This week's late night TV lineup

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Thursday - Jack's Mannequin
• Friday - T.I.

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Wednesday - Department of Eagles
• Thursday - Ben Folds
• Friday - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Thursday - Cut Copy

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Wednesday - The Virgins

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Thursday - Michael Franti & Spearhead

Hooray Friday!

- New music:

• Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, numerous tracks, Cardinology (Oct 28), I am Fuel and Bag of Songs
• Vampire Weekend, "Ottoman," Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist soundtrack (out now), Stereogum
• Ray Lamontagne, "Meg White," Gossip In the Grain (Oct 14), Stereogum
• The Killers, "Human," Day & Age (Nov 25), Stereogum

- Eddie Vedder covered Nick Cave's "Ship Song" and NIN's "Hurt" while soloing it in Chicago. Still bummed I missed him when he came through DC (ironically, the LOML and I were in Chicago). Anywho, have a listen to both at I am Fuel.

- If you couldn't make it to the Austin City Limits music Festival, but still want to peek in from time to time in the comfort of your own home, bounce over to the AT&T Blue Room. The schedule includes Vampire Weekend, Hot Chip, Yeasayer, The Fratellis, Drive-By Truckers, Against Me!, The Raconteurs and Okkervil River just to name a few.

- Bon Iver played a 3-song set in NPR's World Cafe.

- I had to include this after my admission the other week that my first CD was the Batman soundtrack. Spike has the 10 worst songs that hit #1. And at #9... "Batdance" by Prince. Oiy.

The definition of hustle

I'm almost embarrassed to post this because of its "interesting" quality, but it was a phenominal play by Brian Dawkins on Sunday. I hate to say this for fear of causing a turn in good fortunes, but the Birds and the Phils are playing solid ball.

The Kooks - 9:30 Club (9/8/08)

Was I expecting the amazingness that was MMJ at Constitution Hall the week prior? No, and I was fine with that. Honestly I think my brain would have exploded if I had another experience like that less than a week later. As RatBat Bear put it "great Brit pop fun!" That's what I was in the mood for and that's exactly what the Kooks delivered.

With that being said it still took me a few songs to get my wits about me. I walked in just a few minutes before they took the stage and when they did it was obvious that the crowd was female heavy. Thankfully the cheering wasn't quite at the ear-popping, overwhelming shrieking level but it was definitely an octave or 2 higher than the standard crowd noise. And of course I found a decent spot upstairs until an overly exited 6'5" dancing man stood right in front of me. Luckily he came there for the concert and the beer, so it wasn't long before he was off to refill his beverage.

While I only had a few days take in Inside In Inside Out, it was enough to be decently familiar with the songs when they came up in the setlist. They played a solid main set that lasted just over an hour. Lead man Luke Pritchard kicked off the encore with two solo, acoustic songs which was a nice touch. All in all it was an entertaining show - good sound and they played to the crowd rather well.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Duffy

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Tuesday - Atmosphere
• Wednesday - Foals

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Monday - My Morning Jacket
• Thursday - The Hives

Last Call w/Caron Daly

• Monday - Hot Chip

Late Show w/Dave Letterman

• Tuesday - Kings of Leon
• Friday - TV on the Radio

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Kings of Leon

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Friday - Cold War Kids

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Monday - Eric Hutchinson
• Wednesday - George Clinton & The Gangsters of the Love All-Stars

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Wednesday - Loudon Wainwright III

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Thursday - Fleet Foxes
• Friday - Duffy

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Tuesday - Tally Hall
• Thursday - Dr. Dog

Hooray Friday!

- New music:

• The Rosebuds, "Life Like," Life Like (Oct 7th), Ear Farm (link to stream entire album is also on that page)

- Looking for a Radiohead bootleg from their latest tour? Head over to Music is Art where they have the Mansfield, MA concert from last month posted and zipped up for easy downloading access. Cruise up a few posts and you'll find some of Radiohead's Neil Young covers. Thanks and congrats to LBJ.

- Can't get enough of Neil Young? Have a listen to Rogue Wave covering Neil Young's "Birds" over at I am fuel.

- La Blogotheque filmed two a capella videos of Yeasayer in an apartment and on a train. Thanks to Ulta 8201 for the K.

- The first album you bought with your own $$? Unfortunately I can't remember the first album I bought, and unfortunately I can remember the first CD I bought - the Batman soundtrack. Effing embarrassing. Anywho, the A.V. Club asks the same question to its staff and readers.

This week's late night TV lineup

SNL - Lil Wayne

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Thursday - Alejandro Escovedo

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Monday - Bon Iver

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Tuesday - Grizzly Bear
• Thursday - Cloud Cult

Hooray Friday!

- New music:

• Kaiser Chiefs, "Never Miss a Beat," Off With Their Heads (Oct 13), Ultra 8201

- With the Kooks concert coming up next week and only one album under their belt, I've been wondering if they have any tricks up their sleeves to beef up their setlist. Butter Team answers my question. Hopefully they'll whip out some of these covers on Monday.

- Wilco and Fleet Foxes converged in Washington State and took on Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released." Thanks to Aquarium Drunkard.

- If you're like me and missed Radiohead in concert this time around (or want to see them again), NPR will be streaming their Santa Barbara show starting on Monday, Sept. 8.

My Morning Jacket - D.A.R. Constitution Hall (9/3/08)

Recently I was discussing upcoming concerts with someone who knows a fair bit about music and I mentioned that I was really looking forward to finally seeing MMJ. Her response was, "They're too serious. They need to lighten up." At the time I didn't quite understand what the hell she was talking about, and after Wednesday night here are my observations:

• If music is a person's/band's livelihood, I hope they take it seriously.
• Anyone who wears a towel on their head/moon boots/cape (whether it be on or off stage) can't be too serious.
• If too serious is defined as 2+ hour concerts, then more bands should be more serious.
  

Back to the concert. After scoring floor tickets on eBay for a whopping $5.50 (yes, the decimal is in the correct place), to say I was even more hopped up for "An Evening with My Morning Jacket" would be an understatement. They blazed a trail by opening with "Evil Urges" and "Anytime" and followed that son of a bitch for almost 2 1/2 hours. Songs from Evil Urges (which admittedly took me awhile to truly appreciate) came off even better live. Jim James and Carl Broemel have the harmonizing guitar thing down to a science and the whole band just feeds off of each other. Best part is that they waste very little time - Jim James kept his comment to a minimum and they just roll from one song to the next. Efficiency at its best!

SETLIST: Evil Urges, Anytime, Off The Record, Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.1, Two Halves, Golden, Thank You Too!, I'm Amazed, The Way That He Sings, Sec Walkin, War Begun, Phone Went West, Cobra, Librarian, Dondante, Gideon, Lay Low, Steam Engine

ENCORE: Wordless Chorus, Highly Suspicious, Smokin From Shootin, Touch Me I'm Going To Scream Pt.2, Run Thru, One Big Holiday

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Friday - Black Kids

Tonight Show w/Jay Leno

• Wednesday - Brian Wilson

Late Night w/Conan O'Brien

• Tuesday - Ra Ra Riot
• Wednesday - Delta Spirit

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Wedsnesday - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
• Thursday - Ben Harper
• Friday - Local H

Late Show W/David Letterman

• Wednesday - Tricky
• Thursday - Duffy
• Friday - Warren Zevon Tribute with Steve Earle

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Friday - Jamie Lidell

If you pay them, they will learn?

This just doesn't make any sense to me, but I guess it's what the world is coming to (man, that makes me sound old). Washington, D.C. officials announced a new incentive program that will pay middle schoolers up to $100 a month for, well... being students. The pilot program, called Capital Gains is similar to one being run in NYC and gives students the opportunity to earn cash money for attending class, doing homework, getting good grades and staying out of trouble. Isn't that what kids are supposed to do? I would've loved to have something like that when I was in school. Instead, my incentive for doing all of that stuff was keeping my parents off of my ass... a "program" that seemed to be pretty effective. But I guess in a city where only 36% of middle schoolers are proficient in reading and 33% in math, it's worth a try.

This week's late night TV lineup

Last Call w/Carson Daly

• Monday - Lupe Fiasco

SNL - Feist

Hooray Friday!

- This definitely warrants the top spot this week. Listen to the new TV on the Radio track "Golden Age" off of their upcoming release Dear Science (Sep 23rd) on the band's website. Thanks to Metro D for the heads up.

- Get ready for a superfecta from I am fuel...

1. fun is Nate Ruess' (former Format lead man) new band and "Benson and Hedges" is their demo. Take a gander.
2. Sounds like Wilco is looking eyeing the spring of '09 to release their new album, which I couldn't be happier about. Over the past few weeks, they've been testing the waters with two new songs: "One Wing" and "Sunny Feeling."
3. More new stuff, this time from the National apparently titled ""A Thousand Black Cities."
4. I am not a big Smashing Pumpkins fan, but understand that I am in the minority here. Flashback to 1997 when they played the Bridge School Benefit.

- Even more new music, this one from Bloc Party's latest Intimacy (digital - now, CD - Oct 27th) entitled "Trojan Horse." Thanks to Ultra 8201 for the K.

- And the last bit of new music news, could this be a new song from Radiohead that they performed during soundcheck recently?? You Ain't No Picasso has us scratching our noggins.

Get your tour dates here

• The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers
• Andrew Bird
• Black Lips
• Black Mountain
• Ghostland Observatory
• The Walkmen (dates added)
• Nine Inch Nails (dates added)
• Neil Young (w. DCFC and Wilco)
• Fleet Foxes
• Coldplay (dates added)
• Iron and Wine
• Yeasayer
• Kings of Leon
• Jose Gonzalez (dates added)

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Tuesday - Huey Lewis and the News

Late Night w/David Letterman

• Monday - The Black Kids
• Tuesday - N.E.R.D.
• Wednesday - Low vs. Diamond

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Monday - Phantom Planet
• Tuesday - The Hold Steady
• Thursday - MGMT

The Hold Steady - 9:30 Club (8/14/08)

Good ticket karma is a beautiful thing. I showed up for the sold-out Hold Steady concert on Thursday thinking I was straight with a ticket (courtesy of some character on Craigslist). Unfortunately the bastard was a no-show and I was forced to quickly reevaluate the situation and come up with an alternate plan of attack. As I stood there contemplating my options, a guy who had a few extra tickets and was eager to get into the concert handed his extras to the lady working the ticket window and asked her to give them to whoever needed a ticket. After pinching myself a few times to check that I wasn't dreaming, I walked up to the window and asked the lady if she happened to have an extra ticket. Haha yes! I was already looking forward to seeing The Hold Steady in concert. Seeing them for free... eh niiiice!

These fellas sure do bring it in concert - something you wouldn't initially expect when you look at them. They came out of the blocks running and didn't let up for almost 2 hours. I'm a huge fan of their most recent effort, Stay Positive and hearing almost every track off of it on Thursday made me appreciate it even more. Their enthusiasm was infectious and efforts were definitely appreciated - so much so that the crowd hung around screaming and chanting even after the house lights went up. And in a truly classy move, The Hold Steady returned to thank their fans with one last song. Not bad for $0!

RatBat Bear might be pitching a tent because The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers just announced a fall tour that swings through State College. And while it's not from their current tour, NPR has a few of The Hold Steady's concerts and a studio session up on their website.

Say goodbye to that case of the Mondays...

Fact: The LOML+1 and I are addicted to this show. Funny shit!

This week's late night TV lineup

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

• Monday - The Cool Kids

Late Show w/David Letterman

• Tuesday - The Hold Steady
• Friday - Emmylou Harris

Late Late Show w/Craig Ferguson

• Monday - Amy Smart (Not singing, but VERY easy on the eyes)

Hooray Friday!

- Nuts! I hate to start the weekend off with bad news, but 2/3's of Wolfmother is no longer. Sounds like Andrew Stockdale is going to try to make the name live on though. Metro D, who initially got me hooked on the boys from down under, with the info.

- Back to back love from the Newport Folk Festival last weekend. Live sets from She & Him and Jim James (acoustic style) thanks to Aquarium Drunkard.

- I am Fuel hooks us up with a nice little zip file of goodness from Fleet Foxes' concert in Denver recently.

- King of Leon has released the new single "Sex on Fire" from their upcoming album on their mySpace page.

- Download "Id Engager," Of Montreal's first single from their upcoming Skeletal Lamping (out Oct 7) courtesy of Stereogum.

- Looking for more music to keep you motivated while getting your swell on? The Art of Manliness has 52 workout songs for your iPod. Not sure about "No Woman No Cry" being much of a pump-you-up song, but whatever works for you.