Song of the Day: Jeff Tweedy-“Ballad of the Opening Band”

Early last year, former Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap sufferered a massive stroke which his health insurence did not cover for long term care. Enter in a ragtag mix of fantastic musicians who recorded covers of Slim's tunes to sell to raise funds to help with the bills. A double album of those tracks featuring the likes of Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and John Doe will be released next week on New West Records with all profits going to Slim and his family.

Here's a version of Slim's "Ballad of the Opening Band" wonderfully covered by Jeff Tweedy and friends. Please make sure to buy the album to support the cause!!

"Linger On...."

This is beyond words. So beautiful!

Laurie Anderson, widow of the late Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Lou Reed, has written an obituary in The East Hampton Star remembering her husband and their life in Long Island:

To our neighbors: What a beautiful fall! Everything shimmering and golden and all that incredible soft light. Water surrounding us. Lou and I have spent a lot of time here in the past few years, and even though we’re city people this is our spiritual home.

Last week I promised Lou to get him out of the hospital and come home to Springs. And we made it! Lou was a tai chi master and spent his last days here being happy and dazzled by the beauty and power and softness of nature.

He died on Sunday morning looking at the trees and doing the famous 21 form of tai chi with just his musician hands moving through the air. Lou was a prince and a fighter and I know his songs of the pain and beauty in the world will fill many people with the incredible joy he felt for life.

Long live the beauty that comes down and through and onto all of us. —
Laurie Anderson his loving wife and eternal friend

"Sha La La La Man....."

What can be said about the genius of Lou Reed that hasn't already been said. Admittedly, the only song of his I knew until I was around 18 years old was "Walk on the Wild Side" which always sounded so alien to me on the radio. There was nothing else like it on the dial and it always left me feeling like I was being let into a naughty other world for three minutes. It exhilarated me and made me feel like I'd gotten away with something that the adults couldn't know about. Then at 18, and like everyone who first heard it, my mind was simply exploded by "The Velvet Underground & Nico" album. Nothing before or after sounded anything like it. It was like reading the best literature with the perfect soundtrack to a world you never knew existed.

In relation to how important their writing was to the history of rock and roll, only Bob Dylan compares to Lou for me. If Dylan in the early-mid 60's paved to way for writing about something REAL in popular music, Lou made it ok to write about the darkness of the human condition, all while also showing you a little bit of the light. He made it ok for the light and dark to coexist and made my naive 18 year old brain realize that's how life is man! With no one paving the way before him, Lou was a poetic punk with a heart filled with as much joy as there was sorrow. His writing, attitude, and guitar playing was so influential you could spend a month drawing a Six Degrees of Musical Separation map from Lou to almost anyone worthy of listening to. Younger music fans for the rest of time will be blessed for Lou's writing, whether they know it or not. I would say he will be missed, but the wonderful thing is that he really wont be.

Arcade Fire-Here Comes the Night Time

With a new album titled "Reflektor" due out October 29'th, last week the band Arcade Fire stormed onto our TV's with a high profile guest spot on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live". There, they played the new-wavy title track as well as another new tune "Afterlife". While the new songs and appearance were fantastic even by Arcade Fire standards, the band didn't stop there. What followed the SNL broadcast was one of the most bizarre and greatest short music films I've ever seen.

After "SNL", the band aired the brilliant twenty minute concert film "Here Comes the Night Time". Directed by Roman Coppola and featuring cameos by Bono, James Franco, Michael Cera, and Zach Galifianakis, the piece reminded me of being a kid and eagerly staying up late to catch a new David Bowie video when yes, TV used to actually air music programing. Clearly influenced by the classic and influential 70's and 80's music videos Bowie produced, the video has a vibe to it that makes you feel as if you're a fly on the wall at the hippest party on Earth. The new songs here are simply killer and like the rest of Arcade Fire's catalog; also clearly and cleverly influenced by Bowie. The new album is poised to be another brilliant entry into the band's already amazing catalog.

I've watched this thing about 10 times and can't get enough. Bravo, thank you, and welcome back Arcade Fire!!

I Shall be Released

This post finds me sitting in an ICU in Florida watching my father fight for his life. I fully realize people go through this kind of thing every day, but I haven't before. The range of emotion is simply staggering; fear, anger, denial, acceptance, grief, you fucking name it. But the most frustrating emotion that I can't wrap my head around is helplessness. The feeling that there's nothing I can do to make him better or ease his suffering is beyond anything I've ever felt.

Last night as sat in a quiet room with the exception of the steady purr of pumps and machines, I fell back on the one constant source of serenity in my life in all times good and bad; MUSIC! I wanted my dad to hear all of his favorite songs in the hope it would lift him up and inspire him to fight or give him some peace if he has no fight left.

All my love of music started with my parents and especially my dad. He was a guy who in the 1970s had an album collection in the thousands featuring everything from Charles Mingus to Boston. Genres didn't matter to him and guilty pleasures didn't exist. So I sat for hours last night and today, playing DJ to a one person audience who I couldn't tell was listening but I knew couldn't turn the channel. Music always has the ability to transport you to another time or place. It can remind you of the past or make you think about an alternate future. So many of my memories of my dad revolved around music. He took me to my first and second concerts (Neil Diamond-Jazz Singer tour/KISS-Destroyer tour) when I was 7 years old. I hoped the music would reach him now the way I know it did throughout the rest of his life. I played all of his favorites; Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, The Band, etc. As Dylan was singing to us the bliss of dancing beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, I asked my dad if he could hear it. He opened his eyes, squeezed my hand, and shook his head up and down ever so gently. I don't know how much the music is helping him, but as I sit and listen to these songs with him, I know they are helping me.

The beauty of Phox

Last month I was lucky attend the wonderful Mile of Music festival procured by hometown hero Cory Chisel. The 4-day fest featured almost a hundred bands all performing original material. No cover bands were allowed! It was a wonderful place to discover new bands, and by far the best discovery for me was the seven-piece Phox who all hale from little Baraboo, WI and now reside in Madison.

Led by enchanting vocalist Monica Martin, Phox is a wonderful blend of soul, folk, electronica, rock, and psychedelia. Monica's vocals are simply mesmerizing and their organic music is a wonderful slow burn; never in a hurry to get to one place. While they have yet to release a full length album, but you can listen to and purchase their two fantastic E.P.'s on the band's site. The week before I saw them, the band got a last minute invitation to play Chicago's huge Lollapolooza fest as a fill-in. The week after had them heading to Europe for the first time to play the Itunes Music Fest and other gigs. September will find them playing U.S. gigs opening for Blitzen Trapper.

Phox are my favorite musical discovery of the year and trust me that once more people are exposed to their wonderfully original blend, the world will be shouting about them. I suspect that day isn't too far off!

Songs you hear....

Greetings fellow music lovers! Below are a few songs that caught my ears in the past couple of weeks. If you're anything like me; with the glut of new music out there in this busy world, you find it hard to keep up. I do my best, but never feel like I even scratch the surface. Regardless; this cyber-space will be my dumping ground for the tunes that will hopefully enrich whoever stumbles on it.

The first one is a short, catchy piece of pop bliss from The Unlikely Candidates. I would've bet my meager pay check that these guys were English, but alas they are from Fort Worth, TX. They sure fooled me. That's ok.....a British accent in song is always welcome, even if it's fake (unless you're Green Day). This tune is getting a ton of play on various channels and deservedly so. Once it's in your head it's impossible to get out.

The next songs are maybe my favorites of the year, from New Jersey's The Front Bottoms. If I was a teenager, I would get a tattoo of their logo and these guys would be MY band! This is apparently their forth album so I'm really late to the party, but I'm so glad I showed up! I find their lyrics a brilliant mix of wit, heart, and hysterical observation that certainly don't sound like anyone else and the music suits them to perfection.

Turn these up and you're welcome!