"You're friends are young and quirky/ I'm just old and weird"

Last night I walked into New Brooklyn Tavern and I felt a little outta place; well I always feel a little outta place so what was different? First off I was one of like fifteen people who weren’t still in high school. Secondly it was a show for mewithoutYou or as they go by now the Weiss Family. Now I’ve never listend to mewithoutYou (probably because of their ass backwards spelling or syntax or whatever the hell is wrong with their name) but I have always assumed they sucked and maybe they did last night but I was too drunk and too happy that they played “It Ain’t Me, Babe,” some Grateful dead song that I like but can’t seem to remember and then closed their set with “The Weight.” But they were mainly what’s been popping up lately with bands forgoing their Les Pauls and Marshall Stacks for banjos, accordions, upright basses and the lot. They crowd seemed to love it but I was less than convinced. The opening band…well actually I missed the opening band…so the first band I saw was called the Psalters or something like that. Another atrocious name and they had a lot of the same members that played in the Weiss Family and they had the same sort of vibe, while the lead singer reminder me of dirtier Devendra Barnhart. So this brings us to the question at hand: Why in the fuck am I at a shitty show feeling old and creepy?

Damien Jurado, of course. He played in the middle and he didn’t exactly rock the house but I’m sure some kids left with an appreciation for his work. I got into him fairly recently through a Daytrotter session that he did then I went and got his last album which is on par with Elliott Smith’s best work. I can see a relation between the two in several ways: they’re both from the Northwest, they both mainly deal in low-key, down-tempo dirges about women and alienation, and they both can write circles around most chumps trying to tread the same waters. Only key difference Elliott ain’t with us anymore and we all know why that is. Jurado brings to my mind an Elliott Smith who doesn’t even see suicide as an option; like it wouldn’t change anything either. I watched the man from behind the whole time (New Brooklyn was as packed as I’ve ever seen it) but he didn’t seem exactly cheerful. I stood beside him as fans kept coming up to him and asking him questions and he still didn’t seem cheerful, just merely sitting through it all. He only grinned slightly when he was onstage singing his verse of “The Weight” and banging on a tambourine.

That’s enough about his disposition, which I’m really to be no judge. His set was fantastic; he played some new stuff, his “hit” song, “Ohio,” some old time favorite and just a few off his newest album Caught in the Trees. With just guitar and voice, the music was sparse but it sure filled up the room. At certain points he’d get this expression on his face, where he seemed to be all but lost. The room would applaud but it seemed only out of courtesy. I’m not sure sixteen-year-olds with rattails really appreciate what he was “moaning” about and they were just as happy checking text messages until mEWiThoutYoU came on.

I heard the opening chords to one of my favorite songs I’ve heard in the last year: “The Killer” and I didn’t even have to request it. His expression and his voice changed throughout the song. At first the “paper says [he’s] a killer/ but the papers lie.” Then as they head for that North California state line he lets his companion know “that the papers were right” and they’re really heading for “your brand-new burial site.” “YOU CALL OFF THE GUNS/ AND I’LL CALL OFF THE DOGS.” Jurado shouts this phrase at the top of his lung for what seems like an eternity and the fright spread through down my spine. Then he brought it back down to a slow steady pace then walked off stage. A night well spent.

hate to repeat myself but i just must.

"the blues ain't nothin but what you feel. don't count no bars, don't get 'teck,' just listen to what the man says... a blues singer has to stretch out. each time he sings a particular blues, he may change the lyrics or stretch out differently. the important thing is -- listen to what the man say. i don't mean the modern blues singer but one from the old, one who accompanied himself with guitar, harmonica, washboard or any other instrument that helped him tell his story. such a blues singer" is what townes van zandt wanted to be but ultimately he transcended that; just like dylan did or hank williams did or john lee hooker (i got the first part from the liner notes of one of his albums) or like how kerouac transcended past being a novelist. these people, artist, somehoe manage to show an eternal truth through opening themselves up; they shine a light into the dark so we know we too can leave it behind; they help us realize that even at our most lonesome we're not so alone after all. but townes, in particular, seemed to reach deeper into that dark than most. he's hellbent on finding out whatever he can about who he is or why he's here...fuck that he knew why he was here. that was simple: to write songs. but what to do with the rest of his life? that's what made him mad or sane or whothehellknows. but these two discs of music opened my eyes wider than they have every been to, what i've heard called, the "human condition." and the most exciting thing about the whole god damn deal is that as i have grown (but how much can you really in a few short years?) the songs grow more full of truth, wit, honesty, you fucking name it. as the liner notes to the album declare "all he did was sing your life beautifully" or something to that affect.

i don't wanna ruin or disrupt any of the insight about the little things that music freaks seem to dig when they really know any album. townes would never discourage personal insight i don't think so just listen to the man, hear what he has to say and how he says it. but i will let you in on one of my favorite "hidden gems" on this bad boy: on the opening track "announcement" hear how certain audience members start to yell out everything the announcer says before he does because they heard it "five or six times already" that night. also look the lyrics up. i'll do it for you




this is a review for the album live at the old quarter that a i wrote for a girl who, as tvz said or continues to do so, i loved "but she did not know it/ i don't think about her anymore."

Make Sense Not War

That's the motto for the day. I'll leave up to my buddy TVZ to do the "make sense" part, cause we all know that's not my forte.

I don't even wanna type anything cause I'd be doing him an injustice by trying to write about it. These are not the best Townes Van Zandt songs or the most important or the best versions (Live at the Old Quarter provides some of the most essential versions of some of his best songs) because Townes is one of those artist who seems to shine on every track. So it'd be bullshit to tell you my favorite songs though these are among his best compositions but every album that I've heard has something special to it and unique. His pain and beauty comes out in the oddest places but when it does it's undeniable.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/pspbsb

http://www.sendspace.com/file/79egtb

http://www.sendspace.com/file/tkp27x

http://www.sendspace.com/file/4hed7i

http://www.sendspace.com/file/iqq5gv


Sorry it ain't pretty but I gotta get used to this.

John Prine - How Lucky

This is from a PBS special aired in 1980. Today in the house I'm house-sitting I found this record, Pink Cadillac, put out on Asylum (the label on which my lovely lady Joni Mitchell put out Court and Spark and Hissing of Summer Lawns and a bunch more ultimate soul jams, so you know it's going to be bumpin') in '79. It's really good. But this one was playing while I was eating my chicken noodle soup and gazing out at the Charleston marsh after waking up feeling great and loved. How lucky can one (wo)man get?

Still Warmin Up

And so here's something to warm up to...



The guy is Alejandro Escovedo. The track is an automatic. Escovedo will be featured here again hopefully but for now just keep this bad boy in mind. Check the solo.

Television, "Days"

Nirvana just ripped the shit out of it (I'm partial to the hand flying that Mr. President Pants does around 6:52, but maybe that's just me) and that riff for "School" is totally wicked. But as for me, lately I've been really loving Television's second album, Adventure. Okay, fine, I might have the tiniest crush on Tom Verlaine but seriously. Love those hands.



Everyone's really into Marquee Moon, their first album, but I think I might have played it into the ground. Adventure, released just a year later in '78, has the same groove but feels like a move closer to post punk. Here is the second track, "Days." I love this song because of its mastery of post punk layering, like Tom and Co. are weaving sounds into a tapestry of gritty New York r 'n r and lilting melodies, layering them over and over each other. What makes it so good, though, is the total transcendence in this song. It really feels like you're floating, and then the lyrics just lift you up higher, starting with:
"Up in the high, high hills
With my floating friends"

Mostly I'm just so into the technical proficiency and expert interweaving of sounds that totally stand the test of time but also sound so goddam casual. I love how this album brings together late 70's New York and this weird, otherworldly destruction of the physical body in such a forward-thinking and intelligent way. It's thick but feels so, so light. Too bad they couldn't keep off the junk to release another album for the next thirteen years.
Also, PS, this movie The Blank Generation looks pretty badass. Anyone seen this or got any info?

Start this off without any words...

Don’t let anybody tell ya that youtube (or youtubies to some) can’t be used as an educational tool ‘cause its four in the morning and I just got a history lesson. All thanks to the wonderful video archival site. I just found some of the most intimate performance videos I’ve ever seen of one of the most important bands to my musical growth: Nirvana. This performance shows a lot about them that probably got lost in the hysteria that surrounded them and still pretty much does. Nirvana’s one fucking great band. The sheer metal riff of “School” to the power pop bass walkin Krist does on “Lithium” shows two sides…..fuck it. It’s four thirty in the morning I can’t find my mind. Just watch the videos.






A few more comments for yer head: Why does Kurt knock down the drums only to piece them back together? I’ve read that he hated Chad’s drumming hence the destruction and enter catalyst dave Grohl. Krist Novoselic for President anyone? He’s got the height and the pants to take the date in ’08.