Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers

These guys opened up for The Avett Brothers last night at the House of Blues. Enjoy

Blueprint 3

Has a release date!

And its September 11th!

And its my birthday!

Please Jay-Z, don't make this like every other rap record that gets pushed back for 6 months to 6 years.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8b517_grammys-swagga-like-us_music

Look! All the MCs who mater!

Release DATE!

Also, the Jay-Z's album American Gangster is way better than the movie American Gangster. I'll compare apples to oranges whenever I want. Oranges are better, but probably required more violations to human rights to be grown.

The Georgia Theatre

As many of you already know, the Georgia Theatre burned to the ground on Friday. Many of us have many wonderful memories from there. Some of our best. SO....a tribute to the Georgia Theatre. You will be missed.

Widespread Panic with Vic Chesnutt (aka Brute).
Widespread Panic with John Keane and members of Bloodkin (aka Bartab)-this may have been mislabeled though. The Bartab show was in '94 I believe. Alex will know.

I should also add that there is a group "Rebuild the Georgia Theatre" on Facebook that is providing info on charity events, etc.

No Age/Deerhunter/Dan Deacon Round Robin & Moby

This should be good for folks that can go. I believe they will be adding additional dates soon. Thanks to Brendon for the heads up.

"When we talked with No Age's Randy Randall recently, he explained that his band's forthcoming tour with Dan Deacon and Deerhunter wouldn't simply be a round robin, with each band taking turns. Instead, all three bands will collaborate on a seamless piece of music, with everyone helping out with everyone else's songs: "We're looking to really kind of meld together the ideas that currently exist in one band's song, and then augment them, either by having other members play together or adding something new to the song that'll transition to another song. So you'll still hear Deerhunter and Dan Deacon and No Age songs, but they'll be boosted in a way by having other members play in them as well."

No Age/Deerhunter/Dan Deacon - 2009 Tour Dates
08-01 Medford, NJ - Flying W Airport & Pool
08-02 Brooklyn, NY - Jelly Space 2009
08-03 Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre
08-04 Newport, KY - Southgate House
08-05 Bloomington, IN - Rhinos
08-06 Madison, WI - UW Madison Memorial Terrace
08-07 Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom
08-08 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza







Also, check this NPR Exclusive First Listen out from Moby. I really liked the album on my first listen....perfect for a dark, chilly, rainy morning in Chicago.

John

Some music in honor of John's new exhibit being featured at the Rock n' Roll hall of fame.
Also, enjoy these two clips of another favorite John of mine, who died earlier this year. Sad but good.

Caroline Smith and the Good Night Sleeps

These guys opened up for The Daredevil Christopher Wright last night in Madison. They're out of Minneapolis. Good stuff.

The Best Thing About a Road Trip

Nick and I took a much needed vacation this past week. Although we had initially planned to go sailing with his dad, we opted to take an unplanned road trip through some unexplored areas of the Midwest. We only have a year left in Chicago before our next adventure begins in some other part of the country, so we thought it was time to see what all the region has to offer. Along the way, we hit it up several wineries, breweries, beaches, disc golf courses, and roadside diners, and similar to many road trips, we enjoyed conversations with random locals about random local stuff. And, also similar to many road trips, we listened to a lot of music to pass the time. So, some "new" bands that we were exposed to along the way:

Suckers


Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys)

"Trouble Weighs a Ton"


We heard "Indiana" by "Cymbals Eat Guitars". I couldn't find the song on YouTube, but here it is on MySpace. I recommend checking out some of their other songs as well. "Indiana" initially caught our attention because we were driving through Indiana at the time.

Our last stop took us to Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI. As a side note, I was introduced to Bell's Two-Hearted Pale Ale by a local Madison resident while enjoying a beer on UW's terrace. For those of you that have never enjoyed a beer on the Terrace, you should put it on your "to do" list. Note to self: go in the summer. While tasting all the excellent beers that Bell's has to offer, we overheard a bluegrass version of "Float On". I was able to find the song on YouTube along with a version of "Ocean Breathes Salty". Apparently, this band, Iron Horse, has made bluegrass versions of many popular songs so you might find other covers you'll enjoy as well.

Free Music Lists from Urban Outfitters

I actually checked one of the daily emails that Urban Outfitters sends me today and discovered that they offer free music playlists from their website, which can be downloaded on iTunes or streamed from the site.

I just downloaded #5. I only recognize a few of the bands, so maybe I'll find some new bands to listen to! Or maybe it will be crap and I won't. I'll get back to you on what I find...

Like a lick of ice cream

Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down...

Click here for an interview with Thao and to listen to their song "Fear and Convenience."

I heard this song [video below] - "Bag of Hammers" - on the radio recently. I like the beginning ... it definitely caught my attention during my morning commute when I am usually still a bit zoned out. But the song really sold me around :56 when they take it up another notch. Fun song.




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