Category Archives: Music

Live Shows, Music, Music Video

Lollapalooza 2009

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I finally had a chance to check out the Lollapalooza 2009 line up and I am a little excited about it.  Ok, a lot excited…


Click HERE for the Lollapolooza 2009 line-up poster.

The poster is kinda large to be putting on my site so instead I will just copy / paste the list of bands that will be performing over the 3 day weekend:

Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Jane’s Addiction, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon, Lou Reed, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Thievery Corporation, Snoop Dogg, Rise Against, Andrew Bird, TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, The Decemberists, Neko Case, STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9), Animal Collective, Band of Horses, Of Montreal, Arctic Monkeys, Coheed and Cambria, Ben Folds, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Kaiser Chiefs, Crystal Castles, Bon Iver, Santigold, Atmosphere, Dan Auerbach, Cold War Kids, Deerhunter, Lykke Li, Robert Earl Keen, Peter Bjorn and John, Heartless Bastards, Gomez, Glasvegas, Federico Aubele, Dan Deacon, Passion Pit, Zap Mama, The Raveonettes, The Gaslight Anthem, The Airborne Toxic Event, White Lies, Ra Ra Riot, No Age, Asher Roth, Los Campesinos!, Bat For Lashes, Chairlift, Gang Gang Dance, The Virgins, Amazing Baby, Portugal. The Man, The Knux, Ida Maria, Delta Spirit, Friendly Fires, Manchester Orchestra, Constantines, Ezra Furman & The Harpoons, Hockey, Miike Snow, Alberta Cross, Hey Champ, Sam Roberts Band, The Henry Clay People, Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, Cage the Elephant, Living Things, The Low Anthem, Blind Pilot, Langhorne Slim, Other Lives, The Builders and The Butchers, Eric Church, Joe Pug, Kevin Devine, The Greencards, Carney, Thenewno2

See any bands in there you like?  I know I see a ton of bands I would love to see, even if I have already seen them previously in the year!  There is also a handful of other artists too listed to perform at another stage.

I’ve never been to Chicago so this may have to happen.  I am sure my pal Matt will want to join me as has mentioned it to me a couple of times.  Any of you other Cleveland bloggers thinking of invading Chicago too?

Tickets are $190 for the three day festival not including a place to stay.  I will be highly considering this since I have still heard nothing about this year’s Virgin Mobile Festival.

I would like to say that I was going to the Virgin Mobile Festival for the fouth time in a row but if they move it from the Pimlico Race Track that will really put a damper on if I want to go.  Part of the whole experience was being at that horse race track turned festival grounds…  I wrote a little post about it a few weeks back you can read if you are curious on why they might move the Virgin Festival to another location.

I guess we will see what happens!

Until then here are some Lollapalooza related videos I found…

This video is footage of a terrible crowd in Charlestown, VA in 1995 not giving a good welcome to original indie artist Pavement:

I really wanted to go to Lollapalooza in 2007 because of this band:

Jane’s Addiction in Enumclaw, WA in 1991 with Ice T (NSFW, a little strong language going on here…):

Good Reads, Music, Random

Pirates Press Celebrates 5 Years!!!

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I received an email this morning from my pals over at SolidPR I thought I would share with everyone. With Record Store Day being celebrated just this past weekend I felt this was a more than appropriate good read:


Pirates Press Announces Five-Year Anniversary!!!

The best stories are those that write themselves, when all the writer has to do is expressly write what they see (or in this case, see AND hear)… and all the reader has to do is envision their role.  The story of vinyl records and especially its burgeoning resurgence is this type of story, and the proud leading role PIRATES PRESS has been playing in it is one as well. Their family of salespeople, production coordinators, project managers, and graphic designers have experience from all over the manufacturing, sales, and distribution industries and care deeply about the experience people have working with them.

Putting their customers ideas to life is the essence of Pirates Press’ true goal… helping artists, record label owners, and other entrepreneurs do what the market and industry are demanding of them to survive; bring collect-ability back. Helping create tangible products that reflect an artist’s visions in such a way that creates a real demand to purchase it (rather than download it) is important in an increasingly downloadable world that too-often looses the tangible dimension that once [financially] drove the industry.

Vinyl collecting has for generations been the baseball card of the non-jock (and even the occasional jock), and remained present in certain scenes and genres (underground for the most part) regardless of the pressures from the industry to exclusively digitalize. It was always that tangible element of vinyl in combination with the nostalgic sound and feeling you get from playing records which resonated with collectors through vinyl’s darkest moments. Now, when the digital world that everyone assumed would replace it entirely has brought such strain to the industry, vinyl and other creatively packaged albums sales have made a tremendous resurgence, once again giving people something their passionate about going out (or [ironically] going online) and buying. Pirates press believes that the sky is the limit at this point for vinyl and other types of creatively packaged music and ideas, and we’ll continue doing everything in our power to bring our customers there in as powerful and prominent of a way as possible!

Pirates Press Statistics in the last three years:
– 680,000 records produced in 2006
– 1,100,000 records produced in 2007
– 1,750,000 records produced in 2008

High Profile Projects: Spiderman3, MyChemicalRomance, Beck’s “Odelay” Deluxe 4LP Package, AgainstMe!, The Dark Knight, Madonna’s “Hard Candy” & a slew of singles, Talib Kweli, Brian Posehn&Lewis Black&PattonOswalt, Pulling Teeth (Holographic Record Jacket), Murder By Death 16pp Foldout, Bob Marley Boxset, Isis Boxset, The Watchmen, All the WBR Singles, & Much More…

High Profile Customers: Warner Brothers Records, Reprise, Sire, Atlantic, Original Recordings Group, Relapse, Robotic Empire, HydraHead, Deathwish Inc., Troubleman Unlimited, Anticon Records, Temporary Residence, Suburban Home & Vinyl Collective, Southern Lord Records, Tank Crimes, Chunksaah Records, Fat Wreck Chords, Vagrant Records, Slumberland Records, &  Many More…

Pirates Press Unique products include: Gatefold Jackets, Tip-On (casewrapped) Jackets, Boxsets, 5th and 6th Color Printing, Foil Stamping, Embossing, Spot Gloss and other special finishes, Insertion of CDs/Digital Download Cards into the vinyl, BIG Posters, Slipmats, Stickers and other Merch, Unique Types of Colored Vinyl, Limited VERSIONS to create immediate collect-ability! Looking to the future, we’re also working to redevelop the technology to make flexidiscs, as well as new technology, a multiformat CD/DVD/Vinyl Disc, Shaped Records and Picture Discs as well as diecut shapes of vinyl pressed directly into the records. Lots in store in 2009 and beyond!

Props to Pirate Press for staying in the game for five years now!  As a vinyl collector myself I think it is great this company is doing better and better every year.  I can only blame them some for helping empty my wallet as more releases come out in the future, but I am ok with that.

Bad Times, Bragging Rights, Good Times, Music, Random

Record Store (To)Day

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Today was like Jesus Day (Christmas) for many music lovers out there.  I am sure many people had a hard time falling asleep last night as there were countless album titles floating through their heads, distracting them from falling asleep.  Cookies were left out at the front doors of music stores worldwide in hopes that it could be an edible bribe to let shoppers in the door early… (That last part may not be entirely true)

Why?

Today is RECORD STORE DAY!!!

I know my friend Matt was one of those people who may have been a bit excited this morning when it was time to pack up and hit the independent record stores all over Cleveland.  Just check out what he posted today.  It’s a post of a post and more importantly a great read about how music rotated around his life growing up.

Before I even continue with my post I need to give Matt a thank you. 

Thank you Matt.

He is my hero for today as he took the time to fight people for a couple of Record Store Day release vinyls that I really wanted.  If that is not a friend, then I do not know what is.

I look forward to the limited edition vinyls (all singles) he scored for me:

Cursive + Ladyfinger
Flaming Lips/Black Keys
Jenny Lewis
MC5
Radiohead – Karma Police

I really hope next year that I remember to take the day off so I can actually enjoy such a wonderful idea of a day.  It sure beats sitting at a desk looking outside at a beautiful day just wishing I could be at one of those fine indie record stores maybe seeing a live performance…

Did you partake in Record Store Day?  I want to hear about it!

Download This!, Folk, Indie, Music, Music Video, New Release, Rock

Download This! – Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers / Paleface

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I was sent an email from Thirty Tigers / Ramseur Records over the weekend about a couple of artists who both have albums dropping on 4/28.

If you have never heard of either of the record labels, know this…  Ramseur Records once were the former home of The Avett Brothers and Thirty Tigers were the ones who introduced Those Darlins to me.  You might have heard me talking about Those Darlins before (perhaps HERE, or HERE), it is quite possible…

First up is Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers:

She’s 22 and has a voice that reminds me of Bjork at times, minus the weird of course and full of southern soul.  She has a singing style I could listen to all day.  Having never heard anything by her before I am intrigued now to hear more.

Here is a short bio:

With their debut full-length, Songs in the Night, Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers deliver a shudderingly beautiful unique batch of songs in a style that’s been described as “meshing freak folk with a deep-seated, dust-bowl soul.” The 22-year-old Shawnee, OK native’s haunting voice, well-chosen words and emotional depth ring true in a way that sets her apart from most artists of her generation. Picking up where her critically acclaimed 2008 Ramseur Records EP, The Confiscation, leaves off, we find Crain presenting each song with an unfeigned fervor as her voice rises and falls over the panorama painted by the Midnight Shivers and their roots-infused, fertile arrangements.

-DOWNLOAD THIS! – Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers – “Songs In The Night”

-Check out Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers’ MySpace page for more tunes.

-Here’s a video of her that might just very well move you:


Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers: “The Dam Song” @ Ramseur Records HQ from Ramseur Records on Vimeo.

The next artist is Paleface:

It’s been over ten years since this anti-folk artist has released any material mostly thanks to a personal battle that Paleface finally overcame.  His previous material is folk fun goodness and after hearing just a handful of songs I am intrigued to hear his new album.

Here’s another short bio:

More than a decade since his last major label release and collapse from alcohol abuse, Paleface, a founding member of NYC’s Anti-folk movement, is back with The Show Is On The Road (Ramseur Records). The album is an intimate, 11-song diary that transcends genres with its ingenuous lyrics and deceptively unassuming style – just Paleface on acoustic guitar and harmonica and his girlfriend Monica “Mo” Samalot on drums and backing vocals, along with the occasional piano overdub. Paleface is the sort of artist who brings you into his world. His voice is sweetly ravaged and effortlessly expressive, as intimate as a friend whispering in your ear. The album is a farewell love letter to his longtime home, New York City, and an embrace of his new life in the South.

-DOWNLOAD THIS! – Paleface – “The Show Is On The Road”

-Check out Paleface’s MySpace page for more tunes.

-Here’s a fun little video of an older song I found:


PALEFACE – Little By Little

So what do you think?

Bad Times, Cleveland, Eye Opener, Good Times, Live Shows, Metal, Music, Music Video, New Release, Punk, Rock, The Dumb

CKY Sneak Peek / True Story

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This to me is exciting news…

Roadrunner Records and CKY (Camp Kill Yourself) are bringing their fans an early sneak peek of their new album, Carver City, with a FREE mp3 download of “Hellions On Parade” starting on 4/15. The digital single goes up for sale on 4/21 but you can  hear it first at ckyalliance.com and roadrunnrerrecords.com!  Just visit the page and supply your email address and you will get the download in return…

I’ve have been a longtime fan of CKY and I have Bam Margera‘s CKY skate videos to thank for that.  Back in 2000 a kid I worked with at Borders found out I liked skateboarding and made me a VHS tape that had Landspeed : CKY & CKY2K on it.  I remember taking that tape home and watching it twice.  Once for the shock factor and hilarity and the second time to find out more about some of the music that was chosen for the soundtrack.

One band in particular on the videos was CKY.  For those of you who may not know, CKY is a band that Bam Margera’s older brother Jess drums for.  The band caught my ear in a good way and before I knew it I was doing everything I could to find their CD.

It’s been 4 years since the band last released new material so needless to say I am really looking forward to their new material.

While I am on the subject I might as well tell you all a little story about stupid ol’ me…

I think it was October 2002, in fact I am pretty sure it was then.  CKY came to Cleveland and I was overexcited to finally see them live.  They played Peabody‘s in Cleveland with Atreyu and other bands on a week night and I made sure I bought 2 tickets seeing how I missed them the previous time they played at Blossom Music Center opening for some band that does not come to mind.  For all I know they played Cleveland even before then but I missed it…  The point being, I finally got to see this band that I quickly became a huge fan of.

It turned out that CKY brought along their friends Ryan Dunn and Rake Yohn from Jackass fame and being the generous guy I was I bought them drinks.  A lot of drinks.  I also drank a lot and I mean A LOT.  Drinking with people on shows I adore is fun.  Forgetting how much I actually drank before I left was not fun; more on that in a second.

I befriended former CKY touring bassist Vernon Zaborowski that night who kindly introduced me to the band before their show (more on him at the very end of this blog).  We chatted and drank and drank some more.  I felt like I was a rock star that night…woo.

Let me stop here.  I am pretty sure the following clip is an exact portrayal of how I was…

I’ve learned that when you drink a lot you do not act how you think you do…  For all I know I could have been annoying the hell out of the band.  I know drunk people annoy me these days and I don’t even drink anymore!  Point being, I am pretty sure I was making an ass of myself that night.

Throughout the night I hung around the bar with Ryan Dunn, Rake Yohn, and the lead singer of Atreyu even, who by the way was really nice as well.  I don’t even think I left the bar stool while CKY played.  I was too busy talking and sharing drinks with Ryan Dunn and Rake Yohn.  I watched the band from afar and kept to my debauchery.

I do remember CKY owning the night.  They sounded amazing live and had more energy on stage than I had seen in any band for years.  The fans, or CKY Alliance, were full forced as well surrounding the stage and singing along with fists in the air.  It was indeed a rock show that night.

After the impressive show my friend and I were invited upstairs to hang with CKY some more.  One of the members, I think it was Chad Ginsburg, later asked me if I was ok to drive home when we were saying goodbye.  I thought I was, my friend who went with me thought I was too…

I should have listened to Chad Ginsburg because apparently I was not.

That night I got my first, only, and last DUI.  I honestly thought I was ok to drive or else I never would have gotten behind the wheel.  I was not too far from home when I was pulled over.  When I got out of the car I suddenly felt real drunk.  Being the honest guy I am, I admitted drinking and when I felt myself stumbling I just gave up and was arrested.

I regret my poor decision in life and paid my fines, did my time, and moved on with life being a little smarter with how I do things.

A couple years later CKY returned to Peabody’s and the band remembered me.  Chad Ginsburg asked me if I ever made it home that night.  When I told him no he, rightfully so, laughed and took me back to tell the rest of the band.  We had a good laugh at my expense.

True story.  I am an idiot, got hammered with CKY, and got a DUI as a result.  Let this be a lesson to you kids.  If you want to get hammered with a band, go ahead, but make sure you have a sober friend who will drive your drunk ass home.  It is a lot cheaper.

Speaking of cheap.  How about free videos?

I was wondering what ever happened to Vern and found out he is currently in a band called Eastern Conference Champions.  Check them out on their MySpace page.