We broke it over his head.

Stolen gear stories never turn out well. Some comeuppance. (Though it’s little consolation for the Decemberists, Sonic Youth, Dino Jr, La Rocca, Tapes N Tapes and the thousands that came before.)

The other night at the Lucero show we were greeted to the awesome surprise that someone had stolen one of Glossary’s (the opening band) guitars. At first I was positive it was simply misplaced. We’ve never had anything stolen from our backstage. We have a clearly separated area for the bands with 3 signs marking to not come back there unless you are in the band, in their crew, or are part of our staff as well as security guards who patrol the club and our grounds. Mostly though, we don’t have to worry about this stuff because our patrons are decent, cool, respectable people who would never dream of stealing something from the club.

In fact much of our clientele are musicians who would not at all take kindly to some nefarious deeds.

So anyway, the incident occurred at load out, and the guitar player in Glossary discovered his guitar (a left-handed Epiphone–not easily replaced) had been taken out of its case and taken. At first, I was sure this was either a practical joke by Lucero, the headlining band, or just a mere mistake. After searching the club at 2:30 AM for a solid half hour it was all too aware the guitar was indeed stolen. Right, so now near 3:00 AM after a 14 hour work day, the management on hand and myself had to stay and to review 3 ½ hours of security camera footage, one camera at a time. Exactly what anyone would want to do at the end of a long day working at a club. It took some time to find, but, yes, there it was: a drunken moron taking the guitar out of the case, walking out the back door with the guitar, and walking back in without it. Astonishing. What kind of low-level life form would take something from a small touring band trying just to make ends meet and pay $4 gas prices on the road? Only absolute scum with no regard for people’s private property would even contemplate such a thing.

We began to put out feelers to find out who this was. Almost immediately via my space and email, a good friend and several random people identified this person and we began to track them down. Instead of making this more of a small novelette, I will from here on out give you a point summary of what happened.

–Several people sent me links to this person’s myspace and I contacted them telling them we need to talk about this situation.

–The person without knowing we had security camera footage acted like they had no idea what I was talking about.

–Upon relaying that we had conclusive security footage, the person had their roommate contact me to try to work things out.

The result:
–We got the guitar back to the band.
–This person is permanently banned from the club.
–We are awaiting the band’s decision on if we are going to further pursue this with the police.
–The person is lucky that the bands, our security guards, or one of our patrons didn’t hand them their butt on a platter.

PLEASE KNOW (FROM NOW ON):
–If you are backstage and aren’t authorized to be there or don’t have a pass to be there, you will be removed from the club without any questions asked. We don’t care if you are friends (or think you are friends) with the band. If they want you to be back there, they will inform us and we will get you a pass to be backstage.

–If you ever do this more than once. You will be permanently banned from the club.

–We have cameras everywhere and this is a small town. WE WILL FIND YOU IF YOU DO SOMETHING AS DUMB AS TRY TO STEAL A BAND’S GUITAR.

–We will send out information on the event to our collective friends of 100,000 people on myspace, facebook, and our email list.

–We will hang a picture of you at the front of the club with the words: “CROOK” underneath it.

–We will have you arrested and spend as much time and money as we can on bringing you to justice.

SIMPLE RULES TO LEARN:
–Act like a human being. Your parents must be extremely proud that you life has spiraled downward to the point of stealing a guitar backstage from a band at a small club.
—Don’t steal band’s equipment and you can eliminate the possibility of having everyone in town hating your guts.

As you probably know, report any stolen gear to the fine folks at StolenGear.org. Then borrow (don’t steal) a nice solid bat.

Original post from Alt-Country.org

Finest club in Birmingham, the Bottletree, co-run by our good friend Leah, the blonde half of Red Blondehead.

David Vandervelde put out one of Greg’s and my favorite records last year — “The Moonstation House Band.” (Credit where credit is due, Greg turned me on to DV). The Secretly Canadian release was awash in glam production but the sonic foundation was decidedly roots — think Marc Bolan trapped in Gram Parsons body. He’s originally from Michigan, lived for a spell in Chicago (MSHB was recorded at Jay Bennett’s Pieholden Suite, where Wilco’s “Summerteeth” was done). Now he’s in Nashville. Let us guess — next stop LA?

The sophomore follow-up, “Waiting for the Sunrise,” comes out Aug. 5; tour dates announced so far (look for more):

07/18/08 Chicago, IL KEXP Live From Chicago with Cheryl Waters

07/27/08 Chicago, IL Schubas

07/31/08 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge w/ Grizzly Bear

08/31/08 Los Angeles, CA at Fuck Yeah Fest

When I interviewed Vandervelde last year, he admitted to having a soft spot for 70s soft rock — Bee Gees, Left Bank. He mentioned George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” and wanting “Nothin’ No,” the standout lead off track on MSHB, to “sound like a wah-wah.” So it comes as no surprise that “Sunrise” touches the flipside of the 70s. The lead single “I Will Be Fine” isn’t exactly a barn burner –  more Fogelberg than Fogerty — but on a spare few listens, the obvious standouts are “California Breezes,” “Lyin’ In Bed,” “Cryin Like the Rain,” “Hit the Road” and “Someone Like You.”

california-breezes

hit-the-road

someone-like-you

If you question the man’s dedication (or sack):

The obligatory MySpace link.

if you would have told me 20 years ago that mike patton would have the kinda varied career he has accumulated and still be relevant, i would have probably begged to differ. the dude continues to amaze, truly. his new project finds him covering 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s italian pop songs with his band mondo cane. they recently performed with the metropole orchestra in the paradiso in amsterdam and this is a recording of said performance.

1. il cielo in una stanza

2. che notte

3. ore d’amore

4. 20 km al giorno

5. quello che conta

6. urlo negro

7. legata ad un granello di sabbia

8. deep down

9. pinne, fucile ed occhiale

10. scalinatella

11. l’uomo che non sapeva amare

12. ma l’amore no

13. canzone

14. ti offro da bere

15. dio come ti amo

16. storia d’amore

17. lontano, lontano

18. o venezia

19. yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!

20. senza fine

21. sigaretta

22. sole malato

20 km al giorno

deep down

There are some bands you can’t believe took so long to find. DM3 is one of those bands for me. I don’t have Sirius but my friend Ted tells me just about every other time I see him that *HE* has it, and is always spooging over some such or other that Little Steven’s Underground Garage has been spinning. One day Ted laid a copy of DM3’s “Dig It the Most” on me. The superhooky lines dug in immediately and it was the line “I want to be a big star” that tipped the hat to what these guys were about. I was in. A new band! A new band even my power pop fiends haven’t heard of! FFFan-tastic. I looked up their (nonexistent) MySpace and tracked down their bio info on AllMusic.com. “What do you mean they broke up in 1998?!”

Headed by ex-Lime Spider and Stems lead singer Dom Mariani, the Perth, Australia group reigned from 1993 to 1998. Their “Road to Rome” is listed in the top picks of Not Lame’s “Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide.” “Dig It the Most” is as good a place to start as any — a 20 track compilation of powerpop goo goodness — culled from their first 2 EPs and 3 LPs (they would bow out with 2 more EPs and a final LP).

“Dig It the Most” is one stop shopping — from the kick off track “Can’t Get What You Want” to the whipsmart 50s-kinked “Speedfreak” to lovelorn cranker “Second Floor.” Even the “Friends” theme-esque track “TV Sound” would become a favorite. Then there’s “1×2 Devastated,” “Hold On,” “Far From Here,” “Like This” and “Pleaze You.” And and and.

RIYL: Raspberries, Westerberg, Badfinger, Big Star

A few of and and and favorites:

Can’t Get What You Want

1×2 Times Devastated

Second Floor

Speedfreak

TV Sound

No official site but a nice refresher here and a complete DM retrospective here.

Dom’s MySpace and his other band, The Stems.

And the Aussie$Exchange ain’t what it used to be but for more, go to Off the Hip.

athen’s liz durrett is an artist i should be more familiar with, and i am guessing you should be too. everything i have heard pass through her lips has been pretty wonderful. so, what the fuck is my problem? who the hell knows? that’s all about to stop, i tell ya! she’s got a new one out, or at least coming out on 9.9, entitled outside our gates. gates was recorded in athens this past spring with indie rock godfather, eric bachmann handling the producing and arrangement duties. the record also features liz’s uncle vic chesnutt, brian causey of man or astroman?, amanda kapousouz of tin cup phrophette, and members of ham1 and olivia tremor control. first and foremost, she’s got the kinda airy, cigarette stained voice that would make a song about the affects of mad cow disease on the brain sound sexy. secondly, bachmann does a hell of a job on keeping and showcasing liz’s vocals/lyrics at the forefront of the affair but at the same time filling out her songs with violins, ambient white noise, wurlitzers, accorians, pianos, and other organic type of instrumentation. thirdly, and lastly this is a damn fine record and not wanting to draw to many comparisons to chan marshall, this is a cat power record that i wish chan would have made. i only say that cause let’s be honest most of mrs. marshall’s records can be a little inconsistent, gates on the other hand is solid throughout. if you were a fan of bachmann’s to the races this record is like listening to its female counterpart.

wild as them off outside our gates

all of them all off outside our gates

november - waits cover

the sea a dream (demo)

how can i tell you - cat stevens

liz durrett site / warm records

Stairway to power-pop heaven?

Mike Gent of the Figgs told a story to us recently about how his Gentlemen bandmate Ed Valauskas had met Rick Rubin and mentioned being in a band with “Mike Gent, you know, of the Figgs.” To my shock, Rubin’s response was not, “Who?” But “Oh yeah, the Figgs. They were a good band.” EdV: “Still are.”

For the uninitiated, Figgs are RIYL: The Kinks, The Replacements, Elvis Costello, The Plimsouls. Basically any sort of great power-pop. This one’s a throwback to 3/22/01 at San Fran’s Bottom of the Hill, circa the release of “Sucking in Stereo.” We have no recent shows of the Figgs, but to get a full sense of the songwriting lifespan on this upstate trio, go buy “Continue to Enjoy the Figgs,” a double disc set released in two parts by Gert Blandsten.

01 Opening Night

02 The Daylight Strong

03 Reaction

04 Somethings Wrong

05 Racing Around

06 Step Back Lets Go Pop

07 Favorite Shirt

08 Shut

09 Waiting For the Sun to Rise

10 I Thought I Drank the Drink But the Drink Drank Me

11 If Thats What You Want

12 Metal Detector

13-running-in-place

14 Gonna Get Out

15 Bad Luck Sammie

16 Do the Bounce-2x

17-reject

18-cheap-cassettes

19-back-to-being

20-wait-on-your-shoulder

21-the-noose-was-tight

Zipzipzip: Figgs 03.21.01

“Still are” — MySpace.

good day, all. in case you were wondering what the hell is going on w/ that picture up there, it happens to be every frame of the big lebowski in one image. here’s the original.

josh hamilton was robbed.

until later, here is the remainder of the mmj show from radio city music hall.

15. aluminum park

16. steam engine

17. smokin from shootin

18. touch me part two

19. bermuda highway

20. librarian

21. wordless chorus

22. it beats 4 u

23. dondante

24. the bear

25. lay low

26. run thru

27. anytime

28. one big holiday