oscar as Sam the Lion in The Last Picture Show), Mark Harmon (who won an Oscar for Summer School -- nah, just kidding), Gary Busey (oh baby), Robert Duvall (one of those flicks where he was just cashing in), and.... Glenn Frey.

This looks like Glenn Frey, a little bit before the health clubs, a little bit after "You Belong to the City" and "The Heat is On. Not the same quality of work that Glenn delivered in Jerry Maguire.

Apparently, it's called "Let's Get Harry." The credited director is... Alan Smithee. That should give you a sense of the quality.

2003-06-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Presidential rock

You learn a lot from the Digital Music channel on Digital Cable. Since while you're listening to a song, the service helpfully throws up some useful facts on the television screen. Actually, rarely are the facts interesting. But yesterday, as a Robert Earl Keene song played, the screen displayed that "President George W. Bush and his twin daughters count themselves as big Keene fans."

This was disturbing news, and it re-affirmed the horrible discovery I've made the past few months: George W. Bush has pretty good taste in music.

Bill Clinton, our first baby boomer President, had awful taste in music. There was lots of talk about how much he loved Elvis Presley, yet the Elvis conversations in interviews with Clinton suggested that he knew very little about the King. Sure, he knew songs. But there was no real intimation that Clinton went home after a long day at work and listened to Elvis Presley.

Fleetwood Mac? "Don't Stop" wasn't a favorite song of Clinton's; instead, it was the decision of a lower-level campaign peon encharged with picking appropriate songs for campaign stops. Clinton named his daughter after a Joni Mitchell song, yes -- but it was Judy Collins' version of "Chelsea Morning," and not Joni's.

Now, we have Bush. Who likes Robert Earl Keene, and, in Frank Bruni's Ambling Towards History, which I read a month ago, is an enormous... Van Morrison fan.

I'm an enormous Van Morrison fan.

I have to sit with this.

2003-06-03T17:13:00.000-07:00

Supagroupa

One thing I've been doing the last two weeks has been listening to the Digital Music channels on my Digital Cable. There's an Americana station. It's not bad -- a little too much Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Nanci Griffith, but some inspired choices, too.

Just heard a song by a group identified as the Thorns, whose debut was just released.

But something about the song sounded familiar. It was bright, power poppy with a bit of a roots rock undertone.

Sure enough, what do you do when your own solo career is floundering? Form a super group with another floundering singer/songwriter.

The Thorns, evidentally, are made up of Matthew Sweet and Pete Droge. Sweet, a reminder, is the Nebraska power pop singer who played and hang with Lloyd Cole and Fred Maher a lot in the '80s, and whose own records featured great guitar work by Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Droge had less of a career, beginning with the promising first record, Necktie Second, featuring the catchy novelty song, "If You Don't Love Me, I'll Kill Myself," which received much airplay in '94 or so. (And was featured in Dumb and Dumber, if memory serves.)

I liked the song. Apparently, the album was produced by Brendan O'Brien, which makes sense, given that, aside from Springsteen's recent record and many a Pearl Jam album, O'Brien produced Sweet's 100% Fun and Droge's Necktie Second.

Update: Holy shit. Apparently, the other member of the Thorns is... Shawn Mullins. Yes, Shawn Mullins, who had that horrendous top 10 hit "Rockaby" -- at least that's what I think it was called -- three years ago. That was the one with the spoken word verses, where he described an LA Fairfax club girl, with the chorus, "Everything is gonna be alright, rockaby."

Amazon gave it a good review, though.

2003-06-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

Is Palmermix dead?

Nope.

2003-05-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

New Bruce

Hit this link, and you'll find a link to downloading the MP3 of a new Bruce song, recorded live in concert in Paris. Enjoy...

If you think I'm talking about Cockburn, Willis, or Almighty...

2003-05-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

Gilmore?

Fighting a cold, and watching a Gilmore Girls re-run.

I might be imagining this, but one of the characters on the show just made a reference to Jackson Browne being cooler than one would think, due to his having had an affair with Nico and writing many of her songs before "he bored us all with 'Doctor My Eyes.'"

Now that's a smart reference.

Update: Said a character -- the same one, I think -- later in the show: "You are not telling me that you did not know that Kim Deal was in the Pixies before the Breeders? These kids have no sense of history."

2003-05-26T10:14:00.000-07:00

TV tonight

The Minus 5 -- the Wilco side project which also features Peter Buck, sometimes -- are on Letterman tonight. Though the Letterman site says its the Minus 5 and Wilco appearing. Hmm.

Also tonight, High Fidelity, with commercial interruptions, is on Comedy Central at 8 p.m Easten. If you haven't already seen it, there must be a reason why, so, yeah, I'll respect that.

2003-05-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Being somewhere

I first heard Uncle Tupelo sometime during my freshman year of college. Which was kinda late in the game, I guess. Though it's never that late if you heard the band before they broke up.

Tim Dunn and Will Lee raved about them to me at 11 p.m. at the campus snack bar -- Will was from suburban Illinois, Tim was from rural Minnesota. Midwestern smart kids seemed, strangely, to stumble upon some great music before anyone else. (Tim and I shared a love for the Replacements; he was also the first person to tell me about the Wedding Present, a band that later both Mickey and Rico would praise. I still have never quite understood the hub-bub.)

Tim lent me No Depression and the acoustic March 1992. (This was probably two years before Anodyne was released.) I wasn't ready, I guess; they didn't grab me. By senior year, Uncle Tupelo had broken up, and its remnants released two records. One, Wilco's A.M., I bought the first month it came out: I liked it, especially the poppy "Boxful of Letters," but I kinda stopped listening after a few spins. (I started listening again a couple years later.) The other, Son Volt's Trace, I held off on buying until Jordan strongly recommended it to me, probably three months after its release; I instantly fell in love with that record, and to this day, I think it's one of the four or five best albums of the last decade.

It wasn't until I was living in Seattle, right out of college, that I fell in love with Wilco, and that was through their superb two disc Being There. I had just gone through a break-up, in a strange grey town where it rained too much and where I didn't know too many people. There were a lot of days there when I'd come out of a record store with more than I could really afford, under the guise of, "well, it's good to treat myself." There was a good record shop on Broadway, in the Capitol Hill district, where I lived, and I must've wandered in there the very day Being There came out. I bought it -- $12.99 for a two disc set, how could I not? -- and immediately walked back to my apartment and put it on.

Instantly, even though these were two discs songs I had never heard before, I found comfort in the familiarity of the source materials -- acoustic guitars, electric guitars, Hammond organ, even a horn section, and great melodies. It seemed to blend Exile-era Rolling Stones with Steve Earle with Bruce Springsteen. I was hooked. I had a new favorite band.

I find it kinda works out that your favorite album by a band is the first album of theirs where you really got them and loved them. Even though I love the first Mermaid Avenue and love most of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Being There is still my favorite Wilco record. There's some filler on it -- "Hotel Arizona," "Kingpin" come to mind -- but just a wide expanse of roots-rock, soul, country, and flat-out rockers. And "Say You Miss Me" might be one of the best things Tweedy has ever recorded.

It's been fun to watch a friend of mine suddenly go into a gigantic Wilco obsession. Being There is her favorite, too. But she's pointed out something disturbing to me. She's been picking out the stolen -- or, let's say, appropriated -- riffs in the album, and cataloguing them.

"Rebel Rebel"s guitar shows up in "Monday."

The "Sesame Street" theme comes up on the second disc's version of "Outta Sight (Outta Mind)."

She was about to tell me which song stole from "Happy Together," but I cried uncle.

I don't mind bands appropriating riffs into their giant collage of sound. Especially a band like Wilco, which so often wears its influences on its sleeve.

I do mind that now everytime I listen to that record, instead of thinking, "Great song!" I'm gonna be thinking, "Hey, this sounds like Sesame Street."

Ignorance is bliss.

2003-05-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

Dylan and Scorsese

Martin Scorsese, fresh off his Jazz documentary series, is now setting his sights on doing a documentary on Bob Dylan. The wire service report:

corsese to Film Bob Dylan Biography
The Associated Press
May 21 2003 7:16AM
LOS ANGELES (AP) - How many roads must a man walk down before Martin Scorsese makes a movie about him?

The answer, my friend, is in the tentatively titled ``Bob Dylan Anthology Project,'' a biography about the iconic folk singer directed by the ``Gangs of New York'' filmmaker.

The film, planned for release in 2005, will chronicle Dylan's 1963 breakthrough and the cultural and political influence of his music, Scorsese and his producing partners said Tuesday.

``I've admired and enjoyed his many musical transformations,'' Scorsese said in a statement. ``For me, there is no other musical artist who weaves his influences so densely to create something so personal and unique.''

In addition to playing in some theaters, the movie will also be broadcast on PBS in the United States and the BBC in the United Kingdom.

Dylan also acts and sings in the upcoming fictional drama ``Masked and Anonymous,'' set to debut July 25.

2003-05-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

The bride wore red shoes

Evidentally, Elvis Costello and Diana Krall are engaged. (Via Outsidethelaw.) I didn't know Krall was 38 years old. I guess the prospect of her recording a power pop album with lots of jangly guitars is unlikely.

2003-05-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

I think I need a new heart

I was meeting a friend for coffee at Dutton's of Brentwood -- my favorite bookstore in the city -- and was leafing through the newstand. Came across The Believer, the new literary review from Dave Eggers and the McSweeney folks. In the second issue, Rick Moody takes the Magnetic Fields 3 disc set 69 Love Songs and boils 'em all down to 31 favorite songs.

This ain't exactly a new concept -- people have been doing this with double or triple discs for years, from the White Album to Sandinista to Use Your Illusion to Human Touch/Lucky Town. The idea being that when an artist releases a multiple disc record, there's bound to be lots of filler. So, whether with tape deck or with CD burner or even MP3 player -- strip the discs of their filler, making one damn good CD all your own.

I didn't really read the article. Moody kinda annoys me, ever since, after JFK, Jr. died, Moody wrote several articles exploiting his casual acquaintance with JFK, Jr., at Brown.

As for 69 Love Songs, I always admired it more for its audacity than for its quality, but I think I could certainly make a one disc distillation of Stephen Merritt's opus that would be mighty good.

2003-05-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

June Carter Cash

Grammy Winner June Carter Cash Dies at 73
The Associated Press
May 15 2003 11:50PM
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - June Carter Cash, the Grammy-winning scion of one of country music's pioneering families and the wife of country giant Johnny Cash, died Thursday of complications from heart surgery. She was 73.

She died at a hospital with her husband of 35 years and family members at her bedside, manager Lou Robin said. She had been critically ill after May 7 surgery to replace a heart valve.

A singer, songwriter, musician, actress and author, June Carter Cash performed with her husband on record and on stage, doing songs like ``Jackson'' and ``If I Were a Carpenter,'' which won Grammy awards in 1967 and 1970, respectively. Their duets included ``It Ain't Me Babe'' in 1964 and ``If I Had a Hammer'' in 1972.

``People talk about Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette when it c

omes to pioneering women in country music. But they very seldom mention June, somewhat because she got married to Johnny Cash,'' said Ed Benson, executive director of the Country Music Association. ``I think people should think of her more often when they think of the pioneering women in country music.''

She was co-writer of her husband's 1963 hit ``Ring of Fire,'' which was about falling in love with Cash. In his 1997 autobiography, Johnny Cash described how his wife stuck with him through his years of amphetamine abuse.

``June said she knew me - knew the kernel of me, deep inside, beneath the drugs and deceit and despair and anger and selfishness, and knew my loneliness,'' he wrote. ``She said she could help me. ... If she found my pills, she flushed them down the toilet. And find them she did; she searched for them, relentlessly.''

Longtime friend Kris Kristofferson, who wrote the Cash hit ``Sunday Morning Coming Down,'' said Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash have ``been partners in life for as long as I've known them - always in love, and always there for each other.

``I know how much she means to him. It's the hardest thing he'll ever have to face.''

June Carter was born June 23, 1929, in Maces Spring, Va. Her mother, Maybelle Carter, was in the Carter Family music act with her cousin Sara Carter and Sara's husband, A.P. Carter. In 1927, they made what are among the first country music recordings.

The family act broke up, but mother and daughters June, Helen and Anita continued on as Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters, with little June playing autoharp.

Starting in 1939, the sisters starred in a radio show on XERA in Del Rio, Texas, that could be heard as far away as Saskatchewan, Canada. The Carters went on to become staples of the Grand Ole Opry country music show in Nashville.

The Carters' harmony singing still inspires artists today and Maybelle's ``Carter lick'' on the guitar has become one of the most influential techniques in country music.

In the late 1950s, after her marriage to country singer Carl Smith broke up, June Carter moved to New York to study acting at the behest of director Elia Kazan, who had seen her perform while scouting Tennessee for movie locations.

In 1961, she turned down an offer to work on a variety show that had Woody Allen as one of the writers, agreeing instead to tour with Johnny Cash for $500 a week. They married in 1968 after he proposed to her on stage in London, Ontario.

In a 1987 Associated Press interview, June Carter Cash described her husband as ``probably the most unusual, fine, unselfish person I've known.''

``There's a lot of power to him,'' she said then. ``I've seen him on shows with people with a No. 1 record or a lot of No. 1 records, but when John walks on that stage, the rest of 'em might as well leave.''

In 1999, she released an acoustic album, ``Press On,'' that amounted to a musical autobiography and won her another Grammy. The album, her first in a quarter-century, followed her career from its beginning through her then 31-year marriage and collaboration with Cash.

``There's a lot of people who I love - fans that I've known through the years - who will be glad I did it,'' she said about the album at the time. ``And maybe some other people ... wonder what Johnny Cash's wife is really like.''

In 1979, she wrote an autobiography, ``Among My Klediments,'' and released ``From the Heart,'' a memoir, in 1987.

June Carter Cash did occasional acting roles, including the part of Robert Duvall's mother in the 1997 film ``The Apostle.'' With her husband, she periodically performed at Billy Graham crusades.

Johnny and June Carter Cash had a son, John Carter Cash, in 1970. She was also the mother of country singer Carlene Carter, whose father was Smith, and singer Rosanne Cash is her stepdaughter.

Funeral services will be private and details will not be released at the request of the Cash family.

2003-05-14T08:22:00.000-07:00

Department of dead horses

I know that I've been posting a bit too much lately about rock and roll in advertising. But last night, while watching television, I caught an ad for Clarinex -- an allergy medication, I think -- that uses as its background noise instrumental versions (or maybe they're taken directly from the "Overture") of the Who's Tommy. A little bit of Pinball Wizard, a little bit of Go to the Mirror, Boy, a couple others.

Kinda would have been cooler had they used Quadrophenia. Just imagine, the images of people being able to breathe more freely and easily, accompanied by the sound of "girls of fifteen, sexually knowing."

2003-05-13T11:22:00.000-07:00

Waterfall, nothing can harm me at all

Noel Redding, Jimi Hendrix's bassist, has died.

2003-05-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Sad

Evidentally, despite our longstanding claim to be "America's Favorite Music Blog," we only show up on the third screen/page of results in a Google search for "music blog."

That said, when you type America's Favorite Music Blog, without quotes, we clock in at #2.

Palmermix: the Avis of America's Favorite Music Blogs.

2003-05-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

Soundtrack to your life

Livejournal doesn't let you link to individual posts, so just sail on over to the 5/8 post on my neighborhood pal Rico Gagliano's Livejournal blog. Rico has gone back through his entire life and charted the bands that have mattered most to him, and tried to make sense of the patterns. Evidentally, you always go back to the Beatles.

2003-05-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

Six Feet

A mediocre season of Six Feet Under (this after a spotty season of the Sopranos) but tonight's episode was the best I've seen of the season. And music fans can applaud the use of a classic gem at the end of the episode -- Todd Rundgren's "I Saw the Light," with that tinny AM radio sound, playing as Nate sits in the parking lot by the beach. Nice.

2003-05-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

Celebrated summer

Some interesting pairings on tour this summer. Lucinda Williams is opening up for Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Wilco is doing some opening dates opening up for R.E.M. And Tricia tells me that Steve Earle, Jackson Browne, and Keb Mo' are doing a group show, with an opening all-together acoustic set.

2003-05-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Black diamond strings on a catalog guitar

While in Louisville, besides the Dylan concert, I seemed to be soaking in music left and right. Even a lot of noodling around on acoustic guitars, while sitting on porches off the rooftop of 100 year old buildings, looking out over the trees. Drinking beer, too. Made me tell myself that I want to get back into playing and writing, just for kicks, and provided I'm employed come June (those of you who have been in touch know that that is unfortunately very much in the air right now), I'd like to go back to McCabe's to take lessons.

I tuned my old acoustic guitar yesterday, and played some Wilco songs and Lucinda songs. Some other stuff, too, off of the great Alt Country Tab site, including the Blasters' "So Long Baby Goodbye." It was a cheap hundred dollar guitar my father bought for me when I was 13, but so help me, it does have a pretty sound, despite its Japanese factory roots, and I think I'll always want it around. That said, I'm longing to throw some money down (when I'll have money to throw) and pick up a Martin or Gibson acoustic, maybe something with built-in pick-ups.

I had forgotten how much I missed it.

2003-05-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday pickmeups

Even though I still haven't finished the first round of enjoyment of the CDs I picked up in Louisville, I made a stop at Aron's Records today on Highland.

The booty:

The new Richard Thompson, the Old Kit Bag. It features a bonus disc that includes RT covering, yes, Prince's "Kiss." Hmmm. Listened to the main album once already -- it doesn't grab me as much as RT's last record, Mock Tudor. That one was produced by the guys who did Elliot Smith's XO; this one, instead, is produced by John Chelew, who produced the fab RT tribute record of a few years back, the out-of-print Beat the Retreat, and also produced another singer/songwriter classic, John Hiatt's Bring the Family.

I also picked up, based on Manfredi's recommendation, The Creek Drank the Cradle, the record by Iron & Wine, which is the nom de plume for a Florida cinematography professor named Sam Beam. I had listened to some of it before in Matt's car -- think of a mix between Palace Brothers/Bonnie Prince Billy/Will Oldham and Nick Drake, with a little Elliott Smith for good measure. I look forward to listening to it.

The third CD I picked up, Albuquerque's finest, the Shins' Oh, Inverted World, was one I've meant to pick up ever since a friend put "New Slang" on a 2001 In Review disc he made -- I liked the song so much, I then swiped it and put it on my 2001 in Review disc, even though I didn't have the album from which it originated.

Then, to prove I'm a complete geek, I bought the two-disc DVD of the documentary about the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. I missed it in the theaters. Have been watching it this afternoon. While it's beautifully shot and the performances are great -- and its fascinating to hear the primordial versions of the YHF songs, often as spare as folk songs, in their early stages -- it's not very good in terms of actually getting into much of the meat of the story -- Tweedy is such an interior, withdrawn guy, not exactly a fascinating portrait for a documentary.

One of the highlights, though, is an interview with David Fricke of Rolling Stone. I've seen him on a thousand Behind the Musics, and usually find him to be the stereotypical rock writer -- weird-looking, geeky, the guy who probably owns a thousand Velvet Underground bootlegs. I've never cared for him much, but in the documentary, he does make an interesting point about how it's harder and harder these days for records -- or any kind of art -- that isn't an instant "get." Where you have to work at it to enjoy and reap the fruits the work offers.

Sometimes I find myself far too impatient with records, expecting instant enjoyment. One of the records I bought in Louisville did nothing for me the first listen. But I've been listening a bunch to is Neko Case's album from last year, Blacklisted, and it's grown and grown on me. Case almost sounds like an alt-country Nick Cave, with a little Kate Bush thrown in for good measure. Kinda hard to describe, and her songs don't follow the traditional structure, but the mood of the album is growing on me more and more.

2003-05-08T10:41:00.000-07:00

Writing to music

A common question I ask fellow writers is whether or not they can write while listening to music.

I find that I prefer music in the background -- even music with vocals -- while I write. Some folks I know can't except to non-vocal music -- too distracting -- and some writers I know can't write to music at all. Other writers I know can write with a television on; I can't. I'm also sure that some can write while artillery shells go off, 747s soar overhead, and twelve year olds set firecrackers off outside on the sidewalk outside their window.

Since my current gig as a television writer is up in the air -- ah, hooray for May and hiatus and the unknown -- I'm throwing myself back into writing my novel. Not sure what I'll be listening to today when I write. More soon.

2003-05-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

Interactive Palmermix

While at that great recordstore in Louisville, I also spied new releases by two artists/groups whose previous efforts I quite enjoyed: one, the Canadian bluegrass outfit the Be Good Tanyas; the other, the new album by former Whiskeytowner Caitlin Cary. I didn't buy them, or for that matter, Beatles for Sale, 'cause I was buying too much already. (Though in retrospect, I shouldn't have bought the boring Neko Case album.)

Any Palmermixers out there check out either of these new releases? Do tell! Email us at Palmermix at earthlink.

The new Richard Thompson record, the Old Kit Bag, is in stores this week. As his last record, Mock Tudor, was his strongest in years, I'm excited for the new release. RT is also playing in LA on May 16, I think; if you've never seen him live, he's truly one of the best live performers I've ever seen.

2003-05-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

AIM fun

A new feature to our pages: AIM transcripts with fellow music-loving friends. Today's dialogue is with Ethan Malasky, a software engineer in San Francisco town.

MichaelOPalmer: what have you been listening to of late
ethanmalasky: i'm thinking. i've been around a little bit
ethanmalasky: cody chesnutt
MichaelOPalmer: who's that
ethanmalasky: black soul/pop guy.
ethanmalasky: low-budget 2-disc debut: the headphone masterpiece. it got a lot of press, i thought
MichaelOPalmer: i'll check it out!!!
ethanmalasky: can't seem to get enuff belle&sebastian. it's not new, but i keep returning to it.
ethanmalasky: love the eps, especially
MichaelOPalmer: yes, they're good. i like the EPs ok, my favorite is still if you're feeling sinister.
MichaelOPalmer: i listened to the new album by the group arab strap at a record store in kentuccky, not so good
MichaelOPalmer: none of the belle side projects do much for me
MichaelOPalmer: looper, etc
MichaelOPalmer: i also didn't love fold your hands child
ethanmalasky: i didn't even know those were b+s side projects
MichaelOPalmer: i think they are
MichaelOPalmer: looper definitely is
ethanmalasky: i raged with the new white stripes for 10 days or so. i like it a lot
ethanmalasky: + the new yo la tengo; great for late-nite driving
MichaelOPalmer: i hope the new white stripes is better than white blood cells, i thought that record was the emp's new clothes
ethanmalasky: i've got tix to see them, which i'm really excited about. never seen 'em before
MichaelOPalmer: i listened to the new yo la tengo also at a listening station, didn't love it, but then they're a group that always rewards on repeated listening
ethanmalasky: yes yes
MichaelOPalmer: my favorite of theirs is still fakebook, though i like i can feel the heart beating as one
ethanmalasky: really enjoyed Le Tigre's self-titled album
ethanmalasky: it's a worktime fave
ethanmalasky: new for me...
ethanmalasky: have you heard the band The Negro Problem?
MichaelOPalmer: i've heard of them, haven't heard them
ethanmalasky: i pulled an album of theirs off emusic; it's ok. a little precocious
ethanmalasky: have you tried the apple music store yet?
MichaelOPalmer: i saw sheryl crow and steve jobs on the cover of some business magazine this week
MichaelOPalmer: sheryl has an ipod in her pants, but the headphones are connecting to steve's ears
MichaelOPalmer: it's hot, brother, HOT
MichaelOPalmer: i haven't tried it, what's your take on it
ethanmalasky: slick
MichaelOPalmer: i own an iPod, my boss gave us them for our christmas gifts, very nice of him
ethanmalasky: nice! the new ipods are sooooo cute. even smaller than before
MichaelOPalmer: i haven't used my ipod yet
MichaelOPalmer: i should
MichaelOPalmer: i'm still in the "burning CDs to jog to" is fun phase, rather than the "i'll just jog with my entire record collection place"
ethanmalasky: cheap access to music, with enough freedom to burn to CD and share w/ others on the network
ethanmalasky: my whole group has their collections online now, thanks to apple and itunes 4
MichaelOPalmer: how cheap is cheap
ethanmalasky: 0.99/song
ethanmalasky: the experience is sooooo slick
ethanmalasky: integrated into itunes.
MichaelOPalmer: and it's yours forever?
ethanmalasky: you search, it's zippy, dbl-click for 30 sec sample, press button to download and buy
ethanmalasky: it's yours forever
MichaelOPalmer: any final music thoughts?
MichaelOPalmer: why don't you give us your desert island 3 favorite records
ethanmalasky: well, palmermix, i'd love to
MichaelOPalmer: hit it!
ethanmalasky: ok, here's a good enough desert island list:
ethanmalasky: abbey road, if you're feeling sinister, rust never sleeps
ethanmalasky: rust never sleeps give me both the distored guitars I need, without wasting a whole album on it!
MichaelOPalmer: good list!

2003-05-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Slip kid

Big news. The charges have been dropped against Pete Townshend, but he's still going to be listed on a national UK registery of sex offenders. I can't make sense of it, either. (But I can't help but think of the John Turturro character in Lebowski. Such a perfect film...) Here's the AP story:

Townshend Cleared of Possessing Kid Porn
The Associated Press
May 7 2003 1:02PM
LONDON (AP) - Rock guitarist Pete Townshend, co-founder of The Who, was cleared Wednesday of possessing pornographic images of children but still was placed on a national register of sex offenders.

That registration was part of a formal police caution Townshend received for accessing a Web site containing images of child abuse.

Townshend, 57, was arrested in January on suspicion of making and possessing indecent images of children. The arrest was part of Operation Ore, an FBI-led crackdown on Internet child pornography.

After a four-month investigation, London's Metropolitan Police said Wednesday the rocker ``was not in possession of any downloaded child abuse images'' but had accessed a site containing such images in 1999.

The musician acknowledged using his credit card to enter a Web site advertising child pornography but said he was doing research for his autobiography. Townshend denied being a pedophile and said he had campaigned against child pornography.

The title character in Townshend's rock opera ``Tommy'' - a deaf, dumb and blind pinball wizard - is sexually abused by an uncle, and Townshend said he believed he was sexually abused as a young boy while in the care of his mentally ill grandmother.

On Wednesday, Townshend said he was wrong to access the Web site, but said police accepted he had no ``nefarious purpose'' in doing so.

``As I made clear at the outset, I accessed the site because of my concerns at the shocking material readily available on the Internet to children as well as adults, and as part of my research toward the campaign I had been putting together since 1995 to counter damage done by all kinds of pornography on the Internet, but especially any involving child abuse,'' he said in a statement.

Police, however, said it was not a defense ``to access these images for research or out of curiosity.''

As part of the cautioning procedure, Townshend's fingerprints, photograph and a DNA sample will be taken by police and he will be placed on a national sex offender registry for five years.

Townshend's website doesn't offer anything new -- yet -- in Pete's famous diary section, but there is this official statement, in the News section of his site.

2003-05-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

Madison Avenue Rocks!

If you thought that Dylan's "Not Dark Yet" hawking Victoria's Secret was as bad as it could get, then you just haven't seen the new Sheraton ads using "Let's Spend the Night Together."

The commercials feature an anonymous "rock band" -- their hair all in that Ryan Adams bedhead mode -- singing "Let's Spend the Night Together" while running from the press, groupies, etc in a Sheraton hotel. Very much capturing that Almost Famous zeitgeist. The ads say, "Hey, Sheraton, there's a fun casual vibe at work here, people!"

Reasons why this ad is awful:

1) A song that was once so "dangerous" that Ed Sullivan's people forced Mick Jagger to sing "let's spend some time together" instead now is tame enough to sell one of the nation's largest hotel chains.

2) The Stones could part with the song, but not their version of it? After selling "Start Me Up" to Windows 95, what, the Stones could only go halfway this time?

3) The "cutesiness" this portrays of early 70s-style rock bands, excluding the less cute details such as the heroin use and rampant sexuality. (That would have made a much more interesting ad! Sheraton: Do smack in our bathrooms!)

I actually recently defended Dylan's selling "Not Dark Yet," and no, not just because I like lingerie ads, but because Dylan has never been someone who has had huge album sales. The same way I don't have problems with Moby selling all of his songs to ads to make most of his income so he can support little vegetarian teahouses that sell $10 cheese sandwiches. For artists of that size, advertisments are a real, and vital, income stream.

But for the Stones? There was no reason why the Stones needed to sell "Let's Spend the Night Together." Which, while we're on the topic, is easily one of my ten favorite Stones songs.

OK, because we're on the topic:

palmermix Top 10 Favorite Stones Songs

Shine a Light
Dead Flowers
Tumbling Dice
Loving Cup
Let's Spend the Night Together
Under My Thumb
Get Off of My Cloud
Before They Make Me Run
Salt of the Earth
Hang Fire/Can't Always Get What You Want/Beast of Burden

It'll change by tomorrow. Or in an hour.

2003-05-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

Important

I was listening to Nick Drake long before you were.

2003-05-07T09:15:00.000-07:00

Seen on a T-shirt in Louisville...

"Legalize Bluegrass."

2003-05-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

File sharers, start your engines...

One of the albums I picked up in Kentucky is the new Daniel Lanois, Shine. Like his earlier Acadie and For the Beauty of Winona, it's an amalgamation of both songs and atmospheric instrumentals. I find this one more accessible than the earlier records, with much more attention paid to song structure. And already it's offering up one of my favorite songs of this still relatively new year: a duet with Bono, "Falling At Your Feet." Download it from your file-sharing software of choice, or listen to a minute of it on the Amazon page...

Support Palmermix and buy Shine here.

2003-05-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

Making bets on Kentucky Derby day

Louisville is a swell city, beautiful with tons and tons of trees and older buildings, somehow escaping much of the "ugly architecture" of the 60s and 70s. Restaurant-wise, it seemed decent; I visited a nice bookstore; there were many pretty galleries. But more importantly, they have good radio and a great local record chain, EarX-Tacy, which was one of the best independent music stores I've been to in a long while. Many terrific recommendations, a very good selection, but also, great categorization -- there was a thorough bluegrass category, a folk category, but also, an alternative-country section. (The potential problem, of course, is what happened when Blockbuster over-categorized -- where to find the compact discs which might fit into several different genre labels?)

Avery and I headed over there, on Bardstown Road, right after brunch on Sunday. I blew about $85; so far, a fairly good CD run. A couple of clunkers, though. I'll write about the purchases in the days ahead.

2003-05-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, Earl

Got back last night from Kentucky (more on that soon), and I'm welcomed home with... this:

DJs Suspended for Playing Dixie Chicks
The Associated Press
May 6 2003 9:02AM
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Country station KKCS has suspended two disc jockeys for playing the Dixie Chicks, violating a ban imposed after the group criticized President Bush.

Lead singer Natalie Maines told a British newspaper she was ``ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.''

``We pulled their music two months ago, and it's been a difficult decision because how can you ignore the hottest group in country music,'' station manager Jerry Grant said.

He said there has been discussion about whether to reinstate the music, but the DJs, Dave Moore and Jeff Singer, became impatient.

``They made it very clear that they support wholeheartedly the president of the United States. They support wholeheartedly the troops, the military. But they also support the right of free speech,'' Grant said.

The station has received a couple of hundred calls and 75 percent favored playing the music.

Grand said Moore and Singer will be out for a couple of days.

``I gave them an alternative: stop it now and they'll be on suspension, or they can continue playing them and when they come out of the studio they won't have a job.''

The station plans to play the group's music again eventually. ``Most stations are starting to play them again anyhow a song here, a song there. I just have a problem with the way this was done. We would have put them in anyhow. But we'd like to do it on our terms,'' he said.

I love that how in the wake of the Dixie Chicks' album skyrocketing instead of suffering in the wake of all this, the radio stations are now depicting their ban as a brave statement of conscience. Not since Joe Lieberman condemned Bill Clinton...

2003-05-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

Keep on shining

Checking in from Louisville, Kentucky...

Wednesday night found Avery, me, and a cabal of Louisville artsy progressives braving our way to a Bob Dylan concert, held in the strangest of venues: a parking lot belonging to Jillian’s, a Dave and Buster’s huge megalopolis (the kind of place that offers "four different bar experiences"). It was crowded, and worse, it was crowded by a few thousand drunken frat boys, including many who were doing that little Phish concert dance. To Dylan. Sacrilege.

Given the non-intimacy of the venue, and the annoying quality of the crowd, this concert had all the makings of a quagmire. Yet, it was very, very good. I hadn’t seen Dylan since the late 80s, back when he was touring with G.E. Smith of the old Saturday Night Live band, and I remember those concerts as uninspired.

This concert felt anything but, starting with the band, which was tight, featuring Larry Campbell on both guitar and lute. Dylan himself mostly stayed away from guitar, and instead played piano, which helped flesh out the general blues band sound of the proceedings. The piano was especially haunting on the performance of one of Dylan’s best songs of the last 20 years, "Blind Willie McTell."

The setlist was a diverse one – a great deal from his latest record, Love and Theft. "Cold Irons Bound" from Time Out of Mind, and "Things Have Changed," from the Wonder Boys soundtrack – a song which I have usually admired for its smart lyrics, but here proved itself to have a great down-and-dirty groove to boot. A beautiful version of "If Not for You," from New Morning, complete with chimey guitars. "Watching the River Flow," and then the requisite, yet uninspiring, Rainy Day Women (a giveaway for the fratboys, no doubt) and Highway 61 Revisited. More appealing were not one but two tracks from Nashville Skyline: "Lay Lady Lay" and "Tell Me That It Isn’t True."

The encores, "Like a Rolling Stone," "All Along the Watchtower," and "Forever Young," all felt a little too much like "give the greatest hits." Still, the surprises of the Nashville Skyline choices, and "If Not for You," did give the evening a bit of a surprise feel, and Dylan himself, though frail, seemed to be particularly enjoying himself, stepping out from behind the electric piano to do a little finger-snapping wiggle wiggle while his band played.

Last night, Jennie and Doug drove in from Frankfort, and after dinner in Old Louisville, Avery and Karen took us over to a friend’s monthly acoustic singer/songwriter night, where a local musician friend of theirs organizes a monthly roundtable – not assimilar to what they used to do at the old Bottom Line in New York – of songwriters from the Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee areas.

Acoustic nights can sometimes breed disaster, but I found the singers appealling – one sporting a Teddy Thompson/Rufus Wainwright yearning voice, and the others having a full sound with accordian accompaniment. I enjoyed it, and it made me plan on throwing some money down to finally get a new acoustic guitar for myself, to replace the old hundred-dollar one I’ve had since I was 13.

Doug handed me a burned copy of a record I hadn’t heard of – an Irish folksinger named Bap Kennedy – but as the record features such frequent Ireland visitors as Steve Earle and Nanci Griffith, I look forward to hearing it. (On the car ride home, Doug did play Bap’s version of Steve’s "Angel is the Devil," and I liked it quite a bit.)

Doug also asked an important Dylan question: which songs did Dylan not play at the concert that I wished he had played? Well, I could name some obscure tracks that I love – "Day of the Locusts," "Up to Me," etc – but really, I would have loved to have heard "Tangled Up in Blue" and "Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright." Next time.

Louisville is a beautiful town – tons of parks and the streets often lie beneath the canopies of oak trees. So much lush and green. There’ll be some drinking this weekend – it is, after all, the Derby, and this is Kentucky, and I am me – but I’m also finding some time to read (after all the hype, I was resisiting reading the Corrections until a couple of friends who similarly had resisted it told me that it was well worth jumping on the bandwagon). Also getting some time to return to working on some of my own writing.

Sitting in Avery and Karen’s living room now, as Joni Mitchell plays on the stereo. "California," in fact, and yes, come Monday I, too, will be kissing a Sunset pig and seeing the folks I dig. But for now, Louisville is suiting me just fine.

More than fine, with a belly full of barbecue and an ear full of song, a napping greyhound near my feet. More soon.

2003-04-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

Blue moon of Kentucky

Leaving today for close to a week in Louisville. Depending on what my internet access is, I'll try to post in the week ahead, but it's likely that any posting will be spotty. As a harbinger of my trip ahead (I prefer the word harbinger to omen, it has a slightly happier texture), who else joined me for a late lunch at the restaurant around the corner from me on Saturday, but Naomi Judd. Wacky times.

2003-04-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Ladies of the canyon

This afternoon, I caught Laurel Canyon today only a few yards away from where Crescent Heights Blvd becomes Laurel Canyon itself. I had read mixed things about the film, but I really liked it -- from the opening credit sequence's aerial views of the ribbons of Los Angeles freeway interchanges, to the grainy cinematography's capturing the unique light quality of a unique canyon, to the performances, especially Frances McDormand as a 40something record producer involved with the lead singer of the band she's currently producing. McDormand has a great weathered sexuality in the role -- she looks like Sheryl Crow after years of bad vibes and worse relationships.

Alessandro Nivola does a very believable job as the lead singer of the band, and Lou Barlow and Daniel Lanois show up for parts of it. The production design itself is terrific -- little details, like concert posters on the walls and LPs lined up on the walls of the guest room, all feel real.

I usually find myself particularly picky about films set in Los Angeles, but this is the best one I've seen since The Big Lebowski. There isn't enough resolution at the end -- the director clearly had some difficulty in figuring out how to finish things -- but overall, it's a beautifully shot movie with some vivid performances and lovely character studies.

2003-04-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

More EC on TV

Tricia writes to remind me that Elvis Costello had broken his sitcom cherry years before ... having appeared on the season finale of Third Rock from the Sun. (And yes, he appeared on Larry Sanders, too, but so did everyone.)

2003-04-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

Elvis has left the building

Apparently, Elvis Costello appeared on Frasier last week. I'd say this kinda represents the coming of the apocalypse, but I think the floodgates were thrown open back when Bob Dylan decided to appear on... Dharma and Greg.

2003-04-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Lanois, nomois

The Lanois show at Amoeba was cancelled, due to there being a massive day-long power outage covering much of Hollywood. Alas. I'm not sure anyone told Lanois that, because while I was standing outside waiting to meet my friend who was meeting me there for the concert, Lanois sidled on up, thin and small, wearing a little black ski-cap and a black pull over zipper-sweater. He went in for a little while, signed a few random things -- CDs, and a mixing deck -- and then left with a woman who I assume was a little bit over-the-hill but still cute publicist.

The show is rescheduled for this Sunday, at 2 p.m., at Amoeba.

2003-04-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Walking to me with the Maker

Hitting Amoeba Records tonight at 7 p.m. to see Daniel Lanois do a live performance in support of his brand-new record. Lanois produced or co-produced some of the greatest records of the last 20 years: U2's Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby, All That You Can't Leave Behind; Peter Gabriel's So and Us; Robbie Robertson's first solo record; Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy and Time Out of Mind; Emmylou Harris' Wrecking Ball; even Luscious Jackson's Fever In Fever Out. (Not that he didn't produce some duds, too: Willie Nelson's Teatro comes to mind, as does the Neville Brothers' Yellow Moon.) He also recorded two inconsistent, but often rewarding solo records, and wrote at least one legitimately great song, "The Maker."

At his best, his music has amazing textures and atmosphere, full of steel guitars and dobros and distant percussion. At his worst, all that atmosphere can choke or lend a coldness to the proceedings. I'll be looking forward to seeing what he's like live. If you're living in LA, you might want to check him out, too.

2003-04-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Let us now praise famous blogs

I'm a firm believer that part of being a member of the blogging community is supporting your other bloggers when they support you. Blogging hits are generally determined by two things: search engines and links from other sites. I often get emails from people saying, hey, check out my blog.

I don't always link to them. I was guilty in the early days of sending out emails to Grade-A bloggers saying, "hey, I love your website, check out mine," in the hopes that they'd link to me and bam, I'd suddenly have new readers. Sometimes, it worked. But because I know that ploy, I'm choosy to link to other blogs unless they seem to have some content and something to say. Well, okay, I'm choosy to link to other blogs unless they praise my blog on a post.

Chris Ingalls' Pressure Drop blog -- taking its name from one of my fifty favorite songs of all time, Toots and the Maytals' classic -- has a kind post about Palmermix today. Thank ye, Chris. Chris' site seems to be a blog about everything, but he does have a recent post about his favorite Desert Island discs. His list:

Bob Dylan: Blood on the Tracks
Joe Jackson: Look Sharp!
Frank Zappa: The Yellow Shark
Lyle Lovett: Pontiac
They Might Be Giants: Lincoln
Paul Weller: Wild Wood
Hilliard Ensemble featuring Christoph Poppen: Bach - Morimur
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
The Beautiful South: 0898
Mike Keneally: Wooden Smoke
John Wesley Harding: Here Comes the Groom
Glenn Gould: State of Wonder
Billy Bragg: Talking with the Taxman About Poetry
Graham Parker: Howlin' Wind
Keith Jarrett: Whisper Not
Van Morrison: Astral Weeks
Elvis Costello: Get Happy!!
Warren Zevon: Excitable Boy
The Smiths: Meat is Murder
The Jam: All Mod Cons

A diverse, interesting list! Well done.

First of all, Chris selected my favorite Elvis Costello record. Way to go.

He also picked the often forgotten Graham Parker's Howlin' Wind, a record I received as a gift a few months ago, and which I like quite a bit.

His Bragg choice is an interesting, yet by no means embarrassing one -- Taxman doesn't have the lyrical heft of Back to Basics or the melody and music of Worker's Playtime, but it does have a couple of Billy's greatest songs, especially "The Warmest Room."

I'd like to hear the Weller record; Astral Weeks and Blood on the Tracks are kind of obligatory, I think. Pontiac, featuring "If I Had a Boat," is a favorite of many Lovett fans; I've written here before of how while I think Lyle has written great songs, he's never put together a great whole album -- the closest that comes to that for me is Joshua Judges Ruth or the covers record, Step Inside This House.

The only album which jumps out at me as a so-so choice is the They Might Be Giants record. But that was a band where I felt I was never let in on the joke. They seemed to be a band made for people who don't really like music, people who were members of co-ed literary fraternities in college, people who wear black metal glasses and plaid short-sleeved shirts, people who aren't actually nerds but seek to look like nerds as part of their shtick.

I've been surprised at TMBG's recent resurgence from oblivion, which I credit mainly to their getting new-found street cred from Eggers and the McSweeny's gang. One of TMBG's shticks was their Dial-a-Song thing, which allowed people to call a phone number in Brooklyn and hear a new song every few days. Apparently, song-writing is a snap for the TMBG boys.

But if only being prolific was the standard of greatness -- Joel Schumacher would be revered in the company of John Ford, and Joyce Carol Oates would actually have the Nobel Prize she covets.

2003-04-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

All I have to do is dream

Felice Bryant has died. That name might not mean much to you. But she and her husband Boudleaux were one of the greatest songwriting teams in the last forty years of pop music, deserving to be up there with Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David. A glance at Felice's AllMusicGuide entry will point you to some of the great songs she and Boudleaux wrote. The most famous of which were their hits for the Everly Brothers: "Bye Bye Love," "All I Have to Do is Dream," "Wake Up Little Susie," and "Bird Dog." They also wrote the country standard "We Could," which was recently featured on that great John Prine disc of country duets; "Rocky Top," one of the great Tennessee songs; and "Love Hurts," which has been recorded by everyone from Roy Orbison to Gram Parsons to Joan Jett.

in some ways, the Everly Brothers were my entry into loving rock and roll. My earliest music memories aren't the Everlys -- my earliest music memories are my mother playing Sam Cooke or the Ink Spots in the car. But the Everlys came soon after, and I remember making my dad play the Cadence Classics tape whenever he drove me to school, and the Everlys were my second real concert, after the Jacksons bombastic Victory tour. (Nanci Griffith opened up for the Everlys. I remember that.) I loved their harmonies, I loved the acoustic guitars -- to this day, I probably should blame my over-fondness for acoustic music on the Everlys, and I know I owe them my love for classic country music -- and I loved the songs, with their tight structures and smart lyrics. So a tip of the hat to Felice Bryant.

2003-04-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Pete

There hasn't been anything recently in the news about progress (or decline) in Pete Townshend's legal battles over child-pornography accusations. So I skipped over to his website and found his most recent entry in his diary, explaining that it's now a waiting game. (That same entry also reprints his statement claiming his innocence of all charges.)

I was having a conversation last night about Townshend's solo work, which in my opinion has dried up in the past ten years. Iron Man was a bore, and Psychoderelict, his concept album exploring virtual reality, was excruciating. What's sad is that before these, Townshend had one of the most consistent solo album outputs this side of Peter Gabriel.

His first solo record, Who Came First, re-released several years ago by Ryko, is terrific, especially "Pure and Easy," easily one of the best songs Pete ever wrote. (Alas! Just checked, and it's out of print again!) Then came his excellent disc with Ronnie Lane of the Faces, Rough Mix. This was followed by Pete's biggest solo success, Empty Glass, featuring "Let My Love Open the Door" and "Rough Boys." (If you never owned this album, you should buy it; it resembles less the bombast of the Who and more the clean layers of Peter Gabriel, minus the world music influences.)

After that came All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, a record featuring some pretentious and ponderours lyrics, but also some of Pete's best music with unbelievably clear and clean production. And, in "Slit Skirts," Pete recorded the best song about being an aging rocker that anyone has yet come up with. (Bruce should take a page from that.) White City, his next, featured some great songs, such as "Brilliant Blues" and "Crashing by Design," and another hit single in "Face the Face." And after that, things started goin' downhill.

Does he have another great album in him? I'm sure that when people were listening to Knocked Out Loaded, coming after Empire Burlesque and some other lousy ones, Dylan fans were thinking he was washed up. And then, ten years later, he delivered works good enough to stand at least within shouting distance of his best. I hope Pete can do the same.

2003-04-22T07:41:00.000-07:00

Nina Simone, RIP

Nina Simone has died. I never owned any of her records, but I did like her smoky, textured voice. For some reason, she was an American artist that Eurotrash college students always dug. I never really understood how and why she became the jazz singer of choice for that unique and lambasted clique, but so it was. The only CDs in my collection she appears on include Pete Townshend's Iron Man, his concept album based on the Ted Hughes children's story (which later formed the basis for the fine animated film The Iron Giant) and featuring the voices of John Lee Hooker, Simone, and Roger Daltrey in what I thought was the last actual new studio recording by the Who, but now that I think of it, their cover of Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" from that Two Rooms tribute record is even more recent.

Anyway, the other CD in my selection where Simone appears is the excellent soundtrack to the Bernardo Bertolucci movie Stealing Beauty, a soundtrack that far exceeds its superficial, if beautiful, trifle of a movie. Its Simone's calling card song, her version of "My Baby Just Cares for Me," and there it is, alongside Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," a Liz Phair song, Portishead, Hooverphonic, and Billie Holliday. I'll dig it out today and listen to it. You can find it here.

But read Simone's obituary. She's more interesting for her political stances, I think, than for her actual music.

2003-04-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Bruce supports the Chicks

Here's some good morning reading: Bruce Springsteen has posted to his site a letter supporting the Dixie Chicks and condemning the censorship that's been going on at Clear Channel over their songs, following Natalie Maines' comment at a British concert that she's embarrassed about her fellow Texan G.W. Bush.

An excerpt:

The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves. To me, they're terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American.

Way to go, Bruce.

2003-04-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

A Mighty Wind, reviewed

Saw A Mighty Wind this afternoon with co-workers. My reaction is mixed. On the one hand, it's just not funny enough -- not as funny as Guffman or Best in Show, and I was never an enormous fan of either of those, preferring parts of them to the wholes. (For example, Fred Willard in Best in Show.) A few people consistently deliver -- Harry Shearer is terrific, Jane Lynch is great (and underused), and Fred Willard is very, very funny. But overall, just not enough yuks.

On the other hand, Christopher Guest and co. have done a terrific job in capturing and lampooning the folk revival culture. Everything from Guest sporting Tom Paxton's haircut to Shearer sporting Greg Brown's facial hair, to the send-up of the New Christy Minstrels. And Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy do a great semi-send-up of Mimi and Richard Farina (even if Levy's hair resembles old Dylan manager Albert Grossman). In a strange way, it's a film that I think will appeal most to those with a familiarity of that period of music, who can get the references. And in that way, it's enjoyable.

2003-04-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

Kentucky woman she shines with her own kind of soul

I've finalized plans to travel to Louisville next week -- we're done with the season this week, and I wanted to get a few days away from LA before doing meetings in May (since my fate is still up in the air). So I'm heading out to Louisville, Kentucky a week from tomorrow. Why? The Derby? Well, that does sound like a good reason to go to Kentucky, but really it's because a good friend and his wife live there. I haven't been to Louisville since I did a big trip around the South right after college. I had a great time in Kentucky -- I was dating a woman originally from a town 40 miles south of Louisville at the time, and, as I usually find, your experience in a foreign land (which for this West Coast native was essentially what the South is) is greatly improved by a seasoned guide.

This time, I'll be staying in the city. The friend I'm staying with is a folksinger masquerading as a philosophy professor by day. He's also an even bigger Dylan fan than I (meaning he can make apologies for Street Legal where I cannot), and, lo and behold, there's a Dylan concert that Wednesday night. I've been looking at the setlists for recent Dylan shows on BD's website.

On the one hand, he's playing some of my favorite songs -- stuff like Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You. On the other hand, the shows seem very short and brief -- 14 or 15 songs including encores, which even if some of those 14 and 15 songs are long ones -- and he has been playing Desolation Row frequently lately -- still makes for a show that's barely 90 minutes. Ah, well. I haven't seen Dylan live since seeing him at L.A.'s Greek Theatre when I was 14. Those were the days when he was playing with G.E. Smith of the SNL band. I hear he's been playing much better the last couple years, complementing his artistic revival with the one-two punch of Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft. Glad to hear it. I'll be glad to hear it in a week, too.

2003-04-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

Songs

I've got Leonard Cohen Live in my car, as well as the second-most recent White Stripes record (figured I'd try to give it another shot -- like it more than before, but it's still all mood and no songs, to my ear, anyway) and Bringing It All Back Home and one of this year's Palmermix Year in Review discs. Let's hear it for six disc changers!

The LC song I can't get out of my system is "Heart With No Companion," which is one of my favorite things LC ever recorded/wrote, up there with "There Is a War," "So Long Marianne," and, I dunno, "Everybody Knows." It has a great, jaunty rhythm, at odds with the song's lyrics. Ron Sexsmith did a lovely cover of it for his first, eponymous record; I recommend hearing that, too.

Then tonight, I put on some Tom Waits. Which has lately been my record of choice for background noise for late night conversations, both when I had a friend in town last weekend and tonight when I had company. "The Heart of Saturday Night," "Shiver Me Timbers," but most of all, "Please Call Me Baby" -- so good.

It's strange to me that Waits has never gotten the box set treatment -- he's an artist who would be well served by a four disc set, and my gut thought is that his being affiliated with several different labels over the years would make the licensing and rights arrangements to be horrific for a box set. (Joni Mitchell has no box set, either, now that I think of it. She and Waits kinda have had similar careers and trajectories.) With the spare instrumentation -- a piano, a guitar, maybe a little bit of sax -- there's just a very comfy shoe feel to the Waits records, especially those from the 70s before he fell into the avant garde. I might pick up some more from that period, soon.

2003-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

I don't like you, but I love you

Listening to one of the few Early Beatle records I own -- With the Beatles, the one with the famous black and white photograph, where the most famous singles off the record are "All My Loving" and "It Won't Be Long." As with many other Beatle records of the period, it's also full of covers, including "Roll Over Beethoven," "Please Mister Postman," and "You Really Got a Hold On Me."

I forget what a wonderful song "Really Got a Hold on Me" is. I often forget it in my "favorite Smokey Robinson songs," favoring later classics like "Tears of a Clown" and "Tracks of My Tears." But the plaintive yearning of "You Really Got a Hold of Me" makes it one of the greatest soul songs of all time, in my opinion. In fact, it'd make a fine wedding song.

2003-04-15T15:19:00.000-07:00

Incommunicado

A large amount of work and a visit from a friend from New York have resulted in little posting to this or its sister site. Hope to be remedying that in the days ahead.

Saturday night, at a restaurant in the artist's loft district, we could hear in the distance the familiar sound of the "Ballad of John and Yoko." A pleasant song. Then, minutes later, I broke from conversation and could hear only the bass line of a Beatles song. I knew the bassline well, but couldn't immediately identify it. At first, I thought it could be "Mean Mr. Mustard." But then, no, a dinnermate realized it was "Don't Let Me Down." Strange how it's so easy to ignore or not even discern the bass of a song, yet when the song is distant, muffled, far away -- it's the bass that travels the farthest.

2003-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Yuk yuks

Sometimes you gotta love The Onion.

2003-04-09T15:42:00.000-07:00

What year is it, again?

It's taken me far too long to finish the assembly of my annual mix CDs to distribute to friends. The Palmermix YIR 2003 is a two-disc affair, and I think I'm this close to finalizing it. Last year, I had it done by St. Patrick's Day. This year... well, I have a job.

Last year also was single disc, and this year I'm offering up more than two and a half hours of the ROCK (well, okay, a little bit of rock, a lot of singer/songwritery stuff, a couple British groups, and some twang and alt-country) to people who damn right should be proud to call themselves FRIENDS. Or acquaintances. We do not discriminate.

I'm working at work now, but listening to disc two. It's a fine disc, maybe a little too upbeat -- I seem to have put all the slower numbers on disc one -- but so far the only questionmarks are whether to keep a song by the Coral that I think I might tire of, and which two Springsteen songs to feature. Right now, it's "Into the Fire" and "The Rising." But "Mary's Place" might replace "Fire."

The only other artists who had releases last year who merit two songs on the two discs? Beck, The Flaming Lips, and, yes, Wilco.

Update: An anal reader points out that if Palmermix YIR 2003 is done, then I'm way ahead of schedule! True, I was talking about YIR 2002 above. Sorry.

2003-04-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

McJerkoff

Heaven forbid that the war in Iraq distract us from Sir Paul being defensive about the deserved backlash of his wanting to reverse the Lennon-McCartney credit.

2003-04-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Fools

Jon F emails asking if the Costello supergroup post was an April Fools' joke.

The answer is, maybe, and if it was, then I was fooled by it as much as you were. My apologies.

I do admit, I couldn't really see Costello palling around with Graham Parker and Joe Jackson. He kinda seems "beyond that."

2003-04-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

Pearl Jammed

So there's this story, spun so that it focuses on the Denver fans who walked out of the Pearl Jam show in response to Eddie Vedder making comments against the war. Rather than the story actually focusing on, hey, Eddie Vedder making these comments.

I have some unease about celebrities like Sheryl Crow making huge statements against the war, just because of my usual eye-rolling about celebrities and causes. But the fact is, in the absence of almost any real political opposition to the war coming from any prominent Democrats outside of Robert Byrd, Ted Kennedy, and Howard Dean, the fact is that while the Susan Sontags of the world can make anti-war statements to the intelligencia, the only people who can earn and gather attention for the anti-war position in the major media headlines are, yes, celebrities. Otherwise, the media would just depict the anti-war position the same way they depicted the Seattle WTO riots of a few years back, as just "fringe."

Do I think Eddie Vedder has anything particularly profound to say about this war? No. Am I glad that he is still out there using his soapbox to take potentially unpopular views to register them, as opposed to some celebrities who spend their careers supporting no-brainer, no-opposition causes like honoring WWII veterans and the space program? Yes.

But I do think that Vedder might have, um, gone a little over board with stomping on Bush's likeness and impaling him on a microphone. That might be a little overkill. Then again, Pearl Jam was never a band renowned for its subtlety.

Still, good for Vedder for at least saying this:

During the show, Vedder said: "Just to clarify... we support the troops."

"We're just confused on how wanting to bring them back safely all of a sudden becomes non-support," he said. "We love them. They're not the ones who make the foreign policy .... Let's hope for the best and speak our opinions."

It's been far too easy for the war-supporters to both dismiss opposition to the war as fringe and Hollywood, and far too easy for them to equate opposition to the war as opposition to the people dying in the trenches, rather than opposition to the foreign policy concocted by the Bush administration. Good for Vedder for speaking and singing truth to power.

2003-04-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

More feedback

It's been a week of engagement among Palmermix readership. Bill Altreuter responds to our comments about J. Geils and Jonathan Richman.

My J. Geils evaluation is based on their '70's output. I actually like Monkey Island. I agree that stuff like "Centerfold" is probably diminished by the dated synth sound, but I would say that the band's output from that period is respectable-- and is certainly superior to what Aerosmith was putting out at the same time. All that said, is the J. Geils Band "important"? I am not so sure. Where does Cecil Cooper (to continue with the baseball analogy you like) rank with first basemen from that period? (It worries me a little that I can make the baseball/Boston/rock'n'roll think work like that-- my mind should be filled with more important stuff.) I put it to you that the J. Geils Band occupies a similar place in rock's pantheon.

I take issue over Jonathan Richman's place in The Academy of the Over-Rated. The influence of the band really cannot be disputed (early Talking Heads were mining this vein, for example, as were a number of other Punk artists). I like Alex Chilton, and he gets points as an influence, too, but I will concede that he is the sort of artist that one first listens to because some critic has dropped his name.

2003-04-04T06:49:00.000-08:00

The new Lucinda, redux

The new Lucinda Williams is a superior effort to her last record, Essence. While some of the lyrics are sloppy -- and some of the musical choices strange -- it's easily, music-wise, her best album ever, with lots of crunchy guitar. Lyric-wise, it's not as good as her eponymous record or Car Wheels, but hey, it's worth it anyway. World Without Tears coming out next week, but you can read our review of an advance copy of it, from a month or two back, here.

My advance copy of it didn't feature the cover art. Which, as you can see below, is, well, weird.

2003-04-04T06:37:00.000-08:00

Aerosmith redux

Who needs war debate when Palmermix is offering you discussion of the true issues of our day: Aerosmith, any good?

First, Jordan weighs in again.

Don't mess with you. The least you could have done is correct my grammar
(persistence show_s_, not show).

My final retorts: in a field like rock or pop, where being retrospective is
as important as moving things forward, why is being a perfect iteration of a
distinct form (here, blues-influenced guitar rock, in a pop single form,
extra brotherhood, hold the psychedelia) a liability? Obviously, we can
argue perfection (maybe not quite, but, as a 30-year old singles band, much
more bad than good, in my opinion), but I think the point remains.
Influence and singularity alone do not a hall of fame make.

Also, the hall rewards at least 25 years of history. I concede that without
"Walk This Way" II, the band would never have had the momentum or the
attention to pull off the success of Permanent Vacation or what followed.
However, facts are facts, and I find the great majority of those MTV singles
great pop-rock (or rock-pop, or radio rock, take your pick), and much more
vital than the late-career output of many, many hall-members. With the
notable exceptions of "Love In An Elevator" and "Falling In Love Is So Hard
On The Knees." It seems that the band should stay away from fellatio
innuendo altogether.

Finally, the band's embrace of the music video form, an arena where they
truly did and maybe do push things forward, should not be discounted. All
in all, a worthy package.

In the end, as in all things, this comes down to aesthetics, and our
disagreement about them.

As always, some valid points here. My rebuttal.
1) I completely agree that influence and singularity should not be the sole, or even the prime, criteria for Hall entrance. There are many great bands and artists who, on the surface of things, did nothing that revolutionary, but instead just made great music. Before "What's Going On," had Marvin Gaye really done anything that revolutionary that Jackie Wilson and Smokey Robinson hadn't already done? No, he'd just recorded a bunch of great singles. Or, I don't know, how about the Pretenders? Or a John Prine or a Richard Thompson? No creating of new genres, just creation of great music. The problem is: I think it's inaccurate to say that Aerosmith has consistently made great singles. Which brings us to point #2.

2) Jordan says the vast majority of the Aerosmith MTV singles were great pop-rock. I disagree. I think Aerosmith found a single that worked for them and kept re-doing it over, and over, and over again. The power ballad. With occasional departures into more straight ahead rocker territory ("Dude Looks Like a Lady," "Elevator") and one semi-interesting departure into a message song without much of a message ("Janie's Got a Gun"), Aerosmith proceeded to do the same song again and again, "Crazy," "Angel," etc. It doesn't matter that Diane Warren didn't actually write them: the point is, she could've. Not good.

3) And putting aside the whole notion about whether or not we should celebrate a band for its music videos, were Aerosmith's music videos truly trailblazing? Was there anything inventive, like Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" or even TLC's "Waterfalls," or anything even funny, like Fat Boy Slim's Spike Jonze videos? Or is it just that they had Alicia Silverstone in 'em?

Steve H writes with this little point.

For what it's worth, I would argue that even the
*band* Boston was a better Boston band than Aerosmith,
and had, on that first album alone, more really good
songs than Aerosmith did in the entire '70s. Not that
I actively dislike Aerosmith, but I defintely don't
actively like them. Heck, I don't think anyone since
that one Mike Myers character has actively liked that
band in years, and wasn't the point of that one
character, at least initially, to laugh at how
ridiculous it was to like Aerosmith?

Who knew that Palmermix would be debating Aerosmith for so long!

2003-04-03T16:35:00.000-08:00

Toys in the attic

The Aerosmith discussion continues. Jordan sent me a rebuttal, that's on my laptop at home and which I'll post later, and Steve H offered his own thoughts which I will also post. But Bill Altreuter, Buffalo's top blawger, offers these thoughts:

Palmermix is interesting on the Aerosmith question. Rocks is, I suppose, a solid album, and there are certainly those who respect Toys in the Attic. After that, it seems to me that the band's principal claim to rock'n'roll immortality is its longevity. To put it in baseball terms, Aerosmith is sort of the Jim Kaat of rock. Except I like Jim Kaat. (I would also dispute the importance of the Cars. One decent album, by my count. Important Boston rockers from this period: Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers. Maybe, maybe J. Geils.)

First off, the Jim Kaat analogy is brilliant. I've never thought that the "longevity" factor really deserved that much respect in rock and roll. The Four Tops always called attention to the fact that they were together the longest, but I still think the Temptations were the superior Motown band, even if their line-up was constantly changing. So I agree with Bill on that front.

I don't worship the Cars; and there was always something a little too white about the band. But still, they did use the muted palm technique of guitar playing better than anyone else, and they did have more soul than most of the other punkish bands of that period. And I don't care what you say, but "Magic" and "You Might Think" are great singles.

Now, on the topic of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Talk about someone who belongs in the Alex Chilton museum of "over-hyped by the critic intelligencia." I was about to type that I love the original Modern Lovers' record. But then I thought about it -- I don't really love it. I love "Roadrunner," and I kinda like "I'm Straight," and "Pablo Picasso" is fine. But really, nothing they ever did was as good as that one song, "Roadrunner," and then

For all doubters of J. Geils Band, I suggest that you're judging the band based upon their top 40 heyday of "Centerfold" and "Love Stinks." (Which, despite the heavy synthesizer presence dating them, are legitimately enjoyable songs.) But pick up Blow Your Face Out or Live Flush (I think that's what it's called), their two live records from the 70s, and you'll be listening to one of the best live bands of the period. Peter Wolf is a terrific white soul singer, and at their best, the Geils band had as tight a sound as any group this side of E Street. And that's a fact, jack.

2003-04-03T16:20:00.000-08:00

Power-Pop Wilburys?

This huge news was sent to me earlier today:

Word from the Costello offices today confirms that EC is planning to
join Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, with Nick Lowe on a fall World Tour
tentatively titled "Angry Young Men - Live". The group is expecting
to play songs from each of the artists' catalog, plus work of their
prime influences such as Bob Dylan, and at least 3 to 5 new songs
they're co-authoring. The tour is expected to begin at New York's
Beacon Theatre the first week in August, and then play 27 dates
across the US. UK and European date plans are pending

This is big.

Update: This is also a fraud, I think, an April Fools joke. Sorry.

2003-04-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Like a... something

For all the talk of Madonna's career faltering -- and the New York Times did this huge piece, in the Business section, no less, looking at exactly that -- she still seems to capture the headlines. Instead of making news for releasing a music video that was potentially tasteless, she makes news anyway for choosing not to release the music video.

Want to see Madonna's "American Life" video itself? Well, here it is. Wait, just get gibberish? Use Windows Media Player and that link. And enjoy.

2003-04-02T14:00:00.000-08:00

Sweet emotion

Apparently, it's been a slow day at the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx.

In addition to providing Lockhart Steele feedback, Jordan, legal aid lawyer, bon vivante, and confidante to Queens' mysterious mixmaster Rufus King, has decided to take issue with today's Aerosmith post:

Long time no argue. I take issue with your treatment of aerosmith.
Unseemly to put them in the hall of fame? Putting aside issues of whether
being in the hall is worth a damn anyway, esp. in a field like rock (let us
assume it is a legit accolade), they've certainly earned it. Their early
output, particularly the singles, puts them up there with any of their
contemporaries at the time. Unless you write off the seventies, which I know
you don't, Aerosmith is as worthy as the Mac or the Eagles (are they in? I
assume they are).The persistence of those songs on classic rock radio show I'm
not alone in feeling that way.

Although, now that I think about it, it's really only "Walk This Way," "Sweet
Emotion," and "Dream On." Is three enough?

But it still goes beyond that. For the second "Walk This Way" alone, they
might have earned it, given that single's impact and infectiousness. Its
influence can be overstated, but not by much. Cultural shifts, or public
recognitions of them, are big deals, and should be recognized as such.

Finally, I've always respected them for remaining a real rock band, even this
deep into their career. With very few exceptions, the songs have been band
originals (yes, I know, Diane Warren and "Armageddon," but it's an an anomaly,
albeit one with a huge shadow). You gotta love a band who really plays, plays
well, and clearly loves the act of playing musical instruments for other
people. Are Sting and Phil Collins really supplying a lot of bottom end to
their smooth jazz records? Or their live shows?

For what it's worth, I thought "Jaded" was the best Pavement-influenced
pop single I ever heard back in the era when Pavement did some influencing.

All of that said, "Love In An Elevator" is profoundly annoying. Give me "Rag
Doll" any day of the week.

I'd contest and counter some of Jordan's argument, except unfortunately halfway through his email, he seems to be having second thoughts himself.

I hate the Eagles, myself. But to suggest that Aerosmith was as influential or important a band during the 70s as th Eagles or Fleetwood Mac seems faulty. Aerosmith never had the influence that a Black Sabbath or, for that matter, an AC/DC had on the ensuing decade of heavy metal and hard rock. In fact, they weren't even the second best Boston band of the 70s (that goes to the J. Geils Band and the Cars, respectively). Aerosmith's whole reason of existence in the 70s was to be an American Stones. Which they did fine enough -- mostly thanks to Hamilton and Perry's guitars -- but this was not a band that was doing anything near as interesting with their music as, say, Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie were doing with melody.

In fact, had the Run DMC duet never happened, I think we can safely say Aerosmith would have faded into oblivion, as much a relic of the 70s as, say, Supertramp. But because they managed to stage a comeback right at a time when hard rock was in, offered a "cleaned up from drugs" story that was a publicist's wet dream, and figured out that having Alicia Silvertone in their videos would help their profile in a pre-Britney age when people were just starting to become restimulated by jailbait scenarios.

I also think it's faulty to congratulate any band for writing their own material, if the material isn't so hot. Especially since most hard rock and heavy metal bands write their own material, when you think about it. The Diane Warrens of the world make their business much more on the singer-singers -- the Celines, the LeAnn Rimes, etc. Plus, the fact that Aerosmith continues to write songs that don't reflect their older age and standing -- just the same old "loving that girl" material -- is just steps away from parody.

Finally, "Sweet Emotion" is a dangerously close rip-off of the Stones' "We Love You." That said, I will admit that it's a pretty good song. But then, just because I love "Ride Captain Ride" doesn't mean I think Blues Image was awesome.

2003-04-02T11:17:00.000-08:00

When I'm going down

There's sometimes nothing worse than when a favorite song gets into your head and you can't let go of it. Except, of course, when a song you don't care for gets into your head anyway, and you still can't let go of it.

For various reasons -- namely that there was talk of potentially using an Aerosmith song in a future episode of the show for which I work -- I have had "Love in an Elevator" in my head.

It won't leave.

Again and again: "Love in an elevator/Living it up when I'm going down/Love in an elevator/Living it up when I hit the ground." Repeat chorus. Repeat chorus. Repeat chorus.

Aerosmith, one of the bands whose presence in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame strikes me as... well, unseemly.

2003-04-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

They trying to wash us away

Listening to the Randy Newman box set I picked up at the Warner Brothers store a few days ago. While his recent music all sounds the same to me, especially the songs for Disney movies, and while I find his scores for films to be hopelessly gloopy and overdone (the exception being The Natural), I had forgotten how wonderful his songs from the 70s can be. Especially "Sail Away," "Birmingham," "Guilty," and "Louisiana 1927," his wonderful song about the awful flood hitting Louisiana during the Hoover administration. Just beautiful songwriting, with great arrangements of piano and string, and smart lyrics. Somewhere along the way, the smart became smarm. But for a time, Randy Newman was good enough to stand with Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni MItchell, and the other great singer/songwriters of the 1970s.

2003-03-31T14:49:00.000-08:00

Endless love

I was never a big fan of the Lionel Richie/Diana Ross duet, or the Brooke Shields movie of the same name. But after linking to this, I'm becoming a fan.

2003-03-31T09:39:00.000-08:00

Opening day

Baseball season is here again. You can listen to John Fogerty's over-produced "Centerfield." Or Chuck Berry's deceptive civil rights anthem "Brown-eyed Handsome Man." Or maybe "Short Man's Room," Joe Henry's strange ode to an old player. Or Buffalo Tom's "Summer," with its Willie Mays reference. Or the Beastie Boys, with their references to Sadahuro Oh or Rod Carew.

Me, I'll just hope for a Phillies-Red Sox World Series. And hope. And hope. And hope.

2003-03-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

I'm martin sheen, I'm steve mcqueen

On the ride in to work today, I listened to R.E.M.'s New Adventures in Hi-Fi from 1996 -- it's sorta their Running on Empty, all original songs recorded in soundchecks, live performances, and hotel rooms along their tour in support of the Monster album. It also turned out to be their last record with drummer Bill Berry, who shortly quit after his aneurysm scare on the Monster tour. It's an inconsistent record, but also, I think, one of their most underrated. The guitar riffs on "Departure" and "Wake-Up Bomb" are massive -- with all the feedback that marked Monster, but with much better melodies. Then there are the more subdued numbers, with some of Stipe's most straightahead -- and successful -- lyrics, escaping the opaque stream-of-consciousness that marred many earlier songs. "New Test Leper" muses on Jesus' teachings, but even better is "Electrolite," one of the best songs about Los Angeles of the last ten years.

2003-03-25T21:10:00.000-08:00

More on the Oscars

I was glad that Eminem won -- and gladder still that it registered shock in Streisand reading the winner -- but I gotta say, I had never heard that Paul Simon song, from the Wild Thornberrys -- and I liked it. A lot.

The U2 song was weak, though.

2003-03-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

I'm walking through streets that are dead

Anyone else notice -- and feel sick to the stomach -- that Dylan sold "Lovesick Blues" to... Victoria's Secret, in an ad apparing on the Oscars?

2003-03-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

Put them in a box until a quieter time

What to do with Dave Matthews? He seems to combine the worst of several worlds: the trustfund hippiedom homogenity of the Phish jamband scene, mixed with a Vh-1 blandness. Worse, he's prone to putting a few "funky" songs on his albums -- "What Would You Say" and its heirs -- that just don't quite work or, for that matter, work it.

And yet. Everytime I've heard a duet between him and Emmylou Harris, it's terrific. ("Gulfcoast Highway," "Long Black Veil," "My Antonia.") And this morning, I listened to his first major label album -- Under the Table and Dreaming, from '94 or so -- and I had forgotten that I did genuinely like a few, just a few, of the songs on that album. "The Best of What's Around" is a lovely song with unusual chord changes, and "Ants Marching" is an anthem that's hard not to get into. But even on this album, there are several songs that I just skip.

It was produced by Steve Lillywhite, though, who's had one of the more unusual resumes of any guy I know out there. He worked on many of the best U2 records with Eno and Lanois, worked on the Pogues, worked on Phish (doing arguably their best record, Billy Breathes), and all this and was married to the late, underrated Kirsty MacColl (forgive the spelling, but it's only 9 AM here.) It's crisp and clean, layered without being overly glossy. Good stuff.

2003-03-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

U2

Last night at dinner, Phil (on the left) and I had a great music-geek conversation. We exchanged lists of each other's favorite U2 songs. I was recently talking about U2 with B, in a similar music-geek conversation about "favorite guitarists." I think one thing about the Edge: he created one of the few distinctive sounds in rock guitar. Who sounds like him? (On a related note, Phil made a case for the Police, a band to which I've never been drawn, that no one ever sounded like them, either.)

Anyway, I've never been a blanket love-everything U2 fan -- I think Unforgettable Fire is a bore, I find Zooropa unforgivable, and I've never been that into any of the early stuff. But when they're good, they're very, very, very good.

My favorite U2 songs:

1. The Sweetest Thing
2. One Tree Hill
3. Bad
4. Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
5. Stuck In a Moment You Can't Get Out Of
6. Mysterious Ways
7. Hallelujah Here She Comes
8. Red Hill Mining Town
9. Where the Streets Have No Name
10. Angel of Harlem (true!)

2003-03-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

Chick flicks

Not exactly the flag-carriers of radical leftism, the Dixie Chicks are managing to attract every stupid, idiotic censorship-favoring nitwit around the country to boycott them, after lead singer Natalie Maines sounded off about this war towards which we seem to inevitably be heading. Maines' full quote -- to a London audience last Monday -- was, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Maines apologized for her statements, avowing complete respect for President Bush, thus managing to alienate the half of America that supported her original statements. Even so, I despise the boycotters -- the heirs, literally and figuratively, of the guys who burned Beatles records when John said that they were bigger than Christ.

2003-03-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

More Phil

Weird reports coming up regarding Phil Spector. First, there's this report:

PHIL SPECTOR APPARENTLY CLEARED IN MURDER CHARGE

According to published reports, sources in the L.A. Sheriff's office have cleared Phil Spector in the shooting death of B-movie star Lana Clarkson. Instead, police believe Clarkson, who died of a bullet wound to the head, accidentally shot herself.

Although the police have dropped the murder charge against Spector, he won't be offically cleared until the police receive the toxicology reports for both Spector and Clarkson, and complete a review of the physical evidence taken from Spector's LA mansion. As a result, the process could take several months.

Then, this report comes up.

POLICE SAY SPECTOR NOT CLEARED, AFFIRM DEATH WAS A CRIME

In a case that's becoming as strange as his life, Phil Spector has not been cleared in the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, with police affirming that Clarkson's shooting was a crime.

According to an AP report, Los Angeles Sheriff's Capt. Frank Merriman disputed news reports that said Spector would soon be cleared. "No one involved in this investigation said that," Merriman said. "My opinion is that somebody is orchestrating this to plant seeds of doubt with potential jurors."

In emails sent to friends, Spector intimated that he would soon be cleared of murder charges, calling Clarkson's death an "accidental suicide."

Spector, who is currently out on bail, is being represented by attorney Robert Shapiro of O.J. fame.

This story keeps getting stranger and stranger. Sure, it's no "Peter Buck and the Crockery on the Transatlantic Flight," but what is?

2003-03-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

Run to you

This fantastic, heart-warming news was forwarded me by my co-worker Paula. The full story is here. But here's the excerpt:

Girl Emerges from Coma During Bryan Adams Concert
Wed Mar 12, 4:30 PM ET

By Michael Leidig

MUNICH (Reuters Health) - A young woman left in a coma for six years after she collapsed at school has started to respond to the world around her after her mother took her to see her pop star hero Bryan Adams perform live.

Christiane Kittel, now 24, was left in a vegetative state after her collapse on 12 June 1997. Doctors believe her condition was caused by a combination of hot weather, a hereditary hemophilia condition and side-effects of the contraceptive pill.

She had to be resuscitated three times, once at school and twice at the University Clinic in Regensburg, where she underwent surgery before being attached to life-support machines in the intensive care unit.

Later she was moved to the intensive care unit at the Clinic for Neurologic Rehabilitation in Regensburg, where her parents Karl-Gunther and Adelheide Kittel have kept a 15-hour watch by her bedside every day.

Her father, now 55, told Reuters Health: "We did not want her to be alone so we have spent every day by her bedside. We take it in turns, my wife does six hours than I take over for about six hours, there is usually someone there constantly between 5 AM and 8 PM."

"We have never given up hope of seeing our beloved daughter again," he said.

"Bryan Adams was always her biggest hero and she loved his music before she fell into a coma," said his wife Adelheid, 53. "When we heard about the concert in Regensburg we knew straight away that we had to take her there."

A local paper paid for the tickets and doctors arranged special help to get Christiane to the concert, her mother said.

During the concert, Christiane started to move in the wheelchair and was fascinated by the music and the singer.

"I will never forget it, I could have hugged the whole world. When we got back to the clinic she was still animated, and three times she called my name, she said Mama."

I'd like to see Ryan Adams accomplish that.

2003-03-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to

James Taylor. He's 55. Surf on over to the streaming audio of the great Fordham University radio station, WFUZ, which is saluting Sweet Baby James with lots of performances. Including, right as I type this, a live performance.

2003-03-12T09:57:00.000-08:00

Pass it around

Four times out of five, when someone recommends me a disc and says, you gotta hear this, my response after listening is, um, no, I don't. But a friend mailed me a copy of a disc from 2001 that I hadn't heard -- by an artist I hadn't heard of. I listened to it last night, and it's terrific. It's kinda got a Nick Drake meets Ron Sexsmith feel -- very quiet, very melodic, very pretty.

David Berkeley is his name, and the album has the (unfortunate) title, the Confluence. Pick it up. (You could always order it through the link here.)

2003-03-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

China rocks!

Why let North Korea hog all the Asian fun?

China is hosting the Rolling Stones in concert! Wheee! But of course, no "opening the doors" would be complete without some "requisite censorship," and so the Chinese have barred the Stones from playing four of their best known songs: predictably, "Let's Spend the Night Together"; less predictably but prominently, "Brown Sugar" -- which really, let's face it, is an enormously offensive song, though with a great lick; "Honky Tonk Women," fine; and "Beast of Burden," which while it has the "make sweet love to me" line, is a very innocuous song...

What's really bizarre here is that evidentally "Start Me Up" has not been axed -- and that song features the line, "you'd make a dead man come." What is going on here, China? Show some backbone and consistency.

More on this here.

2003-03-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Spector and the AP Wire

Okay, now this is fun. AOL Instant Messenger has a news ticker that carries all the AP Wire stories. However, they accidentally have posted a correction today.

Since that link probably won't last too long, here is the correction in its entireity:

AP Kills Rock Hall of Fame Story
The Associated Press
Mar 11 2003 10:29AM
.c The Associated Press

A paragraph on producer Phil Spector in the stories about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction has been killed. Spector has not been charged with murder.

The following versions of the story, slugged Music Rock Hall, must be killed: V8343 at 7:45 p.m. EST Monday , V8466 at 9:36 p.m., V8472 at 9:37 p.m., V8533 at 10:20 p.m., V8660 at 12:23 a.m. Tuesday, V8799 at 2:47 a.m., V9093 at 6:59 a.m. and V9099 at 7:10 a.m.

Make certain the story is not published.

A corrected version of the story will be filed.

2003-03-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

We're all in agreementanceness

You know it's gonna be a good week when grammar is in the news. Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit made a little bit of news when at the Grammys he announced that, "I just really hope we're all in agreeance that this war should go away as soon as possible." Many people snickered at Fred's use of the word "agreeance." But lo and behold: Fred was right, after all. Well, at least as of 1714.

2003-03-10T09:41:00.000-08:00

HBOwatch

Last night proved that the Sopranos isn't alone among HBO shows with terrific music supervision at work. The very, very good second episode of Six Feet Under -- following the awful, shmuckbait season premiere -- featured a few familiar goodies. During the priceless Nate-David-Keith-whateverLiliTaylor'scharacteris dinner party scene, I could hear Beth Orton's "Stolen Car" playing in the background. Even better, and more surprising, was the fact that during the opening scene -- the show's weekly death sequence -- you could hear Dave Alvin's "Dark Eyes," from his Public Domain record of 2000 and Palmermix Year In Review 2000: Volume Two, playing as the guy started cooking at the stove.

As for Palmermix Year in Review 2002, it's been delayed while I acquired a few more CDs to add to the second volume. It will be next weekend's rainy day project. I promise.

2003-03-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

No war

"Has a protest song ever changed someone's mind?" asks Jon Pareles in today's piece on anti-war musicians. (His answer: maybe.)

2003-03-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

Dylan

One of the great things about Bob Dylan is that he's released so many albums over the years, you can go back and add one of his old discs to your collection each year and still have thirty years before you run out of choices. I'm a Dylan fan; I'm not a Dylan fanatic. Don't get me wrong: when Dylan is very good, he's very, very, very good, and Blood on the Tracks is my favorite album by anyone, and Live 1966 is my favorite live album by anyone. That said, there's a line separating fan to fanatic, where the fanatic can live and breathe in such Dylan missteps as Self Portrait, Live at Budokan, Street Legal, Under a Red Sky, Empire Burlesque, etc.

That's not to say that I don't love some Dylan records that others pan. Nashville Skyline is likely my second favorite Dylan recording, and that's one that many people condemn, both for its pat country style and for Dylan's Kermit-like voice (coming from a short-lived sabattical from smoking). I think New Morning is underrated; I think Oh Mercy has that smokey Lanois sound.

In the last few years, I've quietly bought "classic" Dylan records that somehow I never managed to own. Most recently, I purchased Bringing It All Back Home. I've always found much of Dylan's first electric three records to sound dated -- BIABH, Highway 61, Blonde on Blonde -- with the jangly electric guitars and tambourines. The best songs to me were always the acoustic ones -- "Visions of Johanna," for example. And the albums as a whole just didn't hold up as well as Freewheelin' or Another Side. (Though, of course, I love "Like a Rolling Stone," "Absolutely Sweet Marie," "I Want You," and so on.)

With Bringing It All Back Home, which I listened to on the commute in to work this morning, the best songs here, too, are the acoustic numbers. Whereas "Subterranean Homesick Blues" sounds quaint, and "Maggie's Farm" sounds minor, "She Belongs to Me" -- with that amazing opening, "she's got everything she needs/she's an artist/she don't look back" -- and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" are revelatory, unbelievably frank and beautiful and perfectly accompanied by gently strummed guitar and, on Love Minus Zero, the barest of backup. They're the kind of numbers you can't imagine anyone else pulling off. It's why he was, and is, such an original.

2003-03-05T17:30:00.000-08:00

Friend of the devil

There's a great story in the New York Times about the guy tapped to be the new guitarist in the Grateful Dead -- the guy replacing Jerry Garcia. I've never been a Dead fan -- I've always shied away from jams -- but there are certainly songs, like "Bertha" and "Ripple," which even I grudgingly admit to enjoying.