Yesterday, we heard about Emmy The Great raising funds to make a new album; today, something new from the world of fan-funded projects: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin have asked people to chip in for a new van.
32 days left; they’ve already got over USD3,000 towards their USD3,800 target. Impressive.
In celebration of SPIN Magazine’s 25th Anniversary, they’re throwing a week-long party in NYC featuring different bands each night. The schedule is pretty stout, featuring The Smashing Pumpkins, The Flaming Lips, The Black Keys, The National, Fang Island, Suckers, and many more.
If you live in NYC, checking out the performances during SPIN 25 presented by ZYNC from American Express is certainly worth it. If you’re like me and regretably not living in NYC (yet), you can stream every concert live, online!
Check out the full lineup and other event details here.
Since we love Fang Island, check out this rad video in preparation for tonight’s show. Seriously, I don’t think this audience will ever be topped:
I had a lazy weekend that stupidly included golfing in Sunday’s 101 degree heat, but I did manage to catch some rock. These videos are from two parties honoring some folks you know if you hang out at Slim’s a lot.
The first one, from Friday’s birthday party for Slim’s bartender Olivia, is the Infamous Sugar doing a very special cover song. I really wish I’d gotten video of Suge’s new song, “Coke Zero,” about, in his words, the sorry state of cocaine in this town. That was clearly the crowd favorite.
The Infamous Sugar from Mann’s World on Vimeo.
The second video is The Loners doing “Soulshaker” at Mike and Allie’s wedding party on Sunday, also at Slim’s. That was a really fun early show, made even more entertaining by watching Eddie Taylor’s little girl dance wildly while watching her daddy play. I didn’t capture any of it in this video, but it was very sweet to watch. She’s a lucky little girl to grow up with such a cool dad.
On a related note, I did an interview with Eddie not too long ago, and will have it online soon. After doing the 5 questions thing for so long, it was good to sit down and have an in-depth conversation, but I’d forgotten what a pain it is to actually write the thing. Maybe I should just have a video podcast where I interview people, Charlie Rose-style.
“Soulshaker” by The Loners from Mann’s World on Vimeo.
Al Goodman, the ‘Goodman’ in Ray, Goodman and Brown, has died.
Originally drafted in by the Stang label to replace the original Moments, the trio were a major soul act during the 1970s, best known for the crossover Love On A Two Way Street. A falling out towards the end of the decade saw The Moments leave the label, but – unable to use the name – they reinvented themselves as Ray, Goodman and Brown. “No-one can take our names from us” was the deep reason for the basic name.
Signing to Polydor, they crossed over again to the main charts with Special Lady. They were going against the grain of the market, though, as soul got slicker and slicker, and by the time of their third Polydor record, their style was left looking somewhat outdated.
The departure, and then death, of Ray didn’t actually stop the band from touring, and the wheel of fashion turned enough for Goodman and Brown to get an invite to work with Alicia Keys in 2003.
At the time of Goodman’s death, the band were piloting ideas for a radio show.
Al Goodman was 63. He died on Monday.
Gordon’s been off the to the premiere of The A-Team, meeting the cast in London. He describes this as a “childhood dream come true”. Despite, erm, these being totally different actors. Did Smart really spend his childhood going “cor, I hope one day these parts are all recast and I can get to meet people who spend an entire movie unsure if they’re meant to be creating their own version of the characters or merely fumbling a catchphrase-strewn impersonation”?
Luckily, there is one constant from TV to multiplex:
IF you had told me in 1986 I’d get the chance to sit in the A-Team van, I’d have wet my Mr T bed sheets.
Wow. You must have been a nightmare, come birthdays and Christmas, if you literally pissed yourself when you were excited.
Still, it’s charming to see someone so excited about sitting in a van.
How come the ‘new’ team have the same van, though? They’ve been rewritten as Iraq vets rather than Vietnam vets – saving the need for tiresome period details by fixing them firmly in the now. So how come they’re using a van that’s the best part of thirty years old?
While Gordon is off creating worries about tomorrow’s laundry, it’s left to Carl Stroud to handle the big exclusive. Which is that Derek Hough – who seems to have been downgraded from boyfriend to “pal” – is going to help look after his, erm, “pal” Cheryl Tweedy. Oh… hang about a minute:
DANCER DEREK HOUGH is moving in with pal CHERYL COLE as she recovers from a bout of malaria.
Cheryl Cole? Hadn’t The Sun been calling Cheryl Tweedy since the start of divorce proceedings? I suspect the story behind the downgrading of Hough and the reversion to the married name is more interesting than anything Gordon’s team has published about Cheryl in months.
OK, there’s just no question here. The show of the week (month? year?) is Saturday’s C.O.C. reunion at the Pour House, featuring original members Woody Weatherman, Reed Mullin and Mike Dean. According to published reports, the band will be playing songs from “Animosity,” “Technocracy” and some new stuff. They’ve also got some killer opening bands: Righteous Fool (Mike and Reed’s band with Jason Browning), Savannah’s Black Tusk who blew me away when they opened for Pentagram in May, and Western N.C. space-rock band U.S. Christmas who are kind of everywhere all of a sudden. Also notable: C.O.C. is playing Friday at Stella Blue in Asheville with U.S. Christmas, Righteous Fool and Zoroaster who have an incredible new album of their own.
I asked both Woody and Nate Hall from U.S. Christmas to answer five questions for me. For Woody’s interview, I put the word out to people I know, and people who know him, and find out what questions they wanted answered. Just about every single person wanted to ask how he’s doing, which I guess is a testament to how much people care about this guy. For those of you who don’t get certain questions, Woody’s parents owned a jewelry store on Hillsborough Street, which is where Locopops is now located. You’ll see his answers below, but first, let’s get started with Nate.
1.When is the new album coming out, and what can we expect from it?
The new album “Run Thick in the Night” should be out in in cd form mid- September on Neurot Recordings. It is our strongest album yet, fully realized, and expansive. It is the guitar album I always wanted to make. Sanford Parker recorded it and it sounds great. It is a long, trippy, dark, satisfying record.
2. Where’s the best place to go camping in Western N.C.?
Pisgah National forest I guess. I live in the woods, but I prefer a bed. Camping is fun until you try to sleep.
3. How did you and Matt go about re-populating the band, and how did the sound change with the new line-up?
We asked the best musicians we knew and they all said yes. The sound is fuller now, louder, and more complex. There are lots of layers, and tons of drums (two full kits). Meg’s violin sound works really well. She plays stuff that sounds like guitar lines sometimes, at others she gives the songs a very folky feel. Josh uses the bass to create a lot of drone sounds. He is mainly a guitar player, and he has a great overdriven sound. The overall sound is darker, more earthy now. I love it.
4. I’m also including a 5 questions interview with Woody Weatherman, which will be published with yours. If you could ask him an interview question, what would it be?
I would ask him about his guitar and amp setup. He is a killer guitar player and I always pay close attention to guys of his caliber. I would find out about the components in his rig, maybe get him to talk about live sound.
5. According to your Myspace page “the mountains and people of western North Carolina are a primary influence on the band’s sound.” Please explain, and tell us also how your surroundings specifically influence your lyrics.
My family has been in WNC for centuries, it is in my blood. Same story with the rest of the band to a large degree. I live in a very pretty, rural place and it feeds the music I write. I have to be here to write music, it is part of the creative process for me. WNC is a very pretty place and I pay close attention to the way it changes with the seasons. A lot of the material on RTITN is rooted in lunar cycles, the night sky, and the mountains themselves. I feel like USX is continuing a tradition in a way, because we don’t deny our culture or our roots. We could move to some major city and probably do pretty well, but that would eventually kill the music.
1. How are you doing?
Simple question with a fairly simple answer and thanks to all for asking. I’ve been doing pretty good here recently, working on some new tunes with Mike and Reed. Maintaining a decent sized garden this year and running around trying to keep up with our 17 month old little boy, thats the toughest part out of all of it.
2. Why did you, Mike and Reed decide to work together again now, and will you guys continue working together?
I guess it took us a while to realize we needed to jam together again, sometimes we meander around staring into space and it takes a little longer than it should for us to figure these things out. We do have a bunch of shows set up at the moment and a 7″ coming out in a couple weeks. Got a pile of songs for a new record so I’m assuming we’ll do it as long as it is fun and then take another 10 year or so break.
3. Two for one gemology question: Are you a registered gemologist and can you identify a diamond with the naked eye?
I am indeed not a registered Gemologist and I could never tell you the difference between the Hope Diamond and a broken Pepsi bottle.
4. What’s your favorite Locopop?
You caught me on this one, to be honest with you I have not been to that spot on Hillsboro Street since my folks closed up their store a few years ago. Heard the pops are good though.
5. Tell us about your guitar and amp setup, the components of your rig and how you get your live sound (this question came from Nate of US Christmas — I’m doing a 5 questions interview with him too for that show).
Ok, well my stuff is super simple and it is that way for a reason. I figured out a long ways back that the less junk you rely on the less stuff there is to break down on you. I don’t use any effects pedals live except for an occasional Crybaby. Plug straight into a Mesa/Boogie dual rectifier amp and run two 4×12 Marshall cabinets loaded with vintage 30 watt Celestion speakers. I have a few gibson SG guitars and a couple of ESP guitars that look like SG’s with Duncan Invader pick-ups in the bridge position and Billy Gibbons Pearly Gates in the neck Position. Just remember sometimes less is indeed more. Thats probably enough info to bore the pants off most folks.
It’s great waking up in the summer when the sun hasn’t fully ascended into the sky, the part of morning where the weather hasn’t decided if it’s going to be warm or hot. If you’re experiencing the same type of scorching summer as me, cherishing the morning is necessary because you’ll melt in the afternoon.
All the better though, Mystery Claws are a pleasant mist of water during dog days where the only wet things nearby are your own sweat saturated articles of clothing. Another L.A. outfit, California is churning out some recent acts reminding everyone not everything in the City of Angels revolves around Hollywood glitz and glamor.
[MP3] Mystery Claws – Flashlights
This won’t be the best song to ever enter your ears, but it is great and makes for a catchy, refreshing listen. Aside from youthful vocal yelps, I quite enjoy the synthetic drums that kick in toward the end of the chorus. A lot. Mystery Claws contain members of Warpaint and Kisses brother Matt Kivel, is L.A. über-inbred?
Spin Mystery Claws’ debut LP Hydaspia on Bandcamp and buy it for cheap!
Their new album ‘Tin Can Trust’ is due out on Aug. 3.
More here: First Listen: Los Lobos, 'Tin Can Trust' : NPR
Listen here:
A shower of glorious love to David Hepworth and The Word for pointing the world in the direction of the New York Times wedding section. Always a haven for the unexpected – it should be subtitled “if I’m compromising, at least I’m going to do it as publicly and expensively as possible” – this week, they recorded the nuptials of Def Leppard’s Phil Collen and Helen Simmons:
Ms. Simmons, too, felt a spark. “But emotionally, there were a lot of other things going on with us,” she said.The other things included a wife from whom he was separated, a girlfriend from whom he wasn’t, and Ms. Simmons’s boyfriend.
Two days later, he asked her for seven minutes of her time.
Not 5 or 10? “I knew I needed more than 5 and I figured 10 would be too long,” Mr. Collen said matter-of-factly.
There’s a lot of that sort of thing.
Flags currently being run up various masts as Wyclef Jean tests the waters for a possible Haitian presidential bid:
In a statement, the family said, “Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward … If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately.”
Immediately? Jesus, you’d have thought if you were making a big decision like that you’d at least want to have a cup of coffee and a biscuit to just get used to the idea before announcing it to the media. Just in case.
