DBT Week in Review - 1/4/08

Drive-By Truckers Concert Package- Athens, GA Jan. 10th - eBay

One of a kind Drive-By Truckers concert package!

January 10th, 2008: Dinner/Tickets/Hotel

Athens, Ga

40 Watt Club

Package includes:

* 2 tickets to DBT's concert (Jan.10th) at the 40 Watt Club in downtown Athens.

* Dinner for two at The National - located near the 40 Watt.

* A room at the (very) nearby Holiday Inn for that night.

Plus, DBT extras!

Best of all, 100% of the proceeds benefit Athens, Ga nonprofit Nuçi's Space. Nuçi's Space is dedicated to ending suicide by providing low-cost counseling to local musicians and artists.

**NOTE: Due to the unusual nature of this auction, there will be no delivery of any tickets. We will coordinate with the winners once the auction has ended and a winner has been determined.

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No Depressions Magazine's 2007 Reader/Critic Polls:

OUR CRITICS SWEAR THESE ARE THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF 2007

1. BETTYE LAVETTE, The Scene Of The Crime (Anti-) 277.5/21

2. ROBERT PLANT & ALISON KRAUSS, Raising Sand (Rounder) 253.5/22

3. WILCO, Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) 251/21

4. MAVIS STAPLES, We’ll Never Turn Back (Anti-) 226.5/14

5. PATTY GRIFFIN, Children Running Through (ATO) 195.5/14

6. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, Magic (Columbia) 168.5/12

7. NICK LOWE, At My Age (Yep Roc) 135.5/11

8. PORTER WAGONER, The Wagonmaster (Anti-) 126/12

9. LUCINDA WILLIAMS, West (Lost Highway) 123.5/9

10. MARY GAUTHIER, Between Daylight And Dark (Lost Highway) 119.5/11

and

BUT OUR READERS INSIST THESE ARE REALLY THE TOP 50 ALBUMS OF 2007

1. WILCO, Sky Blue Sky (Nonesuch) 254/41

2. PATTY GRIFFIN, Children Running Through (ATO) 222.5/30

3. RYAN ADAMS, Easy Tiger (Lost Highway) 215.5/33

4. LUCINDA WILLIAMS, West (Lost Highway) 191/32

5. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E-STREET BAND, Magic(Columbia) 167/30

6. JASON ISBELL, Sirens Of The Ditch (New West) 153.5/21

7. STEVE EARLE, Washington Square Serenade (Ammal/New West)150.5/25

8. SAM BAKER, Pretty World (BlueLimeStone) 150/20

9. AVETT BROTHERS, Emotionalism (Ramseur) 140/20

10. JOSH RITTER, The Historical Conquests Of Josh Ritter (Sony)139/23

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The Best (and Worst) Albums of 2007 | Entertainment Weekly

BEST
9. BETTYE LAVETTE
The Scene of the Crime (Anti-)
Critics have lined up to call her the greatest soul singer alive. But LaVette, 61, recently argued that ''soul'' is a white man's misnomer. Maybe best blues interpreter, then? A track like ''Talking Old Soldiers'' — crooned in a bar to a stranger, by an aging drunk who's seen all her friends die — gets to the essence of despair the way great blues does...even if it's actually an Elton John cover. Enlisting the Drive-By Truckers as her rowdy, ragged backup band, LaVette continues to imbue her other borrowed tracks (from Don Henley, George Jones, and Willie Nelson) with grit, anguish, and even some serious sex appeal. She's a force of nature we'll just have to settle on labeling as awesome.

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On3 of the oddest BTCD article leads (Iraq, romance?!?). The lead could have stated that BTCD covers shooting people and chicken wing puke. Odd. (Update: Not the review author's original headline. Apparently it came from an editor. Trust your writers, editors!)

Truckers new album covers Iraq, romance | TimesDaily.com

Patterson Hood said it was difficult to decide which tracks to include on the Drive-By Truckers' latest album and which ones to leave out.

They were all good and seemed to fit.

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Download Uproar: Record Industry Goes After Personal Use:

"Whether customers may copy their CDs onto their computers -- an act at the very heart of the digital revolution -- has a murky legal foundation, the RIAA argues. The industry's own Web site says that making a personal copy of a CD that you bought legitimately may not be a legal right, but it 'won't usually raise concerns,' as long as you don't give away the music or lend it to anyone.

Of course, that's exactly what millions of people do every day. In a Los Angeles Times poll, 69 percent of teenagers surveyed said they thought it was legal to copy a CD they own and give it to a friend. The RIAA cites a study that found that more than half of current college students download music and movies illegally."

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EMI faces tighter budgets:

"A person close to Terra Firma said it had made three significant culture changes at EMI: telling employees to submit business plans and secure senior executives’ approval before signing new artists; demanding detailed marketing plans before any promotional activity; and changing bonus plans to encourage executives to focus on EMI artists’ global potential rather than local markets alone."

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Wild lifestyle kept me alive: Pogues' MacGowan at 50:

"The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, whose Christmas song 'Fairytale of New York' remains a classic hit, told a newspaper he never thought he would live to celebrate his 50th birthday Tuesday."

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Aussie rockers new gig: politician:

"The music of Peter Garrett has always been politically charged. Now the towering, baldheaded former singer of Midnight Oil is charged with practicing politics — as Australia's new environment minister."

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MC Hammer's next act: Tech entrepreneur:

"SAN FRANCISCO - MC Hammer hasn't topped the music charts since the early 1990s, but the former rap star says he has another hit in him — only this time around he'll produce it as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur.

Hammer, whose real name is Stanley Burrell, is choreographing a new career as co-founder and chief strategy officer of Menlo Park-based DanceJam.com."

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James Brown recordings locked in dispute:

"AUGUSTA, Ga. - The legal feud over the estate of James Brown is stalling the release of the soul legend's final recordings, his longtime adviser said."

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