The Journey Begins Soon

I'm headed up to Boston tomorrow to start rehearsals with Bang Camaro. Our first show will be this Friday night in NYC at Santo's Party House. Next week, the journey begins at SXSW in Austin TX. We have a show there Friday, March 20 and on Saturday, March 21.

Here is the complete tour schedule for the first leg of the tour. I will be missing the April 3 and April 4 shows to return to Rochester to participate in Meaghan's Run 2009 www.meaghans5k.com and the subsequent concert featuring a reunion/celebratory show of my old band One Ton Hush. If you're in any one of these towns..come on down and see us. There will be rocking that is required of you.


SHOWS

Mar 13 - Santos Party House - New York, New York - get tickets

SXSW

Mar 20 - Fri - Lovejoys - 8th Impression Showcase - Austin TX
4:30PM - 604 Neches St, about 15 yards up from 6th St - more info

Mar 21 - Sat - The Beauty Bar - Sparks Showcase - Austin TX
5PM - 617 E. 7th St - more info

Mar 25 - The Masquerade - Atlanta, Georgia - ALL AGES!

Mar 28 - Castaways - Ithaca NY, 18+ show - w/ Leslie, and The Everyday Visuals

Mar 29 - Mohawk Place - Buffalo, New York - ALL AGES!

Mar 31 - The Dame - Lexington, Kentucky

ON TOUR WITH ELECTRIC SIX

Apr 2 - The Small Planet w/ Electric Six - East Lansing, Michigan

Apr 3 - The Intersection w/ Electric Six - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Apr 4 - Rhino’s w/ Electric Six - ALL AGES SHOW!! - Bloomington, Indiana

Apr 6 - Double Door w/ Electric Six - Chicago, Illinois

Apr 7 - First Avenue w/ Electric Six - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Apr 8 - The Aquarium w/ Electric Six - Fargo, North Dakota

Apr 9 - Vaudeville Mews w/ Electric Six, ALL AGES!! - Des Moines, Iowa

Apr 10 - The Waiting Room w/ Electric Six, ALL AGES!! - Omaha, Nebraska

Apr 11 - Mojo’s w/ Electric Six, ALL AGES!! - Columbia, Missouri

Apr 13 - The Record Bar w/ The Electric Six - Kansas City, Missouri

Apr 14 - The Opolis w/ Electric Six, ALL AGES!! - Norman, Oklahoma

Apr 15 - Emo’s Alternative Lounging (Outside venue) w/ Electric Six,
ALL AGES!! Austin, Texas

Apr 16 - The Boiler Room w/ Electric Six - Denton, Texas

A Moving Picture

I found this girl through the Blogs N Roses site. I'm speechless and want to wake my son up and put him in front of a piano right now, wet diaper and all. Its 5 in the morning though, he'll be cranky.

Chris, You Couldn't Be More Wrong

One of the signs of the approaching apocalypse is upon us....The non- awaited release of Chris Cornell's new album "Scream" hits stores next week. And the shit storm of negative feedback has left the former grunge deity scrambling for a semblance of sanity and answers for the faithful who want to know why....Why do you need to have Timbaland produce your album, Chris? Why have you embraced hip hop beats and smooth grooves? Why perpetuate this madness even further? Chris had this to say to Rolling Stone about the backlash. “At this point, it’s all theory. It’s like when I got together with the Rage Against the Machine guys for Audioslave and there was all this talk about how it was sacrilege from Rage fans, Soundgarden fans — even old ladies on the street would come up to me and say, ‘That’s a terrible idea’! Maybe I’m an optimist or just an idiot but I really think the fans will come around to the concept,” he says. “I could sit down and make a wall-to-wall guitar album tomorrow. I think it’s important for fans to know that but if I’m doing something that inspires me musically then I think it will inspire someone else too.”

Do you think we are close minded, Chris? Do you want to believe that we will "come around to the concept" of a monumental banshee wailer of hard rockdom turning his head on rock when it needs a strong voice MOST to embrace a genre full of crunked out and criminal bling-ulists fronting a studio concocted belch of beats? Fuck no, Chris...Nobody in your target audience gives a shit about dancing. They want to rock, the economy is in the shitter, the want a release with some wail, distortion, pomp and circumstance!...OK,throw in some strings, an ambient bed, some soft acoustics here and there to showcase your voice, that's fine. We rockers can take it down a notch. But we will not be following you "to the club", amigo.

This will be a fiasco, brother. And I love you. I hoarded Badmotorfinger as a bitter bible for years, I fluttered in and around Euphoria Morning with aplomb,I made jewelry to match your jewelry! I think "Seasons" from the Singles soundtrack is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. I have traveled with you. I looked California while Feeling Minnesota, man! I was there when you spewed out Cop Killer to us Lollapaloozans in 1991! I understand your need for inspiration. But my journey ends here. I can't raise the roof by lowering the rock bar so low that I have to shake it just to make it. Wake me when its over, when all I can hear are birds chirping and angel wings flapping.

U2 -No Line On The Horizon Review

My love affair with U2 has been rocky.We were so tight during the first wave of our romance, as it started when I was just a Boy..we held hands and went steady in October, fell in love during War, burning hot during An Unforgettable Fire and planted ourselves firmly in The Joshua Tree. We were seeing other people while Achtung Baby played in the background. And then the alienation crept in,our slow turn of the wave of love... We've broken up several times...The first was after the Pop album and stayed incommunicado thru the Zooropa album. A long hiatus full of disbelief, memories and being deterred by the bombast and the spectacle of the consequent tours did follow. And we barely spoke until All That You Can't Leave Behind. The song Stuck In a Moment really brought us closer and because of it we happily cohabitated through How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. We rode the plateau....until now.

Now in 2009 after 4 years of day in day out, we've come to a crossroads. No Line On The Horizon is that crossroads. I'm happy to say that its a CHALLENGING U2 album that takes several listens to truly appreciate as a whole, but more than half of the tracks leave an immediate impact. Thanks to returning geniuses Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, U2 is experimenting again. This album has something to remind me of every roll, wave and plateau of my love affair. My 25 year love affair. Behold the ethereal beauty of No Line On The Horizon-The Title Track, hypnotic, driving and complete with Bono as banshee and bard........Magnificent is a scintillating stadium rock anthem that slaps you politely and then shakes your hand with a great chorus "Only love can leave such a mark"..... The track that lured me into the splendor though, was Moment of Surrender..a twisting and turning love affair song that leaves you floating with reservation while you wonder and wander through Eno's ambient bed in the background, quite reminiscent of the best of The Unforgettable Fire. White As Snow and Cedars of Lebanon are devine pieces of artwork...like travelling through a painting or pouring through a book where a frozen trance can lead you through a nuance of time and travel.

The ladies will love I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight as the song that most reminds me of a track left off of Atomic Bomb..this will get the 150 dollar cheap seat aisles hopping.
Even the weaker tracks like Breathe and Stand Up Comedy have elements of the U2 foundation that will attract and engage the average fan who may be looking to dance or high five each other with backwards baseball caps on.
Overall,I am thrilled with the range..the stretch and width of this album. It SOUNDS like it took four years to make and thats a good thing. Albums should be ideas, plotted out, pieced together,fought over razed and brought to life again until the end result stands the test of time in relevance,risk and beauty. No Line On The Horizon is one of those albums.

Funny Monday Cartunes

Seth McFarlane is the genius behind Family Guy, everybody knows that. But he's also been putting out cartoon shorts on his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. Here are three rock-centric shorts complete with advertising. This should hold you over until I review the new U2 album tomorrow(I've had it for a while now,marinating in my cerebellum but tomorrow is the official release date) On to the cartoonage....







good stuff,huh?