Rethinking the Blues

PopMatters' Mark Reynolds tackles a very interesting topic in his "Retelling the History of Black Music: Everything You Know about the Blues Is Wrong", which also weaves in a review of Elija Wald's Escaping the Delta, a new book which "explains [legendary bluesman Robert] Johnson’s genius not with mushy platitudes or hoary metaphors about trains and hellhounds, but with basic research and analysis. His digging reveals Johnson as an artist wholly of his time and place: a traveling musician in the ‘30s rural South, possessed of incredible skill and magnetism, and a keen student of what others were doing, taking in everyone from previous acoustic bluesmen Lonnie Johnson and Son House to the urban sounds of Leroy Carr.

But Wald ultimately places Johnson among his contemporaries as a “musician’s musician” whose sales and influence didn’t extend much beyond the Delta. The audience that elevated Johnson to the upper pantheon of musical titans was nowhere in evidence while he was alive, or at any point soon after his death. Escaping the Delta is less a Johnson biography than a primer on blues music between the two World Wars."

Dig in, boys and girls.

Tweedy to Play Second Obama Benefit / Wilco Tour Dates

On July 11th, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will perform a concert
to raise money for his senator, Barack Obama, who is scheduled to make an appearance at the show. Tweedy first played a benefit for the presidential hopeful in December 2007.

So, what's Wilco up to? Well they hit the road later this month and here are the dates:

7-25 Fairbanks, AK
7-26 Anchorage, AK
8-01 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
(Wilco performance and Jeff Tweedy solo set)
8-04 Indianapolis, IN
8-06 Jacksonville, FL
8-07 Charleston, SC
8-08 Cary, NC
8-09 Baltimore, MD
8-10 Wilmington, DE
8-12 Lenox, MA
8-13 Brooklyn, NY
8-16 Jackson Hole, WY
8-18 Salt Lake City, UT
8-20 Boise, ID
8-21 Spokane, WA
8-23 Bend, OR
8-24 San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
8-29 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival

THe Concert T-shirt Fetish

USA Today has this almost nauseating piece on concert tees and other related-merch that fails to mention what might interest concert-goers the most about the subject: you're paying exorbitant prices at shows because the venue charges the band a practically prohibitive percentage to sell their wares. (By the way, that person selling you a t-shirt at the enormodome, or your local 5,000-seater, is a venue employee, so they can keep better track of sales.)

Oh, and the "Rock That Shirt Right" sidebar--with its concert tee ettiquette--is just plain lame.

'In Rainbows' Free Stream

If you have yet to listen to Radiohead's latest, Last.fm has it right here.

High Gas Prices Harming Concert Business

Not only are up and coming bands feeling the pinch at the pump when it's time to fill up the van and hit the road--even established acts like Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan aka The Gutter Twins, are said to have, um, curbed their touring this season because of it--but concertgoers are being more selective about what concerts they drive to, as well. And in non-public transportation-heavy cities unlike our own--NYC--this is a big deal.

So, while music sales had been declining steadily the last few years, the concert business was doing well. But if CDs stop selling and people stop going to shows, well...

Repent, The End is Near (reason # 1043)

"I actually do like that song a lot and they've asked me
to sing a version of it now, which I may well do."

- Peter Gabriel, on the possibility of covering Vampire Weekend's "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa".

In the words of immortal tennis great John McEnroe,
"You can't be serious?!"

The Indie 500

Woxy is streaming their 19th annual "Modern Rock 500," which originally aired over Memorial Day weekend. You can listen to the whole shebang, at your own pace, right here.

Ladies First

As part of their 10th anniversary celebration, Rotten Tomatoes have come up with "The 25 Best Action Heroines of All Time". How did they arrive at such a list?

"...each lethal lady should make you think twice before challenging her to a fight. (Which is why two of three Charlie's Angels didn't make the cut. Sorry, Drew and Cameron.) Kicking many butts in multiple action films improves a nominee's stock, but so too can a single, iconic performance."

So, there you go. What do you think?

Happy Birthday

Two greats, still going strong: Blondie's Debbie Harry (63),



and The B-52s' Fred Schneider (57);



both on July 1st.

New Releases

Some of today's debuts include:

EARLIMART Hymn and Her (Shout! Factory)
BUSTA RHYMES Don't Touch Me (Aftermath/Universal)
LOS LONELY BOYS Forgiven (Epic)
JOHN MAYER Where The Light Is: Live In Los Angeles (Columbia)
ROBERTO ROENA Apollo Sound 3 [reissue] (Fania)