The Real Roky

Roky Erickson is a legend. There will be more on him here soon. But for now, prepare your ticket-buying fingers if you're in the Dallas area.
More information in the Dallas Observer.
Here is the link.

Big who, you ask? Bigloo, I answer

Full disclosure: I've known the guys in Bigloo for a long time. Ranging from 7 to 22 years. And I've been a fan since they first formed 10 years ago and played only a handful of originals mixed with a shitload of classic rock covers.
So I've had a ringside seat to watch them evolve into the pleasant, 70s AOR rock band that not only takes me back to the simpler time of my childhood riding in my mom's car as she smoked pot with her friends, but it also brings me to the place I want to be right now. I'm just into my 30s, and I still want to go out and hear live music. But I don't want to stand up, and I don't want to be around college kids who think they can hold their liquor but can't or old fucks who think that Texas music means Stevie Ray and Stevie Ray impersonators. I want something that speaks to who I am. Whoever that is. But these guys are looking, too, and I appreciate the company.
These guys aren't trying to fit a Texas-shaped mold, and thank god. They feed on their influences, digest them with their own enzymes so that the mixture is wholly theirs, and then they regurgitate it up into the baby-bird mouths of their audience. I know that sounds disgusting, but think about how delicious that would be if you were a baby bird.
Sidewinder is the new album. And I think you'll find the name apt. There is no single direction in style. Maybe the cohesiveness of the album suffers because of that, but I prefer a little variety. Unless I'm listening to AC/DC.
I'm no music critic, so I never do an album justice with my silly words. I'm going to attempt to include some MP3s for your listening pleasure. But if I can't, you can hear and buy some songs here. And if you come out to a show, I swear on my deadbeat dad's future grave that you will have a good time.

No soothsayer be I

Don't let the other guy scare you off of some good bands. The Decemberists, for instance, are fantastic. They're main weakness is how literate the lyrics are. Which can be off-putting when you're ready to settle down to some fuck-a-bitch hip-hop or we've-got-big-balls rock. But sometimes you (meaning "I") want to feel smarter than you are (meaning "I am"). And the music itself is very accessible.
However, he's got a point with the current state of hip-hop, though I'll add that it takes a lot of digging to find the still-existing good stuff. There was a time toward the end of the 90s when I thought we were entering a Renaissance of rap. I was discovering Mos Def, Talib Kweli, The Roots, Common, The Coup, Dead Prez, Rawkus Records, etc., and imagining radio stations crammed with songs of substance. Gangsta rap would wither and die (sorry for the Judas complex, Snoop), and the bling, liquor and weed songs would seem trite to fans craving something real, something with a message to lead us to social revolution. But I've never been able to predict the future of music.
I also thought Beck's Midnite Vultures would be huge and give people something to fuck to for years. And I said that defunct Dallas band Chomsky with their XTC tendencies would be the blueprint for hip, intelligent 21st century radio rock and subsequently lay waste to all the crappy pop-punk bands.
So I'm an idiot.

Kicking and Screaming

I'd like to compare this to being forced to listen - and attempt to enjoy - groups like Frog Eyes, Xiu Xiu, Beck, the Decemberists or Mars Volta.

NEW PORT RICHEY, Florida (AP) -- A woman forced an 83-year-old housemate to smoke crack cocaine so she could steal personal information to get a credit card and run up more than $3,000 in charges, authorities said.

Pasco County sheriff's investigators accused Theresa M. Stanley-Morgan, 41, of getting the older woman to smoke the drug at least twice to make it easier to exploit her financially.

Stanley-Morgan was arrested April 28. She admitted to investigators that she used Shirley Hathaway's name, birth date and Social Security number to open the account, a sheriff's report said.

Hathaway and a witness told investigators that Stanley-Morgan forced Hathaway to smoke a lit crack pipe, the report said.

Stanley-Morgan was in jail Monday on $23,000 bail, charged with criminal use of personal identification, use of another person's ID without permission and retail theft, according to jail records. Records did not indicate if she had a lawyer.

The sheriff's office said more charges were pending and asked the court not to reduce her bail.

It's really just not worth the effort.

Wilco add...

Anyone interested in the new Wilco, titled Sky Blue Sky, can watch a live clip of one of the songs on Amazon. I would add it here if I could, but you have to link to it -----> HERE

Rap is Dead?

I've pretty much become a believer that rap is dead... at least the gangsta/thug/slapaho/ice version that the labels, radio and all those stupid award shows try to cram down buyers' throats. It's totally like what happened to 80s hair metal. While the first 2 Van Halen records were great, Warrant's Cherry Pie, White Lion's Wait and Whitesnake's Is This Love, not great.

Like all trends, people get sick of getting force-fed Crap, and that's what's happening once again with Black Eyed Peas, Young Jeezy and whatever else is blasting from the ear buds of pizzafaced teenagers in Omaha (I suppose).

To make (or not to make) my point. Check out this badass Ratatat remix of a Notorious B.I.G.'s Party and Bullshit [Click here, listen to song] It's a great example of why rap is dead -- because the new stuff can't hold its ground next to the old stuff.

Here's their awesome mix of Devin Da Dude's The Mule to round it off. Anyone else think Rap is dead? Or at least will be forced back to its roots?

Steady She Goes

While I did say The Hold Steady kind of remind me of Springsteen, but that's probably only because of his storytelling style. Now, I kind of think they're more what it would be like if Randy Newman did more drugs, had more friends and fronted the E Street Band. But that's all good, and they're great in doses... But man, the stories in their songs make me feel old sitting here at my desk.
Somebody put a straight jacket on that man!

Am I the only one here?

I used to have a writing partner for this site. Where did he go? If he were here, he'd tell you that we're going to see The Hold Steady in June at a tiny, tiny club in Denton, Texas. And he'd tell you that they remind him of peak-era Springsteen. And upon listening to them right now, I don't disagree. I realize some of you cling to that awful joke, "if Bruce is the Boss, I quit." But you're missing out. And you're missing out if you haven't tried out the Steady yet.


Things to anticipate over the next few months:
Wilco
Spoon
The New Pornographers

All have new albums, and I would bet that all will be worth a listen. I've heard the new Wilco, and I fell in love instantly. But I probably would have anyway.