Two discs and 34 Songs From The Virtuoso Guitarist's Eclectic Career.

By Fred Mills

"Rhino takes a joy ride through Ry Cooder's prolific career" begins a press release from the esteemed archival label, and if you've glommed the loony album artwork above, you know that they must be telling the truth. On Oct. 8 Rhino will drop the two-CD Cooder chronicle The UFO Has Landed, a 34-song compilation tracking the maestro's solo records and his soundtrack work.

Now, sharp-eyed BLURT-sters will already have noted this is not the first time to the Cooder anthology well: in 1995 Warner Bros. released Music By Ry Cooder, a two-disc collection of his film music that's absolutely crucial listening to any Cooder fan (it's long been a house fave here at the BLURT mansion); while the previous year WEA-Germany issued the 19-track River Rescue: The Very Best Of (likewise, an essential piece to own, as it collected both film and solo work); and in '92 Warner Bros. UK reissued the 13-song Cooder greatest hits LP, Why Don't You Try Me, on CD. The latter two, however, are outrageously priced nowadays, however. And in any event, The UFO Has Landed brings the career overview up to the present - just looking at the track listing we can already state for the record that this record is the bee's knees, Jeeves.

From Rhino:

 
Produced by Cooder's son, Joachim, the set offers a fresh look at Cooder's musical career, spanning 38 years--from his eponymous 1970 debut to this year's I, Flathead--and includes the previously unreleased version of "Let's Work Together" featuring accordion player Buckwheat Zydeco, drummer Jim Keltner, pianist Jim Dickinson and bassist Mike Elizondo. Along with his solo work, The UFO Has Landed features selections from Cooder's film soundtracks, including the themes from Southern Comfort and Paris, Texas.
 

It collects Cooder's most memorable cuts from his solo albums, including "Maria Elena," "Jesus On The Mainline," "Boomer's Story," "I Got Mine" and "Available Space." The latter, a Cooder original on his debut, got its name from the album's producer Van Dyke Parks, who saw the words on an empty billboard on the way to the studio.
 

Get rhythm, baby!

Track Listing:
 
Disc One
1. "Get Rhythm"
2. "Low Commotion"
3. "Available Space"
4. "On A Monday"
5. "Do Re Mi"
6. "Which Came First"
7. "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)"
8. "Down In Hollywood"
9. "Smells Like Money"
10. "Let's Work Together"*
11. "I Got Mine"
12. "Cherry Ball Blues"
13. "Jesus On The Mainline"
14. "Tattler"
15. "Teardrops Will Fall"
16. "Maria Elena"
17. "Jesse James"
 
Disc Two
1. "Paris, Texas"
2. "Theme From Southern Comfort"
3. "Tamp 'Em Up Solid"
4. "Billy The Kid"
5. "Crazy 'Bout An Automobile (Every Woman I Know)"
6. "Drive Like I Never Been Hurt"
7. "Feelin' Bad Blues"
8. "Boomer's Story"
9. "How Can You Keep Moving (Unless You Migrate Too)"
10. "Alimony"
11. "Always Lift Him Up/Kanaka Wai Wai"
12. "Theme From Alamo Bay"
13. "Dark End Of The Street"
14. "Why Don't You Try Me"
15. "Poor Man's Shangri-La"
16. "Going Back To Okinawa"
17. "Little Sister"
 
*Previously unreleased

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 NBC:  Today: Chubby Checker , Natalie Cole

8:00 AM TVONE: Tom Joyner Sky Show: Al Green

9:00 AM The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Leona Lewis

11:00 AM ABC: The View: Jessica Simpson

12:00 PM PLD HD: CMT Crossroads: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

2:30 PM MOJO: London Live!: Girls Aloud , The Game , Howling Bells , The New York Dolls

6:00 PM VH1C: NY77: The Coolest Year In Hell w/The Jimmy Castor Bunch , Gloria

Gaynor , Chic , The Ramones , Richard Hell , Blondie

6:00 PM Ovation: Live from the Artists Den: The Swell Season

8:00 PM TMC: Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)

9:00 PM Biography: Ellvis: Return to Tupelo

10:00 PM Ovation: Elvis Costello & the Imposters: Club Date

11:30 PM PBS: Tavis Smiley: Carole King

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Alejandro Escovedo

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Jessica Simpson

12:00 AM FUEL: The Daily Habit: Langhorne Slim

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Glen Campbell

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Meiko

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Cloud Cult

2:00 AM FUEL: Check 1, 2: Valient Thorr

[Pictured: Top, Alejandro Escovedo (photo by Andy Tennille; bottom, Valient Thorr]

New album arrives October 14.

By Blurt Staff

 BLURT blogger Todd Snider, whose new EP Peace Queer, drops Oct. 14 (Aimless Records), will join NPR's Mountain Stage's "Moving the Mountain" tour for three shows this October. After a successful tour in 2007, the legendary live music radio program takes to the road again this fall with stops in Harrisburg, PA, Glenside, PA

(Philadelphia) and New York City.

Snider has been a guest on the program seven times since he released his debut record "Songs for the Daily Planet" in 1994. On his choice to bring Snider along for the tour, host Larry Groce noted, in a statement, "Todd Snider first came on the Mountain Stage in

1995 and we've been fans of his ever since. We admire how he goes about this business- he's fiercely independent, cleverly topical and can be very funny sometimes which is no easy task by itself. We're thrilled he's agreed to come onboard as a re-occurring guest on this series of road-shows."

Snider returned the compliment, saying "I love playing Mountain Stage. It is great to be able to share my work with their audience and be a part of an institution that not only believes in the power of live music, but they live it and promote it themselves. I am grateful for the opportunity to 'move the mountain' with them this fall and share the stage with some great people along the way."

Of the record itself, Snider describes it as a "song cycle, starting with a song called 'Mission Accomplished.' In six sentences, the record goes like this: Here's the kid being told everything's going to be great. Here's the reality of that. Here's that kid when he comes home a sad and banged-up and angry 'winner.' Here's the breakdown of why I think that's happening. Here's the guy in our culture that I think is causing that to happen, and it's not a president. And then here's what I think is going to happen to that guy. And then we roll credits."

Peace Queer' will be available for free download at ToddSnider.net October 11-31.

Mountain Stage "Moving the Mountain 2008" Tour Dates

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

7:30pm

at the Whitaker Center at the Forum

5th & Walnut Streets

Harrisburg, PA

717-214-2787

www.whitakercenter.org

Featuring:

The Grascals, Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers, Todd Snider and others TBA

Tickets: $44.50 / $36.50

Thursday, October 23, 2008

7:30pm

at the Keswick Theatre

291 Keswick Avenue

Glenside, PA

215-572-7650

www.keswicktheatre.com

Featuring:

Todd Snider, Ollabelle, Jim Boggia, Simone and others TBA

Tickets: $54.50 / $44.50 / $34.50

Saturday, October 25, 2008

8:00pm

at Town Hall

123 W. 43rd Street

New York, NY

212-307-4100

www.the-townhall-nyc.org

Featuring:

Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Todd Snider and others TBA

Tickets: $65 / $45 / $35

Ov strangeness and synchronicity in the shadows of the twin towers.

By Fred Mills

While everyone pauses today to remember 9/11, it's inevitable that, depending on your frame of reference, your mind will drift in different directions. One such direction arrives courtesy of Burning Babylon, a culture/politics/arts blog, which posted an intriguing essay/compendium a couple of days ago titled "More 9/11 Strangeness - Scorpions & Other Synchronicities."

In it, writer Michael Goodspeed ruminates upon pop culture connections to the 9/11 tragedy, and although his general tone tilts a bit too heavily in the direction of conspiracy theory, he doesn't really try to sell the reader on any particular agenda - he clearly feels that by presenting his litany of coincidences, that others will be piqued enough to do their own investigations. Writes Goodspeed, "I don't believe that any of these connections can reasonably be described as a "stretch" or "wishful thinking" (although of course not everyone will agree on their ultimate significance.)"

Well, some of the so-called connections might charitably be described as "a stretch."  For example, one citation reads thusly: "In the 1982 Richard Bachman (Stephen King) book The Running Man, the story concluded with the protagonist hijacking a plane and flying it into the tallest building in downtown NY."  He also mentions that notorious album cover for Party Music from The Coup: "In 2001, the rap group The Coup created an album cover featuring its members detonating the World Trade Center south towers. They later released their album with a different cover." In the first instance, it's clearly a coincidence (most likely Osama Bin Laden wasn't thinking about the WTC back in 1982), and with regard to The Coup, the band itself spent plenty of time in the media explaining that their so-called "eerily prophetic" artwork was simply a statement about capitalism's evils.

Just the same, some of Goodspeed's other connections are interesting to ponder even if you're not a conspiracy nut. Here's three of them:

*In the 1999 film The Matrix, the expiration date of the passport of Keanu Reeve's character Neo is September 11, 2001.

*In the 1998 film Enemy of the State, Jon Vogt's character - a malicious NSA official intent on pushing legislation that will make it easier to spy on Americans - was born on September 11th.

*In the 2001 pilot of the TV program The Lone Gunmen, the story centers on a Pentagon plot to fly a plane into the WTC for the purpose of triggering a war.

Food for thought, eh? There's a lot more in the essay worth reading and pondering, if not exactly swallowing hook, line and sinker. Maybe you have some coincidences of your own. At any rate, today, at least take a few moments out to think about the events of seven years ago. And don't take everything you read, see or hear for granted.

By Fred Mills

Seven years ago to this day - as I write, to this hour - I was placing a couple of travel bags beside the front door and preparing to drive to the airport where I'd be taking a flight to New York for the 2001 CMJ fest. What can I say, I'm a rock writer, and things like CMJ, SXSW and the like are important to hacks like me. I remember getting this momentary, very strange, pit in my stomach; it would be the first time I'd be away from my eight-month old son, and I'd been so busy getting ready for my five-day trip that I hadn't realized how much I would miss him.

The phone rang. It was my sister-in-law: Turn the television on.

A couple of hours later I finally pulled myself away from news accounts of the events at the World Trade Center. There was still just enough time to get to the airport in time to catch my plane. I'm not sure exactly when the FAA ordered all flights in the U.S. grounded, but I didn't even think to call American Airlines to check on my own flight's status. Instead, I did what any normal, red-blooded, music-obsessed rock geek journalist would do: I called the CMJ offices.

"Hi, I'm getting ready to fly up there from N.C. but first I thought I'd check with you to make sure that everything is still going as planned."

"We're not sure. Well, we think so, but there might be some delays now. We're waiting to find out ourselves and have been trying to make some calls..."

At that point that morning, everybody in Manhattan was trying to make calls - many of them unsuccessfully. Hmmm, what should I do, I thought to myself.

And I remember thinking this to myself, too: Goddammit, this is such an inconvenience. I'm probably going to have to change my flight to tomorrow and...

I suppose that on 9/11 more than a few people were inconvenienced. Casting my mind back to that point now, I can hardly believe I would have a spot reaction like that, but of course I realize, too, that I must have been in shock, and I certainly didn't have all (many) of the facts yet, either. But still... confronting my selfishness and self-centeredness shames me. A fucking "inconvenience"?!? Whew. Needless to say, I didn't catch my flight that day, nor the next, nor the next. (In 2001, CMJ was postponed until October.)

Ever since, I've felt this aching tug in my heart every time I think about 9/11. It's not so much that I have a direct connection to it - I didn't lose any friends or loved ones in the tragedies - but more a kind of ultravivid sense memory that is pulled up when I think about it and ponder the fact that had timing been slightly different, I might have actually been in NYC (or in the air) when the tragedy hit.  I'm sure most of you can identify - maybe when someone asks you, Where were you and what were you doing when you heard the news?

That's one reason we should never forget 9/11. We're all connected to it in one way or another.

Coming out of the underground to fight the good fight.

By Fred Mills

Noise for Obama's the name of the website, and it's something that's been put together by musicians Brian Chippendale (Lightning Bolt, Black Pus) and Brian Miller (Foot Village, Deathbombarc). In a report filed today by Pitchfork, the site is aimed at collecting Obama testimonials from the noise-rock community - also pitching in are members of No Age and Deerhoof - and beyond. The site also provides a link that will help you register to vote (and if you haven't done so already, get off your ass pronto).

Miller told Pitchfork, "We were both concerned that a lot of people, both audiences and artists, in the noise/underground music community don't vote and may not have considered what an important election year this is. So I started writing to other noise rockers and found that there are others that feel as strongly about Obama as we do."

A 12" split single is due Oct. 14 featuring tracks by Foot Village and Black Pus, and proceeds will be donated to the Obama campaign.

Coming to a town, and a digital magazine, near you.

By Blurt Staff

Sure, this is a shameless plug for the September issue of BLURT's digital magazine, which goes live on the site any day now. Be watching for.... Drumroll please.... the image of Jenny Lewis that'll appear on the magazine cover on the right hand side of our homepage. You know you're drooling already.

Meanwhile, as we told you last week, the Rilo Kiley vocalist kicks off he solo tour tonight in Los Angeles in support of her forthcoming album Acid Tongue, due Sept. 23 from Warner Bros. You can hear a preview of it at her official website, www.jennylewis.com , where a couple of songs are being streamed. You can also see see some home movies starring Ms. Lewis and what her label is describing as "an unexpected visitor. Something strange is definitely happening in the Canyon."

Jenny Lewis Tour Dates:

9-11 Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland

9-12 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo

9-15 Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine Theatre #

9-16 Boulder, CO - Fox Theatre #

9-17 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre #

9-18 Lawrence, KS - The Granada #

9-19 Chicago, IL - Epiphany Church #

9-20 Omaha, NE - Anchor Inn *

9-21 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *

9-22 Knoxville, TN - Bijou Theatre *

9-23 Fayetteville, AR - George's Majestic Lounge *

9-24 Oxford, MS - Lyric Theatre *

9-25 Tulsa, OK - Cain's Ballroom *

9-26 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits Music Festival)

9-28 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa *!

9-30 Atlanta, GA - Variety Playhouse $

10-01 Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre $

10-02 Washington, DC - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue $

10-03 Wilmington, DE - Grand Opera House $

10-04 New York, NY - Apollo Theatre $

10-05 New Haven, CT - Shubert Theatre $

10-08 Paris, France - La Maronquinerie

10-09 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Melkweg

10-10 Hamburg, Germany - Knust

10-11 Berlin, Germany - Lido

10-13 Stockholm, Sweden - Kagelbanan

10-14 Copenhagen, Denmark - Vega Junior

10-16 Cologne, Germany - Gebaude 9

10-17 London, England - Koko

10-18 Glasgow, Scotland - Queen Margaret Union

10-19 Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory

10-20 Manchester, England - University

10-24 Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre %

10-25 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom *

10-26 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market *

10-28 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theatre %

11-01 San Diego, CA - University of California at San Diego %

# with Whispertown2000, Jonathan Wilson

* with Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band ! with M. Ward $ with Michael Runion % with Beachwood Sparks, Pierre De Reeder

Stream: Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue [from the forthcoming Acid Tongue LP]

MP3: Jenny Lewis: Acid Tongue [from the forthcoming Acid Tongue LP]

Band of Horses head south of the border.

By Andy Tennille

After a successful late-summer tour of Australia, New Zealand and Japan - where they saw some wildlife, taught bartenders how to make martinis, made some friends and knocked out their Asian fans with some new killer jammers - Band of Horses has announced they're headed south of the border for two shows in Mexico in November.

The band will headline the Viva Cuervo Salon in Mexico City on November 6^th before heading up to Monterrey to perform at the Zero Festival on November 8^th. More information on the Zero Festival can be found here.

Tickets for the Zero Festival go on sale today, while ticketing for the Viva Cuervo Salon won't begin until Thursday, September 18^th . Check Ticketmaster's Mexican site, Boletos Jefe, for more information.

 (All video and photos provided by Christopher Wilson. Check out his blog from Band of Horses tour at http://bandofhorsestour.blogspot.com/.)

Diddy revises “Diddy Blog #16,” cuts Palin some slack and asks for some of the same.

By Randy Harward

Raving lunatic and general dumbass Diddy keeps digging himself a deeper hole. Hopefully he’ll disappear down it one day and nobody will have to listen to his terrible music or mush-mouffed video blogs.

Surely you recall his incredibly stupid “Diddy Obama Blog #16” from last week? At the time BLURT reported on it, the clip was already removed from YouTube. Since then, all mention of the video has been deleted from Diddy’s Wikipedia entry. And get this: Diddy has posted a replacement #16 as well as a follow-up. {Note: All three videos appear in order after this post.] Clearly there has been some backlash, and it’s damage control time.

In the new #16, Diddy plays the old #16 off as comedy and sings, “I’m sorry… so sorry…” to anyone offended by his racist, sexist, stupid post. “I was not 100% serious on that blog. I do know that there are black people [laughs] and crackheads in Alaska…” He goes on to say that the bottom line is he doesn’t think Sarah Palin is ready to be vice president and McCain “didn’t thoroughly vet her out.” And he reiterates—repeatedly—that he’s just havin’ a laugh.

“Now some of you guys would like me to articulate myself in a very direct, serious manner like this—but I choose to have fun on my blogs. I choose to make fun of myself, I choose to just make you laugh a little bit, and have you wonder am I crazy, am I serious.”

He states he’s not a Democrat, he’s an Independent, and pleads for us to leave him alone. “I’m just gonna be involved in this election in my way, through my blogs. And, um, don’t critique them, media, or bloggers in the blogosphere, like they’re 100% serious. Watch the blogs to laugh and give an opinion.”

Then he restates his qualms about Palin’s competence: “I wanna know who she is… I’m on this one.” And once more, to the haters: “Stop takin’ everything so serious! Motherfuckers! See, I can curse on my blog.” And now is the time on Sprockets when we dance: Diddy bops in his chair while saying, “I’m not a politician. I’m a citizen. Havin’ fun. On the Internet. Woo-oooo! Peace.”

In “Diddy Blog #17” he continues to try to save face by applauding Palin’s GOP convention speech and acting like she’s presented us with some serious shit to consider. “On Wednesday night, 34 million people who doubted you, who didn’t know you—I didn’t know you, I doubted you—um, we didn’t know who you were, what you stood for. Honestly, we still don’t exactly know [laughs] but you had the pressure of the world upon you… You stepped up to the mic, you looked us in our eyes and you did your thing. You know? You gave a pretty good speech.

“Not overly thinking, or not overly critiquing the factual information of the speech or even if the speech really spoke to issues. More to the fact that I didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt. Most of the people in American didn’t give you the benefit of the doubt, and that’s a very important lesson that I learned. I want people to always give me the benefit of the doubt. So I should at least give you the benefit of the doubt. But I did it. And um, you gave a speech that basically shut me the fuck up. For the whole time that you were speakin’. Um, you came across extremely strong, extremely charismatic, um, somebody I would wanna play hockey with. I still don’t know if I want you to be vice president, but you at least deserve the benefit of the doubt, see how you do in this campaign.”

Finally, as punishment for his trenchant mouf, he then grounds himself from posting video blogs until next Tuesday. That’s Diddy for you: fair and imbalanced.

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)

9:00 AM Syndicated: The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Sugarland

2:00 PM FUSE: Steven's Untitled Rock Show: Underoath

2:30 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: Darkest Hour

4:00 PM Rave HD Concerts: Warren Haynes - The Benefit Concert 2006

5:30 PM VH1C: VH1 Rock Honors: The Who (2008)

6:00 PM Ovation: Elvis '56

7:00 PM RAVE HD: Other Voices: Daniel Lanois , Kate Walsh , Super Furry Animals , Sons & Daughters

7:30 PM VH1C: Heart: Dreamboat Annie

9:00 PM BET: Hustle & Flow (2005)

10:00 PM PLD HD: Rothbury 2008: Dave Matthews Band , Snoop Dogg , John Mayer , Widespread Panic , Rodrigo y Gabriela , Primus

11:30 PM FUSE: d'fused: Slipknot "Psychosocial"

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Al Green

12:00 AM VH1C: Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Gym Class Heroes , 50 Cent

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Alice Cooper

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: P.O.D.