MOG - tedmog's Posts

Squeeze, My Once And Forever Bubblegum Crush

tedmog — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:55:00 GMT

After years of being chaperoned to rock shows (including Squeeze, with the English Beat opening up for them, and REM the first band on the bill that night) by my big sister, Squeeze was one of the first bands that my best friend Marc and I set out to see on our own. This being New York, and us being wet behind the ears, this lead to us getting ripped off by a scalper. Once. and he probably wasn't even a scalper, just a scammer, but we were kids and gave him our money and waited at Macy's Herald Square for him to come back with our awesome tickets to see our heroes. He never came back.

I've seen Squeeze and/or Glenn Tilbrook about 15 times since then, and succeeded in not getting ripped off again.

Last time I saw them was last month at the Mountain Winery, and they were just great. The band featured singer/guitarist Glenn Tilbrook, singer/guitarist/lyricist Chris Difford, and early 80s bassist John Bentley along with a keyboard player and drummer I do not know.

Above is a photo I snapped that night, and click here for a few more.

There Is Power In A Union

tedmog — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:33:54 GMT

And apparently rock stars are thinking that forming a union might be the way to strengthen their position in the rapidly evolving music industry. Early signatories include Billy Bragg, Radiohead, The Verve, Klaxons, and Kaiser Chiefs.

Low Red Land

tedmog — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:27:27 GMT

For fans of early 90s Buffalo Tom (before they went all Alt-Country) and other mid-90s urgent low-fi driving stripped-down rock, I recommend San Franisco band Low Red Land:

Jolie Holland Free Download

tedmog — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:06:18 GMT

Head on over to The Tripwire to download a new Jolie Holland song, "Palmyra." Her third album, The Living And The Dead, is due out on 10/7.

Outside Lands Featured Some Really Good Bands...

tedmog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:12:17 GMT

...but I only got to see about five of them. Stages were too spread out, sets were too long, bands were too few.

Beck Performing "Devil's Haircut" At Outside Lands

tedmog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:55:23 GMT

Beck's set was definite highlight of the weekend -- excellent performance,song choices, and pacing,

Teenage Kicks

tedmog — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:18:01 GMT

The Undertones were not a great band, never had even one great album, but their song "Teenage Kicks" is one of my all-time favorites. When I loaded 983 songs onto my iPhone and hit "play" in iPod mode for the first time, guess what it played?

1959 Song About Nuclear Apocalypse

tedmog — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:20:12 GMT

"We Will All Go Together When We Go" by Tom Lehrer

    We will all fry together when we fry.
    We'll be french fried potatoes by and by.
    There will be no more misery
    When the world is our rotisserie.
    Yes, we will all fry together when we fry…

    And we'll all bake together when we bake,
    They'll be nobody present at the wake.
    With complete participation
    In that grand incineration,
    Nearly three billion hunks of well-done steak.

And to think, now the greatest military threat to the US is...Iran!

TWIMH

tedmog — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:40:31 GMT

This Week In Music History:

This is the week that was in matters musical …

1937, the legendary Golden Gate Quartet cuts a mind-blowing 14 gospel tracks in two hours during a Charlotte, North Carolina, recording session …

1957, ABC TV's American Bandstand with its forever-young DJ Dick Clark makes its national TV debut …

1958, Billboard publishes its first Hot 100 chart … Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" nails the top spot …

1960, 25,000 copies of the death-rock single "Tell Laura I Love Her" by Ray Peterson are destroyed by Decca Records after a critic deems the song "too tasteless and vulgar for English sensibility" … it is interesting to speculate what that critic may have made of Ozzy Osbourne or The Sex Pistols a little later on …

1965, Mike Smith of The Dave Clark Five suffers two fractured ribs when he's pulled off the stage by an enthusiastic fan …

1968, The Doors hit #1 with the pop-esque "Hello, I Love You," which causes critics to accuse Morrison & Co. of selling out … not only that, but the tune sounds a lot like The Kinks "All Day and All of the Night" …

1969, Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys is indicted for draft-dodging after he fails to show up for work as a hospital orderly in lieu of military service … meanwhile in London, photographer Ian Macmillan gets on a stepladder in the middle of Abbey Road to snap The Beatles as they stride across the zebra crossing … several crossings and six pictures later, the session is over … Paul picks the best one that ends up as the cover for Abbey Road, which, because The Fabs (as George called them) are so famous, has no other graphics … The Newport Pop Festival features The Byrds, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly, The Chambers Brothers, and two acts from the previous year's Monterey International Pop Festival – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Quicksilver Messenger Service …

1972, Derek & The Dominos reach #10 on the charts with "Layla" … their only hit, it qualifies Eric Clapton (in his guise as Derek) as a bonafide member of the One Hit Wonders club … co-written by Clapton, "Layla" is one of the all-time classic rock favorites and features the slide guitar playing of Duane Allman and a wonderful piano-led coda written by Dominos drummer Jim Gordon … the group was ill-fated: Clapton slides into heroin addiction, bassist Carl Radle dies from a drug overdose, and Gordon is serving a life prison sentence for murdering his mother … keyboardist/vocalist Bobby Whitlock came through relatively unscathed, although he had to watch a terrific group fall apart while recording an unfinished second album …

1973, Stevie Wonder is seriously injured in North Carolina when the auto in which he's riding is hit by logs rolling off a truck … he emerges from a coma after four days sans his sense of smell …

1975, Robert Plant and his family are injured in an auto wreck on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes … meanwhile Hank Williams Jr. tumbles 500 feet down a Montana mountain … after two year's worth of surgeries, he resumes his career …

1984, "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. is the Billboard #1 pop hit … Parker is later sued by Huey Lewis who claims the tune is a ripoff of his "I Want a New Drug" … the case is settled out of court with the proviso neither party talks about the deal … in 2001, during an episode of VH1's Behind the Music, Lewis reveals that Parker paid up to settle the case … Parker then sues Lewis for violating the settlement terms …

1986, David Crosby is released from prison after doing time on drug and weapon charges …

1992, At a Montreal concert, citing a sore throat, Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses cuts short the band's set causing many of the 55,000 fans in attendance to riot … this is a fitting end to a concert in which Metallica had also cut short their set after singer James Hetfield suffered third-degree burns from a pyro effect …

1996, former Motley Crue singer Vince Neil runs into trouble at an Indiana club date … after starting the show four hours late, Neil pulls the plug after just three songs saying he is feeling ill and suggesting that the audience of "rednecks" doesn't appreciate his talent … a riot by 500 surly ticket holders is narrowly averted by the prompt arrival of the cops …

1999, after running into legal roadblocks, the leading record labels drop their suit against Diamond Multimedia, makers of the Rio MP3 music player … they had charged that the device would encourage online piracy [dumbasses. -ed] …

2004, the Illinois Attorney General's office files suit against the Dave Matthews Band for dumping human waste from a tour bus into the Chicago River and onto a tour boat passing below … it's later determined that the band wasn't directly involved, the foul act having been committed by a tour bus driver … "Super Freak" singer Rick James dies of a heart attack in his sleep … an autopsy reveals that there were at least nine drugs in his system including cocaine, valium, vicodin, and methamphetamine … because none of the substances were found in lethal quantities, his death is ruled as accidental …

2006, former Love guitarist-leader Arthur Lee dies from leukemia … The Love album Forever Changes from 1967 is consistently voted one of the 100 best rock albums of all time in surveys of critics and listeners … though much respected by fellow musicians, his career never flourished largely due to personal eccentricities … following his release from prison in 2001 after serving six years on weapons charge, Lee began touring to much acclaim … a CD and DVD of the complete performance of Forever Changes was released in 2003 … current artists such as Yo La Tengo and Brian Jonestown Massacre point to Arthur Lee's music as being a significant influence …

2007, when a ballsy female concertgoer reaches out and grabs Tim McGraw's nether regions at the Cajundome in Lafayette, Louisiana, his missus tells the errant fan in no uncertain terms that that sort of behavior is frowned upon in them there parts (no pun intended) … also this week, during Pearl Jam's set at Lollapalooza Eddie Vedder sings "George Bush, leave this world alone" to rousing cheers from the crowd … however, the audience viewing at home on AT&T's Blue Room website are treated to 16 seconds of silence when the company providing AT&T's feed pulls the plug on the audio stream … later AT&T is apologetic … commenting on the censorship, guitarist Mike McReady writes, "When one person or company decides what others can hear, that is totalitarian thinking.

Excerpted from the editorial staff at Musicians Friend.

growing up with the ramones

tedmog — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:35:22 GMT

gave me a rather distinct perspective on pop music.

New TV On The Radio September 23rd, 2008

tedmog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:41:15 GMT

Kip Malone of TVoTR @ Bottom of the Hill, SF, CA 4/28/04

photo by Ted Leibowitz

TV On The Radio have a new album coming out On September 23rd called Dear Science, and the band have announced September tour dates:

TV On The Radio Tour Dates
09.05.08 - Portland, OR (Musicfest NW)
09.06.08 - Seattle, WA (Showbox)
09.07.08 - Vancouver, BC (Commodore Ballroom)
09.09.08 - Calgary, AB (Macewan Ballroom)
09.10.08 - Edmonton, AB (Starlite Room)
09.12.08 - Boise, ID (Knitting Factory)
09.13.08 - Salt Lake City, UT (In the Venue)
09.14.08 - Morrison, CO (Monolith Festival)
09.19.08 - San Diego, CA (Street Scene)
09.20.08 - San Francisco CA (Treasure Island Festival)

Rhino Reissuing Replacements With Bonus Material

tedmog — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:44:18 GMT

Rhino Records has already released remastered and expanded versions of early '80's Twin/Tone label Replacements albums, and on September 23, Rhino will release deluxe editions of all four of the band's Sire albums (Tim, Pleased To Meet Me, Don't Tell A Soul, All Shook Down), with dozens of rare and previously unreleased tracks thrown in. The re-releases were produced by the band's longtime manager, Peter Jesperson.

Live - Rick Springfield/Dr. Noah Drake @ General Hospital | Port Charles, NY

tedmog — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:12:14 GMT

From today's The Tripwire:

Not only is this Tripwire contributor a writer of new music, I also dabble in extra on television and films. We are also referred to as "background actors" or "atmosphere players."

Today was a special day to be atmosphere. I was on the set of the daytime soap General Hospital. I played the character of a mini-skirt wearing concertgoer. The concert was for the one and only Dr. Noah Drake, or whom we call Rick Springfield in real life.

Drake/Springfield was decked out in old man rocker gear. Jeans, a black button up with dragons (or something equally as crazy and rock n' roll like that), guy-liner, and accessorized with bracelets, which at some point, one broke and the wardrobe lady swooped in to replace it. Just like at a real rock concert! What a badass! And his backing band was the quintessential old-dude rocker band that you would expect Drake/Springfield to have. The drummer looked like a former metal guy who now has a family, the bassist is probably a roadie for the Goo Goo Dolls, and the guitarist may have been the guitar tech for Sugar Ray in the glory days. Hoorah for studio musicians!

It gets better. Read the rest here.

Tilly And The Wall

tedmog — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:50:43 GMT

...have a new album coming out on June 17th.Woo hoo! Let's hopes it's as good as the last!

Outside Lands Tickets Arrived Today

tedmog — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 10:00:50 GMT

It's all very exciting having a big old honkin' music festival in one's backyard. Now if only we could uninvite Jack Johnson...

raconteurs at bimbo's

tedmog — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:21:47 GMT

Peaches And Tone Loc

tedmog — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 21:50:36 GMT

Got together to remake Tone Loc's "Wild Thing." Here's the video:

Weezer Are Weird

tedmog — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:37:44 GMT

And if you don't think so, check out this track off the new (Red) album.

Pitchfork Loses Me...Completely

tedmog — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:28:49 GMT

I've read my share of music reviews where the reviewer was more concerned with showing off words that only English professors know, and referencing bands that only a handful of people across the globe could identify in a lineup, but rarely have I stumbled across an entire paragraph that I did not understand in the least.

Well, folks, it happened today whilst reading an album review in Pitchfork. And it's about a record I've actually heard!

Maybe I'm slow, maybe I'm not as knowledgeable as I should be, but I'll be damned if I have a clue what this guy is talking about:

And, if I were (and remember, this is a hypothetical, haha) to expertly copy my favorite bits of Beach Boys-related rockcrit by Jules Siegel, Nick Tosches, Greil Marcus, Lester Bangs, Jim DeRogatis, and Jim Fusilli-- following their every footstep and participating in burning out with their once-brilliant movement, as Vlaminck, Derain, Van Dongen, and others participated in the brilliant flash that was Fauvism at the turn of the 20th century-- and still not quite make them my own, well, then what would Richard Meltzer say about Jan and Dean?
-Marc Hogan, May 12, 2008

Seriously. That's an exact copy & paste.
Maybe the context of the whole review will help those of you who are as confused as I.

Cloud Cult @ Bottom of the Hill, SF, CA. 5/14/08

tedmog — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:46:55 GMT

(I will post my photos from the show at a future date).
Cloud Cult is a band from Minneapolis, MN., that I was turned on to a couple of years ago by my friend Trevor of the band HIJK. The album they were touring in support of, Advice For The Happy Hippopotamus, was genius and ended up one of my favorite albums of the year.
Then I found out how eco-friendly they are -- they buy carbon credits to make up for the carbon footprint they leave by going on tour!
They've released a couple of albums since Happy Hippo, and while neither was as good, they are both still well worthwhile. That said, each contains clunkers.
What kills me about bands is not when they include clunkers on their albums (I mean, seriously, without clunkers the Rolling Stones would have released, what, 4 albums?), but when they play those clunkers live. Cloud Cult has seven albums worth of material to choose from, but it seems like they often feel the need to play newer stuff that's not necessarily ever going to be fan favorites.
It's not just me, either -- there were a couple of times at their show at Bottom of the Hill last night where I thought, "This one? Really? They're playing this one?!?" when I could think of a dozen other songs that would be crowd-pleasers. I looked around and saw people bored and looking around, biding their time for the next song. And like me, these were definitely Cloud Cult fans -- it wasn't like people were leaving before the band was done even though it was a school night.
That said, the majority of the set was top notch, the performance excellent, and the crowd was totally into them.