Artist: Peter Case

Thursday things: ► JD Samson & MEN visit the Echoplex behind this week's release of their "Time" EP — the second of four EPs the band plans to release this year. L.A.'s Brother and Touché support. That the video for MEN's "Make Him Pay," above. ► Retro wunderkind Nick Waterhouse celebrates the release of his debut album "Time's All Gone" at the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, supported by Sister Rogers. [See last week's post on Waterhouse's new video .] ► [...]

We got another late start on the day after the whatever-eth consecutive night of going to bed at dawn and waking up 4 or 5 hours later and, following some homemade sangria and venison burgers (appropriate fare for our next destination), made our way to Spider House for Burgermania, a daylong, seven stage muzak extravaganza put on by L.A.'s Burger Records and Austin's Burger City Rock and Roll and encompassing a mind-boggling 76 bands in total. When we arrived, Mean Jeans was just finishing up in the Ballroom bar stage. We were lucky enough to make [...]

Two legends of powerpop Peter Case and Paul Collins , from playing in bands like The Nerves, The Beat, The Plimsouls and The Breakaways, played their hearts out to a happy audience at Rhythm Room, PHX last night. I didn't take notes, but Collins and Case played their guitars like it was 1978 again. They sounded great, all four band members vocals were clear (though Collins was having some monitor issues on his side of things), and the rhythm section pumped up the beat sweetly. [...]

Fine fare for your Wednesday: ► Portland sextet Blitzen Trapper visits the Troubadour behind their 2011 album "American Goldwing" — that's director Brian Adrian Koch's video for "Taking It Easy Too Long," above. Opening are the Parson Red Heads, the former L.A. residents whose recent turn on "Portlandia" had everybody buzzing. ► Two influential rockers whose careers date back to the '70s — Peter Case and Paul Collins — head up a quartet headlining the Echo, where they will perform songs from their legendary bands, the Plimsouls, the [...]

[PHOTO CREDIT: Amie Althaea] What began as a potentially precarious and non-commital show blossomed into a legendary, manic rock event. Saturday evening's performance at the Star Theater in Portland built slowly to a boiling point at which Peter Case and Paul Collins began to tear through the power-pop gems that spangle their respective, nearly 40-year careers. The energy, skill and conviction of their show transcended both time and male pattern baldness, proving that an intelligent, youthful spirit can persist to incite future generations to dance like it's 1964, or '74, or '84. Hell... [...]

On their debut self-titled LP out via Burger Records, sisters Chelsea and Justine Brown - aka Summer Twins - deliver dreampop rock & roll songs drenched in California sun. In March, Summer Twins hit the road with Paul Collins of The Beat and Peter Case of The Plimsouls bringing their 50s and 60s inspired pop [...]

Alive Natural Sound has just released Beach Town Confidential , a live album recorded in 1983 by power poppers The Plimsouls . Led by ex- Nerves frontman Peter Case, The Plimsouls reigned from 1978 to 1983, peaking in 832 with their track "A Million Miles Away" being used in the movie "Valley Girl". There have been several reunions over the years, including one that yielded a new album in 1998. Beach Town Confidential was recorded live at The Golden Bear in 1983, and according to the label features [...]

The Plimsouls captured live in their prime.

Peter Case Paul Collins Appearing at The Record Bar (Kansas City, MO) on Monday, March 19, 2012

Fantastic Friday things: ► Old-school R&B adventurer Nick Waterhouse , at work on a debut album coming out in the spring, brings his edgy, vintage sounds to the Bootleg Theater. [Refresher: See the video for "I Can Only Give You Everything." ] The Allah Las and Anna Egge support. ► At the Echo, it's soul phenom Allen Stone . [ See our post Tuesday .] ► L.A.-based pop songstress Priscilla Ahn plays the El Rey Theatre, with Ferraby Lionheart opening. That's the video for "When You Grow Up," the [...]

(out now on his online store ) On this retrospective, the former Nerves/Plimsouls alum assembles a collection of demos and unreleased outtakes from his lengthy solo career. The folk protest-style songs generally take issue with the state of the American political and economic immorality, sounding the alarm as it were (a siren can literally be heard blaring at the beginning of "Let's Turn This Thing Around") and repeating the exhortation to turn things around, a phrase which recurs later in the album on "Ballad of the Minimum Wage," where Case talk-sings as an organ intersperses stealthily quiet [...]

DOWNLOAD : Peter Case - "Round Trip Stranger Blues" Peter Case - (Give Me) One More Mile by alivenaturalsound Bomp/Alive describes The Case Files as a collection of " demos, out-takes, one live shot & other rarities recorded between 1985 and 2010 ". This description doesn't do the disc justice as this is a pretty solid collection of tracks rather than the half-finished demos and cast-offs found in archival compilations by [...]

• Peter Case - (Give Me) One More Mile

A poetic series of ruminations between a journalist and his subject, a folk-hero rebel rocker, who celebrate years of friendship by exploring the rocky, jolting, and quasi-spiritual experiences that shaped both of their lives. Over ten years ago, my wife and I stumbled towards the manicured lawns of a suburb stretching southwest out of Houston's megalopolis to a bookstore in search of Peter Case, where I said "hello" as he flipped through Louvin Brothers CDs. Since then, I have interviewed him several times for publications, like Left of the Dial and Thirsty Ear, and written about him at length [...]

DOWNLOAD : Peter Case - "Round Trip Stranger Blues" Peter Case - Steel Strings No1 by alivenaturalsound Peter Case released the well-received collection of demos, out-takes, one-time live performances & other rarities, The Case Files (Alive) earlier this year and All Music Guide said " these 12 songs make for an entertaining and empowering album that delivers the goods with smarts and simple, sweaty force. The Case Files proves this [...]

• Peter Case - Round Trip Stranger Blues
• Peter Case - Steel Strings No1

Peter Case - The Case Files From The Breakaways to The Nerves to The Plimsouls to his solo career, Peter Case has always weaved a web of quality, roots based rock. The Case Files collects demos, out-takes, one live shot & other rarities from the 1985-2010 span of Case's solo career. Compiled by Peter himself, this long-overdue collection combines rockin' full band electric tracks with a selection of dynamic acoustic performances, and also features collaborations with many of Peter's friends, such as Stan Ridgway, [...]

Over 25 years later, "A Million Miles Away" - three minutes and thirty-four seconds of hard-driven delirium - still packs a frenzied, crescendoing wallop.

Peter Case McGonigel's Mucky Duck June 28, 2011 Surviving 40 years of rock and roll is not nearly the same as embodying it, preserving artful, poetic, and transcendent song forms that persevere ... Continue reading "Last Night: Peter Case At McGonigel's Mucky Duck" >

There's no better way to wind up a sizzling summer workday than a couple cold beers and some free music down at Houston's Cactus Music and Record Ranch . Tuesday we moseyed down there to hear a fine acoustic set from Peter Case, a singer/songwriter who spent time in rock bands like the Nerves and the Plimsouls before going solo in the mid-1980s. He was in Houston to promote his new CD, The Case Files , a collection of demos, outtakes and other rarities from his 25-year solo career. The track listing [...]

"I was always sort of not interested in what my generation was doing," Peter Case told Rocks Off 10 years ago after flipping through Louvin Bros. compact discs at a now-defunct bookstore in Suga... Continue reading "Uncovering Peter Case: The Rocks Off Interview" >

Still alive for you, love; still alive for you, love. Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.

• Owl and Bear - The Owl and Bear Podcast vol. 151