Blog: 30 Days Out

Roy Head, left, with George Kovacik of 30 Days Out. Lunch time in Houston, Texas. It's called "Blues and Burgers" and they have it every Wednesday at this park in downtown Houston, Discovery Green. People stagger out of their skyscrapers for lunch, and local musicians perform for about 90 minutes. Lately the Blues and Burgers shows have been spotlighting music from local record label Duke/Peacock, which was operated by entrepreneur Don Robey in the 1950s and 1960s. And today we were privileged to see a true local legend: [...]

Reblogged from 30 Days Out: Alice Cooper and friend Face it - rock and roll isn't that scary.  Unless you're an uptight parent, or some kind of preacher.  Rock music about Halloween, and the stuff that comes with Halloween, is goofy and funny, but it isn't frightening.  Although I must admit, I got a bit of a fright the first time I saw Adam Lambert perform ... but thankfully that's not rock and roll.  Read [...]

Repost : I tell you one thing: as a kid, if I'd gone up to trick or treat at a house and Elvira answered the door ... I would have been pretty, ah, scared.  Looking at the photo, I'm pretty sure I would have the same reaction today. MP3:  "Elvira's Intro" by Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark MP3:  "Attack Of The 50-Foot Woman" by the Tubes MP3:  "Little Demon" by Screamin' Jay [...]

Sorry, we've been a little into our day jobs lately - that, and listening endlessly to Neil Young. So we just noticed Halloween's a few weeks away, and that is always a great opportunity for some cool rock tunes. So here you go - don't be scared! MP3: "Astro Zombies" by the Misfits MP3: "Dance of Doom" by Frankie Stein & His Ghouls MP3: "Red Temple Prayer (Two Headed Dog)" by Roky [...]

Certainly one of the highlights of last weekend's Austin City Limits Music Festival was the scorching performance by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. He front-loaded his set with a handful of new songs from his upcoming double album, Psychedelic Pill , out Oct. 30. This one, "Twisted Road," he performed acoustically at ACL, but here it's in its full electric glory. Neil Young official web site

KISS is always involved in something new ... here's a PSA for their newest venture, "Helping Parents To Rock." In case you haven't figured this out, it's from Jimmy Kimmel Live . KISS official web site

When Glen Campbell stepped up to the mic at Farm Aid 2 in Champaign, IL and sang "I am a lineman for the county" it was one of the greatest moments in music history for me. Many of you might be wondering why and I really have no answer for you. It was just great. Campbell had a #3 hit with "Wichita Lineman," a song written by the great Jimmy Webb. Two years earlier the two had gotten together for a TV special called In Session and that stellar performance has just been released on CD/DVD and it's nothing short [...]

Jack White taped an episode of "Austin City Limits" TV show. We wrapped up the weekend in Austin, Texas, with a visit to the new studios of "Austin City Limits," the TV show, for a taping by Jack White. Awesome - that's all we can say. Neil Young and Crazy Horse (Photo courtesy of Ken Angelle) The TV show has a little to do with the big Austin City Limits Music Festival, which wrapped on Sunday. The headliners that day were Iggy [...]

Neil Young (right) and Crazy Horse closed out the night with a psychedelic rock frenzy. Saturday, the middle day of the big Austin City Limits Music Festival, offered a little bit of everything for festival goers - a variety that ranged from different musical styles to a choice of weather. "If you don't like the weather in Texas, wait a minute and it will change," goes the saying, and it did. A warm, humid day finally gave way to strong, intermittent rain showers but the downpours were mostly welcomed by crowds gathered around stages [...]

Wow, Austin's always been weird but tonight it's even weirder. And much more crowded - Friday was the first night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival. We crossed over Barton Springs Road (which leads to the festival grounds in Zilker Park) around 9:30 p.m. and it looked like much of the crowd left after Florence + the Machine's set. The Black Keys may have been the nominal headliner Friday, but they more or less shared the crowd with Florence. Same thing happens tonight, when Jack White and Neil Young play more or less at the same time. [...]

We're hittin' the highway this morning to head for Austin and the 2012 edition of the Austin City Limits Music Festival, three days worth of music and mayhem. This year we strategically chose to attend only the middle day - and that turned out to be the most-sought after ticket. At most concerts where you have to run a gauntlet of scalpers with fistfuls of tickets, ACL is the flip side.  For every festival goer headed to Zilker Park there at least two people along the way who are willing to do just about [...]

The Rolling Stones have yet another greatesthits collection, GRRR! , coming in November.  The band is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and hopefully this is just the first step that will lead to an extensive concert tour next year. The 50-track collection will have two new songs and one of them, "Doom and Gloom" has been released. Rolling Stones official web site

Jack White is one of the headliners for this weekend's Austin City Limits Music Festival - he has the unenviable task to play on one end of Zilker Park the same time as Neil Young & Crazy Horse, who will be way on the other end. We'll be there, so we will give you an update Sunday. In the meantime, here's "I'm Shakin' " off White's solo, Blunderbuss . Jack White official web site

The legendary singer/songwriter has a live album/DVD out, Live In New York City . The recordings are taken from a performance at New York's Webster Hall during Simon's 2011 tour. Here's "Boy In The Bubble," which first appeared on the classic Graceland album. Paul Simon official web site

Van Morrison has a new album out, Born To Sing: No Plan B ,  which features him playing saxophone, guitar, piano and yes, singing. It is Van's 35th solo album, and it was recorded in his hometown of Belfast. Van Morrison official web site

Last week, producers of the new James Bond movie Skyfall dropped the epic theme song from the movie, by British singer Adele. When it comes out in the United States Nov. 9  (Oct. 16 in the U.K.), Skyfall will be the 23rd James Bond movie since 1962, and each has had its own theme song. Some of the world's biggest artists performed these songs, including Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Nancy Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Paul McCartney, Madonna and Alicia Keys. Which one is your favorite? "Skyfall" certainly measures up to some of the better songs from years [...]

Austin City Limits Festival, where you can let your inhibitions go. (Photo by Steve Wrubel/Courtesy ACL Festival) The Austin City Limits Music Festival kicks off next Friday (Oct. 12) in Austin, celebrating its 10th year as one of the country's premier music parties. This year more than 130 acts will play for three days for about 70,000 people per day. And don't even ask about tickets, they've been sold out for months. So who's playing? Glad you asked - The Black Keys, Florence + the Machine, Jack White, the Roots, Neil Young & Crazy [...]

"Walk Like A Giant" is the first video from Neil Young & Crazy Horse's upcoming Psychedelic Pill, a 2-CD set coming Oct. 30. The song is over 16 minutes long on the album, but it's been edited down for this video. Psychedelic Pill has only eight songs but, like "Walk Like A Giant," they are all very long. Neil and Crazy Horse are scheduled to stop in Austin Oct. 13 for the Austin City Limits festival - hopefully their set will contain some of the new music. [...]

Muddy Waters at the Houston Juneteenth Blues Fest, 1977. Rock and roll has some killer riffs, mostly played on the electric guitar, and there is no riff more bad-ass than the da-dum-da-DUM riff from songs like Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man." Bo had some killer riffs in some of his songs, but the original source seems to be "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man," by Muddy Waters from 1954. Written by Willie Dixon, it seems to be the first use of this motif that has shown up in blues and rock music ever [...]

Another venerable music act is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and although they may not get the attention of the Rolling Stones or the Beach Boys, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a great and vital piece of American music history. The band, based out of historic Preservation Hall in New Orleans, is releasing a new album,  St. Peter and 57th . The album consists of live recordings from a show in Carnegie Hall and features special guests including tUnE-yArDs, Trombone Shorty, Yasiin Bey, Jim James, Allen Toussaint, Steve Earle and many more. This is [...]