August 31, 2006ApologiesYou know the saying, "You'll always regret what you didn't do more than what you did?" Well, that's a bunch of crap. I can think of at least 4 nights in the past month that if I would have just gone home I would be dealing with a whole lot less drama. I made a not very nice comment to one of my best friends, when we were in no shape to be discussing anything of any worth at all and now I am being ignored. I've apologized over and over again but they are not having it. I've apologized in a box. The thing is, they have pissed me off severely at times too, but I always forgave them. So, here it is, one more time: I am sorry I hurt your feelings. I love you. August 30, 2006Gonerfest III Press ReleaseHello from Goner Records! We're steaming right into hosting our 3rd Gonerfest, which will run from September 28 through Oct 1. Each festival has grown exponentially and #3 promises to be the biggest and best yet. Besides a strong selection of Memphis heroes, GF3 has bands coming from France, England, Germany, Japan, Canada, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tuscon, as well as a bunch of New Orleans survivors a year after Katrina wiped out their town. Attendees are coming from Europe and across the United States with an estimated attendance of over 1000 people for the weekend, nearly half of whom will be from outside of Memphis. Yeah- It's gonna be a wild one!
9pm-2am Hi Tone FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 29 FRIDAY NIGHT
Saturday Afternoon
SUNDAY OCTOBER 1 Mark Your CalendarSo, these kids think you don't know what's going on this weekend and asked me to tell you... But you know, right? SERIOUSLY FRIDAY NIGHT: The Return of The Coach and Four with Special Guests Augustine!! @ The Hitone Welcome home Brad!!!! SATURDAY NIGHT: The DON'T MISS Show of the YEAR!!!
August 29, 2006Suffering For My CraftSince I can't seem to write anything without someone freaking out and asking me to take it down - (3 times this month!!!)... Check this out: My bruises from playing the tambourine this past weekend.
You should see the ones on my ass... I spent most of the weekend hanging out at my friend Chris Swenson's studio while he recorded a band from Starksville. An impromptu party started Friday night and lasted for about two days straight. I ended up bailing on a bunch of shows that I had planned to attend, but I was having way too much fun singing, dancing, filming, and drinking down on Cleveland. I heard the final product last night before I headed down to The Buccaneer to hear Devil Train play, and the three tracks they recorded sound great! It was a really great weekend even if I did end up paying for it severely in the end. Who can read my palm? August 28, 2006Fucking ShiteHave you ever been so angry about something, that you are not allowed to be angry about? It fucking sucks.
August 25, 2006Memphis Music Industry Workshop Next Week
The Memphis Chapter will host a series of monthly events designed for music industry entrepreneurs. Indie Impact is a GRAMMY Professional Development Event that will feature workshops and networking opportunities. From publicity agents to studio representatives, entertainment attorneys to record labels, these workshops have in-depth knowledge that indies need to take their career to the next level. The fall schedule of topics includes: Panelists for the Aug. 30 event include Mark Yoshida, mastering engineer and co-owner of Audiographic Masterworks; Brandon Seavers, co-owner and art director for Audiographic Masterworks; Mr. Del, an artist who participated on the GRAMMY-nominated recording Holy Hip Hop, Taking The Gospel To The Streets; and Al Kapone, Critic's Choice Award-winning recording artist. Each workshop is free to Recording Academy members and just $5.99 for the general public. All sessions will be held at the Media Co-Op at First Congo in the Cooper-Young neighborhood. For more information, please call the Memphis Chapter at 901.525.1340 or e-mail Memphis@grammy.com.
August 24, 2006NamedroppersYou know why I have bloggers block? Because last night Blair Combest called me a name dropper when I mentioned that interviewing Camera Obscura was really hard - because they were calling from their van on a cell phone, and you know, they're Scottish... So, now I can't tell you who I drank with last Saturday night, who I totally got caught crushing on or who caught me at The Buccaneer Monday night, who I went to the dog track with this week, whose show I almost got kicked out of Tuesday night, who I went swimming with Wednesday morning (well, at least until the cops showed up), who I went to IHOP with last night or who text messaged me this morning. Cause I wouldn't want to namedrop. But isn't that why you people read this crap? Go see Holly Cole tonight at the The Hitone and tell Blair to shut up. August 22, 2006I'll Sleep When I'm Dead!So, although it would seem that my life has been pretty tame if your gauged it by this site, indeed the opposite is true. I usually don't blog much when I have a lot going on. Every night this week I will be out seeing the rock. It will be good. Starting tonight with the Walkmen at The Hitone, and maybe a little bit of Posty at Murphy's. We'll see. Here are the rest of the shows I suggest this week - if ya care: Wednesday - Giant Bear w/ Blair Combest @ The Hitone I have tickets to see The Flaming Lips and Sonic Youth in St Louis Saturday night, but I think I am going to skip it and stay in town to hang out with my friends in Young Agent Jones who are headed to Memphis this weekend to record at Swenson's studio. So, yeah, busy busy busy...and tonight I'm going to the dog track! Wish me luck! P.S. I do have a bunch of party pictures to post - I'm getting to it! August 21, 2006All Ages Show
Anyway, all week I've been dealing with possibilities and it sucks. I just want to know the deal and be done with it all so I can move on instead of wrapping my head around a bunch of scenarios that may or may not happen. What ususally comes of this is I get all worked up and then nether situation pans out. In other news, I'm getting more offers to cover music festivals - which is cool, but I always end up spending more money at these things than I make. Still to come this year, I'll be heading to Austin City Limits in Austin, Memphis' own Gonerfest, Voodoo Experience in NOLA, and CMJ in NYC. There really is no rest for the wicked.
August 15, 2006August 14, 2006Shangri La NewsWe now have a clearance room at shangri-la!!! Crates and crates of records for just one dollar!!!! 45s, CDs, posters(lots of local shows from the past decade!) also all real cheap!!!!! compare and save!!! come on out!!!! Everyday this week it will be refreshed with new stuff!! So make time to drop by everyday and see whats new in the new clearance annex!!! Air conditioned!! No more sweating on the porch!!!
August 11, 2006Pimpin Memphis MusicMy list is totally legit, but still kind of inaccurate as I purchased a new MP3 player last week with a voice recorder to take to Lolla - so I have only loaded my favorite albums on it so far as to leave plenty of room to tape interviews on the fly. Funny thing, every time I did end up chatting with the musicians, (The Go! Team, Dresden Dolls, Ben Kweller, Matisyahu, Andrew Bird) it felt too awkward to pull out a voice recorder and shove it in their face, so I just played it cool and chatted casually. NEWAYZ - Wanna Play? Do your own shuffle and leave your results in the comments! holla Blues On The Bluff Part Deux Part 2 of WEVL's 18th Annual Blues on the Bluff® features a fabulous line-up of music: the house-rocking sounds of the Daddy Mack Blues Band 7:30-8:15 & 8:25-9:10; plus authentic Mississippi Hill Country blues from Fat Possum Records artists The Kenny Brown Band 9:25-10:10 & 10:20-11 and Robert "Wolfman"Belfour 6:30-7:15. Gate opens at 6 pm, kids under 12 $7. All proceeds go to WEVL. Alcoholic & non-alcoholic drinks sold, plus delectible Memphis style BBQ (veggie, too) from Central Bar-B-Q. No coolers or pets, please. The party goes on til 11 pm. Directions: From Memphis, take Metal Museum Drive exit 12-C off I-55 N or Crump Blvd. Last exit in TN before you cross the river. FREE guarded parking across from event. Get there in time to see the spectacular sunset over the river. More info: click here or here. Check out photo slideshow from Part 1 here
August 10, 2006Court Square Concert SeriesI meant to post this a while back - my bad... 8/16 - The Jackie Johnson Band {Gospel} 8/23 - (AUGUST HEADLINER) Alvin Youngblood Hart's Muscle Theory {Modern Blues/Rock} - (1997 HANDY AWARD WINNER, & 2003 GRAMMY NOMINEE!) 8/30 - The Sal Crocker Quintet {Jazz} 9/6 - William Lee Ellis Trio {Traditional Blues} 9/13 - The Glass {Modern/Alternative Rock} 9/20 - P-Smoov, Lex G., Tom Skeemask, & The Memphis Movement {Rap/Hip-Hop} 9/27 - (SEPTEMBER HEADLINER) Devon Allman's HoneyTribe {Tribal Rock} - (MEMPHIS CD RELEASE PARTY!) 10/4 - The Billy Gibson Band {Modern Blues/R & B} 10/11 - The Memphis Allstars {R & B/Rock & Roll} 10/18 - The Reba Russell Band {Modern Blues/Rock & Roll} 10/25 - (OCTOBER HEADLINER) Jim Dickinson & The North Mississippi Allstars {World Boogie} - (THREE TIME GRAMMY NOMINEES!) + Sometime in EARLY NOVEMBER - Encore Finale Wrap Jam @ Newby's I'm a Whore, I'm A Whore, I'm A Whorebut you knew that... Ok, will you please take a moment to vote for one of my blogs, (or both) in the Memphis Flyer "Best of" Memphis Poll? Pretty Please... Last year I won and I didn't even get invited to the party, so I think I deserve to win again by default. oh, yeah! I'm totally like, a newspaper columnist too! Can you believe it? Me neither! You can read my column On The Record here. http://www.madapple.com/surveys/index.php?sid=40 As one of the few poeple around town that actually makes their living off blogging, you wouldn't only be helping out an awesome person (yes, I'm talking about me!) but maybe help me afford that breast lift I've been coveting... Yours Truly, Saggy McSaggerston Tonight in Beautiful Downtown Memphis
Each week this summer, The Kitchen will provide a creative outlet for Memphis' top DJ's and live performers to showcase their remarkable talents. A first for Memphis, The Kitchen will offer a distinct musical atmosphere where the evening's sounds are prepared by the best DJ's and live artists (the "Chefs") in the region. The "Menu" will evolve throughout the series, highlighting the finest music from around the world. Expect ample servings of House, Latin, Reggae, Dancehall, Funk, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Soul and other fantastic music to satisfy your strongest cravings. This week, The Kitchen serves up a little taste of SOUL, as Matthew Speaks gets set to take the Gibson stage, along with Scott Bomar and Willie Hall of The Bo-Keys. But thats not all! After dinner, prepare to kick it up another notch as DJ Saturna dishes out a magnificent "Dessert" that will knock your socks off!! Seating begins at 7pm. Main Course served promptly at 10pm. Only $5 a plate...SO COME AND GET IT!!! *Soul food tapas menu will be offered for your consumption.
PLACE TIME COST August 9, 2006Dan Montgomery CD Release ShowIf this poster was larger you would be able to see that Dan's CD release is happening Friday nigth At The Hitone with Harlan T. BOBO.
Overheard @ LollaHere is a list of random things I heard people say @ Lollapalooza along with some random pictures that Drue and I took... "John Frusciante (of Red Hot Chili Peppers) used to be a huge heroin addict. He doesn't even remember 1994." "Why do all sound guys have pony tails and look like their headed to a Black Oak Arkansas concert?" "I don't have to have fun to drink." "I don't want to watch anybody, damnit! I want to sit down!" "I hate to discriminate, but these tall people really need to go home!" "It would be funny if Nickel Creek and Andrew Bird (who played stages facing each other) played dueling violins across the park!" "I just wish Amanda (of Dresden Dolls) would spit on me!"
August 8, 2006August 7, 2006Home Sweet HomeI just arrived back in Memphis. I didn't post anything yesterday because the one time I walked a mile to go to the media tent there were no plugs available to set up my laptop! Crikey! Today, of course, we've been on the road all day - except for the 2 hours we spent in some outlet store where I bought two new pairs of kicks for 60 bucks! Drue bought herself some Apple Bottoms. Are those ghetto? I say yes, Drue still loved them. Before I crawl into bed and fall asleep to some Alias on DVD, I wanted to send out love to all of the amazing people I hung out with this weekend, including my old pal Dodge from MOKB, Ryan from Muzzle of Bees (Thanks for the hook-up dude!), Scott and Amrit from Stereogum, Scott from Chicagoist, Frank from Chromewaves, Whitney from PopCandy and Abby - whose website address is buried somewhere in my suitcase - I will link her later! I learned this weekend that a lot of these guys really have a problem with having their picture taken, so I have sworn to keep them to myself. Of course, it might also have to do with the gay piano bar we ended up in until 3AM Saturday morning. I guess i'll just have to save those pics for my memoirs! Last but not least, I have to thank Michael Feferman of Capital Sports & Entertainment and Sunni Thompson of Tracy Locke, and Project DU, for hooking us up with everything we needed over the weekend! Well, almost, but I'll go into that later - either way, they rock and I owe them many beers - which hopefully I will be able to buy them at ACL if they get a chance to breathe! Lollapalooza in Chicago was the best festival I have ever attended - stay tuned over the next few days and I'll tell you why. My plan is to blog only about the music on Scenestars, all the stories about my other misadventures (and there were quite a few!) will end up here... Right now I am going to bed. I have a 1000 emails to answer tomorrow. Regular posting shall start after that. Ciao! August 5, 2006Scenes from LollapaloozaOf course Lollapalooza is a great place to see really great established acts like Wilco, DCFC, and The Flaming Lips, buzz bands like Gnarls Barkley, Dresden Dolls and The Raconteurs, and next-big-thing bands like The Go! Team, Mates of State and Cold War Kids. But it's also a great place to people watch! Wait until i compile my "Overheard @ Lolla" list! It includes gems like: "Yeah, John Frusciante (of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) used to be a major heroin addict. He doesn't even remember 1994!" 'I don't have to have fun to drink!" "The Sweet Tea is where's it's at" There are no shortage of characters here - from Beatle Bob to The Ice Cream Man! Here's a few pics from yesterday:
August 4, 2006Getting Started @ LollapaloozaAfter an uneventful drive from Memphis, well, other than sucking down a Blizzard with a giant Oreo Cookie at a Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere, Drue and I finally made it to Chicago around 3AM.
Even with our very best efforts to get up early and get out the door with plenty of time to make it downtown by 11:30 - due to some not-so-correct directions and crazy traffic, we were still an hour late.
At two o'clock, I haven't seen any music yet, but I have charged my phone...
Watched some kids in the VIP tent play air guitar on a Sony Playstation..
Watched Cursive from the air-conditioned comfort of the AT&T Blue Room (did you know you can stream some of the peformances on there website?) And I've signed up to get an invitation to the At&T afterparty - where I was promised there will be some very special guest performers...
Ok, I'm off to see the eels, and I heard Jeff Tweedy's son i s playing at The Kidapalooza tent - I'll let you know how it goes... August 3, 2006Saturday Night SpecialThose Wild-Ass Midtown kids are at it again!This Saturday night at Murphy's - No Cover - Wicked/Obscene/Weird Music all night! And did I say - IT IS FREE!!  On My Way Out The Door...to head to Chicago - only leaving three hours late! not bad!! But I could not leave without telling you about the big rock show this weekend: Here's a special message from Mr. Zac Ives: Saturday at the Hi-Tone you will witness first-hand a long tuneful pelvic thrust in the shape of MOTO from Chicago, Laser beam ear surgery from the Marked Men from Texas and the inevitable crash of everyone’s favorite little engine that couldn’t, the Final Solutions from Memphis, TN. Goner headquarters has been flooded with calls from people coming in from all corners of the globe for this show. It even inspired our buddy Talbot to get married that very afternoon. Quit your job. Lie to your husband. Break curfew. Do what you must or forever hate yourself. Sneak preview of all the action courtesy of this great big technology thing here here and here: (or here) Attractive silkscreen poster from Chicago’s JJ Champion (this may or may not be a deal breaker) attached. Details: Hi-Tone Ta ta…
August 2, 2006Reliving LollapaloozaIn the summer of 1991 I had just finished my junior year in high school and was lucky enough to attend the inaugural edition of the very first Lollapalooza in Atlanta. It was more due to having a boyfriend in a band than being hip that allowed me my first taste of what would later be dubbed "alternative" music. Although I was already a fan of Jane's Addiciton, Nine Inch Nails, Siouxie and The Banshees and Violent Femmes, I was taken aback by bands like Fishbone, Ice T, Butthole Surfers, and The Rollins Band. That show was quite an eye opener.
By the next year, I had ditched the boyfriend but returned to Lollapalooza, this time in New Orleans. My car broke down about three hours into the 5 hour drive down I-55 from Memphis.
I have no recollection why, but luckily, we had decided to leave at around 11PM the previous night to get to the festival by around noon the next day. We spent the next 12 hours pushing and coasting my beat down 1979 Toyota Corolla though the highways of Mississippi, until we finally decided that we had to find a mechanic. I had a bad alternator. I think we pulled our t-shirt money (around 75 bucks) to gte it fixed so that we could still make it to the show.
My friends and I were still able to make it just in time to meet Chris Cornell (formerly of Soundgarden, currently of Audioslave) in the parking lot before Pearl Jam took the stage. He thought we didn't have tickets and offered to help us get into the show. We realized who he was as he walked away. Pearl Jam was awesome. Shut up. It was 1992 and Ten was the album of the summer...
The ground was so muddy I lost one of my Birkenstocks as I was crushed against the front of the stage during the Red Hot Chili Peppers set. That summer I got to see a man lift a 15 lbs weight with his testicle.
The following summer I was planning a move to Nashville to try and get a job in the music industry. What better time to plan a trip to search for an apartment than when Lollapalooza was in town? Some of you may remember this edition of Lolla as the year of the audience bonfires.
I remember skipping Alice in Chains and instead wandering around the tour buses to check things out. I ended up running into John Rubeli, the current director of A&R at Atlantic Records. At the time he was booking bands for the side stage at Lolla. I entertained him as I told him about my plans to start an all white girl rap group! (it was very forward thinking at the time). He gave me a bunch of free CD's and his number in LA. I never called him.
In 1994 Nirvana was set to headline. Then Kurt died. My friend took a picture of me one night after reading the details of his death:
Smashing Pumpkins and The Beastie Boys replaced Nirvana and this year I decided to go to the show in St Louis - I kind of made a pact withmyself to see the show at a different venue every year. I remember the Beasties set being off the hook, everybody went crazy because they were playing their own instruments this time out - If memory serves me correctly, this was the first tour they did that.
When the Smashing Pumpkins came on later, the crowd was exhausted and sat through the beginning of their set. This pissed Billy Corgan off majorly. He taunted the people in the front until someone threw a shoe and hit him in the head. James Iha tried to lighten the mood by playing "I Saw The Sign" by Ace of Bass, the radio hit of the summer. It was hilarious. I guess you had to be there.
Courtney Love was in full drama mode when she headlined Lolapalooza in 1995. I don't really recall a whole lot about this particular show. I beleive this was the year I turned 21 if that explains anything. I returned to Atlanta for this festival and left before Sonic Youth finished their second song. By the next year Metallica was headling, and for me, that was all she wrote. But this year I feel like a virgin. It's been a decade since my last Lollapalooza and although I've consistently avoided camping festivals for the past 10 years, a festival in Chicago where I can finish off the day in a bar with a waitress, sleep in a bed, and start off each day with a shower sounds pretty fantastic to me. Sure it will be hot as hell, (save me a spot in the mist tent), the bathroom lines will be long, the beverages overpriced - but going back in time and reliving your early twenties while seeing a steallar line-up that includes DCFC, Flaming Lips, Iron & Wine, Wilco and Ryan Adams? Priceless. I'll be bloggingmy trip - stay tuned. August 1, 2006Mental Health BreakFor all the benefits that the internet provides, I am finding it more and more jeopardizing to my state of mental health. People are just mean on the internet. I know that's not a revelation, but webshits provide enough anonyminity that allows a level of bile to pour forth that can't be good for anyone to read day after day. No matter what your cause, there is someone standing by to rip you apart in order to rid themselves of their own feelings of self-loathing. And I do really believe that. The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. When people are so wrapped up in tearing someone else apart - you really have to wonder what their stake in doing so is. What you hate tends to say more about you than what is hated. Where the problem comes in is deciding whether to distance yourself from any and all detractors into the fuzzy-warm world of narcissism (which I fully admit to at times) or to be open to criticism and risk becoming paralyzed by it. This is the path that I walk daily. As more opportunities come my way, so comes the daily obstacles of dealing with your detractors. And I know it is not cool to admit that you even think about your detractors, but who could not without being totally self-obsessed? Here's the thing that brought all this up: I am going to Lollapalooza this weekend to blog it for Project DU. I should be excited about this - and I am. Sure, after Lolla let Metallica headline in 1996 the festival lost major cool points, but before that it was the holy grail of music festivals for my generation. And after attending every festival up until that famously poor booking decision, the festival still holds a very dear place in my heart. Road trips, rock music, hotel rooms, the core of my early twenties - and I get to be nostalgic cuase that's what age earns you. But I found myself not able to post about any of my upcoming plans for fear that my enthusiasm would be considered lame, for fear that I would be chastised for my involvement with the corporate element, made fun of because of the bands I'm excited to see (Wilco, Ryan Adams, DCFC, The Raconteurs, The Flaming Lips, Iron & Wine), and beleaguered in general. But then I realized something, that I've kind of known all along, but have never openly spoke about, and I figured that it might help others in similar predicaments, and so I decided to share: People who tear other people down have in general never known their own success. Success does something incredible to you. It makes you root for others. "Misery loves company" is no joke, but the opposite is also true. Because I have generated a certain level of success in my life, I want others to succeed also. You feel no qualms about sharing you triumphs with others who have also been successful. I'm sure many of you can commiserate with the experience of sharing your acheivements with someone who has very few of their own - you feel guilty. You feel like you are being full of yourself or rubbing it in their face - when that's not your intent at all...but when you are sharing your accomplishments with others that have equal successes in their own right, then you feel empowered. The point is - I often have to recommit myself to allowing myself to be excited about my accomlishments, to allow myself to feel that they are deserved and worthy of being excited about. You should commit yourself to these things too. I am not for the whole idea of beleiving in yourself no matter what - (See America Idol auditions for the reasons why sometimes we really should listen to other people's opinions) - but I don't think that we should be embaressed to be excited about things that we are passionate about. And I need to work on believing that more myself. |
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