Friday, July 20. 2007
It's not often I have a story that can be cross-posted to the PetHobbyist.com blog, but this one can.
From a report by Bad Rap:
We were so bummed: Our golf tournament fundraiser - the event that was supposed to kick off our Nemo Fund for emergency medical costs - was cancelled when too few people signed up to play. Boo hoo!
It's hard to know if golfers aren't big on pit bulls, or maybe pit bull people just don't do golf? Or maybe we're just really bad at advertising?
No worries, because Heavy Metal came to the rescue last night. Five bands played their hearts out for the pit bulls at Gilman Street and donated all costs to the cause. By the time security kicked in their fees and show goers emptied their pockets, the Nemo Fund was alive and well. Woot!
Worhorse came up from Los Angeles to do their good deed. They were in the line up with Attack Disarm Takeover, Arise, Wendol and Chromium Six. Our deaf dog Honky Tonk had no complaints about the loud music - He loved it!
Full story here, with more photos.
Sunday, July 15. 2007
Web radio was about to be dealt a death blow by the implementation of a massive new royalty plan from SoundExchange, which collects music broadcast royalties, and the Copyright Royalty Board. From ace electronic gadget blogger Machinist:
Many Web radio outfits feared closure as their legal fight against staggering new music royalty rates met failure this week. On Thursday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to block the new rates, which are scheduled to go into effect Sunday. But as a result of public outcry -- which, in turn, sparked congressional outcry -- SoundExchange, the recording-industry group that collects royalties, has agreed not to immediately enforce the rates, pending negotiations with webcasters.
I just spoke to Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, the hugely popular Internet radio station that allows people to create personalized music channels. I asked Westergren if Pandora will shut down Sunday: "No, we won't," he said.
This is great news for small, independent and non-commercial websites that stream music to listeners. Or maybe not great, but at least, something less than deadly.
So, what happened? Wired reports:
Thursday's deal marks a sharp turnaround for SoundExchange, which told Wired News just hours before that the new online radio royalty rates are "etched in stone."
Observers credited lobbying by net radio listeners with helping bring pressure on SoundExchange. "This is a direct result of lobbying pressure, so if anyone thinks their call didn't matter, it did," said Westergren. "That's why this is happening."
The deal opens the door for longer-term solutions, including action from Congress. On Thursday, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) called parties representing record labels and webcasters before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to try to broker a deal that would allow online radio stations to survive in something similar to their current form, while still paying labels and artists their due.
Machinist credits people power with the victory, too:
The negotiations between SoundExchange and the webcasters now center on these rates -- and they're taking place, Westergren notes, "under the watchful eye of Congress." And that, he says, is the main news today. "The reason this deal is happening is because of congressional pressure, and congressional pressure is happening because of people calling in. Everybody needs to know that. A million people in the last three months have called Congress about this. And Congress has said, Look, if you don't solve this, we will. That's very explicit."
Monday, July 9. 2007
From Salon:
It was a historic moment, signifying a vast sea change: the death of the Hummer and the rebirth of Flower Power. Two billion fans, 130 countries, seven continents and Jon Bon Jovi can't be wrong.
Watching the Gore-backed, star-packed Live Earth festival -- which included televised, Web-streamed concerts in New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio De Janeiro, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney and Hamburg -- there was an overwhelming sense that one was seeing the better angels of the human spirit rise lotuslike through the mud and unfold into a better, sober, new counterculture based on a peace, love, understanding and eco-consciousness. Like the '60s, only without so much meth.... Even the perennially depressed Roger Waters from Pink Floyd was having such a good time he looked as guileless as a 10-year-old.
[...]
Alicia Keys, the breakaway star of the event, really torched the roof off with her Category 5, gale-force radiance. Great performing artists can maintain poise while seemingly losing all control: Keys literally quivers from the wild waves of super-soul rippling through her. Her backup vocals on "Gimme Shelter" redeemed the otherwise limp Keith Urban and, if hooked up to a generator, could have powered all of the dryers in Dubai.
[...]
The perennially ageless Sting bumped the mood back up, after his wife's gruesome news. The reformed Police were joined by a highly excited Kanye West in a duet that was actually moving, because it was sincerely felt:
"We can save the world!"
"Sending out an SOS..."
"We can save the world!"
"Sending out an SOS..."
"We can save the world!"
Counter-insurgency, Gen. Patraeus has said, is about capturing hearts and minds. There was simply no denying the infectious, unforced good feelings of Live Earth. You can only front for so long: Joy is real or it isn't. This was the kind of love-fest you can't buy or steal ... and even snarky reviews can't kill.
Full article here -- free to subscribers, or you can see it free with a day pass.
Video of the Police and Kanye West singing "Message in a Bottle" under the jump.
Continue reading "Live Earth Sends an SOS"
Friday, July 6. 2007
Yes, yes, I know Amazon.com sells music. It sells CDs and it sells digital music too.
But proving once again that we will buy the cow even if the milk is free, they also give it away. So get on over to Amazon and check out their current offerings. Today it's Madness and Koufax:
'80s favorite Madness is back with a funky bunch of cool covers on The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1 and indie rockers Koufax hit their stride with Hard Times Are in Fashion. Download a free track from each new release:
"Shame and Scandal" from Madness's The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1
"Why Bother It All" from Koufax's Hard Times Are in Fashion
Those and more, free and legal, here.
Wednesday, July 4. 2007
Okay, I'm flailing around here, totally madly in love with Bryan Ferry's Dylanesque.
The last CD of covers I was excited about was Patti Smith's Twelve, which was a huge disappointment to me. I hadn't even heard a rumor of the existence of this one (perhaps I need to get out more?), and when I saw it I was at first OMG I MUST BUY THIS AT ONCE, and then hesitant, based on that recent disappointment.
I've now listened to Dylanesque pretty much continuously all day and I can't give this CD enough love.
When Clint and I saw the Scott Walker: 30 Century Man documentary at SXSW last March, it opened with some vintage video of Roxy Music doing "Editions of You," with a glammed-out Brian Eno (who was featured in the film) on tambourine. I love that Bryan Ferry. And I think Roxy Music's live version of "Like a Hurricane" is probably my favorite cover song ever. And I have another album of Bryan Ferry covers, Foolish Pleasures (he sings "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To" on that one, it's priceless). But this CD of Bob Dylan covers is as good as anything I've ever loved by Roxy Music or Ferry solo. It's stunning.
Like the cover of Neil Young's "Hurricane," these cuts are all live, although recorded in the studio over a one-week period. He turns rockers into pop songs, croons the most blistering of Dylan's lyrics, and there are strings... STRINGS... on his brilliant, beautiful rendition of "Positively Fourth Street." And there's not one cut on here that doesn't work, but standouts were "Fourth Street," "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," "Simple Twist of Fate," "All I Really Want to Do," and "Baby, Let Me Follow You Down."
Videos of "Positively Fourth Street" and "The Times They are A-Changin'" under the jump, along with a track list. But don't waste time watching these vids, go buy the CD. Go now.
Continue reading "CD Review - Dylanesque by Bryan Ferry"
Saturday, June 30. 2007
Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions
Siouxsie and the Banshees
When I was a little punk rocker girl, I loved me some Siouxsie Sioux. Earlier this month, Polydor released a CD with some of her work with the Banshees dating back to 1977, when they appeared on BBC's John Peel Sessions, live. They made another visit a few months later, and two more over the next several years. Cuts from each of these sessions are included on Voices on the Air: The Peel Sessions.
"Playground Twist" alone is worth buying this CD, but as a record not only of what the Banshees were, and their influence, there's nothing like this.
I don't think there are any previously unreleased tracks on this CD, but they've never been all in one place before. If you weren't around and want to know what all the fuss is about, and why we all still know who Siouxise is 30 years later, this is a great place to start. If you, like me, were there, this is a really good way to spend a weekend.
Track list under the jump.
Continue reading "What I'm doing this weekend"
Friday, June 29. 2007
Every week, Fingertips reviews at least three free legal music downloads. You can get them sent via email, or just check the website. The week of June 17-23 lists:
"Kidstuff" - Tenderhooks
This song wallops me with its late-'70s new wave vibe but I can't put my finger exactly on why. Put early Elvis Costello, the 1977-79 Kinks, Television, and the Undertones in a blender and this song maybe pours out, with its ringing guitar line, observational wordplay, and solid pop melody.
[....]
"Trouble" - Over the Rhine
As the noisy part of today's music scene is dominated almost fascistically by those obsessed with what is bright and shiny and new, there fortunately remain many musicians to listen to who are not simply brand new, thank goodness. To think of the depth and richness we would lose if we really were only listening to the latest MySpace and Pitchfork sensations--but no worries, we're not, and never will. Because some of the best new bands will stick around and hone their art in fruitful and unanticipated ways over the years, just as some of today's most wonderful not-new-anymore bands themselves once gleamed with the newcomer's glow. Long-time Fingertips favorites Over the Rhine are a categoriocal example of how impressive musicians can become as they have the chance to mature and write and perform together.
[....]
"Move = Move" - Wheat
And this one oozes the ramshackle charm of 1967-or-so Rolling Stones (the melody to my ears partially echoes "Sing This All Together Now"), without any of the silly bad-boy posturing. And yet "Move = Move" likewise feels rooted right here in the indie-rock-saturated '00s, with its sculpted sound and stray electronic lagniappes. There's a real looseness on display that I find totally wonderful in such an otherwise brisk and focused tune, epitomized by the almost haphazard way the harmony vocals weave in and out of both awareness and alignment.
All this and more, at Fingertips. Free, and legal.
Thursday, June 28. 2007
Apparently nothing -- nothing at all -- comes close to being as important as the pending arrival in stores of the new MP3 player/mobile phone/web browser known as the iPhone.
Genuflect when you say that.
I remember the first Star Wars sequel. I once waited in line for 12 hours to be the second person into a Peter Gabriel concert at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, CA. I understand obsession.
I also love to shop, and love my own 60 gig video iPod so much I once kissed it. In front of witnesses. And yet, I'm not feeling the iPhone love.
There was a day I thought that if someone could give me a way to integrate my iPod with my cell phone and let me check email, I'd know perfect and complete joy. "Soon," my techno-geek friends promised. "Apple is making it. It's called the iPhone and it will be all you could ever imagine and more."
Is it? I freaked out when I saw its storage listed as 5 gigs or 8 gigs. Honey, I have 60 gigs now, over half of which is in use, and no offense, but suddenly having to carry an iPod and a cell phone doesn't seem all that onerous to me. What am I supposed to do with the other 22 gigs of music, Steve?
Then there's the problem of the money. It supposedly will cost around $75-100 a month to use the proprietary phone service, plus a $36 activation fee, and the iPhone itself costs $5376587 dollars.
Okay, that was a lie. But it's going to list for around $500-600.
Then there are the reviews. From the Wall Street Journal's highly influential Walter Mossberg:
We have been testing the iPhone for two weeks, in multiple usage scenarios, in cities across the country. Our verdict is that, despite some flaws and feature omissions, the iPhone is, on balance, a beautiful and breakthrough handheld computer. Its software, especially, sets a new bar for the smart-phone industry, and its clever finger-touch interface, which dispenses with a stylus and most buttons, works well, though it sometimes adds steps to common functions.
The Apple phone combines intelligent voice calling, and a full-blown iPod, with a beautiful new interface for music and video playback. It offers the best Web browser we have seen on a smart phone, and robust email software. And it synchronizes easily and well with both Windows and Macintosh computers using Apple’s iTunes software.
It has the largest and highest-resolution screen of any smart phone we’ve seen, and the most internal memory by far. Yet it is one of the thinnest smart phones available and offers impressive battery life, better than its key competitors claim.
The phone is thinner than many smart phones.
It feels solid and comfortable in the hand and the way it displays photos, videos and Web pages on its gorgeous screen makes other smart phones look primitive.
From USA Today's Edward C. Baig:
For consumers who can afford one ($499 or $599, plus the cost of a two-year wireless plan with exclusive carrier AT&T), iPhone is by far the most chic cellphone I've seen. And there are terrific reasons — besides announcing to neighbors how cool you are — to try to nab the device when it finally goes on sale at Apple and AT&T stores at 6 p.m. local time Friday across the country.
For starters, iPhone is a breeze to set up and fun to use, evident from the moment you slide your finger across the screen to unlock it. It's a wonderful widescreen iPod and fabulous picture viewer. Smart sensors change the orientation of the display from portrait to landscape mode, based on how you hold the device and what you are doing at the time. Once you get the hang of its "multitouch" interface — give it a few days — you won't have to schlep a separate iPod and cellphone in your pocket.
For me, the limited storage is a deal killer, even if I had a spare five hundred bucks to replace a perfectly good iPod and cell phone. I've also heard it's got some slowness problems on its mobile network. But for those who don't carry around such a large music library who absolutely have to have the latest and best thing ever, and who have the bucks, it sounds like this toy might be one of the few to live up to its hype.
Video under the jump.
Continue reading "Second Coming or the Emperor's New Electronic Toy?"
Tuesday, June 26. 2007
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Internet radio DJs are replacing their eclectic playlists with a "Day of Silence" today, a protest against new royalty rates they say could decimate the fledgling digital broadcasting industry.
Earlier this year, a congressionally appointed three-judge panel drastically increased the royalty fees the stations must pay for music streamed over the Internet. Critics say the rates, which would be retroactive to 2006, will make it impossible for small stations, public broadcasters and specialty startups that cater to the industry to stay in business. The new rates are scheduled to go into effect July 15.
"For us, the royalties went from $20,000 to $600,000 per year," said Rusty Hodge, whose 11-channel SomaFM Web site was launched in 2000 and operates in San Francisco's Mission District. "That's about three times the total income we made in 2006. We're not getting rich off of this."
Read the whole article here.
Friday, June 15. 2007
You can't capture it, but you can watch it. From the soulless corporate marketing machine good folks at AT&T:
Tune in to the AT&T blue room June 15-17 to see the LIVE Bonnaroo 2007 webcast, straight from Manchester, TN. Only the blue room can give you an exclusive front row seat to the show without even having to leave your computer!
A four-day, multi-stage festival, the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival brings together some of the best performers in rock and roll, along with dozens of artists in complementary styles such as jazz, Americana, hip-hop and more. Bookmark the blue room because you won't want to miss this year's all-star lineup including the String Cheese Incident, Cold War Kids, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Brazilian Girls, John Butler Trio, Gillian Welch, Michael Franti, Spearhead, The Flaming Lips and more!
It's all here.
And it's not free, but rumor has it that some of the sets will be available in their entirety on iTunes after the festival is over.
List of acts under the jump.
Continue reading "Free Music Friday: Bonnaroo 2007"
Wednesday, June 13. 2007
Last night I saw the Indigo Girls at San Francisco's Fillmore. I've mentioned it before, I'll mention it again: Seeing the Indigo Girls live in San Francisco is an experience unlike any other. They are incredibly beloved by their fans, and they love right back, and in San Francisco, just multiply that by a factor of ten and you have the energy at last night's concert.
I hadn't even checked out who the opening act was, so when a very young-looking woman with long dark hair, two bald guys who looked like twins, and a guy with a cello came out, I asked the Indigo Girls fan standing next to me. She said, "That's Brandi Carlile," which meant nothing to me.
The 26-year-old Carlile is from Seattle, and her band consists of twin brothers Tim and Phil Hanseroth and Josh Neuman on cello. She's apparently gotten quite a bit of exposure on the Gray's Anatomy soundtrack, which is off my radar. Her second album, The Story, came out in April of this year, was produced by T-Bone Burnett, who also produced the soundtrack for the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, as well as the soundtrack to Walk the Line.
Last night, Carlile started to sing, ripping through a song called "What Can I Say" that made me want to put the concert on hold and go home and buy it so I could listen to it forty million times again. It's really just an alt/folk little sad heartbroken love song, but between her gorgeous voice and the beautiful tune and the pure simplicity of the lyrics, it was irresistable. It's got a video, much tamer than the live version, but it gives you an idea.
More Carlile, more video, and the Indigo Girls, including a set list, under the jump.
Continue reading "Concert Review: Indigo Girls, Brandi Carlile, June 11, 2007, The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA"
Friday, June 1. 2007
It is without question a haven of the intellectual liberal elite, but regardless of whether that fits you a tee or gives you fits, it's one of the best places to get free legal music downloads.
I'm talking about Salon's Audiofile. And you're going free? Free? You have to subscribe to Salon! Not true!
Well, yes, you do, but you can also get a free day pass. So sign up for it, go in, download to your little heart's content, and thank me later.
Today's "Song of the Day" is "This Boy Can Wait" by the Wedding Present:
The other night I dreamed that I'd gone back in time to 1988 and moved to London. I dyed my hair jet black, teased it half-a-mile high, bought myself a baggy trench coat and spent most of my time reading Byron and pogo-dancing in dark, dank nightclubs. A raccoon-eyed girl named Perfidia gave me a mix tape with a version of the Wedding Present's great "This Boy Can Wait" on it. If I remember correctly, Perfidia taped it off the radio, but those of you unable to access my dreams or travel back in time can find the song on a newly released compilation of material that this underappreciated and very Smiths-like band recorded for the BBC.
Download it free, here. Or sign up to get the "Song of the Day" from Audiofile on iTunes or via RSS feed directly to your browser, in the upper right hand corner of the Audiofile home page -- also featuring music news and podcast and written interviews, most recently with Rufus Wainwright.
Did I mention it's all free?
Then browse every single song of the day going back to the beginning of time here.
Friday, April 27. 2007
Bjork performs at Coachella 2007 photo by Gary Miller - Staff Photographer |
We have staff at the Coachella Music Festival in Indio, CA, but while we're waiting for their reviews and photos, you can watch live performances on streaming video here.
Webcast lineup for April 27 (all times Pacific):
3:00 PM Brother Ali
3:55 PM Noisettes
4:35 PM Tokyo Police Club
5:35 PM Tilly and the Wall
6:25 PM Of Montreal
7:15 PM Rufus Wainwright
8:10 PM Arctic Monkeys
9:05 PM Stephen Marley
9:55 PM Sonic Youth
10:45 PM Bjork
Thursday, April 26. 2007
Oh Patti. I wanted to love this. I'm a whore for cover albums. I have loved you since I was 17 years old. I cried with happiness when they put you in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and you sang "baby baby baby was a rock 'n' roll nigger."
I'm so sorry, Patti, but Twelve is just kind of boring. It really is.
I would have sworn Patti Smith would do a brilliant job of Jimi Hendrix's "Are You Experienced," Neil Young's "Helpless," Grace Slick's "White Rabbit," the Doors' "Soul Kitchen." She didn't. They were just kind of rough and tuneless.
I was scared to hear what she'd do with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and rightly so.
I'm so very sorry, Patti, I still love you, but please go write a whole album of your own stuff right now, kthnx.
She did give a great interview to Salon last week, though:
When I was younger there was the mainstream and the maverick, and there was a real difference between us. Right now in America, we're a nation of disenfranchised people. All of us are victims, no matter if we're right wing or left wing, of the terrible mistakes of the Bush administration -- whether it's because of the atmosphere he has produced globally, the loss of Iraqi citizens' life and infrastructure, the loss of American life, the abandonment of New Orleans, the deterioration of our environment. And economically the country is heading for a fall.
I think rock 'n' roll is more valuable as an acceptable form of communication because we don't need some cool, hip thing that only a few people understand or communicate about: We need global action. We need a voice. The new generation is communicating, deciding how they're going to receive and send music [on the Web], and the next step is to inject content into it. And they will do that, because things are just going to get worse and worse and people will react. I don't think the new generations are going to be like Nero and fiddle while Rome burns. I think that people are going to step up. It's just that people are finding each other, finding their voice and figuring out how to process all the information around them.
Go read or listen to the podcast.
But you should probably skip Twelve.
Saturday, April 21. 2007
Hmmm, one more iTunes song of the week - meaning a free giveaway - that's pretty good. Their track record is getting better, I think this is the third cut I've liked so far this year.
The Guggenheim Grotto is a Dublin, Ireland folk band. "Philosophia" isn't available on their MySpace page, but you can listen to, and download, four other songs there. That's a lot of free goodness, if you're into slightly edgy folk music. They appear somewhat resistant to the comparison, but there really is a Simon and Garfunkel thing going on here, but fresh. I know they cite a heavy Leonard Cohen influence, but I didn't hear that in any of the cuts I listened to. Cohen, who I revere, is quite a bit rougher and lyrically more obscure than they are.
And of course, Cohen by his own admission can't sing for shit, and these guys vocalize like angels.
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