Seinfeld Band Names

Unlike most years, when the Michigan-Ohio State game would be the focus of a post on the Friday before the game, I have instead chosen to take my mind off what will probably be an ugly blowout. Instead of football, to take your mind off the impending disastrous 33-6 shellacking, how about some Seinfeld and music?

My wife and I were having a conversation a couple weeks ago about a band that named itself after something from a Seinfeld episode. The name of the band: Jerkstore. Brilliant. They're apparently a heavy metal (or "nu metal," whatever that is) band. Anyway, I thought this would make a great blog topic. So if you are a band in search of a good pop culture name that will catch the attention of potential fans, here are some ideas for "Band Names Derived from Seinfeld Episodes."

1. Mulva
This would have to be some sort of hard rock girl band - think Sleater-Kinney or Hole. Band members could even take on aliases like Delores, Bovary, Celeste, and Regina.

2. The Van Buren Boys
I think this would have to be a progressive bluegrass combo. They would be very popular at summer festivals and in small clubs throughout the country - think Leftover Salmon, Yonder Mountain String Band, or The Gourds. Instead of flashing the peace sign or the heavy metal "devil horns" sign, fans of the band would show eight fingers during the twelve minute mandolin and fiddle solos.

3. The Re-Gifters
I think these guys would have to be a cover band, perhaps playing covers of contemporary homogeneous pop noise like Nickelback, Daughtry, and Creed. They're probably playing at a bar near you this weekend.

4. Poison Envelopes
This band would have to be emo or goth. They wear black clothing, black eyeliner, their instruments are black, and their music is completely depressing. Their fans cut themselves or burn themselves with cigarettes and read Sylvia Plath and the Anarchists Cookbook for fun.

5. Izzy and The Mandelbaums
This would have to be a klezmer band. They play bar mitzvahs, Jewish weddings, and they'll even play at your son's bris. Their hit song would have to be titled "You Think You're Better Than Me?" Which brings us to our next band name...

6. Shakey the Mohel
Punk rock. Loud. Think Sex Pistols - only more Jewish. The sight of Hasidim slamming in the mosh pit is something to behold. Beards, hats, and sideburns would be flying everywhere.

7. Spongeworthy
This would have to be kind of a novelty jam band. Maybe kinda like Ween or Phish. Lots of good jamming, but with some quirky lyrics. Fans would be called "Spongeheads" and might even fashion some hats out of sponges, kinda like Green Bay Packer fans with their cheese heads. Oh yeah, and they smoke a lot of weed.

Any more suggestions?

Steve Earle - Concert Preview

I'm going to see Steve Earle on Friday night here in Houston. I've never seen him live, but I have heard lots of good things, and I have some bootlegs of his live shows. He's been playing a lot of the songs off his latest release "Washington Square Serenade" on this tour, and that suits me just fine because that is a killer CD. I'm going to try to play "Steve Earle Bingo" on Friday night. Here are some potential categories/phrases I could look for:

1. number of songs he sings that contain the word "devil"


2. number of times during banter between songs that he says something even vaguely communist or socialist


3. number of New York references


4. number of Texas references

For those of you who are not familiar with Steve Earle, he's a singer-songwriter who was raised in Shertz, TX (outside of San Antonio) and he's been around for a lot of years. He's only had one hit song, Copperhead Road (in 1988), but he's consistently put out good music. You also might be familiar with "Ellis Unit One" from the movie Dead Man Walking (he's been an active death penalty opponent). His recent CDs have been a bit political, but his newest release is a more personal CD, and it's main subject matter is his new home, New York City, and his new wife, fellow singer-songwriter Allison Moorer (who is also his opening act on this tour, and sings backup on a few songs on the new CD). Anyway, if he's coming to your town, try to check him out. I would try to put a music clip in here, but I still haven't gotten around to figuring that out yet. Check out the amazon link above - I think you can play links from their site.

If you have any other good ideas for "Steve Earle Bingo" or if you have any over-under bets for any of the categories above, leave 'em in the comments. My guesses are as follows:

1. 6
2. 3
3. 8
4. 10

Music Review - The Kinks and Moby Grape

I have recently decided to listen to some old stuff I either had not listened to in a while, or some old stuff I had never listened to. And we haven't had any music stuff on here recently. So here you go.

The Kinks

I decided to download some Kinks after I read an article in Rolling Stone about Ray Davies. I am somewhat familiar with the Kinks, and I had a couple of their albums on vinyl years ago. But I honestly have not listened to them in fifteen years. So, through my top secret on-line source, I downloaded their entire discography (I love the internet - have I mentioned that?). The first one I listened to was "Muswell Hillbillies" from 1971. I must say, I was quite impressed. Ray Davies songwriting is wonderful, and I loved the everyman, working class themes of the songs on this album. It's cohesive and it's a great illustration of why I like albums and not singles - thematic (and musical) consistency. Can you imagine "Shakedown Street" on American Beauty? No? Me neither. It wouldn't fit. This whole CD fits together nicely.

The second one I cued up was "One For The Road," a live double album that captures some great performances by the band. Great energy, great performances, and even some enthusiastic audience participation. I didn't know most of the songs, but I enjoyed it anyway. I give both of these CDs hearty recommendations. The Kinks have some things in common with the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Beatles, and other "British invasion" bands, but they certainly have an identity of their own. I have yet to plow through any more of the catalog, because I decided to listen to another band from the same era...

Moby Grape

The story of Moby Grape (in addition to their funky, quintessentially 60s-sounding name) is what drew me to them - a band with five songwriters and singers, Skip Spence going insane and wielding an ax, etc. Anyway, I decided to hop on the Moby Grape train with "Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape." This is a double CD set. The first CD is essentially their debut album "Moby Grape," with some alternate versions, and some live cuts tacked onto the end. While I liked the debut album part, the live songs, particularly "Miller's Blues," are the best songs on the first CD because they showcase the band's musical talent. You can tell these guys can play. However, the second CD is a bit jumbled. While there are some gems, like "It's a Beautiful Day Today," there are also some clunkers and some ill-advised choices, including chipmunk-like vocals on "Funky Tunk" and some unfortunate use of horns in a few places. The second CD is a good illustration of why good compilations are difficult to pull off. The consistency is just not there. Of course, there could be several reasons for this: five different songwriters, crazy band members, fusion of so many different types of music, poor choice of songs by the producer, etc. It gives me a great appreciation for good compilations from bands of this era - Jefferson Airplane's 2400 Fulton Street is the one that comes to mind. Now THAT is a good compilation. If I had to think of bands that these guys remind me of, I would say Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, and Buffalo Springfield. Anyway, this set gets a thumbs up for the first CD and a thumbs down for the second CD. Overall, it piques my curiosity and makes me want to seek out some live stuff of theirs.

Book Review - A Jerry Garcia Biography

I just finished reading a book that I received as a gift back in 1996. It’s called “Dark Star – An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia” by Robert Greenfield (who has also written biographies of Bill Graham and Timothy Leary). It’s a fascinating look into the life of Jerry Garcia, as told to the author in a series of interviews with a lot of the people who were close to him, including several of his wives/girlfriends. It’s gives a very good feel for what it was like to know Jerry. Unlike some other Garcia bios, this one focused more on his addictions and his relationships than his musicianship. The interviews are arranged in a way that it flows chronologically through Jerry's life, starting with his childhood, and ending with his untimely but hardly unexpected demise in 1995. There are several very nice thoughts about Jerry at the end of the book. Here are a couple:

Wavy Gravy
A haiku on the Day of Jerry’s Demise

The fat man rocks out
Hinges fall of heaven’s door
Come on in, sez Bill

Robert Hunter
An Elegy for Jerry

I feel your silent laughter
at sentiments so bold
that dare to step across the line
to tell what must be told
so I’ll just say I love you
which I’ve never said before
and let it go at that old friend
the rest you may ignore

I don't think I can provide a good "literary review" of the book (see the amazon link above or google for some more in-depth critique), but I can say that I recommend this book to deadheads and non-deadheads alike. It’s a very interesting read. And I’ll end with a bizarre coincidence. While I was on the bus ride home reading the last words of the book, I was listening to Jerry’s “Pizza Tapes” CD (with David Grisman and Tony Rice). The song that was playing as I finished the book – “Amazing Grace.” How sweet the sound…

Grateful for Archive

One of the distinct joys in life for me has become Archive.org. Like a bright sunny morning, getting to the office each new day and clicking on Archive is a daily pleasure that I truly look forward to.

If you have not experienced it, treat yourself to the pinnacle of Grateful Dead listening pleasure in the 21st century. http://www.archive.org/details/GratefulDead Thousands of Dead shows available to stream for your listening pleasure. All shows are available to stream, all audience recordings are available for free download, while soundboards are not available to download anymore (only streaming). There is so much depth and breadth here that it is truly endless joy.

Lately, I have been going with the “this date in GD history” link everyday and selecting from shows performed on that particular date. We are in the middle of the epic 1971 run at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY - today being the only ‘day off’ of the six show run going from 2/18/71 through 2/24/71. Therefore I selected one of my personal all time favorites – 2/22/69 Dream Bowl from Vallejo, CA. I love the randomness of “this day” and the option of selecting an ’82 show (have become a huge fan of ’82, by the way), a ’73 show, or whatever year they performed on that date and that suits my mood and taste at the time.

The other option and method I have enjoyed is the “Browse By Year” link - simply select a year and browse through that year’s shows chronologically. Click on 1982 and have the entire 1982 catalog (that is on Archive, not necessarily everything), click on 1974, or 1989 and have at it. Select a show that meets your fancy at that particular time, sit back and enjoy. This is a great way to hit an entire run – a 3 night stand so you get that great variety of tunes that the Grateful Dead specialized in, or check out an entire fall tour over a week or two. Yes, the snozberries even taste like snozberries!

There are also reviews for the shows highlighting listener opinions about the performances, sound quality, and personal experiences of attending those shows. Like anything, some reviews are great and others not so great. The nitpickers out there kill me – complaining the sound quality isn’t perfect, or this Terrapin isn’t as good as this other date’s, etc. This is the Grateful Dead, warts and all – and that is how I like them. Many of these reviewers don’t understand how much time and effort used to be involved in trading cassettes, and the sound quality issues – now it is all digital and there at the click of a mouse. Therefore, I am so grateful that this music is there for all of us, regardless if the quality isn’t 100% perfect. It’s all good!

The one “negative”, I guess, is that it has rendered many a tape, and now even CD, collection relatively worthless and out-moded, but that can’t truly bother someone. The gift is the music and it is there and available for everyone’s ears.

In addition to the Grateful Dead, there are streams and downloads available from literally thousands of other bands on Archive.org. http://www.archive.org/browse.php?collection=etree&field=%2Fmetadata%2Fcreator
There is incredible variety of live music that you can pull up – again all free of charge.

I have not even scratched the surface of this incredible resource called Archive.org. Above I described the Live Music portion of Archive. It also is also and endless resource for classical music, books, news & public affairs (presidential speeches and debates), radio programs, computers and technology, and audio books and poetry. Unbelievably, this is only in the “Audio” section of the site. Go deeper for Moving Images (video, films, cartoons etc), Texts (books, libraries, etc), Education, and Software. One of these days, I will delve into some of this other content… I must admit I feel a bit like Morty Seinfeld – I am using the Wizard Organizer that has hundreds of functions as a tip calculator. Yes, I am using this immense resource to listen to the glorious Grateful Dead while at work everyday – this is truly the dynamite that gets me up!

Van Morrison Reincarnate

Re-issue mania continues to give a boost to the slowly dying music industry and no, I am not talking about the much hyped 25th anniversary collection of Michael Jackson's Thriller (although I recently wondered what ever happened to the three identical red "27 zipper jackets" that Chief, Wiggler, and the Lipper bought for $15 CDN and wore for the entire weekend on one of the infamous pledge walkout trips to Toronto). I am thrilled to report that it looks like the great Van Morrison finally let somebody with some marketing savy into the inner sactum of Van-ism. It has always appeared that Van could care less about the commercial success of any of the albums that he put out. He has always been in it for the music (and some might say also occassionally in it for God) and although many people believe Van to be a guru, nobody has ever accused him of being a marketing guru. The goal of the re-issue craze is to try to get people like us to buy the same music for the second or third or even fourth time because the format has changed or through your own stupidity you have misplaced what was once a jewel in your musical collection. This evil plan occassionally works as I recently kicked myself for realizing I had purchased I Robot by The Alan Parson Project in four formats in my lifetime; 8-track (ouch that hurts just typing it), vinyl, Japanese vinyl, and the 30th anniversary CD which I had to have just for kicks. (No matter how hard I try my brain just can't seem to forget the exact moment in the music when the 8-track changed tracks mid-song). I have a hunch Van Morrison will be quite successful at this and since he is re-releasing TWENTY-NINE remastered CD's, all with quality if not significant bonus tracks, there must be some other people sitting in a board room somewhere who also believe this will be financially rewarding. Half of my Van Morrison collection is on vinyl and some of his CD's that I own are of poor sound quality, obviously not remastered. I just ordered the newly re-issued and re-mastered Wavelength CD, one I never owned but always mulled over buying. (I had to get something new and check the sound quality before rushing out to drop money on music that I previously bought in another format!) The reviews of the sound quality have been glowing and the master plan is to roll out 29 of Van's gems over the next 13 months in 4 batches. Each will contain upgraded booklets (a rarety in today's CD world) and previously unreleased bonus material. Here are the release dates:

January 2008 (7 titles)

Tupelo Honey (1971), It's Too Late To Stop Now (2 CD Live Set) (1974), Wavelength (1978), Into The Music (1979), A Sense Of Wonder (1985), Avalon Sunset (1989) and Back On Top (1999)

June 2008 (8 titles)

Veedon Fleece (1974), Common One (1980), Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (1983), Live At The Grand Opera House, Belfast (1984), No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986), Enlightenment (1990), A Night In San Francisco (2CD Live Set) (1994) and The Healing Game (1997)

September 2008 (7 titles)

Saint Dominic's Preview (1972), A Period Of Transition (1977), Beautiful Vision (1982), Poetic Champions Compose (1987), Hymns To The Silence (2CD Studio Set) (1991), How Long Has This Been Going On (Live At Ronnie Scott's) (1995), Tell Me Something - The Songs Of Mose Allison (1996)

January 2009 (8 titles)

Hard Nose The Highway (1973), Irish Heartbeat (with The Chieftains) (1988), Too Long In Exile (1993), Days Like This (1995), The Story Of Them (2CD Set) (1999), The Skiffle Sessions - Live In Belfast (with Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber) (2000), Down The Road (2002) and What's Wrong With This Picture? (2003)

Noticeably absent and desperately in need of a significant sound upgrade are Van's 1st and 2nd album masterpieces on Warner Bothers Astral Weeks (1968) and Moondance (1970) and the remarkable His Band & The Street Choir (late 1970). Apparently the dispute between WB and Van remains unresolved. All of these great works have both been languishing around on crappy-sounding non-remastered CDs for over 20 years now and counting.

So now I pose the Question of the Day: What is your favorite Van Morrison album? Hard to pick but I damn near wore out Astral Weeks when I bought it for $3 at Wazoo Records. My god I spent a lot of time at that place thumbing through the bins and bins of used LPs. Most of you who regularly read this blog are probably all too young to remember Wazoo. By the time most of you were at the University of Michigan it was a CD world. When I arrived in Ann Arbor one of the first stores I popped into was Wazoo. A creaky climb up the wooden steps to the second floor nest of rock and roll history. Rare photos, liner notes, out-of-print albums, vintage rock and roll articles including a piece from the Michigan Daily detailing exactly why "Paul is dead!" A mind opening experience for any 18 or 19 year old. Virtually every album I still own has a red circle sticker with a hand written $3, $4, or $9-rare! My favorite time to visit was when I had a dead hour between classes. Not time for much else but plenty of time to sift through the treasures. It was always nice to show up to my Spanish class or my American History lecture with a couple of "new to me" albums under my arm. Although I loved vinyl, especially the packaging, I was the first guy in my dorm to have a CD player. Detroit rock jock legend Aurthur P. did a radio show on WLLZ one Saturday night in the fall of 1982 and debuted the concept of “digital” music, playing parts of each track, first from a vinyl albumn and then the same track in “Compact Disc” format. I listened in head phones and was totally blown away. To me it was like listening to the future. I knew in an instant this was where music was going. A CD player was the only request on my Christmas list that December but luckily I also got five CDs as well. I quickly added five more titles but those ten CDs (including Moondance) got a lot of play that term. By the time I moved into the Delt House in the fall of 1984 I would estimate that about 1/3 to ½ of the rooms had a CD player. Records were still the $hit and the storage of said albums was the dominant feature in everyone’s room. Last weekend I pulled my turntable out of storage and hooked it up to a stereo in my workout room so I can get some use out of my old albums that my daughter Morgan is suddenly fascinated with. “Dad, I have never actually heard music from an album or seen a record player that actually worked.” Holy crap I am old.

Review of My Musical Tastes

Well, the Grammy Awards were handed out last night, and I must admit I'm proud that my musical tastes were rewarded. I know, I know - the Grammys are irrelevant and I normally don't care who wins. However, this year, after we started this blog, I had more of an interest. I'm not talking about the "big" categories (song of the year, album of the year, etc.). In my "best music of 2007" post, I listed five releases. Three of those five won Grammys yesterday: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, White Stripes, and Steve Earle. In addition, another CD I reviewed a week into 2008 won an award too - Levon Helm's "Dirt Farmer." So, of the six CDs released in 2007 that I reviewed, four of them won Grammys. That is a pretty good percentage. Obviously, what it signifies is that I have impeccable musical taste. It seems to me that if an artist wants a 2008 Grammy, he should come to me for a review next year. Things are already looking good for the Drive-By Truckers for the next year's Grammys. Any other bands wishing for me to give them a positive review can contact me thru this site. I can be bought.

One other thing to note about the Grammys (note, I watched a total of about 30 seconds of the awards show telecast last night) was that a jazz album won album of the year. Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" was the first jazz album since 1964 to win album of the year. He beat out noted crack-whore Amy Winehouse and noted attention-whore Kanye West, among others, for this award. Well done, Herbie. Not being much of a jazz fan, the enduring image of Herbie Hancock for me was his funky/weird/unique 1983 video for "Rockit," which featured robots moving in time to the music.

CD Review: "Brighter Than Creations Dark" - Drive-By Truckers

I am only a casual fan of the Drive-By Truckers. I have never seen them live, and I had downloaded one of their previous releases (Southern Rock Opera). They always struck me a "hick-rockers," and I don't mean that in a bad way. Kinda like Lynyrd Skynyrd, but with a little more pedal steel guitar. Their latest release is their first since former primary songwriter Jason Isbell left the band last year. It is a bit long, with 19 tracks, but it holds together rather well. The first song (Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife) is simply beautiful. In fact, it was the reason I decided to seek out the CD, having heard the track on a local independent radio station. In my humble opinion, the weakest tracks are the ones that are sung by the lone female in the group, Shonna Tucker. And by "weakest," I mean that they are still good songs, but not up to the same standard as some of the others (Bob, Perfect Timing, Daddy Needs a Drink, The Man I Shot, Self Destructive Zones). There is a certain "hominess" to this CD, and the songs are very well written. The song lyrics remind me of some stuff by the Old 97s and The Gourds (in addition to lots of typical country songs), in that they deal with "troubles" of one kind or another (drinking, meth, women, cheatin' spouses, etc.). The tempo varies throughout the CD, going from slow ballads, to mid-tempo rockers, to fast hard rocking songs. I have listened to it three or four times already, and I have not tired of it yet. I hear something new each time. Since I am by no means an expert on the Truckers, I have to trust the opinions of many others who say that this is their best album yet. I don't know about that, but I think this is an excellent CD, and will probably be on my "best of 2008" list at the end of the year.

Concert Review

I went to see, of all bands, The Jefferson Starship last week. Yes, the same band that brought us Delt House pledge repeat tune We Built This City, but also the same JS that formed from the fragments of the legendary Jefferson Airplane. I love the driving, mind expanding music of the Airplane so much, I had to check these guys (and gal) out.

I know what you are thinking - another long in the tooth, washed up, mid-sixties (both the era and their age!) band, that I should not waste my time reading this brief review, let alone think about seeing them. However, take the 3 minutes and read on.

First, the venue I saw them at is a small club about 5 minutes from my house, so it is a low pressure, easy tuesday night out. Plus it is very small and intimate, and for an act like this, it is not very crowded - I would say 250 people with capacity in the 600 range. Plenty comfortable, and any show takes on a new complexion when you are standing literally 12 feet away from a legend of the San Francisco scene and sound, and real-deal hipster hippie Paul Kantner. In addition, in today's world of out-of-control ticket prices, it is refreshing to pay $25 at the door ($20 in advance). Kantner is still out there pushing forward and doing it for some reason. Sometimes sad to see these guys trudging through small, half full clubs, but they must adhere to "we used to play for silver, now we play for life". The 3 or 4 vintage electric guitars Kantner was playing was almost worth the price of admission - just beautiful! Along with Kantner, who looked pretty good for a relatively worn guy, is: David Frieberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service and now long-time JS member (he and Kantner were folkies together dating back to '62) who still has a heck of a voice but looked kinda-like a grand-ma (not grand-pa) with curly white hair; long-time JS lead guitarist Slick Aguilar who, while not spectacular, held his own in the big Scandinavian shoes he had to fill for these ears; one of the highlights of the night was drummer Prarie Prince who has played with Todd Rundgren (who I also just saw) and the Tubes - this guy was unbelievable, and put on one of the best, fullest drumming performances I have ever seen (honest!), and I have seen alot of drummers sharing a stage; the weak point of the show was the other side of the rhythm section, as they had a guy on a Korg synthesizer playing the bass lines and other assorted stuff - certainly NOT a replacement for the thundering Jack Cassady; and last but not least the sparkle and energy of the show, Diana Mangano singing the Grace Slick parts for JS since 1993. Diana has an incredible voice, is very easy on the eyes, lit up the stage, was an energy source, and certainly exuded sex appeal - great all around. She is from the surrounding Buffalo area, so she had alot of family there, which made it both fun and a real Buffalo gathering. Apparently Kantner hired her on the spot after listening to a demo tape of Diana singing Lather that was handed to him after a show he played in Buffalo back in '93.

One more side note before delving into the music - I love watching the people in the audience at these shows. "Who ventures out for these shows" I wonder, and then get some entertainment watching them. Grey haired out of shape guys dancing like crazy and older women grooving like they were at Alpine Valley in 1987; or the older guy who is probably an accountant or attorney standing there listening intently with an appreciative smile; or the 'younger' people like me, and some inquisitive real young people fill out the place. Why it still is unusual for me to see and think of 65 year olds dancing and juking to the music...of 65 year old musicians, I don't know, but it does. At the same time, I hope I am up dancing and juking when I am 65 - but these bands that I dance to will all be dead!

It all comes down to the music... They opened the show with a bunch of Airplane tunes - I was not expecting much to be honest, but they really blew me away. They started with Get Together (Youngbloods original, but Airplane did it huge justice), they did the biggies - Somebody to Love and White Rabbit, which Mangano really made work. Grace is awfully tough to truly do justice to, but this night Mangano did well. They played some other nice nuggets like Jorma's Good Sheppard, and a couple other assorted tunes. However, the fourth tune of the night legitimized the whole night and the band - Blue Eskimo Day simply blew me away (marquee line of the tune is "...the human name, doesn't mean shit to a tree"). It made me think of how damn good the Airplane was and that these guys really made it happen - I bought in, and relished that I was seeing this holy grail music performed live 15 feet in front of me. The power of Prarie Prince on the drum kit can not be stressed enough, and the timing of the band on a very distinctly timed tune was compelling.

Kantner left the stage to Frieberg and the rest, and he did the great folk tune San Francisco Bay Blues, followed by the Dead tune Loser. Aguilar continued the Dead scene by doing Deal. I think they partly do these Dead tunes to play to the crowd, but they did a good job with them, and IMHO they are justified doing them as they were friends and contemporaries of Garcia and the band. I think Aguilar then went solo on While My Guitar Gently Weeps, but we stepped outside to get some inspiration for the second half of the show.

Kantner and the rest of the band came back on and did a variety of good Starship tunes - the grandiose sci-fi, environmental tunes that Kantner was all into in the late 70's and 80's, and they played them with power and emotion. I am not overly familiar with most of the tunes or that era of JS, but have certainly heard some of them and definitely recognized the form and genre.
To close the show, they did a great old Quicksilver tune Pride of Man and then launched into the Frieberg composition Jane. Again, because I am not in tune (no pun intended) with the cheeseyish Starship stuff, this tune hit me out of nowhere - if you don't know it, you have to listen to it and you WILL know it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B00000BKJ8002005 They pulled this power-cheese song off really well, Frieberg belted out the vocal, and it was really good. Back to serious business, they finished the show with the great Airplane tune and Kantner composition You and Me and Pooneil. The encore choice was going to be an Airplane classic - but which one? Kantner wrote some great ones like Have You Seen the Saucers, We Can Be Together, Wild Tyme, Saturday Afternoon, and co-wrote Wooden Ships with Stills and Crosby. The Airplane version of Wooden Ships is far superior to the CSN in my opinion and I would loved to have heard it, but they chose the hippie anthem Volunteers. The morning maniac music was a fantastic way to end a very surprising over the top performance.

Moral of the story: give these lesser expensive acts - whether they are dinosaurs or new acts - a chance and support your local music venues. Maybe, just maybe, you will be pleasantly overwhelmed by this music!

Go Blue!

Best Music of 2007

I know most of us who contribute to this here blog kinda lean toward the "classic rock" genre, but some of us listen to new music sometimes. Here are my favorite releases from 2007 (these are only CDs that I personally bought or downloaded this year), in no particular order:

• Wilco - Sky Blue Sky: This one is a masterpiece. I love Wilco's early stuff, but their newer stuff (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot as well) is turning out to be just as good. Jeff Tweedy has distinguished himself as a great songwriter and musician.
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand: See my earlier review. Great album. I just listened to it again yesterday.
• White Stripes - Icky Thump: I do not consider myself a White Stripes fan. In fact, when a band becomes the latest "fad" (as they did back in 2002 or so), it usually turns me off. I do not have any of their previous five LPs. However, when I heard "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told)," I decided to give this album a try. Good stuff.
• Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Easy Tiger: I have almost everything he's released. This one does not disappoint. Great songwriting, and The Cardinals are the best band he's ever recorded with. Ryan is notoriously hard to work with, so I expect him to fire his band shortly. But until then, try to catch them in concert. He puts on a great show.
• Band of Horses - Cease to Begin: This was a new discovery for me. I can't remember where I heard about them, but they sound like a cross between My Morning Jacket and The Shins. "General Specific" is my favorite song on the album.
• Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade: Unlike his previous couple albums, this one's less political and more personal. He's recently married and he also recently relocated to NYC, which is reflected in some of his songs. Steve Earle is always solid.

I know, it's a short list, but I am but one man. Add your favorite 2007 releases in the comments.

CD Review: "Raising Sand" - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

What? Robert Plant and Alison Krauss doing an album together? Could there be a more disparate pair of people to put together on an album? Well, T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Counting Crows, Spinal Tap, Bruce Cockburn, etc) has done it again. Plant's vocals have never been better. He provides his characteristic vocal stylings on some of the songs (Gone, Gone, Gone), but on others (Through the Morning, Through the Night) he provides a gentle harmony with the angelic voice of Krauss. I never thought I'd hear Plant singing with pedal steel guitar accompaniment, but somehow it works. All of the songs are covers, and I can't find a bad one on the disc. T-Bone himself plays guitar on ten of the thirteen tracks. It's a surprisingly good combination of an unmistakable 1970's classic rock voice with the silky smooth vocal stylings and fiddle virtuosity of a bonafide bluegrass superstar. Only T-Bone Burnett could manage to pull this off. If you buy this one, you won't be disappointed.

Note: I can't manage to type T-Bone without thinking of the Seinfeld episode where George tries to give himself the nickname "T-Bone."