Hidden Track

Can I borrow five bucks? No, don’t laugh, I’m serious. I just wasted a ton of hard-earned money purchasing this great little mom-and-pop operation called AIG. Well, technically it was the government who wasted my money for me, even though I didn’t ask them to.

But I’m sure things will work out for me in the end. I mean, I now am a co-owner of the largest insurance company in the world, and I’m confident that I can help turn things around and make us some cash. I just need to make sure the other 301,139,946 co-owners are on board with me.

So that five bucks we talked about, do you think I can have it by lunchtime? I hear McDonald’s has added three new items to the Dollar Menu.

In all seriousness though, the mood around here (and by here I mean the United States) has gotten a little too sobering for me. Some people are even predicting the end of the world is nigh, citing the stock market crash, natural disasters like the earthquake in China and Hurricane Ike, and the fact that the Cubs are favored to win the World Series.

I understand that we’re in a fiscal crisis and all, and we’re on the cusp of potentially voting a dinosaur and a woman who doesn’t believe in dinosaurs into the highest office in the land in a few months, but c’mon America – lighten up! Things could be much worse – at least you’re not Detroit. Oh wait, Detroit is a part of America. Scratch that.

But I’m not here to scare you even further into hibernation this winter. I’m here to help you survive this recession economy with handy money saving tips, like this one from The All For Nots:

READ ON for the conclusion of Uncensored Thursdays…

We all know about Mondays, right? The most dreaded of the days is Monday. Jim Davis has sent kids to college on the royalties he’s earned from his Garfield cartoons related to the first workday of the week. I Don’t Like Mondays, the dramatic retelling of true events set to a back beat provided by The Boomtown Rats, professes to wanting to “Shoot the whole world down” instead of facing another Monday in the classroom. Let’s face it, Monday’s reputation sucks, no question. Why, when people are having a bad day in general, they are often said to be having a bad case of “the Mondays”.

But not THIS Monday. This Monday was one I had looked forward to for weeks. This Monday was when Back Door Slam was coming to town. Not only were they playing the relatively intimate confines of Berbati’s Pan (I last saw the band at Bonnaroo with approximately 10-20,000 festival goers) but I was going to get to witness a set at the legendary KINK Live Performance Lounge, capacity; about forty. This was the best case of the Mondays I ever had.

Before the band came out of the green room, I spied guitarist Davy Knowles wiping blood off his turquoise Fender Strat. Apparently, he had gotten a little carried away at the end of the previous evening’s performance in Denver and sliced a bit of finger during the encore. Clean instrument in hand, the threesome played a forty minute set of classic blues (John Hiatt’s Riding With The King) and newer songs they have been working on for the follow up to their debut album, Come Home. BDS (Knowles, Adam Jones on bass and Ross Doyle on drums) played with every bit as much passion in that intimate setting at noon as they did in Tennessee last June.

READ ON for more of A.J.’s Back Door Slam @ Berbati’s Pan review…

As another Rocktober starts to pick up steam, plenty of New York City jamfans are looking forward to next week when Umphrey’s McGee hits the Big Apple for the MoogFest

Once again, Neil Young has announced a delay in the release of his Chinese Democracy-esque Archives project. This marks the third delay for 8-CD/2-DVD package. Bad News Beat tells us

Earlier this evening in Iowa City, My Morning Jacket was forced to cancel their show after just 45 minutes when guitarist/lead singer Jim James slipped and fell off the stage

The idea behind Origins of a Song is to take a fictitious look at a scenario that may or may not have led to the birth of a select few of the most memorable of songs. This time, we’ll take a crack at the brilliant Townes Van Zandt’s classic folktale, Pancho & Lefty.

On a rickety porch attached to an old wooden house in the midst of a dusty Mexican desert town, a trio of old men adorned in cowboy hats, holsters, and full get up of western accoutrements, drink from bottles of Tecate as hey sway back and forth in their rocking chairs.

“It’s been a very long time amigo. What do you say you sing us a song,” asks the old federale.

“Nah, I don’t sing the blues anymore; I was a different person back then. Made deal with a devil or whatever it is they say about bluesmen,” Lefty says laughing to himself.

“Too bad, amigo; you had it in ya. So, what brings you back down here to Meheeco, Lefty,” ponders the other old federale.

“Oh… Redemption I suppose,” Lefty says lazily and half drunk as he ponders what he is doing there.

“What do you mean, redemption?”

“Well, I’m an old man now, but many years ago, I did something I’ve always regretted. They day I left town, I betrayed a friend.” Lefty returns pulling his lips together, breathing a deep sigh, and hunching his shoulders humbled.

READ ON for the conclusion of this month’s Origins of a Song…

The Bridge once again had a strong showing and walked away as the sole victors of last week’s edition when we looked at eight covers of Them Changes. The Bridge should be thankful for their energetic fans on their message board that helped drive up the number as the week went on to push past 2nd place PBS. The Bridge hits the road again on October 14.

Moving on to this week, we’re going to take a look at the first track on Paul Simon’s legendary 1986 release Graceland. We’ve got a wide variety of performances this week: Solo acoustic, bluegrass, bands that have covered the whole album, studio renditions by punk-rock legends, the works!

As always, be sure to register/login to IMEEM before starting the playlist below to ensure you are listening to full-length clips.

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READ ON after the jump to cast your vote for the best version…

Sometimes, celluloid magic doesn’t happen for a particular film. Sometimes, the thrill of an idea pitched in a meeting never gets translated to anything of actual interest on the screen. Sometimes, the actors and script and director are all assembled, and guess what? Without a script that makes sense, or an original entertaining idea, one is left with a dud—the crazy idea about everyone turning blind, or an ecological disaster gone yawn, or yet another remake of Invasions of the Body Snatchers that just ain’t happening.

Well, sometimes a film is good old-fashioned popcorn-worthy, and not a lot can be said about its story, or substance. The thing, the MacGuffin of it all, whatever that IT may be, just works, and one sits back and enjoys the ride for two hours. This week’s Hidden Flick is a simple tale of a kidnapping, flying circus performers, an ancient monastery on a mountain range, and the daredevil spark of an actor able to pull off action-adventure.

Sky Riders, stars the rugged anti-hero James Coburn, and a beleaguered yet always interesting Robert Culp who played in a tremendously tight duo with Bill Cosby in I Spy on television way, way back in the days of innocence and rabbit-eared antennas. Culp’s wife, young son and daughter are kidnapped by a group of terrorists demanding a large ransom from the wealthy American businessman. Coburn is the ex-husband who sits by while witnessing foiled attempts by others to recapture the trio, and he’d like to just go and get them himself—sort of a simple line in the initial pitch coming to life on screen…let’s see: “Fuck this incompetence. Let ME go get them before they’re killed.”

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick: Sky Riders…

Just before Phish reunited after their second extended break, Mike Gordon spent the summer making quite a statement. Thanks to The Green Sparrow – one of the best albums ever

Behind the high profile facade of a mega rock star- Incubus front man Brandon Boyd hides a big soft spot for charitable causes. Boyd and his fellow Incubus band mates