Blog: The De Mello Theory

Got a new address thedemellotheory.com . Come see my barely intelligible musings there.

Last year was a fine year for music, but only a few things really wowed me. That's not to say it was completely bereft of anything good, but the prevailing theme, at least in my estimation, was that while 2009 was a banner year for new talent & a resurgence of older talent, 2010 had very little to offer. 2011 is shaping up to be, already, one of the better years. The Decemberists came out with a new album on Tuesday & it's their best album yet. It hits chords in my soul that bring out such joy, that I [...]

Yesterday I purchased the new Witmark Demos number nine in Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series. Among the many gems found on The Witmark Demos are 15 Bob Dylan songs that were recorded by the artist only for these sessions, and which have never been officially released to the public until now. These include the plaintive"Ballad For A Friend," the civil rights era-inspired "Long Ago, Far Away" and "The Death Of Emmett Till," and the poignant "Guess I'm Doing Fine." It really is remarkable. It's basically Dylan in a studio with his [...]

It's raining today, not buckets like it will on Sunday I hear, but raining nonetheless. it seems that time of year is upon us. The time when the sun comfortably rests & the rains shower us with the moisture of the heavens. It's only fitting that a band from the Seattle grunge scene played their first show ever today in 1990. Under the name Mookie Blaylock soon to be Pearl Jam they played a gig at the Off Ramp in Seattle & made rock history. Pearl Jam is one of those enigmatic bands that seems to shun the limelight* & [...]

As far as super groups go there hasn't been a truly great one since the Traveling Wilbury's in my opinion. Monsters of Folk are more like Monsters of mediocrity & the Dead Weather again are just ok, but Fistful of Mercy is one supergroup that may be bucking the trend of average super groups. With Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper & Dhani Harrison this "Super group" has some heavy hitters backing it. Dhani Harrison is the son of George Harrison & looks/sounds so much like his father it's eerie. I don't have much info on Joseph Arthur [...]

The first draft of my book has been finished & sent off to readers to examine. It was a bit grueling but completely worthwhile. Still don't have a title & it seems "An Idiot Abroad" has been absconded by some television show so I will have to figure that out sooner or later. As for the blog I needed time off to finish the book & then to just veg. Writing nearly everyday for 3 months is rough, but I think I'm ready to write often on here. I doubt I will put stuff up everyday, because I don't have [...]

I went on Saturday to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival & it was fantastic, but Sunday was the day that I will remember for all my days. My sister & I arrived early in the morning to make sure we had a good seat at the stage where the Avett Brothers would play later that evening. They were the ones we wished to see most of all, but we were eager to see everything that the festival had to offer. When the Felice Brothers came on, expectations were low. I'd heard of the band from New York in [...]

Bryan Bishop aka "Bald" Bryan is from the Adam Carolla Show, the Film Vault & the blog An Inconvenient Tumor . Over a year ago Bryan was diagnosed with Brain cancer, but it isn't something he dwells on. There is rarely an instance where he will discuss it at length as the march of time moves on & there are things that could be missed in the span of time one feels sorry for themselves. I get a hang nail & I focus on that for a week, but Bishop is a man of extraordinary character [...]

Ted Stryker has had a lot of jobs in the entertainment field over the past few years. While DJing at KROQ he took over for Adam Carolla on Loveline the syndicated radio show starring Dr. Drew & did that for a year then he moved onto AMP radio as Westwood One, the company that hosts Loveline, decided to tighten its belt. After a year at AMP he returned to KROQ as the drive time host. He has also been a judge on the VH1 show Charm School, taking over for another former Loveline Host Rikki Rachman & was [...]

Greg Fitzsimmons has been a writer for such acts as Cedric the Entertainer, the Wanda Sykes Show & the Ellen Degeneres Show to name but a few. He has been touring on the road for 20 years & has one of the more successful podcasts on i-Tunes. This fall he'll make his first foray into the world of authorship as his book Dear Mrs. Fitzsimmons is already burning up the Amazon pre-sales. I have been a frequent critic of Fitzsimmons, while remaining a huge fan, mainly because I have felt he's sat on his talent. It's [...]

Didn't do a bootleg Thursday yesterday, because I was finishing a chapter on my impending book. writing a book is a grueling process, but one that I love. So I'm gonna post something that I'm sure will be amazing to you for the weekend & then come Monday hopefully I'll have a little more time for the blog. I wanted to do a whole big thing on Woodstock this week, but it was my birthday, then the book kinda bogged me down so I think I'll do it next week albeit a week later than I had intended. [...]

So I posed 3 questions to Fitz from Fitz & the Tantrums (whose new album Pickin' Up the Pieces is available on i-Tunes , their website & Amazon ) on Twitter today & here is the transcript from that interview: Me: The LA Times said you have a clearly derived style from bands like the Temptations. It seems to me that it is more like the 5th Dimension. Do you find it difficult being a nontraditional band that people have to find a band [...]

So today for Bootleg Thursday I thought I'd give you a nice little concert form the Doors on their 1968 Waiting For the Sun Tour . It's a great concert with great sound & I really think you'll enjoy it. The best part of this concert is that "Waiting For the Sun" is not even one of the songs played & yet it is titled Waiting for the Sun Tour . That is classic idiocy. Now, I have to go back to writing my book, but would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section here or [...]

In my musical musings of late I have come upon a number of fantastic new artists (new to me at least) that I feel the need to write about. I had intended to take today off & write solely in the book I'm writing about wandering through Europe like some sort of hedonistic werewolf, but being that tomorrow is Bootleg Thursday & there isn't much writing involved in that I figured I could write a bit today & really crank it out tomorrow. You're welcome. We'll start with a delightful young female [...]

There's a tenderness, almost a loneliness or desperation I haven't heard in Ray LaMontagne's voice that seems much more apparent in his latest album than in anything he's released previously. There's a great following for Ray, but until this album I was not on it. Oh, don't get me wrong he had a song here & there & his talent is unmistakable, but there was just something there that I couldn't grasp. With God Willin' & The Creek Don't Rise what you have is subtle perfection. It blows me away & I run back to listen to his [...]

I don't have much in the tank today as far as music goes. I have to really concentrate on writing the book today so I figured I'd give my loyal fans (all 3 of you) something to tide you over for the weekend. I haven't always been a huge fan of the Smiths. When I was in High School many moons ago, I was a bit ambivalent towards, what I considered, a whiny sad bastard style of music. The older I got, though, the more I embraced what I realized wasn't sad bastard music at all, but more alternative love [...]

For this edition of Bootleg Thursday brought to you by the letters DBT as in Drive-By Truckers . If you're not sure who the Drive-By Truckers are then you are in for quite the treat once you download the ditty (yeah I used ditty, wanna fight about it?) of a concert I have here for you today. One of the things that I really like about DBT is that they have what they call a "three axe attack", meaning unlike the conventional two guitars bass & drums; they have three guitars, bass & drums. it makes for a fuller [...]

It's Wednesday & I stayed up all night last night reading a book. That's how exciting this week has been. I will say, though, that one element of a boring week is having the time to discover new & exciting artists. I should clarify that, new & exciting artists for me. While away it was certainly hard to keep up with new trends & artists. So the "new & exciting artists" I refer to are merely new & exciting to me. Now, that I've driven that phrase into the ground I should get on with the post. Edward [...]

Saturday afternoon I got into this discussion about the song "No Reply" by the Beatles & how it was a stalker song. The rich harmonies in Beatles songs often masked a foreboding sense of misogyny. It's also worth mentioning that the songs that are the most misogynistic or edgy are sung by John Lennon. "No Reply" is no different. It could be that it was about an unfaithful girlfriend, but Lennon himself said it was his version of the 1957 Rays song "Silhouettes". The Beatles, Lennon in particular, have a number of [...]

So having just restarted the blog up the other day I vowed to try & write as much as possible during the week & keep my famous (infamous) Bootleg Thursdays intact. Well that was before I knew yesterday was going to be such a clusterfuck. Today, however, has an easier feel to it already. The sun is shining, there's a light breeze & Dr. Dog is filling my mind with good thoughts. So in wanting to spread the love around a bit (I hope you'll permit my use such hippie colloquialisms) I decided to share with you one of my [...]