44 years after it was recorded, The Beach Boys’ SMiLE album will be released with tons of extras in a huge box set (details here). I could not be more excited to hear this album in it’s true finished form. Brian Wilson released a version of it back in 2004 and there are some bootlegs floating around the internet of the original release (most notably The Purple Chick bootleg). This is the follow up to the Pet Sounds masterpiece, considered to be one of (if not the) finest popular music recordings of all time. Now I need to find away to scrape the cash together to afford the damn thing…
Nashville Skyline, 8/2/11
Nashville’s best indie rock band The Features released their fantastic 3rd LP, Wilderness, this past Tuesday. To celebrate the occasion the appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and performed the song “Golden Comb”. Check out the video above and purchase Wilderness for $7.99 at Amazon.com.
‘Round About Midnight, Miles Davis’ 1957 opus, is a source of great joy for me. That’s John Coltrane on the tenor sax.
Clarence “Big Man” Clemons, E-Street Band saxaphonist and Bruce Springsteen’s right hand man, passed away this weekend. His onstage personae and unique tone made him a living legend. He was 69 years old.
Last summer I got to see Patton Oswalt, one of my heroes, perform live and in-person. My friend and I arrived early so we could get decent seats and were thankful we did. A gentlemen named Kyle Kinane opened the show and he was amazing. Above is his recent appearance on Conan. Pick up his album Death Of The Party. This is my favorite type of funny.
The other night I met a marketing executive from Epiphone Musical Instruments. He admitted that half of his job consists of reminding people The Beatles played their guitars. That’s why I bought my Casino. (pictured above: Paul McCartney w/his early 60’s Casino. John Lennon played one, too)
Exciting news! When Alex Chilton passed away back in 2010, a tribute show was held by the surviving Big Star band members in Memphis and my good friend John Davis (he of Knoxville’s legendary Superdrag) was asked to participate. General consensus is that out of all the guest that were involved, homeboy set himself apart from the pack. If I remember correctly, Rolling Stone wrote that the band should carry on with John as the new front man. Well, what we got is a new Big Star featuring John Davis 7-inch of the 3 tunes he played with the band in Memphis, set to be released later this month. I’m very excited for my friend; one of the first bands John and I bonded over was Big Star and I know as a fellow Tennessean how much this band means to him. Way to go buddy!
Currently Listening To: June
Submarine- Alex Turner (2011 Domino Recording Company)
It’s A Corporate World- Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (2011 Warner Bros. Records)
Codes & Keys- Death Cab For Cutie (2011 Atlantic Records)
Jonny- Jonny (2011 Merge Records)
Filmed on the nation tour he embarked on after losing the tonight, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop looks like it’s gonna be a good one.
