This week's late night tv lineup

Leno

• Wed - Robyn

Letterman

• Wed - Florence + the Machine
• Fri - Rihanna

Kimmel

• Mon - The Temper Trap
• Thurs - Crystal Castles

Conan

• Thurs - The 88

Lopez

• Thurs - KT Tunstall
  

Four-peat

This week's late night tv lineup

Leno

• Tues - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Daly

• Tues - Alberta Cross
• Wed - The Walkmen

Letterman

• Wed - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals

Lopez

• Thurs - Filter

Conan

• Mon - Beach House
• Thurs - Reggie Watts
  

"Holiday Road"

Okay, so this isn't in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, but it makes me think of the National Lampoon's series (the good ones, at least) and Christmas Vacation is one of two my go-to movies during the time of year. And apparently it is for the Walkmen too, since they decided to cover it as part of A.V. Club's Holiday Undercover Series.


The Walkmen cover "Holiday Road"

Wondering what the other movie is? The Ref with Denis Leary. "Do you know what this family needs? A mute." Classic!

This week's late night tv lineup

SNL - Eminem and Lil Wayne

Daly

• Mon - Two Door Cinema Club
• Tues - A Perfect Circle
• Wed - Interpol
• Thurs - School of Seven Bells
• Fri - Fitz & the Tantrums

Letterman

• Thurs - Florence and the Machine

Conan

• Tues - Broken Bells
• Wed - Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
• Thurs - Jenny and Johnny

This week's late night tv lineup

SNL - Paul McCartney

Lopez

• Mon - Nicki Minaj
• Thurs - The 88

Daly

• Mon - Fanfarlo
• Wed - Florence and The Machine
• Thurs - Two Door Cinema Club
• Fri - Delta Spirit

Letterman

• Thurs - Phosphorescent

New music

Let's kick this off with a cool video for the alternate version of "Terrible Love." I dig the way it's shot and edited and think the end does a pretty good job of capturing the energy of The National in concert (without actually being there, of course).

• The National, "Wake Up Your Saints," High Violet expanded editions (out now), Troubled Souls Unite
• The Low Anthem, "Ghost Woman Blues," Smart Flesh (Feb 22nd), TwentyFourBit
• PJ Harvey, "Written on the Forehead," Let England Shake (Feb 14th), The Sky Report
• Noah and the Whale, "Wild Thing," Last Night on Earth (March 2011), TwentyFourBit
• The Dears, "Blood," Degeneration Street (Feb 15th), Quick Before It Melts
  

This week's late night tv lineup

Fallon

• Wed - Bruce Stringteen

Daly

• Mon - Kate Nash
• Tues - Broken Bells
• Thurs - School of Seven Bells
• Fri - Built to Spill

Kimmel

• Mon - Nicki Minaj
• Fri - Metric

Letterman

• Wed - Nicki Minaj

Ferguson

• Thurs - Norah Jones
  

Be thankful for free music!

Get in the holiday spirit by clicking on Turkey for a coupon code that gets you a $3 Amazon.com MP3 credit from LogicBUY (through Nov 29th). Thanks to Jude for the K.

This week's late night tv lineup

Daly

• Mon - Villagers
• Tues - Off!
• Wed - City and Colour
• Fri - She & Him

Conan

• Wed - Neon Trees

Ferguson

• Mon - The Very Best
  

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Fri - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Fallon

• Mon - Grinderman
• Thurs - The Frames
• Fri - Sufjan Stevens

Daly

• Mon - Kate Nash
• Tues - Japandroids
• Wed - Broken Bells
• Thurs - Menomena
• Fri - Fitz and The Tantrums

Letterman

• Thurs - Nicki Minaj
• Fri - The Secret Sisters

Conan

• Mon - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
• Thurs - The Decemberists
  

"Woman Friend"

Not sure why it took me six years to discover this gem off of Chromeo's She's in Control, but I am just thankful that I finally did. Come home one night from work and crank this sucker for your best lady... you won't be sorry, I promise.

This week's late night tv lineup

Leno

• Wed - Old 97's

Daly

• Tues - The Walkmen
• Wed - Alberta Cross
• Fri - A Perfect Circle

Letterman

• Mon - Cee Lo Green

Kimmel

• Thurs - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

400 congrats, JoePa

New music

• Cee Lo Green, full album stream of The Lady Killer (Nov 9th), NPR
• Tapes 'n Tapes, "Freak Out," Outside (Jan 11th), the Pop Sucker
• The Decemberists, "Down By the Water," The King Is Dead (Jan 2011), I am fuel
• Amy Winehouse, "It's My Party" (Lesley Gore cover), Q: Soul Train Bossa Nostra (Nov 9th), TwentyFourBit

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Thurs - Paul Weller

Letterman

• Mon - Elvis Costello
• Fri - The Secret Sisters

Leno

• Wed - Far East Movement

Daly

• Mon - School of Seven Bells
• Tues - Alberta Cross
• Wed - Built to Spill
• Fri - Two Door Cinema Club

"The Wanting Comes in Waves"

I saw this on Palladia or one of those other music channels months ago and was finally able to find it online. The song is my favorite from The Hazards of Love and this live version from ACL (maybe two years ago) ignites a fire in my belly. The sound, the theatrics, the harshness and beauty all rolled into one. Oh yeah, and the pipes on Shara Worden... goddamn!

The Decemberists - New Music - More Music Videos

This week's late night tv lineup

Daly

• Tues - She & Him
• Wed - Interpol
• Thurs - Villagers
• Fri - Ra Ra Riot

Letterman

• Mon - Kings of Leon
• Wed - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Kimmel

• Mon - K'naan
• Tues - Donavon Frankenreiter
• Wed - A Perfect Circle

"Let 'em have it"

I don't know if Philly fans need any encouragement, but this is still a great sound bite from JRoll. Wish I could be at Citizens Bank Park tonight for the game. Go Phils!

This week's late night tv lineup

SNL - Kings of Leon

Kimmel

• Tues - Mumford & Sons
• Wed - Die Antwoord

Letterman

• Tues - Gorillaz
• Wed - Jamey Johnson

Leno

• Tues - David Gray

Daly

• Tues - Menomena
• Wed - The Morning Benders
• Thurs - Japandroids
• Fri - Los Campesinos!
  

The Black Keys = Rodney Dangerfield

[The Black Keys' Facebook photos]

Wonder if the brainiac in charge of the plaques on the VMAs this year still has a job. Priceless...

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - The xx
• Wed - Mark Ronson
• Thurs - Nas & Damien Marley

Letterman

• Mon - Mark Ronson
• Tues - My Morning Jacket

Leno

• Wed - M.I.A.
• Thurs - Pete Yorn
• Fri - John Legend

Daly

• Mon - The Walkmen
• Tues - Broken Bells
• Thurs - City and Colour

The Story of Stuff

A few weeks ago, I finished reading The Story of Stuff. It was referenced during a professional development event at work and peaked my interest - specifically, the speaker threw out one stat from the book that it took 34 gallons of water to make 1 cup of coffee. Impossible, I thought! Apparently not...

The book spawned from a 2007 short-film of the same title and tackles America's obsession with all sorts of material things (referred to as "stuff") and the cycle of life of this stuff. Each stage of the cycle has it's own chapter - extraction, production, distribution, consumption, and disposal. While it's extremely informative, the facts and figures can be overwhelming (there are probably between 80-100 citations per chapter) and the environmental, economic and social issues seem damn near impossible to reverse. There were many times I found myself wondering, "well where the hell do we start?"

There are many thoughts and ideas I came away with, but I'm not posting this to hop up on my soapbox and preach. But what I will do is pass along what I believe is an informative and useful site that I think will, if nothing else, make you a more informed consumer - GoodGuide. Referenced numerous times in The Story of Stuff, GoodGuide rates over 65,000 products based on health, environmental and social factors. Hell, they even have an iPhone app. Here's a bit more on the ratings from the site:

GoodGuide ratings range from 0 to 10 and indicate how a product performs on a comprehensive set of health, environmental and social metrics. The higher the score, the better the product. If you are looking to switch to a better product, GoodGuide’s summary rating can be used to easily identify the best products in a category.

Pretty nifty if you ask me. Plug in a few of the products you use on a regular basis and I bet you'll be surprise. Oh yeah, and if you decide to read The Story of Stuff, save a tree and get it from the library.

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Tues - Phoenix
• Wed - Band of Horses

Letterman

• Tues - Mavis Staples with Jeff Tweedy
• Thurs - Gorillaz
• Fri - Antony and The Johnsons

Daly

• Mon - Janelle Monae
• Wed - Weezer

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Wed - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Letterman

• Thurs - Tired Pony

Leno

• Thurs -Rodrigo y Gabriela

Daly

• Tues - Menomeno
• Wed - The Morning Benders
• Thurs - Japandroids
• Fri - Los Campesinos!

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - Phoenix
• Tues - Band of Horses
• Thurs - Trombone Shorty

Letterman

• Mon - Chromeo
• Tues - Maroon 5
• Wed - Tom Jones
• Fri - Jimmy Eat World

Ferguson

• Fri - Willie Nelson

Leno

• Thurs - Brian Wilson

Daly

• Mon - The Walkmen
• Tue - Nas & Damien Marley
• Wed - Alberta Cross
• Thurs - Janelle Monae
• Fri - La Roux
  

The summer of hip-hop

It only took 33+ years, but with my first rap/hip-hop concert finally under my belt, I got to thinking how much of that goodness I listened to this summer. Even with quality releases from The Black Keys, the National, Arcade Fire, Ray LaMontagne and Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, I still found myself listening to more and more rap and hip-hop. And it was hard not to, with Eminem, the Roots, Big Boi, Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek) and Janelle Monae dropping some serious bombs this summer. My favorite cuts? Start with a litle "No Love" by Eminem and Lil' Wayne, add a dash of Big Boi's "Tangerine"(featuring T.I. & Khujo Goodie) with a twist of Janelle Monae & Big Boi's "Tightrope" and you have the beginning of a sweet ass good time.

Big Boi - 9:30 Club (9/8/10)

Phenomenal show! Big Boi and his crew of 2 packed over 20 songs into just over an hour, keeping the tempo high and the crowd moving. With the buzz Sir Lucious Left Foot... The Son of Chico Dusty has been getting, I was shocked that the concert didn't sell out when tickets first went on sale a few months ago - and even more so that the 9:30 Club was only about 3/4 full. It was probably better though, because Big Boi's energy had damn near everyone in the crowd (even me) bee bopping for much of the concert. Sweet ass!

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - Green Day
• Tues - Brandon Flowers (of the Killers)

Letterman

• Wed - Nas and Damien Marley
• Fri - V.V. Brown

Leno

• Mon - Brandon Flowers
• Wed - Weezer

Fallon

• Mon - Roberts Plant

Daly

• Mon - Janelle Monae
• Tues - Black Lips
• Wed - Surfer Blood

New music

Lots of albums being released next week and apparently, it even has a name - Super Tuesday. NPR has an article on why so many albums are released this week every year and is streaming 14 albums until Tuesday, including Robert Plant, of Montreal, Chromeo, the Walkmen, Junip (side project of José González), the Bad Plus and Superchunk to name a few (okay, more than a few). Others you can give a test spin before you decide whether or not to buy them include...

• Grinderman, full album stream of Grinderman 2 (Sept. 14th), Pfork
  
• Black Mountain, full album stream of Wilderness Heart (Sept. 14th), Pfork
• The Black Angels, full album stream of Phosphene Dream (Sept. 14th), Pfork

Time's a wasting, so get to listening!

Calling all guitarists

Here's a pretty cool little idea Jimmy Fallon and Pavement came up with. Deadline for video submittions is tomorrow and the appearance is Sept. 23rd. Another reason why I'm kicking myself for choosing the clarinet over the guitar - that's JV right there...

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Wed - Interpol
• Thurs - Ray LaMontagne

Letterman

• Wed - The Black Angels
• Thurs - Jamey Johnson

Ferguson

• Fri - Norah Jones

Leno

• Wed - Ray LaMontagne
• Thurs - David Gray

This week's late night tv lineup

Leno

• Tues - Norah Jones
• Thurs - Herbie Hancock

Letterman

• Fri - Spoon

Ferguson

• Mon - Chief

Kimmel

• Mon - The Swell Season
• Thurs - T.I.

This week's late night tv lineup

Letterman

• Mon - Big Boi
• Thurs - The Specials

Ferguson

• Tues - Wlico

Leno

• Tues - Sharon Jones
• Thurs - Robert Cray

Fallon

• Mon - Big Boi
• Thurs - Titus Andronicus

New music

• My Morning Jacket, "Circuital," TBD, You Ain't No Picasso
• Klaxons, "Echoes" and "Flashover," Surfing the Void (Aug 23rd), Stereogum
  
• The National, "You Were a Kindness," Live on MPR's the Current
  

This week's late night tv lineup

Kimmel

• Wed - T.I.

Letterman

• Tues - Interpol
• Wed - Steel Train
• Thurs - Alejandro Escovedo
• Fri - Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Ferguson

• Fri - Mumford & Sons

Fallon

• Thurs - Of Montreal
• Fri - Green Day
  

This week's late night tv lineup

Leno

• Thurs - The Whigs

Fallon

• Mon - Menomena
• Thurs - The Walkmen

Letterman

• Wed - Jay-Z and Eminem
• Thurs - The Dead Weather

Ferguson

• Mon - Vampire Weekend
  

Here come the wolfman

Here is my favorite of the handful of trailers out there propping Grinderman 2 (Sep. 13th). Seven days earlier, Grinderman will release "Heathen Child" on vinyl and for download (listen to it now here). Details, to include tour dates, are at their website. I've got a feeling Nick Cave & Co. will kick of the fall season just right.

This week's late night TV lineup

Letterman

• Mon - Nas and Damian Marley
• Wed - The Dead Weather
• Thurs - VV Brown

Leno

• Tues - The Black Crowes

Fallon

• Tues - Spoon
• Thurs - Titus Andronicus

If only I could stream music at work

It's probably better though - who knows where my mind would wander off to if I listened to either of these two stations during the day. And with one out of Charm City (Towson University to be exact) and the other out of L.A., we've got sea to shining sea covered.




Thanks to Jude and Biggie for the tips. Top notch... top notch!!

This week's late night TV lineup

Letterman

• Thurs - Interpol

Ferguson

• Mon - She & Him
• Tues - The Black Keys

Leno

• Thurs - Stone Temple Pilots

Fallon

• Fri - Green Day

You had me at Pavement

Virgin Mobile is sticking it to the man again this year. Not a bad lineup, and less than 15 minutes from the house. Tickets go on "sale" this Saturday.

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Thurs - Keane

Craig Ferguson

• Fri - MGMT

Leno

• Tues - The Black Keys
• Wed - Metric
• Fri - The Gaslight Anthem

Fallon

• Mon - Widespread Panic
• Fri - Rick Ross

Letterman

• Wed - Alejandro Escovedo

Ever heard of Scala & Kolacny Brothers?

Maybe I missed the boat on this, but I sure haven't... until today. S&K Bros. are a Belgian girls' choir that's been around since '96 and belt out covers of bands such as U2, Nirvana, Depeche Mode, Muse, David Bowie, Alanis Morissette, Marilyn Manson, the Cure and... Radiohead. Which is how I found out about these ladies with angelic yet eerie pipes. In '02, they covered "Creep" and it's being used as the soundtrack to the upcoming movie about the founding/creation of Facebook, The Social Network (Oct 1st). And after you're done watching that, click over to S&K's website and to hear the ladies giving Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters" a whirl.

If you're in the DC area...

check out the free Norman Rockwell exhibit, Telling Stories, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum until January 2nd. And if you're not a fan of Rockwell's work, well then I hate to tell you, but you don't have a soul.

Rockwell was a masterful storyteller who could distill a narrative into a single frame. His pictures tell stories about the adventure of growing up, of individuals rising up to face personal challenges, the glamour of Hollywood and the importance of tolerance in American life. He created his pictures with strategies similar to those used by filmmakers.

The pieces in the exhibit are from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's personal collections. It's pretty amazing how many Rockwell's they own between the two of them. Ah, to be rich...

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - Sublime w/Rome

Leno

• Thurs - Grace Potter
• Fri - Swell Season

Fallon

• Mon - Big Boi
• Wed - M.I.A.

Carson

• Fri - Nas & Damien Marley

Letterman

• Mon - Steel Train
• Tues - M.I.A.

Believe the hype...

Wonder just how much tinkering Big Boi did with Sir Lucious Left Foot for the few years he's been trying to get this thing released. Give him the award for sticktoitiveness... and possibly album of the summer.

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - Broken Bells
• Tues - The Specials

Letterman

• Mon - The National
• Wed - The Black Keys
• Thurs - Willie Nelson

Craig Ferguson

• Wed - The Hold Steady

Leno

• Wed - Big Boi

Fallon

• Mon - Phish
• Wed - Stars
• Thurs - Blitzen Trappen
• Fri - Eminem

New music

• Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse and David Lynch, full album stream of Dark Night of the Soul (July 13th), NPR
  
• Of Montreal, “Coquet Coquette,” False Priest (Sept 14th), TwentyFourBit
• Punch Brothers, “Packt Like Sardines In a Crush’d Tin Box” (Radiohead cover), bonus track from Antifogmatic (out now), TwentyFourBit
• Cloud Cult, "Running with the Wolves," Light Chasers (Sept. 14th), Knox Road
• Brandon Flowers (of the Killers), "Crossfire," Flamingos (TBD), Product Shop NYC
• Jenny and Johnny, "Scissor Runner," We're Having Fun Now (Aug 31st), Hailing the Photon Gods
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Leno

• Fri - Punch Brothers

Fallon

• Wed - Mumford & Sons
• Thurs - Kings OF Convenience

Carson

• Mon - Fanfarlo
• Tues - The Ravonettes
• Thurs - Los Campesinos!
• Fri - Phoenix

Letterman

• Mon - Tokyo Police Club
• Wed - The New Pornographers

Craig Ferguson

• Tues - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
• Fri - Dr. Dog
  

New Radiohead by year's end??

Read it for yourself here.

New music

• The Roots, full album stream of How I Got Over (June 22nd), Pfork
  
• James Mercer (of the Shins and Broken Bells), "Journey Through the Past" (Neil Young cover), 180° South soundtrack (out today), Pfork
• Amanda Palmer (of the Dresden Dolls), "Idioteque" (Radiohead cover), Amanda Palmer performs the popular hits of Radiohead with her magical ukulele (July), I am fuel
• Black Lips, "Before You Judge Me," from the Adult Swim Singles Program, Pfork

This week's late night TV lineup

Letterman

• Fri - Jay-Z and Eminem

Kimmel

• Fri - Sublime w/Rome

Leno

• Thurs - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings

Fallon

• Tues - Herbie Hancock
  
• Thurs - MGMT

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Thurs - Broken Bells

Leno

• Mon - Cee Lo
• Wed - Matisyahu
• Thurs - Punch Brothers

Fallon

• Tues - Broken Social Scene
• Wed - The Gaslight Anthem
• Thurs - Blitzen Trappen
• Fri - The Roots featuring Yim Yames (aka Jim James of My Morning Jacket)

Carson

• Mon - Citizen Cope
• Tues - La Roux
• Thurs - She & Him
• Fri - The xx

Letterman

• Thurs - Deer Tick
• 
  

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Kimmel

• Wed - Massive Attack

Leno

• Fri - Against Me!

Fallon

• Tues - Circa Survive
• Wed - Phish

Carson

• Tues - Surfer Blood
• Wed - The Living Sisters
  
• Fri - Circa Survive

Craig Ferguson

• Thurs - Damian Marley & Nas

The National - Electric Factory (6/4/10)

Even under less than ideal conditions, the National still impressed in concert. It wasn't an easy night though...

• Traffic - The combination of it being a Friday afternoon with both the Flyers and Phillies having home games made the traffic in Philly pretty much miserable.
• Venue - My first time at this venue, which is basically a warehouse. Those who want to enjoy a show with an adult beverage in hand are limited to the upstairs (with very few views of the stage) or the right-side of the stage downstairs (with sub-par acoustics). Not sure if that's by design or because of some silly ABC law, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to herd those willing to hand over more of their $$ into two undesirable areas of the venue.
  
• Crowd - Somehow, we ended up surrounded by a bunch of ass hats who were more interested in boozing and talking than the concert itself. Essentially, they paid a $25-35 cover to get into the Electric Factory bar with the National providing the background music. Another reason to refrain from the over-21 areas next time.

Enough of being Debbie Downer. The band was much more engaging (with each other and the crowd) than the other times I've seen them. Singer Matt Berninger puts so much of himself into some songs that he looks like he's on the verge of a full-blown seizure - I honestly don't know how he does it on a nightly basis and is still sane. The setlist was a solid 22 songs - I believe all but one ("Cherry Tree") being from Alligator, Boxer or High Violet. It looked like "Fake Empire" was supposed to close the main set, but Berninger called an audible of sorts as the rest of the band was putting down their instruments and they instead closed with "Mr. November." I'd assume that this was meant to be their encore closer, because "About Today" ended the show kinda awkwardly.

All things considered it was a good night of music (with the Flyers and Phils chalking up W's to boot). LBJ scored a pair of free tickets to the Saturday show in a radio station raffle too, which by his account was a more pleasurable experience than Friday. Oh well, you can't with them all...

I'll do what I want but irresponsibly

From last year's Austin City Limits concert/taping, but they replayed it a few weeks ago. Not only are these guys great musicians, they're bad-ass performers too. Watching this fires me up...



Saw PJ and Band of Horses at the ridiculously named Jiffy Lube Live (formerly Nissan Pavilion) last month with the LOML. Chalk up another fantastic concert by Pearl Jam.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Alicia Keys

Kimmel

• Tues - Stone Temple Pilots

Leno

• Thurs - Snoop Dogg
• Fri - Nas and Damien Marley

Fallon

• Thurs - Phish

Carson Daly

• Wed - Black Lips
• Fri - Doves

Letterman

• Tues - Band of Horses
• Fri - Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Fri - Massive Attack

Fallon

• Mon - Public Image Ltd.
• Wed - Mumford & Sons

Carson Daly

• Mon - 311

Letterman

• Wed - Stone Temple Pilots
• Thurs - Band of Horses

Craig Ferguson

• Thurs - The Hold Steady
  

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Tom Petty

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thurs - Dirty Heads
• Fri - Dr. Dog

Letterman

• Tues - MGMT
• Thurs -The National

Craig Ferguson

• Mon - Wilco
• Tues - Jonsi

Fallon

• Mon - Green Day
• Thurs - Phish
• Fri - Rolling Stones

New music

• Stream the National's High Violet (May 11th), the Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards (May 11th) and Flying Lotus' Cosmogramma (out now) on NPR
  
• Tokyo Police Club, "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)," Champ (Jun 8th), MFR
• Wolf Parade, "What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)" and "Ghost Pressure," Expo 86 (Jun 29th), Tympanogram
• Pains of Being Pure at Heart, "Say No to Love," Say No to Love 7" (Jun 8th), Pfork

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Jay-Z

Kimmel

• Mon - Two Door Cinema Club

Fallon

• Wed - The New Pornographers

Letterman

• Tues - Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings
• Wed -Willie Nelson
• Fri - Wale

Hump Day Humor

A little late, but funny nonetheless.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Vampire Weekend

Leno

• Wed - Aqualung

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - The Whigs
• Wed - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Carson Daly

• Tues - Citizen Cope

Letterman

• Tues - Hole
• Fri - The Hold Steady

Jimmy Kimmel

• Tues - Civil Twilight
• Wed - Dr. Dog
• Thurs - Hole
  

New music

• The National, full album stream of High Violet (May 11th), Brooklyn Vegan
• The New Pornographers, full album stream of Together (May 4th), NPR
  
• Junip, "Rope and Summit," EP title and date TBD, Their Bated Breath
• M.I.A, "Born Free," (video is NOT safe for work due to violence) LP title and date TBD, MOKB
• The Dead Weather, "Gasoline," Sea of Cowards (May 11th), Stereogum
  

New music

• The Hold Steady, full stream of Heaven is Whenever (May 4th), NPR
• Broken Social Scene, full stream of Forgiveness Rock Record (May 4th), NPR
• Blur, "Fool's Day," single released for Record Store Day, Blur website

UPDATE

• Band of Horses, "Factory," Infinite Arms (May 18th), band's website
• Rolling Stones, "Plundered My Soul," Exile on Main Street deluxe reissue (May 18th), TwentyFourBit
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon -Cypress Hill featuring Tom Morello
• Wed - Rob Zombie

Letterman

• Thurs - Broken Social Scene

Jimmy Fallon

• Wed - Silversun Pickups

Carson Daly

• Mon - Weezer
• Thurs - David Gray

Leno

• Mon - Phoenix
• Tues - Smashing Pumpkins
• Wed - Natalie Merchant
  

Drive-By Truckers - Recher Theatre (4/14/10)

A good old fashioned, balls out rock and roll concert… that pretty much sums up the Drive-By Truckers live. Other than getting the thumbs-up from RatBat Bear, who saw them with the Hold Steady at the end of ’08, I didn’t really know what to expect from this show. What I and about 700 people got was 27 songs of sweet southern rock goodness.

A few things of note… first, DBT has a hell of a fan base. I was initially surprised by this, but by the end of the night it was pretty clear why. While a crowd of 700 doesn’t seem like much, the energy kicked the shit out of some of the tepid crowds I’ve been a part of that were over 2x the size. The show was sold out and tickets were abnormally scarce on Craigslist. I waited outside for about 10 minutes before someone offered up and extra ticket. I walked in as DBT were taking the stage and the place was pretty much packed (unheard of for DC-area concerts). Lots of singing, grooving and Natty Boh drinking. This was most likely the effects of the other thing I noticed…

DBT genuinely seemed to be having a good time - something that probably can’t be said about a lot of other bands… especially when they’re on tour. This was pretty evident from their interactions with each other and the crowd. Maybe the Jack Daniels they were passing around (2 bottles) had something to do with it, but I doubt it. These guys have been around awhile – they’re a well-oiled machine and they play off of each other extremely well.

I’d consider myself a casual DBT fan. I have a few of their albums which I like - but for whatever reason, their music doesn’t hold my attention or interest for an entire album. Same goes for their latest, The Big To-Do. And while I’d definitely recommend seeing them in concert, I don’t think the experience will make me want to listen to their albums more – I’ll just anxiously await their next tour and bring a few friends with me to share the experience.

New music

• The National, "Afraid of Everyone," High Violet (May 10th), Pfork
• Band of Horses, "Laredo," Infinite Arms (May 18th), Pfork
• Deer Tick, "Twenty Miles," Black Dirt Sessions (Jun 8th)

This week's late night TV lineup

Letterman

• Mon - Spoon

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon & Tues - Them Crooked Vultures
• Thurs - Spoon
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon - She & Him
• Thurs - Jonathan Tyler & Northern Lights

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - Dr. Dog

Carson Daly

• Mon - Arctic Monkeys
• Tues - The Living Sisters

Letterman

• Mon - The Swell Season

Farewell #5

Well, it was a hell of a ride - 6 Pro Bowls, 5 NFC Championship games and 1 Super Bowl appearance. While I sit here pondering whether or not it was the right move to trade him to a division rival, I can't help but feel relieved for McNabb... he's taken more crap from Philly fans since day 1 than he deserved (although he did deserve some of it). Hopefully he'll find some peace down in DC.

[Isportacus]

Wilco - The Strathmore (3/30/10)

Wow... on many levels. The Strathmore is an absolutely phenomenal place to see a concert. Top-notch acoustics, beautiful design (both inside and out), comfortable seats and easy access (by car and mass transit). If you ever get a chance to see a show there, I highly recommend that you take advantage.

And then there was Wilco - 37 songs over almost 3 hours... you can't ask much more from a band than that. After coming out blazing, they pulled back on the throttle in the middle of their set, moving to the front of the stage, closer together and playing about a dozen songs, not full-out acoustically, but pretty darn close to it. Then back to their main instruments they went, and closed out the set with a "Jesus, etc" crowd singalong (which wasn't all that great, according to Jeff Tweedy), "Heavy Metal Drummer," "I'm the Man Who Loves You," and some other faves.

All-in-all it was a great concert, but it had bit of a different, more laid-back feel than the other two times I saw them. Maybe it was the classiness of the venue, maybe the attendance of Rahm Emanuel had something to do with it, maybe it was because it was on a Tuesday night in the 'burbs. When you get that many songs with near-perfect acoustics, it's hard to complain too much. All I know is that it's better than seeing them in a stadium or from the back of the lawn at a pavilion, which is probably where they're headed next go-around.

New music

• The Hold Steady, "Rock Problems," Heaven is Whenever (May 4th), Vulture
• Band of Horses, "Compliments," Infinite Arms (May 18th), Pfork
• Tokyo Police Club, "Breakneck Speed," Champ (June 8th), Pigeon Post
• Broken Social Scene, "Forced to Love," "All to All" and "Love Sick," Forgiveness Rock Record (May 4th), Songs to Save
• The Black Keys, "Tighten Up" and "Next Girl," Brothers (May 18th), I am fuel
  

Spoon & Deerhunter - 9:30 Club (3/23/10)

While Spoon's latest, Transference, isn't my favorite, I couldn't pass this one up - especially at the bargain price of $25. I don't think I've ever read anything bad about Spoon in concert, but have read a fair amount of lukewarm reviews from years past which surprised me. Interestingly enough though, those from this tour are much more favorable, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Throw Deerhunter into the mix and who knows what the hell this night would bring.

Deerhunter was... well, intense. And lead singer Bradford Cox is... well, different. In between songs he would ramble on about nothing in particular and many times seemed to just string words together without much concern for whether or not they made any sense. But then he would introduce a song, the band would start playing and it was like a switch turned on (or off) in his brain and everything became right in the world. Deerhunter played a hell of a set and the place was packed for them (it actually seemed to be more so than for Spoon). Their performance took me by surprise, but in a good way - at the end I felt like they had chewed me up and spit me out. I was relieved that it was over yet still wanted more. It was a strange feeling.

By the time Spoon came on, it was after 10pm and I was almost 18 hours into my day so I was starting to drag some serious ass. But they did a hell of a job of picking me up, dusting me off and giving me a swift kick in said ass. They blasted through their setlist, hitting all parts of their catalog and even covering a song by The Damned (“Love Song” maybe?). The only really low point for me was “The Underdog.” Substituting the horns for a piano seemed karaoke-ish. It’s all good though, I just used the opportunity to hit the head.

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Tues - Erykah Badu
• Wed - Matisyahu

Letterman

• Wed - The Whigs
• Fri - She & Him

Craig Ferguson

• Fri - Joss Stone

Leno

• Mon - Joss Stone

Jimmy Fallon

• Mon - Julian Casablancas
• Wed - Drive-By Truckers

New music (UPDATED)

• The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio," High Violet (May 11th), Pfork
• Beck, St. Vincent, Liars, and Os Mutantes, “Guns in the Sky" (INXS cover), Record Club (Beck’s cover album series, Record Club), TwentyFourBit
• The Gaslight Anthem, "American Slang," American Slang (Jun 15th), TwentyFourBit
• Phoenix, free download of Live in Sydney, Ultra8201
• MGMT, full stream of Congratulations (Apr 13th), Product Shop NYC
• LCD Soundsystem, "Drunk Girls," untiled as of now (May 18th), Pfork
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Tues - Neon Trees

Leno

• Tues - Rodrigo y Gabriela
• Fri - Ludacris

Jimmy Fallon

• Mon - Rogue Wave
• Tues - The Besnard Lakes
• Wed - Clientele
• Thurs - Robert Randolph & Sacred Steel

Carson

• Mon - Grizzly Bear
• Wed - The Ravonettes
• Fri - Black Lips
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Mon -Galactic with Allen Toussaint

Jimmy Fallon

• Wed - The xx
• Fri - Air

Carson Daly

• Mon - Phoenix
• Wed - Metric
• Thurs - Wild Light
• Fri - 311

Letterman

• Wed - Free Energy
• Thurs - Fanfarlo

The more you read, the better it gets

This week a woman in Florida rear-ended a truck. Not too exciting of a story, right? You couldn't be more wrong.

The woman told police she was shaving her pubes when the accident happened (the police used the term "landscaping" when describing the incident). Apparently, she was meeting her boyfriend and wanted to be ready for the impending party in her pants. Even better was that her ex-husband was in the passenger seat steering the car. And just one day prior, the woman was convicted of DUI and was driving with a suspended license.

Natural selection is a beautiful thing...

New music - The National

"Terrible Love" from High Violet (May 11th)

New music

• Plants and Animals, "Tom Cruz," La La Land (Apr 20th), Oceans Never Listen
• MGMT, "Flash Delirium," Congratulations (Apr 13th), Indie Blog Heaven
  
• Grizzly Bear ft. Intuition, "Two Weeks," I Ruined These Songs For You (TBD), Potholes in My Blog
  
• Dr. Dog, "Stranger," Shame, Shame (Apr 6th), Everybody Taste
  

Not yet... but it's getting close!

The most heartening time of year in the northern climes is when the earth nods toward the sun, the temperature spikes, and the streets fill with women sprung from the prison of bulky winter clothes. Ignore the calendar; the appearance of the sundress marks the first day of summer. The little black dress, the miniskirt, the belly shirt all deserve praise. But the sundress - so strappy, so revealing, so sexy - fairly sings of warmth and possibility. The ladies enjoy it too. "Women jump at the first chance to put one on," says my fiancee, who looks both tart and sweet in the lemony yellows she prefers. "They've been waiting and waiting all winter." As have we. Gentlemen, the wait is over.

- Larry Smith, Men's Health

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Pearl Jam

Leno

• Mon - Ben Harper

Fallon

• Mon - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
• Tues - The Allman Brothers Band
• Wed - The National
• Thurs - Broken Bells
• Fri - Vampire Weekend

Caron Daly

• Tues - Weezer
• Thurs - David Gray

Letterman

• Tues - Broken Bells
• Fri - Drive-By Truckers

Jimmy Kimmel

• Wed - Manchester Orchestra

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Vampire Weekend

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thurs - Galactic w/Allen Toussaint

Carson Daly

• Tues - Phoenix
• Thurs - Fanfarlo

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - Ludacris
• Wed - Erykah Badu
• Thurs - Silversun Pickups
• Fri - Joannna Newsome

Letterman

• Mon - Ludacris
• Thurs - Spoon

Craig Ferguson

• Fri - Regina Spektor
  

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Black Cat (2/18/10)

This was a tremendous show - and unexpected, which makes it even better. I had heard of The Soundtrack of Our Lives before, but honestly had never paid much attention to them. Led by their big, sweaty, unpredictable teddy bear-esque frontman Ebbot Lundberg, the Swedes sure do know how to bring it. And the pair of blonde firecrackers that scooted their way in front of us added to the entertainment by shaking their moneymakers and whipping their hair all about. A quality night all around.

Check out their website, scroll towards the bottom and click on "Enter the TSOOL Dimension" - whoa.

New music

• Thom Yorke, "The Daily Mail," Mouse Dog Bird" and"Give Up the Ghost," video from a Green Party benefit in Cambridge on Feb 25th, NPR
• Prince, "Cause and Effect," Minnesota Public Radio exclusive via NPR
  
• She & Him, "Thieves," Volume Two (Mar 23rd), Pfork
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "Good Enough," Mojo (this Spring), Metro D
• The Morning Benders, "Excuses" and "Promises," Big Echo (Mar 9th), Aquarium Drunkard
• Rogue Wave, "Solitary Gun," Permalight (Mar 2nd), I am Fuel
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Kimmel

• Mon - Mayer Hawthorne

Letterman

• Mon - Ben Harper and Relentless7
• Fri - The Blind Boys Of Alabama With Lou Reed

I get lost even in the places that I know...

There's nothing like finding good music by accident... okay, maybe that' s overshooting it a bit, but you catch my drift. I originally recorded Austin City Limits a few weeks ago to check out the Avett Brothers and see what all of the fuss was about. After a few songs, I was still trying to figure it out. In my state of disappointment, I almost deleted the episode before giving the Heartless Bastards a listen. That would've been a gross error in judgment.

Right out of the gate, "Hold Your Head High" blew me away - so much so that I rewound it a few times before moving onto the rest of their set. Five songs later, I sat there pleasantly surprised and want more. I downloaded their latest release, The Mountain and it's been getting some frequent play on my iPod. It's nothing revolutionary, not mind-altering either - but I like their old-school sound and the stank of Erika Wennerstrom's voice sure is addicting. Unfortunately, they just finished touring with Wolfmother so who knows when I'll get a chance to catch them live. Until then, do me a favor and give "Hold Your Head High" a whirl, by clicking here and starting just after the 30 minute mark of the video.

New music

• Muse, "Prague," b-side to "Resistance" (and a Mega City Four cover), NME
  
• Dr. Dog, "Shadow People," Shame, Shame (Apr 6th), Aquarium Drunkard
• Clem Snide, free stream of The Meat of Life (Feb 23rd), NPR
• Josh Ritter, "Change of Time," So Runs the World Away (May 4th), I am fuel
• Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, "I Learned the Hard Way," I Learned the Hard Way (Apr 6th), MOKB

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Fri - Wale

Dave

• Mon - Fanfarlo
• Wed - Mumford & Sons

Tonight on Austin City Limits

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Them Crooked Vultures

Jimmy Fallon

• Tues - Motion City Soundtrack
• Thurs - Hot Chip

Jimmy Kimmel

• Thurs - The Bravery

Letterman

• Tues - Ben Harper and Relentless7
• Fri - The Swell Season

Conan

• Mon - John Mayer Trio
• Tues - Neko Case
• Wed - Incubus
  

New music

• The Knife, free stream of Tomorrow, In a Year (Mar 1st), Drowned in Sound
• Drive-By Truckers, "This Fucking Job," Big To-Do (Mar 16th), Metro D
• Hot Chip, full stream of One Life Stand (Feb 9th), Stereogum
• Yeasayer, free download of "O.N.E.," Odd Blood (Feb 9th), Stereogum
• Erykah Badu (ft. Lil Wayne), "Jump Up in the Air (Stay There)," New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh (Mar 30th), Gorilla vs. Bear
  

The Low Anthem on NPR

I caught the Low Anthem in December opening for Josh Ritter and got a chance to meet 2/3 of the band after their set. Since that time, they've been on Letterman twice (okay, the second time was a rerun), incorporated a fourth member in the band, recorded material for their third album and secured a bunch of dates for their first headlining tour in the US. Yesterday they kicked off a dozen dates in Europe and this Sunday, they begin The Trala-Lala Radio Hour, a weekly show they're hosting on WOXY. Why can't we all have a two month stretch like that?

NPR's Tiny Desk Concert web-series just posted a pretty cool three song set. They sure do make some beautiful music, even with two cells at the end of their second song, "This God Damn House."

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Tues - Silversun Pickups
• Wed - Mayer Hawthorne
• Fri - John Mayer

Jimmy Fallon

• Thurs - Ringo Starr with Ben Harper and Relentless7

Carson Daly

• Wed - Cold War Kids
• Fri - Phoenix

Letterman

• Tues - The Low Anthem
• Wed - Findlay Brown
• Thurs - The HotRats
• Fri - Julian Casablancas

Craig Ferguson

• Thurs - Wilco
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel

• Fri - Heartless Bastards

Jimmy Fallon

• Mon - The Cribs
• Tues - Mountain Goats
• Fri - Beach House

Carson

• Mon - Weezer
• Tues - The xx

Conan

• Tues - Spoon

Letterman

• Mon - The Heavy
• Tues - The Swell Season

Craig Ferguson

• Fri - Hotrats
  

New music

• Dirty Projectors, free download of Acending Melody 7", Gorilla vs. Bear
• Spoon, free stream of Transference (Jan 19th), NPR
  
• Shearwater, "Castaways," The Golden Archipelago (Feb 23rd), Aquarium Drunkard
• Rogue Wave, "Good Morning," Permalight (Mar 2nd), MOKB

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Fallon

• Tuesday - Ringo Starr
  
• Friday - Hot Rats

Conan

• Monday - Vampire Weekend

Carson Daly

• Monday - David Gray
• Tuesday - Ravonettes
• Thursday - Pete Yorn

David Letterman

• Monday - Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses
  
• Tuesday - Findlay Brown
• Wednesday - Hot Rats
• Thursday - The Low Anthem
• Friday - Matt Morris

AD's Decade

Aquarium Drunkard just wrapped up their Decade series which began in October. In all, 60 albums were highlighted - tops on their list for the 00's was Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (not a bad selection). This was my favorite best of the decade lists. AD not only reviewed the albums, but gave a little history lesson with each by dropping some k on where the albums fit into the artists' careers and the decade as well. Enjoyable (and informative) reads.

New music

• Vampire Weekend, full album stream of Contra (Jan 12th), NPR
• The Knux, free download of F*ck You EP (out now), MOKB
• Shout Out Louds, "Fall Hard" and "Walls," Work (Feb 23rd), NPR
• The Drums, "I Felt Stupid," Summertime EP (out now), Ultra 8201
  

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Fallon

• Monday - Japandroids
• Wednesday - Clipse

Letterman

• Monday - David Gray
• Tuesday - Vampire Weekend
• Wednesday - Julian Casablancas
• Friday - The Dodos

The merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation

Last week, I got the below email from the 9:30 Club. I don't have many nice things to say about Ticketmaster or Live Nation, so I have a hard time believing Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff when he told the LA Times, "if our plan happens ... it can, should and will result in lower ticket prices in the primary market." Riiiiight.

There’s a train wreck about to happen and consumer groups say YOU will be the victim if the two most powerful corporate interests in the live concert business get their way. But you can help stop the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. The government needs to hear from music fans now. Tell the Department of Justice that you’re against these monopolies amassing illegal power over consumers, before it’s too late. antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov

As a concertgoer you have already felt the pain, and if Ticketmaster and Live Nation get their way, it’ll get worse. In the last 12 years, since Live Nation and its predecessor started its widespread takeover of the concert industry, concert ticket prices have shot up 82% while the consumer price index has gone up just 17%*. We are concerned that if the two concert industry behemoths, Live Nation and Ticketmaster, are permitted to merge, the variety and quality of artists coming to local venues will be affected, and your costs could rise further and faster.

Five of the nation’s most prominent public interest groups called on the Department of Justice to block the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation:

“Consumers deserve a fair deal in the entertainment marketplace, not the fewer choices and higher prices that would result from this merger,” said Susan Grant, Director of Consumer Protection at Consumer Federation of America

“This merger is an insult to both musicians and consumers,” said James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International

“We cannot envision a remedy that would ease this chilling impediment to competition… In the absence of other effective, expeditious remedies, the proposed transaction should be prohibited.” American Antitrust Institute White Paper

As described by Senator Herb Kohl (WI) in the House Antitrust hearing, “This merger will not only expand Ticketmaster’s control of the ticketing market by eliminating a competitor, but it is also creating an entity that will control the entire chain of the concert business – from artist management to concert promotion and production to ticketing and ticket resale.”

“This merger would be a disaster for consumers. Nothing short of blocking this takeover of the ticket market by two industry behemoths will be acceptable,” said National Consumers League Executive Director Sally Greenberg

“As president, I will direct my administration to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement. I will step up review of merger activity and take effective action to stop or restructure those mergers that are likely to harm consumer welfare…,” said Senator Barack Obama when he was campaigning for the presidency.

If you agree with the consumer groups and lawmakers, make a difference and LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD NOW.

Send a message to the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice telling them you support President Obama’s campaign promise to protect the American public from abusive monopolies.

antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov

To learn more, check out:

ticketdisaster.org

Public Interest Groups Call on Justice Department to Block Ticketmaster/LiveNation/Comcast Merger

American Antitrust Institute's White Paper TICKETMASTER - LIVE NATION

Philadelphia Weekly’s cover story “Monopoly Rules”