Wednesday Intermezzo: Keller Finds WMDs
Keller Willams has once again assembled his WMDs for a series of east coast dates in November. While we enjoy Keller’s creative, albeit gimmicky solo work, we love seeing Keller
Keller Willams has once again assembled his WMDs for a series of east coast dates in November. While we enjoy Keller’s creative, albeit gimmicky solo work, we love seeing Keller
Desperation and salvation often have a parallel existence as evidenced by the role of religion in in the worst of times. Perhaps it is the hope of a better life to come, that light at the end of the tunnel, that allows people to hold on in these dire times. More likely it seems, in this band's view, it is the resolve of faith more than any real optimism. Frontier Folk Nebraska mixes Dust Bowl desperation with Bible Belt religion for an album that chronicles the struggle of faith in trying times.
John Cowan has some pretty big shoes to fill: his own. After all, here is a guy who has been doing everything from country to bluegrass, blues to soul and gospel to rock in roll for over thirty years and doing it well. He has a voice like no other, he has been a driving force in helping to open country and bluegrass and fusing together all kids of music into one sound and bringing them to an ever-widening audience. Cowan’s performance September 1st at the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte, NC, did not disappoint.
So, apparently, and we’re not sure when this happened, but Amazon.com’s long-awaited challenge to iTunes is open…maybe…we think. Amazon’s new mp3 store is offering unprotected music files at a cheaper
The PBS schedule is out, and Pitchfork‘s got the story: Norah Jones begins the televised festivities on October 6th, while most music-lovin’ New Yorkers will be on Randall’s Island for
Leeds United Association Football Club recorded a Premiership-high 21 losses in a dreadful 2003 season that saw the club finish 19th of 20, the team’s last taste of top-flight English
When I met former Phish keyboardist Page McConnell last May in the JFK airport on my way to San Francisco, my first thought was to thank him for all the times his band awed me silly. My next inkling was to ask him to buy me some magazines and a Snickers with almonds at the terminal’s Hudson News, the least he could do for taking so much of my disposable income lo these many years.
But just last week a little birdie told me to pick up a fairly new book by Emily White called You Will Make Money In Your Sleep: The Story of Dana Giacchetto, and that quasi-biography shed some new light on where all my ticket and merchandise money had gone.
Giacchetto, a hip money manager for Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Cameron Diaz and the popular rock band Phish, became known as Scammer to the Stars when he pled guilty to fraud charges, spent years in jail and was banned for life from working in finance. And as it turns out, Phish was the biggest loser:
In December 1999, the accountant for Phish notified Dana that he’d discovered a $3 million discrepancy in their account, and he was preparing to sue. He had an urgent meeting with the band and warned them that they had been robbed. In the story of Dana as a thief — a story Dana still denies — Phish was the extreme loser; their account was mercilessly ransacked…
And here I thought Phish fans were the extreme losers…turns out it’s the band. I keed, I keed. Anyway, I’m making my way slowly through White’s book, and it’s an interesting read even without the Vermont foursome (and, in truth, they only show up on four or five pages). Phish eventually re-claimed their pilfered millions in surprising fashion, but read on after the jump for full excerpts of the band’s plight.
Caribou continues a tradition of 1960s-inspired indie music – but where Andorra divulges is in the fact that this album follows the psychedelic tradition of early Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane and others, all while maintaining a strong sense of unusually syncopated, playful sounding melody.
Ticklah vs. Axelrod may not break any new ground, but it’s a solid addition to any dub collection and will certainly be of interest to Antibalas and reggae fans.
This Danish duo Junior Senior creates a pop nightmare on Hey Hey My My Yo Yo incorporating enough sugary disco revival to make Scissor Sisters sound like Christian rock. Hard to believe this effort was partly recorded at Muscle Shoals Studios, as the only soul on it is the soul searching you’ll do if you listen to it more than once.