Lunch Hour Used CD Finds

Found a selection of new and old stuff while at Euclid Records over lunch.

Belle And Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitresses (finally found this used!)
Roky Erickson with Okkervil River -
The Mynabirds - What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood
Nico - Chelsea Girl
The Rolling Stones - Exile On Main St. [Deluxe Edition]
Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix (Why didn't I have this album before?)
Teenage Fanclub - Shadows
Telekinesis - S/T

Live In Studio At KDHX 88.1 - Samantha Crain

Recently, I volunteered to do some writing for the local community radio station KDHX 88.1. I thought it would be a great opportunity to further develop my writing skills and keep up with some current music at the same time.

Check out my review of the recent in studio performance by Samantha Crain at KDHX 88.1 in St. Louis in late May. Here's a link to my review on the KDHX website.  Thanks to Roy Kasten, KDHX web editor and host of the show Feel Like Going Home, for giving me the chance to do some writing.

You can find out more about Samantha Crain at her website or her myspace page.

What Does Music Mean To You?

Music means different things to different people. For some music is just background music to the other things they are doing at the time – watching a movie, walking through a store, riding an elevator, or on hold waiting for someone to come back to the phone. For others music is what is popular right now on the radio or on television. However, when pressed about what artists they liked a few years ago they are at a loss. While still more people predominantly like music from a certain era of their lives – i.e. high school, college, or a decade that spans that time in their life. Finally, there are people who love many different forms, styles, genres, eras of music both popular and esoteric.

Personally, I fall into the last category. My music library consists of songs from every one of the last 11 decades and includes bluegrass, blues, classical, country, folk, funk, hip hop, jazz, punk, rap, rhythm & blues, rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, show tunes, soul, swing and more.  I do not own very much gospel or zydeco, but you get the picture. Yet it seems I am always looking for more music from artists I already know, new artists I am just discovering or artists I have only heard of in passing.

Which category do you fall into? Does music consume you or do you just care who won the last edition of American Idol?

The Friday iPod Shuffle - 6/4/10

Where Were You In ’92?
This shuffle list came about after seeing a few friends from high school last weekend at the Little Pieces shows I attended.


Brian Wilson – Barenaked Ladies – Gordon
Mark Peril Theme – Sneakers – Racket
Crowded In The Wings – The Jayhawks – Hollywood Town Hall
These Days – 10,000 Maniacs – These Are Days [Import Single]
From Hank To Hendrix – Neil Young – Harvest Moon
Everybody Can Change (Live) – Vic Chestnut – Rare On Air, Vol. 2
Thunder Road (Live) – Bruce Springsteen – In Concert/MTV Plugged
Counting Backwards (Live) – Throwing Muses – The Curse: Live In London
Brown Eyes (Demo) – Red House Painters – Retrospective
Stuck On You – Sneakers – Racket
Sparky – Kristin Hersh – Hips And Makers
You Get Me High – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Playback [Boxset]
When I Get This Way (Over You) – Material Issue – Destination Universe
Orange Rolls, Angel’s Spit – Sonic Youth – Dirty
Frankie And Johnny – Bob Dylan – Good As I Been To You
Kitchen – The Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray
Closer – Peter Himmelman – Flown This Acid World
Bullet In The Head – Rage Against The Machine – S/T
Criminals – Uncle Tupelo – March 16-20, 1992
The Statue Got Me High – They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18
It Comes Around – Jude Cole – Start The Car
Jungle Song – Sonia Dada – S/T
Man On The Moon – Sugar – Copper Blue
Bam-Bam – Luscious Jackson – In Search Of Manny
Power And Glory Part II – Lou Reed – Magic And Loss
A Letter To Elise – The Cure - Wish
Find The River – R.E.M. – Automatic For The People
Forever Baby – Juliana Hatfield – Hey Babe
Egyptian Crème (Live) – Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians – Live At The Cambridge Folk Festival
April Fool – Soul Asylum – Grave Dancers Union
You Stupid Asshole – Mudhoney – March To Fuzz
Crazy – Aerosmith – Get A Grip
Chalkdust Torture – Phish – A Picture Of Nectar
Hollywood – The Wallflowers – S/T
Galileo – Indigo Girls – Rites Of Passage
Dyslexic Heart – Paul Westerberg – Singles (Soundtrack)
Manic Depression – Throwing Muses – Various Tracks [Promotional]
Dome – The Church – Priest = Aura
Everybody Loves Me But You – Juliana Hatfield – Hey Babe
The Girl On The Greenbriar Shore – Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 – Tell Tale Signs: Rare and Unreleased 1989–2006
Kid’s Allright - Bettie Serveert – Palomine
Overblown – Mudhoney – Singles (Soundtrack)
Sleepwalking – Brenda Kahn – Epiphany In Brooklyn
Free Time – Michael Penn – Free-For-All
Night Of Chill Blue – Superchunk – Incidental Music 1991-1995
Starter – Portastatic – Some Small History
Candy Everybody Wants – 10,000 Maniacs – Our Time In Eden
Pearl – Throwing Muses – Red Heaven
Witches Night – The Judybats – Down In The Shacks Where The Satellite Dishes Grow
Velvet Roof – Buffalo Tom – Let Me Come Over
29 – Gin Blossoms – New Miserable Experience
My Evil Twin – They Might Be Giants – Apollo 18
Harvest Moon – Neil Young – Harvest Moon
My Morning Song – The Black Crowes – The Southern Harmony And The Musical Companion
Come Talk To Me – Peter Gabriel – Us
Loomer - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Junk Bonds - Sebadoh - Smash Your Head On Punk Rock
Be My Yoko Ono - Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
Dreaming - Yo La Tengo - Freedom Of Choice [Various Artists]
Untied - Superchunk - On The Mouth
Somebody To Shove - Soul Asylum - Grave Dancers Union
Sugar Kane - Sonic Youth - Dirty
Beestung - Kristin Hersh - Hips And Makers
Seen The Doctor - Michael Penn - Free-For-All
Hot Dog - Eugenius - Oomalama
For The Life Of Me - The Wallflowers - S/T
These Hills - Iris DeMent - Infamous Angel
Grindstone - Uncle Tupelo - March 16-20, 1992

Live In Concert: Little Pieces - Cicero's - St. Louis, MO - 05/27/10

 Yesterday morning I was getting my daughter ready for pre-school and she was not getting out of bed very easily. She has a clock radio/wave machine in her room so I turned off the waves and turned on the radio to see if that would stimulate her senses. I had the radio tuned KDHX 88.1. The show that was playing in the Thursday morning time slot from 5-7 a.m. is called Pop The Beat Bubble Burst, a show that plays various forms of Rock 'N'Roll including pop, jangle, power pop, etc. I was moving in and out of the room and I came back in and heard a familiar song playing and wondered to myself "Who is that band? I know that song." Sure enough it was a song called "Record Mine" by Little Pieces, a Seattle based trio! See the song list for the radio show here.

A few months ago my lifelong friend, drummer Rob Lloyd, e-mailed me asking about venues in St. Louis to play a show later in the year and some suggestions on sending a press kit to KDHX. I sent him back my thoughts and he ended up booking a show at Cicero's in St. Louis and sending a press kit with their full length debut album and new EP and a letter about the band and their upcoming show to Rich Reese at KDHX.

At midday Rob called to check in and see if I was going to make the show later that night. At that point I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it and advised I would at least be seeing the show on Sunday in Collinsville. He was excited that their song had been on the radio earlier in the day and gave me the schedule of the two shows and we chatted about his trip. He recounted the story of one of his checked bags, including his snare drum and merchandise, not making the flight from Seattle to St. Louis. Luckily a stressful situation was avoided when the airline was able to deliver the bag later that same night.  He also revealed that the band may be splitting in the not so distant future with the possible move by singer/guitarist Herman Jolly from the Seattle area to Portland, OR.  Rob seemed at peace with this possibility which likely had a lot to do with his baby daughter and owning a small business.

After our phone call and then speaking with numerous friends, I found that most people were attending the show on Sunday as well so I felt I should show my support by going to the Cicero's show as well. Since this decision was made on a last minute notice I didn't show up to the venue until just before Little Pieces started their set. There were four acts on the bill - a rapper J. Coates, Little Pieces, Farewell Flight and Heroes Of The Kingdom which includes another longtime friend of mine, Christian Powell, on guitar. I had already missed the rapper who went on first, however, I saw a few old friends and acquaintances and settled into a draft of Anchor Steam to listen to the set.

Little Pieces played a tight set consisting of songs from their debut album from 2008 and a six song EP they released earlier this year. The sound guy got the mix of guitar, bass, drums and vocals just right without any of the components overpowering the other parts. Even with some borrowed equipment the band seemed at ease with the set up.  Singer/guitarist Herman Jolly had his black Epiphone Les Paul guitar sounding great playing through a borrowed Fender Twin Reverb.  The warm Les Paul sound was heavy in the small room, yet the higher stings had nice clarity without a lot of crunch keeping the pop feel intact. Bassist Grant Badger's bouncing lines cemented the back beat while adding color to the mix as a good bassist in a trio should. Badger shuffled around the front of the stage with a Fender bass through an Ampeg rig since he wasn't tied to the microphone stand like Jolly. Lloyd was on his game last night playing with ferocity like a man on a mission. His signature heavy, yet tight drumming style, complete with drum stick twirls, gave the pop tunes from the long player much more of a Rock vibe in the live setting especially on songs like "Hurricane" and "Wrote A Letter." On some of the newer songs like "Chessman" classic rock style fills dominated and his playing seemed liberated from the simpler beats of the full length LP. Lloyd's performance was about putting on a good show for the audience and it showed. The set only lasted 10 songs, roughly about 45 minutes, which seemed a little truncated, but a packed bill necessitated adhering to a strict schedule.

Little Pieces Set List 5/27/10 - Cicero's - St. Louis, MO

• Key On A Kite
• Hurricane
• One Million Feet Below
• Record Mine
• Wrote A Letter
• Fit You Like A Glove
• After Me
• I'm A Bull
• Summertime In Space
• Chessman

After the show and the equipment was torn down, I exchanged greetings and talked with Rob for a while about the set offering him a Boulevard Wheat for his effort.  Later, I spoke with Badger and offered my thoughts on the set and asked him for a copy of their new EP. After I handed over my $5 we chatted about the band.  Badger told me that he and Lloyd have recorded another album's worth of material and only need to add Jolly's guitar and vocals to the mix. However, Badger also confirmed the news that the band's future is uncertain with Jolly possibly moving sometime soon, but also seemed okay with the possible end to the band.
For certain a rift is in the air, but time will tell what happens and all things are possible.

I caught a bit of the set by Farewell Flight, but Rob wanted to go out into the restaurant and talk so we left the twenty something band behind for the quieter quarters. I was not able to stick around to see the set by Heroes Of The Kingdom (sorry Christian) since I had to be up early for work the next day, but will likely catch a show in the near future since the band is based in St. Louis.

Little Pieces have a few more Midwest dates they are playing this weekend -

Champaign, IL - Mike & Molly's
Friday, May 28, 2010
9:00 pm
105 North Market Street, Champaign, IL 61820

Springfield, IL - Private Party
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Contact them if you would like to attend.

Collinsville, IL - Hurricanes Bar & Grill
Sunday, May 30, 2010
9:00 pm
222 West Main Street, Collinsville, IL 62234

Upcoming Concert Scheule

On Friday, I did some research of the concert schedules for the local music venues. Here are the highlights at what jumped out at me.  I am going to one of the Little Pieces shows this week and I just bought tickets for the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers show in mid-July. Unfortunately funds and time will limit the amount of these shows that I actually see. However, my goal is to write reviews here of what I end up attending. Get out there and support live music!

May
Wed 5/26/10 – BoDeans – Old Rock House - $25 – Doors 7 p.m. Show 8 p.m.
Thur 5/27/10 – The Great Outdoors / Little Pieces / Heroes Of The Kingdom - $7 – Cicero’s – 8 p.m.
Sun 5/30/10 – Little Pieces – Hurricane’s – Collinsville, IL

June
Fri 6/4/10 – Mother Hips w/ Don Gallardo & How Far West – Old Rock House - $10 – Doors 8 p.m. Show 9 p.m.
Thur 6/17/10 – Jay Farrar – Old Rock House – $20 – Doors 8 p.m. Show 9 p.m.
Sat 6/19/10 – Marah – Blueberry Hill - $12 – Doors 8 p.m. Show 9 p.m.
Sat 6/19/10 – The Great Crusades, The Saps, Dana Anderson – Off Broadway - $8 Doors 8:30 p.m. Show 9 p.m.
Mon 6/21/10 – Blitzen Trapper w/ The Moondoggies – Off Broadway - $12 adv/$14 DOS – Doors 7 p.m., Show 8 p.m.
Sun 6/27/10 – Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears w/ Hacienda – Off Broadway - $10 adv/DOS $12 – Doors 7:30 p.m. Show 8 p.m.
Mon 6/28/10 – The New Pornographers w/ The Dodos – The Pageant – $22.50 adv/ DOS & Balcony $25

July
Thur 7/1/10 – Henry Rollins – The Pageant - $23.00
Mon 7/12/10 – Minus The Bear – The Firebird –
Fri 7/16/10 – The Gaslight Anthem – Pop’s – $15 adv/DOS $17 – Doors 7 p.m.
Sat 7/17/10 – Modest Mouse – The Pageant –
Sun 7/18/10 – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers w/ Drive By Truckers – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Sat 7/24/10 – Silversun Pickups w/ Against Me! & Henry Clay People – Live on The Levee – Downtown St. Louis - Free

August
Fri 8/27/10 – The Black Crowes – The Pageant - $49.50 floor/ $59.50 balcony
Fri 8/27 & Sat 8/28 – Lou Fest – Forest Park

September
Thur 9/2/10 – Johnny Winter – Voodoo Lounge
Fri 9/10/10 – Todd Rundgren – Roberts Orpheum Theater – 8 p.m.
Sun 9/19/10 – Farmer Jason Ringenberg Family Matinee – Off Broadway - $8 adv/DOS $10 – Doors 2:30 p.m. Show 3 p.m.

October
Sat 10/23/10 – Suzi Shelton Family Matinee – Off Broadway - $8 adv/DOS $10 – Doors 2:30 p.m. Show 3 p.m.
Fri 10/29/10 – Roger Waters – Scottrade Center
Sat 11/13/10 – Chris Smither – The Focal Point - $20

Happy Birthday Bob!

Today is Bob Dylan's 69th birthday so I felt compelled to go to my favorite independent record store, Euclid Records, and get a Dylan album that I didn't already own and check out what else was interesting.  On my drive to the store I was listening to Dylan's Tell Tale Signs release from The Bootleg Series on my iPod. An alternate version of "Most Of The Time" came up that I really liked so I thought I might look for his Oh Mercy album or possibly Slow Train Coming, Infidels or Before The Flood. As always I could have walked out of there with a stack of LP's and used CD's and dropped a few hundred dollars, but I restrained myself and only bought a few. Here's what I picked up...

Band Of Horses - Infinite Arms - $11.99 [New]
The Bottlerockets - Zoyzia - $8.99 [Used]
Bob Dylan - Oh Mercy - $8.99 [New]
The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America $8.99 [Used]
The Police - Ghost In The Machine [Remastered] - $7.99 [Used]
Silver Jews - Tanglewood Numbers $7.99 [Used]

I was excited to find The Hold Steady album as I only had a digital copy at home.  I was also excited to find the new Band Of Horses album for a reasonable price and I finally got the last Police album that I needed to replace my old CD copies with the remastered versions.

After I got in the car and headed back to work I was looking at the condition of the used compact discs that I had bought. When I opened up the cover on the Police album I noticed that I had not received the right disc in the package.  The clerk had given my Jerry Garcia's album Run For The Roses (Arista, 1982) instead.  When I got back to work I called and told them about the mistake and they apologized and advised that I could come back in and switch out when I was back in the neighborhood.

While I have been a longtime fan of the Grateful Dead I have never gotten around to checking out their solo work. So after I got home I made sure to download the Garcia album into iTunes so I could listen it to it soon.

All and all a good trip.

The Friday iPod Shuffle - 5/21/10

Bed Of Nails – Husker Du – Warehouse: Songs And Stories
Disappear – INXS – X
Bad Day – Juliana Hatfield – Bed
The Wake Up Bomb – R.E.M. – New Adventures In Hi-Fi
I’m Alive – Throwing Muses – Hunkpapa
Vengeance Is Sleeping – Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
Kick Me And Cancel – Robert Pollard – From A Compound Eye
Start Again – Catie Curtis – A Crash Course In Roses
Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying (Live) – Belle And Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister (Live)
Sudden Stop – Percy Sledge – The Ultimate Collection
Hey Nonny Nonny – Violent Femmes – Why Do Birds Sing?
O My Soul (Rehearsal) - Big Star – Nobody Can Dance
Silvertown – John Gorka – After Yesterday
Nature Boy – The Sea And Cake – Nassau
Straight Into Darkness – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Playback
Off The Hook – Peter Frampton – S/T
Your Angel Steps Out Of Heaven (Live) – Elvis Costello – Almost Blue
Cypress Branches – Rachel’s – The Sea And The Bells
Never Mind – The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me
Breakerfall (Live) – Pearl Jam – 10/11/2000 St. Louis
Theme To Barney Miller – Television’s Greatest Hits
Gotta Travel On (Live) – Flatt & Scruggs w/ Merle Travis – Flatt & Scruggs At Carnegie Hall
Day After Day – The Pretenders – The Singles
Broken Arrow – Buffalo Springfield – Again
The Lost Child – The Stripling Brothers – Down In The Basement - Joe Bussard’s Treasure Trove Of Vintage 78’s
Summer Baby (7” Version) – Pavement – Slanted And Enchanted: Luxe And Redux
Always On My Mind (Live) – Willie Nelson & Johnny Cash – Storytellers
For What It’s Worth [Stereo Version] – Buffalo Springfield – S/T
Goodbye Stranger – Supertramp –
Your Ghost – Kristen Hersh w/ Michael Stipe – Hips And Makers
Golden Slumbers – The Beatles – Abbey Road
Twenty Five Miles – Edwin Starr – Motown Legends
Clubhouse Stomp – The New York Hawks – Baseball: A Film By Ken Burns
Aquarium – Robyn Hitchcock – Eye
Get On With It – Letters To Cleo – Aurora Gory Alice
Almost Beating – Bill Janovitz & Crown Victoria – Fireworks On TV!
So What!!! – The Lyrics – Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era 1965-68
Fifty Miles Of Elbow Room – Iris DeMent – Infamous Angel
Goodnight Moon – Will Kimbrough –
Dear Madam Barnum – XTC – Nonsuch
No Depression – Uncle Tupelo – No Depression

Forever Young

A while back we bought a book for my daughter titled Forever Young. The text is by Bob Dylan from the song of the same name and the illustrations are by Paul Rogers.  No, not the same Paul Rogers of Bad Company fame though. The illustrations begin by showing a fellow modeled after Woody Guthrie giving an acoustic guitar to a young boy in the honor of a long standing tradition.  The illustrations continue to show the boy playing at home to his parents, playing to a crowd in the park, playing in his room, daydreaming, walking and singing in marches, playing with a group of musicians in the park, and finally giving the guitar to a young girl. My daughter calls this book "the guitar book." We have been reading this book here and there for a while now. However, lately it's been in heavy rotation during our nightly bedtime stories.

Forever Young By Bob Dylan and Illustrated by Paul Rogers (Ginee Seo Books, 2008)

This past Saturday afternoon I found some time to pull my acoustic guitar from it's slumber and noodle around and strum along to some songs while my wife and daughter were out. When they came home my daughter was excited to see the guitar and wanted to strum the strings and play with the guitar pick.  I let her play around with what she wanted and answered her questions as she pointed to different parts of the guitar. 

A few months ago I taught her to talk into the soundhole of the guitar and hear her voice inside the guitar body.  On Saturday she spoke into the soundhole with her mouth up against the strings. Instinctively, I asked her "who's in there?"  Without hesitating and full of confidence my daughter replied back to me, "Bob Dylan!"  This response obviously made my wife and I  laugh heartily out loud.

That's my girl!

Classic.

The Friday iPod Shuffle - 5/7/10

Title: 2000-2009

Light Show – Robert Pollard – From A Compound Eye
More Of You – Laura Love – Fourteen Days
Charlemagne In Sweatpants – The Hold Steady – Separation Sunday
Are You Alright? – Lucinda Williams – West
The Charging Sky – Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Good Eye – Bruce Springsteen – Working On A Dream
Asphyxiated Circle – Guided By Voices – Half Smiles Of The Decomposed
I Missed The Point – Neko Case – Blacklisted
Jolene – Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
Bling (Confession Of A King) – The Killers – Sam’s Town
I Can’t Stop – Al Green – I Can’t Stop
If I Give My Soul – Johnny Cash – Unearthed
Theologians (Live) – Wilco – Ashes Of American Flags
Alive (Live) – Pete Yorn – Live From Soho (iTunes Exclusive EP)
The Return Of Jackie And Judy – Tom Waits – Orphans
#1 Must Have – Sleater-Kinney – All Hands On The Bad One
Down On The Riverbed – Dave Alvin – West Of The West
Darken My Door – Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
Mirror, Mirror – Whiskeytown – Pneumonia
Breakin’ The Law – The New Pornographers – Mass Romantic
Phone Book – Jay Bennett – The Magnificent Defeat
Soul Of A Man – Ollabelle – S/T
Stay On The Ride – Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
Hollow Man (Live) – R.E.M. – iTunes Live: From London
You Want That Picture – Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Lie Down In The Light
These Eyes – Jarvis Humby – Assume The Position It’s…
Argument – Fugazi – The Argument
Amsterdam – Griffin House – Lost & Found
Rock ‘N’ Roll Singer – Mark Kozelek – Rock ‘N’ Roll Singer [EP]
Hollow Reeds – Lois Maffeo & Brendan Carty – The Union Themes
Rhythm & Soul – Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga