It's the middle of another hectic workday Wednesday, but here's what my iPod just returned to me on shuffle (along with some unsolicited comments, as if you cared...):

1) Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones (no comment - just rocking out)

2) Rooster - Alice In Chains (I've had the Essential Alice in Chains in my player since last summer, and I suddenly got a flashback while listening to this of driving home from another classic weekend in Hardwick, Vermont and stopping at the Tilt'n Diner in Tilton, NH)

3) Black Dog - Led Zeppelin (All of a sudden, a lobotomized classic rock DJ crawled into my iPod supposedly ... what's next, Aerosmith? Steve Miller? Love the song, but my iPod apparently doesn't care to dig up album tracks - then again, every track off of the '4 symbols' album is pretty much a single - not that I've heard 'Four Sticks' on the radio recently)

4) Nothing's Changed - Chris Isaak (A friend of my wife's moved ALL of her music on to our Mac, and I had to go through and throw a bunch of crap away - no offense, Miss J - but this was one of the few that had enough legs to survive. Not a big Isaak fan, but this is a good track.)

5) Love and Happiness - Al Green (When this was playing, a work friend brought her child in. Children are a direct product of 'Love and Happiness' and the wife and I are working quite often with that chemistry, but still nada ... how are there so many people in the world when it's so tough to get preggers?)

6) Belle - Al Green ( a very rare artist repeat on 'Shuffle Songs,' especially amongst 1,000 tracks to pick from)

7) Autumn Serenade - Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane (no comment - just relaxing in the thick of the workday)

8) Ooby Dooby - Roy Orbison (actually, replace The Essential Roy Orbison with The Essential Alice In Chains above - they're interchangeable as classic summer pickups for me, not long after I received the iPod as a birthday gift from my aforementioned lovely wife).

9) Soul Driver - Bruce Springsteen (This was another one that barely survived the purging of Miss J's catalog - Human Touch generally has a lame, overbright pop tone to the whole album, but this one stands as one of the best - maybe the best - on a weak album from 'Da Boss')

10) Swing Shift - Circus Devils (a great discovery for 2007 for me - an offshoot of Guided by Voices - very Bowie-esque and, what a surprise, very GBV-esque, but a little more slanted, angular than the more straight-ahead power-pop of Rob Pollard & Co.)

11) In California - Neko Case (from Live at Austin City Limits - right away, I remembered she's coming to New England in just weeks - am waiting to hear back from my lady on whether it's OK to get tix for her Calvin Theatre show in Northampton, Mass, on 2/2, the anniversary of our first date back in, what else, '02. This song could be one of the all-time greats, and Neko's delivery just films a movie for you - very somber, yet reflecting of the sun-glazed surroundings. Absolutely love this one)

12) Out on the Tiles - Led Zeppelin (a friend gave me all the Zep albums this past summer, allowing me to restore my collection, which I'd purchased on tape originally. Relax, music lawyers, Robert Plant has long since filled up his Maserati's gas tank on all the money I gave LZ in royalties as a teenager. I even re-bought Song Remains the Same on CD - there, happy?)

13) Rough Alley Blues - Blind Willie McTell with Ruth Willis (refer to Bob Dylan song 'Blind Willie McTell,' and check out the version of that by Elliott Murphy and Ian Matthews on their La Terre Commune album - a lost classic).

14) Run Diddley Daddy - Bo Diddley (from the I'm a Man: The Chess Masters, best reissue of 2007 in my ears. After buying this on iTunes, I was a little bummed to not have background info on the tracks, so I e-mailed the record company and a very kind gent mailed me the liner notes free of charge. Thank you, sir, wherever you are)

15) Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton (still a slap in the face to the soul more than 15 years later - lovely song, terrible tragedy)

I'll do a 'regular' post sometime later (in the week, probably)

Missed pre-sale for Radio City - darn!

Ok, well, the early birds got the worm. I checked in on the MMJ web site at the judicious time of 5 p.m., and guess what, their pre-sale for their June 20 show at Radio City Music Hall was already sold out. Went on sale at 10 a.m. - Friday is my 'sleep repair' day from living at my work for four previous days, so I missed it. Regular tix go on sale next Friday, so I'll try then, I suppose.

While I sit here amidst freelance hockey work, waiting for calls and e-mails that may never come, I've got possibly the next best live band on the TV. The Cat Empire comes from Melbourne, Australia, and I first heard and saw them at Bonnaroo 2006 (where our aforementioned heroes MMJ from Louisville, Ky., put on a three-hour set starting at midnight - it's available on Archive.org's Live Music Archive). They have the best and least cheesy mix of ska, pop, rock, latin, jazz you'll hear - check out their stuff on their myspace site. Stay away from the song 'No Longer There' - it's kind of a boring straight-ahead pop song (you guys are better than that!) - everything else just kicks, though. For now, buy their album 'Two Shoes' from their Web site, but make sure you get the version that comes with the bonus DVD, which I have on as I write this.

After kicking butt at the 'Roo, they came back this past summer of 2007 and put on two legendary (in my mind at least) outdoor free shows in Portland - on my 32nd birthday that one - and in Boston. I'm attaching pictures here from the Copley Square show that my wife Nicole took. Their Boston performance was easily the best musical adventure I had for that year. I have a few minutes of that show up on Youtube right now.





If they come back this summer, and you feel like you just want to shed your skin and dance around in your bones, then the Cat Empire is your answer. Let's just hope they don't play that 'No Longer There' tune, or at least save it for the encore. Or maybe play it first and get it out of the way, but then that might drive prospective fans away. Yeah, maybe just don't play it at all. The world has enough mid-tempo 4/4 pop-rock songs, gentlemen. Again, you're way better than that.


By the way, when you're on their myspace site, check out the video for 'The Car Song' - it's the best video maybe since the 80s, when that old station MTV still played 'films with music.' Hilarious - imagine playing basketball against all your insecurities. Then again, don't imagine, watch the danged video! That's it for now.

My first blog entry - I'm so nervous

Well, folks, this is my first time doing this, so take my words with a grain of salt. I'm not going to get too technical today. In truth, my 'technical' knowledge is watered down from 10 years of not writing a music piece or being involved in a recording studio (hello, Fairhaven - hey, is Kevin still there?), and quite a while since picking up my guitar or playing my Lowrey organ. So, I'll just say that right now my No. 1 band is My Morning Jacket.

MMJ brought back the theory of a 'guitar band' to rock and roll. Led Zeppelin comparisons are thrown around far too generously, but they have to be mentioned as brethren due to shared song construction and eclecticism. Their 2005 record 'Z' is to be considered an 'indie must-have' and currently holds down my No. 2 spot for albums made in the 2000s - first is Beachwood Sparks' 'Once We Were Trees,' but I'll comment on that later.

Lately, 'Lay Low' has been the song that I look most forward to hearing, and I hear it in different ways just about everytime I hear it. How so? Archive.org's Live Music Archive has a huge store of live MMJ from over the years, but their shows from 2005-2007 are epics. Each one is like an aural journey through some record snob's prized collection. You can hear the aforementioned Zep in there, Hank Williams, AC/DC, Pearl Jam ... you know what? Forget all those guys, they've just got their own thing going right now, and I pray that this new 2008 album they're supposedly recording isn't a let-down.

'Lay Low' - Patrick Hallahan starts in with this seemingly random Pollock-type splattering of bass drum, battered hi-hat and a snare drum figure that's not sure if it's in the right song yet. Once you get the idea of this beat that'll hang around through the verses, you're almost expecting to hear a Beastie Boys rock-rap type song. No, instead Carl Broemel introduces a riff that draws you in by adding different forms in each measure. When singer/guitarist Jim James' words stroll in like the Fonz, you're almost surprised that you are officially 'in the song' - it's not just an intro anymore. This is it. That's really just half-true - it's like you're on the porch of a great house, though.

When bassist Two-Tone Tommy and keyboardist Bo Koster show up in the song with their contributions, it's like that house has a rager of a party and two friends of the host have showed up and you're walking in with them.

The chorus is introduced and you're in a more 'comfortable' 4/4-type rock feel, and noticing the unmasked 'Let's Get it On'-ness of James' lyrics, the type of thing you want to whisper to your girl after a hard day of work: 'Lay low if the feeling is right, I got all i want here in you tonight, and we can pass out on the bedroom floor after going full tilt for so long.'

Then you're back in the verses and what originally seemed strange in a friendly way now feels like an old buddy. The verse, with Koster's ascending triplet, is a feel-good time. It pumps you up, just as you're ready to enter the happening den room of the house party, where everybody's psyched to see YOU, not knowing there's a hurricane that's just popped up ready to tear the roof off the sucker.

James lets out a few howls coming out of the second chorus to let you know this is where he gets serious, and, like turning up a stereo really loud just to hear a guitar solo you want to absorb, James spits out some classic face-melters (as Jack Black so eloquently called 'em in 'School of Rock') from his Flying V. It seems like it's just some random shredding, but it quickly collects itself into the final theme of the song, which is a twin-guitar assault bringing to mind the end of 'Hotel California' as rewritten by Randy Rhoads. Jumping into the fray near the end is Koster's piano, which recollects the harmony of the solo platform saying to the guitarists 'Hey, this is where you were, don't forget your roots.'

Or something like that - go over to archive.org, hit on the Live Music Archive button and search for 'Lay Low' and see what you think. And buy Z.
Lay Low and Dondante - which I consider MMJ's answer to 'Since I've Been Lovin' You' - are guitar epics for THIS generation. And, while we're on the subject, 'What a Wonderful Man' is the most fun 2-minutes-and-change since 'We Will Rock You.' There, I said it.

More, later...