October 2008

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…