My column for today's Daily Variety focuses on the the great guitar shop/concert venue in Santa Monica. I had to cut a line I wish was still in there: As much as other coverage of their 50th anniversary and a concert at UCLA has rightly focused on great nights at the venue, its appeal to me rested in its consistency. Whether I was seeing a show when I was 15 or 35 or 45, I believed I would experience a musical event that would not be duplicated anywhere else. That was evident any time you saw an act making their McCabe's debut.

Kevin Smith’s "Zack And Miri Make A Porno" will makes its New York premiere at the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival, which begins Oct. 21 in New York.
Fest will include the first ever Cinemini Short Film Contest and a theater partnership with "Spring Awakening." Prizes will be awarded for short narrative and documentary shorts. Producer David Picker will chair the narrative jury;  documentarian Mark Marabella will head the documentary jury. 
Other films on the docket: "Johnny Cash: Live at Folsom Prison"; "American Swing"; "What About Me?"; "AC/DC: No Bull"; and "For My Father." 
CMJ badge holders will be allowed to attend the Broadway musical "Spring Awakening" as part of the fest's first-ever theater partnership.
Screenings will be held at Tribeca Cinemas, Regal Cinemas Union Square and the Cantor Film Center.

Jennie Punter reports from Toronto
Caribou’s “Andorra” won the third annual Polaris Music Prize, Canada’s answer to U.K.’s Mercury Prize.
The award is intended to reward creativity in Canuck music with no consideration given to sales. An 11-member jury chose “Andorra” (Merge) from a list of 10 recordings, drawn up by more than 170 Canuck music scribes, broadcasters and bloggers.
The announcement capped a two-hour, music-filled gala concert in Toronto Monday night , featuring sets from nominees Kathleen Edwards, Black Mountain and Shad.
Caribou, a.k.a. Dan Snaith, hails from small-town Canada but moved to London several years ago to complete a PhD in mathematics.

Proof that a performer raised on the post-WWII blues of Texas can interpret Kurt Weill is found in Boz Scaggs’ recording of “Speak Low,” the title track of his second collection of standards.
His breathy baritone makes his reading of Ogden Nash’s word one of the most affecting interpretations of his career – and I happen to be a huge fan of his versions of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting for a Train” and Fenton Robinson’s “Loan Me a Dime.”
Scaggs brought in jazz pianist Gil Goldstein to produce, arrange and lead a quartet that features  Bob Sheppard on woodwinds, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Alex Acuna. The repertoire includes a couple of Johnny Mercer tunes (“This Time the Dream’s on Me,” co-written with Harold Arlen, and “Skylark,” co-written by Hoagy Carmichael), Duke Ellington (“Do Nothing till You Hear From Me”), Jobim’s “Dindi” and “I'll Remember April” by Gene De Paul, Patricia Johnson and Don Raye.
Goldstein came into Scaggs’ life one rainy night when the singer walked past the Blue Note jazz club and heard vibes, strings and horns – the sounds he wanted to explore  on his second venture in this new area. Different as it is from his days blending soul and blues in funky configurations (1969’s “Boz Scaggs” and “Moments”) or slick ones (1976’s “Silk Degrees” and 2001’s underrated “Dig”) he has a pretty keen idea as to the source.
“Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland is the king of them all and I know this stuff (standards) got in there. I even asked Bobby this, and he said it’s through the influence of Nat King Cole,” Scaggs says. “Now there’s also Joe Turner, a little Sinatra, Mel Torme. To have discovered my connection to this wonderful, relevant music has opened a whole new world.”
The vinyl version of the album will be released Tuesday, which will make it eligible for this year’s Grammy Awards, and on Oct. 28 in all other forms.
He spoke about being intimidated by the jazz musicians in his band, session musicians he has worked with over the years, among them Duane Allman, and how, this time around, he’ll fit some “Silk Degrees” material into his jazz shows

The Hollywood Bowl was where the complete "Pet Sounds" concept was birthed,making it a suitable home for Van Morison to revisit "Astral Weeks."
Morrison will perform "Astral Weeks," his 1968 solo album, at the Hollywood Bowl with a band featuring the musicians who appeared on the landmark album. Morrison used a rhythm section of jazz players on the album, among them the great bassist Richard Davis who's now 78.
This event, being held Nov. 7 and 8, is being recorded for an “Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl” DVD. Like Brian Wilson did with "Pet Sounds," it's likely a tour of the work will follow.
This clip gives you an idea of what he sounds like singing 40-year-old songs.

The Fireman, the ambient music duo of Paul McCartney and Youth, will return with their first album in 10 years on Nov. 17.
"Electric Arguments," their third album, will be their first to feature vocals. The 13 tracks on "Electric Arguments"  were recorded in 13 days. The Fireman went into the studio with no plan or clear direction of how they wanted the album to sound.
Website posting reads: “ 'Ambient dreams in rainbow arches describe the circles of The Fireman,' is how the duo described their music in a rare interview around the release of their last album ‘Rushes’ in 1998. Their first album ‘Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest’, released in 1993, was a solid ambient dance album heavy on electronics.
"The album’s opener 'Nothing Too Much Just Out Of Sight' is classic rock and an instant attention grabber. A heavy guitar riff with loud drums and souring vocals, it’s like nothing The Fireman have ever done before. The second track, the acoustic driven 'Two Magpies' immediately takes you in a different direction, calming things right down. Then we reach the third song 'Sing The Changes,' a euphoric upbeat song with an instantly memorable melody. 'Electric Arguments' continues in this fashion, keeping the listener intrigued as to where The Fireman will take them next. Each album track has an entirely different personality, yet somehow this collection sits together perfectly. Other standout tracks include ‘Light From Your Lighthouse’, ‘Sun Is Shining’ and ‘Dance ‘Til We’re High’, all in keeping with the genre-hopping spirit of the first two The Fireman albums.
'Electric Arguments' demonstrates that Paul McCartney is still interested in pure musical possibilities. This is an album set to both surprise and delight the listener. Made with no record company restraints or a set release date to work to, 'Electric Arguments' was made with complete artistic and creative freedom."

Sony Legacy will release its 50th anniversary expanded edition of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" on Tuesday. Album was recorded in spring 1959 so they're getting a bit of an early jump on the actual birthday, but obviously the key is to be in stores for Christmas. Here's a trailer.

The last several weeks have put me in small rooms with singer-songwriters performing for other invited guests, the ultimate goal being that someone takes note and when a record is released they will remember the beauty of the intimate performance.
These are showcases and not so much gigs, though occasionally they will be held in public places in the early evening, the audience might even include a few people who know the artists' work and do not have a business relationship with the performer.
Armed with my theory that the average newcomer in the singer-songwriter arena is going to need film and TV placement - no guarantee of a hit or stardom, just rent money - I find myself listening for those bits of songs that would be perfect for driving home a character's state of mind or songs with both mood and story. That filter in place, the results were a bit startling: The artist whose music I knew and liked best came off the worst; a female duo with good songs have created perfect, mad- for-TV blocks of 45 seconds in every tune; and the guy whose debut album is rumored to be overproduced has a satchel full of solid, honest songs filled with strong wordplay.

Nearly every time I have visited MySpace it has been through a link provided by a specific artist. Navigating it to find music you might enjoy is a bit of an absurdity - there are no directions beyond the tags that artists supply and nearly every listing has one or two genres listed that don't really apply; it's the reason pretty girls with sexy videos are always the top indie acts.
As a non-user, the mere fact that MySpace Music would relaunch piqued my interest just as any development within Yahoo or AOL grabs my  interest, too. But I am almost always disappointed -- not one web site has truly made good on the promise to be a gateway for me to discover new music.
The loud noise heard after the launch of MySpace Music this morning was hardly musical. The voices in the crowd, mostly competitors, did everything but echo Barack Obama’s ill-chosen analogy — “it’s lipstick on a pig.”
Merlin, the independent music distributor, was quick to remind that the relaunched website did not include independent labels that do not go through the indie pipelines owned by the majors. Imeem wanted it known it had introduced the playlist concept that MySpace now touts. AOL Music turned up the heat to get more attention on its Spinner relaunch next week. And CBS-owned Last.fm was touting its free-on-demand streaming and the fact it pays unsigned artists directly.
MySpace Music, in which the Fox Interactive unit has created a joint venture with the four major music distributors, is the recorded music industry’s attempt to partner with a social network site that can in term perform the task of a retailer. Build communities, build sales — the thinking goes — though it is expected that nay chance MySpace Music has of going into the black will come from advertisers and sponsorships.
The majors have sites and concepts — such as subscriptions — of their own fail and falter. MySpace Music is a chance for Sony BMG, Warner Music, Universal Music and EMI to compete with Apple’s iTunes. For Fox and MySpace, it’s an opportunity to potentially monetize the millions of music offerings the site has been built upon and offer a significant service its chief competitor — and now market leader — Facebook does not have. The labels own 40% of the site.
The site's harshest music industry critic might well be Bob Frank, president of Koch Records, who released a statement Thursday afternoon that referred to it as "MajorSpace."
"It is unconscionable that it would give equity positions to the majors and treat the independent community as second class citizens after having built its service on our backs, as its CEO has acknowledged. It makes no sense at all the that the Majors will benefit from the utilization of our content without our participation as well.  To be clear, our issue is not with the Majors having equity but with MySpace believing that we would accept this without similar terms. MySpace continually states that it is embracing the independents. It's a pretty listless and cold embrace.”
While the site certainly looked different on the 25th than it did on the 24th, it still relies on users being able to aggressively navigate the site. For all its bells and whistles, the site does not feel significantly different.
There are about 10 acts whose albums, singles and videos are pitched on the homepage; the top artists are organized, one assumes, by number of page hits; and there’s no sense of a gatekeeper or a curator for the site’s music. Maybe I am too old school here, but there is a lack of filters and no editorial to provide any sort of guidance. It's still a collection of millions of musical acts screaming "listen to my band!" And I'm guessing most acts don't want to pledge allegiance to MySpace Music until there is proof that it works and right now, the idea that there is a store embedded within MySpace Music is downplayed. If you don;t tell people they can now spend money during a MySpace visit how will they know?
Country artist Brad Paisley, who has an album coming out Nov. 4, offers streams of a new track, songs from his 2003 album, a bank of videos and two buttons that link with Facebook. Nowhere on his page is there a place that allows the user to preorder the new album. 
Further proof that not everyone received the memo: A full 12 hours after it launched, banner ads on Nelly’s page instructed his fans to download his new single on iTunes.

On the week that first singer from the most recent edition of "American Idol" charted, we take a gander at how singers known primarily from television shows fared this week. Horse trader Kristy Lee Cook either borrowed a thoroughbred or was given enough of an advance to buy a new one for the photos on her debut, which placed eighth among all TV-driven artists or second if you dismiss Disney creations. Chart positions are where they finished on the Nielsen SoundScan top 200.   

Pos/Artist/Title/Week's sales

11 Jonas Brothers "Little Bit Longer" 41,000
18 Jessica Simpson "Do You Know" 25,000
20 Miley Cyrus "Breakout" 22,000
28 "Camp Rock" Soundtrack 16,000
42 Jonas Brothers s/t 11,000
45 Carrie Underwood "Carnival Ride" 11,000
46 Cheetah Girls: One World soundtrack 10,000
49 Kristy Lee Cook "Why Wait" 10,000
52 Daughtry s/t 9,000
61 Celtic Thunder "Act Two" 8,000
71 Jordin Sparks s/t 7,000
150 Celtic Thunder "Celtic Thunder: The Show" 4,000
183 Wayne Brady "Long Time Coming" 3,000

Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin will celebrate two decades of working together with a 20th anniversary tour of the Smashing Pumpkins that will not feature half the original members (James Iha, D'Arcy Wretzky).
Tour will come on the heels of a new Pumpkins song being released the Guitar Hero World Tour game and the Nov. 11 release of the concert DVD "If All Goes Wrong."
Five-week run includes  multi-night stops in Chicago, Toronto, New York, Washington, Boston and Los Angeles. Each night will feature a different set list. To ensure that no songs are repeated on the multi-night shows, they will play a set titled “Black Sunshine” on opening nights and  “White Crosses” on night two.
The Pumpkins will perform that Guitar Hero song, “G.L.O.W.,” on the outdoor stage at “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Oct. 24.
Tour dates are after the jump.

Not that long ago - weeks? months? - when no matter who Live Nation was signing to one of its exclusive deals it got coverage. It's all about building a new business, right?
Well, in blogging hipster/rock critic land, the worst band on the planet has inked a global touring agreement that also gives Live Nation exclusive rights to the group’s merchandise, tour sponsorships, fan club and VIP/travel packages.
The band is Il Divo, the popera creation of Simon Cowell that sells a few million copies of its albums in the U.S. and tens of millions elsewhere.
Judging by a Google news search, the information has been out there for eight hours in a news cycle and it has no takers. Is it no longer news? Or is it the fact that this band makes music that many people who write about music for a living or hobby find unlistenable? A bit of both, perhaps.
"The Promise," the group’s fifth album for Syco/Columbia, will be released Nov. 18 in the U.S. and Nov. 10 elsewhere. They start a worldwide tour in February. Besides the fans, who will notice?
For the record, Il Divo consists of American tenor David Miller, French singer Sebastian Izambard, Swiss tenor Urs Buhler, and Spanish baritone Carlos Marin.

On Thursday, trumpeter Nicholas Payton will celebrate the influence of bebop greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker on the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Payton, a New Orleans native who still resides there, had just returned from a few shows in Brazil when he learned about the parameters of the gig. He’s not familiar with Basquiat works at the museum, but he has been profoundly influenced by visual art in recent years.
“When you play what you see,” he says, “it comes from a different place than when you play based on what you hear. My last two records have been very visual — I’m dealing with colors rather than notes, treating harmony as a color. My music is more rhythmic, more effervescent. There are lines and circles.”
It sounds tailor-made for Basquiat, whose work in his short lifetime was defined by its lines, energy and color – and its kinship with jazz. Payton, who made his first solo album in 1994 and last year gave some impressive performances in support of his “Into the Blue,” album, talked about Picasso, politics and potential.
Even before I was able to get out a full question, Payton chimed in with thoughts on art and how musicians have channeled art as an inspiration.
“You have trick yourself to not be so theoretical, tap ways to get to other places. It’s cool to be in that environment — playing to what you’re seeing.”
The  Q&A is after the jump.

After seeing Janet Jackson perform at Staples Center on Sept. 17, it dawned on me that she should be next in line to get out of her record deal and into bed with concert promoters and people who can merchandise her name.
Her last three albums have had decent first weeks and then flopped; the lack of an audience for "Discipline" led to Island Def Jam and Jackson parting ways Monday. Jackson's publicist overstated the case a bit, suggesting she was one of the "first superstar artists" to “have the individual freedom to promote their work through a variety of avenues.”
Going it alone could be a tough one on someone who has been constructed and reassembled, seemingly more and more by herself.
It’s highly unlikely Jackson will ever register the sorts of sales she saw with “Rhythm Nation” or “Janet” unless she gets back to well-written, well-produced and well-promoted songs, a combination she has not had since “All For You.” The albums overflow with ridiculous and juvenile spoken interludes; when she has attempted to concoct a storyline, as she does on the current tour, it comes off as harebrained. There's not a single spoken piece that enhances one of her songs.
But on the Rock Witchu tour, she’s performing to a good 15,000 to 20,000 people every night. The show is entertaining and well-assembled. Costs must be down - three musicians (two keyboardists and a drummer) and nine dancers – and if she continued to trim the staff, she could be turning profits in venues ranging from the 7,100-capacity Nokia in LA up through the basketball arenas that seat 20,000 -- for 20 years to come.
The Jackson situation magnifies why we don’t have stars like her anymore. She grew up in public, offered the usual teen pop and then made dramatic changes in her 20s. Since “Control” and “Rhythm Nation,” Janet has been positioned in and accepted on adult terms, and as those have become  more explicit and sexually driven, the public craving is not for the teen years but the highly stylized R&B she delivered at the end of the '80s and early '90s.
On those albums, though, Jackson’s universe was created by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, a soundscape of distinction that was immediately identifiable as the one and only Janet. Obviously few artists want to be locked in to a particular sound  - the Time, anyone? - but in the records over the last 10 years, Jackson has forsaken collaboration in the name of domination. She wants control in the image and breathiness; her producers assume control in the songs and studio tricks. It's not finding an audience.
Situation is not all that different from the old studio system in which actors and actresses had no choice but to accept the roles they were given. Jackson became a commercially viable commodity within that type of system and with the clout it has brought her, been unable to extend herself as an artist with new music worth purchasing.
There's a big Janet Jackson business out there. Universal Music, which owns Island Def Jam, is just cutting its losses.

Beck will be the first performer to appear at Club Nokia in the L.A. Live complex. He will appear at the club, with an expected capacity of around 2,300, on Nov. 10. Tickets go on sale Saturday.
Goldenvoice, which is owned by AEG, is booking the club.

After several years of announcing classes with tenuous relationships to rock 'n' roll, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has come up with nine names that have relative worthiness. There's not a blues or jazz artists among the nominees. That's not to say all is well.
One's a no-brainer, Metallica, and another, Jeff Beck, is deserving, but after that the Hall voters are dealing with bands and artists whose careers were a blip on the radar, their hits were limited and their influence is not that apparent.
It's astonishing to me how many rock fans under the age of 40 are unaware of Beck, a fact that was driven home when he appeared with Kelly Clarkson on "American Idol" last year. I'm a bigger fan of his work with the Yardbirds and the Jeff Beck Group than his later solo work, but there is no denying the profound influence he has had on other guitarists and the phenomenal technical skills he displays every time he picks up a guitar. Besides, he's a player, not some cat looking for stardom, an always admirable quality.
The odd name on the list is Wanda Jackson, a rockabilly singer who spent 40 years being promoted for her connections to Elvis Presley. Its wonderful that the "queen of rockabilly" has staged a comeback in recent years, but having just one important single, "Let's Have a Party," does not warrant induction.
Little Anthony and the Imperials - yes, the guys who made "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Pop" are on the ballot - represent the post do-wop/pre-Beatles era when, most of us believe, rock music was stagnant. Even if they prove this was the leading band of the ear, it still seems like they lack the goods.
Bernard Edwards laid down the best bass lines of the 1970s not played by Jaco Pastorious. And the music of Chic gets sampled and slightly re-written over and over. And Bernie and Nile Rodgers worked with plenty of rock acts as producers and musicians. So it's not a stretch for them to be here or even get in. I'm still not sold on a disco act making it into the Hall.
Which brings us to Run-D.M.C., who did have a breakthrough record that brought together rap and rock. But is a cover of "Walk This Way" enough? There was no follow-through - they flopped by thinking they could cover a Monkees tune ("Mary Mary"). Anyone who thinks Mariah Carey's ""Glitter" was tough to watch clearly has not seen "Tougher Than Leather."
Now if I had a ballot...
War got the job done. There edges alternated between the hard and soft, they mixed genres like no other acts of the day, the musicians had chops and they have a decade's worth of work that stands up. It's a bit odd to see them on the ballot as the Hall has consistently had a hard time coming to grips with bands that came of age in the 1970s, had hits and endured - like War, Chicago, Hall & Oates and Black Sabbath. Maybe they're turning a corner.
The Stooges. Why not? Everybody name checks them, Iggy Pop is one of rock n; roll's top 10 front men and they made music that sounded like nothing else from their era.
But most importantly, we have Bobby Womack.  A brilliant songwriter, an exceptional guitarist and a crucial link between gospel and pop, Womack is the R&B model that white artists copied regardless of whether they knew it.
His songs Janis Joplin’s “Trust Me,” “It’s All Over Now” and “Lookin’ For A Love”; he played with Sam Cooke and learned by his side; and also played with Elvis and on Aretha’s “Chain Of Fools.”
When one talks about deserving, Womack is the man.

Dolly Parton was called into emergency service once again at the Ahmanson Theater.
At the opening of her musical "9 to 5," a problematic set failed to move into place about 40 minutes into the show. Parton, who spoke and sang when a breakdown occurred in a preview performance, used the 20 minutes spent to get things fixed for a few congratulatory speeches planned for the curtian call and to lead a singalong of her 28-year-old hit "9 to 5."
Parton was seated in a row in the middle of the orchestra with her cast members from the film - Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman - and after she was handed a microphone, went to town with compliments and wisecracks. She even scared an usher with an abrupt "what do you want?" when she was approached during her standup routine. Producers were visibly nervous during the unplanned break.   
It does pay off to have Parton in the audience: If the set could not be repaired she said she would take the stage and sing the entire show herself. Ah, promises, promises.

There are records from our youth that endure. Time can't tamper with them, changing tastes can't remove them from our hearts, our opinions of the creators might be altered but  our feelings for the work do not diminish. They are ours and ours alone. It's music that hits on a primal level and sticks, like our affection for some obscure second baseman  or the taste of particular hamburger. Only decades later, after revisiting childhood landmarks or looking in the record books, do we realize the truly personal aspect of that connection.
Only in art and music do we really have the opportunity to revisit those moments from our teen years and attempt to look, through adult eyes, at something we held dear logn ago. Is what I heard as an 11-year-old or saw as a ninth grader or experienced when I first climbed behind the wheel of the a car as good as I thought it was back then?
Graham Nash's debut solo album from 1971, "Songs for Beginners," has prompted this re-examination of the heart and memory. For me, it was a monumental effort, a musical manifestation of a crushed man attempting to find a light at the end of a tunnel, one of those first records to enter the collection and truly be affecting. Its not a stretch to say I memorized every aspect of this album when I was 13.  His voice, eloquent and pleading on "Crosby, Stills & Nash" and "Deja Vu," was the initial attraction; that he had so much to say about the human condition was the secondary appeal and ultimately the key to its staying power.
But when I purchased the Atlantic Records version on CD I wondered what the fuss was about. The sound was horrifying. It reduced what had been a rich and layered album to a one-dimensional, lifeless album that sounded more like a demo tape than a finished product. Significantly, Nash's voice no longer had rage or pain, that I heard loud and clear on my vinyl copy.
The Rhino reissue has remedied that. The new version, which comes out Tuesday and contains a CD and 5.1 DVD-A remastered at 48k/24 bit is a reminder of how alive this recording is.
This is an album of depth and truth. Fresh from a breakup with Joni Mitchell, it's Nash exposing his wounds in the lyrics, in the delivery, in the piercing cry of Jerry Garcia's pedal steel and even the gunshot quality of the drumming on the larger songs. It's pensive and quiet on numbers such as "Wounded Bird" and "Man in the Mirror," then turns majestic and determined on "I Used to be a King" and "There's Only One."
Living in  an age in which kids think that setting diary entries to music constitutes a song, here is the Rosetta Stone of emotional archaeology. Thankfully, its power has been fully restored.

I have reduced the rather clumsy title of this  (mostly) weekly column  that gets into the personal rather than the newsworthy. In the last week I have been to four concerts and seen five acts; to get to 100 concerts and 300 acts ina year, I have 30 shows and 123 acts to go.

On the heels of Eddie Vedder pledging his love for the Cubs in song, Nils Lofgren has turned his attention to Yankee Stadium, which will be razed following the season. Nils is offering "Yanke Stadium" as a free download along with two other tracks he recorded at a studio in Arizona.
Lofgren explains in his liner notes for the song, that his wife Amy has been a lifelong fan of the pinstripes. "I’m a long time fan myself, especially of the mythical and mystical nature of old Yankee Stadium, which I’ve been fortunate to experience first hand," he writes.
Some of the lyrics:

The weary single Mom sits up straight   
to her four young girls she radiates   
a dignity
As DiMaggio storms the plate   
a century of worship so commonplace

  I squeeze my girl’s hand sit side on side   
the Bronx twilight and her face collide
A picture so sweet I could cry   
a joy and time stand still

In Yankee Stadium   
in Yankee Stadium   
in Yankee Stadium   
everyone is beautiful   
everyone is beautiful
In Yankee Stadium

David Byrne opened his "Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno" tour on Tuesday at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Show features eight songs from his new album with Eno, "Everything that Happens Will Happen Today." He plays the Greek Theatre in L.A. on Oct. 3.

Strange Overtones / I Zimbra / One Fine Day / Help Me Somebody / Houses in Motion / My Big Nurse / My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks) / Heaven / Home / The River / Crosseyed & Painless / Life is Long / Once in a Lifetime / Life During Wartime / I Feel My Stuff / Take Me to the River / The Great Curve / Everything that Happens Will Happen Today

The first exhibition at the Grammy Museum will cover 200 years of music and politics in America and music's role as a political force in society.
Titled "Songs of Conscience, Sounds of Freedom," the exhibit - and the museum - open Dec. 6 in the L.A. Live complex.
More than 100 diverse artifacts and 70 rare photographs will be on display, among them: guitars and banjo belonging to Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, and Bob Dylan; an 1848 edition of "The Anti-Slavery Harp," an abolitionist songbook; handwritten lyrics from Patti Smith, Tom Morello, Tim McGraw and others; and J. Edgar Hoover's FBI summary of the MC5.
Five new films by documentarian Jim Brown explore key figures in the history of music and politics, with commentary from Grammy winners.
Daniel Cavicchi, associate professor of American Studies at Rhode Island School of Design, is the exhibition's guest curator.
The exhibit will be on display for a year and then go on a  national tour.

by Stuart Oldham

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder will release a live version of 'All the Way,' a song written at the request of hall-of-fame slugger, Ernie Banks.

Born on the Southside of Chi, Vedder is no stranger to Chicago's loveable losers, taking part in both pre-game and seventh-inning festivities at Wrigley Field in years past.

The 43 year-old singer debuted the track on his recent solo tour in Chicago, and the song has been a big-league hit with Cubs fans ever since, airing on local radio and the nearby bleacher bars of Wrigleyville.

"All the Way" will be available for download in a few days on TenClub.net, the official site of Pearl Jam.

You can listen to it here.

Lyrics:

"All the Way"

Yeah, don't let them say that it's just a game.
Well, I've seen other teams and it is never the same.
When you go to Chicago, you're blessed and you're healed, The first time you walk into Wrigley Field.

Heroes with pinstripes and heroes in blue, Give us the chance to feel like heroes do.
Whether we'll win and if we should lose, we know Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

We are one with the Cubs, with the Cubs we're in love.
Hold our heads tall as the underdogs.
We are not fairweather, but farweather fans.
Like brothers in arms, in the suites and the stands.
There's magic in the Ivy and the old score board.
The same one I stared at as a kid keeping score.
In a world full of greed, we could never want more.
Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

Here's to the men and the legends we've known.
Giving us faith and giving us hope.
United we stand and united we'll fall
Down to our knees the day we win it all.
Yeah Ernie Banks said, "oh, let's play two".
I think he meant two hundred years.
Playing at Wrigley, our diamond, our jewel.
The home of our joy and our fears.
Keeping traditions, and wishes anew,
The place where our grandfathers' fathers they grew.
The spiritual feeling if I ever knew.
And when the day comes for that last winning run, and I'm crying and covered with beer.
I look to the sky and know I was right today.
Someday we'll go all the way.
Yeah, someday we'll go all the way.

Most homemade concert videos make me queasy and by contrast, this one looks like someone snuck in a Steadicam to capture Ms. Jackson at her steamiest. Tonight she plays L.A. and we'll see if the lucky audience member dragged up onstage and tied up is as bewildered and, um, enthralled as this guy was in Oakland.

A feature-length documentary on the Beatles-Cirque du Soleil show will be released on DVD on Oct. 21.
"All Together Now" will be sold exclusively at Best Buy and at the Love Boutique at the Mirage in Las Vegas.  In addition, Apple Corps Ltd./Cirque du Soleil will partner with the Bigger Picture to distribute the documentary in digital theaters across the U.S. beginning Oct. 20.
Documentary details the story behind the partnership between the Beatles and Cirque du Soleil that resulted in the creation and 2006 launch of the stage production "Love," which I gave a mixed review to when it opened despite loving the mashups in the music. Pic received its U.S. premiere at the Silverdocs Festival in Washington D.C.
The trailer can be seen here.

Internet sensation Jon LaJoie - his musicvideos and fake commercials have been played millions upon millions of times on YouTube - made his U.S. concert debut Tuesday at Largo in Los Angeles, mixing live music, stand-up comedy, videos and an old-fashioned, analog power point demonstration. For a debut, this was a smartly shaped, well-paced hour.
Crowd was split between industry and rapid fans and, in a rarity for a debut, the entire room was laughing as rapped about his ordinary life, sang about his uncle's lack of genitals and explained, with crudely created graphics, how to become an Internet star.
The act, obviously in its infancy, is loaded with observations that veer toward the smutty and the sophomoric; sex, vomiting, masturbation, lesbians and pickup lines are piled on one another in an intentionally awkward manner, the nasty words and phrases leaping out out of seemingly benign sentences. His naivete is there to make the audience squirm.
The Montreal native is navigating a mighty crooked line that has been walked by a multitude of comic acts - there's Steven Wright, "The Aristocrats," Flight of the Conchords, Andrew Dice Clay and Dane Cook - yet never in this manner.
Among the tunes performed on acoustic guitar and his $25 keyboard were "Everyday Normal Guy" and the encore "Show Me Your Genitals" with an extraordinarily gut-busting "High as Fuck" in the middle of the show. He screened a good number of videos, several of which are not yet on YouTube, among them the classic "Pedophile Beards." (see below)
LaJoie, who is exploring TV and record company options, will return to Los Angeles at the end of October to play at Spaceland. Show is tentatively scheduled for the 21st.   

A series of events raised $10 million for the campaign of Barack Obama Tuesday night in Los Angeles, the conclusion of the night being a performance by Barbra Streisand. Eight hundred people packed into a ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where Streisand sang:
When the Sun Comes Out / Make Someone Happy (with special Obama lyrics) / What Are You Doing the Rest of Your life? / My Shining Hour (with some Obama lyrics)
Variety's Ted Johnson has the details here.

One weekend, nearly half a million sold.
Those are the results for Metallica's "Death Magnetic," which Warner Bros. released Friday.
In three days the album sold 490,000 copies in the U.S., Billboard reported, quoting stats from Nielsen SoundScan. Album was released on a Friday to accommodate a worldwide release date.
Metallica's last studio effort, "St. Anger," which sold 418,000 copies in its first sales period, which was also shorter than usual.
Metallica's biggest week ever came in 1996 when "Load" sold 680,000 copies in its first stanza.

Black Crowes have canceled four shows in California and an Arizona gig due to illness.
Canceled dates are:
9/16 Mesa
9/17 Los Angeles
9/19 Santa Barbara
9/20 San Diego Street Scene
9/21 Santa Rosa
The band says it is looking to make up the dates early next years but for now, geta refund.

Zooey Deschanel learns what many of us who have interviewed Brian Wilson have discovered: It's fantastic to be in the presence of the great one, but it can be tough getting lengthy answers. Brian's list of his favorite tunes beyond "Be My Baby" included "Strangers in the Night" and "Rhapsody in Blue" on the day of their chat, with "What a Fool Believes," apparently dropped. Wilson and band just finished a three-day stand at the Hollywood Bowl

Artist on Artist: Brian Wilson & Zooey Deschanel

During a demonstration of his CODE system that proved unequivocally the Beatles' catalog is in desperate need of remastering, T Bone Burnett also played two cuts from the next Elvis Costello album. Both tunes were dominated by acoustic instruments with Costello on acoustic guitar and bluegrass star Stuart Duncan on mandolin; it's a significantly different sound for Costello, a dramatic departure from the last several discs.   
In November, Burnett will start work on a Willie Nelson-Leon Russell project, which will come after he finishes an album with Robert Randolph.
Before then, he is working on a tune with the fine young Texas songwriter Ryan Bingham that is slated to appear over the end credits of "Crazy Heart," a film Burnett is producing that stars Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall and Maggie Gyllenhaal. He also will continue to tour with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.
As for the Beatles, Burnett played an MP3 of "Getting Better" that he created using an audiophile reel-to-reel tape from the 1960s of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" as the source. He A/B'd it with the commercially available CD version, which sounds like Paul McCartney lost the D  string on his bass when compared with the tape. The snare drum, too, was at an unnaturally high pitch as well. It certainly got me to change my tune about the quality of MP3s -- the magic was restored to the tune.
More on Burnett's CODE and the way it could affect recording and delivery systems is here.

Another sign has arrived that the "American Idol" luster just isn't what it used to be.
Rather than find another Broadway cast to join, Taylor Hicks is getting on the bus and following the trucks as "Grease" goes on a  national tour. He arrives in L.A. March 10 when "Grease" does a two-week run at the Pantages Theater. Hicks plays Teen Angel and is reportedly also recording another album.

Lil Wayne has signed a multi-album pact with Cash Money that will keep him in the Universal-distributed label's fold. Cash Money re-upped with Universal Music right before the release of the rapper's lastest disc, "Tha Carter III."
"Tha Carter III" is the biggest seller of the year, having moved more than  2.4 million copies.
The New Orleans-based Cash Money Records was founded by brothers Ronald “Slim” Williams and Bryan “Baby” Williams 16 years ago,

Metallica opened the O2 World Berlin on Friday night, the 17,000-capacity arena built by AEG. Five new songs from "Death Magnetic" made it into the set.
The set list:
That Was Just Your Life /  End Of The Line /  The Thing That Should Not Be / Of Wolf Of Man / One /  Broken, Beat, and Scarred / Cyanide / Frantic /  Until It Sleeps / Wherever I May Roam /  For Whom The Bells Tolls /  The Day That Never Comes / Master Of Puppets /  Blackened /  Blitzkrieg / Jump In The Fire /  Seek and Destroy

by Stuart Oldham

After months of touring the globe, you'd think that Radiohead would be holed up in their Oxford homes, sipping tea and talking politics on a much deserved break. According to BBC 6, that's not entirely the case.
Speaking to BBC 6 Music, Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood reveals that the band is heading to the studio "in the near future" to record their eighth full-length LP. "We’ve finished the main bulk of it (tour)and we’re off to Japan in a couple of weeks to finish it off."
Guitarist Ed O'Brien was sitting in as well: “We're still talking about doing some stuff and we’re really excited about it. First we came off tour to do some writing and we wanted to just carry on doing it because it was so brilliant."
It's uncertain whether or not veteran Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich will be behind the soundboard, but after Godrich was spotted on and off-stage during the band's recent North American tour, the chances of a reunion are likely.
Radiohead are scheduled to play Japan this October.

Tour Dates:

10/1/08 Municipal Central Gymnasium Osaka, Japan 
10/2/08 Municipal Central Gymnasium Osaka, Japan 
10/4/08 Saitama Super Arena Tokyo, Japan 
10/5/08 Saitama Super Arena Tokyo, Japan

Michael Azerrad will write the life story of Bob Mould, the founder of Husker Du and Sugar, which  Little, Brown and Co. will publish in autumn 2010. Perhaps the biography will prompt a proper rematsering of the Husker Du catalog so that it finally sounds good on CD.
Press release says: The memoir will, for the first time ever, delve deeply into Mould's life as a musician and his experiences with Husker Du, as a solo artist, and in his most commercially viable and successful work as leader of '90s indie rock kingpins Sugar.  He will also tell the story of his other lives, including his internal struggle with his sexuality, the coming-out process, and his subsequent embrace of, and service to, the LGBT community; his work as a creative consultant / director in the world of pro wrestling; his work as a record producer, including seminal projects by Soul Asylum and Magnapop; and his foray into electronic/dance music, including the popular BLOWOFF club events held nationwide.
Azerrad is the author of "Our Band Could Be Your Life" and "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana."

Activision has released the full list of songs that will be included in Guitar Hero World Tour when the game is released Oct. 26. Here's a breakdown from a guy who can barely play "Slow Ride."
TOTAL TRACKS: 86
OLDEST SONGS: The Doors' “Love Me Two Times” and Jimi Hendrix' “Wind Cries Mary” (both 1967)
BONAFIDE HITS: 20
WHO ARE YOU?: Airbourne, Hush Puppies, Kent, Trust, Radio Futura
GREATEST GUITAR SOLO IN THE LIST: Van Halen's “Hot For Teacher”
GREAT GUITAR RIFFS: Michael Jackson “Beat It”; Jimi Hendrix “Purple Haze”; the Guess Who “American Woman”
IS THERE A GUITAR SOLO?: Coldplay “Shiver”; R.E.M. “The One I Love”
WHAT PART, EXACTLY, DOES ONE PLAY?: Steely Dan “Do It Again”; Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way”; Modest Mouse - “Float On”
AFTER YOU GET PAST THE INTRO, IS IT STILL A CHALLENGE: The Eagles “Hotel California”; Wings “Band on the Run”
AND YOU ARE HERE BECAUSE ...: Willie Nelson “On The Road Again”
MY FINGERS WILL NOT GO THAT FAST: Blondie “One Way or Another”; Mars Volta “L'Via L'Viaquez”; Allman Brothers Band “Ramblin' Man”
SONG PARENTS WILL BE SURPRISED THEIR KIDS KNOW SO WELL: Sublime “Santeria”
VERY COOL SELECTION: Metallica “Trapped Under Ice”
BANDS THAT MIGHT GAIN NEW AUDIENCES: Allmans, Guess Who

The full set list is after the jump

It's always a treat when an artist sends you back into the library to pull out old vinyl or CDs that you have not thought about for awhile. Kurt Elling, the jazz singer, and the saxophonist Ernie Watts are touring with a tribute to "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman," the album of duets they recorded on March 7, 1963. The album  is one of those distinctly beautiful and romantic albums that any jazz fan would hold onto it with a hope to someday share it; it's jazz at its most sensual and inviting.
Hartman's baritone, Trane's tenor sax and McCoy Tyner's supple piano take the album's six ballads at a relaxed pace, each note articulated with warmth and belying the fact that there was little, if any, rehearsal for the work. It reflected Coltrane's mood at the time, his most recent recordings being the equally sensitive "Ballads" and his collaboration with Duke Ellington. (Their "Prelude to a Kiss" still sends shivers).
Elling and Watts, whose best known work has been with Charlie Haden's Quartet West, add a string quartet and take their program into more upbeat terrain. Thursday at USC's Bing Theater, "Coltrane and Hartman" was a starting point - two of the album's cuts, "Lush Life" and "Autumn Serenade," went into a medley with "What's New" and  "My One and Only Love" was partnered "Nancy (With the Laughing  Face)." The emphasis was Coltrane, with Elling using his voice in the styles of both Hartman and Trane. He connected in the baritone with the singer, using flourishes, some of them wordless, to channel a Coltrane improvisation.
Watts has a tone substantially  different from Coltrane. Trane's playing at the time was moans, caresses and hallelujahs; Watts opts for pleas, promises and linear thought. Pianist Laurence Hobgood, who has been with Elling for 15 years, combined Tyner's romanticism with some of Bill Evans'' pensiveness in addition to writing the arrangements for the evening.
There are no plans at this time to record the program, which also includes Coltrane versions of "Bessie's Blues," "All of Nothing at All and "Say It (Over and Over Again)."   Elling, who now records for Concord after a decade with Blue Note, is in the early stages of selecting songs with producer Don Was for his next album.   
On a side note, Elling has one of the most interesting collection of links I have ever seen on a website.

For the record, my quest to attend 100 shows and see 300 acts this year is down to  34 shows and 128 acts to go.

For the second time in the last 20-odd years Yes is not Yes, using the names of the musicians in the band for a North American tour that begins Nov. 4 in Hamilton, Ontario. Dates are still being booked so no tour route yet.
Billed as  Steve Howe, Chris Squire and Alan White of Yes - try putting that on a  marquee - the band will head out on its "In The Present" tour with the son of Rick Wakeman on keyboards and a singer from a Yes tribute band handling lead vocals.
Singer Benoit David, a native of Montreal, is understudying for Jon Anderson whose health issues are keeping him home through the end of the year.  To not suggest that Anderson is out of the band, the man who founded the act with the singer, bassist Squire, they are not using the name Yes.
The last time "Yes" or Yes (Not Yes) toured on another name was in the late '80s when Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe recorded and toured playing tunes from their one album as well as the classic Yes repertoire from the 1970s and "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Squire and White were still in Yes, but with Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye.
Anyone thinking the tribute band is the way to go wind up with the real deal (Judas Priest, Journey), there's a guy in Long Beach looking for a Howe and a Squire.
Here's Anderson's "understudy"  David performing with Closer to the Edge

Janet Jackson opened her 2008 North America tour Wednesday at the GM Palace in Vancouver.
The Vancouver Sun's reviewer was awestruck, reporting that the show "is a reminder that she is a trend-setter in her own right, a true diva, and a marvelous performer."
The Globe and Mail was overall impressed, however, "too much of the vocal performance was pre-recorded and played back as Jackson either sang along or added the odd 'come on!' or 'woo!'”
The set list:
Pleasure Principle / Control / What Have You Done For Me Lately /Feedback / You Want This
Alright / Miss You Much / Rhythm Nation - Interlude / Never Letchu Go / Come Back To Me /
Let’s Wait Awhile / Again / So Excited / So Much Betta / Nasty / All Nite (Don’t Stop) / Rock With U / Together Again / Young Love / Say You Do / Don’t Stand Another Chance /Doesn’t Really Matter / Escapade / Love Will Never Do (Without You) / When I Think Of You / All For You / Got ‘Til It’s Gone / Call On Me /  That’s The Way Love Goes / I Get Lonely /  Funny How Time Flies (When You’re Having Fun) / Any Time, Any Place / Discipline / Black Cat / If / Rhythm Nation / Luv / Runaway

Peter Buck's signature Rickenbacker guitar was stolen from the stage immediately following R.E.M. 's performance at Finnair Stadium in Helsinki, Finland. The guitar has been the staple of his axe arsenal since 1982. The band is offering a generous reward, no questions asked. Email tips to fanclub@remtour.com or call (001) 706-353-6689.   

Sixteen minutes of Sigur Ros is better than no minutes at all. Shot live at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this film shows highlights material from  "Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust."
The set list: Glósoli / Sé Lest / Við spilum endalaust / Sæglópur / Icelandic National Anthem / Inní mér syngur vitleysingur / Hoppípolla / Gobbledigook

posted by Stuart Oldham

In a shocking case of rock rage, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher was assaulted on stage Sunday night during the band's headlining set in Toronto. The veteran English group were performing hit song "Morning Glory"  at the Virgin Music Festival when a rabid concertgoer (identified as Daniel Sullivan from Pickering, Canada) emerged on stage and shoved Gallagher into his monitor, fracturing the 41 year-old musician's ribcage and reportedly tearing a few ligaments.

After security apprehended the 47 year-old man, Oasis returned to the stage and resumed the concert with Gallagher in tow.

The band issued the following statement on its website Monday:

Oasis', Noel Gallagher was attacked by an unidentified man during the band's show in Toronto last night. While Noel and the band were performing 'Morning Glory', the assailant ran on from the back of the stage and pushed Noel from behind, who fell heavily on to his monitor speakers.

Despite his injuries, Noel returned to the stage a few minutes later to complete the band's set but was taken to hospital after the show to be examined for a suspected fractured rib and ligament damage. The assailant was detained in police custody and will be charged with assault.

No decision has been made regarding Tuesday's concert in London, Ontario, but fans are urged to keep checking the band's web site Oasisinet.com and local media for updates.

MTV's Video Music Awards turned 25 Sunday night and celebrated with a ho-hum ceremony that only served to drive home the enormous gulf in modern pop music when it comes to depth of material and star power.
Once again, Rihanna displayed a presence far superior to her peers though it's doubtful anyone over the age of 30 is paying attention; Christina Aguilera demonstrated attributes that clearly place her as the strongest overall performer with Disney in her teen credentials; and Lil Wayne, an inexplicable powerhouse, let his drawers droop and a bakcing track roll and his corner of marketplace went wild. Go figure. Meanwhile, Kanye West, backed by an army of drummers, operates on a plane that others just do not visit.
There were a host of bombs and question marks elsewhere, starting with host Russell Brand, whose "humor"  or even "style" never clicked. Whew! Talk about "not ready." The man made jokes about being big in the U.K. but that did not conceal his mediocre material and horrid delivery.
Elsewhere: Kid Rock continues to be the model of non-originality as he sang over the chords  of "Werewolves of London" and "Sweet Home Alabama" and the room responded by sitting on its collective hands; and the Jonas Brothers need to hear the clock ticking as their magnetism feels like it will expire by the end of 2009. They delivered a truly uneventful performance.
Held on the Paramount Studios backlot, show was a bit of corporate synergy intended to allow the acts to connect with Hollywood history that mostly did not pan out. Pink made the most out of it, moving between a tenement street  and a stage,  intentionally losing a significant piece of clothing along the way; her performance, like Aguilera's, had a power and conviction most of these acts seem incapable of  conveying.
Trophy-wise it served as a Britney Spears lifetime achievement tribute but poor Ms. Spears appears fit for the cameras but not prepared to speak - she delivered the same speech twice and gave the superficial "this is for the fans" dedication on her third visit to the podium.
Much as awkward actors and casts of shows and movies that few have heard of talked about historically significant videos and acts, 25th edition was a reminder of how this show is a shadow of its former self. The crowd seemed nonplussed by the bulk of the activities. An improvement, as a telecast, over last year's mess from Las Vegas, but MTV execs may be scrambling come Monday to mention anything as unpolished as the first hour of this year's VMAs. Perhaps it's just another indication of the channel's lack of interest in music of videos, choosing to peddle celebrity at all cost, even when the cost is a reputation.

Wolfgang's Vault, the website devoted to concert recordings and paraphernalia, has signed a deal to offer tapes of shows from the legendary L.A. folk and blues club the Ash Grove. The first show from the Ash Grove vaults, a Freddie King concert from 1970, has been posted.
The Vault, which has collections from Bill Graham's shows in San Francisco and New York, the Record Plant, King Biscuit Flower Hour and other properties, is digitizing more than 100 concerts from the Ash Grove, which was open from 1958 to 1970. Among the artists whose recordings will be offered are are Taj Mahal, Little Richard, Big Mama Thornton, Merle Travis and Mance Lipscomb.
Video is Freddie - from long ago.

The tough call in reviewing is almost always how much of curve is one willing to grade on when it comes to a legend.
Recently, Glen Campbell, Solomon Burke and Steely Dan made it easy. Campbell, for example,showed up with a big band of ace rock and country musicians capable of re-creating his current album and his hits from the '60s. The others were impeccable.
Some acts you go in knowing it might be  a struggle. Crosby, Stills and Nash can't find a note to save their lives on some nights, but if they don't embarrass themselves or tarnish their legacy they get the benefit of the doubt. Al Green is chief among the artists whose careers began in the '60s and '50s who always gives a good show yet rarely a great one.
Then there's Bob Dylan, the ultimate iconoclast. How in the world does one judge one of his performances without basing the quality of the show on the critic's experiences? Can a show's greatness be determined by a setlist? Can the abilities of the backing band scale the bar that separates good from great? Can exuberance in Bob's vocals make up for problems in pitch?
It seems like anyone seeing Dylan for the first times, whether they are a critic or an observer making a post on a website, cut considerable slack for Bob and his crusty vocal delivery. For those of us who see nearly every show on every tour, a line has to be drawn between nitpicking and deciding whether he is as good as he could be on any given night. I gave a thumbs down to Wednesday night's show, one of the last concerts on his North America trek, even though he thrilled another critic or two.
In this case it's personal. My odyssey with Dylan recordings began when I was 10 and I acquired Dylan's "Greatest Hits." "Positively Fourth Street" hit like few other songs; "Blowin' in the Wind" felt like it was 100 years old. I kept buying more records until the Dylan section was the largest in my collection. That occurred when I was in high school and remained true for a decade after college. "Blood on the Tracks," released when I was 15,was one of those life-changing records, music that makes you see the world through a different set of eyes.
As far as concerts go, my first  came in 1978, when Dylan was wearing the clear mask and traveling with a good-sized band, many of the musicians carrying over from the Rolling Thunder Revue that never got closer than 1,500 miles to my home.
But over the years I never got that great Dylan show, regardless of whether I was seeing him in New York, Philly, Boston or L.A. A Hollywood Bowl show came close, but it was not until the December 1997 run at the El Rey that I finally saw a great one, a concert worthy of his stature that made the songs all magical. Night one of the El Rey stand was my 14th Dylan concert, bringing about a monumental shift in my desire to see him every time he visits.
That run from 1997 to 2002 really spoiled us, and for a good three or four years after that it was quite easy to cut him a break, especially when he was moving between piano and guitar. Wednesday night it felt like Bob forced my critical and fan sides into a corner, making it hard to defend his 100 minutes onstage. He's still the greatest, he just does not look it.

"More Skeletons from the Closet," Bonhams & Butterfields second auction of Grateful Dead ephemera, will be held Oct. 5 in San Francisco. Previews begin Oct. 2.
Items in the 170 lots come from the estate of Vince Welnick, a close family friend of Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan, Stanley Mouse, the collection of Dead manager Rock Scully and Dead Heads.
Among the items: original Jerry Garcia artwork, sound equipment, original handwritten lyrics, Welnick's grand piano, the bass John Kahn used in the Jerry Garcia Band, and Scully's metal attaché case adorned with dozens of Grateful Dead stickers. Plus hand-painted wooden Russian nesting dolls.
Pigpen's items include a handwritten lyrics; an M. Hohner brand engraved harmonica; three Grateful Dead 45s; and a rare 1966 poster, "Can You Pass the Acid Test," that hung in Pig Pen's room. His copy is one of the only known examples to survive and its value is estimated at between $25,000 and $30,000. 
I've got a birthday coming up and I would gladly accept the acoustic guitar nicknamed "the Kitchen Beater" that was used at 710 Ashbury St. Another interesting lot: Two tie-dye speaker covers made for onstage use throughout the early 1970s.
Also up for grabs are gold records, instruments, a '56 Chevy and concert posters.

Each week that Wal-Mart gets touted as a crucial component in album's sales effort, it's usually alongside a discount price. Eagles new album - two CDs for $11.88. Journey's album of two CDs and a DVD: $11. 88. Packaging of Tim McGraw's two hits compilations: $11.88.
Yet when it comes to albums they are not selling as exclusives, Wal-Mart seems to be violating its own bargain-basement principles: They might the most expensive e-tailer out there, pricing CDs $2 to $4 higher than other online outlets.
I stumbled on this while researching Solange's "Sol-Angel & the Hadley Street Dreams," which Amazon had on sale for $6.99 and iTunes was offering for $7.99. Wal-Mart has the album listed for $9.82.
Wal-Mart often plays a role in determining which album hits No. 1 but this week it was not offering the Game's "LAX" and it was selling Slipknot's "All Hope is Gone" for almost four bucks more than iTunes and Amazon, which had it for $9.99. Wal-Mart is selling the CD for $13.88.
of the 11 albums that debuted this week in the top 50, Wal-Mart was selling only one disc for a price lower than iTunes or Amazon, the Lost Trailers' "Holla Back," and at $9.72, that was a mere 18 cents cheaper than iTunes.B.B. Kings "One Kind Favor" has the biggest span: $9.99 at Amazon, $11.99 at iTunes and $13.88 at Wal-Mart. 
Click on the various sites offerings in their "sales" areas and Wal-Mart's nine hot new releases are mostly selling for between $12 and $15 with Miley Cyrus' "breakout" listed as the only one under $11.88.
iTunes is has Young Jeezy's "The Recession" at the top of its hot list selling for $9.99. Amazon appears to be going gangbusters with pre-release sales of Metallica's "Death Magnetic" at $8.99. It will be released Sept. 12.
The one disc being promoted across all three sites is Chris Tomlin's new album, which Amazon has at the lowest prices, $9.99.
As for the existing hits, it does not improve. Test case: "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack is $12.88 at Wal-Mart, nearly $3 more than Amazon and iTunes. Meanwhile, all three have the latest from the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus at just under 10 bucks.
      

Who's No. 1?
The official top 200 album sales chart that Nielsen Soundscan issues to record companies lists the Game's "LAX" as the week's top seller, having sold 238,285 copies. That's 13 more than the No. 2 album, Slipknot's "All Hope Is Gone."
But Billboard, on its website, has flipped the two albums, reporting that Slipknot's "All Hope Is Gone" has sold 239,516 and the Game's disc moved 238,382.
At first, it appears Billboard was perhaps counting the albums sold prior to the official release date of Aug. 26, and while that would indeed place Slipknot ahead of the Game, neither the math nor the ethics seem correct. Sales are for the week and in these two album's cases, the sales period give the gold to the Game, silver to Slipknot.
Nielsen Soundscan data reports  that the Game album sold 772 copies prior to the release date and Slipknot moved 941. That would take their tallies to
239,213 for Slipknot and 239,057 for The Game. Somehow, Billboard has come up with an additional undocumented sales of 303 for Slipknot and 325 for the Game. 

Post by Matt Kivel

The F Yeah fest wrapped this past Sunday with an intimate performance by Baltimore's Dan Deacon at Hanger 1018 in downtown LA. Attendance was surprisingly sparse due to a last minute location change (the gig was originally planned for the 6th street warehouse -- an equally obscure locale), but the small crowd was anything but diminutive in its unyielding display of affection and enthusiasm for Deacon's neck-snapping electronica.

100 to 200 hundred kids piled into the hanger's medium-sized front room and formed an ebullient circle around Deacon, who sang and spazzed ferociously. The group's collective body heat transformed the once airy space into a dense, oven-like enclosure. Intrepid fans unveiled a large quilt, which continually rose and receded above the bobbing audience who -- despite the effervescent sweat and body odor -- danced beneath its stitched patterns with reckless abandon. Deacon capped his 45 minute set with the epic sing-along "Silence Like The Wind Overtakes Me."

All in all, this F Yeah Fest was a wonderful celebration of Los Angeles' vibrant youth culture. It rallied independent music lovers and benefited from a truly positive, cynicism-free ethos that all but equaled the transcendent spirit of Arthurfest in 2005.   

Check out the F Yeah Fest photo gallery.

Post by David Lewis

Recently reunited post rock/mathrock/whatever pioneers Polvo (above) graced the Echoplex stage Sunday night in a show presented by the F Yeah Fest. Playing a long (nearly two hour) set of their challenging, extremely tight, mostly instrumental music made for a long -- but rewarding -- night. The quartet sounded as good as they did in their prime -- a decade ago -- and they had a hard time leaving the stage ("No one has to work tomorrow, right?" joked frontman Ash Bowie). A new album is rumored to be in the works, and if the crowd's enthusiasm Sunday was any indication, it will be warmly received.

Openers Trans Am are no slouches themselves when it comes to post rock noise, although their songs have more of an electronic influence than Polvo's guitar-driven rock. Vocals were minimal, and largely synnthesized, allowing the singer/keyboard player to chow down on some chips during their set.

Check out the F Yeah Fest photo gallery.