I know I promised in a previous post I would talk more about free mp3 downloads. Well, if you are into alt.country, americana, cow punk, whatever they are calling it these days. This site is for you.

There are lots of Ryan Adams, Jay Farrar, Neko Case and the like there for the taking. Lots of free mp3s. Get em quick, you know how mp3’s are these days.

For those of you who are planning on attending 2006 SXSW, I urge you to check out some of these amazing bands! There are two Twangfest day parties at SXSW. The parties are on Thursday, March 16th and Saturday, March 18th, both at Jovita’s from 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm. Jovita’s is located at 1619 South First, Austin, TX.

Twangfest & KDHX-FM Party Thurs, March 16th

Inside Stage:  read more »

You know you are obsessed with a band when you start dreaming about them. I love the Replacements. They are the best rock and roll band, ever. They are rock and roll. Not alternative, not punk, not indie…rock and roll.

Anyway, last night I had a pretty bizzare dream:  read more »

Someone made a cartoon and redid Aerosmith’s Janie’s Got a Gun to include lyrics about Cheney’s hunting fiasco. Hilarious stuff. You can check it out here. I was pretty surprised at the production of the song. The guy sounds a lot like Steven Tyler.

Run away
Run Run awayeeaayeeaayeeaay

Good humor. Really great animation. Check it out.

They labeled it “Death By Misadventure.” Nuge anyone? A 16 year old teenage from China died while jumping on his bed mimicking a rock star. He flew out of a third floor window to his death.

Wonder what rock star he was mimicking? I smell a lawsuit. Blame it on metal.

You can read the full article here.

Earlier today, I wrote a post about a dream I had last night about the Replacements. This is really freaky…today I found out that 10 years ago today Bob Stinson died. Could the spirit of the late Bob Stinson have visited me last night?

Do you believe?

I’ve got goosebumps…

Here’s another one of those waste some time while you were at work thing. This site will tell you what the number one song was on the day you were born.

I was born on December 8, 1969. Apparently the number one song was “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam. Didn’t the Bananarama cover that one? Cringe.

Apparently the RIAA is changing their story again. Now they’re saying you can make backup copies of your cd’s but ripping them to MP3’s and putting them on your iPod is not fair use. I am really beginning to hate the RIAA!!

You can read the full article here.

Retrocrush is a cool website that deals with all retro stuff that you knew when you were a kid. I spent a few hours here one day. A great way to waste some work time.

They have a section on the 50 most coolest song parts. I thought this section was a little cheesy. I did like the fact that the included Minnesota’s own Replacements in the top 50.

Ever wonder how rock bands got their names? Like Creedence Clearwater Revival, where the hell did that come from? Or what was Chumbawamba smoking when they picked that name?

There is a website out there that covers this very topic. They cover rock band name origins. There are some pretty interesting stories. Check it out.

The internet is not what it used to be. A few years ago, you could get almost anything you wanted. Anything and everything and it was free. This did turn me on to a mess of bands I would have never discovered. And yes, I bought their CD’s, went to their shows, and bought T shirts at the show…I’m a bands dream come true.  read more »

Voivod is one of the most creative and intense bands to ever play metal. Killing Technology, Dimension Hatross and Nothingface were all complete masterpieces.

Last year, Denis “Piggy” D’Amour died from colon cancer. Which is very sad. He was a very talented and creative guitarist.

Voivod drummer Michael “Away” Langevin received a call one day from Denis D’Amour from the hospital. Denis said, “come to the hospital, I need to tell you something.” Langevin went to visit D’amour and was told he only had days to live.  read more »

Back in 1991, a band from texas going by the name of Dead Horse released their second record called Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers. I found it to be a complete masterpiece. It blew me a way.

It was so heavy, crunchy and the drums were incredibly fast. Not to mention anyone that does the B52’s Rock Lobster speed metal style is cool with me.

Dead Horse sounds like thrash metal with some grindcore mixed in. They mix elements of death, thrash, bluegrass, country, blues, punk, rockabilly, jazz, and metal into intricately woven, explosive songs. There are plenty of tempo shifts and structure changes to choke a horse…no pun intended. Tight, did I mention tight? The vocals are sung/shouted like James Hetfield meets Kurt Cobain, with some deathly growls mixed in.

I was lucky enough to see Dead Horse in the 7th Street Entry open up for Entombed back in 1992. Dead Horse stole the show. They showed up really late, I thought they weren’t going to show. Finally, at last minute they showed up and kicked ass. The drums were the highlight for me. He made speed look so effortless.

After their set they were hanging out in the First Avenue mainroom while Entombed played. I talked to Michael Haaga and Ronny Guyote. They were super cool. They even gave me a few of their drink tickets.

Entombed did a cover of Dead Horse’s Scottish Hell on their Uprising record. However, they didn’t do it justice.

Unfortunately, after seven years, Dead Horse broke up. Michael Haaga was in Superjoint Ritual for their first record as a bass player. He was replaced by Hank III for whatever reason.

Haaga went on to form The Demonseeds and has released a solo LP with the backing of numerous Houston musicians entitled, The Plus and Minus Show.  read more »

You know what I hate? Is when you go see a live performer who was previously in another legendary band, but they don’t acknowledge the old songs.

Like when I saw Danzig, he never played a Misfits song. Ryan Adams never does any Whiskeytown. I saw the Fire Theft and they never did any Sunny Day Real Estate. Sugar never did any Husker Du. Elliott Smith rarely did any Heatmiser. Foo Fighters should do some Nirvana. Why ignore your past? Great songwriting is great songwriting, no matter what band you were in.  read more »

I was thinking to myself, if I had to go away to a desert island and could only bring 10 CDs, what would they be? Here’s my list today, this could change by tomorrow:  read more »

This weekend Austin City Limits is having on two great bands. Death Cab For Cutie and My Morning Jacket. Yess! Both are awesome. If you’ve never heard either be sure to tune in to PBS this Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. central time.

From the VH1 Website:  read more »

The first time I heard Magnetic Fields I immediately thought to myself “this is a little too gay for me.” But after a few listens, I really started liking this record. After a few more listens, I loved this record. Now I realize how vital this record is, I feel lucky to have discovered it.

The Magnetic Fields are lead by singer Stephin Merritt. Stephin writes dark, humorous and morose lyrics, with really great hooks. Morrissey might’ve been an influence? Stephin Merritt also has numerous other side projects such as Future Bible Heroes, Gothic Archies and The 6ths.  read more »

Does anyone else save their ticket stubs? I am pretty uptight about keeping my ticket stubs. Matter of fact, I have them all put in chronological order.

Yeah, I’m a dork. But it is cool to look back at the shows that I have been to. Some are not so good, and some were legendary. I think there are some old concert ticket stubs that are worth a lot to collectors. None of mine are worth much…yet.

I do have my ticket stubs scanned and online. You can see them here.  read more »

Last year Dinosaur Jr. did what none of us thaught would ever happen, they got back together and toured! Last I heard was Lou Barlow tried to hit J Mascis over the head with his bass. I guess if you can bury the hatchet on that, more power to you.

Apparently, Dinosaur Jr. is going to do another month of touring in the spring. They are going to play the cities that they didn’t in 2005. So if they didn’t come to your town, you may be in luck. Bring earplugs, J Mascis may be one of the loudest guitar players…ever.  read more »

Pollstar is a great resource to find out about bands touring. I check it every week to see who is coming. The great thing about Pollstar is you can do a search by venue, city and band. So, every week I do a search for Minneapolis and I include surrounding cities. Pollstar will tell me everyone who is playing, for the next 6 months or so.

When I do a search by band, let’s say Slayer, Pollstar just shows me when and where Slayer is playing.  read more »