Category Archives: Music

Regarding photographic evidence of recent events

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So the Tuesday Night Dinner Gang of me, the Nevilles (Courtney, Bob, and Oliver), and the Carsons (Melissa and Mike) has gotten hooked on this hilarious obstacle course/game show on ABC called Wipeout.

You should go right here, right now, and watch “Week 6.”

I promise you’ll laugh so hard it will hurt. If possible, watch it with several friends who also like to laugh.

Anyway, last night’s episode was a clip show — of a game show! — where they gave out awards, and one of the contestants they showed said, and I quote, “I’m laid back at lunch time, aggressive at crunch time, let’s GET THIS!”

(Shortly after saying that, he bounced between two giant rubber balls so hard it made him do the splits against one of them in what’s probably the single greatest ball-busting ever captured in the course of televised human history.)

I said, “I’m going to make that my MySpace headline.”

Courtney said, “Only if you can accompany it with a picture of you getting hit in the balls with a ball.”

So we all went outside and did this:

Big Time Ballers, 8/5/08 – Photos by Bob

Here’s a sample:

And kids, please don’t try this at home.

And yes, ladies, I’m single.

Last Thursday night, Courtney and Bob and Melissa and I drove up to Indianapolis to meet Karen and Todd for an amazing evening of music courtesy of our good friend, Garrison Starr.

Garrison has a voice and a style unlike anybody else, and her lyrics will leave you suspecting she knows you better than you know yourself.

Check out her official site and her MySpace and listen to some songs and buy some records and support good music.

Bob took plenty of amazing photos that you can see right here:

Garrison Starr at Boulevard Place (Indianapolis), 7/31/08

More adventures coming soon.

The Whatever: Cover Song Extravaganza

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It’s Monday, so here … we … go.

It’s another two-parter.

And!

Please go back and do the previous ones, too.

What are your five favorite cover songs of all time?

1. Jonatha Brooke ends her Back in the Circus album with a beautiful, heartbreaking reworking of the Alan Parsons Project’s “Eye in the Sky”; the way she sings “the sun in your eyes made some of the lies worth believing” is one of her all-time top “whoa, my heart has done what her voice just did” moments. Whew.

2. “Cruel to Be Kind,” by Letters to Cleo. Everybody loves their cover of Cheap Trick’s “I Want You to Want Me” from the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack, and it’s awesome, but their reworking of Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to Be Kind” is a better song for them as a band. Kay Hanley’s vocal rocks off the socks, and the guys come in for some killer backing vocals.

3. “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” by Living Colour. This rocked-up cover of the Clash classic was the B-side on the cassette single of the radio hit “Type” from their epic Time’s Up album; I listened to it until the tape wouldn’t play anymore and feared I’d lost it forever. Luckily they slapped it at the end of the 2002 remastered re-release of their landmark 1988 debut, Vivid. You can’t go wrong with Vernon Reid’s raging guitars, Will Calhoun’s thunderous drums, and Corey Glover’s vocals that go everywhere from confused to furious to hot-buttered soulful. Honorable mention to their scorching version of Hendrix’s “Crosstown Traffic” from the Stone Free tribute compilation.

4. Fiona Apple’s “Across the Universe” is dreamy, dreamy, dreamy.

5. Chantal Kreviazuk’s cover of Randy Newman’s “Feels Like Home” is a perfect wedding song if I ever heard one; I think she’s not a woman at all but actually a wild gust of raw, feminine energy that’s occasionally bottled up just long enough to be brought into a studio to lay down some tracks. Honorable mention to her brilliant version of “Leavin’ on a Jet Plane.”

And when you’re finished with that …

What five songs would you love to hear covered by what five artists?

1. Glen Phillips (from Toad the Wet Sprocket and his own excellent solo career) needs to do a cover of Neil Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans.” Or any Neil Diamond cover. I’d actually like to hear him do one of Neil’s older scorchers, like “You Got to Me.”

2. Jonatha Brooke has a song called “How Deep Is Your Love?”, but it’s an original song and not the Bee Gees version. I’d still love to hear her do a huge, lushly produced cover of theirs.

3. Garrison Starr could rock the living hell out of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”

4. I’d love to hear Fiona Apple do an entire album of old-timey standards, produced by Jon Brion and featuring the kids from Nickel Creek as guests.

5. New Edition. Under the Blue Moon, Vol. 2. That’s all I’m saying.

The Whatever: Mid-2008 Movie/Music Summit

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Hey, Gang,

It’s time for this week’s Whatever, and please feel free to go back and contribute to past installments.

I’m still working hard on my review of The Dark Knight, which has been delayed because I spent my weekend beating deadlines for real publications. (Not that my own little website here isn’t real, but you know what I mean.)

And I loved The Dark Knight so much, and I have so much to say about it, that I don’t want to sell it short with a review that isn’t worthy of it.

So, I’m working on it.

In the meantime, let’s do this:

What are the five best movies you’ve seen so far this year?

(Click here for a list of everything that’s been out this year if you need to jog your memory.)

1. The Dark Knight

I’ve been thrilled by movies. I’ve been moved by movies. I’ve never seen one that did both of those things to me as capably and as confidently as this modern-day masterpiece.

2. The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Given how badly the TV show ended, I was terrified about this one. But this beautiful, moving movie was exactly what I needed. “The truth is out there,” but this is more concerned with the truths within: conscience and faith, forgiveness, hope, and a whole lot of love in the face of paralyzing darkness and doubt. The investigation is gruesome and massively disturbing, but it’s secondary. This movie is all about Fox William Mulder and Dr. Dana Katherine Scully. Believe it.

3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Make no mistake. This is not Mike Mignola’s Hellboy from the comics. It’s Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy as lovingly endorsed by Mike Mignola, and that’s okay by me. It’s fun, it’s funny, and it has lots more action, monsters, and imagination than the first one. (And the scene where Hellboy and Abe drown their sorrows in beer and Barry Manilow is an instant classic.)

4. Iron Man

This movie is fun, fun, fun, fun, fun, thanks to Jon Favreau’s smart presentation and Robert Downey Jr.’s massively charismatic performance.

5. The Incredible Hulk

Though not as fun as Iron Man, it’s just as good in different ways. Respectful of the spirit of the television series (with crowd-pleasing cameos by Lou Ferrigno and even Bill Bixby) but action-packed in the spirit of the early comics, it’s a lean, mean movie that moves well and features stellar work by Ed Norton and Liv Tyler.

Honorable mentions: Despite how unapologetically vicious it is, Rambo is actually a very beautiful movie. I was bothered by some technical things about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but Harrison Ford was every bit as Indiana Jones as he’s ever been. Get Smart was a lot of fun, too, with a surprising amount of truly thrilling action. Well done, Steve Carell.

And since I didn’t do a Whatever on either of the weeks I was on vacation, here’s a bonus question:

What are the five best albums you’ve bought so far in 2008?

(And if you haven’t seen five movies or bought five records, just tell me about the ones you’ve liked. Just make sure they were released in 2008.)

1. Kay Hanley: Weaponize

Letters to Cleo graduates Kay Hanley (vocals and lyrics) and USA Mike (production and guitars) — partners in marriage, music, and massive amounts of amazing — are back and better than ever with a dazzling rock record that will blow your socks so far off that you’ll never find them again. Just go to Kay’s MySpace and listen to “Think Bad Thoughts” and try to tell me I’m wrong. What’s that? You can’t? I thought so. And when Nina Gordon drops by to lay down some sunny backing vocals on “Cellars by Starlight,” well, that’s about as sweet as it gets.

2. Glen Phillips: Secrets of the New Explorers

Toad the Wet Sprocket’s singer and songwriter blasts off into new orbits with this always beautiful, sometimes quirky, ever-brilliant space-themed exploration of self, life, and love in the great beyond.

3. Neil Diamond: Home Before Dark

This warm, weathered album really helped me put some bad times into perspective earlier this year, and it gets better with every listen. Natalie Maines shows up on the gorgeous duet “Another Day (That Time Forgot),” and the rollicking “Forgotten” should be required listening for anyone who’s been dumped. Brilliant stuff. A lot of this album sounds like it could be stripped-down acoustic versions of songs Neil would have written back at the absolute height of his talent and popularity, and I hope he’s got another one as good as this one in him. What am I saying? Of course he does. He’s Neil Diamond.

4. Old 97′s: Blame It on Gravity

Rhett Miller and the boys ride again, and they’re above and beyond the top of their game with this bold, boozy, brilliant collection that’ll leave you dancing and smiling and begging for more. I can’t get enough of it.

5. She & Him: Volume I

Blue-eyed beauty Zooey Deschanel sings the songs with earnest charm, and M. Ward makes sure the music sounds like a love-letter to old-school California AM radio pop. My favorite song is the string-laden bopper “Sweet “Darlin’,” co-written by Deschanel and Jason Schwartzman.

The album I’m most looking forward to in the second half of 2008 is Jonatha Brooke’s The Works, featuring a duet with Glen Phillips (and they’re also touring together, so please go see that if you can) called “Sweetest Angel” that I can’t wait to hear.

And … your turn!

Jonatha and Glen! Jonatha and Glen!

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Thank you, Universe, for all victories big and small.

Thank you … for this.

Jonatha Brooke is amazing.

She’s got the most beautiful “whoa, my heart has done what her voice just did” voice I’ve ever heard, and she knows how to use it.

Glen Phillips wrote and sang the songs for Toad the Wet Sprocket and still makes solo albums brimming with wisdom and warmth.

And now … they are going to sing … together.

Check it out in Paste:

Jonatha Brooke set to release album of Woody Guthrie lyrics

Here’s the relevant passage:

Brooke also performs duets with Eric Bazilian, Glen Phillips and Keb’ Mo’.

This is better than that one time, when chocolate met peanut butter.

The album is out August 26!

And whoever is responsible for this pairing deserves at least a million dollars.

Video: Toad the Wet Sprocket for your Saturday!

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Yes!

America’s Nastiest Sinus Infection has me running a little late this morning, but before I run out to start another beautiful June day, I want to share something AMAZING with you.

Toad the Wet Sprocket is doing some shows together this summer, and last week they stopped by the studios of Radio 104.5 in Philadelphia to perform four songs.

Click here to watch the videos — at the very least, PLEASE watch “All I Want” — and don’t forget to check out the amazing solo adventures of Toad’s very own Glen Phillips sometime, too.

“Whatever happens will be.”

Have a great weekend, kids.

Concert Review: Glen Phillips @ The Music Mill

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Artist: Glen Phillips

Opener: Jonathan Kingham

When/Where: April 9, 2008 @ The Music Mill in Indianapolis, IN

If my soul has a voice, I’d like to think it sounds like Glen’s. You know him as the voice of Toad the Wet Sprocket, and I’ve enjoyed his work as a solo artist even more than I like the Toad stuff, which is a lot.

My cousin Bret and I trekked up to Indianapolis on Wednesday to see Glen play The Music Mill, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues.

First we ate 40 chicken wings — at a quarter each, only 10 bucks! — at the venue’s restaurant, The Whammy Bar.

Best name ever.

Glen came out with Jonathan to introduce him, and then Jonathan promised to bring us some “West Coast heat.”

He did, with the following songs:

“I’ll Be the One”
“She’s So California”
“All That’s Missing Is You”
“Every Little Step”
“Grace” (with Glen on harmony)

If you’re hoping that “Every Little Step” is a cover of the Bobby Brown song, you’re in luck. He even dropped in the rap from “Don’t Be Cruel” and topped it off with an amazing Indiana-centric freestyle rap. Amazing.

And then … The Glen.

“Marigolds”
“Courage”
“Crowing”
“I Could End This All”
“Political Science” (Randy Newman cover, dedicated to John McCain and his insanity)
“Easier”
“Walk on the Ocean”
“Drive By”
“You Will Always Have My Love”
“Rise Up”

Enter Jonathan Kingham for harmony and guitar on the following:

“Solar Flare”
“Duck and Cover”
“True”
“Train Wreck”
“Waiting”
“Dam Would Break”
“Last Sunset”
“All I Want”
“Everything but You”

Encore (still with Jonathan):

“I Want a New Drug” (Huey Lewis cover)
“Don’t Need Anything”

Best Glen show I’ve ever seen. He was hilarious and vibrant and his voice was ridiculously awesome.

He talked about the trip he and his daughters got to take to the Goddard Space Center and he giddily said, “I got to touch a satellite that’s going to be crash-landed into the surface of the moon.”

And he talked about space geysers that shoot out from one of Saturn’s moons, and how we’re going to fly a spacecraft through the geysers to collect water samples. Again, he was very giddy.

(All the space talk was inspired by his newly released EP, Secrets of the New Explorers, which is an awesomely written and performed collection of songs about discovery, sex, love and death … in space.)

He also told the crowd he was 58 years old — he’s only 37 — and that his secret to looking youthful is pickle juice.

Pictures and video here.

I gave him a copy of Sunshine.

And he signed my CD, “John — deliver the payload.”

Excellent.

Lar-gone? Not exactly, but.

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Chelsea called me last night to tell me that Largo on Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, which is one of our favorite music venues ever, is sort of closing/moving.

There’s more about it here:

Largo is moving from its current spot to Coronet Theatre

I’ve only been to Largo once, with my friend Derek. We saw an amazing Jon Brion performance where he was joined by the amazing kids from Nickel Creek. And they played for hours, into the wee hours of the morning.

Chelsea, being from California, has been there many more times than I have. And I’ve really been looking forward to going there with her for the first time.

But alas, the move will change things.

Putting Largo into a theater kind of doesn’t make it Largo anymore, you know? But having never been to the Coronet, maybe they can still maintain the level of intimacy you got at the Fairfax location. I don’t know.

I do think it’s awesome that they booked Randy Newman.

And hopefully a bigger stage will give Jon Brion more room to have on lots more guests.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how this pans out.

Best of luck to them in the move, and when all is said and done I hope Largo at the Coronet still feels like Largo.

Let's all move to Camp Lisa

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One of my favorite musicians, the infinitely talented Lisa Loeb, has posted some new information about her upcoming children’s album, Camp Lisa, right here.

She’ll be getting help on the album from two of her favorite musical moms, Kay Hanley and Nina Gordon, who just happen to be two more of my own favorite artists.

Kay, of course, was the singer for Letters to Cleo and has released some amazing solo stuff that you can read about here.

Nina was the sweet that made Vercuca less Salty before going out on her own and releasing two of my all-time favorite albums, Tonight and the Rest of My Life and Bleeding Heart Graffiti. More on Nina here.

The album will also feature some awesome ukulele action courtesy of …

… wait for it …

… wait for it …

… STEVE MARTIN!

This makes me wish that Camp Lisa was a real place, and that we could all live there and have a big musical BBQ, and Steve Martin could be our funny uncle and regale us with thoughtful stories of great hilarity (to the tune of some sweet ukulele).

Who’s with me?

A weekend of women and song

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Two of my favorite things are concerts and girls who sing, and this weekend will be filled with both.

One of my best friends, Melissa, is celebrating her birthday day — happy birthday, Melissa! — and tonight a bunch of us are going to see Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire (at Freedom Hall in Louisville) to celebrate.

I’m not really a Reba fan, but I ache for Kelly Clarkson.

I’m actually hoping to somehow get her to notice me in the crowd and hire me to become the chef on her tour bus, where we’ll fall in love and life will be wonderful every day until the end of forever.

Seriously, Kelly. Think about it. I’ll make you laugh. I can cook whatever you like. It’ll be fun. I promise!

Please?

I should get home from the Kelly show just in time to see my original favorite female songbird, Lisa Loeb, on Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

If you can stay up that late, please check it out.

Lisa is finally releasing The Purple Tape on CD next Tuesday, January 22. It’s a collection of songs she recorded before her song “Stay” became, in 1994, the first number one song by an unsigned artist.

Her first official album, Tails, followed in 1995.

Her Firecracker album (from 1997) is one of my all-time top-five albums. Be sure, also, to pick up her more recent releases like Hello Lisa and The Way It Really Is.

Lisa’s currently working on a second children’s album and another studio record for grownups. More information on those projects will show up here as soon as I know it.

And then on Saturday, several us of are going to see one of my favorite gals, Garrison Starr, at a house concert in Louisville.

Details here.

So if you live in Louisville, be there!

And if you don’t live in Louisville, start driving, because this will be a show you can’t miss.

You won’t believe what her voice can do. Which is why you have to hear it for yourself.

Garrison’s most recent album is The Girl That Killed September. Check it out. And The Sound of You & Me. And Airstreams & Satellites. And Songs from Take-off to Landing. Just get them all. It’ll be easier that way.

It’s going to be a very good weekend.

The Top Five Albums of 2007

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5. My December, by Kelly Clarkson

I ache for Kelly Clarkson, and her My December album really grew one me after an initial listen that wrongly made me think it was a little too one-note. Favorites here are “One Minute,” “Don’t Waste Your Time” and “Be Still.” A bunch of us are going to the Kelly Clarkson/Reba McEntire show in January for my friend Melissa’s birthday; I’m not that big on Reba, but that’s okay because I’m pretty sure Melissa’s plan to give me to Kelly as a New Year’s gift is going to work out just fine, and that I’ll spend the rest of my life cooking her meals on her tour bus.

4. Cigarettes & Gasoline, by Emerson Hart

You know Emerson Hart as the voice of Tonic, and on his solo debut he continues the amazing singing and songwriting he displayed on the band’s steady stream of modern rock hits like “If You Could Only See” and “You Wanted More.” Favorites here are “Devastation Hands” and the rockin’ “I Know.” Be sure to give this one a listen.

3. Free Life, by Dan Wilson

Several years ago, I had the great honor of interviewing Semisonic’s Dan Wilson on the deck at Jillian’s in Louisville. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and I was particularly proud of him when he joined the Dixie Chicks on stage at this year’s Grammy’s to accept an award for the songwriting contributions he made to their most recent album. Dan’s solo record is nothing short of breathtaking, filled with lots of elegant, thoughtful lyrics and arrangements. It’s hard to find a truer example of Great American Songwriting than this.

2. The Girl That Killed September, by Garrison Starr

As if the preceding songs weren’t already awesome, the final track from which the album gets its title still kicks my ass every time with its sweet, simple beauty. And Garrison’s show in Nashville a few Fridays ago was one of the absolute best nights I had all year. Garrison also released Fans’ Greatest Hits Vol. 1, in which she recorded new, acoustic versions of songs voted on by her fans. Awesome stuff.

1. Careful What You Wish For, by Jonatha Brooke

For my money, Jonatha has the best “my heart has done what her voice just did” voice I’ve ever heard. From the majestic bassoon/clarinet solo on the bridge of the shimmering pop masterpiece “Baby Wait” to the heart-tugging harmonies on the achingly beautiful “After the Tears,” this album represents every aspect of what makes Jonatha awesome. There are echoes here from every stage of her career and examples galore of her constant evolution as an artist. I got to see Jonatha perform live several times this year, the most memorable of which was a late-October trip with Concert Buddy Numero Uno Melissa to see her play in Cincinnati. I’ve seen her more than a dozen times, and I think that concert might have been the best.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Collective Soul’s Afterwords was a lot of fun. Especially its first song, “New Vibrations.” I saw Collective Soul open for Live and Counting Crows at Slugger Field this year, and they rocked harder than the other two bands combined. Well done, guys.

The dance beats of Seal’s System didn’t live up to this effortlessly bad-ass acoustic demo he posted on his blog earlier this year, but I’m still a big fan of the album’s lyrics and melodies.

I wasn’t as big on Chantal Kreviazuk’s Ghost Stories as I’ve been on her previous albums, but the single “All I Can Do” is superb.

Paul McCartney’s Memory Almost Full shows that the former Beatle still has the midas touch of songwriting; my favorite track is “Ever Present Past.”

And the cover of James Taylor’s “Shower the People” that Babyface cut for his Playlist album is really, really, really good.

What did you hear that you really, really liked?