Start of the Little Honey tour tears the roof off the sucka...

By Fred Mills

Last night's (Sept. 25) Little Honey tour opener for Lucinda Williams brought a raft of surprises. First of all Williams, whose new Lost Highway album arrives in stores on Oct. 14, was scheduled to kick off the 27-city run at Asheville, NC's Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, but at the last minute slow ticket sales prompted a move of the show to the considerably more intimate Orange Peel club.

A lesser artist might have bitched and moaned about the situation - the change undoubtedly forced some compromises in the staging and lighting, and there were indeed a few technical glitches, primarily involving out-of-focus images on the above-stage screen projections - but instead, Williams and her band Buick 6 took the challenge as an opportunity to seek out the silver lining. A nearly 2 ½ hour show ensued, and by the end the packed venue had been reduced to aching feet, sore palms, hoarse throats, and ear-to-ear grins. Williams herself seemed positively thrilled at the response, chatting with the audience, dancing with the band members, and in general feeding off the proverbial tight-but-loose vibe that is the hallmark of any great concert.

BLURT's own Fred Mills was on hand and will be filing a full review of the show early next week for our site. In the meantime, though, he agreed to answer a couple of questions.

BLURT: How many folks were on hand at the show?

MILLS: I would estimate around 800-850. The capacity of the Orange Peel is 942, but they also had a small section on the right side of the room set apart for chairs, maybe 75 or so, possibly as a concession to folks who were disappointed they wouldn't be attending a sit-down show as they'd originally envisioned when they bought tickets for the Thomas Wolfe. Ticketholders were also offered the option of returning the tickets to the box office and getting a full refund if they didn't want to go to the club - I know of at least one couple who took that option because they'd planned on taking their two kids with them.

BLURT: So slow ticket sales forced them to move the show?

MILLS: I wouldn't say "forced." But no artist wants to be looking out at a venue that's only about half-full, and the Thomas Wolfe holds 2,431 at capacity. And to be honest, as you said in your intro above, it turned out to be a smart move. The audience was ecstatic to see Williams up close and personal - in the past she's usually played the Thomas Wolfe - and it really seemed like she enjoyed the interaction herself. Aside from a potential beating the promoter took on the deal, it turned out to be a win-win situation for everyone. The fans, the band, even the club, as this was a crowd of serious drinkers. Make that a win-win-win situation. As an aside, I should point out that the Asheville area has been hit by a severe gasoline shortage during the past week and it's still a problem, so I'm betting that affected ticket sales too. If you only have enough gas to get to work and back, you can't be driving into town for routine entertainment options.

BLURT: What did Williams play?

MILLS: The focus was definitely on the new album, especially during the first hour or so. She opened with the album-opener, "Real Love," and included other new songs such as "Tears Of Joy," "Jailhouse Tears" - which on the record is a duet with Elvis Costello and last night had her great guitarist Doug Pettibone taking the E.C. role - and "Wishes Were Horses." Lots of Luce gold, too: "Out Of Touch" just killed, and she had a neat subtle political intro for it when she said, "I think this is appropriate for the times..."; "Essence" really hit a lot of G-spots for both the guys and the girls; and "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" was another anthemic high point. Interestingly, and I stand to be corrected, I don't recall her doing anything from her last album, West, which was fine with me, as I thought that record was overblown and sterile-feeling.

     I should mention the end of the show as well: Lucinda gave a little speech that was certainly pro-Obama, but she stopped short of preaching and simply emphasized how important it was to vote this year - and then the band eased into Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" just to underscore the urgency surrounding the upcoming election. After that they tore into AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n' Roll)," which is also the closing song on Little Honey - I mean, how cool is that, Lucinda covering fucking AC/DC! - and at this point the whole Orange Peel roof just blew clean off.

BLURT: That's a metaphor, right?

MILLS:  Uhhh....

BLURT: You seem a pretty professional guy. Good looking, too. Why aren't you reviewing the show for somebody like USA Today?

MILLS: I'd sooner slit my throat.

BLURT: We can arrange that. When are you going to write your review?

MILLS: As soon as I can. I'm a busy guy. Hopefully by Monday. Are we done here?

Lucinda Williams Tour Dates:

September 2008

25 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel

26 - Knoxville, TN - Historic Tennessee Theatre
27 - North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center
29 - Charlotte, NC - Belk Theatre
30 - Raleigh, NC - Raleigh Memorial Auditorium

October 2008

3 - New York, NY - The Theater at Madison Square Garden
4 - New Haven, CT - Shubert Theater
7 - Albany, NY - Hart Theatre
8 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
9 - Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
11 - Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
12 - Rochester, NY - Harro East Ballroom'
14 - Ann Arbor, MI - Michigan Theater
15 - Columbus, OH - Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
17 - Nashville, TN - War Memorial Auditorium
19 - St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
20 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
21 - Des Moines, IA - Hoyt Sherman Theatre
23 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
24 - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre
25 - Madison, WI - Orpheum: Madison

November 2008

5 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
9 - St. Alberta, Alberta - Arden Theatre
10 - Calgary, Alberta - Jack Singer Hall
12 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Vogue Theater
13, 14 - Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market
16, 17 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore

Video of Palin competing in beauty pageant judged and found wanting.

By Randy Harward

So… Did you see this? It’s Sarah Palin, then known as Sarah Heath, competing in the swimsuit event of the 1984 Miss Alaska a beauty pageant. It was 1984, so her one-piecer (red, of course) isn’t as puritanically prudish as it may seem. Her hair is, though—and frankly, she’s got some cottage cheese happenin’. Watch the turn: it ain’t pretty.

The Huffington Post reports the footage was supplied by an Alaskan who swears it’s for real. Since the announcer talks about how Sarah led her basketball team to the Alaska State Championship, which is how she got the nickname Sarah Barracuda and went on to piss off Heart’s Ann and Nancy Wilson. Here’s more from Palin’s introduction:

Sarah says she wants to prepare for a career in television broadcasting by majoring in telecommunications and political science. It is no wonder that she has also been recognized by 'Who's Who?' since she has displayed her leadership in all areas, from academics to student politics to athletics... Ladies and gentlemen, contestant no. 8, Sarah Heath.

You can see more at the HP’s post or watch the YouTube embed below. If you choose the latter, act fast: YouTube has evidently removed the clip several times. One clip removal notice says, “This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Splash News,” but BLURT thinks she’s just worried about pissing off the evangelicals by showing more saddlebag than Jesus would allow. What’s more, the original poster claims, “If you think this clip is good, wait until you see her play her flute in the talent competition...” And you know a wholesome candidate can’t have that circulating, lest she become the next Popsicle Twin.

Compiled by Blurt Staff

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin' on? Not likely. Here are BLURT's top music television picks of the day. The time is followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site. Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or subsequent days.

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL / PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

7:00 AM ABC: Good Morning America: Plain White T's , Clay Aiken

7:00 AM CBS: The Early Show: Alanis Morissette

9:00 AM GREEN: Living with Ed:  Jackson Browne is Green

11:30 AM NICK: Yo Gabba Gabba!: Jimmy Eat World

1:30 PM TVONE: James Brown: The Man, The Music & The Message

5:00 PM Ovation: Jazz Heroes: Wes Montgomery: Good Hearted Guitar

5:30 PM Noggin: Yo Gabba Gabba!: Supernova , Biz Markie

5:30 PM Ovation: Jazz Heroes: Dizzy Gillespie: Bop and a Bent Trumpet

6:00 PM Ovation: Live from the Artists Den: KT Tunstall

7:00 PM Ovation: Bonefish Grill's Notes From The Road: Vanessa Carlton

8:00 PM Ovation: Bonefish Grill's Notes From The Road: Matisyahu

9:00 PM Ovation:  Bonefish Grill's Notes From The Road: Ben Folds

9:00 PM PLD HD: Wattstax: Isaac Hayes , The Bar-Kays , Luther Ingram , Johnnie Taylor , Rufus Thomas , Carla Thomas

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Morningwood , Paris Hilton

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: The Hives

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Jakob Dylan , Norah Jones

1:00 AM MTV2: Subterranean: Does It Offend You, Yeah?

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Unwritten Law

Self-titled mid'70s album oftenr overlooked but highly regarded.

By Blurt Staff

November 11 will bring a much anticipated "collector's edition" of the late Warren Zevon's self-titled major label debut from Rhino Records. 1976's Warren Zevon, originally issued by Asylum Records, will include the original album remastered, along with a bonus disc filled entirely with unreleased demos and alternate versions of album tracks.
 

The story behind the album is intriguing: Zevon moved to Spain in the summer of 1975, dropping out of the music business after nearly a decade. During his self-imposed exile, he performed regularly at the Dubliner, a colorful bar owned by a former mercenary who helped Zevon pen the classic, "Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner." Zevon's luck changed when his friend Jackson Browne contacted about a recording deal; he ultimatedly signed with Asylum in '75 and got to work on an album.  

Browne produced the album and also enlisted some of the West Coast's biggest names to help out on the album, including members of the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, David Lindley and J.D. Souther. Providing Zevon with an outlet for his pent-up creativity, he unleashed a barrage of sharply observed songs that pulse with dark wit and sophisticated melodies. Many of his best-known tracks are included here, such as "Hasten Down The Wind," "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," "Carmelita" and "Mohammed's Radio" -- all of which  were later covered by Linda Ronstadt. The album also contains "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," "Frank And Jesse James" and "Desperados Under The Eaves," a song Zevon wrote about staying at the Hollywood Hawaiian Motel with no way to pay his bill.

 
The bonus disc uncovers 15 unreleased tracks, including different versions  of every song on the album. Several demos capture Zevon alone at the piano, including a poignant take on "Frank And Jesse James," a song he wrote while touring with the Everly Brothers. A demo Zevon recorded for "Hasten Down The Wind" features a full band. In addition, the collection presents alternate versions of "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" and "Carmelita" along with different takes from the sessions for "Join Me In L.A." and "Desperados Under The Eaves." The live bonus track of "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded" was recorded in October 1976 during an appearance on the Cleveland radio station, WMMS.

Track Listing
 
Disc 1

1. "Frank And Jesse James"
2. "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded"
3. "Backs Turned Looking Down The Path"
4. "Hasten Down The Wind"
5. "Poor Poor Pitiful Me"
6. "The French Inhaler"
7. "Mohammed's Radio"
8. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead"
9. "Carmelita"
10. "Join Me In L.A."
11. "Desperados Under The Eaves"
 
Disc 2 (Previously Unissued)

1. "Frank And Jesse James" (Solo Piano Demo)
2. "The French Inhaler" (Solo Piano Demo)
3. "Hasten Down The Wind" (Band Demo)
4. "Carmelita" (1974 Demo)
5. "Mohammed's Radio" (Solo Piano Demo)
6. "Backs Turned Looking Down The Path" (Take 1 - 1/28/76)
7. "Join Me In L.A." (Take 2 - 11/20/75)
8. "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" (Alternate Version)
9. "Frank And Jesse James" (Alternate Version)
10. "Mohammed's Radio" (Take 2 - 11/6/75)
11. "The French Inhaler" (Take 1 - 1/13/76)
12. "Carmelita" (Alternate Version)
13. "Desperados Under The Eaves" (Take 2 - 1/13/76)
14. "Mama Couldn't Be Persuaded" (Live WMMS 10/13/76)
15. "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" (Alternate Version)
 
 

This stuff just doesn't happen in a vacuum...

By Fred Mills

Mark yer intergalactic calendars (and dossiers) for Oct. 23: that's when Plastic Crimewave Sound by Chicago's Plastic Crimewave Sound arrives courtesy Prophase/MVD Audio.

Who the hell is Plastic Crimewave Sound, you ask? Why, none other than Plastic Crimewave (Steve Krakow) on Chopper Guitar, bellows; Mark Lux (Raspberry Kidd), on Broke ass Bass; Lawrence Peters (Skog Device) on Drum & mediation.

Adjunct members include Andy "Panic" (Lord) Ortmann on electronische; Ben Baker Billington on drumz in a pinch; Brett Druid on frequencies; Adam Rebis on sitar, guitarsound. And former members are Cat Chow, Jayne Cienfuegos, Nick D'vyne, Ian Knox. At least that's what their MySpace page - where you can hear some pretty ace sound samples - advises.

Glom the influences: Velvets, Flipper, Debris, Syd's Floyd, the Deviants, the Stooges, Motorhead, Stackwaddy, The Birds, Michael Yonkers Band, Simply Saucer, the Up, Crime, Pink Fairies, Edgar Broughton Band, T.Rex, early UFO, Can, Purple Image, The Monks, Status Quo, High Rise, Yo Ho Wha 13, Chrome, SRC, the Move, Loop, The Dicks, Dead C, Tractor, Hawkwind, the Wipers, ESP records, AMM, Les Ralliez, the Godz, Slowbone, the Misunderstood, St. Anthonys Fyre, Fushitsusha, Neu!, Canned Heat, Cromagnon, Fang, Goblin, George Brigman, Garbage and the Flowers, Rocket From the Tombs, Gravitar, International Harvester, Skullflower, Blossom Toes, Crushed Butler, Section 25, Swell Maps, Johns Children, Mars, Skip James, Pharoah Sanders, Third World War, Butthole Surfers, The Gordons, Sonics Rendevous Band, Electric Eels, Granicus, Schizo, Captain Beefheart, Eno and JPT Scare Band.

Need any more convincing? According to the label the new rec is "a more song oriented take on psychedelia after their double album adventure, No Wonderland. Mind burning guitars mix with throbbing bass and a propulsive drummer. A very 21st Century mix of psych, Krautrock, acid folk and prog rock that pushes all of those genres forward in technicolor."

Well, all right then! At BLURT we are all about mind burning guitars and lots of throb ‘n' propusion. Excelsior!

Track Listing:

(I Am) Planet Crushing

Dead Island Boogie

Shockwave Rider

Punched in the Face

The Pasture

Apparently not running for public office yet, however.

By Fred Mills

You'd think he was a visiting head of state, not just an ex-Beatle. But as Macca - that's Sir Paul McCartney ("the cute one") to you - preps for his Thursday night concert in Tel Aviv, amid opposite-ends-of-spectrum media reports about Beatlemania returning to Israel and extremist Muslim wingnuts threatening his life, he's getting a security cordon of some 5,000 members of the Israeli army.

This is fucking nuts. Not even heads of state get that kind of treatment. Come to think of it, with nearly 1,400 news clips posted to the web about McCartney's visit to the web (based on a quick Google scan), they don't even generate this sort of digital ink!

And no, the individuals in the picture are not part of the security team. But that is Paul.

Not exactly tearing up the collectors' sites just yet, but give it time...

By Fred Mills

Cash-strapped journalists chagrined at having to contend with the steady rise of all-digital promotional servicing - for the layman, that translates as: you won't be seeing all those cool/cheap copies of recently-released CDs in your local used record store much longer - raised a collective cheer earlier this month when EMI sent out copies of a promo-only Brian Wilson 45.

The single for "Midnight's Another Day" b/w "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Morning Beat" is part of the label's marketing campaign for Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun. Pressed on transparent gold/orange vinyl and housed in a picture sleeve bearing unique art, it's the latest in a long line of Wilson collectibles over the years.

Per label dictates, the sleeve bears the legend "you may not transfer this disc without consent of record company and must return it on demand... use or retention of the disc signifies acceptance of the license," although at this point in time everyone pretty much knows that it's a legally meaningless (e.g., non-binding) statement and that YOU CAN DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO WITH IT once the mailman drops it through your slot. (For the record: BLURT's copy is proudly displayed on our wall next to our autographed copy of Smile.)

Ergo, collectors sites have recently been flooded with the damn thing, effectively undercutting its value! Currently there are several copies on eBay going for $4.99 or less (and hardly any bids), for example, a trend that seems to hold true across other outlets (GEMM, etc.).

Yet people will pay MORE than $4.99 to get 3 or 4 songs as a friggin' DIGITAL EP. Does that seem like misplace priorities to you?

All the concert news ‘n' reviews that's fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT - this time, we've got the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco and Richie Havens in Covington, KY.

• *David Downs hopped a biodiesel-powered shuttle to Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay this past weekend (Sept. 19 and 20) where he caught acts like Justice, Vampire Weekend, the Dodos, the Raconteurs, Spiritualized and TV On The Radio. "The young'uns threw that shit into the wood-chipper, and reassembled the pieces live," observes Downs, of the collective thumbing-of-nose at the music industry old guard taking place at T.I., adding, "on the fly, sometimes nastily, but always to devastating and maximal effect."
• *A week earlier Steven Rosen was getting his inner Woodstock Nation groove on at Richie Haven's Sept. 9 show in Kentucky. Writes Rosen, "His performance has [a] spiritual intensity and immediacy... seated at a stool, furiously strumming an open-tuned acoustic guitar and choosing chording that often highlights a song's inherent melancholy."

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We've also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

All the concert news ‘n' reviews that's fit to print.

By Blurt Staff

More concert coverage from your friendly neighborhood BLURT - this time, we've got James in Washington, DC and James McMurtry-Jason Isbell in Athens, GA. Don't overlook the exclusive photos from the shows, either.

• *Kyle Gustafson popped into D.C.'s 9:30 club on Sept. 18 to catch Britain's James attempting a bit of a comeback on these shores. Muses Gustafson, "Why have they been relegated to a mere footnote in 90's rock lore? Thursday night's show provided more questions than answers, as the group displayed the confidence and moxy of their most successful peers."
• *One night earlier, Brian Creech was down south in Athens for the turbocharged twin bill of James McMurtry and Jason Isbell at the Georgia Theater. "It was balls-out cynicism mixed with an innate storytelling ability that kept the crowd held under McMurtry's power," writes Creech of the former, additionally noting of the latter, "The centerpiece of the night was clearly Isbell's guitar as he shredded through songs from his Drive-By Truckers days and solo albums alike."

Check ‘em out at the provided links, or simply scroll down the BLURT front page to the reviews section. We've also got new book, DVD and CD reviews being added daily.

This is your brain on MySpace.... Zzzzzzz...... any questions?

By Fred Mills

MySpace Music officially launched yesterday after weeks (if not months) of tease, hype and buildup. As expected of what is touted as the world's largest social network - MySpace, duh- the interfaces are clunky, the loading of pages perilously slow. In short, just like MySpace, only amplified! Don't believe us? Go to the regular MySpace first and just do some random sampling - see how long it takes for songs to load in the music players, the wait between page refreshes, etc. Then try it at MySpace Music. It's like déjà vu all over again!

Seriously folks - I could have boiled a pot of tea and drank 3 cups by the time some of this stuff started working properly.

At any rate, MSM is being called a pretty big deal because, one, bands and musicians can upload all their music, and not just a handful of songs, to the site for streaming, and, two, users can also feature up to 10 songs on their personal profiles (compared to a single song previously). Naturally you'll be able to click-through if you hear something you like and purchase the track - significantly, MySpace went with Amazon and not iTunes for the retail end of things. (Guess that deal with Snocap wasn't a smashing success...)

A lot, but not all, labels are on board with the deal; Universal, Warners, EMI and Sony-BMG have signed up, but that just covers the majors. Some significant players in the indie sector have so far emitted a collective yawn at the MySpace venture, among them the Beggars Group, Koch and Domino.

In a widely circulated email this morning, Merlin CEO Charles Caldas stated, "It is incredibly disappointing that MySpace will launch their new service without having finalised a deal with the world's most important independent labels and artists. It certainly makes [MySpace co-founder] Chris DeWolfe's public statements, that the "indie bands are really the heart of MySpace", ring extremely hollow. What is absolutely clear, however, is that any independent deal struck without an equity component (as was done with the majors), will see independent labels face a situation whereby their major competitors will profit from the use of their repertoire without an appropriate upside opportunity being extended to them by MySpace Music and its Major Label equity partners."

(According to statistics released by Merlin, it's members "command a 9% share of the US digital recorded music market equivalent to EMI." Merlin works within the global indie record sector and is still currently in negotiations to license the world's leading independent labels and artists to the service.)

Of course, if the service sucks in the first place, what's the point?