Be my friend

qrcode

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Been a while...


It's been a while since I've had the chance to post anything thing here, looks like this will be my mid-year resolution. I've been really busy with a feature film I've been gripping on and a series of PSA's for The United Way's "Learn United" campaign, which gave me the chance to work with the kids over at One Lucky Guitar. So now that most side projects have died down for me I can move onto the next... Looks like I will be working on a 10 minute video for a new Metavari song. This will be for their CD release in Fort Wayne. I'm super excited for this, they were nice enough to ask me to do a video for their last CD release, and I think this one will be even better.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Wilco's New Album "Wilco"


So if you are like me, you are interested to see what Wilco's new album will sound like when it comes out June 30th. Well, Wilco decided it was best just to let you check it out now... HERE! I just love the fact that bands worry SO MUCH about albums being leaked and Wilco just puts it out there a full month and a half before the release date! Now the BIG question, "What came first, the leak or the website?" So far, about 8 tracks in, it sounds like a very soft, pretty little album.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

New Modest Mouse


One more reason for me to be very happy this Saturday, other than my lovely wife's birthday, is Record Store Day! Unfortunately I will not be in town, so Sean will have to brave it alone this year at the various Wooden Nickle stores... But I will be purchasing a bunch of goodies somewhere in Chicago. First off, Wilco's "Ashes of American Flags", Manchester Orchestra's "Fourteen Years Of Excellence" EP, and Brandi Carlile's 7" for my wife as a last minute birthday gift. BUT THE BEST PART... for me at least, is the new Modest Mouse single "Satellite Skin". I've seen them several times live and have been let down each and every time, but their albums still make me happy.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Pitchfork Music Festival... Now With more Flaming Lips


This years Pitchfork Music Festival was already looking pretty good. With Built To Spill and Jesus Lizard opening Friday night, and The National, Grizzly Bear, and The Walkman playing during the weekend... But now The Flaming Lips are closing the third day of the event on Sunday night with a "Write The Night" set list, where all ticket holders for Sunday get to vote on the songs they want to hear... I cannot wait. I've wanted to see these guys for years and could never make it happen, looks like July 19th will be my day!!!

Thursday, March 5, 2009


Rock Band has done it! They are bringing the music of The Beatles, not only into your house, but into your hands. That's right, you can pretend that you play guitar just as well as George! Or rock the drums the way Ringo did! All kidding aside, I think it would be a blast. If the songs are right... Nothing solid about the songs, other than it seems like it will span their career. The games will be available on 9/9/09 in various formats.
• The Beatles: Rock Band Software - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $59.99 MSRP
• The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars - Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $99.99 MSRP
• The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $249.99 MSRP

Wavves Coming to The Brass Rail


A little bearded birdy told me some great news last night... Castles will be opening for Wavves on April 2 at The Brass Rail. If you missed it yesterday Pitchfork had a glowing review of Wavves new album, appropriately titled, Wavvves.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fleet Foxes Mykonos Video


Mykonos from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
I love the album and I love the band. I also love what Sean Pecknold did with this video... The 4 weeks working on the stop-motion music video is well documented in this video...

Mykonos making of from Grandchildren on Vimeo.
Now if I could just have four free weeks to work on a video...

Jane's Addiction Stop In Indiana


Last month, NIN frontman Trent Reznor announced that he had been working in the studio with the original Jane's lineup, and that the two groups would be hitting the road together for the first time since their pairing on 1991's inaugural Lollapalooza tour.
It looks as if Saturday, May 30 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center will be my chance to see the show... As always, you can get tickets through the NIN pre-sale if you register first. And as a bonus... Pre-sale tickets are personalized with the buyers legal name printed on the face of the ticket!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Death Cab for Cutie - Grapevine Fires

Typically I hate the fact that every band is now using animation for their music videos. Some are cute, most are boring, all put a stop to the need for a Director of Photography. But Death Cab once again broke my heart with this one... They will be at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago April 17th (sold out) and the Breslin Events Center in East Lansing, MI April 18th.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Music To My Eyes


Flickermood 2.0 from Sebastian Lange on Vimeo.
So I really love music... But I REALLY love fonts.
And these kids KNOW how to do fonts right.
They started this site. Which you should totally check out.. And the music is done by these kids.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Be (B) Sharp Saturday Night


Saturday night The B-Sharps will have their CD release party for Cherchez Kahuna. I first saw these guys last year at Down The Line II where they performed the songs of The Who with Kenny Taylor and they brought down the house. Throughout the past year I caught them a couple of times and they were always full blown performers. I was lucky enough to catch their stint on Little Brother Radio the other week and these kids are really fun and really talented. The Brass Rail's stage will be blessed with these gentlemen Saturday with M.O.T.O. and Flamingo Nosebleed. Take a wild guess who did the fabulous poster...

Jane's Addiction Big Bad Box Set


Jane's will be releasing a rarities box set on April 21st through Rhino. The packaging on the set looks amazing, but the content of A Cabinet of Curiosities is most intriguing. It will include three CDs and one DVD. The first disc is all unreleased demos from 1986 and 1987. The second disc is more demos, but also unreleased live tracks and rarities covers. The third disc is a live show from Hollywood Palladium from 12-19-90. The DVD will include Soul Kiss, the Jane's documentary previously unavailable on DVD. Now if they would only release a remastered version of The Gift.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Arial is the new Spinal Tap


1. If you want a band name, name it after a font.
2. Find 3 of the best artists in the area.
3. Be even more awesome than Spinal Tap!

The Addy's are an award show that I have never/will never be nominated for...
But there are several friends/cohorts that are involved with the 2009 Addys that must be seen/heard to be believed.

There is SO much gosh darn talent involved in the promotion of this, that you must, at least, spend 7 minutes and listen to the three original songs written by Matt Kelley from OLG and performed by members of Definitely Gary to be believed. Also my hero of all things photography related has done the photography for this... That's right, Joel Faurote is flippin' spectacular.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Junkie Orchestra


Adding to the list of bands playing with orchestras... Portishead, Ben Folds, and now Cowboy Junkies. I really can't think of a band that I would love to see more with an orchestra, other than Radiohead, besides Cowboy Junkies. I've always loved their sound, vibe, and voice... I cannot imagine how beautiful this would be. Check it out, it's a short drive to Louisville. They will be performing March 29th with the Louisville Orchestra for the final BB&T Strings Attached show. Tickets range from 25.00 to 55.00 bucks.

Clem is BACK!


That's right kids, the one and only, former NY tourguide and all around great songwriter Eef Barzelay is back with a new Clem Snide album and it drops today! So run out and pick it up, listen to it a bunch and get ready to sing along because on March 23 he's gonna be playing The Tiger Room here in Fort Wayne. Yippy!

The Mothman Cometh


In an attempt to scare the bejeezus out of my dear friend Sean and let you all in on what will put fear in the heart of Sean Smith, check out The Mothman. It's another great tune by the one and only C.Ray Harvey. If I could only get this as a ringback, I could avoid phone calls from Sean for the rest of my life...

Monday, February 23, 2009

Little Guys Get Big Name


Jagjagwar one of my favorite little labels, also an Indiana label, just signed Dinosaur Jr. Okay, I am no sports fan, never have been, never will be, so an analogy would be nice here... I guess it's like our minor league hockey team picking up Wayne Gretzky. Sure he may be a bit past his "glory days" but he is still Wayne Gretzky! I saw them play last year at Pitchfork Music Festival and they still sounded as good as they did when I saw them at Lollapalooza in 1993.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Modest Mouse Have a Zine?!?


RAEN Optics and Pat Graham present the first ever Modest Mouse photozine/book, featuring many unreleased photos from the Pat Graham/Modest Mouse archive.

The cover, I assume, is a shot taken after Issac had been assaulted by a bottle to the eye, which resulted in a handful of canceled shows and a surgery.

This zine also features captions and hand written stories from Isaac and Pat. A limited run of 1000 will be only available to purchase at the venues on Modest Mouse’s Feb-March 2009 tour. An additional 200 copies are being sold online by RAEN.

Make that 199. I just ordered my own copy.

Directed by Nabil


KANYE WEST "Welcome To Heartbreak" Directed by Nabil from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Sometimes you see something done that is soooo right. This is one of those things. I didn't see this video going in this direction when I heard the album. But in the hands of Nabil Elderkin it turned into something magical. Nabil has also directed other videos for Kanye, Common, John Legend, and Rise Against.

Saturday Night's All Right!


The Brass Rail will be open for the business of Rock on Saturday night with Sybris, Lacona, and Castles. Castles features four of the nicest and most talented guys in Fort Wayne. Lacona has been compared to Granddaddy and The Cure, so really, you can't complain too much about that... Sybris has played Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and Virgin Festival. If you enjoy Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs you will love Sybris. Go the the show, have a 24oz PBR, enjoy the music, say hi to me.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Wednesday... Looking Forward To Friday


So it may still be a few days away, but it will at least give you something to look forward to... Wooden Satellites will be performing at 816 Pint & Slice Friday night. They'll be playing songs off their superb album "Why Can't I be Enough" along with some new songs from a possible new EP. Also, welcome their newest member, Steve Spears, who will be taking over keyboard duties from Andrea, so that she may develop her tambourine chops. The city's best pizza, the city's best beer, and maybe the city's best band, what else could you want??? Check out their myspace page for show time and a listen to all their swell tunes.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Von Iva

For those of us lucky enough to make it to The Brass Rail on Valentine's Day to see Von Iva, you know it was a great show (even if you couldn't see them due to the 200 plus in attendance). What you may not know is that they played Radio Radio in Indy on Thursday and a dear friend of mine (Rachel Hardy) was lucky enough to score an interview with the three young ladies. You can check it out at WTHR's website.

In other Hip-Hop News...

C.Ray Harvey, one of the musical masterminds (or if you ask him, the only mastermind) behind Wooden Satellites has some new tracks on his blog Musical Endeavors of Committeeman Scotty Briggs. The latest is a piece of auto tuned ear candy sure to have you singing along by the second chorus.
WHEN IS THIS KID PUTTING OUT A HIP-HOP ALBUM???
Check out "Never Been A Lotta Things"

In other Sankofa News...


If you haven't yet... Go get Sankofa's MWF4!
"Invisible Guns" may end up being one of my favorite tracks of the year... With it's relentless electric guitar, smashing cymbals, and tongue twisting lyrics, it's a supadupa hit! Kapow, Boom, Blam, Bam!

Get Them While They're Hot!


Sankofa is letting all his fans have a hip new way to display their kids artwork/medical bills on their refrigerators... It's the Sankofa magnet and it's free!

Just go to http://obeseamerica.com/ to request one. Although I don't suggest you try it, they are heat resistant... Mine survived a four burger cook-off in my grill!

NIN Calling It Quits???

2.16.09: A note from Trent and a wave goodbye

Towards the beginning of my career in Nine Inch Nails, our biggest break came in the form of an invitation to perform a series of shows with Jane's Addiction. These performances essentially created and defined the term "alternative" rock in the US, created an ongoing festival franchise that is still thriving (Lollapalooza), set the stage for Nirvana to shift popular taste a few months later, and were really fucking FUN to play and attend - truly the best times I've had. The shows were epic. So epic, they propelled NIN to the "next level" (whatever that means), but caused Jane's to implode. The band broke up at the end of that tour.
Fast forward to the present. Corporate rock STILL sucks. A friend tells me they saw the original Jane's lineup play a tiny show in LA that was unbelievable. I break out my Jane's records and am amazed by how vital they sound. These guys were the real deal and in this current climate mostly dominated by poseurs and pussies it was refreshing to hear something that sounded dangerous, volatile, beautiful and SINCERE.Emails were sent, phone calls were made, dinner was arranged, ideas were discussed and the next thing I know we're in the studio experimenting. We laugh, we get to know each other, we cry, we yell, we almost quit, we record LOTS of guitar solos, we discuss, we actually begin to all communicate, we yell some more, we become FRIENDS, we laugh again and we do some great things. I get to see first hand why they broke up all those years ago but I also get the chance to see four distinct personalities that become an INCREDIBLE band when they're in the same room.
In NIN world, 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of our first releases. I've been thinking for some time now it's time to make NIN disappear for a while. Last year's "Lights in the Sky" tour was something I'm quite proud of and seems like the culmination of what I could pull off in terms of an elaborate production. It was also quite difficult to pull off technically and physically night after night and left us all a bit dazed. After some thought, we decided to book a last run of shows across the globe this year. The approach to these shows is quite different from last year - much more raw, spontaneous and less scripted. Fun for us and a different way for you to see us and wave goodbye. I reached out to Jane's to see if they'd want to join us across the US and we all felt it could be a great thing. Will it work? Will it resonate in the marketplace? Who knows. Are there big record label marketing dollars to convince you to attend? Nope.Does it feel right to us and does it seem like it will be fun for us and you? Yes it does.Look for tour dates soon and I hope to see you out there.
Trent

Monday, February 16, 2009

Ode to Omar



The blog that may come or go at any second...

Mainly started to comment on Musical Endeavors of Committeeman Scotty Briggs blog, I thought it was about time to share my insipid thoughts on life and music. Probably more so music...