Noel Inspires Lars to Clean Up

In an example of disparate music world's colliding, NME is reporting that Metallica drummer/Bonnaroo vet Lars Ulrich kicked his cocaine habit by receiving inspiration from none of than Oasis' Noel Gallagher. It also turns out that Lars is madferit!

[Lars] added, "I was very impressed with Noel Gallagher. As you know, I'm an Oasis fanatic, and Noel was like [adopts Mancunian accent] 'You know what? No more cocaine!' (Gallagher quit in 1998) and I thought, 'If he can do it, everybody else can do it'."

Now we can add Lars to the list of artists who have publicly shared their love for the lads from Manchester. This Oasis track, Talk Tonight, goes out to Lars:

Happy 50th Michael Jackson

The gloved one turns the big 5-0 today. To celebrate, check out this 1987 live performance of Thriller, complete with bad 80's video fades. Look out at 2:48 for the original Glow In The Dark performance.

How Someday Finally Came

Read the story of how Bob Dylan was responsible for John Fogerty returning to his CCR catalog.

An excerpt:

But it was five months earlier that the cracks appeared in the dam. Fogerty went to a Taj Mahal show at the Palomino, a tiny Los Angeles club. In the audience were two other rockers - Bob Dylan and George Harrison. Veteran music journalist Todd Everett recalls seeing Fogerty and gently nudging him toward the other two. Within minutes, all three were onstage, and at Dylan's insistence, the legend went, Fogerty gave in and played Proud Mary.

Fans also credit that night with the genesis of the Traveling Wilburys, with Dylan and Harrison playing in a supergroup. The Wilburys' first album would be recorded in May of 1988. While a 1990 trip to Robert Johnson's grave got Fogerty, 63, fully on board with his old material, Dylan got the ball rolling.

Update: Download this show!!

The Silver Wilburys

Guest appearance with Taj Mahal and The Graffiti Band.
Live at the Palomino Club, North Hollywood (CA) on 19 Feb 1987.
The band: Jesse Ed Davis, Taj Mahal, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty

01- Farther On Down The Road
02- Introductions
03- Matchbox
04- Knock On Wood
05- Midnight Hour
06- Honey Don't
07- Blue Suede Shoes
08- Watching The River Flow
09- Proud Mary
10- Johnny B. Goode
11- Hand Jive
12- Peggy Sue
13- Dizzy Miss Lizzy
14- Lucille
15- Twist and Shout

Oasis To Cross The Pond

Oasis are set to play a one-off show at Terminal 5 in NYC in two weeks time, September 12th. Read the announcement and the information on the ticket lottery via NME.

Burial Unearthed

This news is a few weeks old now, but I never got around to posting it. It's a story that seemingly could only be dreamed up by a PR firm. But it wasn't.

The story begins:

A few weeks ago a young British artist updated his MySpace blog and added a photo. No big deal I hear you cry, and ordinarily you'd be quite right. But on this occasion the details in question belonged to the spectral figure at the pinnacle of Britain’s ferociously underground dubstep movement, who beforehand had preferred the blanket anonymity of being known only as Burial. And in finally revealing his real identity, a man with the public profile of a spy became national news.

Almost immediately speculation began to proliferate about who could've been capable of moulding these largely nascent ingredients into something so fully formed. For a long period of time Richard D. James (AKA Aphex Twin) was the popular favourite, whilst wilder gossip threw Fatboy Slimmer Norman Cook's name into the melee.

Read the full story about Burial's decision to reveal himself to the world here.

I personally love this guy's music. I can't get enough of it. It's music I can lose myself in and nod my head to and realize that an hour has passed when it felt like five minutes. Pitchfork makes a valiant attempt to describe the mostly indescribable sound of Untrue in their 8.4 Rated review: "It quivers like a hissing light bulb, one that illuminates the tracks scattered around it-- garage, dubstep, soul-- and in doing so smears them into unique shapes. Untrue shows the hunched, unreadable form of Burial's refusenik stance-- back turned, hands shoved in pockets-- and practically commands you to follow."

Gigwise: 50 Greatest Band Logos

Website Gigwise.com has a phenomenal time-waster of a list for the 50 Greatest Band Logos. The usual suspects of The Rolling Stones, Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead's Stealie make the list. You'll definitely find some more here that you wouldn't have thought of like the WuTang's Globe, the New York Dolls Lipstick, and The Strokes Chrome. Enjoy..

Extra: The story behind Andy Warhol and the Rolling Stones iconic lips (he DID NOT design the logo, counter to prevailing thoughts on the matter...)

Behind Blue Eyes: A Study on Body Parts In Music

Did you know that 23.64 percent of hip-hop songs refer to the behind, while 11.83 percent of rock songs talk about eyes? Visual artists Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg analyzed over 10,000 songs to find out which parts of the human body were mentioned the most and broke down the resulting data by genre.

Wired published their study.

Etta James: Take It To the Limit

I've been working my ass off these past couple weeks and it hasn't let up yet. To keep me sane, I've been listening to a ton of Pandora. On a daily basis, I get to hear a few gems that I'd never heard before. One of the most recent is Etta James' soulful cover of the Eagles' "Take It To The Limit". The "At Last" singer recorded this song on her 1978 "comeback album" titled Deep In the Night. On this album, she also covers Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed," and "Piece of My Heart." Most recently, in 2006, at 68, Etta reached #10 on the US R&B chart with her album All The Way that features her takes on "Imagine," "I Believe I Can Fly," "It's A Man's Man's Man's World," "Purple Rain," and "What's Going On."

Take a listen to Etta James' live performance of "Take It To The Limit"

The Strange Design, Sullivan Hall, 8/22/08 (a.k.a. 11/21/97)

Back in the late '90's, the beginning of the fall season meant many things to me: a new set of freshman girls to chat up, the end of summer break, and...oh hell, who am I kidding...it meant most importantly that I would be venturing back to Hampton, Virginia for Phish's annual two-night stand. The spaceship-shaped venue they played every year, the Hampton Coliseum, was a fitting symbol for how the night would unfold each year: Get prepared for take-off and be comfortable not knowing where you're gonna end up.

Fast forward to 4 years A.P. (After Phish), I recently found out that some dudes from my hometown were going on the road as a Phish tribute band called The Strange Design, essentially working the Dark Star Orchestra formula around recreating entire Phish shows. I have to say that I thought the guys, much like Suzy Greenberg, needed to get checked by a neurologist. Covering the Dead was one thing, but attempting to recreate the complexity, creativity, and downright goofiness of Phish should not be attempted in my humble opinion. Even the "Phish" tribute at the Jammys by the HeadCount All-Stars (w/ the extremely talented Brownstein, Gutwillig, Hollingsworth, Cinninger, and Russo) felt emotionless and flat.

So, heading into the Strange Design show at Sullivan Hall last night I felt a sense of excitement but predominantly skepticism having beared witness to Phish-covering debacles from bands like Stash and The Phix. I also didn't quite know what to think with the night creatively billed as 'A Weekend at the Hamptons' knowing the band was going to attempt a show I most likely had attended with the real four boys from Vermont.



The crowd at the West Village venue appeared to be 90% kids who were 14 when Phish broke up and 10% veterans looking for even a touch of magic that Trey, Mike, Page, and Fish could bring to a stage. The band got started with the funky Rolling Stones tune Emotional Rescue as the first number out of the gate. Okay, here we go, because I was definitely at this show. November 21, 1997. But it was too long ago to remember the entire setlist (If it had been five years earlier, I would have named every song plus segues and teases). The "Mike" falsetto was rough, the band was loose, and it actually felt a bit uncomfortable. Then I slowly realized that was EXACTLY how I felt when Phish attempted that song eleven years ago. Phish was never a perfectionist band; they were out to have a good time and explore new boundaries. So a random cover was not an attempt at note-for-note recreation. And the same vibe was being captured with Strange Design.

The song melded into a loop-jam straight out of Trey's Languedoc. And the first song being a cover (of a cover!) I didn't pass judgement just yet. Up next was Split Open and Melt. Major test! I was nervous FOR them. Funky drums: Check. Funky bass: Check. Impossibly challenging guitar line: Nailed! Rhythmic keyboards: Perfect! Vocals: Just as ridiculous at the original! Folks, this was a very, very good sign. The challenge of recreating the song was hard enough, but then making me feel like the song could feel Phishy outside the boundaries of the orchestrated parts I felt was an even tougher challenge. Now nodding my head, tapping my foot, and closing my eyes to what was well beyond my hardened expectations, I was truly engulfed in the music.

I really felt the era of the show when Beauty of My Dreams was played into Dogs Stole Things!! That little number was busted out on the'97 Europe tour and played sporadically thereafter. This was what I came for. To be reminded of the Phish catalogue, groove to great tunes, and relive my phall days in VA. Other highlights were Lawn Boy with full on schmaltz by "Chairman of the Boards" Aaron Levy, "Can't I live while I'm young!" chanting on Chalkdust, and a digital loop delay jam on Prince Caspian.

While I may not tour with The Strange Design for the next five falls, it was a true pleasure having my tapes come back to life. Which is great considering they are actually back in my childhood bedroom under all of my mom's stuff (my room is now a storage closet, apparently). Thanks goes out to Matt, Adam, Aaron, and Ben for helping me get back to where I once belonged and rekindling my love of Phish. I look forward to hearing what shows, legendary or otherwise, they pull from the Phish canon. And to those that are skeptical of the Phish cover experience, take it from a major phan who lived and breathed the band growing up. This is as close as you can get to the real thing, without the real thing, and a chance to experience the magic that is the live Phish experience in an intimate setting. And anyway, anyone who has the balls to pull off Guyute when Trey ALWAYS flubbed that song, is cool with me.

The Strange Design: 8/22/08- Sullivan Hall- New York, NY

Recreating: 11-21-97 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA

1: Emotional Rescue*-> Split Open and Melt, Beauty of My Dreams, Dogs Stole Things, Punch You in the Eye-> Lawn Boy, Chalk Dust Torture, Prince Caspian^

2: Ghost-> AC/DC Bag-> Slave to the Traffic Light, Loving Cup

E: Guyute
*Rolling Stones cover (first time played). ^With digital delay loop jam.

Devendra Banhart Is . . . Not Good

He may only be on for 20 minutes in between Galactic and Steve Winwood on this Outside Lands webcast, but after five minutes this guy is killing me. I keep waiting for Jack Black to come out and smash his guitar into pieces so that the joke can be over and we all can have a good laugh. But unfortunately, I don't think it's going to happen. Is there something to this dude that I'm not getting? I mean, the band has the 70s look down pretty well, but musically it's just grating.