What We're Listening To

AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB The Golden Age [Merge]
CROSBY STILLS & NASH self titled [Atlantic]
HALL & OATES Private Eyes [RCA]
LIZ PHAIR Exile in Guyville [Matador]
THE PRODUCERS You Make the Heat [Portrait/CBS]

What are YOU listening to?

How 'bout a Fatty?

Fans of the HBO's show Entourage know that guest star Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) is dating the portly go-fer known as Turtle (actor Jerry Ferrara) both on the show and in real life. No big deal.

But c'mon, if you're going to interview an actress and ask her whether or not beautiful women date fat dudes, shouldn't you be aware beforehand that SHE IS ACTUALLY DATING ONE? This isn't quite as embarrassing as when that film student asked John Cusack about his role in American Beauty, (he's not in it, you bumbling knucklehead) but really, who's doing your research?

RIP: Jim Dickinson

Producer/musician Jim Dickinson, whose four decades in the music business includes his work with The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Mudhoney, and Big Star, among many others, died on Saturday Aug. 15th of recurring heart and intestinal bleeding problems.

Dickinson, who was recognized as one of the architects of "the Memphis sound", was also the father of Luther and Cody Dickinson, of The North Mississippi All-Stars.

He was 67 years old.

Woodstock: 40 Years Later

This weekend is the 40th anniversary of the legendary Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held on Aug 15-17, on the farm of Max Yasgur, in Bethel, NY.

For better or for worse, there will be no official concert to mark the occasion--we were hoping the Prospect Park idea would take off--but, as expected, there are plenty of write-ups and blog posts with either celebrations of nostalgia, or critiques of the current state of youth and music to be perused thru. The latter, of course, will just fuel more of the boomer fatigue that many born in the '70s have been decrying for a while now.

And while we may understand how they feel, the truth is, the boomers set the bar for popular culture pretty high in the second half of the 20th century and none of us have come even close since.

In any event, we just wanted to give props to a seminal moment in popular music history, one that Rolling Stone once deemed to have been one of "50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll", and a pretty cool concert, after all.

"...[T]he important thing that you've proven to the world is that...a half million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music, and I God Bless You for it!"

- Max Yasgur addressing the crowd at Woodstock, Aug. 17, 1969.

RIP: Les Paul

Guitarist, inventor and, of course, designer of the Gibson electric guitar that bears his name, the legendary Les Paul died on August 12th, of complications from pneumonia.

As owners and players of his namesake guitar and beneficiaries of the multi-track recording techniques he invented, we can't help but feel keenly indebted to this musical giant. Thanks for everything, sir.

Les Paul was 94 years old.

[photo courtesy of smokestacklightnin.com]

Why Didn't We Think of That?

The lagging sales of recorded music is of no surprise to anyone these days, but one particularly successful commercial tie-in of the past seems to be especially hurting: the movie soundtrack album.

We briefly touched on this subject a while back, but a comment made on a recent Idolator post regarding soundtrack sales had a great proposal which not only caught our attention but made us wonder why this hasn't been adopted as a widespread practice:

"The record labels should make physical albums available for purchase at the movie theaters where the films are being played. This is a long overdue concept and I think that its just one example of how labels need to be more proactive with their marketing."

Um, yeah. It's a way better idea than selling albums at Starbucks, for instance. But would it be too little, too late at this point? Maybe. But with record sales being pretty lean it's a suggestion definitely worth looking into.

Thankfully, It Wasn't The Shins

Worth reading is Jake Brown's "John Hughes Changed My Life" post, a tribute to the late filmmaker over at Glorious Noise.

We Give Up, It's Over: Perez Hilton, Music Mogul

Obnoxious gossip blogger and music industry neophyte Perez Hilton will be heading his own record label, Perezcious Music, which will be distributed by Warner Bros. Let that sink in for a bit.

So, what's next? Will Kathy Griffin be curating Sundance?

These are indeed the worst of times...feel like that Longwave song right about now.

Them Crooked Vultures Sure are Secretive

The new supergroup formed by Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters), and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, just played their debut gig this past weekend at The Metro in Chicago.

Calling themselves Them Crooked Vultures, the trio are rumored to be recording an album in Los Angeles to be released in October.
The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot praised their live maiden voyage calling TCV's brand of hard rock "something fresh, invigorating and just plain nasty." Like Chickenfoot, right? (Sorry, just kidding.)

Oh, and none of the tracks have been leaked to the internet. Yet.

RIP: John Hughes

John Hughes, the writer/director of the classic coming of age comedies Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, suffered a fatal heart attack on August 6th, while visiting family in New York City.

He was 59 years old.