Stomp Up And Do The Right Thing, Fans: Fall Fund Drive In Progress Now...

By Blurt Staff

"It's not just about music, it's about life itself, you know what I mean? The Stomp's for real, man."  Lil' Buck Sinegal

  After 8 years of critically acclaimed shows during April/May, the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation announces a change of seasons. As a non-profit organization celebrating American roots music, the Stomp has had unprecedented growth in recent years; in addition to the concerts in New Orleans, Austin and New York, their small staff has launched a packed music conference, a developing archive of oral histories, monthly ‘After Hours' shows at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and ‘Unsung Heroes', an exhibition celebrating Louisiana's role in the development of rock n' roll, on display at the Louisiana State Museum's Cabildo in the French Quarter.

There's also the recent release of the Ponderosa Stomp short film. The Ponderosa Stomp was founded to showcase and honor the world's most authentic performers of rockabilly, R&B, jazz, blues, garage, soul, funk, and swamp pop. The film focuses on Classie Ballou, Lil' Buck Sinegal and Roy Head, integral Stomp performers. These three exemplary artists enjoyed early success, but found themselves toiling in obscurity later in life. When music fan Brian Gourley attended the Stomp, he was transfixed by the music and amazed that such a small group was able to bring so much music and cultural information to the fore on a shoestring. After offering to executive produce a film, he began fund-raising and working with acclaimed director Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories won the Grand Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival) and the Butler Bros production team.

Gourley explains, "The film presented itself at the right time; it let me pour my love of music into a project that I thought would help give props to its roots. Without roots, there are no trees."

The film makes it easy to see the importance of the Stomp's mission and the impact of its work. Continuing to recognize influential artists like Ballou, Sinegal and Head and hundreds of others and documenting their stories is a fundamental part of the Foundation's mission. Plans to expand an oral history archive are moving forward and the "Secret History of Rock n' Roll" is currently on exhibit at the Louisiana State Museum.

Now, the Stomp has announced it will hold the 9th Annual Stomp concert on a weekend in the Fall for 2010. Citing the gorgeous autumn weather, moving all events to a weekend instead of mid-week for locals who aren't vacationing and cost economies for out of town fans, Stomp staffers, led by Ira Padnos, will be able to take the Stomp to its full potential. Look for more news on an exact date and locale shortly.

The Stomp is launching a fall fundraising drive to build upon these recent successes and to continue to expand their unique and vital work. Cultural preservation efforts require the technical skill, time and expertise of their small, committed staff to be successful.  The bottom line is that the Stomp needs additional resources to continue to turn the mission into action.

"We are on a crusade to convert the masses of music fans and vinyl junkies to the gospel of the Ponderosa Stomp.  We hope a visit to www.ponderosastomp.org will create a disturbance in your mind and that you will get up off your thing and get involved with the Stomp," explained Padnos.

 
To Donate: https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=203846140&PcaItemId=18015

Watch the Stomp Film: www.PonderosaStomp.org

Legendary rocker to be honored as MusiCare's Person of the Year.

By Fred Mills

Been a good year for ol' Neil, eh? That massive Archives box and whatnot... he was born on this day in 1945, and just a couple of days ago he got an early birthday present when news arrived that Young will be honored on Jan. 29 in L.A. at the 2010 MusiCare's Person of the Year celebration.

According to Rolling Stone the event will be a star-studded one with a ton of musicians slated to take part in the tribute. Among them: Dave Matthews, Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mellencamp, Wilco and Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jackson Browne, Norah Jones, James Taylor, Sheryl Crow, k.d. lang, Emmylou Harris, Ozomatli, Josh Groban and Everest. It will "honor both Young's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-worthy musical achievements as well as his philanthropic work, which includes leading roles in both Farm Aid and the Bridge School benefit concerts," reports RS.

Past MusiCares Person of the Year honorees are Bono, Brian Wilson, Billy Joel, Aretha Franklin and, most recently, Neil Diamond.

Say, it is just me, or is Neil lookin' just a bit like Tricky Dick in the photo above? Not that there's a connection, but... just sayin'...

41+ Members Come Together For 18 Exclusive Songs Curated by Tim Kinsella.

By Blurt Staff

Throughout its 15 years of existence, Joan of Arc has always existed as a fluid entity -- one that freely allows musicians to enter and leave while adding their own touch and perspective to the band's records. This set-up has enabled Joan of Arc's sound to remain fresh and always evolving, while leaving behind an impressive network of contributors who continue to make music on their own.

The eclectic musical output of this extended family of musicians is showcased on Joan of Arc Presents: Don't Mind Control -- a unique record that encompasses 18 bands whose members have, at one time or another, collaborated with frontman Tim Kinsella under the Joan of Arc moniker.

The idea for this new album came several years after the 2005 release of the similar-themed Association of Utopian Hologram Swallowers, when Tim Kinsella approached Polyvinyl with the idea of doing a more ambitious sequel to the original four band 2x7".

Explaining why he chose to curate such a challenging project, Tim reveals: "I wanted an opportunity to step aside and let everyone do their own thing in a way that people who know Joan of Arc, but not these members' other bands, would be able to access the songs in one place."

And so, Kinsella immediately set about contacting bandmates past and present to ask if they would contribute to the project by recording a song with their current musical incarnations. Just as quickly, all of Tim's friends each responded with an enthusiastic "Yes" and, two months later, with a brand new track.

The result is Don't Mind Control, a record even grander in scope than the original Association of Utopian Hologram Swallowers. Featuring a diverse tracklist that flows from Owen's gentle acoustic strumming, to the jangly, cymbal-clashing rhythms of Vacations (ex-Chin Up, Chin Up), to the dueling electric guitars of Ghosts and Vodka (ex-Cap'n Jazz), Don't Mind Control is not so much a compilation as a time capsule -- a snapshot of a moment in musical history; of a group of musicians who are all interconnected and yet wholly unique.

"It's an easy mistake to make -- associating Joan of Arc with just me," says Tim Kinsella. "But really it's never existed as simply a vehicle to realize my personal vision as much as an umbrella under which I have been able to collaborate with so many different musicians I respect and admire."

Tracklisting:

1. Litesalive - Uwar
2. Disappears - Guider
3. Birdshow - Privacy
4. A Tundra - The Doug McComb Over
5. Owen - No More No Where
6. White/Light - Kickstart
7. Euphone w/Tim Kinsella - Friend in Common
8. Slick Conditions - Spit in Layers
9. Cale Parks - Long Looks
10. Joshua Abrams - Blanes echo Blirds, Bless echo Blouds
11. The Cairo Gang - Oh Solo
12. Tim Kinsella - Roots Dug into Dunes = Landslide
13. Jeremy Boyle - Second Door From the Left
14. The Zoo Wheel - Flicker
15. Vacations - Friday the 13th Part 2
16. Pillars and Tongues - Oakey
17. Ghosts and Vodka - Gameshow Buzzer
18. Birthmark - Drivin' me Crazy

Glad we got that settled... hey, we didn't start the fire!

By Blurt Staff

Well, it's a slow news day around the BLURT compound so we think we'll slip out early this morning and take in a 4-martini lunch and... wait, this just got slipped over the BLURT transom by one "Erin Kane, Publicist, EXTRA TV":

Please feel free to use the story below with a proper link and credit to "Extra"**

Shania Twain and Billy Joel are not making sweet music together.

The National Enquirer reported that Twain, 44, and Joel, 60, have been going on secret dates, but Twain's rep tells "Extra" that the "story is not true." Twain has been romantically linked to Frédéric Thiébaud since splitting from husband Robert "Mutt" Lange, who reportedly was cheating on her with Marie-Ann Thiébaud -- Frédéric's ex!

Joel introduced "Extra" to girlfriend Deborah Dampiere on the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera back in September.

Er, on second thought, it's STILL a slow news day around here, and now we definitely need those drinks. Meanwhile, the rest of you may ponder: why do industry publicists feel compelled to send us this kinda garbage? Or is it possible they don't even bother to take a look at our site and get a sense of what we cover? After all, we are a music site, and neither of these two celebs are really... oh, never mind...

Injured guitar great denied insurance, can't perform to raise funds to support family.

By Fred Mills

BLURT contributor Rev. Keith Gordon alerted us this morning to a Catch-22 ordeal legendary fingerstyle guitarist Peter Lang is currently experiencing - and it's a classic moment when YOU, dear music lovers, can help out. We realize that not only is everyone strapped this year but it's also that "giving time of year" when you're being hit up left and right by charities. But maybe consider helping out one of our own here, just a bit, and if it means foregoing that annual contribution to United Way (where half your dough will go to questionable administrative overhead anyway), well, so be it.

Writes Gordon at his About.com: Blues blog, "In May 2008, Lang was involved in an automobile accident that resulted in injuries requiring several surgeries, and has suffered a nerve impingement that may prevent him from playing his guitar again. Caught in a bureaucratic "catch 22," Lang's auto insurance company refuses to pay his medical expenses, considering his injuries to be "pre-existing," while his health insurance company won't pay, terming his injuries the result of the accident. Either way, Lang's medical bills keep piling up, and Lang is unable to perform and thus support his family."

Ergo, there's been a fund established, and you can get the details on how to donate at the Lang Fund website.

For those unfamiliar with Lang, he of the so-called 6- and 12-string fingerpicking "American Primitivism" movement, you should check out his Wikipedia biography. Suffice to say that the man has been around since the early ‘70s and worked in some capacity with just about everybody, including John Fahey, Ry Cooder, Jerry Garcia, Emmylou Harris and Leo Kottke, and over the years he's consistently figured highly in "best guitarist" polls.

Gordon adds that at the Lang website the guitarist has made six of his albums available for digital download as a way of saying "thanks." So if you want to think of your donation as a "purchase" that's fine, too - we guarantee it'll be the best deal you snag all year.

The spudboys from O - HI - O recreate their classic debut LP - politically incorrect lyrics ‘n' all - last Friday (Nov. 6).

By Jud Cost

The recently renamed Regency Ballroom at the corner of Sutter and Van Ness - about a stone's throw from storied old San Francisco hippie venue the Avalon - was jammed to the rafters tonight with an all-ages demographic, abuzz over the reappearance of the Ohio spudboys, DEVO. There were tattered, 30-year-old DEVO t-shirts stretched over some patrons and flower-pot hats on others. One enthusiastic young guy, wearing a pork pie chapeau with glow-in-the-dark plastic ribbon spelling out the band's name, took a flying header trying to climb over an aluminum barricade. I never did see him get up; he might still be lying there.

As recent college students from Kent State and fresh out of Akron ("What's round on the end and "HI" in the middle? O-HI-O!"), DEVO first played the eye of San Fran's punk hurricane, the Mabuhay Gardens, in 1977 before they'd released their first LP on Warner Bros. A hardy crowd of about 60 were treated that night to a short, band-produced 1974 film called The Truth About De-evolution before the inventors of robot-rock took the stage. With their synchronized, herky-jerky movements, hazmat-style uniforms and mechanical vocals, DEVO left a trail of popcorn in the woods that night for such current practitioners of android-inspired indie-rock as Grandaddy, Radiohead and Mercury Rev to follow, decades later.

Oddly enough, George Hunter, the man behind the concept of the Charlatans, the Edwardian-clad, S.F.-based rock combo who trailblazed the hippie revolution in 1965, once told me of his original idea to dress the band like robots playing angular robot music. That probably would never have flown in the Haight-Ashbury during the Summer of Love, but DEVO took it to the bank 11 years later at the height of the punk revolution.

The blueprint tonight called for DEVO to play their entire debut longplayer, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!, something not to be missed. (The album was recently reissued by Warner Bros. in expanded/remastered form.) It was that rare occasion where a band now in its fifties doesn't lose much by being middle-aged. Graying hair and thickened middles only added to the suburbia-gone-insane original game plan. Mark Mothersbaugh peered briefly out at the already-gyrating mob through coke-bottle spectacles before leading his platoon, all decked out in banana-slug yellow jumpsuits, into an assault on the album's opener, "Uncontrollable Urge." Before the set was 15 minutes old, Mothersbaugh had ripped the sleeves off the rest of the band that included original members Bob Mothersbaugh and Gerald and Bob Casale, still squaring off their stage turns like it was Nazi boot camp. 

Eventually, the boys stripped off the sweaty jumpsuits, tossed them into the sea of faces, and lit a magnesium fire under the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," whose sprung rhythm was stretched like an industrial-strength rubber band with jaw-busting lyrics like: "And I try and I try/And I try try try try try try try/I can't get me no/Satisfaction." 

"Jocko Homo" is the one everyone's been waiting for: "They tell us that we lost our tails/Evolving up from little snails/I say it's all just wind and sails/Are we not men?/We are DEVO/Are we not pins?/We are DEVO!" The pinhead reference, of course, is just the tip of the politically incorrect iceberg. The original lyrics to the very rocking "Mongoloid," easily DEVO's best song, are diluted not a whit for the Obama generation. "Mongoloid, he was a mongoloid, happier than you and me/Mongoloid he was a mongoloid, one chromosome too many/And he wore a hat and he had a job and he brought home the bacon so that no one knew/He was a Mongoloid, he was a Mongoloid/And no one even cared." 

Complaining about tactless passages depicting the genetically challenged in these songs from almost 35 years ago would seem about as pointless now as sanitizing the insensitive racial terminology used by Mark Twain 125 years ago. The boys' own lyrics supply the answer to the conundrum: "Teachers and critics all dance the poot." After all, in the Old Testament according to DEVO, "God made man but the monkey supplied the rules."

[Photo of DEVO in Dallas 2006 by Michael Pilmer, via www.myspace.com/devo]

Entire UK tour will be available on USB drives - fans can buy them before leaving the venue.

By Blurt Staff

Well, it's not exactly Dick's Picks, but still... kinda cool. Simple Minds today announced they will issue their forthcoming ‘Graffiti Soul' UK tour entirely on USB sticks directly after each concert. 

Each USB stick will come with an individual serial code number. Fans who attend the forthcoming UK tour dates, which kicks off at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on November 30th, will be able to purchase the live recording USB sticks directly after the concerts and can download the encores once they install the memory stick into their USB port on their computers. To download the encores, the user can automatically hyperlink to www.concert-online.com and can enter the serial code clearly marked on their USB concert stick.

The USB drive's pop-up menu is displayed above.

Effectively, fans will be able to purchase a memory stick for all eight of Simple Minds' UK concerts. Every concert will feature a different selection of Simple Minds songs; no two concerts will have the same set list.

The live concert USB stick is the brainchild of Germany-based Concert Online. Simple Minds are the latest rock band to participate in Concert Online's live concert USB stick campaign, following in the footsteps of other name bands that include KISS and Madness.

"In addition to buying the USB stick after the concert at the merchandise stall," says Simple Minds lead singer Jim Kerr, "no matter where you are in the world, you can go online and download the songs from that show, or you can have the stick packaged and sent directly to you. It's amazing."

More details here - the sticks will also be available via mail order.

Whirlwind 4-date tour slated for early January.

By Blurt Staff

Hold onto your hats, the men from ALL are hitting the East Coast for their first shows there in 7 years! For those of you who have been living in a cave, ALL evolved from The Descendents, a band who once claimed they couldn't sell out a telephone booth but whose impact on rock is undeniable.  The Descendents created ALL, a concept celebrating the satisfaction that comes from one's highest achievement, eventually naming their new band in tribute to their own personal ideology.  After more than 25 years, there have been line-up changes and a complicated chronology for each member involving spouses, kids, doctorate degrees, labels and recording studios, making touring more of a challenge than in less complicated times. ALL will hit Cambridge, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Brooklyn in January 2010 with Scott Reynolds on vocals joining Bill Stevenson (drums), Karl Alvarez (bass) and Stephen Egerton (guitar).

After years of hiatus, ALL reunited at 2008's Riot Fest in Chicago, setting the stage for additional shows in Japan and in Denver later that year. In July of this year the band headed to their homeland, Southern California for a series of shows, where they were joined by Descendents band mate Tony Lombardo at two shows. Another one-off show in Portland last month set the stage for this brand new set of shows on the opposite coast.

ALL will be joined by Off With Their Heads and Shot Baker for the following shows:

WED   JAN 6             CAMBRIDGE, MA               THE MIDEAST

THU   JAN 7             PHILADELPHIA, PA            FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH

FRI      JAN 8             BALTIMORE, MD                THE OTTOBAR

SAT    JAN 9             BROOKLYN, NY                  MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG

[Photo Credit: Stacie Stevenson]

Well, it ain't quite the Simpsons, but it's pretty damn close! Zach Galifianakis fans, keep reading too...

By Blurt Staff

My Morning Jacket will get ‘tooned when they appear in an episode of FOX's hit show "American Dad" to air November 22 on the Fox Network. Titled "My Morning Straightjacket," the episode will feature 6 MMJ songs spanning their 10-year catalogue, and the band will be guest-voicing as themselves.  Comedian Zach Galifianakis (The Hangover, "Bored to Death") will be featured as a super-fan.  To commemorate the episode, ATO Records will release a digital EP on iTunes including the 6 featured tracks and selected dialogue clips taken from the show.

The concept behind the episode was conceived by "American Dad" co-creator Mike Barker, who tells the story of how it all came together in the Q&A below, issued in a press release:

How did you first discover My Morning Jacket?

One of my writers, Matt Fusfeld, turned me onto them.  He played "Bermuda Highway" for me in the office one day and I was instantly transfixed.

How'd this collaboration come about? Who seduced who?

"Who seduced who?" That makes it sound like this game is already over.  Look, this isn't over until halfway through a live performance of Steam Engine, Jim reaches into the audience and pulls me up on stage like I'm a pre-cougar Courtney Cox.

But if I might be professional for a moment, the word "seduction" implies that there has been some sort of manipulation on either my part or the band's, when in fact, it's the two art forms themselves - Writing and Music, that sought each other out.  In the end, we are all just instruments of the Goddess of Art.  I'm not sure who that is, but in my head she looks exactly like Scarlett Johanssen.  

You're not being very specific...

Honestly, it was an organic evolution.  I was at Bonnaroo in the summer of 2008, watching MMJ play their guts out in the rain at 4 a.m. when the idea for the episode struck me.  I pitched the idea to the guys the next day and thankfully they were on board.  

What makes My Morning Jacket a good fit for American Dad?

The best band in the world appearing on the 59^th top-rated show on television?  It's a no-brainer.

What is the spirit of the episode that features the band?

 I guess you'd call it a quest.  A "hero's journey" as Joseph Campbell coined the term in his now-classic autobiography, Thick Enough to Eat Me With A Fork:  Growing Up a Campbell in the Halcyon Days of Canned Soups.

Which character is the biggest My Morning Jacket Fan?

 You'll have to watch the episode to find out!  But I'll give you a hint:  it's not Francine, Steve, Hayley, Roger, or Klaus.  

Did the band have input on how they were animated? 

We gave the band customary consultation and they signed off on all of the artwork we ran by them.  It's always tricky animating real people.  Because you're not just animating them to resemble who they are in real life, you also have to make sure they resemble characters that live in the American Dad universe, and that carries with it a whole host of challenging parameters for our animators.   But I think our character designers did a great job at capturing Jim and the guys.
 

If Kiss is the semi-official Family Guy band, does that mean My Morning Jacket is the semi-official American Dad band?

Hell, let's just make them the official band.  

Filmed by same director who handled PJ Harvey's 2006 doc "On Tour".

By Blurt Staff

Whattaya get when you send Howe Gelb off on tour and have a filmmaker follow him around? Why, a Howe Gelb music documentary, of course, and if you're familiar with Gelb (frontman for Giant Sand) you know that a doc on him won't be your garden variety doc. You can see a clip from it, below.

‘Sno Angel Winging It follows the collaboration of Gelb and his band plus the Voices of Praise gospel choir. Filmed in the UK, Spain and Canada over 2 years by director Maria Mochnacz - PJ Harvey - On Tour: Please Leave Quietly (2006) - it shows the coming together and subsequent recording session and tour of musicians from very different backgrounds. In the words of choir director Steve Johnston, "Taking a gospel choir, with what we stand for - our beliefs, out on the road with a rock and roll band; you have absolutely no idea what to expect!"

In the words of Gelb:


rock documentaries suck.

this one is no different, except maybe, cause it was left in the talented hands of maria mochnaz (who shot and assembled the live p.j. harvey DVD) and follows the impossible notion of attaching an entire choir to the crinkle of desire to acquire. it works if you want it too. soothing, like reaffirming creme. loose, like cluster muck. the reliving is relieving and revealing. probably doesn't suck at all.

the end

-howe

En route, then, is a DVD/CD package featuring the Winging It film plus a live concert audio CD. The audio portion of this package will also be available as a digital download from iTunes, Amazon, etc. Go to www.giantsand.com where they are taking preorders right now.