DBT WIR - 6/8/07

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Jason announces the CD release party for Sirens. It's happening in The Shoals which is very, very cool.

blog.myspace.com/jasonisbellmusic:

"CD Release Party At Muscle Shoals Music Hall July 7th

The show has been approved and it will be a blast. Doors are at 8:00 p.m., tickets are $12.00 at the door. Sorry, but there will be no advance tix since I'm putting this one on myself. Lauderdale will be playing first, then Sons of Roswell, then Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.

We'll have alcohol for sale along with my new record 'Sirens of the Ditch,' the show will probably be 18 and up, and the bartendresses will be in fancy dress, so get there early.

The Music Hall is located on the 400 block of Montgomery Avenue in Sheffield AL. IT's right next to DP's Classic Grill. SEE YOU THERE!"

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More good news from Jason. Sirens of the Ditch has gone on presale on Amazon.com

I've already preordered my copy and I'm sure I'll buy a couple more from my local music shop. Preorder today, y'all! Let's make this first solo effort by Jason a HUGE success.

blog.myspace.com/jasonisbellmusic: "

'Sirens' up for presale

Amazon.com has the record for presale. Reserve yours today (if you want one). Thanks for letting me know, Adam."

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I love how all these guys work tirelessly for their fellow humans in need.

blog.myspace.com/jasonisbellmusic:

"Dennis Clifton Benefit

On June 19th at 7 p.m. at The Fizz (part of the Holiday Inn in Sheffield, AL) I'll be playing a benefit show for a good friend, Dennis Clifton.

The Decoys will be there with Donnie Fritts (and David Hood, Scott Boyer, Mike Dillon, N.C. Thurman, Kelvin Holly, etc.) as will The Fiddleworms (Rob Malone, Russell Mefford, etc.). My buddy Chris Tompkins, who wrote 'Before He Cheats' by Carrie Underwood and other great songs, will be playing. Billy Lawson, Mickey Buckins, and some of the members of 'The Ugli Stick' will be playing, too.

Dennis is an old friend who's fighting a battle with cancer and he's a great guitar player and singer from the Shoals area. Please come out if you can.

Contributions can be made to
The Special Fund for Dennis Clifton
c/o Regions Bank
301 South Court St.
Florence, AL 35630"

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I meant to blog about this last week, but Jason came up with a freakin' simple yet ingenious blog post that pisses me off that I didn't think of it first.

Lot's of fun playing 'Jason Isbell's "Things That Rock!"'

My contributions were Dales Steak Seasoning and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Below are a few samples from Jason's lists

Things That Rock #1

Paul Newman's hair in the 60's
My Rolling Stones wallet
The way Matt Pence uses a high-hat

Things That Rock #2:

"Frogs
Zippos
Mariachi bands"

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DBT! DBT! DBT!

Okay, I'm going to toot my own horn a little bit while at the same time demonstrate what a poor memory I have and AND show how you should never, ever, ever trust a damn thing the media ever says.... and also maybe show how stories change with each telling (at least the good ones do).

I was recently reading the Harp review of DBT's San Franciso TDU show and I noticed they began their article with a 'quote' that Cooley made during the show:

“I bet y'all are glad I'm not wearin' a dress right now.”

I thought, 'cool!'. I included a similar quote in my review of the DBT SF TDU shows. I went back to my review and sure enough I had written:

Cooley: Looks at the table seated directly in front of him whose eyes were at crotch level and says, "I bet y'all are glad I'm not wearin' a dress right now"

But, remember, I prefaced all of my quotes from those shows with the following:

Below are some pictures and the paraphrased quotes I remember from the stage. I didn't write any of them down verbatim, so, I had to rely on the ol'noggin.

All quotes are approximately what was said.

I thought, hey, my memory must be pretty good if Harp Magazine quoted Cooley the same way I did.

I continued to read the Harp article when I came across another Cooley quote:

“Bob” – which Cooley provisoed by saying, “Before y'all get on the computer. Before y'all light a fire under that shit machine, write this on your brain: This song don't mean shit. It don't mean shit.” – is another great character sketch from one of the best-kept secrets in rock ‘n roll songwriting today, Mike Cooley.

Now I'm thinking 'wait a minute.....'. I go back to my review and I had written:

Cooley's statement before singing "Bob":

"Before y'all get on the computer. Before y'all light a fire under that shit machine, write this on your brain: This song don't mean shit. It don't mean shit".

Word for word, punctuation mark for punctuation mark and I was positive that I paraphrased the crap out of that statement.

Again my post said:

Below are some pictures and the paraphrased quotes I remember from the stage. I didn't write any of them down verbatim, so, I had to rely on the ol'noggin.

All quotes are approximately what was said.

So it looks like Harp cribbed quotes from my review post for their article which I thought was pretty sweet!

I still had a little doubt as this all could be pure coincidence (though the computer quote should remove all doubt, but still....)

This week I received a copy of the May 8th DBT TDU SF show and I popped it in the player to listen for the 'dress' quote b/c I knew that it happened on 8th. At the end of the 2nd song, Carl Perkin's, Cooley says, and this is the exact quote:

"Aren't y'all glad I'm not wearin' a skirt?"

My quote (which I acknowledged was probably a paraphrased):

"I bet y'all are glad I'm not wearin' a dress right now"

Harp's quote:

"I bet y'all are glad I'm not wearin' a dress right now"

Hmmmmmmm.

Also, a few weeks back I clicked on Buzz Sugar's review of the SF TDU shows to find a picture that I had taken used in the article. Very cool and they gave me a link credit.

But I also found this line in their review:

".....Tuesday night was totally transcendent."

My first post on the SF TDU shows:

tran·scen·dent

Pronunciation: \-dənt\

Function: adjective

Etymology: Middle English, from Latin transcendent-, transcendens, present participle of transcendere

Date: 15th century

1 a: exceeding usual limits : surpassing b: extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience cin Kantian philosophy : being beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge2: being beyond comprehension3: transcending the universe or material existence

Mmmmm hmmmm.

So, it is cool that the industry folks are obviously reading my blog, though I do admit to being a rank amateur uber fan blogger and don't think of myself as any type of journalist (though, apparently, I may need to rethink that... Hell, I mean, I'm the one usually stealing from somebody else though I do always try to give whomever credit).

Also, just because somebody says something or writes something doesn't make it true.

And lastly.... Hey Harp and Buzz Sugar: I'm available for freelance or full time work and you can email me for my address so you can send the checks along. ;-)

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How's about a YouTube Ghost to Most:

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And since ya'll have been good little chil'rens this week some Living Bubba:

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The Drams

Jubilee Year - dallasobserver.com:

"The Drams weren't in mind at all when Denton-based songwriter Brent Best—a melody-minded veteran rock dude who knows his way around a hook and a heartfelt lyric—first started working on the songs that ended up on the band's debut, Jubilee Dive."

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I've been in a 'learn guitar' mode for a couple of weeks and I came across some good Drams tabs:

AltCountryTab:

"The Drams

Crudely Drawn

Fireflies

Holy Moses

Hummalong

Make a Book

September's High

Shortsighted

The Truth Lies Low

Unhinged

You Won't Forget"

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Music News

Roam.... if you want to. Roam around the world. See if I give a fuck.

15 Years Later, B-52s Wrapping New Album:

"ATLANTA — Fifteen years after their last album of new material, The B-52s are wrapping up work on their next one.

The quirky dance-pop outfit, which burst onto the new wave scene in 1979 with songs like 'Rock Lobster' and cracked the pop charts in the late '80s with the party classics 'Love Shack' and 'Roam,' returned to their hometown of Athens, Ga. to finish recording the as-yet unnamed record."

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Back in his element | Rock Roots And Jazz: "

Mick Jones, the musical engine of legendary punk band the Clash, unveils his new band Carbon/Silicon at the Isle of Wight Festival this weekend. He talks to Andrew Perry

Download the Carbon/Silicon song T F Madness

Joe Strummer, the heroic but often cantankerous former frontman of the Clash, must surely be looking down with a mixture of amusement and outrage at his gradual elevation to near sainthood since his untimely death in December 2002."

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I have no problem with this at all. 'Selling out' is alternatively called 'feeding your family'.

Pitchfork: Wilco Explain Volkswagen Ads:

"After millions of infuriated Wilco fans around the globe set fire to their copies of Sky Blue Sky and drove their Jettas off cliffs yesterday, Wilco took it upon themselves to explain their recent involvement in a Volkswagen ad campaign.

'With the commercial radio airplay route getting more difficult for many bands,' wrote the Chicago sextet on its official website, 'we see this as another way to get the music out there.'

They continued: 'And we feel okay about VWs. Several of us even drive them.'

Wilco also clarified remarks made in the Volkswagen press release announcing their licensing deal with the German automobile manufacturer, which claimed this was Wilco's first such licensing deal.

'If you're keeping track, this is not the first time Wilco has licensed a song to or even been involved in a commercial -- most recently a TV spot for Telefonica Mobile in Spain used a Wilco song and some years prior Jeff Tweedy appeared in a campaign for Apple Computer. Wilco have licensed hundreds of songs to television shows and films worldwide... from festival-only indie films to major motion pictures and weekly TV shows.'"

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But, then again....

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Alabama is the center of all music. How's that for over-reaching!

Alabama Man Wins Cliburn Piano Contest:

An ophthalmologist from Birmingham, Ala., bested 74 other competitors from 23 states and seven nations to win the Van Cliburn Foundation's Fifth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs.

Drew Mays, 47, took top honors Sunday for his 30-minute recital of Beethoven's 'Waldstein' sonata and Liszt's 'Mephisto Waltz.' Mays also won the audience award and the best performance of a work from the Romantic Era."

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Rome has Rock n Roll air. Rome Rocks!

There's something in the air in Rome: cocaine:

"ROME (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered particles of cocaine and marijuana, as well as caffeine and tobacco, in the air of Italy's capital, they said on Thursday.

The concentration of drugs was heaviest in the air around Rome's Sapienza university, though the National Research Council's Dr. Angelo Cecinato warned against drawing conclusions about students' recreational habits.

Calling their study 'the first in the world to show the presence of particles of cocaine suspended in the atmosphere of the city,' the researchers said they took samples in Rome, the southern city of Taranto and in Algiers in North Africa."

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90210 Twins One Guitar - Viral Videos - IFILM

Posted May 31, 2007

Twins brothers Brendan and Jackson play the 90210 theme song on one guitar. Wow.

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