The Thermals - Daytripping (Part I)

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Wednesday - Eric Hutchinson
• Thursday - Phoenix

David Letterman

• Monday - Steve Earle
• Thursday - PJ Harvey w. John Parish

Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Green Day
• Tuesday - Jonh Mayer Trio
• Thursday - Neko Case
• Friday - Incubus

Carson Daly

• Wednesday - Little Boots
• Thursday - Robert Francis
• Friday - NASA

Jimmy Fallon

• Monday - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Thursday - Asher Roth
• Friday - Keane

The price is right... especially when it's free

As the summer approached and various festivals were releasing details on their 2009 editions, rumors were surrounding the Virgin Mobile Festival - mainly whether or not it was even going to happen. Well it's happening on Saturday, August 30th, but with a few changes...

• IT'S FREE!!!!
• It will be held at Merriweather Post Pavilion (instead of Pimlico Race Course, where it had been since the festival started in '06)
• It will only be a one-day event
• IT'S FREE!!!!

That's right kids, it's free. Hell, even Ticketbastard is waving their infamous convenience charge if you pick up the tickets at Will Call. While it's not required, Virgin Mobile is asking attendees to donate $5 to youth homelessness through RE*Generation.

I don't think anyone would've been surprised if Virgin Mobile half-assed the booking. But I have to hand it to them, the line-up is pretty solid... Franz Ferdinand, Weezer, the National, the Hold Steady, St. Vincent and Girl Talk to name a few. And a dance tent to boot - count me in!

Tickets were made available this past Saturday and surprise surprise, they "sold" out fairly quickly. Soon after, posts started appearing on Craiglist - those looking to sell the free tickets AND others offering $$ (and other things) for extra tickets. Gotta love it.

For those of you who were unable to get tickets (like myself) you can certainly go the Craigslist/eBay route. Another option is to try back after the 28th. Those who ordered tickets and selected the Will Call option must pick-up their tickets between Aug 21-28. Unclaimed tickets will be released to the public after that.

Wilco Live Webcast - Saturday

Tune in at WilcoWorld.net (or the Wilco iPhone app for you up on technology) this Saturday, June 26th at 9pm EDT for the live webcast of Wilco's show at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, CA. Might have to have this on in the background while I'm filling up moving boxes...

Beck's Record Club

From beck.com:

We've been working on changes to the website for the last few months. We'll be adding new sections as they're ready. The first one to be added is called Record Club, an informal meeting of various people to record an album in a day. An album will be chosen to be reinterpreted and used as a framework. Nothing rehearsed or arranged ahead of time. A track will be uploaded once a week on beck.com as well as through the web sites of those involved with the project.

First up is Velvet Underground's The Velvet Underground & Nico. Check out the website for their cut on the opening track, "Sunday Morning." Give it to Beck for coming up with a pretty cool idea.

New music

• Yim Yames (aka MMJ's Jim James), "Behind That Locked Door," Tribute to (Geroge Harrison tribute out July 7th), MOKB
• Modest Mouse, "The Whale Song," Autumn Beds (limited edition 7" out now), The Tripwire

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thursday - Eric Hutchinson
• Friday - Phoenix

Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Pete Yorn
• Tuesday - Elvis Costello
• Wednesday - Wilco
• Friday - Adele

Jimmy Fallon

• Monday - Sonic Youth
• Wednesday - The Roots
• Thursday - Dinosaur Jr.
• Friday - Grizzly Bear

David Letterman

• Tuesday - MSTRKRFT with John Legend
• Wednesday - St. Vincent

Craig Ferguson

• Friday - Chairlift

Band of Horses - Ram's Head Live! (6/12/09)

I'm not really sure what happened here. The conditions were set for a successful evening - the LOML made a rare appearance with me, we've been looking forward to see BoH for a few years and it was our maiden voyage to Ram's Head in B-more. The night even started off on a few positive notes - got rid of our extra pair of tickets without a hitch and had solid dinner/drinks at the newly established J.A. Murphy's. Once we got to Ram's Head, the night didn't go in the crapper, but it sure didn't continue to get better...


First, the venue. It doesn't seem like a bad place to see a concert, but we didn't help ourselves any by showing up to the sold-out show about 10 minutes before BoH came on stage. We chose to head to the second floor and had to bob and weave the whole night to catch glimpses of the band.

Which brings us to BoH. They kicked off their set with three or four slow songs in a row (their set list looked similar to their NY show)... if I could have laid down on the floor and taken a nap, I would have. I'm not sure what I expected from these guys, but they didn't live up to it. They sounded fine but their choice of songs and lack of movement on stage didn't really give the crowd a chance to get into it. It was almost like they didn't want us to get into it...

TV on the Radio - 9:30 Club (6/9/09)

It's been a long time coming for me seeing TVOTR in concert. I had a ticket to see them at the 9:30 in'07, but crapped out for some reason (I still have the unused ticket). When they announced their first go-around of the states in support of Dear Science, I was bummed to say the least... but they were kind enough to include DC as a stop on their 2nd leg. I was more than a little anxious to hear how all of their sounds came across in a live setting. Plus I wanted to see Kyp Malone's afro and beard in person.

Lead man Tunde Adebimpe has what seems like boundless energy. He bounces around the stage and sings every line like it could be his last. The sax player was definitely feeling the music as well. Other than those two though, there wasn't much movement by the rest of the band... but you could still tell that they were giving it their all.

I found myself doing the same thing last Tuesday that I did for the first few months I listened to Return to Cookie Mountain - trying to piece all of their "noises" together instead of taking it all in as one sound. And with all of the different "noises" TVOTR makes, taking them in individually quickly becomes overwhelming (and exhausting). I had to remind myself on a few occasions that night to step back and just enjoy the experience. And once I was able to do that, it just made me want to see them over and over and over again, until I got it just right.

This week's late night TV lineup

Carson

• Monday - Doves
• Tuesday - Diane Birch
• Wednesday - Zee Avi
• Friday - Peaches

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thursday - Ben Harper

David Letterman

• Tuesday - Ian McLagan & the Bump Band
• Thursday - Phoenix
• Friday - The Sounds

Conan O'Brien

• Wednesday - Incubus
• Thursday - Dead Weather

Jimmy Fallon

• Wednesday - Street Sweeper Social Club

This week's late night TV lineup

Dave Letterman

• Monday - Mos Def
• Wednesday - Sonic Youth
• Friday - PJ Harvey w/John Parish

Carson Daly

• Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday - Green Day
• Friday - Foxboro Hot Tubs

Jimmy Fallon

• Monday - Amoadou & Mariam
• Tuesday - Mos Def
• Wednesday - Manchester Orchestra

Conan O'Brien

• Thursday - Neko Case

Pearl Jam - "Backspacer"

PJ performed a new song from their upcoming album (TBD) on Conan's first night hosting The Tonight Show.

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Monday - No Doubt
• Thursday (primetime edition, 7PM EST) - Justin Timberlake and Eminem
• Friday - Asher Roth

Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Pearl Jam
• Tuesday - Green Day
• Thursday - The John Mayer Trio
• Friday - Chickenfoot

Jimmy Fallon

• Tuesday - Paul Simon
• Wednesday - Dave Matthews Band
• Thursday - Doves

Carson Daly

• Tuesday - Ben Harper & Relentless7
• Wednesday - Lissy Trullie
• Friday - Ida Maria

Craig Ferguson

• Monday - Tori Amos

Dave Letterman

• Thursday - Elvis Costello