the (almost) daily blog

It's been about a week since my last post, so time to make up for lost time. The interview with Sara Radle will be officially up today, although it actually went up in incomplete fashion yesterday.

So what's in rotation today?

Guess.

No, guess again.

Roy Acuff.

I'm sure 95% of you have never heard of Acuff. I'll go into him at some other point. But he's an keep cog in the development of country, bluegrass and to a lesser degree blues.

I popped in Ella Guru earlier today for a few minutes. I'm going to miss that place when it's gone.

Labels: roy acuff

twice in one week, and this time a few inches. yay!

Happy 53rd Birthday to Steve Earle. In honor, here's a video from Letterman in 1988. The video is for his classic "Copperhead Road", but the real jewel of the video is the interview with Letterman. If you want to skip the song, go to about the 4:00 mark to catch the story about why he hated Elvis for years after he died.



As a bonus, here's "I Feel Alright" from 1996:



And as a double bonus here's a rare live clip from a very young Earle with Rodney Crowell singing "Stay All Night":

Labels: steve earle, video of the day

It doesn't happen too often, so I'm stoked that it's snowing in the A! Woohoo!

Finally out on YouTube is Mike Doughy's new video for the single, "27 Jennifer". Check out the video below:



In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that my sister-in-law is one of the Jennifers in the video. And if I do say so, she some of the best scenes in the video.

Enjoy.

Labels: 27 jennifers, jennifer blake, mike doughty, video of the day

Fifteen years ago 99X became the first commercial "Alternative" station in the Atlanta market. It was announced yesterday that the station's key personnel has been let go, and that a it's signal will be taken over by a pop station. While I haven't listened to 99X in years, it is sad to see it go the way of 96Rock, which took on a modified format a few years ago.

So here are a few of my memories of the station:

• During the blizzard of 1993, not long after the station changed formats, I was sitting in the living room of my parents house with a small battery operated clock radio while in the midst of a week with no electricity. During my channel surfing, I hit upon a song that halted my surfing. I listened, waiting to find out who it was. After the song was over, the deejay called out the 99X tag line and announced the previous song was by Gene Loves Jezebel. From that point, my radio rarely left 99.7.

• The day that Kurt Cobain killed himself, I remember flipping back and forth as all the rock stations basically stopped programming to cover the details and play Nirvana songs. At the same time, talk radio host "The Kimmer" was trashing the death and got into verbal sparing with the various stations around town.
  
  
• The last broadcast of Will Pendarvis before he left for a station in DC. Among the songs he played were the back-to-back playing of RatCat's, "Getting Away (from this world)" and Planet P Project's, "Top of the World". While I'm sure few other people have heard of either of these bands, I promise you there is little more haunting that this to songs, played in the above order, back-to-back. Here's a hint, if you like "Major Tom" you'll get these songs.
  
  
• Listening to Darious Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish take over as deejay when the band was first becoming popular and thinking how cool it was he played both The Replacements AND The (English) Beat - on the radio.
  
  
• Driving back from college my first two years and being thankful to pick up the channel's signal, and knowing that it meant I'd be home in an hour or so.
  
  
• Being thrilled the once or twice each winter when I could pick up 99x in Auburn. And blasting White Town's "Your Woman" riding at night via 99X.
  
  
• Remembering the first time I heard Cake, Pavement, Flaming Lips and the Sea and Cake.
  
  
• Being a senior in high school, in advanced lab, and listening to "Steve's College of Musical Knowledge" followed by the "House of Retro Pleasure".
  
  
• Driving back to college while listening to "Resurrection Sunday" and being so happy to hear The Smiths, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Peter Murphy, and other great '80's bands without having to play their tapes or CDs.
  
  
• Spending the summer after high school counting the number of times The Police were played during the day while noticing how different the format was from mid-day to drive to night.
  
  
• Moving back to Atlanta and hearing Dido on the radio a year before Dido was back on the radio everywhere.
  
  
• Hearing the US premier of "Acid Rain" by the Aussie band Silverchair. That song was off an EP a year or so before they hit big.
  
  
• And listening the first time they switched from Power 99 to 99X in the fall of 1992, and how that completely changed the music that people liked in high school. People went from MC Hammer to Nirvana and Pearl Jam almost overnight.

I'm sure there are more, as I typed this, I remembered the first time I heard "Yellow" by Coldplay and how "You Outta Know" was played three times back-to-back-to-back the first time the Alanis Morrisette single was played on the airwaves (and all the calls that came it wanting to hear it again and again). And I remember hearing Travis for the first time.

For everything I have described above - and more I haven't thought of yet - I know where I was each time. Music played a big role in my life, and it still does. And as I've spent 15 minutes thinking about how big of a role 99X played in my life, I've found I've got more memories of that station than I do of things that most people would deem more important.

You came in like a lion and brought with you the only exposure a kid without cable in the semi-rural South had at the time. Before the Internet, there was 99X. Before XM, there was 99X. Before the Tiger, there was 99X. And even if you were no longer relevant to me and stayed around five more years that you should have, thanks for the memories 99X.

Labels: 99X, atlanta, dido, editorial, mc hammer, nirvana, pearl jam, power 99, silverchair, the police, will pendarvis

If you are looking for a new band to listen to, then read the new interview with Portland's Weinland. Enjoy!

Labels: Interview, weinland

Ten years ago, actually 12, I saw a video for "As Bad As They Seem" by Hayden on 120 Minutes. That began a five or six year obsession with the Canadian singer-songwriter. How could I not like a guy who has, in the background of one of his songs, the sound of his mom vacuuming? He wrote the kind of songs that gave no reason to venture outside the walls of my apartment. A CD, headphones and music that made feeling bad, feel good. And most importantly, it was a break from the daily Smiths/Cure audio injection.

But until last night, when working on the interview for Weinland, I had misplaced my memory of Hayden. When looking on Badman Recording's Web site, I noticed Hayden is now on their roster. And so off I go to YouTube, and no I added a couple of video's to the RMVs.

Ah, the bliss of musical youth.

And as a non-read note, today would have been my parents 38th anniversary. RIP, dad.

Labels: badman recording, hayden, retrovision 90s, weinland

After my post yesterday, I put in the new Sea Wolf CD Leaves in the River. Talk about an outstanding album, I mean really, wow. Alex Brown Church, of Irving, really shines on the album. His songwriting skills and vocals are excellent. Dig around for the tracks "Black Dirt" and "You're a Wolf".

Labels: sea wolf

Have you seen this? here
I guess that's what happens with you mix The Shins with a model. As they say in the South, dude out punted his coverage with her anyway.

Labels: the shins

I guess it is to be behind the times than not with them at all, or at least that is the case with some of my more recent purchases, Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and Imperial Teen's The Hair The TV The Baby & The Band.

I've got to say, while I like the Spoon album, I find it hard that so many people have it as the best album of 2007. No knock on the band or the album, but I'm not sure is best-of-the-year good. Meanwhile, Imperial Teen's release is quite strong. I didn't see it on many of those Best of lists, proving musical group think once again. Maybe not enough people knew it came out, but much like Nada Surf, Imperial Teen proves they are more than a '90's one-hit wonder.

Now for new stuff that I've managed to find time to listen to this week. Weinland has a new album coming out in March '08, named La Lamentor. I've got to say, I was impressed. It's well written and melodic. While Weinland doesn't sounds like The National or Band of Horses, if you like those bands, you'll probably like Weinland as well.

Speaking of, the Band of Horses album Cease to Begin is absolutely amazing. I can't believe I waited so long to buy it. It is there best album yet.

Labels: band of horses, imperial teen, spoon, weinland

Hey Grandpa, What's for Dinner? (New Year's Day edition)

If you ever watched Hee Haw, you remember this well. Here's my version:

Today we've got slow-cooked black-eyed peas, cooked real fine. With hand-torn collard greens and kale with mustard greens cooking side-by-side. Two kinds of cornbread that will water your mouth. The first is old fashion made with buttermilk, and the other is hot and spicy, like dressing with a bite. With fresh-made tea to wet your whistle, we'll eat fine tonight!