In the Book Notes series, authors create and discuss a music playlist that relates in some way to their recently published book. Amy Stewart's Wicked Plants is the rare book I find myself recommending to friends, family, and blog readers of all types. Aesthetically it is a thing of beauty, from its luscious cover illustration to the intricate black and white etchings inside. Stewart lists and examines poisonous plant life with a rare flair for combining anecdotal history and scientific background. Charming, funny, and smartly written, I will be giving more copies of [...]
As a decade of confusion winds down, one thing has become increasingly clear: David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises wins the best fight scene award. In the scene, Viggo Mortensen beats the hell out of two assassins armed with large knives, and does so completely in the nude. It's badass personified. Also personifying badass is Mortensen's ex-wife, Exene Cervenka . Cervenka, the ferocious front woman for The Knitters and classic Los Angeles punk band X , has just announced that she will release her first solo album since 1991. Entitled Somewhere gone , [...]
My weekend visit to London also included a little trip to the countryside. On Sunday, my mate John and I took a short train ride to Hatfield in Hertfordshire to attend the second annual Folk by the Oak festival that takes place in the scenic Hatfield House. This is a one-day festival that is quite inexpensive and extremely relaxed and full of British acts that play folk and traditional music. John knew a lot more of the bands' music than I did, but I quite enjoyed the music, the performers, the audience, the cider and the craic. The [...]
Full lineup at http://www.hardlystrictlyblueg rass.com , but can I just say: Amadou & Mariam Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys Mavis Staples Okkervil River The Chieftains Gillian Welch Nick Lowe Doc Watson & David Holt Emmylou Harris Marianne Faithfull Robyn Hitchcock Hazel Dickens Earl Scruggs The Knitters Elvis Perkins in Dearland The Del McCoury Band Neko Case and of course, MC Hammer. October 2-4, SF's Golden Gate Park [...]
In addition to Outside Lands and Treasure Island Music Festival, San Francisco has a chance to cash in on the 'grass' part of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival October 2-4. The free event, which celebrates its ninth birthday this year, boasts some impressive heavyweights and newcomers on multiple stages, ranging from Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett to Neko Case, Okkervil River, Old 97's, Dr. Dog, and Tom Morello. It's also worth noting that MC Hammer is also slated to perform, as is actor Steve Martin with the Steep Canyon Rangers. STEVE MARTIN, YOU GUYS. HE WAS IN "FATHER OF [...]
Terrific set of classic country covers from X/Knitters vocalist John Doe's penchant for country and roots has never been a secret. Though originally pegged as a punk rock singer with X, the acoustic spin-off Knitters and his solo work demonstrated he could sing effectively in quieter settings. Paired here with the Sadies, he capitulates fully to the classic country music that's so clearly influenced him. Best of all, he sings in a relaxed style that unlocks new levels of tone and tempo. The Sadies, for their part, are as tight as the Nashville A-listers [...]
Depuis l'expérience des Knitters on connaît bien goût de John Doe pour la musique country. Cette fois-ci, l'ex-X enrôle un des backing-bands les plus courtisés, les Sadies. Leur mission : l'accompagner sur une poignée de standards country des années 50 et 60 (Ray Price, Porter Wagoner, Roger Miller, Hank Williams...). Ces réinterprétations sont peut-être un peu trop fidèles à leurs modèles mais
Seattle unearths cold artifacts from a rediscovered genius. [COLD ARTIFACT] Imagine a Mexican-American Donovan, spilling out prodigious, Dylanesque poetry—only rather than Donovan's fantasias of bananas and Atlantis, these songs rise like steam from gritty city streets. Now imagine said singer's reedy voice and strummed acoustic emerging amid fuzztone guitar, and evocative strings and horns conjuring Norman Whitfield's adventurous, late-'60s Motown productions. One needn't imagine. Rodriguez's lost 1969 classic, Cold Fact, is the reissue of the year: an obscure but brilliant artifact of singer-songwriter psychedelia. Credit the gifted crate-diggers of Seattle's Light in the Attic [...]
*** First of all... Thanks to everyone who responded to my post asking for opinions on the new Dave Matthews Band album. I'll probably end up picking up a copy of the album later this week. The post was deleted by Blogger yesterday due to copyright infractions even though I only posted a live track from a band that encourages fans to record their live shows and trade the recordings with others. A similar thing happened last week over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends regarding a post about Pearl [...]
Decked out in a sharp-looking brown suit, John Doe welcomed the Rumba Cafe crowd to a "country-western Sunday jamboree" on Mother's Day evening. And that's pretty much what it was, as Doe led his backing band—immensely talented Canadian roots-rockers the Sadies—through a set of songs by country royalty like Johnny Cash, Porter Wagoner, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard. Doe got his start back in the late '70s playing bass and sharing vocal duties in X, one of the most influential and critically celebrated punk bands to come out of Los Angeles. Cult followers of X shouldn't be too [...]
Concert Review: John Doe and The Sadies Sonic Boom and The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto Thursday, April 30, 2009 You know how when you read a really good book, and then see the movie and the movie didn't quite live up to your love of the book? Or when you are at a restaurant and you eat some apple pie, but its not nearly as good as your mom's apple pie? Its not a completely fair comparison - your interpretation of a novel verses a director's film interpretation, or mass produced restaurant pies verses your [...]
I can't remember exactly how I learned to love classic country music. It wasn't from my central Wisconsin upbringing. My parent's record collection consisted of Barbara Streisand and Johnny Mathis and that's it. Seriously. And I cannot for the life of me remember if there was a country music radio station on air in the late 70s/early 80s in Oshkosh. If there was one, I sure wasn't listening to it. I was in the college class of 1995, and in the early 90s on campus in the Chicago area it was grunge, Pavement, and the dregs of hair metal. [...]
Amanda Schenk The Sadies have no shortage of experience in the role of backing band, having worked with the likes of Neko Case , Robyn Hitchcock and Jon Langford in addition to carving out their niche with their unique blend of country, rock, punk and psychedelic influences. John Doe has no shortage of experience fronting bands, most famously with Los Angeles punk legends X but also with country outfit The Knitters , to say nothing of his impressive solo career. So that the two parties [...]
Amanda Schenk The Sadies have no shortage of experience in the role of backing band, having worked with the likes of Neko Case , Robyn Hitchcock and Jon Langford in addition to carving out their niche with their unique blend of country, rock, punk and psychedelic influences. John Doe has no shortage of experience fronting bands, most famously with Los Angeles punk legends X but also with country outfit The Knitters , to say nothing of his impressive solo career. So that the two parties [...]
The Magnetic Fields have been a band for 20 years now. In that time they have released 8 albums (10 if you count 69 Love Songs as 3 albums) and a handful of EPs. Then when you take in mind Stephin Merritt's other 3 projects, that adds 6 more full length albums to the picture, as well as 4 EPs. On top of that, Stephin also has 3 albums of the various film/ theater scores he has composed, with compilation album Showtunes compiling various songs from each. The guy is pretty prolific. Sure, he's no Robert [...]
"Country Club is the result of a drunken promise or threat I made to Travis & Dallas [Good, of The Sadies] the first night we played together in Toronto. We're not sure why it sounds like it's from the sixties. Maybe that's our favorite era of country music or maybe that's what we listened to when we first learned how to play it." --John Doe John Doe and The Sadies combine talents for an album of classic country covers and originals written in the spirit of those covers. On paper [...]
Scouting Report: Randy Johnson (age 45) threw six-plus innings of no-hit ball against his former team on Sunday. Gary Sheffield (age 40) hit his 500th home run last week. So, since the old folks seem to be holding their own on the baseball field, I figured I'd check in and see how they're doing in this game. Yeah, I wish I was reviewing Tinted Windows too - did anyone see them last night on Letterman? - but I'll match them up soon I swear. esides, John Doe and Bob Mould seemed too good to [...]
The Sadies at work, blowing minds While researching The Jayhawks for my Lover Of The Bayou post , I discovered that Gary Louris produced The Sadies' 2007 album, New Seasons . How in the name of God did I not know this?!?! I'll tell you how. I downloaded the album from eMusic and it didn't come with liner notes. Is it really that difficult to include a PDF of the liners as a standard part of a download? Sheesh. Reason [...]
I know some X fans won't be enamored by "Country Club," the new album by John Doe and The Sadies. Folks looking for the kind of alt-country The Sadies have churned out for years might be disappointed, too. Even people who love the ragged country of The Knitters, one of John Doe's side bands, might be critical of the new disc. But I'm betting their grandparents — the ones whose record collections are filled with albums by Ray Price, Wynn Stewart and Lefty Frizzell — will dig "Country Life." I do, too. Despite his punk [...]
"In true honky tonk style, Country Club is the bastard child of a drunken promise. A post show hang-out between X & the Knitters' [John] Doe and The Sadies produced the idea to join forces to a make an album of country songs. Both rock n' roll and country music are littered with the ghosts of broken promises but this one was destined to become reality. Timeless sounds abound on Country Club , driven by Doe's gorgeous vocals, the dueling thousand pound chops of the guitar-wielding Good brothers and The Sadies' world class rhythm section [...]
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
Bobby B's Top 50 Albums Of The Decade (#25-21)
Tila Tequila NSFW UStream Freak Out (Video)
