Spin Top 100 - Continued...

85. R.E.M, Automatic for the People (Warner Bros., 1992) - As uncool as this may seem, this is my favorite R.E.M. record, at least it's the one that holds up the best over time. (I can still remember stealing the Weaver D's sign as a publicity stunt for Jefferson Holt.....)
84. Soundgarden, Superunknown (A&M, 1994) - Was Kicked out of Wuxtry for asking if this was the new Coverdale/Page. Since then Soundgarden has grown on me quite a bit, although I own none of thier recrdings.

83. At the Drive-In, Relationship of Command (Grand Royal, 2000)
82. Jeff Buckley, Grace (Columbia 1994) - If people would stop telling me to like this I might actually give Jeff a chance.
81. Beck, Mellow Gold (Geffen, 1994) - I prefer Midnite Vultures and Odelay, but this is a fantastic record as well.
80. D'Angelo, Voodoo (Virgin, 2000) - Dig him, but don't know this disc.
79. Moby, Everything Is Wrong (Elektra, 1995) - Kathy has this CD and I've never listened to it.
78. The Stone Roses, The Stone Roses (Silvertone, 1989) Jason and Mike listened to this and The Charlitains nonstop thier freshman year. Britpop sounds very dated now, but this was a cool record.
77. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Nonesuch, 2002) - Wilco's masterpiece. Summerteeth is more fun, but YHF is chock full of Jeff Tweedy's pop songs with just the right ammount of "freak out". A Ghost Is Born is like a novel that you should read, but put down after the 3rd page... I always liked the country stuff from the 1st two records too.
76. Belle and Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister (The Enclave, 1997)
75. Le Tigre, Le Tigre (Mr. Lady, 1999) - great shirts from JC Penny

 

Luxury Kings Shows!

Tuesday, July 5th - Blind Willies 9:00 - 12:00 - full night of rock,soul, roots and blues!

 

Sunday, July 17th - Blind Willies - Benefit for our pal Jack who was in an auto accident and has been unable to work. Jack is a great musician and singer, playing in The Stooge Brothers, Rockin' Pontoons and solo at Limerick Junction. Bands on the bill include The Stooge Bros, Jon Harris, Lux Kings and more.

 

E-bay Frustrations

I spent a significant part of Wednesday on e-bay trying to buy this acoustic bass guitar (Epiphone El Capitan) and was the high bidder all day long, BUT did not reach the "reserve" price. I upped my bid twice and still did not get to the reserve. Two minutes before the end of auction someone bids $200 and gets the reserve. I bid $201 and then TRY to bid $202.50 as I hit enter, the auction ends and someone else who successfully bid $202.50 wins. This is a pain in the ass, doing it this way. I just hope that my guitar that is for SALE turns into a last second bidding war. (It has one bid for $195 + shipping as of this morning)

Wanna Buy My Guitar?

My Acoustic Guitar is for sale on e-bay:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7333212806&ssPageName=ADME:B:LC:US:1

 

I plan to buy an acoustic bass with the money I make on this. I really enjoyed playing last week with the Jake's Bluegrass Jam folk

 

please pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested. This is a GREAT guitar.

Bass I Played at Jake's Blugrass Jam Monday

Johnson Herringbone Bass w/Solid Top

"The Herringbone Acoustic Bass features the same great workmanship found on our Herringbone Acoustic Guitars. It comes with inlaid herringbone purfling and your choice of a laminate or solid spruce top. The select woods give this bass plenty of low end and presence, which are brought to life with its great pickup."

With Flatwound Strings, this is the first acoustic bass that sounds like a stand up bass (like they should) I am seriously considering getting one of these - especially if I can use it for electric gigs too (may need an additional pickup for this, but I'll let my local Bass Geek local chapter help me with this)

Thanks to Walter for letting me use his bass (and for his fine fiddle and mandolin playing) Beth, Steve and Jim are fantastic musicians as well (Jim sounds more like Dwight Yokham than Dwight does!)and they were very accomodating to the "new guy" who didn't know their songs (me)

Back at the Scene of the Crime

SMYRNA, Ga. (AP) - Three suspected thieves were arrested after they returned to shop at the store they had stolen from earlier in the day, police said.

Early Friday morning, thieves broke into Adventure Outdoors a sporting goods and gun store, and stole several guns including an AR-15 rifle and a shotgun.

But store employees called police again around 6 p.m. that day when they saw men come into the store who matched the ones seen on security camera footage of the break-in.

The three were shopping for accessories for the very same guns that had been stolen.

Police stopped the three shortly after they left the store and arrested Tavrous J. Stallworth, 21; Rodney D. Stallworth, 19; and a 16-year-old boy.

One of them was even wearing the same clothes seen in the security video, Smyrna Police Capt. Keith Zgonc said.

Tavrous Stallworth has been charged with theft by receiving stolen property. The other two have been charged with burglary.

"Needless to say, we got a bit of a chuckle out of this one," Zgonc said.

Police have recovered two of the stolen guns but were still looking for about three others, Zgonc said.

When did Georgia become gound zero for morons? WE had to suffer through Brian Nichols , Jennifer Wilbanks, multiple prison escapes from Dekalb Co. Jail and now this little nugget. We must look incredibly stupid to the rest of the nation.

Alaskans Protest Steve Earle

Alaskans Protest Country's Steve Earle Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - Associated Press JUNEAU, Alaska - Steve Earle's appearance at the Southeast Alaska State Fair in Haines is drawing protest.

Earle has been the subject of angry letters and paid newspaper commentary in the Chilkat Valley News since early May.

Letter writers have complained that Earle's music has un-American or Marxist undertones. Some have said he's not right for the nonprofit family fair in Haines, and have called for a boycott.

Earle, a 50-year-old, Grammy-nominated country rocker, has frequently drawn critical acclaim over his career, spanning three decades. His more recent albums, including "Jerusalem" and "The Revolution Starts ... Now," have been critical of George W. Bush and the war on terror.

But the controversy hasn't translated into troubles at the box office. More than 300 people have reserved spots for the July 30 show.

"We've never pre-sold that many tickets to anything before," fair Director Herb VanCleve said. The fair has an outdoor capacity of 1,200.

VanCleve said the negative attention seems to have generated a rush of radio play for Earle in Haines.

"The general reaction I've gotten from virtually everyone has been 100 percent in support of what the fair is doing," VanCleve said. 

 Maybe they should have Charlie Daniels co-headline? I love Steve Earle's music though I'm convinced he is a Marxist. Last time I saw him perform he was more concerned with sobriety than politics, which was very entertaining ("This noon performance is unusually early for me, especially since I was a junkie") The Jerulsalem CD is among his best. The Revolution Starts Now has it's moments, esp. the title track and Houston.

SPIN Magazine's Top 100 Albums of the last 20 Years

SPIN is releasing this online a few at a time. In my oppinion, only a few belong here

100. The Strokes, Is This It (RCA, 2001)
99. Afghan Whigs, Gentlemen (Elektra, 1993)
98. Cornershop, When I Was Born for the 7th Time (Luaka Bop, 1997)
97. Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Merge, 1998)
96. The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash (Stiff/WEA, 1985)
95. Elastica, Elastica (DGC, 1995)
94. Slint, Spiderland (Touch and Go, 1991)
93. Pearl Jam, Ten (Epic, 1991) 92. Big Black, Atomizer (Homestead, 1986)
91. XTC, Skylarking (Geffen, 1986)
90. Sonic Youth, Sister (DGC, 1987)
89. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell (Interscope, 2003)
88. Stereolab, Emperor Tomato Ketchup (Elektra, 1996)
87. Blur, Parklife (Food, 1994)
86. Meat Puppets, Up on the Sun (SST, 1985)

Very cool that they recognized Cornershop. This is a fantasic record. Funky Days are Back Again alone is worthy of this list - as is their near perfect 1997 single Brim Full Of Asha (a love song to the "45" single with the line "everybody needs a bosom for a pillow - mine's on the RPM")

Blur's Parklife was a strange choice. Sure it's a great listen, but not exactly an original sound. They take so much from 80's synth-pop, power-pop, think The Kinks-meet-Duran Duran, but if that's not the critera this is a very enjoyable record.

Skylarking? What could I add? Song Cycle about birth-school-work-death that is Beatles quality. (with the two biggest Beatle wannabees since Jeff Lynne at the controls: Andy Partridge and Todd Rundgren, how could it be any other way) Highlight of the record has to be "Earn Enough For Us" which sould have been a huge pop hit.

Pearl Jam's Ten - NOT A PEARL JAM FAN, BUT I UNDERSTAND WHY IT'S HERE (and also why it's not #1)

I don't own The Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Meat Puppets records but I like them both. Thought the Elastica CD was kinda hit and miss when it came out (Kathy owns it so I guess I could revisit) Connection was very Kinks-Pretenders-Breeders, and a great radio single.

 

Stonesouls' Catalogue Page: Update

In attempting to put the entire Stonesouls catalogue on-line, space is my largest obstacle - mp3 files take up a ton of bandwidth. After looking at every format, every "trick", every free and pay site that hosts, I've come to this conclusion: Keep it Simple!

 

The Stonesouls music was recorded on 8 track tape (not like your dad's 8-track player) and while it has some stereo separation, there is not much. Bass guitar, vocals, most drums, rhythm guitars are basically centered. For this reason, I am converting the entire catalog to MONO, which allows me to keep near CD quality in 1/2 the space, no tricks, no audio enhancers. (and no crappy sounding low-band mp3s!)

 

Surprisingly, the two songs I have coded so far (She Doesn't Want To and I'm Lost Again)sound BETTER in MONO than they did in stereo. The phasing problems we had on the original masters disappeared and the vocals and lead guitar shine through! The Stereo versions will live on at i-tunes and other "pay" sites and on the Demagogue CD, Burning Down: Best Of The Stonesouls. The soon to be released FREE site will have the MONO recordings available at no charge (and at about 65 kbs, which equals 1.4 MB to 1.8 MB per song download.

 

The plan is to feature all three studio albums, the single, the 'Mats Tribute and about 5 previously unreleased tracks...so approximately 35 songs. This can be downloaded and burned to two CDs, making a nice Rhino-type collection

 

PS - Dear Rhino, this set will be ready to release at any time, call me!

 

 

 

SMiLE! - It's Brian Wilson's 63rd Birthday!

Today is Brian Wilson's 63rd birthday. I know you non-music geeks are tired of hearing about this "genius" and don't "get" The Beach Boys or Brian's music, but today is the perfect day to give his music a fresh listen.

 

• Caroline No!
• Warmth of The Sun
• Let Him Run Wild
• That's Not Me
• Don't Cry (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
• Heroes and Villains
• Cabinessence
• Let's Go Away for a While
• Plymouth Rock
• God Only Knows
• Surf's Up
• Hang On To Your Ego
• Vegetables

 

Are gorgeous pop songs (some of the most artistically beautiful you will every hear). At age 62, his masterpiece SMiLE finally came out, and it was better than I'd even hoped it would be (imagine if the new McCartney CD was as good as Rubber Soul!)

 

What most people forget, was how amazing their early material really was. Their pop melodies,  "do-wop" harmonies, surf guitar and teenage summer fun imagery was incredibly unique (try to find a surf song with vocal, let alone harmony before them!). But what they (especially Brian) really did was up the ante among the songwriters of the 1960's. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Pete Townshend, Ray Davies, Ron Argent, Crosby, Stills , Nash & Young, Sonny Bono, Jerry Garcia, The Hollies were given a "complete artist" to aspire to. They all tried to create this kind of music. Some succeeded, some failed. All at least attempted to write their "Teenage Symphony to God"  (Waterloo Sunset, She's Leaving Home, All You Need Is Love, Overture/It's A Boy, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cary On, Needles and Pins, Imagine The Swan - there is almost a "lost" Beach Boys record right there!)

 

Then there is the next generation. Of course they saw the Beach Boys as an "Oldies" act (one of the first bands credited to this genre) but also saw the greatness in the catalogue and the quality of the songs and the sound. REM, The Ramones, Jellyfish, Squeeze, The Pixies, Big Star, The Posies, XTC (and their alter-ego Dukes Of Stratosphere), Teenage Fanclub, Oasis, Tears For Fears, David Lee Roth...basically any artist that put melody and creativity (and harmony) up front where it belongs, "got" The Beach Boys and the genius of Brian Wilson.

 

Happy Birthday Brian!

 

Post from e-mail

 

Posting by e-mail will increase the frequency of posts. I love technology!

Dave FM - Big Improvement!

Our beloved z-93 has been off the air for over 6 months and the new guy, Dave FM (not to be confused with David Lee Roth's Dave-TV)were a bit of a disappointment.

Things have improved tremendously in the last few weeks

Songs added:

Karma Police - Radiohead
One Way Or Another - Blondie
Canary In a Coalmine / King Of Pain - The Police
Sexy + 17 - The Stray Cats
Pretty Persuasion - REM
Jammin' Me - Tom Petty
I'm On Fire - Bruce Springsteen
It's Only Rock and Roll - Rolling Stones
Dancing Days - Led Zeppelin

Less stress on Jam Band Lite - I can deal with an occasional Dave Matthews song, and I like Ben Harper and Jack Johnson more than I thought I would.

The Morning Show is no Mara & Dunham (and no Regular Guys), but it's good "at-work" listening..

Mara gave The Luxury Kings a shout-out on Monday and a plug for our show - that was cool.

Local "Hendrix Tribute" in the works!

Kevin Sulivan of The Stooge Brothers knows how to plan ahead!

Hendrix Tribute/Fund Raiser - Sept 28 2005 (Sunday), Blind Willie's, 6-12, $5 cover charge

Bands: Luxury Kings, Jon Harris and the Sin Hounds, Stooge Brothers - more acts TBA

Sponsorship: Gordon (club manager) is going to check with one of his distributors to see if they would sponsor the event - fund raiser for Twin Lakes

Luxury Kings show - 6/13/05

Another Rockin' Monday Night At Blind Willies - This was one of the better shows we've played. Good sized crowd (not huge but respectable). Good energy, some of our best playing. Overall a 4.5 out of 5!

We got off to a great start thanks to the addition of Jon Harris on guitar. Jon has such a great attitude about music and tons of enthusiasm. It's contaguous. With Jon on one side and Jason on the other (with an arsenal of effects – rare for Jason – wah, fuzz and boot) I was in guitar heaven.

We played:

 Let Me Love You Baby
 Key To The Highway
 Dust My Broom
 Black Magic Woman / Gypsy Queen

Right off the bat we were large and in charge (which does not always happen on a Monday nite)

Jon had to take off after his tunes, but we had the audience in the palm of our hands and we did some Howlin' Wolf tunes (since his would-be 95th birthday was last Friday), plus 5 Long Years, It Hurts To Love Someone, and maybe our best take of You've Been Warned.

Set two started with a Hendrix cover Spanish Castle Magic witch was dead-on. Adam came up to do his feature set (another highlight to any show – Luke, Jason, Adam and I were a great version of The Stonesouls in 1991-1993) We played:

 Built for Comfort (Howlin' Wolf again)
 I'm So Glad (The Cream)
 Little Girl (Bluesbreakers)

They love Adam over there, and his sound is so unlike Jason's that it grabs the audience. JP has fun getting to be the guitarist instead of the front man.

The rest of the set was the NEW SONGS!

 Mother's Blues (brand new)
 Find Yourself (brand new)
 Wicked Grin + Evil Eye (brand new)
 Boozehound (with the key change in the solo!) Open This Letter
 I Mean To Love You
 Someday After A While
 Politician
 Cryin Why (Luke playing was amazing on this!)

By the time we ended this set it was after midnight and the crowd was getting thin. We took 5 and to have a drink with "the people" and then came back for just a few songs. A sweet version of Cools Me To The Core stands out in my mind. I Got Loaded ended the night just right.

Upon our last note I noticed that we were playing to a near empty room. Kind of a downer – even though we had a good crowd most of the night.

Gear Update – New Fender Lace Pickup sounded good but not great. I'll need to have this done by a professional. Used the Eden cabinet and my Carvin head. Jason used the Gibson amp and his Tele for the 1st set and the Gibson 335 for the rest of the night. Jon played his Fender Reverb and his Strat.

In the crowd: Missy, Adam & Stephanie, Scott Christopher, Michelle, Kevin, Mark

The Stonesouls Complete Collection

Dave Henson's garage cleanout continues....he found the complete Stoneouls Catalog on CD. I lent this to him in 1999 to use for the "Burning Down: Best Of The Stonesouls" CD and never saw them again (sure I got married, bought two houses, changes jobs 3 times and was in at least 4 bands in that time)

The Stonesouls were the band Adam and I were in from 1989 until 1995 (OK, Luke was with us almost the entire time (Jerry subbed for him for 4 months), and AJ was there for 3 years, Jason for a year, Mark and David briefly, and Rob for two..I was briefly fired, but only missed one show..the second to the last)

At some point the ENTIRE Stonesouls collection will be available to download for free.

The Stoneouls (1990)
The Stonesouls For A Second (1991)
Stonesouls Beatles Tribute Live! (2/20/92)
Third Stonesoul From The Sun (1992)
Untitled #7/ Secret Soul Children (1994) single
Mr. Whirly/Can't Hardly Wait (1995) From Replacements Tribute CD


I even have a "concept album" that Adam, AJ and I recorded one hazy night in Athens called " The Stonesouls Present: A Doll's House" It's part Syd Barret, part Benny Hill and makes no sense. I think I played no bass, just drums and a $40 casio.

Also The 1993 Sessions with Jason Pastras, The 1994 Sessions with Rob, and various live recording with Rob and AJ. The 1999 Reunion Show at Dotties is on CD as well.

Add the Adam Leland Band at Lou's Blues Revue, the two demo cds "History of R.I.N.G.O" and "F.R.O.G.S" recorded at Neptunes' Crib and we have a seious collection of songs.

If the A-SIDES would just go ahead and get famous, I could live off of the "Early Years" Cds.

The Adam Leland Band 1996-1996

I recently found a CD of a band I was in in 1996, The Adam Leland Band (yes my brother Adam came up with the creative name). This is a live show from Lou's Blues on Ponce. Had to be during the Olympics. The sound is release quality and the performance is VERY solid. Adam has said that this was the most professional band he ever played with, and I may have to agree. His songs from this era are mostly forgotten - One Hit Wonder, Skeptical and Beatles or the Beach Boys became A-Sides songs, but One Last Letter, She Squeaks When She Walks, Girl in a Band, All Citizens Day were all supposed to be the songs on his debut CD that never materialized (well it DID but as a pop/folk CD in Memphis, not in the style of a 90's Alt/Pop). As much as I like his "End of Public Space" CD, I think it was a shame that we never gave this band a real chance. The music was the most accessable, the band was young and without responsibilities, and the music climate was very good for white-guy rock bands that wrote thier own songs.

E-Bay

My Fender Lace pickus from E-bay are a mixed bag. One was fine, the other was a damaged product. The seller was very cool in agreeing to send me a new one, but that was almost 2 weeks ago, so I will not hold my breath. I think I'm about 85% positive on E-bay purchases.Not bad, not great either. I guess you get what you pay for. Selling is another matter. I've had great success with this(musical gear, cds etc. Only had one person totaly take my money and it was for under $20. Overall I'd guess it is still a good tool for me to upgrade my stuff without spending any real $$.

I put in one LACE and one regular pickup (both should be for the bridge position, but I reverse wired it) and it sounds great, but the picup does not fit perfectly...so I hope to get a package in the mail BEFORE this monday (Lux Kings at Blind Willies)


Update:

New Lace Pickup showed up in the mail today (damn fine e-bayer!) and it had some of the same problems whe isolated, but when the pickups are run in series (as I do 99.999% of the time) they sound fantastic. I know that only bass players give a damn about the bass sound, but you always want your instrument to sound like a million bucks - it makes you play better, and it ultimately improves the overall sound. I'm a very happy camper today.

White Stripes New CD

This is From Rolling Stone:

Having clocked all rivals, the Stripes have to settle for topping their 2003 masterpiece, Elephant, the way Elephant topped White Blood Cells.

If you happen to be a rock band, and you don't happen to be either of the White Stripes, it so sucks to be you right now.

Is the quality of bands out there soo poor that there is not even a band to compete with??? Actually they may be right. No CD has been as satisfying (esp. with the hype) as Elephant in the two years since it was released. Is it that I don't relate to new music or is it that no one else has managed to DELIVER in a while (see Coldplay, Radiohead, Beck, Oasis) or they are of the older generation and we've just heard it all before (U2, Costello, Springsteen...even Green Day)

RLS - two weeks of agony...and a life lesson

Was way to quick to ween myself from my medications. The last two weeks have been absolute hell. As of yesterday I am back on med #1 but at 1/4 the dose. I feel considerably better. It's a shame that doctors do not stress the side effects, regualr effects, dosage, etc. of medication. Instead, for anther co-pay they tell you what they could have said (a) at the time of prescription or (b) over the phone. I have a new empathy for people struggling with illness, medication, depression, that I'm sure I didn't fully have before. Treatment is a pain in the ass.

Took a hard look at natural treatments, and I will use some of my knowledge, but I can't help but think that "100% Homeopathic" isn't just "eat right, use common sense" and 100% medical isn't just do whatever....oh, and take two of these every night and call my assistant in a week!" Don't really like either of these choices on their own.

My doctor said one thing that has been very helpful:

RLS comes from 3 places

1. Pregnacy (OK, safe there)
2. Iron deficiency (treatable, testable through blood work - just waiting for results)
3. Extreme use of caffene and or alcohol ( since I don't "abuse" either, I doubt it, but will not use either for the next two weeks to test this...OK some caffene, 1/2 cup of coffee)

Not ready to be a health food nut just yet, but ask me agian in a month....