American Idol : The Birmingham Sessions

it's the hometown of Ruben Studdard, (season two winner)


Bo Bice (runner up to Carrie Underwood in season 4 and pictured here with trey anastasio at bonnaroo),


and our good friend Taylor Hicks (season six winner).



11,000 people showed up to audition in birmingham alabama. lets get it on.

first is an auburn student who sings simons favorite song 'unchained melody'. erika is not very good at all, but her friends outside think shes fantastic. she can hardly remember the words, a neverending toture. nice, the first contestant is one of these people who wont take no for an answer, even when the judges are yelling at her to stop singing.


ms high voice thinks her talking voice and singing voice are much different. shes right, because her singing voice is actually pretty good but her speaking voice is absolutely awful, really bothersome. randy likes her, simon doesnt and they bring in her new hubby to convince paula. paula of course syas yes and we'll see her again, minus the obnoxious voice i bet.

tatiana is from atlanta and goes to a performing arts school, is 17, and fucking rocks.

diane is 27 and very big, and sings saving all my love and its the first performance of the night that has me laughing out loud. theres really nothihng funny about it, because i mean shes dead serious and says she normally gets a standing ovation. when all the judges give her flat out 'no's she takes it in stride and leaves without incident. id like to see more of that. listen when the judges say no and dont make a fool of yourself.

bernard williams is 25 and sings micheal jacksons rock with you. he was kinda good but i was all that impressed, neither was paula but the others let him go to hollywood.

next is the ultrastrange and dressed like a 250 pound chicken margaret. she claims shes 26, butshe looks like shes fifty and when it says her name and where shes from, it says age: 26??? simon gets it out of her after calling the singing atrocious and the getup like an easterbunnynightmareexperiment, shes really 33. ok shes 50.

after the commercial break were treated to a montage of people who were good enought o go to hollywood, but not interesting enought for us to see audition?

then we have 17 year old pretty blonde from north carolina, very cute with her little accent. her daddy shot hisself in the neck after catching his wife cheatin on 'im. it wasnt the first time, so like he shot her and he shot hisself. whoa. she sings c. augularia reflecftion and you want her to be good, but shes just okay. they have pity on her and send her on through. no surprises there. could this be the next pickler? simon wouldve said no, he says, but there she goes.

chris is 28 and knows that people think he looks like jack osbourne, but simon thinks his crazy locks look like justin guarinni. can we please stop saying the names of really bad former idols? kiss from a rose and paula is fucking psyched! he was great and sails through. hell ya.

no paula abdul on day two of birmingham, que lastima.


most people say that i sound kinda like a disney character, says thios chick who has hair so long shes gotta wear high heels to keep it off the floor. she brings the mom in, who also has (impressively? freakishly?) incredibly long hair. she not terrible but doesnt make the grade.

lakia is bad. 'what the hell was that?', says simon. 'nuf said.

nicole and team nocole are up next. shes a cute girl from oklahoma, singing something to talk about, but not worthy. tis a shame.


a shot of brandy is next? i can dig it. i like vsop. but ooohhh, brandy sings 'like a virgin' like a stripper would sing it- but not a stripper with any talent. shes got the moves as well the moves of a stripper in a bad strip club. the kind diablo cody never worked at. a rotten audition is all simon says, but he coulda been far crueler. instead of letting it go, she wants to try 'proud mary' on the carpet, becasue the wood stage floor was making her sound wierd. a new excuse! lovely!


so birmingham was pretty entertaining, los angeles and the rose bowl are definitely on my agenda tomorrow night.

American Idol : The New York Auditions

So here we are in the Big Apple and the genious songwriter who wrote the phil collins classic a 'groovy kind of love' and other gems like 'thats what friends are for', carol bayer sager, will be guest judging.

Ian was on so you think you can dance very briefly, not for long after he started dancing. hes really obnoxious. ugh. he needs to be escorted out by security, then goes on a typical rant about how clueless the judges are.

the next chick is supposed to be at school in ohio and not auditioning in new york becuase her dad doesnt believe in her. sad. shes crying before she gets in the room, but manages to sing well enough and is cute enough to waltz through after simon says he likes her beacuse shes 'a tryer'. is that a word? paulas very proud of her already.

the greek idol chooses to sing toto's africa, complete with dancing. she gets off easy and quickkly exits the room. man the judges coulda had afield day with that one.

ashanti is back for the 3nd time, and having been to the hollywood round twice before, she figures its her destiny. this time she tries 'lovin you', but to no avail. shes not gonna make it this time. 'i have fought so hard for this', she begins, and is desparate for the judges to just tell her whats wrong, what can she do? etc...and goes into a sad monologue about how in the depths of her soul she knows shes meant to be on the show and theyre making a mistake and so on.

next up is the best friends, kinda cute girls from new jersey, and while they are pretty annoying when they sing together, separately they are pretty good. i bet you two are popular, simon observes. the second one was way better than the first, and they both unanimously get the approval of the judges.

your average joe, harmonica playing, sound effect making dude strolls in and tells how he loves his job because its like a reality show before singing zz top's 'touch'. yelling is more accurate i suppose. he also claps and stomps. doesnt make the cut. an astronaut suit and a couple strange dudes follow.

aint no way from athera is what kia is going to sing and shes pretty good. makes it to hollywood no problem. got some soul to her.

Day two begins without my hero, Simon Cowell, he complained of a singing hangover.

first up today is henry, who was adopteed by a bolivian couple as a baby.
he has faith in himself, and he has a huge, booming voice. very good. he seems rather square and all, but he could do well in this thing. plus, paula thinks hes easy on the eyes. that helps in this game. hes thru with all 3 votes.

YIKES! this little bundle of joy is way too excited. nakia is 24 but looks kinda like shes 12. your lots of fun! the judges all think, but not a good singer. this has to be one of the saddest transformations, from bouncing off the walls full of energy to after being denied, she in tears and looks absolutley devestated. her fellow contestant tries to console her but she refuses even a tissue.

sarah sings selenas 'dreaming of you', just like nakia before her, but can hardly remeber the words and shes really, really terrible. shes in tears soon after telling the judges that shes not really a singer. 'even if i dont sing i can be the next american idol. you just have to teach me. paris hilton cant really sing,' she pleads. what.? sarah is clearly emotionally off balance, but an entertaining meltdown nonetheless.


simons back and somehow a 47 year old dressed like frank sinatra made it onto the show. hes not funny or good or anything, so why did they not follow the normal 28 or 29 year old or whatever it is cutoff? this guy is just wierd and sings new york without bothering with the k at the end of the york.

jorry is 25 from canada and shes perrty. she has a decent voice but nothing spectacular, i didnt think, but the judges thought she was great and sent her on through.

'i represnt queens new york and i consider myself the american idol soldier, becuase i am completely militant when it come to preparng for the auditions.' she's fucking scary yo. she lost 15-20 pounds for this audition, she says. yikes.she wouldve been better off not talking about what a freak she is. her voice isnt really very impressive, but somehow she gets through becuase shes got some kind of attitude and an inpiring story, and suddenly shes hugging everyone but simon. i dont get it

then we have a 'people with amusing or difficult to pronounce or foriegn names' medly.

next guy is often told he looks like simon cowell, or george micheal. he sings a kelly clarkson song, and sounds like a girl, and im lol before he finishs. 'i know its differnt for a male vocalist' simon suggests that he should be you should be singing in a dress and stilletos.

rachel, from manhattan goes to opera school and would be kicked outta school if they found out she was auditioning for american idol. those fascists. man, she looks and sounds exactly as odd as you would think a young person in opera school would be, but there is some talent there, albeit some nerdy talent.

an all night long lionel richie jam is now in full effect, and these quick little things make you wish you could see more than just a small freaction of all the absurd auditions. they are so terrible and so comical.

chris richardson sounds pretty good, a 22 year old from pa. looks an sounds a bit like jt for sure. sails through to hollywood

nick 'bowed out' of the competition last season and has been haunted by his mistake ever since. hes back to sing 'fly me to the moon' and hes got a good voice but is pretty boring. all the judges send him through with smiles on their faces.

isadora is the last contestant for the day and she reads palms for a living.
it seems like she losing her cool and starting to whimper and cry, but thats just her warming up before she launches into a abomination that went at times to the tune of moulan rouge. the judges had a long day, i think, and really take it easy on her.

35 people made it from new york. tomorrow night we go to the home of ruben studdard, bo bice and taylor hicks, birmingham, alabama. awesome. not a bad season so far id say.

tuesday at the terminal

a quiet nite @ the terminal. established way back in 1932, the sign at the door says. javier trejo and his 2 piece band play some lazy jazz as i walk in to find the joint empty. there four people sitting at the bar and three on the stage. and one guy running sound. again, its a quiet night. but hten again its only about a quarter to 11, maybe itll pick up.

the old timer @ the door informs me its a $3 cover charge sheepishly, as if he expects me to turn and walk out, like i almost did the 1st time i stopped by the terminal on a tuesday night. $3 aint bad when jav is onstage tho. the guy can pick that guitar, and his stand up bassist & drummer back him perfectly.

familar riffs float from his guitar. quick latin rythms that u swear u'v heard a thousand times but u couldnt say where. a lonely dancer takes to her feet, swaying effortlessly to the grooves and letting her arms glide as the tunes intensify. she dont care that noone else is dancing, man, she came to feel the music and thats what shes gonna do. i doubt if shed even notice if the dancefloor was packed, so in her own world is she.her feet begin to shuffle as the guitar quickens. the drummer is suddenly pounding as jav lets loose on his strings. the bass is being plucked furiously to keep pace.

and and it nears midnight, the place finds itself actually kinda full. when the second set begins there is a decnt crowd to watch the band play. i guess its just a late night crowd.

Am I : The Memphis Auditions

The Tennesee city of 650,000 looks just like a ghost town, because there are so many people trying out in Memphis.


16,000 people to be precise, and our first contestant is a 21 year old male cheerleader/ cheerlearer coach, so he has some encouragemnt. he kicks it all off with 'heard it thru the grapevine'. very thespian. haha simon hated it, called it caberet. the first such declaration of the season. thank you simon, and before simon can finish, the cheerer bursts into 'unchain my heart'. yes, perfect for drama club yo, this is american idol tho. his posse outside the audition room is stunned as he tells them the judges thought he was too over the top. 'the captain of the cheerleading squad over the top?!' quips seacrest, just before the cheerleaders begin a redemptive rant. simon is annoyed like seldom before as the marching band kicks in and says 'can somebody tell him he didnt get through?!' i love that guy.


tamika simms is 16 and not very excited or exciting. 'you can call me miki, hmmm.' is about all she can conjure up in front of the camera when they give her a chance to do or say something interesting. shes not a very good singer either. can i sing another song? she asks. no says simon, then she tries again anyway. yikes. behold:



chris rivera does superstitious for us and hes pretty hilarious,and alexis the 20 year old with braces sucks as well.

'my folks were hippies' explains sundance head, 'thats where the name came from'. his dad had a #1 hit in 1965 but 'yesterday' by the beatles bumped him. sundance is married with a baby on the way, and you cant help but immediately be a cheerleader for this fella. he's big and burly and sings like a choirboygonedrinkininbluestown.
im gonna be amazed if you dont make the finals,says simon cowell.
wow, that guy can sing - randy
he just blew taylor out of the park. simon says
dude, im saying. - randy agrees -in circles.

huh? so sundance just blew taylor out of the park in circles?

word.


b.b.king elvis and al green all came from memphis, but wandera just aint in the same group as them. she is not too bad, but the judges just dont see anything special about her voice, then she freaks out outside the audition room. sweet. thats what this first part of the season is all about yo. the freak out. classic.

medly of terrible, desperate auditions follows then travis mckay brings us a song from his heart. hes gonna bring emotion to american idol for the first time. before he starts the siging or whateves he did an insane dance move, than proceeds to

danielle mcculloch, 18, of TN just wants to make them smile today, singing arethas baby i love you. cute little girl that kicks ass. randy doesnt think shes good enough and i think hes crazy. she was awesome, and simon and paula know it. we will see more of her.

'i believe that the american idol auditions are a new beginning for me,' states topher, seriously, 'i know this is where i supposedtabe in life'.
his wife left him, and now hes gonna get footloose. nope.

did that girl really just try to sing disco inferno?

sean michelle: 'everyone says i look like either osama bin laden...or jesus. or castro. or just...homeless bum...' dudes dressed in army green and guess what? this guy that does look like a castro halloween costume can really sing, and he sings johnny cashs 'gods gonna cut you down'. with a stomp and a snap and an awesome voice and it sounds pretty fucking cool, really. hes unanimously througho the next round of auditions, afte ra crack or two about how he looks like a revolutionary. viva la revolucion! but, then he does a wierd ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh supastar!!! thing molly shannon style in the confession room. this is when i am convinced its gonna be a really interesting season.

professional background singer melinda doolittle is up and shes gonna sing for 'once in my life' shes definitely got some pipes. and even a lil bit of style. i like her. 1 million percent yes says simon, one of the best auditions ever, vocally, says randy. aahh-nicze.

'i have an outstanding voice, and i have an outstanding vocal', proclaims robert lee holmes, 21 of memphis. he writes stories, sings, and dances for a living. probably not much of the singing tho because he clearly cant sing, trying to do 'im just a hunkahunka burnin love'. he looked downright sad when they told him no fucking way.

next its the obligatory memphis auditions featuring terrile elvis impersonations, and there are quite a few. hahahaha, i am SO entertained. hahahah. lmfao. hahaha
that is spectacular

homeboy had a baby today, and hes gonna sing lets get it on, but switches to my girl
and makes it through.


so we have some good prospects far, and tomorrow night we go to NYC. lovin it.

American Idol Season Premiere : part two

so we find ourselves in seattle on a rainy day.

first is another red white and blue costumed contestant. last year he sung i shot the sherriff with a police uniform on, and tonight hes doing god bless america with a uncle sam getup on.

the hotness!!!! oh my. i dont even know where to start there. eventually the judges have to yell at her to get her to stop singing. why dont you get a job down at the port? simon asks. to which she replies 'get a report as a brain surgeon and get do yourself a labotomy'. is that what she said? does that even make any sense?

now its the stay at home mom whose husband wasnt supportive becasue he didnt want to lose her to hollywood. i love when people make excuses for sounding terrible before they sing a note, then apologize when they finish singing. she has a dry throat. the label on the water bottle that quenches her is blurred out, it must not have been dasani. again a contestant refuses to stop singing until yelled at.

i dont reacll anything on tv making me laugh out loud as much as the american idol auditions. i really only like the short clips, for when we get into this mama daughter thing, misha, darwin misha who wrote a novella about a singing competition with a character based on simon, it get old quickly. dontcha wish your girlfriend was hot like me? is the song of choice for daughter. simon flatly replies 'no'. im a stuuudent...and a wriiiter...



tommy daniels thinks am i is his elevator, and whether he has to take the stairs or use the elevator, hes gonna get to the top. surprisingly, this guy was pretty good and hes the first one to go from seattle to hollywood. his 3rd audition??


blake is a multi-instrumentalsist and vocalist/beatbox champ. can he impress the judges? seal's 'crazy' is what he does, with a lil turntable-esque vocal scrathcing. one of those guys who will not make it past the initial hollywood round, you would hope.

one of the worst days we've ever had complains simon before calling the 'lean on me guy' one of the worst of the day. haha that was pretty bad indeed.

the indian siblings: they are the smiliest people of the season so far. shymali is mighty cute and can sing too. simon says nothing unique here, but fuck ya, she is great.
her little brother sanjaya is 17 and hes 'alot better than your sister' according to simon. he is fantastic as well and they are both going to go far i bet. theyre entertaining.

the very first unchained melody of the year!! his co-workers encouraged him to try out. thats my kind of office. the judges are fucking comedic geniouses in their ability to let people go on for so long. 'one of the worst ive ever heard, almost non-human' ss. thats when the guy *officially* became my hero.



rudy sings us some journey to round out the day, and he makes it thru sans simons approval.

day 2 of seattle brings us the duo of kenneth, the nsync singer. 'you look like one of those cratures that live in the jungle with thiose massive eyes. what are they called?...bushbabies.' that was one of the best auditions ever. simon is brilliant.

his new buddy in hawaiian shirtery is johnathon and hes gonna be singing god bless america. not well. a unanimous no from the judges. rough.

tayor hicks' long lost hairdresser brother is up next, and looking (vaguely) like t-hix 'really helps with the ladies' he says. security suddenly is escorting taylor> season six out of the audition room after he advanced on simon to work on his hair.

the 6'4 texan anna belts the first aretha of the season, and although simon calls her 'loud' and 'over the top', paula and randy happily send her to hollywood. you just put through a giraffe. ss

16 year old jordan sparks. i think ill call her jspark. i like her already. she sings celine dion but i still like her. too cutesy and sugary for simon, but the others love her. i love her. she is my favorite.

steven, aka big red, is from wisconsin, and hes way cooler than carrot top. hes as good as the lead singer from queen, he remarks before launching into bohemian rapsody. the judges are all chuckling before the first line is complete. splendid.

and with that the season premiere is complete. next week, its on to memphis.

season six. its on.

American Idol Season Premiere : part one

Who will be...the next...American Idol?

Baba O'Reilley is the first song we are treated to in the sixth season of American Idol, but after a little bit of tooting its own horn, the seacrest/AM I machine segways into Minneapolis via our own Prince. If you didnt see the mans performance on the season finale of american idol last year, find it on youtube. i think i called it the most erotic thing ive ever seen on primetime.

jewel is the first honorary celebrity judge of the season and, coincidentally, her hit 'dreams last', is the first song we get to enjoy from a contestant in this brand new season. in true american idol fashion, there are tears before there are any actual notes sung beacuase jewel happens to be the idol of our first contestant,
a young makeup artist at the mall of america. while that does sound like exactly what america is looking for, somehow she doesnt woo the judges and jewel is less than impressed with the rendition laid down.


amish chic is up next. never seen the show and doesnt own a television. sometimes you just wish they wouldnt put the people on who clearly just want to be on television or whateves and really dont think they have a shot. but perhaps almost as comical as the looks on the judges faces is the looks of determination on the contestants' faces. some of these people really believe in themselves. they woke up that morning, looked in the morro and told themselves that they were going to earn that gold piece ofd paper that would carry htem to hollywood. wait, maybe thats not comical at all.

this guy with the apollo creed suit, i mean really. even if he were a brilliant singer, what on earth would the judges say?

denise the crackbaby from madison. big voice. the first person we see in this new season get through to the next round.

american idol appeal for people to remember the lyrics to the songs they choose. our first minneapolis native gets upo there and cant recall how princes song kiss goes.

'do you like spanish girls?' asks the columbian born perla to ryan seacrest before murdering debbie harry. then randy asks for her to do hips dont lie and suddenly they like her? wow sometimes the judges surprise me.

i love when randy bursts out laughing during a performance nad people trail off

the sailor who does rascall flatts, looks like i have an early rival, just becuase they spent so much time with the lead in to this guy with the ship and the unanimous judges saying yes to him. the reagan idol

the wizard of oz lion chick from brainard?? haha sounds more like chubaca than any roar ive ever heard. simon says 'what am i supposed to say?' looking absolutely baffled. no sweetheart, the judges don want eh poster you made either.

the vocal coach?? who would give this guy money? ill tell you who. the very same people who voted for kellie pickler last year.

the cute girl from excelsior is happier that she can qquit her job than to go to hollywood

then the chick whose boss flew her to mpls to re-audition - wierd yo.
maplewood mamas and papas dude. huh?! hollywood eh?
minnetonka mechanic girl whose huband is is iraq. fuck its hard to not root for her. shes in the reserves. comes to the audition in fatigue. army reservist. actuallt pretty good. simon knows america likes its military, or at least wont say that dont, so shes the second military person simon says 'i think america will like you' to.

eu-claire, going to school in d-town?! yes! send a duluthian to hollywood, please! oh man and she actually is good. -its so fun to hear all these names of cities that most of the american idol watchers have never heard of. unanimously going to hollywood, is ms euclaire. awesome.


brenna watches englands pop idol, candaian idol, australian idol, has every episode on tape, etc...ace young drew her a tatoo. almost as bad as it can possibly get ss.
10 years of training down the drain. a degree in vocal performance.

burnsville guy with the twirling sticks. 'useless at everything' is how simon sums up the minneapolis experiment. juggling is just my entertainment its not my life is what he says when seacrest suggests tht amaybe singing really isnt what hell become famous for.

the prince medley!! prince will never be on this show again man, randy says. haha

our chisago city rocker gets to try again with abba, but hes mos def better off sticking with his band.

so 17 out of 10000 people made it to hollywood. tomorrow night, american idol goes to seattle, just like bri and i will be in a month. thats totally how i roll nowadays, im on am i tour yo






Out here in the fields...

2006 music sloppylovefest

2006 was unquestionably the coolest year of music i have ever experienced. now that we are 12 days into the new year, i think its time i finish this enormous task of trying to sum up what a great year it was and all, or at least most of, the shows that i was lucky enough to catch.

06 started with a minnesota music lovers dream come true. trampled by turtles, the white iron band, god johnson, and the big wu all taking the stage at the roy. it was a helluva show and a helluva party.

what else happened in january? who knows man.

2/7 STS9 - sound tribe sector nine at teh fine line music cafe. fucking awesome. those guys kick ass with their spacey techno jams. also got to see htem play first avenue in the fall.

2/17 Trampled by turtles headline their first show ever at First ave. now TBT had played the main room at 1st ave several times before, opening for Ike Reilly thanksgiving eve in 05, opening for low and camper von beetoven at some point, and low as well i think, but to headline 1st avenue? i was so excited to see my boys get that gig. it was fantastic. the fucking white iron band and charlie parr opened the show.

the very next night

god johnson at pizza luce in duluth. they opened for fat ma rooney, and i remember thinking that the lineup that night was unjust. the GJ shouldve closed out the night, but what can you do? this was the year of god johnson, in my ever so humble opinion. they have BLOWN UP in the mpls music scene, and the wednesday night show at the cabooze (a.k.a. 'the service' , 'church', 'the altar') has absolutley become a staple in my life over the last year, and i absolutley fucking love it.

Say what??!! No phish tour? Whatever am I to do in the summer??

For the seventh year in a row, I kicked off the summer with the Big Wu Family Reunion. Now in its 9TH year, there was speculation that ticket sales for this years reunion would decide whether or not there would be a tenth. I have no numbers to report, but it has recently been announced that there will in fact be a #10. Held over Memorial Day weekend, the reunion is, for many Midwest heads, the official start of festival season. Tis a much looked forward to event, not only for its symbolic marking of the changing of the seasons, but of course for the talented and fresh lineup of music that the Wu treats us to each year. A diverse and scattered lineup it has always been, with past acts including Michael Franti and Spearhead, Yonder Mountain String Band, Umphreys McGee, Happy Apple, Particle, Railroad Earth, the Radiators, Leftover Salmon, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and of course regional favorites like The White Iron Band and local heroes Trampled by Turtles.
This year the highlights were the North Mississippi All Stars, O’Teil and the Peacemakers, Cornmeal, God Johnson, Hackensaw Boys, All Mighty Senators, Pnuma Trio, Tea Leaf Green, Hyentyte, Down Lo and, of course, two nights of the Big Wu. It was one of the strongest lineups yet for the Reunion. A fantastic weekend all around. Plenty of old and brand new friends to chill with and tons of great music to boot. I have met so many wonderful folks over the years at the reunion. The vibe there is always fantastic. It really is like a family reunion. If you had an awesome fucking family who knew how to party.

June 11th. Bruce Springsteen with the Seeger Sessions Band. This is American music if there has ever been such a thing. The most hoedownin, goodtimin, gospelspittin, americannin, soul protest roots folk music imaginable. Before the show, having dinner with a seventy something year old Bruce fan and her posse, it was striking how similar bruuuuceheads and other heads are, how they talk about shows past as if they were an integral part of their lives. An absolutely fantastic show.

Tom petty and Pearl Jam june 26th. The first of a two night stand at the xcel, it was the second time I seen petty and the first for pearl jam. Mostly new original material from Eddie and the boys, but it was fun to see and remember how they helped shape a generation about ten years ago. Relix, (THE Rolling Stone of the jam band scene) ran a cover story of Pearl Jam calling them Men of the Hour, also claiming that they were this generations grateful dead or some shit. I don’t buy it. They are definitely an important part of the early nineties music scene, but that comparison seems like quite a stretch to me. Best Petty I seen. American girl with vedder was sweet, except that his mic was not on for the better part of the song. When he came back out for the encore, he proclaimed ‘is this thing on?!’ into the mic to the delight of the crowd.

July 4th at excelsior lake. Trampled by Turtles. Fireworks. Awesome.

Basilica Block Party downtown featured the biggest crowd I have ever seen at a trampled by turtles show - several thousand for sure - that was pretty fucking sweet, and the animal liberation orchestra was there too. They didn’t sound that great then, but I have heard them on cirius satelite radi station #17, jam on, lately singing some silly song about reefer. That was my first basilica block party. I would go back again if I could get in free again. And if TBT was playing again. Otherwise I would probably skip it.

Green man in Duluth. Disappointing turnout. Teague Alexy and God Johnson and trampled by turtles was reason enough to make the trip to Duluth, but I was not persuaded to stay the second night. Id like to make it back to greenman if there is such a thing next year.

10K - anyone who was there, (there were about 14000 of us) knows this was THE festival of the summer. This is a festival that will give the biggest names in the festival business- bonnaroo, jamcruise, etc a run for their money in the next few years. A young 4 years old with a growing base, 10k has brought the biggest names on the jamband circuit to us. Phil Lesh and friends put on the most spectacular dead-related show I have ever seen. Hands down. Better than The Dead in 2003. with bob Dylan. Better than phil lesh and friends (with very special guest bob weir) at bonnaroo in 2002. fucking phenomenal. The Wheel?! Sick. Ryan adams’ ‘when the stars go blue’ was a highlight of the summer, even tho it was the very first time I had heard the song. Also ryan adams’ cold roses, which would make an appearance later on in the summer by the artist himself at lollapalooza. And…Areyoufuckingkiddingme?!?!?! SHAKEDOWNSTREET was pure magic and sexy and had the place in a fucking ultra funked out disco frenzy.
The (Benevento/Russo) Duo, supposedly with Mike Gordon, featured Gordon on only a few tracks, one of which was FOAM, (and it just keeps getting thicker…and im fallllllllllllling into a deep well….)
Trey and Mike and the duo, I told my lovely traveling companion/ sexy girlfriend, is the closest thing you will ever see to phish, unless phish does that reunion tour in 2009. (sidenote- a good friend of mine’s good friend recently ran into trey at an Atlanta sushi joint and trey reprted that the band would indeed be reuniting at some point). It was very nice to see, a comforting and heartwarming thing indeed, two of the fellas from that crazy Vermont band on stage at once.
Other highlights, Trampled by Turtles, Railroad Earth, Green Lemon and The Big Wu.

One weekend off, then off to Chicago with Brianna for lollapalooza. we rode the megabus down there, a nice and cheap way to go, and had an absolute blast. It was my very first time in chicago. It is a beautiful city I plan on spending much more time in, and lollapalooza is a spectacular thing. Many many many many bands. 140+ on eight stages. Three days. Ryan adams did dead covers?! 'hes gone' and 'franklins tower'. I wondered how many people there were familiar with those fairly obscure dead songs. Raconteurs covering gnarls barkleys’ ‘crazy’. Gnarls Barkley covering Nancy Sinatra’s song from that tarantino flick. Red hot chili peppers *teasing* but not quite playing, both the clash’s London calling (for bri, one of her most revered bands of all time) and public enemy’s your gonna get yours (one of my most revered bands of all time). Excellent show. Other surprises/highlights included lady sovereign, thievery corporation, Matisyahu. Sleater Kinney’s last show ever. Rock. Manu Chau??!! Do you know about this guy? You should.

Log Jam at harmony park. Perhaps the fewest people I have ever seen at harmony park. That was allright tho, it fit the vibe of this intimate, smaller festival. Trampled by turtles played twice, and half a set or so backing the brilliant guitarist/singer/songwriter/vagrant Charlie Parr. White iron band knows how to throw a party like few other bands on earth. Last years log jam, held in Ely MN, 4 hours north of the cities and attended by no more than the white iron band itself and a hundred or so of their closest friends, was a helluva good time on the grounds of the winton (outside of ely) gun club. This year was better, quite a few more people but still had the same ‘were all buddies, now lets get fucking wasted’ kind of atmosphere. Cheers of Log Jam! Log Jam! Log Jam! Log Jam! helped build the excitement prior to this celebration of debauchery throughout the year at nearly every White Iron Band show. Cheers got louder and more focused as the festival drew near. When the weekend finally arrived, those same cheers gradually became celebrations of drunkenness, as in Booze jam! Booze jam! Booze jam! Booze jam! and eventually Booze Booze! Booze Booze! Booze Booze! Booze Booze! Awesome. A rockin good time. A hootenanny if I have ever seen one.

Harvest Fest at Harmony Park was certainly the most off the hook harvest I have been to, and I have been to a few. Arrested Development was back for the second year in a row, along with the All Mighty Senators from Baltimore, Balkan Beat Box, Unity from Wisconsin (featuring a gorgeous young blonde dreadlocked keyboardist extraordinaire) and Wookiefoot put out a wonderfully welcoming vibe and I’m guessing everyone else felt as at home as I did. The welcoming vibe was surpassed only by the outlandish spectacle of the fire dancers and the relentless eye candy. everyone dressed up like it was some sort of wierd hippy fairy costume party. fire spinning, fire twirlers, fire spitters, fires and drum circles until dawn, did i mention fire?? fire fire fire! light up your lighter!!

kasabian at the fine line on october 5th was a fantastic show. it was my first proper brit rock show, and it was really cool to see a band that is so popular overseas in such a small venue like that. they spent a good part of the summer opening for bloody oasis (!) but the states just havent quite caught on to their hardcore phsycadelic rock yet. im confident that we will.

RAQ, from Vermont, was at the cabooze on my birthday in october, that was a good show. the next night the ike reilly asassanation played at valleyfair. or should i say valleyscare. that was a trip. i've had the pleasure of meeting ike and his band a couple times, and on this occasion, brianna and jim walsh and ike and his band went to the liffey after having a few beers on the tour bus. as it happens, jims brother terry walsh was playing at the liffey that night, and after a few irish coffes and more beers, jim and ike had an drunken old man freestyle rap battle that was extremely vulgar and disrespectful to eachothers mothers. coincidentally, there was a wedding reception that night there and the groom was a huge ike reilly fan. sweet.

the next night, tampled by turtles headlined their secnd show at first avenue. im not sure if either show sold out or not, but it was definitel close on both occasions. they had a phenomenal year, and they are a phenomenal band. phenomenal.

I think this was this first summer since 2000 or 01 that I didn’t see Widespread Panic. However, I did see a live simulcast of a show back in May and and saw them october 22nd at the northrop. good show.

ike reilly played first avenue the night before thanksgiving for something like the sixth year in a row, and it was a fantastic time.

the big wu recently announced an extended hiatus, after never doing so before in over 14 years of playing together. although they lost lead guitarist jason fladager, aka jflad, in 2002 i beleive, he occasionally sits in with them and did so for an entire show on december 29th at the cedar cultural center. remarkably it was the first time brianna or i had ever been to that cozy little gymnasium like venue. that was a fun show. it was nice to see jason rockin with his former bandmates.


God Johnson throws down every single Wednesday at the cabooze and I have been there most every week for the last year or so. It is a great time. They are certainly one of my favorite bands and i really look forward to checking them out. i really like their new song church tongue. and when they play talking heads covers. scott is a brilliant david byrne. also i love when they cover phish or the stones or stevie wonder, with kevin sinclair kicking ass on the saxophone.

Threres lots and lots more show i wnet to i know but i didnt do a very good job of keeping track of them all and as much as i try to save ticket stubs, sometimes they get lost in the chaos and im left wondering where my money and mind went. in any case, it was a spectacular year and hopefully this year ill be a lil more diligent about writing about all the great music that i come across.

cheers, and rock on.

American Idol : Season 6

If youre not sure about what an absolutely dominating presence American Idol is on the television landscape, dig this: ABC has moved 'Lost', one of the highest rated shows on T.V., to a later timeslot so as not to go head to head with Idol. good move ABC. Last season an average of 33 million pople tuned in every week, up 3 million from the previous season. You can bet that this season will be even bigger. In fact, FOX's commercials promoting the two night, four hour season premiere event promise that it will be bigger and better than ever before.

but can anything top this performance, which i described as the most erotic thing i had ever witnessed on primetime television??????





The show's executive producer even said that one mid-season event in particular 'will blow america away'. that excites me. if its gonna top last years performances, which included Prince, Mary J, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, and most impressively and hotly Shakira, it will be pretty fucking great indeed.

It is the show that makes a few dreams come true while crushing about 99,999 more. (over 100,000 people auditioned this year according to the official website idolonfox.com)its the show where within a one hour program you can see people completely fall apart onstage and make a fool of themselves in front of millions of people immediately before another contestant becomes the favorite artist in the world to millions of viewers. now thats good tv. reality tv if there ever was such a thing.

This season, for the first time, i will have the pleasure of watching with the convenience of a DVR. don't you worry tho, as I will still be watching those fantastic Ford commercials featuring the finalist doing lots of ridiculous things quasi related to driving Ford automoblies. some of the contestants will certainly be too young to even operate a motor vehicle legally.
Unfortunately my busy work schedule will prevent me from watching the show until late at night, so i will not be able to immediately provide the quality commentary that many of you have come to expect from my blog. Alas, i will still watch every episode and get my expert analysis out onto the www as soon as i can.

As of right now, a week before the new season begins, last years winner, that goofy Alabaman Taylor Hicks sits at #35 on the billboard top 100. Poor guy, he entered the charts at #2 just 3 weeks ago, then dropped to 15 before falling further to 35.

Chris Daughtry and his bnad (daughtry) made it to #2, but now sit at #11. I happened to catch him on Leno the other night, and while he still aint bad (he was my pick to win the whole shebang for a while there last year) his band has that generic alternative rocker sound that cna be found in too many bands nowadays.

Carrie Underwood, winner of season 4, also hit #2 with her record and now occupies the #15 slot.

its unfathomable, really, to think how much $ has been made selling records between Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Hicks. That doesnt even include the Daughtrys and Clay Aikins, who despite not actually winning the competition have sold millions of records, and the constantine moraleses (now on broadway) and the jennifer hudsons (star of the dreamgirls movie musical), who will undoubtably live the rest of their lives as one of dozens of young stars who 'got their start' on american idol.

also, we will definitely have hometowners to root for, since they held auditions in minneapolis last august. fucking sweet.

dig this chick reppin my alma matar



i am so ready for this

nancy pelosi kicks ass

"Ms. Pelosi is a huge Dead fan." her spokesperson was quoted as saying in a recent New York Times article. not only is she a cute little firecracker, as i remarked to brianna yesterday, but she was just sworn in as the first ever female speaker of the house and to celebrate she got to rock out with members of one of her favorite bands.

here she is backstage at her $1000 a plate funraiser with her hubby and mickey hart (on her left)






she's gotta be the biggest thorn in the side of the president that the house of representatives has to offer. kick ass. so about this insane dinner thing she had:

Pelosi's "House Democratic Leadership & The House Democratic CaucusFor a Celebration Concert Honoring Speaker Nancy Pelosi"
featured
Tony Bennett, Carole King, and Wyclef Jean…
And your house band featuring Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby, Warren Haynes, Mike Gordon, and special guests…With special appearances by Amy Brenneman and Richard Gere.

so, thats : bob weir, mickey hart & bill kreutzmann of the grateful dead.
bruce hornsby of solo infamy and also of the grateful dead
mike gordon of phish
warren haynes of the allman brothers and gov't mule.

thats pretty spectacular. and then you throw in richard gere....awesome.

this guy is pretty fucking great tambien:



maureen dowd's nytimes piece on pelosi today.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/opinion/06dowd.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=1acd6666Q2FQ25lYRQ25iZe88iQ25MQ3CQ3CQ2FQ25Q3CQ26Q25Q3CuQ258Q5EQ3E.Q3E8.Q25Q3Cug8lgVIi3s

2 years of employment

In these crazy uncertain economic times we live in, being at one job for 2 years is something to be proud of. most 'young' (thats in parentheses becuase i am now 28 years 'old') folks today change careers many times before they settle into whatever it is they will be doing for a paycheck for the rest of their lives. ive read about this. its like seven times or something. in any case the itubespace generation is far more likely to hop around in their careers than the generations who came before us.

so, today marks two years of me being employed by one of the biggest non profit organizations in the world. i feel pretty good about that. this is the 3rd job in my life that has lasted over two years, out of probably a couple dozen or so jobs.

i have done lots of different things. my first job was a grocery bagger at byerly's. i was a dishwasher in more than one dining establishment. i was a prep cook at the brand new olive garden for a year right before i moved to mpls. i was one of the original kitchen crew at the brand new restaurant, and during that time, i estimate that i cooked over 100,000 breadsticks and made upwards of 2000 gallons of alfredo sauce. yum. i delivered pizzas for bulldog pizza for about six months, until my $200 subaru finally had enough of the terrible roads and absurd hills of duluth. that's gotta be one of the most harsh cities for cars on the planet. i stocked organic produce and made salads and veggie juices and delicious delicious fresh citrus juice for 3 and1/2 years at the whole foods co-op in duluth. i set up tables and chairs for a rental place, driving around town with my roommate gettin blazed and delivering various rental equipment in a huge truck. i cooked pizzas at the now defunct godfathers pizza in duluth, i was stock boy extraordianire for the great company slumberland in high school, and did some clerical work for them too towards the end and when i came home for breaks during my first year of college. i also worked in the kitchen at UMD for awhile, that was pretty lame. i assembled furniture in peoples homes for a lil while once upon a time, that was interesting to go into people's homes like that, but you got paid per piece of furniture, and some of the damn things were really cheap and nearly impossible to put together, even for a professional like myself. i was a telemarketer for about a week, and a market researcher (someone who called doctors and lawyers and asked them very technical questions about the software they use or some shit) for all of two days. i was a 'youth treatment specialist' for about six months at a residential treatment center/correctional facility for juveniles before i got really fed up with it and quit. i really didnt like working with 'at risk' kids. some of these kids were, in fact, well beyond at risk and were downright delinquent or even reckless criminals. having to physically restrain 16 year olds who would like nothing more than to kick your ass is just a fucking drag. that job was kinda funny because the kids had to address me properly, like mr such and such. i also wrote for the ripsaw in duluith for quite a while, altho that wasn't a paying gig at all. just the occasional free cd or gift certificate to the hippest of duluth's watering holes. but i did deliver ripsaws weekly for several months up and down tower avenue in superior. that paid, but really poorly. the $10 or $20 that i made was usually almost enough to cover the cost of alcohol consumed during the wednesday delivery route. let me tell you, its very difficult to stop into a couple dozen sup town low down dive bars without wetting the ol' whistle a lil bit now and then. good times. so thats all the jobs i can think of at the moment. im sure there are lots more, but that not even really whats important here.

what IS important is that i have managed to stay at this job for two years, and although it is a grandiose pain in the ass sometimes, for the most part it suits me just fine. my schedule has evolved to a lovely 2-10:30pm shift, i have fridays and saturdays off every every every week, i can take time off when i need, like when the lovely lady and i will go to seattle for a week and a half or so next month. this job has also allowed me the flexibility to go to many many important out of town destinations, mainly outrageous music festivals. in the last year i took time off for snowball, the reunion, green man, 10K, lollapalooza, log jam, who knows what else. so i dig my job overall. now, before i tell you about how my day's going on my 2 year anniversary, lets look back at my one year anniversary.


some of you may remember my 1 year anniversary blog, wherein i described an interesting thing that happened to me that day. as a supervisor, i often have people ask me if i am hiring, what i am hiring for, how much money i pay the poeple i hire, what hours and days am i looking to hire someone for, when i will be looking for help, etc... so on that one year anniversary, when an older gentleman approached me and asked if we were hiring, i thought nothing of it. as it happens, we were hiring and i encouraged the fella to fill out an application. upon completing said application he asked me if we hired people with criminal backgrounds. i was a tiny bit offput, as that kind of question's generally not a great sign. but, i informed him that we do criminal background checks but having something on your record doesnt necessarily mean you wont get hired. it depends on what kind of record it is, how long ago the incident(s) in question happened, and so on. he seemed satisfied with that answer and went on his way. obviously curious as to what kind of criminal history this old timer had, i looked at the application and was surprised to see not a dwi, dui, assault, (i've honestly seen the word 'barfite' appear on an application), but a second degree attempted murder charge. perhaps it was manslaughter. in any case, i had myself an uneasy chuckle and sent it in to HR, never hearing the guys name again. im sure he repayed his debt to society and was unlikely to attempt to murder anyone should he have been hired, but i suppose ill never know for sure.

today, on this second anniversary of employment, i find myself playing security gaurd because a very important part of our facility is missing a door. there's new carpet being installed you see, and the door that normally would offer security to this particular part of the building needs to be sanded down to accomodate this new carpet. the details really arent relevant i guess, but suffice it to say that i need to babysit this area for over 2 hours to make sure no one wanders in and steals computers or tools or something. hence the longwinded bloggage. plenty of time to ramble on and on about previous work experience and what nots. that is the nature of my job. i never really know what is going to happen. whos not going to show up or whos going to call in sick. what kind of crazyrandom renovations or new construction projects are underway next is anyones guess. i usually find out about this kind of thing a day or two in advance, and then it's 'james, were going to need you to go ahead and play security guard for the evening, get yourself a good book or your psp or whatever and get ready to do some sittin' around.' is what my instructions were. wicked. ive never been a security gaurd before, but i have been trained in nonviolent conflict resolution, should the need for that come about. ironically, it was in that training that i learned several 'restraints' which i suppose are not technically violent, as they are used only to prevent harm to ones self or others, but i always thought it was a funny name for a training of that kind. ok this has gone on long enough, if youre still with me, congratulations. you probably have some spare time at work today too. fantastic. so, wish me luck as i embark on this journey of employment. congatulate me for being so goddamn responsible and employable. and for gods sake, dont work too hard.