Dumbest Political Ad Ever?

Honestly, MoveOn... it's time to just move on. Nothing you do is relevant or helpful.

Old 97s Playing Obama Benefit in Baltimore

Just noticed this over at the Sonar website:

Old 97s
Rock Obama
A very special fundraising event - all profits will go to the campaign to elect Barack Obama in the notorious swing state of Ohio!

Regular tickets are $25, or for $100 you can get VIP tickets that get you into a special reception and acoustic performance by Rhett Miller and Murry Hammond.

Tickets go on sale next Friday, 8/8 via Ticketmaster.

Birdmonster Coming to Black Cat on 10/5

Just noticed on the Black Cat schedule that Birdmonster has been added to the October 5th backstage show with The Rumble Strips.

I don't do this much, but this is one show that I order you to go to. Not for the Rumble Strips, who I don't really know, but instead to see Birdmonster, who put on one of the most exciting live shows I've seen in years.

DC Show Update

I'll update throughout the week. My picks in bold. Updates in italics.

9:30 Club
Sat., 9/6: The Walkmen, Golem
Thu., 9/11: The Stereophonics
Fri., 9/12: Cowboy Mouth, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers (on sale now)
Sat., 9/13: Paul Weller
Tue., 9/16: Booker T and the MGs w/ Eddie Floyd
Fri., 9/19: Old Crow Medicine Show
Sat., 9/20: Old Crow Medicine Show
Thu., 10/2: The Fratellis (on sale 8/1)

Unless otherwise noted above, tickets for 9:30 Club shows go on sale on Thursday (7/31) at 10am Eastern via Tickets.com.

Black Cat
Tue., 8/12: The Moderate (backstage)
Tue., 8/19: Petworth, Andalusians (backstage)
Wed., 8/20: Viking, Strength (backstage)
Tue., 9/2: Len Bias, The Poison Arrows (ex-Don Caballero) (backstage) (on sale 8/8)
Sun., 9/7: Windsor for the Derby, The Auxes (backstage)
Thu., 9/11: The Ettes, Impossible Hair (backstage) (on sale 8/8)
Sun., 9/14: Maps & Atlases, Rahim (backstage) (on sale 8/8)
Thu. 9/18: Faraquet, Statehood (backstage) (on sale 8/8)
Fri., 9/19: Sunset Rubdown (mainstage)
Sat., 9/20: Chopteeth (CD release) (mainstage) (on sale 8/8)
Mon., 9/22: The Caribbean, Silences Sumire (backstage) (on sale 8/8)
Tue., 9/23: The Points, Black Time, Static Static (backstage)
Wed., 9/24: Bellman Barker, Wakey Wakey (backstage)
Sat., 10/4: Jukebox the Ghost, Say Hi (mainstage) (on sale 8/8)
Wed., 10/8: Against Me!, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, Future of the Left (mainstage)
Tue., 10/14: Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), Ben Nichols (Lucero), Tim Barry (Avail) (mainstage) (on sale 8/15)
Fri., 11/7: The Gutter Twins (on sale 8/8)
Wed., 11/19: Electric Six, Local H, The Golden Dogs (mainstage)

Unless otherwise noted, tickets for all Black Cat shows go on sale this Friday (8/1) at 5pm Eastern via Ticketmaster.

DC9
Mon., 10/20: RTX, Dead Child
Tue., 10/21: The New Year

There's no info as to on-sale dates for the DC9 shows -- they may be door sales only.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Mon., 9/15: Witchcraft, TK Webb & the Visions, Graveyard
Mon., 9/22: Bobby Bare Jr., The Builders and the Butchers
Fri., 10/3: Glasvegas (on sale 8/8)
Sat., 10/4: Evangelicals, These United States, The Silent Years
Sat., 10/11: Mike Relm (on sale 8/8)
Thu., 10/30: The Legendary Pink Dots
Mon., 11/10: Mark Kozelek (on sale 8/8)

Unless otherwise noted, tickets for Rock and Roll Hotel shows go on sale this Friday (8/1) at 10am Eastern via Ticket Alternative. The Rock and Roll Hotel is not really a functioning hotel.

State Theatre
Wed., 10/22: Broken Social Scene

State Theatre tickets go on sale this Saturday (8/2) at 10am Eastern here.

Warner Theatre
Sat., 9/13: Cheech and Chong

Haven't seen an on-sale date for Cheech and Chong yet.

Joe Strummer's London Calling

Just when I think I couldn't love WOXY any more, they go and do this --

Starting this Sunday at 10am Eastern, WOXY will be broadcasting Joe Strummer's London Calling, a series of 14 half-hour radio programs that Joe presented for BBC Radio in 1998. The shows featured Joe and his record collection, and nothing more (what else is there?).

The show will be aired as 4 weekly two-hour programs, and is hosted by none other than Jon Langford of the Mekons and the Waco Brothers.

This is awesome. Now I just need to make sure I'm awake and home by 10am on Sundays...

New Bob Dylan, "Dreamin' of You"

Bob Dylan is set to release the eighth installment of his Bootleg Series, entitled Tell Tale Signs, on October 7th.

The album will feature unreleased and alternate-take songs from the sessions for Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft and Modern Times, as well as a number of live performances. The album will have a total of 27 tracks.

Tell Tale Signs is available for pre-order now, and you can order either the basic 2-disc version for $18.99, the limited edition 4-LP vinyl package for $99.99, or the Exclusive Deluxe Edition with bonus disc, hardcover photo book and more for $129.99.

Bob has made the first track from the album, "Dreamin' of You", available for free download on his website, and you can hear it here:

Bob Dylan, "Dreamin' of You"

The Jet Age on KEXP

Some great footage of The Jet Age's in-studio performance for KEXP a few weeks back.

If you're in DC, be sure to check out the band at the Black Cat tonight!

Too Much?

Probably. But the mention of Brandon Tartikoff got me thinking about all the good that his shows did for mankind. How he never got a Nobel Prize I have no idea.

Old 97s @ 9:30 Club, DC [7/29/08]

Discussion tomorrow. Pics now, then sleep.

What Is It About George W. Bush That Makes You Want To Serve Him?

Absolutely unbelievable.

My answer? His endlessly deep eyes.

Broken Social Scene Playing State Theatre

Randomly found this while looking for on-sale info for Matthew Sweet --

Broken Social Scene
The State Theatre
Falls Church, VA
Wed., October 22nd

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am Eastern via the State Theatre's website.

Edited to add: Noticed over at the 9:30 Club message board that there's a pre-sale going on NOW at the Arts & Crafts website.

Matthew Sweet Playing Webster, State Theatre

Just caught this over at Rock Daily:

Matthew Sweet has announced a number of shows in August and October in support of his new album, Sunshine Lies, which comes out on August 26th via Shout Factory. I've heard the disc, and it's pretty solid. Not Girlfriend, but better than the last album or two.

I'm gonna start highlighting both DC and NYC shows, given that I'm not exactly sure where the focus of this blog is going to lie in the coming months...

Matthew Sweet Fall Tour Dates
August 25 - Solana Beach, CA @ The Belly Up
August 26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Amoeba in@store
August 27 - San Capistrano, CA @ The Coach House
August 28 - Silver Lake, CA @ The Echo
October 20 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
October 22 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
October 23 - Chicago, IL @ Park West
October 24 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls
October 25 - Cleveland, OH @ Beachland
October 27 - Boston, MA @ Paradise
October 28 - NY, NY @ Webster Hall
October 29 - Falls Church, VA @ State Theatre
October 30 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety

No word yet as to the on-sale date for the State Theatre show, though I did just notice another interesting show there...

This Week In DC

My picks in bold.

Sunday
Black Cat: Valient Thorr, Early Man, Monotonix

Monday
9:30 Club: MGMT, Violens, Amazing Baby
Fort Reno: Bellman Barker, Ex-Motorcycle Couriers, Memories from the Space Age

Tuesday
9:30 Club: Old 97's

Wednesday
Black Cat: The Jet Age, The Console War (backstage)

Thursday
9:30 Club: Southern Culture on the Skids, The Hall Monitors
DC9: Must Love Trash, The Known Unknowns, The Mirror Script
Fort Reno: Kid Congo Powers, The Shirks, Girl Loves Distortion

Friday
Black Cat: Bon Iver, Bowerbirds, Nick Schillae

Saturday
Black Cat: We Are Scientists, Oxford Collapse, Apache BEat
9:30 Club: Aimee Mann

Birdmonster, "Born To Be Your Man"

Somehow I forgot to post this a few weeks ago when it started making the rounds. But since there's no such thing as too late when you're talking about good tunes, here it is...

Birdmonster, "Born To Be Your Man"

You can preorder the band's new LP, From The Mountain To The Sea (out 8/9), here.

I Didn't Want The Others To Feel Unloved

Let's treasure them while we still have them.

Proof That Jim Wilbur Once Had Hair

The Merge Records blog had a link today to a very cool, local TV news piece about the Chapel Hill music scene in the early 90's. Gotta admit, I don't recognize the vast majority of the bands mentioned.



Thanks to Matt for the heads up!.

Eugene Mirman on Grunge

In honor of Sub Pop's recent 20th Anniversary party, Eugene Mirman put together a short, moving video tribute to the label and the "movement" that it helped spawn. Check it out:

DC Show Update

Startin' early this week...

It's shaping up to be a fantastic week at RnR Hotel (which, by the way, is not really a functioning hotel).

My picks are in bold, and updates will be in italics.

9:30 Club
Thu., 8/28: Liz Phair playing Exile in Guyville
Thu., 11/6: Mountain Goats, Kaki King

With the exception of the Mountain Goats show, tickets for 9:30 Club shows go on sale on Thursday, 7/24 at 10am Eastern via Tickets.com. I'm not sure when Mountain Goats tickets go on sale yet.

The Black Cat
Thu., 8/7: The Face Accidents, The Sammies (backstage)
Tue., 8/26: The Silent Years, Don't Be Glib (backstage)
Fri., 9/12: Black Cat 15th Anniversary w/ Gray Matter, The Shirks, Domino Team
Sun., 10/5: The Rumble Strips (backstage)
Wed., 10/8: Against Me!, Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, Future of the West
Wed., 10/15: Charlatans UK
Thu., 11/13: M83, School of Seven Bells

Tickets for Black Cat shows go on sale on Friday, 7/25 at 5pm Eastern via Ticketmaster. Edited to add: My bad. Against Me/Ted Leo tickets go on sale next Friday, 8/1. The good news is that someone on the 9:30 Club board confirmed that is IS Future of the Left. Excellent.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Sat., 9/6: Liam Finn, The Veils
Wed., 9/24: Throw Me The Statue
Sat., 10/4: Evangelicals, These United States (CD release party), The Silent Years
Sun., 10/12: Delta Spirit
Tue., 10/21: Ben Kweller, Whitley
Thu., 10/30: The Legendary Pink Dots

Tickets for Rock and Roll Hotel shows go on sale on Friday, 7/25 at 10am via Ticket Alternative, except for Legendary Pink Dots and Evangelicals/TUS tickets, which go on sale on 8/1.

DC9
Tue., 8/19: Oh No! Oh My!, Royal Bangs, Antenna Shoes
Mon., 9/22: My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult

Tickets for the above-listed DC9 shows appear to be sold at the door only.

Iota
Sat., 9/20: Dead Heart Bloom, The Jackfields
Mon., 9/22: Murry Hammond (of Old 97's)

Tickets for Iota shows are sold at the door only.

September 18th, Bitches

To The Nuts!

Have a 3-pack today of some great Americana-based rock and roll.

The New Frontiers, "The Day You Fell Apart"
The Weight, "Had It Made"
Yell County, "Conveyor Belt"

Stream the New Little Ones Album!

Head over to The Little Ones' MySpace page to listen to the band's brand new, debut LP entitled Morning Tide.

As far as I know, the album is only out in the U.K. right now, but should be out here in the US before long.

I've listened to it a few times now, and while it doesn't quite live up to the level of their Sing Song EP, it's still an enjoyable disc with some pretty high points (and a couple low ones as well).

See Julie Ocean and The Antiques for Free on Sunday

Julie Ocean and The Antiques are performing on WMUC's Third Rail Radio show this Sunday night, July 27th, from 6pm to 9pm.

Even though it's an in-studio performance, fans are welcome to show up and watch at the station. It's free and open to all ages.

Sunday, July 27 6-9pm
Julie Ocean & The Antiques
@ WMUC Third Rail Radio
University of Maryland
3130 S Campus Dining Hall
College Park, MD 20742-8431

Edited to add: Just noticed that the excellent Yell County is scheduled to play Third Rail Radio on Sunday, 8/17. Excellent...

The Antlers, "The Universe Is Going To Catch You"

Before The Secret Life of Sofia there was The Antlers, my favorite discovery out of Brooklyn in 2007.

Here's a video of the band performing "The Universe Is Going To Catch You" in lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Peter's backyard.


Online Videos by Veoh.com

Secret Life of Sofia Touring

One of the better bands I've come across lately, Brooklyn's Secret Life of Sofia, is headed out on a short tour starting tomorrow. Sadly, no DC date, but I think they were just here a month or so ago (before I knew who they were), so I can't be too upset.

Secret Life of Sofia Tourdates
Fri., 7/25: Brooklyn (Pete's Candy Store), w/ The Kyle Sowashes
Sat., 7/26: Pittsburgh (Double Wide), w/ The Kyle Sowashes and Workshop
Sun., 7/27: Columbus, OH (Carabar), w/ Melty Melty (myspace) and Flotation Walls
Mon., 7/28: Louisville, KY (House show), w/ Chemic and Rodeo Ruby Love
Tue., 7/29: Bloomington, IN (Bluebird), w/ Husband&Wife, Alexander the Great, and Morrow
Wed., 7/30: Marion, IN (Noah's), w/ Husband&Wife, Rodeo Ruby Love, and HenriHenrietta
Thu., 7/31: Bowling Green, OH (Howard's Club), details TBA
Fri., 8/1: Muncie, IN (Village Green Records), w/ The Impetuous Impregnables, and The Bears of Blue River
Sat., 8/2: Butler, PA (The Catacombs), w/ Hideous Beasts, Hand Drawn Mountains, and Timbre

Watch Dig! Right Here, Right Now

I've been wanting to see Dig! since it came out, but for some reason I never got around to it.

Well, thanks to the good folks at SnagFilms.com, now I can watch it in its entirety for free. And so can you. From the comfort of this blog.

SnagFilms is still in Beta, so hopefully there aren't too many bugs, but it's a great idea and I wish them the best of luck. (BTW, they also have Supersize Me, another move I never got around to seeing.)

Tim Rogers Show at Black Cat CANCELLED

Just got a voicemail from Ticketmaster that Tim Rogers' scheduled August 12th show at the Black Cat in DC has been CANCELLED.

I can't find any information online as to a reason, and am not sure if this affects the rest of his U.S. tour or not. I'm gonna be really pissed if he plays Fort Wayne but not DC.

Tim Rogers U.S. Tour Dates (CANCELLED)
8/7: Los Angeles (Spaceland)
8/8: Seattle (Sunset Tavern)
8/9: Portland (Towne Lounge)
8/11: Fort Wayne, IN (JK O'Donnells)
8/12: Washington, DC (Black Cat)
8/14: New York (Mercury Lounge)

Edited to add: The entire tour has been canceled due to visa problems. Shocking.

Sad News

Estelle Getty, legendary star of stage and screen, has died today at the age of 84.

Let us remember the good times...

I Would Like to Extend to You an Invitation to the Pants Party

Awesome, awesome news via Digital Spy:

Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the creative team behind Anchorman, have revealed that a sequel to the 2004 newsroom comedy is on the way. Speaking to Coming Soon, Ferrell said that the popularity of the first instalment had prompted him to consider revisiting the Ron Burgundy character. He said: "We just had so much fun making that movie, and it was hard to get made, but what's been great is that it's taken on such a life of its own. At least the feedback we get is it's beloved, so yeah, it's just one of those that feels like an evergreen thing that we can go back and do it again."

Bark twice if this makes you as happy as it does me.

Liz Phair DC Presale Tomorrow

Just saw this in the 9:30 Club email...

Tickets for the August 28th Liz Phair show at the 9:30 Club will be available for presale tomorrow from 10am to 10pm Eastern HERE. There's a 4 ticket limit.

The password for the presale is "exiled".

VH1 Rock Honors Videos

The VH1 Rock Honors show in celebration of The Who was a few days ago. Yeah, I didn't realize (or particularly care about) that either.

In addition to The Who themselves, a number of artists performed covers of Who tunes, including Pearl Jam, The Flaming Lips and Tenacious D. There were also performances by The Foo Fighters and, ahem, Incubus, and a terrible, unfunny, uninteresting song by Adam Sandler.

Here are the videos worth watching...

The Flaming Lips, Medley from Tommy


Pearl Jam, "Love Reign O'er Me"


Pearl Jam, "The Real Me"


The Who, "Baba O'Riley"


There's also 3 more Who performances ("Behind Blue Eyes", "My Generation" and "Tea and Theatre") here.

Radiohead Video, "House of Cards"

I'm not a huge Radiohead fan, but I am a little surprised that I missed this when it came out a week or two ago...

In Radiohead's new video for "House of Cards", no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.

More here.

Free Show at Knitting Factory on Saturday

There's a halfway decent free show at the Knitting Factory (in NYC) this Saturday night (8pm).

The show features:

Awesome Color
Knyfe Hyts
Viki
Ko-Cho Bisexual
DJ Cody Ranaldo

I saw Awesome Color last fall and thought they were decent. I've heard many good things from other people in the time since, and think I ought to give them another chance. Too bad I won't be in NYC this weekend...

New Louris/Olson Album Due in September

It's been rumored for a while, but Paste Magazine confirmed today that a brand new album by former-Jayhawks Gary Louris and Mark Olson is due in September.

The album, entitled Ready for the Flood, will be released via Hacktone Records.

Check out a great, but short, interview with the two over at Paste Magazine.

My favorite quote?

As for the Jayhawks, Louris claims that chapter is basically finished. But for at least one day this year, the old band will share a stage. The 1994-1995 line-up of Olson, Louris, Perlman, O’Reagan and Karen Grotberg will reunite for the Azquena Festival in Spain. “If it’s so much fun we can’t stand it,” Louris says, “maybe we’ll do something similar, but at this point, it’s a one-time only thing, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Trey Anastasio Playing Music Hall of Williamsburg

According to Billboard, former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio will be appearing at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on August 7th.

In honor of the occasion, the venue will be opening early that night and offering happy hour drink specials.

The show is a warmup for Trey's appearance at the All Points West festival on August 10th.

Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 12pm Eastern for $35.00.

2008 Mercury Prize Nominees Announced

The Mercury Prize, formerly the Mercury Music Prize and currently known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize for sponsorship reasons, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom or Ireland.

(Via Wikipedia.)

2008 Mercury Prize Nominees
Adele, 19
British Sea Power, Do You Like Rock Music?
Burial, Untrue
Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid
Estelle, Shine
Last Shadow Puppets, The Age Of Understatement
Laura Marling, Alas, I Cannot Swim
Neon Neon, Stainless Style
Portico Quartet, Knee Deep In The North Sea
Rachel Unthank and The Winterset, The Bairns
Radiohead, In Rainbows
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

Eugene Mirman Was on Late Night Last Week

... and I somehow missed it.



PS: If you're in greater NYC this Sunday, get your ass to Maxwell's to see Eugene and Todd Barry. Tickets are still available.

Spinner Update (Week of July 21)

Haven't been doing this consistently lately. My apologies...

CSS, Donkey

Black Kids, Partie Traumatic

Forward, Russia, Life Processes

Black Sabbath, The Rules of Hell

Dr. Dog, Fate

David Bowie, Live Santa Monica '72

John Mellencamp, Life, Death, Love and Freedom

Liz Phair Playing Exile From Guyville in DC

Just caught this over at Rock Daily:

Liz Phair has added three new dates to her "tour" in celebration of the 15th anniversary of Exile In Guyville, including an August 28th date at the 9:30 Club. The tour will find Liz playing Guyville in its entirety, and presumably a few other songs, though I would guess (and hope) no H.W.C.

Liz Phair tour dates
8/27: Philadelphia @ Theater of the Living Arts
8/28: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/29: Boston @ The Paradise

No on-sale date is listed for the 9:30 Club show yet.

Two Big WOXY Lounge Acts Today

WOXY.com has two great Lounge Acts today that you should be sure to check out.

First up, at 1pm Eastern, is Thao & The Get Down Stay Down.

Then, at 4pm Eastern, is Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (whose Saturday show in DC I ended up missing due to a friend's birthday party).

Both are sure to be excellent, so check them out.

To The Nuts!

In deference to the artist being posted, this is a one-song To The Nuts post. More new music later in the day.

Paul Westerberg, Track 2 from 49:00

New Paul Westerberg Album Out Now - For $0.89!!

Many, many thanks to Sal C. for pointing this one out --

Paul Westerberg has a brand new album out called 49:00. Well, I'm not sure if it's a true album, but it's an 44 minutes-worth of music. And you can download it from Amazon for only $0.89 (or possibly $0.49). Download it here.

Here are the notes from his (official) fan-website:

It's one MP3 file, with a whole mess of songs, so even though it's only one download, you're getting plenty of songs. Some things to note: In order to get the album for $0.49 (rather than the whopping price of $0.89), you need to use the link I posted above and:

Click on the "Buy MP3 album with 1-Click" button
Download Amazon's MP3 Downloader (takes 1 minute)
Proceed with purchase

Because of the way it's entered in the system ($0.89 for the 'song' and $0.49 for the 'album'), if you don't do it this way, you will be charged $0.89 (which is also a massive bargin).

***

WARNING: DO NOT LISTEN WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT FAULTY - ALL SOUNDS ARE INTENTIONAL AND VALID AS A WORK OF ART

I'm downloading it now. Can't wait to hear it.

Tim and Eric Return

Thank freaking god. I can't stand any more Metalocalypse, unless it's Dr. Rockso.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I have no idea why I'm just finding out about this now.

It's got NPH, Nathan Fillion and is directed by Joss Whedon. Is there anything better?

Watch now.

"The hammer is my penis."

This Week In DC

Here are some of the more interesting (to me) shows going on around DC this week...

Shows in bold are shows I plan to attend.

Sunday
9:30 Club: Yaz

Tuesday
9:30 Club: The Ting Tings
Velvet Lounge: The Mae Shi, The Death Set, Fever

Wednesday
Black Cat: Pomegranates, Tereu Tereu, ¡Carlos, I'm Pregnant!

Thursday
Black Cat: The Effigies, EDP, Cloak/Dagger

Friday
9:30 Club: Spiritualized, The Dirtbombs
Rock and Roll Hotel: The Vita Ruins, The Jaguar Club, More Humans
Velvet Lounge: Len Bias, Bound Stems, Imperial China, Seeing Eyeballs

Saturday
Black Cat: Tilly and the Wall, The Ruby Suns, Exit Clov

Lots of New Wussy!

Hot on the heels of last year's excellent Left For Dead album, Cincinnati's Wussy are set to release their brand new Rigor Mortis EP.

The 7-track EP will feature two brand new songs, "Sweetie" and "Blood & Guts" (both Chuck-fronted songs), together with two tracks from the aforementioned-Left For Dead, and three live cuts from the band's most recent WOXY Lounge Act.

You can order the EP from Shake It Records for $5.99.

Even BIGGER news is this little nugget from Shake It's email about the EP: "Lots of you have been begging for a little something to hold you over 'til the next full length arrives later this year so here ya are."

That just made my day...

Billy Bragg Playing 9:30 Club

I don't think I've posted about this before, and, honestly, I can't remember if I'd even heard about before. But I just noticed that Billy Bragg is playing the 9:30 Club on Monday, October 27th. Tickets are on sale now.

I've never been a huge fan of his, but might consider going if I'm still around.

Live Titus Andronicus Video

I know there are a lot of folks out there still on the fence (or simply way far away from the fence) about Titus Andronicus. Personally, I like them a lot. Anyone that makes me think of Madonna-era ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead is gonna be aces in my book.

Anyway, the band recently performed at the After the Jump Fest up in Williamsburg, and video of the band's entire ATTJ set can be found over at Baeble Music.

Here's the band performing their self-titled track, "Titus Andronicus". Those of you looking for additional reasons to dislike them will surely enjoy their use of a hand-puppet.


Watch the full concert at baeblemusic.com

Fascinating Listening

I was just over on the Merge Records website looking for pre-sale info for the new Broken West album (nothing yet) when I noticed that they're streaming Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes, the new album by Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel.

The album is streaming for a limited time only here, and if you're looking for some really interesting weekend listening, I suggest that you check it out.

A warning - if you have no patience for anything with a resemblance to freak folk, or if you hate everything about Beirut, then you might want to stay away. Neither of those are actually great comparisons, but they should get the point across to those people who aren't going to have the stomach for it. Oh, and be prepared for lots and lots of banjo and singing saw.

For those of you willing to take a chance, I highly recommend "Majesty" and "Manifest Destiny". Actually, I recommend the whole thing. It's pretty great.

Merge only lists this as a 2008 release right now, but they are taking pre-orders. (Edited to add: Wikipedia says "August 2008".)

Takka Takka Residency @ Pianos

I meant to post about this last week, and ended up missing the first show. Oh well.

New York's Takka Takka have a month-long residency at Pianos in New York in the leadup to the July 29th release of their second album, Migration. The first show was this past Tuesday, and there are two more left:

Tues., 7/22: Takka Takka with Get Him Eat Him, Peasant and the Black Hollies
Tues., 7/29: Takka Takka with Inlets and special guests

Not sure which of these I'd rather be at. I really like GHEM, but have a gut feeling that the CD release show will leave people clapping in national pride.

So, if you're in New York, by all means, GO.

New Futureheads Video, "Walking Backwards"

I keep hearing about how the new Futureheads is a departure from their first few albums, but it all sounds about the same to me. I like it well enough, but there's no question that my favorite thing about the video is the puppets, whereas I've always loved the song behind the second video. But then again, I'm a geek for that band.

He's Baaaaaaaack!

For those of you who have kept up with this blog over the past year or two, you may remember that, whenever possible, I used to like to rely on my friend Matt to say all the things about music that I simply didn't (and still don't) have the ability to put as clearly and cogently.

Matt was never the most prolific poster (perhaps overzealously taking his own advice to Ryan Adams about limiting his output), but when he spoke, he spoke volumes. (See, e.g., "On Experimentation".)

Well, I'm happy to say that Matt is back, and in as fine a form as ever. This time, he's teeing off (a bit) on Pitchfork's review of Julie Ocean's Long Gone and Nearly There. Truthfully, he's less focused on the review itself than the tendency of many reviewers, at Pitchfork and elsewhere, to constantly and simplistically deride music as "derivative power pop", yet rarely (if ever) deride blog-darlings like Fleet Foxes for their own tendencies to copy older bands.

Anyway, don't take my word for it -- go read his post. And be sure to tell him in the comments to start writing more often.

Oh, and how's this for timing? Jay Ferguson of Canadian "power pop" legends Sloan recently sat down with the Toronto Star to talk about how to write a song, and how copying from those who came before you isn't such a bad thing. (Thanks to Natalie for the heads up on the video!)

DC Show Update

Sorry for the relative silence around here the last few days... I've been falling into some old, bad habits which have distracted me from my duties around here.

No, not these types of bad habits. Or this type of bad habit (gives "beer bong" a whole new meaning). Or even this one.

Nope, I'm talking about civil litigation, the habit that robbed me of 8 years of my life (specifically, September 13, 1999 to April 20, 2007, but who's counting?). I've been doing some pro bono (so far) work for a family member, and it's been taking up all of my time.

But I won't let that keep me from bringing you my weekly DC Show Update. Because, of course, I care about you.

As always, my picks are in bold, and new updates throughout the week will be in italics.

9:30 Club
Tue., 9/2: Federico Aubele, Dawn Landes (on sale 7/17)
Sat., 9/13: Paul Weller (on sale 7/31)
Thu., 9/18: James (on sale 8/7)
Sun., 9/21: Dave Stewart and his 30-Piece Rock Fabulous (on sale 7/17)
Sun., 10/12: Galactic (on sale 7/17)
Sun., 10/19: Donavon Frankenreiter (on sale 9/4)

9:30 Club tickets go on sale on the dates listed above at 10am Eastern via Tickets.com.

Black Cat
Wed., 7/30: The Jet Age, The Console War
Thu., 8/7: The Face Accidents, The Sammies (on sale 7/25)
Mon., 8/25: Rasputina, Haale
Sat., 9/6: The Dance Party, Gist (CD release), US Royalty
Thu., 10/2: Ratatat
Wed., 10/15: Charlatans UK (on sale 7/25)

Black Cat tickets go on sale this Friday (7/18) at 5pm Eastern via Ticketmaster, unless otherwise noted.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Fri., 10/10: Legendary Shack Shakers, Pine Hill Haints, The Seven Signs (film screening)
Fri., 10/24: Born Ruffians, Plants and Animals

Rock and Roll Hotel tickets go on sale on Friday (7/18) at 10am Eastern via Ticket Alternative.

The Red and the Black
Sat., 8/16: Titus Andronicus, Rosewood Thieves, Impossible Hair, Letzkus Lanou
Sat., 8/30: Tereu Tereu, Prabir and the Substitutes, Red Racer, Wakey Wakey

Red and the Black tickets are sold at the door.

Iota
Thu., 8/14: The Beanstalk Library
Tues., 8/19: Don Caballero, Ponytail
Fri., 9/5: Dr. Dog, Delta Spirit
Sun., 9/7: Joan as Police Woman
Tues., 9/9: Juliana Hatfield

Tickets for Iota shows are sold at the door only.

The State Theatre
Tue., 10/28: Hanson

Tickets for Hanson are available via the State Theatre's website, but appear to be in a password-only presale (or even password-only general sale, for all I know).

Throw Me The Statue @ RnR Hotel

I'd normally post this in my weekly DC Show Update, but I'm actually really excited about it.

One of the bands that most impressed me at this year's South By Southwest conference was Seattle's Throw Me The Statue. I actually didn't intend to see them, but caught the second half of their set as I was waiting for The Explorers Club at the indoor stage at the Mohawk. What I saw impressed the hell out of me, and reminded me of the charming, ramshackle Americana of Wilco's early shows (IMO, they lost the ramshackle around the time of Summerteeth, and ditched Americana with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. But I still love 'em.).

Based on that performance, we picked up a copy of the band's debut LP, Moonbeams [order from Secretly Canadian], the next day at Waterloo Records. (Where, coincidentally, we were treated to a set by Half Japanese.)

And we very quickly discovered that the album is very, very different from the band's live show. Instead of the band's fuller live sound, the album is essentially a bedroom-electro-pop affair. It's very good, but very different.

Anyway, I'm happy to finally have another chance to catch the band's live show, to remind me of what excited me so much when I saw them in Austin. The band is playing at the Rock and Roll Hotel here in DC on Wednesday, September 24th (tickets go on sale 7/25).

I strongly recommend that you join me at this show (assuming I'm still in DC then).

Odds and Ends

A few interesting pieces of news this afternoon... figured I'd throw 'em all together in one post.

Crooked Fingers has a new album coming out on October 7th called Forfeit/Fortune, and they'll be releasing it themselves -- i.e., no Merge, no Saddle Creek, no nothin'. There will actually be two versions of the album - the standard version, which will be available for download at iTunes, etc., and a limited edition deluxe version with a DVD. And don't forget that the band will be touring with Okkervil River this fall. (Via Bradley's Almanac.)

Speaking of Okkervil River, the band's new album, The Stand Ins, which is due out on September 9th via Jagjaguwar, has leaked. And, unsurprisingly, it's fantastic. My favorite track is "Lost Coastlines", which the band recently played during their WOXY Lounge Act. While I liked that version live, it's even better on record, given that it's actually a duet between Will and Jonathan (the band's keyboardist and also the frontman for Shearwater). The only bad news? According to a recent interview with Billboard, after this fall's tour, the band intends to take a "long break." Crap.

And there's news about yet another great release coming out this Fall - You Am I is set to release their 9th album (not including 2 greatest hits albums), entitled Dilettantes, on September 12th. Right now it looks like this is an Australia-only release for the time being (pre-order here), but hopefully Yep Roc or someone else will put it out in the US before too long. (Thanks to Sal C. for the heads up!)

$10 Concert Tickets in San Diego

If you're in the San Diego area, tomorrow is your lucky day.

Due to utterly crappy ticket sales this summer, Live Nation is dropping prices on more than -40- upcoming concerts to a low $10. And eleven of these shows are in the San Diego area.

Tickets will be available tomorrow (7/18) only, starting at 10am (Pacific, I assume), at all Ticketmaster outlets and by phone (619-220-TIXS).

Shows worth seeing:

7/26: Comedians of Comedy @ Spreckels Theatre - FINAL EVER SHOW
9/24: The Raconteurs, The Kills @ SDSU Open Air Theatre
9/25: My Morning Jacket @ SDSU Open Air Theatre
10/3: The Swell Season, Iron & Wine @ SDSU Open Air Theatre

Shows not worth seeing, even you paid me $10: Vans Warped Tour, Counting Crows/Maroon 5, Santana

(Via Coolfer)

Good News/Bad News With The Emmys

Let me get the bad news out of the way first -- still no Best Drama nomination for The Wire, a/k/a the best show ever broadcast on American television. What the hell is wrong with these people? In fact, the show got only one single nomination this year, for writing. Unbelievable.

The good news? Mad Men, Lost, Dexter and Damages all got Best Drama nominations. (Although so too did Boston Legal and House, proving that the Emmy folks can be both brilliant and soul-destroyingly stupid at the same time.)

Emmy voters also did a great job with respect to 80% of the Best Comedy lineup, nominating 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiam, The Office and Entourage (even though the latter really wasn't great last year). They also nominated Two and a Half Men. I assume those are the same people who used to vote for Grace Under Fire.

And most important of all, Neil Patrick Harris got a Best Supporting Actor for How I Met Your Mother, although I'm sure he'll lose to that all-around good and modest fellow, Jeremy Piven.

Oh, and South Park was also nominated for its excellent "Imaginationland" episode. Excellent.

Wire Playing 9:30 Club on 10/11!

Great news over at Pitchfork this morning -- Wire is touring, and hitting the 9:30 Club here in DC on October 11th.

No word as to on-sale date or ticket price yet, but I'll post it when I find it.

To The Nuts!

Like I said, I've been getting a bunch of really good music lately.

Bound Stems, "Happens To Us All Otherwise"
J Roddy Walston and the Business, "Stop Rip and Roll"
Poor But Sexy, MySpace

Fast Facts

Bound Stems: Based in Chicago. Second album entitled The Family Afloat out on vinyl on 7/11 and everywhere else on 9/9 via Flameshovel Records. Catch them at Mercury Lounge on 7/24 and Velvet Lounge on 7/25. RIYL: Early Modest Mouse without the cow-punk affectations.

J Roddy Walston and the Business: Based in Baltimore. MySpace. Supporting their recent album, Hail Megaboys. Catch them at Iota tomorrow night (7/18). RIYL: Straight ahead, fun rock and roll.

Poor But Sexy. Based in DC, featuring Jason Caddell of The Dismemberment Plan. No MP3s to link yet, but there's some really cool songs up on their MySpace page. Catch them at Velvet Lounge tomorrow night (7/18). RIYL: The idea of mixing Dismemberment Plan with soul music.

To The Nuts!

For a music blog, I sure don't post enough actual music. Sure, I'll post tour info, and album info, and link to the occasional song, but it's been a long time since I regularly posted music from new, up-and-coming bands on this blog.

My plan is to change that. I've been getting a ton of emails from bands and PR-folk lately, and, amazingly, I've been doing a much better job of actually listening to the music I'm being sent. And guess what? A lot of it is pretty good.

So I'm introducing a new series called "To The Nuts!" which will showcase new songs that I like. There's no real guideline as to what types of songs these posts will include, and there won't be any type of official schedule for these posts. (And I definitely can't guarantee that I'll post everything, or even most, of what I'm sent.) But I can promise to try to bring you new music that you probably haven't heard, and hopefully won't hate.

I may play with the format as time goes on, but for right now it will just include songs and a very quick, unscientific RIYL ("recommended if you like") recommendation to help you pick what to spend your time listening to.

And, yes, "To The Nuts!" is an Arrested Development quote. And it's also a fitting post name to debut given the hilarious hijinks going on at my office the coffee shop where I spend a lot of time.

So, without further ado, here's some songs:

Feral Children, "Zyghost" [RIYL: Animal Collective]
High on Stress, "Cash Machine" [RIYL: A.M.-era Wilco, Replacements]
The Great Northwest, "Chief John" [RIYL: Spiritualized]

Feral Children on MySpace
High on Stress on MySpace
The Great Northwest on MySpace

Edited to add: Feral Children shouldn't be confused with Feral Kids, another interesting new band that Joe wrote about last week.

New R.E.M. Video, "Man-Sized Wreath"

Pure Awesome

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

How To Pretend You Care About Politics

Today Now!: How To Pretend You Give A Shit About The Election

DC Show Update

Sorry I'm late this week - I'm on "vacation."

I use the quotation marks because I'm not sure that being in Ohio actually qualifies as a true vacation.

9:30 Club
Mon., 9/29: Rusted Root (seriously?)
Tue., 9/30: Stereolab

Tickets for 9:30 Club shows went on sale this morning via Tickets.com.

Black Cat
Tue., 8/12: Tim Rogers (of You Am I)
Mon., 9/29: The Juan Maclean
Tue., 10/21: The Aggrolites, Everybody Out!

Tickets for Black Cat show go on sale on Friday at 5pm Eastern via Ticketmaster.

DC 9
Thu., 10/16: Monotonix (show #4 in DC this year)

There's no listing for Monotonix tickets yet -- may be door-sales only.

Paul Weller @ 9:30 On Sale 7/31

Just saw this...

Tickets for the Saturday, September 13th Paul Weller show at the 9:30 Club in DC will go on sale on Thursday, July 31 at 10am via Tickets.com.

I assume these will sell out very, very fast. Gotta remember to put it on my Calendar.

Knitting Factory Officially Brooklyn-Bound

After months of rumors, it looks like the Knitting Factory's move from Manhattan to Brooklyn is finally official.

The club will be leaving its Tribeca home of the past 14 years and moving into the former short-lived Luna Lounge space at 361 Metropolitan Avenue.

I never got to go when the space was still run by Luna - it opened and closed in a matter of months in the 11 months that I've been in DC - but I did hear a lot of good things about the space. Hopefully things will work out a little better for the Knitting Factory.

Interestingly, they're going to renovate the space a bit to make the club's capacity lower than Luna's. I think Luna was between 400 and 500 if I remember correctly, and Knitting Factory is going to shrink that to 300. They're also only going to have a single stage instead of the current club's 3 stages. That's too bad - one of my favorite shows of recent years was Birdmonster's cozy (yet crazy) set in the Tap Bar a couple of years ago.

New Albert Hammond, Jr. Video, "GfC"

I still think I like his first album better, but the new one is definitely growing on me. And this is my favorite song from the disc.

You can actually stream the entire album over at Spinner. I recommend that you do.

A Trip To Indie's Past

So I'm about to run out the door to the airport, but wanted to make sure I posted this before I forget.

In celebration of Sub Pop's 20th Anniversary party this week, Bradley's Almanac has a post detailing a very different festival that the label threw back in 1992 - the Vermonstress Festival.

Vermonstress featured an unbelievable lineup of bands, including: Beat Happening, Codeine, Come, Eric's Trip, Giant Sand, Six Finger Satellite, Sloan, Velocity Girl and one of my favorite bands of all time, Pond.

And guess what? Brad's got audio of every set played at the fest.

Seriously... go, now. I'm off to Ohio.

The Secret Life of Sofia

One of my favorite discoveries from 2007 was Brooklyn's The Antlers, whose album, In The Attic of the Universe, was my second favorite CD of the year.

While I'd like to take credit for discovering them, I can't - the discovery came courtesy of Chris over at The Battering Room blog.

And despite the fact that he's only updated his blog a handful of times over the last few months, Chris just introduced me to yet another great new band - The Secret Life of Sofia.

I've only heard the five songs on the band's MySpace page so far, but it was enough to get me to immediately order their recent Seven Summits LP.

I'll be writing more about these guys once I get a chance to hear the full album, but for now check out the best song I've heard from them so far:

The Secret Life of Sofia, "Fifty Fourteeners" (from Seven Summits [order])

New Bloc Party, "Mercury"

Man... this band just keeps moving further and further away from what I used to love about them. They're obviously free to follow their own muse, but I'm not sure I'm gonna go with 'em.



Oh, and by the way, I think they're telling us that Mercury is in retrograde.

(Thanks to Kingblind for the heads up!)

New Neil Halstead, "Paint a Face"

Yet another new song that I missed a couple of weeks ago.

Neil Halstead, of Mojave 3 and Slowdive fame, is releasing his second solo album, Oh! Mighty Engine, via Brushfire Records (Jack Johnson's label) on July 29th. The first track from the album has been made available, and you can hear it here:

Neil Halstead, "Paint a Face"

Neil is spending August touring with Jack Johnson as well as some solo West coast dates, then heads to the UK and Europe in September before returning to the US for a full tour in October (dates TBA). Looking forward to it.

Tracklist for Oh! Mighty Engine

1. Oh Mighty Engine
2. Elevenses
3. Little Twig
4. Witless or Wise
5. Paint a Face
6. Always the Good
7. No Mercy for the Muse
8. Sometimes the Wheels
9. Queen Bee
10. Spinning for Spoonie
11. A Gentle Heart
12. Baby I Grew You a Beard

Third New Futurama Movie Due This Winter

Can't say how happy I am that Futurama is back, even though it's technically only in the form of four new movies rather than seasons of episodes.

The first movie, Bender's Big Score came out last Fall and was pretty damn good. It even had the return of Al Gore (whose daughter, Kristin, is apparently a writer for the show - who knew?).

The second movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs, came out a couple of weeks ago. I haven't seen it yet.

And here's the preview for movie #3, Bender's Game, which comes out this Winter:

Crooked Fingers Touring With Okkervil River

So I bought a ticket a while ago for Okkervil River's October 6th show at Webster Hall in New York on the theory that I very well may be living in New York again by then. Add to that the fact that they're not hitting DC on this tour (the closest they're getting is Richmond), and I figured I was likely to find a way to the show whether I'm living in NYC or not.

Well, now I have even more reason to make the show - Crooked Fingers is opening the entire Okkervil tour. Pure awesomeness. I may even have to pick up a Richmond ticket now just to be safe.

The tour will be in support (or in advance) of a brand new album which is due out sometime this Fall. The still-untitled new disc was tracked at the Beech House in Nashville with Alex Mcmanus and Mark Nevers and mixed at Jupiter Studios in Seattle, WA by Martin Feveyear.

Crooked Fingers Dates
#8/27: Reno, NV (Robert Hawkins Ampitheatre)
#8/28: Salt Lake City, UT (Gallivan Center - Twilight Concert Series)
9/30: New Orleans (The Republic)
10/1: Birmingham, AL (Matthew's Bar & Grill)
10/2: Athens, GA (40 Watt Club)
10/3: Wilmington, NC (Soapbox Laundro Lounge)
10/4: Richmond, VA (The National)
10/6: NYC (Webster Hall)
10/7: NYC (Webster Hall)
10/8: Northampton, MA (Pearl Street Nightclub)
10/9: Millvale, PA (Mr. Snalls Theatre)
10/10: Buffalo, NY (Tralf Music Hall)
10/11: Montreal (Les Saints)
10/12: Toronto (Phoenix)
#10/14: Chicago (Metro)

All shows are opening for Okkervil River, except those marked with #, which appear to be Crooked Fingers headlining shows.

Monotonix Opening For Silver Jews

Just noticed over at the Silver Jews' website that Monotonix are set to open for SJ for a couple of weeks this Fall, including at the September 10th show at the Black Cat.

This will be the 4th time that Monotonix has been through DC this year. There was the Red and the Black show that I was at; the F Yeah Tour at Black Cat a couple of weeks ago; they're playing with Valient Thorr and Early Man at the Black Cat on July 27th; and the Silver Jews show.

That's a lot of shows for a relatively obscure Israeli garage rock band to be playing in a medium-sized music town. Guess the Dollar must be pretty weak against the Shekel these days.

I won't complain. They're nothing if not entertaining.

DC vs. Fredericksburg

There's a couple of really cool shows going on next weekend (7/11 and 7/12) that I wanted to bring to your attention. Since I'm heading out of town for the week on Tuesday, I figured I'd post about them now.

DC's Club Tiger Promotions (started by Jay Smith of Middle Distance Runner and Carol Bui) is teaming up with Fredericksburg All Ages (started by Adam Bray of Tereu Tereu) to showcase four of the area's best up-and-coming young bands, including:

Rocky's Revival (Fredericksburg)
¡Carlos, I'm Pregnant! (Fredericksburg)
The Boom Orangutangs (DC)
Basmati (Falls Church)

On Friday, all four bands will play at Murky Coffee Upstairs in Clarendon, VA (for those of you playing along at home, that's the coffee shop where I spend most of my days). Then, on Saturday, the bands will play at The Third Floor in Fredericksburg.

Both shows are All Ages and should be an excellent time. Wish I could be there.

Minisnap, "New Broom"

Minisnap, "Leave It To You"

New Zealand's Minisnap includes Kaye Woodward alongside fellow Bats Paul Kean and Malcolm Grant, plus Marcus Winstanley from The Undercurrents.

Their debut full-length album, Bounce Around, came out in New Zealand last year, but it's seeing a U.S. release via Magic Marker on August 12th.

Check out the video for their excellent first track, "New Broom", below. The track posted above ("Leave It To You") is a free download at the band's MySpace page.

Minisnap, "New Broom"


Pre-order the album here.

Two Great NYC Shows

For those of you in New York, I've got some exciting news...

One of my favorite DC-area (err, Fredericksburg, VA) bands, Tereu Tereu, is playing two shows in New York over the next few nights. Trust me - this is a show you're going to want to catch.

Tereu Tereu, "Don't Be Sore, Farmer John"

The first show is tonight (Sat., 7/5) at Union Hall, opening for Bottle Up and Go. The second show is Tuesday (7/8) as part of Piano's Cross-Pollination series (upstairs). They'll be cross-pollinating, i.e., collaborating, with Dallin Applebaum.

The band's first album should be coming out before the end of the year, and if you see them know, you'll be able to say you knew them when.

Fishbone Tour Dates

Haven't seen these guys, or anyone using the Fishbone name, since 1993. Wish they'd come to DC.

Fishbone Tour Dates
08/02: France, Boeuf Ka Rock Festival, St Germain Sur Moine
08/07: France, Espace plein Air, Marseillan-Plage
08/09: Belgium, Park Rock Festival, Beaudour
08/10: Germany, Batschkapp, Frankfurt
08/13: Belarus, Night Star, Minsk
08/14: Russia, 16 Tons, Moscow
08/15: Russia, The Place, Saint Petersburg
08/16: Lithuania, Be2gether Festival, Norviliškės
08/17: UK, Beautiful Days Festival, Exeter
08/28: Boston (Rock On Cruise)
08/29: New York (Rocks Off Boat Cruise)
08/30: Turin, NY (moe. down Festival)
08/31: Portland, ME (Asylum)

Figgs August Tour

Been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks...

One of the best live rock bands around, The Figgs, have a short Northeast U.S. tour scheduled for the end of August.

Kinda wish they'd swing a little further south, but I'm thinking I'll probably find my way to at least one of these shows anyway.

Figgs August Tour
8/22: Cambridge, MA (Lizard Lounge)
8/23: Cambridge, MA (Lizard Lounge)
8/29: New York, NY (Knitting Factory)
8/30: Easthampton, MA (Brass Cat)

Eef Barzelay @ Iota, Arlington, VA [7/3/08]

Comedians of Comedy, R.I.P.

Just saw over at Brooklyn Vegan that Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford and Zack Galifianakis - a/k/a, The Comedians of Comedy - are officially calling it quits in a few weeks.

That sucks. I've seen 2 (or is it 3?) CoC shows and they've all been fantastic. A tad long, maybe, but only because they would pack in so many great comedians into one show. And now... nada.

Here's the official letter from the group:

IT'S BETTER TO BURN AWAY

In twenty-four days, we're doing the last ever Comedians of Comedy show.

It's been a fun, four-year run. A feature film, two concert movies, a TV show, a set at Coachella -- not bad.

Things have greater value when they have an ending. And the whole reason for doing the tour in the first place was to give all of us wider exposure. And it worked. Zach and Maria are blowing up and busy. And Brian and I can barely keep our Stork 'n' Stumpy's Plum Fritters on the shelf. It's unfair, now that all of us have benefited from the tour, to herd everyone back into a cramped van three or four times a year. The scheduling hassles are becoming un-workable. And we don't ever want this to become a chore.

So we're doing our farewell show Saturday, July 26th. That's twenty four days from when this is being written. We're doing in in San Diego, at the Spreckels Theatre, where we figure the most number of our fans will be gathered within the same zip code. And there's going to be some monumental special guests on the show.

We've been touched and inspired by all the support, and especially the hassle so many of you have gone through to travel and see us. Since there were so many cities we DIDN'T get to visit, this is chance to see the biggest number of people who've MySpaced us through the years.

And who knows? There might be sporadic get-togethers in the coming years. Patton's curating the comedy at this year's All Tomorrow's Parties in upstate New York. And Coachella eventually wants us back. But those'll be special occasions.

And none of us, individually, will ever stop touring. And you can bet each of us will have openers, young comedians we like and want to give more exposure to. So think of this as the Comedians of Comedy tour splitting into four pieces, still wandering the countryside, just not as cramped when driving.

Plus, there's probably four as-yet-unknown young comedians out there, figuring out a way to do their own tour. This kind of stuff never ends. Who wants to discover everything cool all at once? It'll keep coming. Stay alert.

Goodbye, everyone.

So does this mean we can expect Ratatouille 2? Or a new Just Shoot Me! spinoff?

God, I hope not.

New Eef Barzelay Video and a Reminder

Just a reminder that Eef Barzelay, formerly of Clem Snide, is playing at Iota in Arlington tonight in support of his fantastic new CD, Lose Big. If you're in town and don't already have plans, I can't recommend this show strongly enough.

If you need convincing, here's the video for the lead track from the album:

Eddie Vedder Solo Shows in DC

Just caught this over on the 9:30 Club boards...

Eddie Vedder (solo)
Warner Theatre
Washington, DC
Sat., 8/16 and Sun., 8/17

Tickets go on sale via Ticketmaster next Friday (7/11) at 10am Eastern.

Tickets are, ahem, $77. Think I'll pass.

Edited to add: Liam Finn is opening the entire tour, including DC. That's cool. There's also a pre-sale for Ten Club members here.

Full tour dates
Aug-01 Boston, MA Opera House
Aug-02 Boston, MA Opera House
Aug-04 New York, NY United Palace Theatre
Aug-05 New York, NY United Palace Theatre
Aug-07 Newark, NJ NJ Performing Arts Ctr
Aug-09 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid Place
Aug-10 Montreal, QC Salle Wilfrid Place
Aug-12 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
Aug-13 Toronto, ON Massey Hall
Aug-16 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
Aug-17 Washington, DC Warner Theatre
Aug-19 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theatre
Aug-21 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Aug-22 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre

DC Show Update

It just kills me that the Buckethead show is the same night as The Wedding Present.

9:30 Club
Thu., 8/7: Kinky
Thu., 8/14: The Hold Steady, The Loved Ones
Fri., 8/22: No Second Troy, Telograph, Exit Clov, The Reserves

Tickets for 9:30 Club shows go on sale on Thursday, 7/3 at 10am Eastern via Tickets.com.

Black Cat
Tue., 7/22: Hymns (backstage)
Thu., 7/31: Icy Demons, Mr. Moccasin (backstage)
Sun., 8/3: Pontiak, Orphan (backstage)
Mon., 8/4: Deleted Scenes, The Never, The Bee Team (backstage)
Wed., 10/1: Pinback
Sun., 10/12: Ra Ra Riot, Walter Meego, The Morning Benders

Tickets for Black Cat shows go on sale on Friday, 7/4 at 5pm Eastern via Ticketmaster.

Rock and Roll Hotel
Thu., 10/2: Damien Jurado (on sale 7/11)
Fri., 10/24: Born Ruffians, Plants and Animals (on sale 7/18)

Tickets for Rock and Roll Hotel shows are sold via Ticket Alternative.

Birchmere
Sun., 7/27: Sisqo, Dru Hill
Sun., 9/7: Steve Earle, Allison Moorer
Mon., 9/8: Steve Earle, Allison Moorer
Sun., 9/14: The Felice Brothers, A.A. Bondy
Sat., 10/25: The Del McCoury Band

Tickets for Birchmere shows are on sale now via Ticketmaster.

The Red and the Black
Sat., 8/30: Prabir and the Substitutes, Tereu Tereu, Red Racer, Wakey Wakey

Tickets for Red and the Black shows are sold at the door.

State Theatre
Wed., 9/24: From The Jam
Sat., 10/11: Buckethead

Tickets for From The Jam are on sale here and tickets for Buckethead are on sale here.

More New Birdmonster!

San Francisco's Birdmonster have posted a third song from their forthcoming LP, From The Mountain To The Sea, on their MySpace page.

The song, entitled "Born To Be Your Man", sounds a lot to me like their other new song, "I Might Have Guessed", which is also up on MySpace. Not that that's a bad thing - I really enjoy both tunes.

One thing I think we can pretty much guarantee at this point is that the new album is going to be a much mellower affair than No Midnight. But if all the songs are as good as what they've posted so far, I think I'm OK with that.

From The Mountain To The Sea is out on August 5th via the Fader label.

Tim Rogers (of You Am I) Touring U.S.

Excellent news... Tim Rogers of Australian rockers You Am I has announced a short U.S. tour in August, including a local stop at the Black Cat. These shows are in support of Tim's 2007 solo release, Luxury of Hysteria, which you can order here.

If you're not familiar with Tim or You Am I, I strongly suggest that you check out their respective MySpace pages.

Many thanks to Sal C. for the heads up!

Tim Rogers Tour Dates
8/7: Los Angeles (Spaceland)
8/8: Seattle (Sunset Tavern)
8/9: Portland, OR (Towne Lounge)
8/11: Fort Wayne, IN (JK O'Donnells)
8/12: Washington, DC (Black Cat)
8/14: New York (Mercury Lounge)

New David Ford Video, "I'm Alright Now"

I'm still not sure exactly where I come down on David Ford. He has a tendency to get a little dramatic and weepy a la James Blunt, but he's a significantly better songwriter than Blunt and he brings a real rawness to his songs that reminds me of a time before Damien Rice started to suck.

Anyway, he's got a new video for his song "I'm Alright Now", and it pretty much embodies everything good and bad about his music. It starts out pretty saccharine, but really picks up with the chorus and ends up being a pretty good song (IMO, of course).

Check it out:

Hold Steady Playing 9:30 Club on 8/14

Just saw this...

Hold Steady with The Loved Ones
9:30 Club
Thurs., 8/14

No on-sale date info yet. Tickets go on sale on Thursday morning at 10am via Tickets.com.

I'm definitely getting there earlier this time.

Frightened Rabbit, Takka Takka, Oxford Collapse

I've been pretty bad lately with the whole post-show discussion thing. I post a few photos, promise to discuss the show the next day, and then completely forget about it (or actually just choose not to do it).

Well, I wanted to be sure to say a few words about last nights Frightened Rabbit, Takka Takka and Oxford Collapse show so that no one gets the wrong idea about my comments about the size of the crowd and the Frightened Rabbit/Grey's Anatomy connection. (I actually had a hard time writing "Grey's Anatomy" - I've spent the last few years referring to it as Gray's Papaya.)

Just to be clear - Frightened Rabbit were fantastic. Who knew that a band with three Fender Telecasters and no bass could rock so much? (To be fair, they did pull out the bass for a couple of songs.) A lot of it had to do with their drummer, Grant Hutchison, who hits his cymbals about as hard as anyone I've ever seen. A lot also had to do with the quality of the music, and, as I've pointed out, their album, The Midnight Organ Fight, is among my favorite releases of 2008 so far. If you have a chance to see them, you absolutely must do so.

Similarly excellent were Takka Takka. They really seem to be getting comfortable with playing their new stuff live, and they're taking some of the songs in different yet interesting directions than they do on the album. I've made this comparison before, but I really do see these guys as following the mold of The National. I wouldn't quite put them on that level yet, but if they continue to progress as they have in the course of two albums, I think they have a lot of exciting things in store for us down the road.

As for Oxford Collapse, well, they had a crap-load of energy. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of their songs themselves, but maybe that's because I'm just not that familiar with their music. I'll be keeping an eye out for their new album, Bits, which comes out on Sub Pop in August, and maybe they can convince me yet.

Edited to add: SPIN really enjoyed the show too.

New Delays Video, "Keep It Simple"

Not my favorite song from the new Delays album, Everything's The Rush, but the inclusion of Keith makes it a keeper.

You may remember Keith from the days that this picture of him was the banner for one of the side-pages of this blog.

Or you may remember him as the British version of this guy.

Frightened Rabbit @ Black Cat, DC [6/30/08]

Discussion tomorrow. Absolutely beat.

One question though - when the hell did Frightened Rabbit get so popular? Was their music used on The Hills or something? I love 'em to death, but I assumed I'd be one of 15 people there for their set. Instead, the show sold out. Good for them.

Frightened Rabbit




Oxford Collapse



Takka Takka