Music Thoughts of the Week

For the week beginning August 30th, 2009...

Here's what's going on in the world of music (not affiliated with the popular music store located in Erie, PA):

1. Hope you guys enjoyed the Outside Lands link and some of you took advantage of it to help keep you occupied during work. I caught most of the Dead Weather concert, which was pretty phenomenal (one of the best of the weekend, or so I've heard). Here's a recap of the weekend from my friends over at JamBase.

2. Welp...it's almost here...moe.Down10 is this weekend! Unfortunately I'll be sitting here at work in nearby CT...wishing that I had vacation days left to take. Three days full of moe. could seem a bit too much, but I consider it more of a test of endurance. The loyal following will be out in full force to see moe. and friends. This year they've brought along some well-known bands as Method Man & Redman, Ani DiFranco, Cake, and Umphrey's McGee. When moe.Down first started 10 years ago it was pretty much just the band so this festival has grown quite a bit into something else. Only a handful of bands have their own festival so this is quite a big event for the kings of jam rock. I thought all hope was lost until my buddy told me that they are streaming the concert online over the weekend over at iClips...enjoy...I know I will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. So speaking of missing cool concerts because you work EVERY Saturday...this past weekend was Blink 182 and Weezer in Hartford. I had a couple friends go to this show (and was offered a free ticket...don't ask...I'm still kicking myself) and both gave me pretty much the same reviews. Both contained the 3 statements: 1. "Weezer kicked ass!" 2. "Blink 182 was kind of depressing(stay tuned...I'll explain)." 3. "I don't really remember too much, but..." (Sounds like my O.A.R. experience right?)
As I heard...Blink 182 came close to breaking down while on stage since the passing of DJ AM (aka Adam Goldstein) late Friday night. Travis Barker is taking it particularly hard, especially since he survived a plane crash with the guy just about a year ago. Recent haunting reports call it an apparent suicide attempt, stating that AM had "wanted to die" and had overdosed after swallowing 8 Oxycontin pills, smoking a bunch of crack cocaine, and who knows what else. Just like the abuse of prescription drugs takes away the life of another awesome musician. What a rough year for the industry. (You can find more on DJ AM's death here.)
Anyway...they apparently cut short the show by playing only for an hour...but I can't see Blink's up-tempo punk stylings shadowing over their apparent post-mortem depression. Clearly the audience could see through their music if I'm telling this second-hand. I still can't believe that Blink came out on stage that night. I couldn't imagine playing a concert the day after losing a close friend.
In the aftermath...Blink did decide to take a couple days rest for mourning and rescheduled some shows. Read about it here.

4. The Black Crowes released a new CD this week entitled "Before the Frost...Until the Freeze". I'm pretty excited to hear this album that's been in the making for several years. Much of the album was actually recorded in front of a live studio audience at The Barn in Woodstock, New York. Here's some songs off the new album. Found a good review on SkyNet (aka Wikipedia). Also, don't forget the Mexican sensation, Rodrigo y Gabriela, have a new CD coming out next week.

5. Dave Matthews may be overdo-ing it this summer. Dave was sidelined for today's concert in Utah with strained vocal chords. Good thing he hit Hartford first, but still he better take it easy and stop pulling those eye-bulging high notes he likes to hit or else he's gonna have to rest for a lot longer than a day.

6. Them Crooked Vultures are touring in the United States! Best of all, they're coming to the House of Blues in Boston (somewhat close). Definitely gotta try and see this...then I will have successfully seen 1/2 of Led Zeppelin in concert (Jimmy Page would be all that's left for me to see...save the best for last I guess). Here's the full list of dates and some videos of their music (you HAVE to hear this!).

7. While we're on the topic of classic rock mixing with modern rock...how about this...Wolfmother has covered Jimi Hendrix! Apparently they recorded an 8-track LP at Electric Lady Studios last month and they intend on releasing it as a "B-Side" in the near future. I would definitely like to hear this (especially "If 6 Was 9").

8. And we'll save the ultimate travesty for last. I was really excited this week to hear about the release of the latest in music video games, Guitar Hero 5. What I didn't know is that one of the worlds most famous deceased musical artists, Kurt Cobain, would be featured as a guest character in the game. Whoever's idea it was to allow this in a video game should seriously be shoved through a kick drum. Do you honestly think this is what Kurt Cobain would've wanted? In his life would he ever have let himself be subject as a playable character in a video game that would allow him to sing covers of Bon Jovi (no disrespect Jon...you'll always be cool in my books) and Coldplay (no respect there...Coldplay blows goats)?! No fucking way! This is creating major controversy in major music magazines and all across the internet. In no way am I the world's biggest Nirvana fan (although I am a big fan), but just watch some of the videos in the articles...it's disgraceful!
Spin.com's Take
RollingStone.com's Take
Who do they blame for the whole thing? Why Courtney Love of course!


That's all for now...here's our concert video of the week. This comes to us from STP at Mohegan Sun this past July 17th...this is one of the coolest songs they performed all night. A personal favorite of mine, "Big Empty"