Happy Halloween!

Here's Johnny!!!

Some pretty cool pumpkin carvings. Here's one of Johnny Cash. A bunch more rock-tober pumpkins of your favorite rockers. No Neil though.

Happy Halloween!

Annual Bridge School Benefit Concerts This Weekend

Paul McCartney & Neil Young at Bridge 2004 Concert
photo by Craig Abaya

This weekend is the 19th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert.

The concerts are scheduled for Saturday, October 29th and Sunday, October 30th, 2005 at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.

Featured artists scheduled to include:

Crosby Stills, Nash & Young
Dave Matthews (Solo, Sunday only)
Norah Jones
Emmylou Harris
Jerry Lee Lewis
Good Charlotte
Bright Eyes
Los Lobos

More on last year's Bridge School Benefit Concert 2004 with Tegan & Sara, Los Lonely Boys, Sonic Youth, Ben Harper, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, Tony Bennett, and Paul McCartney and previous year's concerts reviews and photos.

Updates on this year's Bridge School Benefit Concert 2005 will be posted here.

Wilco's "Kicking Television" Preview

Over on WILCO WORLD, a 4-song preview of Kicking Television, the upcoming live double-album.

Thanks .: chromewaves.net v6.0!


Wilco at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, PA
June 23, 2005

America's Greatest Living Rock Band? - My Morning Jacket on Cover of HARP

America's Greatest Living Rock Band?

Well, good question but it seems like a setup. If you've never seen and heard the band My Morning Jacket perform live, you're probably thinking wtf?

My Morning Jacket is on the cover of the latest issue of HARP Magazine.

Interview and comments on recording the new CD "Z".

Son Volt: 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C. - Oct. 21

Jay Farrar and Son Volt performing at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Photos by Joel Didriksen for kingpinphoto.com
Channeling Woodie Guthrie last night, Jay Farrar and Son Volt put on great show and really glad to have been right there.

Jay was his normally low key self and said all he had to say in the music. Lots of songs from the new "Okemah and the Melody of Riot". Great crowd. Very few shouted song requests (and didn't hear a single "Uncle Tupelo-o-o-o-o!!!")

Highlights include "Joe Citizen Blues". And "Chickamunga" got the crowd hoppin'.

NPR's webcast of Son Volt concert at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club last night is now up and streaming. Excellent show at one of the best live music venues anywhere. Check out listener supported radio.

Also, see photo galleries on NPR and Joel Didriksen for kingpinphoto.com. Nice shots.

Fruit Bats from the "other" Washington (Seattle) were a good opening band. Never heard of them before. Kinda of a Weezer/early-Beck hybrid. Maybe?

Anyways, a long day. Son Volt didn't come on until close to midnight and didn't get home until after 2. But so worth the exhaustion.

Over on Chromewaves, lots of great photos and a review from Opera House, Toronto, October 17, 2005.

Here's Hickory Wind's take on the concert:

“Okemah” is a reference to Woody Guthrie’s birthplace, and Farrar certainly has incorporated the protest spirit into his new material. “Jet Pilot,” which was paired with “Endless War,” is a thematic cousin to John Fogerty’s “Fortunate Son,” and takes a none-too-subtle jab at President Bush. Subject matter aside, the new songs exhibit a return to country-informed rock influenced by bands such as Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Farrar seemed pleased, too. Nobody is ever going to confuse him for the gregarious Bono on stage, but he really appeared to be happy to be fronting a rock band again. While far from chatty, he thanked the crowd on several occasions. He dug into a stinging guitar solo at the end of “Medication,” and he blew a pretty fierce harmonica solo on “Damn Shame,” which was a damn nice compliment to Frame’s searing slide guitar.

Despite the concentration of “Okemah” material, Farrar was more than willing to give the fans, even the more casual ones, what they came for. Crowd participation increased with each tune from the classic Son Volt albums “Trace,” “Straightaways” and “Wide Swing Tremolo” – songs such as “Medicine Hat,” “Loose String,” “Route,” “Caryatid Easy” and “Tear Stained Eye.”

Also, here's a review of Son Volt's "Okemah and the Melody of Riot" and more on Neil Young's influence on Jay Farrar and Son Volt's music and more Jay Farrar news.

Randomly Blogged - Concert Photos: My Morning Jacket, Pearl Jam, Son Volt, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Rolling Stones

Mick & Eddie

Guess this is why they call it Rock-tober! Great concert photo galleries all around.

Some amazing pairings: Bruce Springsteen joins U2 onstage, Eddie Vedder joins The Rolling Stones onstage. All of this on top of a heckuva photo op with U2's Bono and George Bush.

Frank over on Chromewaves has awesome concert photos of Son Volt at the Opera House in Toronto on October 17, 2005 and My Morning Jacket, Royal Wood, Megan Hamilton Guvernment, Toronto on October 19, 2005.

Caryn over on Jukebox Graduate has a review and photos of Pearl Jam in Philadelphia, PA on 10-3-05.

Eddie Vedder and Mick Jagger at Rolling Stones concert in Pittsburgh, September 28, 2005.

Bruce Springsteen joins U2 onstage in Philadelphia on October 17th, 2005 - concert review and photos.

U2's Bono and George Bush

U2's Bono and George Bush, Washington, DC
It's not everyday that U2's Bono is in town and drops in on George Bush in the White House.

Reportedly they discussed making poverty history. No word on what they had for lunch.

Certainly this photo could have many captions.

U2 performs in concert in DC tonight & tomorrow.

My Morning Jacket: "Less alt country, more reverb"

Jim James & Two Tone Tommy of My Morning Jacket - Charlottesville, VA - 12/30/2004
From RollingStone.com interview with My Morning Jacket bassist Two Tone Tommy on the new CD "Z":

"The record would be this timeless thing that we hope will live on far after we are gone. The live performances are just us having fun and us living out our thirteen-year-old fantasy of air-guitaring on our beds."

Randomly Blogged: Pete Townshend, "Mideast Vacation" MP3, "Prairie Wind" CD Review

Pete Townshend and Neil Young

Stop Sniffin' That Smokin' Gun: "Mideast Vacation" MP3

"Prairie Wind": A Gentle Breeze Deceptively Lulls The Howls Of Loss

My Morning Jacket and Kathleen Edwards on NPR Webcast

Kathleen Edwards and My Morning Jacket
The 9:30 Club, Washington, D.C.
Photos by Joel Didriksen for kingpinphoto.com

NPR's webcast of My Morning Jacket's and Kathleen Edwards concert at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club on October 10 is now up and streaming. Just an awesome show. Check out listener supported radio.

Also, see photo galleries on NPR and Joel Didriksen for kingpinphoto.com. Nice shots. Setlist below. There is also an interview with MMJ and Jim James.

From aaron's blog:

"Canadian Kathleen Edwards has recorded some great rocking out tunes and a few slow ones, all the while intertwined with some twang. Her husky voice sounds very much cigarette and booze inspired (and she did nothing to dissuade the booze part, finishing her set by downing a shot), and works well with her many tales of failed and failing relationships on her two albums, 2003's Failer and this year's Back to Me. Her set used a five-piece band, most of the time employing three lead guitars, a bass, and drums. This led to some serious jams in her 45-minute set, which essentially expanded on eight of her songs. She got to most of my favorites (given that her music never gets played on local radio, I'm not sure if any can be considered "hits"). I missed two things from her set: the horn used on the album version of "12 Bellevue," and the song "Hockey Skates" off her first album. Also, her voice wasn't at the peak that I found it on the albums (no surprise I suppose). That being said, these are mere quibbles from a great live performance."

From Drive Like Hell blog review by Dallas Hudgens:

"MMJ rocked so hard on main-set closer "Run Thru," complete with disco-synth breakdown, they might as well have been called My Morning Bulldozer."

From the wild, the innocent, and the DC shuffle blog review of My Morning Jacket's set:

"The boys started off with the first 3 songs off of the new record in order, then launched into a blistering take on “One Big Holiday” which really got the crowd going. the songs from Z that translated best live were the dueling guitar of “Lay Low”, the bouncy rhythm of “Off The Record” and straight-ahead rock of “Anytime”, which closed the 5-song encore. not much off of At Dawn, but there were nice versions of “The Way That He Sings” and the title track, and the band treated long-time fans by reaching all the way back to debut The Tennessee Fire for “I Think I’m Going To Hell” and lovely, lesser-known track “Sooner” off the Chocolate And Ice EP. It Still Moves is prob my least favorite release of the band’s (still love it), but the show was punctuated by great takes on favorites “Mahgeeta” in the encore and “Golden” with Edwards on backing vocals, and the highlight of the show was a transcendent version of “Run Thru” from It Still Moves, absolutely sick rawk that drove the audience into a frenzy. as always, the band’s energy was super high, and the adoring crowd fed off of James and the boys’ enthusiasm throughout the show."

My Morning Jacket Set List
Wordless Chorus
It Beats For You
Gideon
One Big Holiday
The Way That He Sings
Golden
Sooner
What a Wonderful Man
Off the Record
Lay Low
Dondante
Run Thru
At Dawn
I Think I'm Going to Hell
Northern Sky
Mahgeeta
Anytime

Kathleen Edwards Set List
Independent Thief
Six O'Clock News
What Are You Waiting For
Good Things
In State
Copied Keys
12 Bellvue
Back to Me

More on Kathleen Edwards and My Morning Jacket.

Webcast of My Morning Jacket and Kathleen Edwards on NPR This Monday

My Morning Jacket's concert at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club will be webcast on listener-supported radio NPR this Monday night.

The last time we saw Morning Jacket in concert at the 9:30 Club, they put on an outstanding full bore concert.

The webcast will include the opening act Kathleen Edwards.

My Morning Jacket latest CD, titled "Z", has been referred to as "a collection of sad, mysterious dance music."

Lead guitarist, singer and songwriter Jim James, puts it this way:

"We wanted to make a record that grooved and swung, but wasn't trying to imitate classic soul. We wanted to keep an aspect of what we'd always done, but also make something you could dance to or listen to while driving home. Hip-hop and soul music are unifying people right now. I wanted to incorporate that into our music."

Opening act Kathleen Edwards has recently become a favorite here at Thrasher's Blog and in heavy rotation. If you're not familiar with Edwards work, check out this recent webcast.

More on Kathleen Edwards and My Morning Jacket.

My Morning Jacket's New CD "Z"

My Morning Jacket's new album "Z" has just been released and it's definitely not causing Zzzzzz's.

You can sample clips on the band's webiste - My Morning Jacket. Streaming audio of the songs "Wordless Chorus" and "Off The Record" are featured.

"Off The Record" reminded me of the the old TV show "Hawaii 5-0"'s theme music. Cool surf music ala Dick Dale. Here's an MP3 download of "Off The Record".

Over on Aquarium Drunk, a couple of links for MP3 downloads are available for:
"It Beats For You"
"Wordless Chorus"

And over Chromewaves.net, download a great MP3 track of "Suspicious Minds" (3.71 MB). The track was recorded in August 2004 at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC, as My Morning Jacket paid tribute to the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death with this version of my favourite Elvis tune, performed solo by Jim James in that high, lonesome voice.

Seeing My Morning Jacket at in Philadelphia, PA last June opening for Wilco, they certainly seem to be band ready to take it to the next level with an explosive live concert experience.

Some blog reviews on Chromewaves:

"It's quite a departure from both the southern rock of It Still Moves and the reverb-drenched atmosphere of At Dawn - devotees of either record will probably find something to like and dislike about the new record. It's certainly a bold move on the band's part, thanks at least in part to some personnel turnaround and the addition of two new memebers since their last studio record as well as working with legendary British producer John Leckie. An eclectic record to be sure, it sounds like a stylistic dog's breakfast but somehow very right at the same time. Individually most of the songs are good to excellent, but as a whole I can't tell if there's no flow or if it's so deep that I just haven't tapped into it yet. There's little doubt this album is a grower - it just hasn't hit full bloom with me yet, but I'm willing to bet that it will, sooner or later."

In an earlier posting on the upcoming album "Z", My Morning Jacket's drummer Patrick Hallahan comments on the new album's sound:

"This one is totally different from everything else. It's the first album with two new members from the band...two new people and that's definitely going to change the sound a bit. They've opened up some new areas. It's a result of all of us growing up quite a bit. It's kind of a reflection of our attitudes on the state of the world. We could choose the low roads and be depressed; but we're choosing to be really positive. It's more spacious, as we took a kind of 'less is more' approach. More danceable, so to speak, but there are definitely rocking moments. We like music that moves you. That's definitely in there as well. This album is all over the place really."

My Morning Jacket at Penn's Landing, Philadelphia, PA
More on My Morning Jacket.