Odds & ends

Here's a few random things that I've found interesting lately in the music world:

۞ Local Colorado music writer/longtime Pearl Jam fan Stephen Saint has written about an excellent little piece of forgotten Southern California history involving himself and Eddie Vedder. "Eddie's Secret Show: A Pearl Jam Memoir" remembers shows that Saint's band (Club of Rome) played with Eddie and Bad Radio back in the early '90s. Coming from California myself, I loved a lot of the little references: he mentions the hotel in San Diego where I met the band in '95 (The Catamaran), and discusses the 1997 secret show at The Catalyst in Santa Cruz, CA that I attended (and, um, paid the same $200 that Eddie cites). So I found it to be fascinating & recommended reading.


۞ If you were in a metal band, what would your name be? Here are some suggestions for me from the Metal Band Name Generator: Cryptic Winter, Weeping Gates, Thy Castle, Carpathian Blood.
Right on.

۞ Stereogum has the new Audioslave "Original Fire" in streaming format. I agree that it seems neither original nor fiery. But speaking of my man Chris Cornell, I was listening to "Outshined" (Soundgarden) last night at the gym and THAT is some good stuff that I have let slide for far too long.


۞ Vibrating panties at a Flaming Lips concert near you - coming soon! (sheesh, no pun intended). It's nice to know in this jaded, cold world that someone still cares about their fans.


۞ According to a completely unofficial source (a blog comment from "Kev in St. Louis"), here is some Counting Crows potential new album news: "Look for a new album sometime in the Spring of 2007. Tentative title is Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings. Part rocking guitar stuff and part soft acoustic stuff. Rumor is that they have re-recorded "Suffocate" - that was a song on their demo cd." Take that for what you will (and thank you Kev).

۞ I wrote about The Kooks a few weeks ago (and still think that Mason Jennings cover is fantastic) - I read yesterday that their debut album Inside In/Inside Out will be getting an American release on the Astralwerks label in October.



۞ FRIDAY MORNING MASHUPS:
Some Velvet Blog has two fun ones if you fancy the seamless blending of your favorite tracks into one song:

"Imagine Wild Music" (John Lennon "Imagine"; Lou Reed "Walk On The Wild Seed"; G Love - "Blues Music")

"Wicked Music (For A Norwegian Film)" - Chris Issak "Wicked Game"; Radiohead "Exit Music"; The Beatles "Norwegian Wood"


And I have one for you as well, the two biggest blog favorites of the last few months, all rolled up into one hip-shaking little package:

Crazy, As She Goes - Raconteurs vs. Gnarls Barkley, mixed by The Legion of Doom