DBT Week in Review - 1/9/09

DBT!

Congrats and job well done to both Jimmy and Peter. This is a great cause and the reward is something really special.

Make those picks count, boys!

Nuci's Space - Resource Center and Climate Controlled Practice Spaces for Musicians:

"AUCTION WINNER!
Jimmy C: $1500
Jimmy gets to choose 12 songs for DBT's setlist on Thursday, January 15th!

RAFFLE WINNER
Peter Halblieb gets to choose 8 songs towards the set."

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Nuci's Space - Resource Center and Climate Controlled Practice Spaces for Musicians:

"You can bid on The Hold Steady/Drive-By Truckers stage backdrop
from 2008's ROCK ROLL MEANS WELL TOUR!"

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Here's a YouTube Top Gear tribute using 18 Wheels of Love.

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Band from NorCal covering Nine Bullets with their own twist on the lyrics.

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Scott Baxendale

Bad Bax playing some Elvis.

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Marah

Boo! No West Coast date.

MARAH ON TOUR IN THE USA! FEBRARY 2009 - Marah MySpace Blog:

"Happy New Year! We are pleased to announce our first US Tour since the release of 2008's critically acclaimed 'Angels of Destruction!' Although we are currently at Sixteen Ton Recording Studio in Nashville with our old friend Ray Kennedy mixing up a fantastic new record, it is our New Year's wish to return to the nightclubs this February to warm up new material and celebrate the old songs. After a year of touring Europe and the UK, we feel this is long overdue and we are anxious to reunite with our American fans.

Despite the absence of brother Serge Bielanko who is on maternity leave (it's a girl!) Marah will be touring as a folkypunkrock four piece: Dave Bielanko (lead vocals/guitar/banjo), long-time member Christine Smith (piano/bvs/accordian), and introducing stateside... Brooklyn's one and only Johnny 'whaddyagot?' Pisano on the stand-up bass, and the great Martin Lynds from Nashville on the drums. Expect shows to be long, comprehensive sweaty affairs...

Viva la future!

Go-bama!

More banjo!"

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Lynam

Lynam is a band out of Birmingham and are friends of a good friend of mine. They're getting some MTV play on 'A Double Shot at Love'.

Good on 'em.

Lynam On MTV - LYNAM MySpace Blog:

"MTV has been really supportive of the new CD 'Tragic City Symphony'. They have been using our music in their number 1 rated reality show 'A Double Shot At Love'. Check it out!"

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Music

I'm a bit late to the show on this one.

Here's what happens when, over the holidays, one decides to watch 15 minutes of VH1's Top 100 Hard Rock Songs of all time.

4 hours later.... I watched all 100 songs.

A great internet Cinderella story.

I ask my buddy from the P.I. who was bigger. Manny Pacquiao or Arnel Pineda. He went with Manny, but Arnel may be a close 2nd.

Journey's YouTube Lead Singer - TIME:

"How Journey found Pineda is a Cinderella tale of the Internet era"

"Thirty-three years after its birth, Journey is getting a second wind from an unexpected place. In December, the band signed on new lead vocalist Arnel Pineda, a Filipino singer who they found leading a Manila cover band on YouTube. Six months later, the band has kicked off a tour of Europe and the U.S. and released Revelation, a new album featuring original songs and re-recorded classics that has already shot up to the fifth highest-selling album in the U.S. since its debut two weeks ago."

I grew up a Journey fan. Say what you will but their first 2 albums are awesome.

Also, I sang 'Faithfully' for choral competitions back in high school. Granted, it was an octave or two lower than the original, but..... "High way run...." Oh, yeah.

Check out Arnel singing 'Don't Stop Believing' live:



Also, here's a version of Faithfully. Arnel is spot-on.

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Marriott's Sam Phillips suite new home to historic guitar | TimesDaily.com | Florence, AL:

"FLORENCE - All Gibson Les Paul guitars are one of a kind, but a certain Les Paul, now sitting behind a protective glass case in the Sam Phillips suite at the Marriott Shoals Hotel, has a backstory to prove it.

“This was given to Sam by Gibson to honor 50 years of rock ’n’ roll and 50 years of Sun Studios,” said Jerry Phillips, youngest son of Sam Phillips, Florence native and music pioneer known worldwide as the “Father of Rock ’n’ Roll.”

The guitar was presented to the hotel by Jerry Phillips and legendary guitarist Scotty Moore, who played with Elvis Presley, undoubtedly Sam Phillips’ best known artist.

“It’s as good as it gets,” guitarist Christian Turner said about the Les Paul. “It’s rock ’n’ roll heaven.”"

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2 arrested in burglary at Gregg Allman's Ga. home :

"SAVANNAH, Ga. – Gregg Allman almost had a few less silver dollars after someone broke into his southeast Georgia home and stole a coin collection, knives and unreleased concert recordings, police said."

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Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton found dead in Ann Arbor home | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press:

"The world didn’t always give Ron Asheton his proper dues. But the Stooges guitarist certainly paid his dues to the world, helping transform the sound of rock music.

Fans and fellow musicians are mourning the death of Asheton, who was found dead early Tuesday at his home in Ann Arbor. The death remains under investigation, though foul play is not suspected, said Ann Arbor Police Sgt. Brad Hill."

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Apple Cuts Copy Protection and Prices on iTunes - NYTimes.com:

"Apple gave the record labels that flexibility on pricing as it got them to agree to sell all songs free of ''digital rights management,'' or DRM, technology that limits people's ability to copy songs or move them to multiple computers. Apple had been offering a limited selection of songs without DRM, but by the end of this quarter, the company said, all 10 million songs in its library will be available that way."

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Passengers pounce on man who made threats aboard L.A.-bound flight - Los Angeles Times:

"'I thought this guy was going to open the door. I was thinking, 'I'm not going to go down with the plane,' ' said Llewellyn, 26, a 6-foot guitarist, who was flying into Los Angeles from Atlanta on Wednesday morning for a TV appearance with hip-hop artist Asher Roth."

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Calling in Sick - GetBack:

"Everyone needs a break. I get that. Just tell me straight. Let me know you can't take it. Or let me know that your tour wasn't selling enough tickets so you had to pull the plug. Or you had better things to do. Whatever the reason, If you're gonna call in sick to work, at least come up with a good excuse. You hear me, Jeremy Piven? That 'mercury toxicity' thing was WAY lame."

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I met Garrin Benfield, a really good San Francisco, singer/song writer, when I hired him as an exam proctor at the Law School where I use to work.

Garrin wrote a nice piece in JamBase recently on The Dead.

Phil & Friends/RatDog | 12.31.08 | S.F. on JamBase:

"Editor's Note: We thought it would be fun to have a local San Francisco musician with deep roots in the Grateful Dead world review Phil and Bobby's NYE celebration. Through the eyes of singer-guitarist Garrin Benfield, we give you an artist's perspective on The Dead circa 2009."

And, it looks like the remaining Dead will be touring again soon with Warren Haynes on guitar.

Grateful Dead Alum To Tour:

"LOS ANGELES — It looks like the old Dead are gettin' on.

Surviving members of the Grateful Dead say they'll regroup for a 19-city tour, their first since 2004, beginning April 12 in Greensboro, N.C.

The group, which now just calls itself The Dead, announced its plans Thursday.

Original band members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann have toured sporadically since the 1995 death of guitarist Jerry Garcia, but struggled to get along personally and artistically. They told Rolling Stone in November that they've worked out their differences, aided by a successful October benefit concert in Pennsylvania for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Warren Haynes joins the Dead on lead guitar, and Jeff Chimenti will play keyboards."

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