Jack Johnson - 06/21/2008 Concert Review

Jack Johnson at Alpine Valley on 06/21/2008 was a fantastic show. The place was pretty full. I was expecting there to be maybe 15,000 - 20,000 for the show, but there was way more than that attending this one. When we arrived just before 7pm there was hardly a place to sit on the grass and people had to just start packing it in.

I took a little tour of the All At Once Community area to see a little more on how Jack was using the tour to help promote the awareness of things to do to be better to the environment and a little more Green, if you know what I mean. There were some interesting topics including one group who had all the information on which candidates voted which way on all the different environmental bills. They didn't try to sway your vote, just inform you of the issues and how people voted. They were trying to register voters as well which is always good when you have a big mixed crowd at a show.

Some of the other groups talked about growing food and reusing materials as compost. How to compost in general and how to basically be able to sustain without relying on outside resources. That was interesting to hear. Surfrider was there to talk about ocean polution, especially plastic shopping bags and plastic bottles. From all my years of surfing the beaches in San Diego and fishing off the coast in boats, I can tell you there is a lot of junk and runoff waste that goes into the ocean. I'm surprised that we haven't killed everything off. There were more things to see as well. Check out surfrider and become a member even if you don't live near the coast http://www.surfrider.org/

The one thing that dissappointed me about the venue, was that Live Nation was using #6 plastic cups that were clear and could have easily used #1 plastic cuos to recycle. Outside of the All At Once Community there really wasn't much awareness for the environment. People were throwing #6 Plasitic cups in the recycle bins which can't even be recycled. People outside were also throwing their cans and bottles in the trash bins, not the recycle bins. That kind of stuff annoyed me.

We did carpool ourselves, 6 all came out and I felt good that we did our part, but we still parked in the regular spot because the area they had for carpoolers of 4 or more in a car was filled up.

Mason Jennings came out about 7:30 - 7:45pm not really sure. He put on a good performance, but didn't find him to be an outstanding singer. I thought he was just an average folk type guy. That's my "Idol" judging.

I was thinking Money Mark was supposed to come out and play, but around 9pm or so, Jack came out and started playing. So not sure if Money Mark played earlier or outside, but all I saw him do was a song with Jack during the show. - Update 07/01/2008 - Money Mark did come out and jam prior to my arrival at the show. With Traffic and walking, I guess I missed it.

Jack started off with Hope, Taylor, Flake and really sounded good. We were up in the grass and even there he sounds clear as can be. We certainly couldn't see him. but the screens were up and you could catch a bit from those. I would have thought Alpine would have had bigger screens, but they did the trick.

Jack seemed really in tune with the crowd, playing is usually mellow surfer way and really was awesome. Some of my favorites of the night were Upside Down into Bubble Toes. Also I was digging Banna Pancakes and Good People. He did Times Like These, but I need to figure out where in the set it went.

Overall it was a great time and Jack once again put on an amazing show and really was impressive. I would really love to see him and Ben Harper get back together for a couple of shows, switching off and jamming, playing some together. That would be sweet.

If you get a chance, Jack will be back out touring in August. For those in the UK he's heading over in July. Check out http://www.jackjohnsonmusic.com/ for all the info on tours, news and the All At Once Community. Also check out his myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/jackjohnsonmusic to catch a little audio if haven't heard his music before.

Setlist(to the best of my knowledge):

Jack Johnson Alpine Valley, East Trow, WI 6-21-08
9:05pm
Hope

Taylor

Flake

Monsoon >

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Sleep Through the Static

Go On

Upside Down

Bubble Toes > Mellow Mood-(Bob Marley)

Wasting Time

Staple it Together > Whole Lotta Love-(Led Zeppelin)

What You Thought You Need

No Other Way > I Would For You-(Jane’s Addiction)

Constellations

Breakdown

Banana Pancakes

Same Girl

Horizon Has Been Defeated > Mother and Child Reunion-(Paul Simon)

Inaudible Melodies

Good People

If I Had Eyes

ENCORE:

All At Once *

Times Like These *

Living in the Moment *(w/Mason Jennings)

Angel * >

Better Together *

* Jack Solo

Jakob Dylan - Seeing Things - CD Review

I haven’t heard much from Jakob Dylan in about the last 10 years or so since the first big Wallflowers cd with “One Headlight” and “6TH Avenue Heartbreak”. They have been together and producing cd up through 2005, but I have lost track.

Not to go into too much history, but Jakob is the youngest of four children born to Bob Dylan and his ex-wife Sara Dylan. So the talent runs deep in the blood.

The new and first Solo album that Jakob has put out was produced by Rick Rubin. Rubin is certainly a fantastic person to work with. He did all those great Johnny Cash sessions that produced the American Recordings as well as the “Unearthed” box set. Of course he’s done a lot more stuff with everyone from The Beastie Boys, Dixie Chicks all the way to Neil Diamond. So getting time with Rick Rubin certainly means you are going to be getting some of your best stuff brought out of you.

This new project of Jakob’s has 10 songs on it and many are straight acoustic sessions. Many of the song have a similar sound, but it’s a good one. I like the acoustic feel and how it brings out how good Jakob’s voice sounds. It’s certainly not a Bob Dylan acoustic cd, it’s Jakob’s own sound.

You can pick this one up on iTunes for $7.99 which is a really good deal and worth looking into. It’s a good one and worth picking up for sure. I just pulled out an old Wallflowers cd just to jam to a little more Jakob Dylan. Enjoy!

Track Listing:

1. Evil Is Alive And Well
2. Valley Of The Low Sun
3. All Day And All Night
4. Everybody Pays As They Go
5. Will It Grow
6. I Told You I Couldn't Stop
7. War Is Kind
8. Something Good This Way Comes
9. On Up The Mountain
10. This End Of The Telescope

Coldplay - Viva La Vida - CD Review

Coldplay's new cd Viva La Vida comes out next week Tuesday, June 17th and is one of the most highly anticipated releases of the summer according to many different publications. Once thing that Coldplay did do to spark some interest was to give the first single "Violet Hill" away free on their website. From there if you pre-ordered the cd from iTunes you also were able to download the title track "Viva La Vida" as well. So you pretty much could hear the first 2 of 10 tracks a month before the cd came out. I'm sure that others have a pre-sale download as well because I think there were 4 tracks floating around on the internet in the past couple weeks.

After having a first listen, I have to say it's a pretty good cd. I personally think they should have tried to put out 12-14 tracks on it, 10 seems never to be enough. You have 70 minutes of space and yet you are only filling up 45-50 minutes of it. Think Green and fill up the cds that will one day be filling up our landfills.

Life in Technicolor leads it off as an intro mainly. It's an instrumental that could have been done away with as far as I'm concerned. I do like Coldplay and enjoy hearing new music, but an instrumental track doesn't set the mood for me, usually gets jumped right over. Good thing we aren't still listening to cassette tapes.

Cemetaries of London on throught sets the stage of the cd. The songs are relatively mellow, with some upbeat parts. Chris Martin has a nice soothing voice to listen to. Hard to overal compare this cd to anything else. Some of the songs have more of a U2 type beat to them, which isn't a bad thing by any means. "Viva La Vida" is a pretty cool track. I know it's getting loads of radio play these days, but it's probably one of the better songs on the cd. "Violet Hill" is a bit like something from the Beatles. That was the one they gave away free.

Overall, I do like the cd, just feel they could have done a little more to it for the fans. I know recording and all that is tough work, I just think I had set some high expectations of the band this round. It's worth picking up a copy of this one for sure, you won't be dissappointed, you just might want more like me.

Song List:

1. Life In Technicolor
2. Cemeteries Of London
3. Lost!
4. 42
5. Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love
6. Yes
7. Viva La Vida
8. Violet Hill
9. Strawberry Swing
10. Death And All His Friends

The Alaska Experiment - Discovery Channel - Review

The Alaska Experiment is wrapping up it's short season this coming week with an hour re-visit with all of the volunteers that were involved in the experiment. The Experiment itself was to take 4 groups of people and put them into 4 different situations in Alaska and provide them with some of the necessities and see if they can survive for 3 months.

The timing of the experiment was right at the end of the Salmon run and giving the participants about a good solid month of real winter to deal with. So the key was to stock up on food, firewood and all provisions early as possible as you don't know when the weather will turn on you. Water for some was tought to come by because all the sources froze up and it takes a long time and effort to melt ice and snow for water. They each had a canning system and needed to try to put away as much food as possible. It worked for some and not others. Two of the groups were taken on Moose hunts and Two were taken on Mountain Goat Hunts. So they were given opportunities to get other some meat. The Goat groups both took one home and for the Moose, no such luck. I lived in New Hampshire and tried like hell to find a Moose, they really like to stay in tough locations and are really elusive. I'm not suprised that no Moose were taken down by the volunteers. They did try hard.

The four locations and volunteers were as follows:

Icy Bay, Camp Riou Point(description taken from Discovery.com): Sediment-laden water from the mainland surrounding Icy Bay has built the thick, soggy sands of Riou Point's beaches. The sand is littered with hundreds of uprooted trees and driftwood, ideal for firewood or making furniture. A freshwater stream, which can provide water year-round, is about a half-mile down the beach.

An old fish shack located near the mouth of the bay will be home to the Wise family. The shack is near a pristine beach that will take the brunt of the vicious Icy Bay storms.


The volunteers are from Kansas City, KS(Near The OP where I Live), Dennis Wise is a retired GM worker, who spends some of his spare time hanging out at the Bass Pro shop in Olathe, KS(pronounced O-Lay-Tha) doing canoe and kayak demonstrations and loves to fish. Where else would you want to hang out except maybe at Cabela's :-)

Along with Dennis are his two daughters, Jennifer, 21 and her sister Carolyn, 23, a student at Witchata State University. Both certainly had their issues to work out with each other and with their father. They really seemed to come to gether by the end.They were certainly a fun group to watch, because at the start Dad was giving all the direction and pissing off the kids. By the end they worked together and got things done. I'm sure the editing process had a lot to do with our preception of the family, but I certainly was glad to see them all come along and help get things done.

I don't know if the cameras were just potraying the kids to be a pain in the ass at the start, but between eating all the food at the start wasn't really smart. But maybe they just have been spoiled, who knows. But 3 months will change them.

They unfortunately didn't get the Moose on the hunt, but they did catch a great supply of Salmon and canned it right so even if it drove them crazy, they had the food to survive.

I think it really helped to have the knowledge Dennis did of basic carpenter tasks and of course indoor plumbing. My vote is that if it were only the sisters out in the wilderness they would have been in trouble long ago - like wilking into the cabin. But with Dennis along, they put it together and did a great job.

I really hope that they will be doing some sort of speaking engagement in Kansas, maybe at Pro Bass Shop, Cabela's or Backwoods. It would be interesting to hear their perspective on things and not just what we saw edited on TV.

Camp Back Bay(description taken from Discovery.com): At the back of Icy Bay sits what's known as a "wall tent," a classic shelter used for decades in the Alaskan wilderness. This sturdy, 200-square-foot tent is built on a wooden platform and outfitted with a wood-burning stove to battle Icy Bay's cold, wet conditions. Jeff Frederick and Elizabeth Widmeyer will live in this wall tent.

Volunteers were Jeff Fredrick, 35 from around NYC and Elizabeth Widmeyer, 23 also from the NYC area.

Jeff is a former mountain rescue volunteer and works as a hydrologist and does environmental consulting in the New York City area.

Elizabeth is a waste water engineer and loves to be outdoors. She spent 75 days hiking, camping, fishing and surviving in the Austrailian Outback. Quite an adventurer I would say.

Jeff and Elizabeth have been dating for a short period of time and this certainly may not be the best way to test your future. Then again, it may be the best way to test whether you can stand to be with each other for a long period of time with out others around. It's like moving to a new city where you know no one at all - actually it's not, but that can be challenging as well and I've done that.

So these two go the raw end of the deal, a tent. No cabin for comfort or protection against the creatures of the night. A big old tent. I personally would have told the producers they were nuts. Things didn't go so well for these two. No luck hunting Moose, they only caught a few fish and half the fish they caught was lost in the canning process. To top things off, Jeff's father, who had been ill, took a turn for the worst.

These two had it the hardest of all the groups I would say. They had a lot going on coming into this and you could see a lot of tension build because it seemed like Jeff was really outspoken and tried to basically run things. There were times where I think Elizabeth should have spoke up or stuck a foot up Jeff's ass. Still after all they went through, it seems as though they came together in the end. Seeing the reunion show will tell if the test helped or hurt.

Location: Upper Chitina River Valley, Camp Flower Lake(taken from discovery.com): Roughly two miles from the river in a densely forested area lies Flower Lake. A log cabin overlooks the pristine lake and will be home to Tim, Allan and Jasmine. This area is a favorite hangout of a herd of wild buffalo as well as grizzly bears, moose and wolves.

Tim Wagner, 36, is a computer engineer at HP in Los Angeles, he is staying with two other friends at Flower Lake. Allen Aujero, 40, former computer engineer, living in New Jersey, work as an independent consultant. Jasmine Kung, 26 of San Diego, is a real estate broker, which taking the time off that she did, she would have lost any money in the horrible San Diego market. That I can tell you from experience of finally selling a home in Costal Oceanside after nine months of hell. Maybe I needed Jasmine selling my house.

These three really had a test of personalities. Tim was so laid back, but still had strong opinions of things, where Allen was outspoken, hyper and seemed to think he had the answer to many things. At least that's my take from seeing the segments aired. Jasmine, kind of went with the flow, but seemed to pull her own weight as well in getting things done. She dressed the kill. collected wood, organized and carried as large of a pack it seemed.

These guys were challenged from the start because the personalities. They went out and cut wood, but didn't always cut right and broke their handle on the big saw. Overall they did pretty well getting set up. They are dropped off 10 miles out with a compass and need to find the cabin. From there they are on their way.

Each group has a load of food and equiptment at the cabins. Non of it has protein, but will be needed to sustain. Rice, beans and all that crap will be waiting them.

These guys went through some crazy times on this adventure. They went out and got fish and Tim took down a Mountain Goat. So the food esentials went well for them.

For what ever crazy reason these guys got a bug up their ass and decided to hike up the glacier to visit the last group we will talk about in a minute. They planned on a 3-4 day adventure and showed up about 8 days later. Not the best planning and navagation for these guys. They ended up staying the rest of the trip and leaving the rest of their stuff back at the lake cabin. To me these guys were a little too dangerous to be left out in the woods. Still in the end they made it and all was well.

Camp Hawkins Glacier(taken from Discovery.com): Three thousand feet above the river valley is a trapper's cabin built in the 1950s near Hawkins Glacier; this will be home to Bernice and Greg Pierson. This area is full of rocky terrain, breathtaking views and unique landscapes. The proximity of the glacier will allow Greg and Bernice to use it as a freezer as well as a freshwater source.

Bernice Pierson, 34, works as a personal clothier, but is also an adventure racer. Greg Pierson, 36, is a self-employed concrete mason.

Greg & Bernice have been married for 12 years and live in Huntington Breach, CA, just up the way from my old stomping grounds. Coming from that climate and elevation, they really will be challenged in the process.

Up on the Glacier they are living in a 200 Square Foot cabin, which certainly can be a little closed in. Greg seemed to have issues from the start. On the way up he was hurting and having trouble. It took him 2 days to get a Goat, but he did get one. He was probably a good 30-40 pounds overweight and out of shape on top of not having aclimated to the higher elevation.

Having been married for 12 years, there isn't much to worry about the challenges of living together in closed quarters. But it will take a toll on both of them over the 3 month period. There was one point where cabin fever was really setting in. Greg talked once about seeing some lady at the foot of the bed and then she walked over to the stove. I think I would have headed for the hills at that point. I thought seeing talking monkies when I lost about 4 pints of blood and loads of drugs in me was a trip, seeing things without any of that would put me over the edge.

These guys got a goat and it did make Bernice sick and put her down for a couple days, but she did recover. They did well working together and and really held tight even with all the time in the cabin. The last month was certainly the toughest. The water was frozen and they had to work hard to get water.

They had a bit of a suprise when the Flower Lake 3 showed up at their door. Now they had 3 more people living in their 200 square feet. I personally would have sent the 3 of them back to Flower Lake, but they were kind souls and let them stay right to the end. The rationed food and did what they had to.

Greg and Bernice win the good soul award. I couldn't have done it, especially not with 5 in that little cabin. All in all it was a tough hike out for the crew, but they made it to the drop and headed home to the comforts of toilets and beds and all that good stuff.

I plan to watch the reunion show this week coming up to see how it all went for them and if they had any more insight to things we didn't see on camera and just how amazing it was. Could I do it? I would say yes, but I would want to do a little training before heading out. I might out to Colorado and hike Longs Peak and a couple others. Get my altitude time in as well as work on the survival skills if needed. I have hike mountains in California and they have kicked my ass, but I never gave up once. So for me I would love to be challenged to live in any of those conditions for 3 months and see how it pans out for me. Plus I could do with some more Mountain Hardware gear. I live for their stuff, jackets, gloves, hats, pants, tents and all. Check out their stuff at http://www.mountainhardwear.com/Home.aspx?cc=en-US you can find it at all good retail shops like REI, Adventure 16 and Backwoods.

The show only has a wrap up next week, but check out all the good stuff on the website http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/alaska/alaska-week.html there are journals and backgrounds on the people. I'm sure they will run the series again on a marathon as well as put it out on DVD at some point like they have will Deadliest Catch, Man vs Wild & Everest:Beyond the Limits.

Great stuff check it out if you can, it's well worth the watch. I'm going to do a little research and see if Dennis Wise might be doing any slideshows or talks in Kansas City at any of the local outdoor gear shops, maybe even the one he teaches at Pro Bass Shop. Keeping my fingers crossed and maybe someday I'll get up their myself.

The people during this taping were obviously protected and had some back up in case things went wrong. I would encourage you all to read some of the great books out there on Alaska and what can happen. One book I've always found interesting was Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. The book is great and if you read it, it will make the movie that much better to see. You get a better sense of how Chris lived and the mistakes he made.

Were the volunteers really ever in trouble? Well producer Brian Catalina gives us a little insight on that. "All the volunteers and crew were given homing beacons called EPIRBS so that if they got lost in a whiteout or got disoriented — easy in Alaska — we could find them. The wilderness experts also had high-caliber hunting rifles as emergency protection against predators like bears or wolves. When the volunteers trekked far from their shelters, the experts accompanied at a distance to protect them and the crew. Bear attacks were our biggest worry and a justifiable one, especially in places like Icy Bay, which has one of the largest concentrations of brown bears in Alaska."

Check out the website for sure, lots of great stuff to see and read. http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/alaska/alaska-week.html

Burn Notice - Season 1 Review - Season 2 Starts July 10th

USA network's Burn Notice Season One will be out on DVD June 17th. If you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend picking up the series and watching it before the second season hits the air on July 10th.

The storie starts out with Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) wakes up in Miami only to find out that there has been a burn notice put on him. When you're a spy, getting a burn notice means that you've been officially deemed unreliable by your covert brethren, and that you're no longer wanted in the spy community. So you stay in Miami or pay the consequences.

Michael's goal is to use all of his resources available to find out who did this to him and in the mean time take on some odd jobs to get some cash and help some people out.

The first season of this show was fantastic and I really can't wait to see the second season. The cast of characters is great. Bruce Campbell plays a washed up old agent named Sam Axe, who still is involved and sometimes can even be trusted my Michael. Campbell is awesome in his role and really makes the show. Another one of the great charachters is Fiona Glenanne played by Gabrielle Anwar. She has some affiliation with the IRA and has certain specialties like explosives and picking locks, fun stuff like that. She and Michael are former lovers and she's back to find out why he left her the way he did. It keeps great tension throughout the show. She is the best thing to watch on the show if you're a dude. SEXY! Sharon Gless of Cagney and Lacey fame plays Michael's mother, who is pretty clueless and a real pain in the butt. She is so funny in her role. Like I said, they really put a great line-up together for this show.

The whole season leads Michael a little closer to what he's looking for, just keeping it a little out of his reach. The stories are good and the charachters are great. This really is a must see.

The first season is 11 Episodes. Really 10 with a 2 hour finally, but they put this all together on a 4 DVD set along with a bunch of cool extras and commentary to watch as well. I would certainly pick this one up, watch it and get your DVR ready to tag Season 2 on July 10th. It's awesome.

Aimee Mann - @#%&! SMILERS - CD Review

Aimee Mann has released her seventh solo cd @#%&! SMILERS. The album consistsof 13 original tracks and 3 bonus tracks if you purchase through iTunes. This album brings Aimee back to her style previous to The Forgotten Arm. She has more of a stripped down sound, with a good range coming from simple piano to full band sound of a song like Freeway. Not sure the exact meaning of having a lot of money but not affording the freeway. I'll have to go through the lyrics to figure that one out. Freeway has a nice beat and is a good start to the album.

This album brings out a really nice sound. Aimee has a beautiful voice and it really shines through on this album. Songs like Stranger into Starman have a nice mix of piano and strings. Over all all the songs are a bit different, and carry well with each other. There's a good mix of piano, strings, some synth music, drums, pretty much a little of everything. The final song "Ballantines" is a duet with Sean Hayes complete with barroom piano and trombone section.

The iTunes version comes with with 2 acoustic versions of songs on the cd as well as Lullaby, which is called a B-side song. It's a bit of a alt-country type song. Quite a nice finish to the album.

I really have enjoyed listening to her Live at St. Ann's Warehouse CD from the CD/DVD combo set from June of 2004. I would recommend picking that one up as well if you are ording the new cd.

Track Listing:

1. Freeway
2. Stranger Into Starman
3. Looking For Nothing
4. Phoenix
5. Borrowing Time
6. It's Over
7. Thirty One Today
8. Great Beyond
9. Medicine Wheel
10. Columbus Ave.
11. Little Tornado
12. True Believer
13. Ballantines
14. Freeway (iTunes exclusive accoustic version)
15. Great Beyond (iTunes exclusive accoustic version)
16. Lullaby (iTunes exclusive B-side)

This is really a great cd and worth picking up. You can get it at iTunes with the bonus songs or pick it up on Amazon as always. For more news, tour dates and information about Aimee Mann stop by her web page and have a look http://www.aimeemann.com/

Old 97's - Blame It On Gravity - CD Review

Blame It On Gravity is the first album in four years for The Old 97's and the seventh in a fifteen year career span. This Dallas based Alt-Country band has gone back to the roots on some of these songs. It's a really good mix of rock, punk, pop and alt-country throughout the album.

Produced by Dallas musucian and friend of the band Salim Nourallah, you can tell the care he took working with them to get the sweetness out of them. They really give a good mix of music on this album. It's quite an enjoyable album to listen to.

The band, still comprised of original members Rhett Miller, Murry Hammond, Ken Bethea and Philip Peeples. Even though Rhett has successfully gone out and done some work on his own, it really is great to have the band back together creating some amazing pieces of work.

If you get a chance pick up the CD/DVD combo version. It has a 44 min documentary of the band with some classic live material and well as focus on the new CD.

Track Listing:

1. The Fool
2. Dance With Me
3. No Baby I
4. My Two Feet
5. Ride
6. She Loves The Sunset
7. This Beautiful Thing
8. I Will Remain
9. Early Morning
10. The Easy Way
11. Here s To The Halcyon
12. Color Of A Lonely Heart Is Blue
13. The One

I've been listening to this one non-stop since the day it came out and it just keeps getting better. Be sure to go out and support the band and see them on their summer tour and check out their website for more information at www.old97s.com.

Gavin Rossdale - Wanderlust - CD Review

It's been a while since the good old days of Bush jamming out some great tunes. Since then Gavin Rossdale has formed another band, Institute in 2005 and put out a cd called Distort Yourself. He's married to Gwen Stefani from No Doubt and of course a successful solo artist.

I have to say the Bush years are still the best ones out there. I remember seeing Bush back when Sixteen Stone just came out. They were an electrifying band and really had it together. I really thought we would see them take off into big things.

Rossdale's new cd is really good. Can't Stop the World is a good start really showing the typical Rossdale vocal, going from mellow to kicking in to a good beat. From there you have a mix of tunes on this one. Some Rockin', Some Ballads, but overall a really good sound and it's good to hear him putting out new music.

This album was produced by Bob Rock and has Rossdale working with drummer Josh Freese, guitarist Chris Traynor (also formerly of Bush), bassist Paul Bushnell and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac.

For updates on his tour and other news, go to http://www.gavinrossdale.com/ he's doing some Mid-West dates in the US in July and maybe we will see that expanding a little.

Track Listing:

1. Can't Stop The World
2. Frontline
3. Forever May You Run
4. The Skin I'm In
5. Drive
6. Future World
7. Love Remains The Same
8. If You're Not With Us You Are Against Us
9. This Is Happiness
10. Another Night In The Hills
11. The Trouble I'm In
12. Beauty In The Beast
13. This Place Is On Fire

Well worth spending the $9.99 to pick this one up from either iTunes or Amazon.

David Cook - The Time Of My Life - Idol Review

So in all of the years of the show American Idol I had never watch an actual season. I always watched those tryouts and the tools who came back every year even though the sucked big time. They must have mental issues or just want to always be known as the complete idiots of the world. Anyways, this year my wife sucked me into the show and I watched it from end to end.

I just moved to Kansas City, MO so for me Blue Springs, MO didn't mean a thing, it might as well have been Madison, WI or something. I come to find out that it's basically a subburb of our little KC town. From the top 12 I knew that David Cook would be the one to beat. Everything about him screamed - I'm the one - the voice, style and versitility he has is amazing. I can't believe it took this show for him to make it. Sounds like he put in some years here in KC working hard at it and new really took off.

At first I never called in a single time because I watched the show after voting on the DVR. Then as it came down to the final 6 or so I started dialing in and getting my David Cook votes in for fear that some dipshit like Jason would win because women thought he was cute or he was the vote for the worst person - who knows.

From week to week David Cook was consistant putting out great sound from Opera, rock, Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond and the rest. I personally thought that David A. would win because all the teens voting for him. Personally I saw him as nothing more that a good kid, with a kind heart hanging on the puppet strings of his father. He has no versitility in his going and will do well as a christian singer or something in that nature. I do wish him luck as this was a lot for a 16 year old to go through.

Back to Cook - The man of the hour - the week and hopefully a successful career going forward. I see this guy blowing away the likes of Clay, Ruben, Daughtry, Clarkson and the rest. He has a good heart and doesn't seem like he will et it go to his head too bad. Hopefully he stays grounded and remembers where he came from.

David's cd Analog Heart is great. I think lyrically you can tell it's a start and needs some work, but the voice and arrangemnts are amazing. When they do put it out again I would certainly pick it up if I were you. Plus all those great studio versions iTues sold through the competition are good ones to have.

I wish this guy nothing but success in teh years to come. He was up against some good, some bad and some ugly and really came through.

Foxboro Hottubs - Stop Drop and Roll!!! - CD Review

The new Foxboro Hottubs cd Stop Drop and Roll!!! is fantastic. Basically this is Green Day as a 60's post-punk garage band, just having fun and putting out some good old classic rock stuff. Looks like they changed their name just to do something fun as a side project, but it's still Billy Joe rockin' the lead.

The songs are all relatively short, but awesome. They range between 2-3 minutes a song and keep you going from end to end.

It's well worth picking this one up. amazon has it for like $7.99, last I saw Best Buy was running it at $9.99 and iTunes the same.

Track Listing:
1. Stop Drop And Roll
2. Mother Mary
3. Ruby Room
4. Red Tide
5. Broadway
6. She's A Saint Not A Celebrity
7. Sally
8. Alligator
9. The Pedestrian
10. 27th Ave. Shuffle
11. Dark Side Of Nigh
12. Pieces Of Truth

Rambo - DVD Review - Look Out Fake Plastic People!

Now I'm not really what possessed me to go out and rent this movie on Tuesday, maybe the fact that nothing else was out. Stallone is back, older, more plastic, looking rough and ready to kill any and everything in site.

This had to have been one of the most brutal, bloody movies I've seen this year. I would have to guess that I was watching the unrated edition otherwise this movie needed to be rated NC17.

You know it's going to be brutal when in the first 5 minutes about 100 people are killed, limbs are flying and children are getting killed right in front of your eyes.

The story takes place later after the original movies. Rambo is collecting snakes and running a river boat somewhere outside of Burma. He gets asked by a bunch of church going people including Dexters girlfriend(showtime series), who want to go help the people in the villages. The rebels run crazy and kill everyone and kidnap the Americans. It's up to Rambo to save the day. The blood and guts start flying and the blood is running.

Overall - if you are a horror fan - go see it. If you have a weak stomach forget it.

I love Sly Stallone movies, they are all classic straight to DVD - B movies, just like Steven Segal, wesley Snipes and Jean Claude. How can you pass up the opportunity to see anything by any of these classic actors of our time. Rambo and Rocky made it to the theaters, but would have been just as well off going straight to DVD. I'm sure rental and sales will be great - Blue Ray for sure on this one if you have it. Then you can see fingers and toes hitting the cameras.

Rating 2 out of 5 stars.

The Forbidden Kingdom - Movie Review

Jackie Chan and Jet Li get together for the first time in the new Fantasy/Martial arts film The Forbidden Kingdom. The story is filled with loads of acrobatic fight scenes and some great Yuen Woo Ping action setups.

This is a story of a teenage boy named Jason(Michael Angarano), who loves kung fu movies and has a favorite stop in China town to get his fix. He wanders off into a back room of the shop and sees this staff that legend tells belongs to The Monkey King and will be returned to him by the chosen one. The story goes from the shop to fantasy land and tells the tale of how Jason needs to return the staff and save the kingdom by releasing The Monkey King.

I thought that it was a pretty good story and had some great action scenes. There was a few really good ones that took place between Jackie Chan and Jet Li in the middle of it. It's always great to have Woo Ping as the stunf coordinator. He has done some great work in the past.

If you haven't seen many of these types of films, the typical suggestions in the American collections would be Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero & House of Flying Daggers. I would suggest a couple other pretty cool epic Asian films like Seven Swords, Legend of Zu, Curse of the Golden Flower & Iron Monkey. Now let's not forget the classic Bulletproof Monk as a good one to see as well.

If you like cool action fight scenes, I would add some Tony Jaa films like Ong Bak and The Protector. It's even better if you can get the Asian copies with English Subtitles because they translated it different that the US released version. Some of the translations are just funny.

Forbidden Kingdom was actually written John Fusco(Hildalgo) and directed by Rob Minkoff (The Haunted Mansion), which is a combination I wouldn't have picked to do such a good job with this one. I would certainly recommend seeing this one.

Battlestar Galactica - He That Believeth In Me S04E01 Review

Season 4 starts off with a bang. Ending where they left off as the Cylons attack and Starbuck appears out of the clouds and says that she has found Earth and knows the way. Gaius Baltar gets taken in by a looney group and we find out who four of the five cylons are. we now know that Tigh, Tory, Tyrol and Anders are the first 4.


So starting it off with Starbuck coming back and meeting up with Lee, then the cut to the scene where Colonel Tigh shoots Adama in the head and then we realize he's having a dream and it really doesn't happen. From there we have Anders off in space and he comes face to face with a Cylon and it does something to turn his cylon powers on. The Cylons all leave and we deal with the story of Starbuck, Earth and the rest.


I thought it was a pretty good start to the season. The action sequences at the start were great. I hope they don't blow the budget and not have the opportunity to do more. They need this season to go out with a big ending and also the possibility of movies or other options in the future. Not sure that will happen, but can only hope they will find a way to continue.

I think the whole Gaius Baltar story was rather lame during the show. They are making him out to be some sort of false god to these people. Maybe they will hang him from a cross by the end of the season. They really need to move that story in a different direction or just send him out one of the airlocks and say goodbye.

The Starbuck story could turn out to be interesting. She thinks she's been gone for 6 hours and it's been several months. Lee saw her blow up, so what's up? Her Viper is not the original one she left with so there's something a little fishy going on - could she be the last Cylon? Hmmmmmmmm.

Now as far as the 4 cylons go, as much as they plan to fight what they really are, there's no way they will ever stop from doing what they are programmed to do. so Anders got zapped/programmed by the ship. So we will have to see what happens next, will the 4 of them turn or kill each other. We will have to watch and see.

Great first episode of the season and we have more to look forward to. Tune in Fridays on Sci Fi to see the latest episodes.

Don't forget that on Friday 4/11 The Sarah Jane Adventures begin and on 4/18 it's season 4 of Doctor Who. both will be on Sci Fi this season.

Panic at the Disco - Pretty. Odd. CD Review

This is the second cd for Panic At The Disco coming out 3 years after the first one. So we will see if they will hit the sophomore slump or continue to have success with is one. Pretty Odd is a bit odd over all but it really takes a lot of those 60's style stuff the Beatles and Beach Boys did and tries to relive that style.

I wasn't really sure if I would like this one or not. But I've got to tell you it's pretty good. They do really like to take a single song and change up the style of the song sometimes multiple times like a Rock Opera type song.

I really can't place them as a comparison of anything else out today. They really are a mix of several different bands all in one. That's what makes them unique. I've never seen them live, but if they can pull off all the changes in the songs on stage they are pretty talented. Hopefully I will see them some day live.

Overall it's a pretty good cd with a good mix of styles in the music and it certainly has a little bit of the 60's rock style in it. I like this one and certainly would recommend picking it up.

Track List:
1. We're So Starving
2. Nine In The Afternoon
3. She's A Handsome Woman
4. Do You Know What I'm Seeing?
5. That Green Gentleman [Things Have Changed]
6. I Have Friends In Holy Spaces
7. Northern Downpour
8. When The Day Met The Night
9. Pas De Cheval
10. The Piano Knows Something I Don't Know
11. Behind The Sea
12. Folkin' Around
13. She Had The World
14. From A Mountain In The Middle Of The Cabins
15. Mad As Rabbits

The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely CD Review

The new cd from The Raconteurs is certainly a lot different from their first one, but it's fantastic. It has a pretty good mix of music on it and stretches the the band and shows their talents. Consolers of the Lonely is the first track on the cd and it has a nice beat, mixes it up a bit but pretty up tempo all the way through. Solute Your Solution moves from the start and keeps a fast beat going and towards the end gets a bit of a funk beat, pretty cool.

You Don't Understand slows it down a bit and is a nice soulful recording. Old Enough gives you a little more of the talent and brings in some fiddle to the mix. This one reminds me of a lot of early 70's type stuff.

The Switch and the Spurs is a good little story adding some horns to the mix and feels like more of a story as you listen to it. Hold Up gets back to the rock, it has an interesting start and makes me think of something off of The Who's Tommy for bit, but just slightly. Top Yourself brings you back to a little slide guitar mellow type song. It's a nice tune and has a great beat.

Many Shades of Black brings back the horns up front and moves into a mellow beat like something out of the 50's - maybe even a song that could be in Grease :-)

Five on the Five is back to the start of with a really rockin' song - getting Jack White to play a little more of the White Stripes style. Attention starts of with a deep bass and drums then kicks into your typical rock song.

Rich Kid Blues is the ballad style song reminding me of many of the old Who rock songs telling a story and changing up the beats through out. It's a pretty cool tune. These Stones Will Shout starts off with a nice accoustic riff and gets a little more rockin' as it goes along.

Carolina Drama finished off the cd with a ballad song telling a story about a disfunctional family and it's life and drama. It's a nice mix of music styles through it all.

I was really impressed with the overall music on this cd. I would certainly pick this one up, it's pretty enjoyable. I wasn't a big White Stripes fan at first and really let them grow on me. The Raconteurs take it a step further and really have put out some good music. I still like the music Jack White did for Cold Mountain. It shows the versitility of his music and what he can do. The band over all work well together and are really talented. Pick this one up for sure.

Cowboy Junkies - Trinity Sessions CD/DVD Review

Almost 20 years after the original recording were done in The Church of the Holy Trinity, The Cowboy Junkies have returned in November 2006 along with some special guests to do a new recording of the sessions. This was captured on CD and DVD so that you not only get to hear the lovely new versions of the songs, but you get to see the making of the sessions as well.

The Cowboy Junkies brought along a few friends to help them enhance the sessions this time. Ryan Adams, Vic Chesnutt, Natalie Merchant & Jeff Bird all joined in to the sessions and did well contributing to various songs.

The original sessions were recorded in one day on November 27, 1987 and really were the start of good things to come for The Cowboy Junkies. The original cd was a good interpretation of cover songs done in a country, blues type format. The new revisited versions are even more polished up and in some cases expand on the originals. "Sweet Jane" the Lou Reed cover goes from a 4 minute song to nearly 9 minutes. "Working on a Building" grows as well to be over 6 minutes in length. Natalie Merchant backs a few songs and sings a beautiful version of "To Love is to Bury". Ryan Adams as well contributed through out the sessions, but takes the lead on " 200 More Miles" and does a fantastic job with it. Vic Chesnutt gives a good refreshing change to "Postcard Blues".

It's really great to hear the band go back and fill in the sessions with some of what they may have felt was left incomplete. This really is a fantastic cd and the DVD that captutes interviews, the sessions and more is really nice to watch. Pierre & Francois Lamoureux directed the docutmentary and did a great job. It's easy to find a copy of this in stores for about $17 or get it from http://www.amazon.com/ the price is about the same.

Track List:
1. Mining for Gold
2. Misguided Angel
3. Blue Moon Revisited
4. I Don't Get It
5. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
6. To Love Is to Bury
7. 200 More Miles
8. Dreaming My Dreams
9. Working on a Building
10. Sweet Jane
11. Postcard Blues
12. Walking After Midnight

BSG - Season 4 - April 4th - Are You Ready!

Season 3 arrived last week on DVD, Friday Sci-Fi Channel kicks off the new season with a review of the past to catch people up to get ready for the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica.

I just picked up those season 3 DVDs last week and have been getting my fill of one of the best shows on TV. If you haven't seen Battlestar Galactica I would highly recommend setting the Tivo and going back starting with the Mini-Series and catch up through the first three seasons. I think it's been one of the best written shows and has one of the best casts out there right now.

Without giving anything away to those who have not watched the series, but plan to. Battlestar Galactica in a quick summary is about the Humans building Cylons to help do the dirty work and then one day the Cylons revolt and destroy the 12 colonies and those who survive decide it's time to look for the mythical place called Earth. This is the journey and it's awesome.

You have some amazing people in this series over the years. Edward James Olmos plays Admiral Adama, Mary Mcdonnell is President Roslin, Grace Park is Boomer, Katee Sackhoff is Starbuck and there are many others including the original Lee Adama - Richard Hatch as well as Lucy Lawless and Dean Stockwell. This show has been awesome from one end to the other and has had some good twists and turns in time. You won't regret watching it, you will be hooked.

Tune in April 4th to the Sci-Fi Network to see the start of the final season.

AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem

Now this is one I would wait until it's on cable - not sure it's even worth seeing this one on DVD. There really is no story at all, it's all about the action and killing. That's apparent when they kill a kid off in the first five minutes and then have an alien explode from his chest.

I honestly don't know why I'm even writing a review of this one. It had no story it left room open for us to be tortured by more of these horrible high priced B movies.

I honestly can say that there is nothing in this movie that was even worth the 90 minutes of watching. Aliens invade and Predators destroy, most people die except the few lead roles.

This movie blows.

Rating: 0 out of 4 stars

Once - Movie Review

This movie was recommended by a friend and I finally got around to seeing it. It's an interesting film that deals with one mans messed up situation of living with his father after a break up and never seems to be going anywhere. He sings on the street corner to get his songs out and for a few pounds here and there. Glen Hansard plays the Irish street singer/vacuum repair guy. He meets this woman played by Markéta Irglová who sells flowers on the street and lives at home with her mother. She really likes his music and challenges him a bit to sing and as they build an odd sort of relationship, he gets her to open up and sing as well.

The story really follows the sort of dry progression of getting the two to start playing music and eventually recording a group of songs with a backing band. It gives the Irishman his motivation to go to London to try and make it as a musician. Without telling the whole story we will leave it there.

I enjoyed the film mainly for the music more than anything. It had a sort of Before Sunrise feel to me that the man meets the woman and has a limited time to spend with them. It's slow at parts and awkward, but the music really makes the movie hit the spot. For that I would recommend seeing it.

I don't own the soundtrack, yet, but will probably pick it up as they really sounded great playing in the film.

Rating: 3 out of 4 stars

Horton Hears A Who! - Movie Review

If you have young kids this is one you want to go see. Horton Hears a Who! is a Dr. Seuss classic brought to the big screen with Jim Carrey as the voice of Horton and Steve Carell as the mayor of Whoville. The annimation in this film is fantastic. The creators of Ice Age were involved and if you have seen that, then you know what you will be seeing.

There are a few parts that might get a 2 year old covering their eyes, but for the most part it's a fun movie and keeps the interest of the kids from the start to the end. I certainly would say it's enjoyable for adults as well.

So this weekend if it's raining, find yourself a good theater to go and see this movie.

The Bridge - Review of a Almost Disturbing Documentary

After watching this documentary, I'm not sure I will ever look at the Golden Gate Bridge the same again. Filmed over the course of one year, 2004, The Bridge tells the story of several of those who decided to end their lives with one giant leap.

The Bridge is directed by Eric Steel. It is a collection of interviews with the families and friends of those who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge as well as one person who survived the jump. It was pretty apparent from the family and friends who are interviewed through out the documentary that the people who jumped had long thought through the process before doing so. In several cases, it wasn't the first time the person had attempted to kill themselves. In others, there was depression and bi-polar issues for many years.

I think they were trying to capture the why. Why the Golden Gate Bridge of all places? What makes it a place that people want to end their lives. The obvious answer is that it is almost certain death. Not many have survived the fall and not many will.

I found the documentary to be really interesting because of how they were able to locate the families and tell a bit about these people we are about to see jump off the bridge. The one thing that bothered me a bit was that you actually do see these people being talked about standing on the bridge and then eventually as their story unfolds they show them taking the leap. Not all of them, but a couple of them. It was really strange to see this, really morbid.

I think that this one is worth seeing if you have a good open mind, but don't get any ideas of heading to San Fran and having a leap.

Counting Crows - Saturday Night & Sunday Mornings CD Review

Now here we go again with a classic band and a five year break since their last studio recording. The Counting Crows have been a favorite of mine for many years and even though they have continued to tour and play along the way, it's refreshing to hear them put out a new cd.

Saturday Night & Sunday Mornings starts out pretty rocking then settles in a bit and falls in line with most of their other tunes. I think I saw them last about 5 years back at The Bridge School Benefit in Mountain View, CA. It was an acoustic show, but fantastic. They sounded great and played some great songs in the time they had on stage.

This cd comes with 14 songs ranging from rockin' to ballad. Adam sounds as great as he did on August and Everything After. I really dig the songs in the middle of the cd, some a little more mellow, but they just bring out the the sweet sound of the band. 1492 starts it off with the rolling drums and guitar coming in, gets you jumping off the chair, a nice tune. Hanging Tree starts off strangely and changes tune a bit, then comes back to a typical Counting Crows beat. What more would you expect than to have a song about California called Los Angeles. Nice guitar work through the song. This works into a pop type tune called Sunday. It's a fun little upbeat tune.

Insignificant brings it all together with a nice some good guitar work and Adam flowing smoothly along into the song. It's a great centerpiece to the cd. There are some really nice tunes in the middle like Washington Square, On Almost Any Sunday Morning and I Dream of Michelangelo. Some good acoustic and harmonica tones in these songs. well harmonica in Sunday at least. On Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago is a nice little piano ballad. Finishing it off with Come Around bringing out a jamming start and flowing back to a nice little tune.

Track Listing:

1492
Hanging Tree
Los Angeles
Sundays
Insignificant
Cowboys
Washington Square
On Almost Any Sunday Morning
When I Dream of Michelangelo
Anyone But You
You Can't Count on Me
Le Ballet Dor
On a Tuessday in Amsterdam Long Ago
Come Around

Overall I'm pretty impressed with this new cd from Counting Crows. They have waited a bit long to put a new one out, but it's a good one for sure. I look forward to seeing them next month at Liberty Hall in Lawrence, KS it should be a good show in a nice small venue.

R.E.M. - Accelerate CD Review

Well we have a new REM cd for the first time in four years. Seems like they are trying to get a little back to the roots of their old days and play some good old alternative rock. I'm not really a fan of the first two tracks on the cd. I feel like they are trying to be something they shouldn't be. From that point on I really like the track selection. Supernatural Superserious reminds me of the good old days of Document or Lifes Rich Pageant. Following it up with Hollow Man kind of keeps me thinking of those good old REM days and it really follows through in the next few songs as well. Mr. Richards is a little different in style, but I like the style with some good guitar going through as Michael Stipe sings a good constant song.

Over all, I really like the new cd. I lost touch with REM for a bunch of years because after Out of Time I really felt like they lost what I liked about them. So I sort of just walked away and didn't pay much attention to them. When I heard the new cd was coming out I had a listen and really enjoyed it after I got past the first two songs. I really feel like they decided to get back to what made them good.

Track Listing:

1. Living Well Is The Best Revenge
2. Man-Sized Wreath
3. Supernatural Superserious
4. Hollow Man
5. Houston
6. Accelerate
7. Until The Day Is Done
8. Mr. Richards
9. Sing For The Submarine
10. Horse To Water
11. I'm Gonna DJ

The first time I saw REM was on the Document tour back in November of 1987 in Madison, WI. It was a fantastic show and Michael Stipe just blew me away with the intensity of his performance. He had long hair and wore about 6 layers of clothing and slowly made his way down to the final suit. I really wish that they would have recorded a DVD of one of the performances from that tour. I would love to see that tour again and relive the good old days. I have seen them a couple times since, but nothing was ever as good as that tour for me.

I see they have a DVD out from 2003 and it looks like they went back to playing some of the good old classics. I may get that one and report back on that next.

Wilco - 9:30 Club Washington DC - Audio Review

Wilco played a gig live two weeks ago at the Riviera in Chicago which was the 4th night of their homestead series as they are a band from Chiccago. This was broadcast on WXRT and was an amazing show. You can certaily find copies of it floating around like at bt.etree.org the date of that show was 2/19/2008.

Now, just over a week later they played the 9:30 Club in Washington DC and it was broadcast by NPR's All Songs Considered live concert series. You can listen to it for yourself at All Song Considered Live: Wilco.

All Songs Considered has done a number of quite amazing shows over the past couple of years and has now made many of them available as poscasts. When you go to the like and click on podcast you will see many great artists live shows out there like Andrew Bird, Arcade Fire, Neko Case, The New Pornographers, The Decemberists, Art Brut, Nickel Creek, Iron & Wine, Okkervill River and many more, some 60 or so shows currently available. I really hope that this one will make it out to the collection as well.

As there are alread some really nice audience recordings of this show, it would be great to have the one directly from All Songs Considered. Not sure if that will happen as this is actually the 3rd time they have done a live show for NPR according to it's website.

This is a fantastic one to listen to, well over two hours of fantastic songs from all the years they've been together.

Sky Blue Sky is the latest cd to be released by Wilco. It certainly takes them back to more of their original style in music, when they got started. I've been a fan of Wilco for many years and I really like the sound of the new cd.

The setlist for this show was as follows:

Sunken Treasure
Mountain Bed

Company in My Back
You Are My Face
Side with the Seeds
She's a Jar
Shot in the Arm
Nothingsever
Handshake Drugs
Pot Kettle Black
Roses Bloom
Impossible Germany
Simple
Someday Soon
Box Full of Letters
Always in Love
Pieholden

Jesus Etc.
Hate It Here
Walken
I'm the Man
Humming Bird
On and On and On
Via Chicago
California Stars
Casino Queen
I'm a Wheel
Monday

The whole show was a highlight to me. Personally I loved how it started of with Sunken Treasure going into Mountain Bed. Some other greats Handshake Drugs, Impossible Germany, Jesus Etc., Walken and Casino Queen were all great.

The last time I saw them in Kansas City this past October, many of these same songs were played and it was an awesome show to have been at.

If you can't make it to see them live, I would highly recommend listening to some of their live shows like this one on NPR as well as the WXRT show from Chicago. They put out a double live cd Kicking Television a couple years back in 2006 that is certainly worth going out and buying or downloading from iTunes.

Wilco have always been an impressive live band to see and I hope someday, if one doesn't exist, they will do a full show concert DVD with HD Sound Quality. That would be amazing.

Go to the link above and have a listen - give yourself some time as it's a good long show.

Enjoy!

Blue Petal - CD Review

I know I write a lot about another Dallas based band Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians, but in this crazy world of MySpace, you really can discover a jem amongst all the musicians out here.

I first heard Blue Petal because Carter Albrecht posted one of their songs on his MySpace page. Although Carter is gone, he certainly passed along to me a taste of Blue Petal having it as his song. From there I was hooked.

With only three members of the band, Manya Repnikova vocals, guitar - Pete Anderson ketyboard, guitar - Bryan Butler guitar, harmonica they really put together a fantastic sound.
Having put out a 5 song EP so far, I really look forward to hearing more of their music. The Indie realease starts off with an incredible song only lasting 2 minutes, but Move Along is really my favorite. It captures the amazing voice of Manya Repnikova, not only a beautiful person, but a beautiful voice as well.

Turn It Around is the second song on the cd. A nice soulful song with a good acoustic sounds and some great backing vocals, it truly is a wonderful song. Heading into Night Train, we hear the nice folk sound with a slide guitar in the background. It's a great piece of work.
Next up we have Blue Balloon Girl on the cd. Sort of an Alt-Country feeling with the harmonica playing in the background. It's a good song, not sure who plays drums on this one, but it really adds a good touvh to this one.

Host is the last song on the cd and the piano is a nice intro to a great tune. Manya's voice remids me a bit of a mix between The Sundays, Harriet Wheeler and Mazzy Star's, Hope Sandoval. Both have a different style and Manya sort of sits right between the two.
You can sample the cd at either of these two myspace pages Blue Petal's Myspace Page or Manya's MySpace Page. Manya's page also has a great song Good and Faithful Servant which will be appearing on a compilation cd some time this year. I just love it and wish I had a copy on my iPod today.

Check them out for sure. I see them hitting it big in the coming years. There's a lot of talent in Manya and the band.

Go out to iTunes or their MySpace page and pick this one up for sure.

Lenny Kravitz - Love Revolution CD Review

Lenny is back to his old classic self from the days of Let Love Rule. Love Revoltion kicks of a nice vibe that gets you going right from the start. It's down to simple rockin stuff pretty much. Bring It On keeps the simple beat rock going. It's a raw sound but just what I like.

It almost has a bit of a strange Beatles sound to it in some odd way. Good Morning comes in next and is what really reminds me of something out of the Beatles Catalog. Love Love Love comes up next and continues the continuous high energy feeling.

Things slow down a bit at I'll Be Waiting. It almost at the start reminds me of something out of Flight of the Conchords. It's a nice simple, softer song, quit enjoyable. The rest of the cd is really a mix of high energy songs and ballads. A little funk in the rock and here we go.

I really like the sound much more that the last cd Lenny put out. I certainly would go out and pick this one up or download it for sure.

The cd tracks are:

Love Revolution Songs
1. Love Revolution
2. Bring It On
3. Good Morning
4. Love Love Love
5. If You Want It
6. I’ll Be Waiting
7. Will You Marry Me
8. I Love the Rain
9. A Long and Sad Goodbye
10. Dancing Till Dawn
11. This Moment Is All There
12. A New Door
13. Back in Vietnam
14. I Want To Go Home

Lenny is heading off to Europe for a tour in May, not sure if we will see some dates coming up here before. Keep and eye out on his website at www.lennykravitz.com and get updates to what's happening.

Enjoy!

Jack Johnson - Sleep Through The Static - Review

For those of you who are big fans of Jack Johnson you certainly will be happy with the new cd. Jack adds a little of a different feature on this one and adds some electric guitar, but still it hass the same mellow tone as many of his songs from the past.

Having lived in Southern California and being exposed to the waves, sandy beaches and Jack Johnson surf movies this one fits right in. Even though I have recently moved away from my beach shack to a place in the middle of the country, Kansas City, I still miss the sun, waves and warm weather. Listening to a little Jack Johnson, closing my eyes, puts me right back there to my place of comfort.

The new cd was recorded with 100% solar power. I bought a digital copy, so I tried to help do my part a little in the process of helping the environment. It's always good to see artists take a stand and do what they can to influence others.

This cd is filled with some great tunes. They are more on the mellow side, but that's my thing. Starting off with All At Once, you feel that typical JJ beat. It's a wonderful song that sets you in the mood for the rest to come. Sleep Through The Static, the title song is add a little more beat and is a lot like Times Like These from his previous release. Hope keeps the beat up following into a nice little ballad called Angel. Enemy is kind of a day dream song that's how I feel.

If I Had Eyes was the single that was released before the rest of the cd. It's a little more electric, but a wonderful beat and mix of drums, piano and guitar in this one. Much of it it sounds like several other of Jacks songs. I guess I could say that about the whole cd. Really it has a bunch of wonderful songs. Same Girl is a nice acoustic ballad type song, short and sweet.

What You Thought You Need, Adrift, Go On are all great acoutics songs. They Do, They Don't as well as While We Wait, Monsoon and Losing Keys finish off the cd. If you bought the cd on iTunes you get a one minute funny song Goodbye.

I really love it, every song from end to end. I would highly recommend picking this one and if you haven't heard much of Jack's work, you could pick up any one of his cds and be in good shape. Gone are the days of Jack showing up at Lou's and jamming for an hour or playing the small venues. Still, it's well worth your time to get to see him perform live if you get a chance.

Enjoy!

Note from Jack:

My friends and I have just finished recording a new album called Sleep Through the Static. At this point in my life I weigh about 190 lbs and my ear hairs are getting longer. I also have a couple of kids. My wife popped them out, but I helped. Some of the songs on this album are about making babies. Some of the songs are about raising them. Some of the songs are about the world that these children will grow up in; a world of war and love, and hate, and time and space. Some of the songs are about saying goodbye to people I love and will miss.

We recorded the songs onto analog tape machines powered by the sun in Hawaii and Los Angeles. One day, JP Plunier walked into the studio and told us, "It has been 4 to 6 feet and glassy for long enough," and so we gave him a variety of wind and rain as well as sun and so on. And Robert Carranza helped to put it all in the right places.

After inviting Zach Gill to join Adam Topol, Merlo Podlewski, and myself on our last world tour, we decided to make him an official member of our gang. So our gang now has a piano player, which probably makes us much less intimidating, but Merlo, our bass player, is 6'3" so we are still confident.

All of these songs have been on my mind for a while and it is nice to share them. I am continually grateful to my wife who is typing this letter as I dictate it to her. I hope you enjoy this album.

Mahalo for listening,
Jack Johnson

No Country For Old Men - Movie Review

Going back to Drama, the Coen Brothers did a wonderful job of adapting Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. This mondern day western story deals with one man's struggle over taking drug money from a bloodbath scene in the middle of the desert and dealing with the consequences of it. Josh Brolin plays Llewelyn Moss the cowboy out hunting in the back country who comes across the blood mess of a drug deal gone wrong. He comes across a big bag full money and decides to take off with it. Afterwards, he goes back and when he does, he's hunted down and knows that sooner or later he will be found.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Sheriff Bell, who deals with murders and follows the trail of blood as the bad man, Javier Bardem leaves people dead left and right looking to find the money.

It was quite a bloody film, but what else would you expect from a Coen Brothers film. Lots of violence and brutality, but overall still a good story and one that will certainly pick up a couple of awards this year. It certainly keeps you going as you watch this and wonder, will he get away.

I'd certainly catch this one in the theater.

Kurt Cobain: About A Son - Movie Review

Director A.J. Shnack put together a pretty interesting film pulling together scenes from all over Washington relating to the life of Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's front man. The documentary style film takes audio from 25 interviews that Cobain did with Michael Azerrad for his book Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.

Cobain tells stories of his life all the way back from his childhood, through high school and on to his days with Nirvana and his relationship with Coutney Love. Shnack put together a great flow of images, music and Cobain's stories.

This will be out on DVD February 19th, 2008 you can pick it up at Amazon.com for about $14.00.

The soundtrack really fits well in the film. They play everything from CCR, Iggy Pop, Bad Brains all the way to Arlo Gutherie and David Bowie. It was quite enjoyable and would be worth pick the soundtrack up as well.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when going to see this one, but it was well worth it. It's one of those films that you should sit down, turn off the lights and have a glass of good scotch ready. Put yourself in the right mood.

The Heavy Circles - CD Review

Edie Brickell and Harper Simon team up to create The Heavy Circles. The new CD, self titled will be out on 02/12/2008.

The cd consists of 10 fantastics songs that Edie and Harper teamed up to put together. This cd is a real mix of different styles of music ranging from rock to reggae with a little tast of everything inbetween. From what started out as an invite to jam turned into a great set of songs that are far different than what we have heard from Edie in the past.

Here is the track listing:

Henri 2:48
Better 3:10
Ready to Play 3:45
Confused 3:58
Easier 4:31
Maximo 3:08
Wait & Wait 4:15
Need a Friend 3:06
Dynamite Child 1:46
Oh Darlin 3:52

Henri starts us out with a nice melodic tone, very different from anything else on the cd, has a little bit of a middle eastern tone to it. It's a wonderful song to kick it off. Then we jump into Better which has a nice pace to it and with a more pop like sound makes you want to jump up and down throughout it.

Ready to Play is a good follow to Better. It has a good rockin' beat and takes you right into a dramatic piece Confused. Going to the mellow side we move to Easier and Maximo, both are brilliant pieces of work. Both have a nice feel and a great mix to them. Moving on to Wait & Wait we get a little bit of a still mellow, but more electronic feel.

Need a Friend gets you hopping with some reggae beats jumping you into Dynamite Child which has a great beat and really rocks. The final number Oh Darlin' back to the electronic side is a great way to finish the cd off.

Edie sounds absolutely fantastic and Harper really did a wonderful job of producing this and working with Bryce Goggin to put the cd together. Harper put together an all star line-up of musicians together to help with this cd. Sean Lennon, Money Mark, Martha Wainwright, Yuka Honda to name a few helped with various tracks on the cd. Goggin was used to record Edie Brickell and New Bohemians 2006 cd Stranger Things, which if you don't have is also well worth picking up.

There is one song Hands On that didn't make the final cd, but is available through iTunes. I think it's as good if not better than every song on the new cd and is worth going out and picking up. The guitar work is fantastic and Edie's voice just keeps you hypnotized.

Two other known tracks that didn't make the cd, but have been heard at Eddie's MySpace page at www.myspace.com/brickellephant also at http://www.ediebrickell.com/ are Superpowers and Long Line. Keep an eye out on Edie's site as well as http://www.theheavycircles.com/. Superpowers is unlike anything I've heard Edie do before, it's really rockin'. Long Line is a nice pop like song, upbeat with good lyrics.

You can pick up a download of Henri at muruch's Heavy Circles CD Review if you'd like to hear it before it comes out. I still recommend buying the cd regardless of downloading this fantastic song.

This one is well worth getting off your ass on February 12th and going out to pick up or just sit on your computer and order from somewhere like http://www.amazon.com/. You won't regret getting this one trust me.

Here's a free download of Henri.mp3

Just right click and "save as" Enjoy!

JUNO - Movie & Soundtrack Review

Saw the movie Juno last night. This is the one about the 16 year old girl - Juno who gets pregnantand now has to deal with the reality of either keeping the baby, having an abortion or giving it up for adoption. This film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Jason Reitman is fantastic. They picked a great cast for this film Juno is played by Ellen Page who does a great job playing the role of a 16 year old girl who just got knocked up. She has a lot of great one liners and really does a wonderful job. Her boyfriend/Father of her child Paulie Bleeker is played by Michael Cera, who has been know for his roles in both Superbad and the TV show Arrested Development. Michael does a great job as well playing the dorky boy who really has no clue what all this means and never really comes to grips with it. Juno also has a friend Leah who is pretty funny as well. Leah is played by Olivia Thirlby. Juno's parents played by Allison Janey and JK Simons are your typical disfuntional family that really aren't too suprised at all that's going on. JK Simons really plays a sweet father in this one.

Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner play the potential candidates to be the parents of Juno's baby. Garner plays a cautious, but excited potential mother, who won't believe it until the baby is in her hands. Jason Bateman is sort of lost in his role not sure if he wants the responsibility and not sure if he wants to grow up.

Without giving much away, this is a wonderful film about Juno coming to terms with the pregnancy, her relationship with Bleeker, her disfunctional family and life in general. That's a lot for a 16 year old to take. you really will enjoy this film.

Now onto the sountrack. It's really an awesome sountrack with a lot of different artists playing on it including a song sung by Juno & Bleeker. There are a bunch of songs by Kimya Dawson who has a different way of singing, but it's quite refreshing. Cat Power, Buddy Holly, Mott the Hoople & Velvet Underground are just a few of the artists on this sondtrack. It's really awesome and well worth picking up.

Who knows what we will review next, but tune in and find out.

Into The Wild - Movie & Sountrack Review

So I finally had the opportunity to see the long awaited film based on Jon Krakauer's book Into The Wild. Sean Penn has been trying to make the book into a movie for about ten years and finally was given the rights to do so.

The story goes that Jon Krakauer would only allow the story to be made into a movie with the permission of the McCandless family. So After hearing Sean Penn out and holding him off over the years for various reasons, the movie was made.

I read this book back in 1996 or 1997. I was really intrgued by how they were able to trace Chris's footsteps all across the US for two years leading up to his death in the Alaskan wilderness.
This was originally a story written for Outside Magazine and from that article, many people from all over the US who had encountered Chris, came forward with their little stories of of he was a part of their lives. This is what allowed Krakauer to take the magazine article and make it into a book.

Ok there's my little history of what happend over the course of history from the time of the article to the movie. So now let's review the movie and the soundtrack.

The movie starts off with Chris making his way "Into the Wild". From there it will jump back and forth telling the tale of his life and showing his time alone in the wilderness of Alaska. A lot of the the story was able to be told because of the people who surrounded him. As for the time in Alaska, there were several journals found and well as lists through the time and pictures to trace back what his life was like.

I really enjoyed the film and thought that Penn did a great job of putting it all together and keeping you interested in the 2 1/2 hour movie. Part of what really made the movie was the scenary, long shots and the soundtrack. Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam took on composing the sountrack to the film.

The movie is composed of several songs 11 which make up the soundtrack.

Setting Forth
No Ceiling
Far Behind
Rise
Long Nights
Toulumne
Hard Sun
The Wolf
End of the Road
Society
Guarenteed

All songs written and recorded by Eddie Vedder.

It certaily is a change from the rockin' sound of Pearl Jam, but it fits really well into the movie. Eddie obviously had seen the movie and wrote the songs to fit each part. Very mellow, but fantastic to hear Eddie's voice in a nice raw format like this. He really did a great job.

The movie kept it's pace and kept it interesting, the soundtrack was awesome as well. I would highly recommend seeing this one, you will enjoy it.

Cheers!

Has It Been a Year Since My Last Post?

Wow it's been exactly a year since I last posted anything on my Blog. We will just have to do something about that and get it kick started again for 2008.

Plenty to talk about and add from this past year.

So We will get back to it tonight!

Cheers!

Dave P.

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians Belly Up Tavern 10/15/2006

This Review is running a little late, but thought I'd put it out here.

I'll start out by just saying it was an awesome show and an awesome night. I guess other than the clambake this really was the start of the mini-tour they are doing this month. Unfortunately no one taped the show and I didn'thave a mic so the reviews are about all you will end up hearing on this one.

Here's the setlist - now the 12th song someone is going to need to help me with - Kenny - Brandon or any fan who can figure it out from what I wrote down as far as lyrics - It just seemed like babble and I couldn't figure the song out this morning.

10/15/2006 Belly Up Tavern - Solana Beach, Ca (San Diego)

Wear You Down, Oh My Soul, Nothing, Wheel, Drum Jam> Love Like We Do, One Last Time, No Dinero, Lover Take Me, Long Lost Friend, Air Of December, Improv Song, Strings Of Love, Spanish Style Guitar, Shark Attack, What I Am, Circle Encore: Improve>Belly Up Song, Little Miss S, 10,000 Angels, Mainline Cherry

What a great show. Kenny was awesome, had some great solo stuff and just played well. He just looked like he was enjoying himself and having some fun. Brandon and John had a couple of great jams and really seemed to be having a good time back there. Carter was great on keys. Brad was great to a little sax and mostly bass - pulling out the fretless as well. Edie - what can you say, she sang as beautiful as ever and told some great stories about the band. At one point she talked about not having enough material so they would just make it up as they went along - so she started singing this funny shark attack song. Later she did a Belly Up Improv as well. She was really interactive with the audience. After she finished playing Circle - she stopped and asked me what I was writing down and if I was doing a review of the show. I told her it was a set list - she said if you are reviewing it I'd like to review you and say you are a great audience member - it was pretty funny.

So before the show I met Carter outside and was chatting with him a bit - I din't know he was Carter at the time since I hadn't seen picture of the band is quite a while. He was really nice - chatted about football, etc. told me to swing around back after to see about meeting Kenny and Brandon. So after the show I went back and met Carter - he took my cd to have them all sign and then I ran into Brandon, talked a bit about him living in Encinitas when he was young - sleeping in the car, etc (I'll let him tell the story ) Great guy, glad I had a chance to talk to him.

Shortly after Kenny came out to say as well - again glad to have a chance to meet and talk with him. He brought Edie along with him or at least she came out. So we all started chatting, everyone was awesome - down to earth fun people. I hope the rest of you out here who go to a show at least stop by and say Hi to Kenny and Brandon. So Kenny went off as well as Brandon and the next thing I know I'm hanging out talking to Edie. She invited me in the back and ask me if I wanted something to drink - funny would thhik I'd be getting asked that from Edie. She was so sweet - talk mostly about kids and stuff, but just a great coveration. I had said that she should write a kids book and cd - I thought it would be great to play some kids music from her. She said that her and Paul planned to write a childrens album, but her youngest said to her that those were their songs - that they were for them. So she just couldn't do it. Kind of a nice little story.

Anyway - I just want to Thank Kenny, Brandon, Cater and Edie for hanging out and talking. You guys were all great. It was truely an awesome night.

LA Bound Becks

Well it looks like te picture says it all to what Becks has to say to Real Madrid. So he's going to come and play with my LA Galaxy team, which means that my season ticket prices will more than likely go up about $25 per match. If it does, I'll have to rethink the possibility of renewing. The offer is said to be worth something like $250 million in endorsements and $1million a week.

The last time an American soccer league (NASL) did this they went broke and folded. Bringing players like Pele, Beckenbauer, Best, Kruyff and many others over cost the league so much money they couldn't stay afloat. Let's hope this doesn't backfire on LA. I'd have guess that they would be getting rid of Landon Donovan to cut the salary cap back a bit.

Posh is completely behind this. I just hope he doesn't become a creepy scientologist.