Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Tibet House benefit

Michael Stipe and Patti Smith — just two of the heavyweights on hand to celebrate Tibetan culture at Carnegie Hall’s seventeenth annual shindig — launched into a rendition of “Everybody Hurts” that made everyone watching a little verklempt.

The CLZ Blog

Blogging has been light (OK, it's been nonexistent) for the last two weeks as we have had to switch our account to a new host. We finally sorted out all the technical issues and we're back up and running! Thanks for your patience.

Slates Benefit

As you may have heard, the popular Hallowell restaurant/bakery/art gallery/music venue Slates suffered a lot of damage due to a fire in one of the apartments above it. They are planning on re-opening but not all the details are clear. There is going to be a benefit for the out-of-work employees this Saturday March 3rd at two other Hallowell venues, The Wharf and Higher Grounds. Many Hallowell based musicians (The Boneheads, Eric Glockler of Strangefolk, etc) will be performing from 2PM to 8PM. The acts at Higher Grounds will be acoustic based while the bands at the Wharf will be electric. Please plan on coming down for a great afternoon of music and to help raise funds for the displaced workers.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Richard Thompson

Check out RT's website. Lot's of interesting stuff and a new song from his upcoming CD you can listen to.

This week on Greetings From Area Code 207

Tonight I interview Rural Electric, a self described "guitar-wielding fuzz-folk combo from the backwoods of Maine specializing in a unique brand of indie rock". They have a new (ish) CD and it has perhaps the coolest title of all CDs released in the last year. Check them out a 6PM tonight.

UPDATE: Due to technical (i.e weather-related) difficulties, tonight's show did not air. It will air this Sunday at noon, and then again next week. FYI, Rural Electric will be playing at The Dogfish Cafe this Saturday (2/17), opening for Tree By Leaf. That's a great double bill. Doors at 8PM.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Bonnaroo 2007 | Lineup Leaked |

How much trouble will I get in? Well, I figure once it's out there, you cannot stop information from spreading. I think the methodology that the Live Music Blog people used to find the list is so simple that the Festival Organizers should have known better.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Interesting Grammy tidbit #1

Andy Summers will be 65 later this year and he once did session work for Neil Sedaka!

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Hypocrisy alert:The Coug

Last weekend I read an article about John Mellencamp, whom I affectionately remember as "The Coug". It was concerning his new CD, the use of his song "Our Country" in a Chevy commercial and the state of his career in general. Let's go the article:

"The ubiquitous Chevy Silverado ad, in which Mellencamp’s heartland anthem Our Country plays against a montage of scenes depicting U.S. glories and shames, sparked an immediate controversy when it came out in October. Many questioned the appropriateness of including a picture of civil rights icon Rosa Parks and scenes from Hurricane Katrina among the emotion-laden images, in part selected by Mellencamp himself.

But the roots rocker is unapologetic about breaking a longstanding vow to never sell his songs, suggesting it was the only way to promote his first new album in more than five years, Freedom’s Road, and regain the radio attention that has eluded him in recent years. The album was due in stores Tuesday.

'That’s what it takes to get a song to last forever,' Mellencamp says with a tone that hints he’s recited the argument several times over.


'I’m not for people selling their songs. I don’t suggest it for anybody else. It’s something that I decided to do. I don’t think music was made to sell products and I’ve never done it before but for me personally, I wanted the song to be heard, I wanted the song to get into the consciousness of people’s lives and there was only one way to do it.'"

Hmmmm, so let me get this straight: he's not for selling songs (although he has made millions selling CDs) and he doesn't recommend it to others and he has a longstanding vow not to do it and he doesn't think music should be used to sell products. But he's doing it anyway!

Later, in another article, he talks about his song "Pink Houses".

"In a recent interview from the lakeside home in Bloomington, Indiana, that he shares with his 37-year-old wife and their two boys, an eerily calm Mellencamp recalled that his 1983 hit Pink Houses was 'the biggest slam on America that you could ever write.' But people never dug deeper than the catchy chorus line, 'Ain't that America, home of the free,' and interpreted the song as a patriotic ditty."

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the lyrics just to make sure I wasn't forgetting something. That's "the biggest slam on America that you could ever write"? Billy Bragg, he ain't. Sounds pretty mild to me and it doesn't come across as much of a slam at all.

Lastly he talks about the idea of turning another one of his mega-hits into a movie. Take it away Coug!

"As for the fate of those two American kids growing up in the heartland, Mellencamp sneers at the suggestion of turning Jack and Diane into a script, but he’s not willing to close the door entirely.

'I don’t want to say never, never, never, never. If somebody came to me with an idea that was as good as The Last Picture Show I’d sure think about it,' he says in a slight southern drawl, referring to the Oscar-winning 1971 coming-of-age film.


Mellencamp once made his own movie. I recently tried watching it and, well, let's just say it's not as good as "The Last Picture Show".

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

It's a question worth asking...

Just in case you found yourself asking "Why didn't Prince get zapped purple in the rain?" on Sunday, the St. Paul Pioneer Press has the answer.

The Cat Empire, part two.

When Cat Empire plays the Paradise on Sunday, the band will finally have an actual CD to promote. ("Two Shoes" was just released in the United States; it's been out in Australia for more than a year.) "It's really strange," says Riebl, on the phone from Melbourne. "You've got to win fans over just by playing night after night at festivals, so we're used to the word of mouth, I suppose. We're only just getting used to releasing CDs in the world, which is a whole different thing."

This week on GFAC 207

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Who's feeling thoughtful today?

A little bit of Big Picture for your day: 11 Important Philosophical Quotations, courtesy "neatorama." I think Thomas Hobbes must somewhere have lyrics perfect for songs of Nine Inch Nails. And Socrates is still dead on with #1.

Not every group......

from the 80's should reform.

Monday, February 05, 2007

What music takes away your pain?

The link is to a site that seems to wish there was more than anecdotal evidence that music really does sooth humans in actual physical ways. But a clinical approach to music is welcome to this blogger. This link's going in the check-back-frequently file to see if the author really can come up with numerous reports on the scientific analysis of music. If it all seems a little dry, there are references to Spandau Ballet and Thomas Dolby to spice things up.

The Cat Empire

For those unfamiliar with celsius, we provide a brief guide to get to know our favourite unit of temperature. Water freezes at 0. Water boils at 100. 50 is about halfway between freezing and boiling. What could be simpler than that? It makes far more sense to me than water freezing at 32, but then again I like the metric system. You know, that crazy thing where everything is divisible by 10.

Paolo Nutini in Boston

As he left the stage, saluting the crowd with a Nalgene bottle -- he isn't old enough to drink from the bar -- Nutini looked pleased, satisfied that he'd lived up to the hype surrounding his first foray to the States.

Rumor of the day.......

The Police will play Fenway Park in Boston on July 28 and July 29!

Friday, February 02, 2007

100 Most Often Mispronounced Words

Duck tape vs Duct tape. Ducks very rarely need taping.