BACK FROM THE DEAD!

No I have not recently returned from a Dead concert, I have just revived, refurbished, renewed, reorganized, re-whatever else you want to call it, Monkey Junction.

I will once again offer up reviews of music, shows, movies, books and anything else I feel like reviewing.

It is up to you weather you read it or not. If you check out my ranting and raving and you dig it, then pass it along to your friends, family, enemies, hell anyone who knows how to read and appreciates stuff.

OK, have to go wrangle a three year old away from grandpa and get him ready to head on home.

Later.

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.