SEAN COSTELLO.......R.I.P.

SEAN COSTELLO...DEAD....AGE 29.






Sean Costello was found dead in his Atlanta hotel room Tuesday, the day before his 29th birthday.

Sean was one hell of a blues guitarist. He had 5 really good albums that were a mix of traditional blues and his own creations.

I am lucky, I was able to see him live a few times and it is one hell of a special thing watching him play that guitar.

STEPHEN MALKMUS AND THE JICKS.....HELLLLLS YEAH!

This entry is a review of two things, one is the new album by STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS, EMOTIONAL TRASH the other is of their show last night here in Atlanta at the Variety Playhouse.

This new album, EMOTIONAL TRASH is freakin' incredible. I have listened to it over and over again, and every damn song is good. It blows away the last two records SM threw at the listening public by a mile. With exceptional lyrics and catchy tunes, what makes this record pop is the guitar play. The guitar licks on this record slap you right in the head, and you can't help but jam along with your air guitar. The song "Willie Hopscotch" is the best example of this, there is a guitar solo that is out of this world, it is just effin' incredible. Also, there is a 10+ minute song, "Emotional Trash", you don't even realize it is that long because it is such a pleasurable listen. From start to finish this is a great record, could be the best stuff SM has done since the demise of Pavement. The boy, my boy, really digs this record. He jams along with almost every song when we listen to it.

Now on to the show. Last nights show (3-26-08) at Variety Playhouse in Atlanta was pretty damn good. The music kicked ass and the banter with the crowd was pretty damn funny. They played almost every song from the new record, and played them to perfection. SM's guitar playing is incredible, I had no idea he was that good. On some songs he and Mike Clark played back and forth, building off each others guitar playing, it was sweet. Clark also played a mean keyboard. Janet Weiss is one hell of a drummer, she brought her a-game and beat the hell out of those skins. SM's singing was right on the money. The highlights were "Vanessa From Queens" and "Willie Hopscotch", they played the hell out of Willie.....damn that was good.

The only negative thing I have to say is the show seemed a bit short. They played for an hour, then did a 2 song encore, so it ended up being right at a 1 1/2 hour show. It was still damn good though.

There is something that needs to be said about the amount of assholes at the show. There was constant talking during the songs. Maybe it is just me, but I pay money to listen to the music, not discuss my day with my buddies. There also were a whole lot of people yelling for Pavement songs inbetween tunes. SM did a great job of pretty much ignoring this. On the way out I actually heard people trashing the show because he didn't do any Pavement songs. The show was Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, that is who you paid to see, so I don't know why you are getting pissed you didn't hear "Gold Sounds" or "Cut Your Hair" or "Spit On A Stranger" (these were a few titles that were screamed out).

The assholes aside, top notch show, well worth the 18 bucks.

CHOCKED FULL OF LIVE MUSIC

LIVE MUSIC ARCHIVE

www.archive.org/details/etree

This is a web site that is full of live recordings that are free to listen to or download. I mean there is a freakin butt load of music. A lot of it is stuff i have never heard of, but there is definitely some good stuff. The recordings range from crap to excellent which is where the streaming ability comes into play. Listen to a show, then download it if you want to burn it to a disc, keep it on your pc or add it to the ol iPod.

Here is a small sample of artists who allow their shows to be posted on this site for free use:

Acid Mothers Temple

Ben Kweller

Cracker

Camper Van Beethoven

Death Cab For Cutie

Drive-By-Truckers

Fishbone

Fugazi

G. Love and Special Sauce

Grateful Dead

Hank Williams III

Jack Johnson

Kevn Kinney

Little Feat

Man Or Astroman?

Matisyahu

Mekons

Michael Franti

Mike Doughty

Minutemen

moe.

Patterson Hood

Robyn Hitchcock

Rogue Wave

Ryan Adams

Southern Culture On The Skids

Spoon

The Apples In Stereo

The Decemberists

The Gourds

Vic Chesnutt

Warren Zevon

Ween

This is just a small small small fraction of the bands that are on this site.

I have been a regular at this site for 4 or 5 years and it just keeps getting bigger and better.

It is totally free and legal. Check it out for some good ass music.

A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF WILCO

WILCO - THE RIVIERA - CHICAGO, IL - 2/15/2008 - 2/20/ 2008

I was switching around the ol TV the other night and passed a story about Wilco. Which channel it was I do not remember, but the story was about Wilco's shows at the Riviera in Chicago. They were there for 5 nights, and over the course of those five shows they supposedly played every song from every record they have released.

So of course the shows have to be out there in Internet world somewhere correct?

Thank you trusty bt.etree.org you always have what I am looking for, well most of the time.

All five shows were posted for download and the wait was well worth it. Not only are the set lists pretty damn sweet but the recording quality is freakin awesome. It is not perfect, but pretty close. The music does not drown out the vocals nor do the vocals overwhelm the music.

I have finished listening to the first night and it is incredible, I cannot wait to listen to the rest. Guess my son is going to be getting a heavy dose of Wilco this week, which is cool because I think he is tired of listening to Kevn Kinney.

A 3-PACK FOR THE READER FOLK

MIKE, BLACK MOUNTAIN AND LEVON



MIKE DOUGHTY - GOLDEN DELICIOUS

I was really looking forward to this album coming out. I liked HAUGHTY MELODIC so much I had high expectations for GOLDEN DELICIOUS only to be let down.

There are 3 very good tunes on this record, "Ft. Hood", "27 Jennifers" and "Nectarine (Pt. 1)", but the rest of the album is either mediocre or sounds like lost tracks from a never released Soul Coughing album.

"Ft. Hood" kicks the thing off leading you to believe this is going to be another good album from Mike. When I saw "27 Jennifers" was on the CD I was quite happy, it is one of his best tracks from his earlier self recorded albums and it definately delivers here. "Nectarine" comes along on the record at a time when you start to lose interest, and draws you back in to finish listening to the whole album.

This record is just so-so, nothing overly exciting, but it doesn't suck. It plays nice in the background, but is nothing you are gonna' put on and listen to over and over again.


BLACK MOUNTAIN - IN THE FUTURE

Sweet jesus this is a good record. Here is where my brother being 8 years younger than me comes in handy. I had never listened to Black Mountain, then read his blog and checked them out. Damn I was missing out. They take classic rock mix it with todays sounds and put out a kick ass sound that is all their own.

With the start of the first track, "Stormy High". IN THE FUTURE punches you right in the ear drums...in a good way. Opening with a nice melodic guitar then BAM here come the drums and a slammin' guitar crunches it's way into your ears.....damn that's a good song. They do a good job of mixing the rocking tunes with the mellow ones, creating a very even record from start to finish.

Stephen McBean at times sounds like Neil Young, and several tracks, "Stormy High", "Evil Ways", "Angels" and a small part of the 16 min 41 sec opus "Bright Lights" have a Black Oak Arkansas sound to them.

While they definately have a classic rock sound to them, they add in plenty of their own sound to make it original. Holy crap this is a good record.


LEVON HELM - DIRT FARMER

When The Band called it quits, Levon Helm became a solo artist, and released some very mediocre songs. They were OK, but in no way comparable to his work with The Band. Now, 25 years later he has released a record that re-captures the southern roots music The Band were so good at.

DIRT FARMER is a good ol' down home trip back to Levon's southern roots in Arkansas. If you didn't know better you would think it was an older album recorded in the Ozarks many a moons ago while sippin' on some shine.

"Fake Hearted Lover Blues" and "Poor Old Dirt Farmer" are two of the better tracks, but "Got Me A Woman" is the best tune of this record of good songs. He sings about how great his woman is, (...she shave's my beard/keeps my tractor clean...), how can you not dig this song, much less a chick that keeps your tractor clean?

Check this record out, you will not be dissappointed.

WHAT ARE THEY SMOKIN?

YO GABBA GABBA....WHAT IN THE HELLLLLLL?



So my 2 year old son kinda likes this kids show Yo Gabba Gabba that started back in 2007. It has lots of music, bright colors, funny characters and actually does teach some good things, sharing, healthy snacks, exercise, love of music etc. It was created by a memeber of the group the Aquabats, so you know he has to be a little weird to begin with, but after watching this show you have to wonder what they are smoking.

The show stars DJ Lance Rock who is a skinny ass dude wearing an orange jump suit with a furry orange kanga hat. He carries a big freakin 80's style boom box where 4 creatures and a magic robot live in and are brought to life when he yells YO GABBA GABBA.

They sing and dance and play teaching about sharing, not cutting in line, eating healthy, trying new foods, exercising, resting, and so on.

Mixed in with all of them are short animated clips with songs from such groups as the Shins. They have Happy Music Fun time whith groups performing such as the Aggrolites, the Aquabats, and others. They also have Dancy Dance time where Elija Woods and Tony Hawk and the dude that played Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite among others show up to teach the crew a new Dancy Dance.

Oh it gets even better, ocassionally Biz Markie drops in to give the beat of the day. My son laughs at this. Also, Mark Mothersbaugh draws a picture of the day, usually quite poorly. He looks like a kookie old uncle, draws the picture, usually a cat or dog or potato bug, then the drawing walks off the paper and he jumps in surprise and goes after it.

You watch this show and go what the hell was that, but all in all it is a pretty good kids show with out being all kiddy and annoying.

Check it out, it comes on Nickelodeon and Noggin, or on you tube I think there are videos posted there.

THE CLASH CITY ROCKERS...KINDA.

CARBON/SILICON - THE LAST POST

I picked up a cd by CARBON/SILICON this weekend, not bad. I am a huge CLASH fan so of course I was going to pick up a cd that Mick Jones was involved in.

THE LAST POST fits in somewhere between THE CLASH and B.A.D., falling closer to the CLASH. Mick and Tony James (from Generation X) have written some good tunes. Over the p ast few years they have been writing and recording tunes then posting them on their website as soon as they finished for the fans to devour. I have heard a few tracks that were pretty good, but none are as tasty as the 12 tracks on their first traditionally released cd, THE LAST POST.

"The Magic Suitcase", "The whole Truth" and "Why Do Men Fight" are three great songs. They are simple guitar songs, with a nice funky beat to them. The lyrics are incredible and together they are pure extacy to your ears.

With the passing of Joe Strummer, Mick has picked up where Joe and the Mescaleros ended.

HOW BOUT A TWO - FER?

NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL STARS & DRIVE-BY-TRUCKERS


NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALL STARS - HERNANDO

If you are looking for good ol' fashioned, bad ass, raw, crunchy blues then look no further. The boys from Mississippi have let loose what could possibly be their best album yet.

The songs are juct incredibly written, musically and lyrically, and then Luther's guitar playing has never been better. On Hernando, he has captured the rawness of his live guitar playing for the first time.

While "Shake" kicks the record off right it is chocked full of great blues tunes, "Rooster's Blues", "Keep The Devil Down" and "Take Yo Time Rodney" to name a few, but I think the best tune is "I'd Love To Be A Hippy". Hearing Chris Chew sing a song is a nice change of pace.

I have been wearing this cd out, and my son really digs it, he gets his groove on when the Dickinson boys are jamming.

DRIVE-BY-TRUCKERS - BRIGHTER THAN CREATION

When Jason Isbell bolted the Truckers I was a little worried about what their future endevors would sound like. I didn't have a damn thing to worry about. This record is quite tasty. The Truckers have once again put together a cd full of southern, swampy, trailer park tunes that kicks ass from start to finish.

Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley dominate this record with songs that bring a smile to your eardrums. I have been listening to this record over and over and it is much better than DIRTY SOUTH and right on par with DECORATION DAY and SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA as another Trucker's masterpiece.

While Patterson and Mike 's tunes feel like an old pair of underwear, comfortable, easy to get into, and a bit dirty, the big surprise are the songs by Shonna Tucker. Her voise was a pleasant surprise thrown into the mix.

Check this cd out, you will totally dig it.

STUPID AS HELL, BUT FUNNY.

HOT ROD

I didn't want to plunk down the $8 bucks for this flick so I just waited. The other week it finally came to pay-per-view and our satellite company had a special where a lot of the movies were half off. Half off of $4.99 is pretty damn good.

So me and the missus got the kid chucked into bed and quiet for the night, got the popcorn popped and the sodas over ice, and ordered that damn movie.

Hot Rod was one damn stupid movie, and I laughed my ass off.

The simple breakdown is Rod is a daredevil wannabe who is trying to raise money for his step-dad to get a heart transplant so he can then beat the crap out of him.

Samburg and Hader are a great team in this movie.

Will Arnett plays a great asshole, but was not in the movie nearly long enough.

I think the best part of the movie was Ian McShane. He playes Rod's step-dad who will not show Rod any respect as a man until Rod kick's his ass. He is freakin awesome.

Thats a quick run down of this flick, definately check this bad boy out.