YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS STUFF!

(an honest opinion, not bought and paid for)

March 11,2008
Mike has decompressed. It took a while. I don't look at the sale sheets anymore. I don't care when the Janet Jackson is coming out. The hype just dies somewhere in cyberspace. I'm just looking and listening. I may not have fresh ears, but I have hungry ones.
I revisited Saturday Night Live and fail to see the humor or social relevance. It ranks somewhere behind bad episodes of Green Acres on the entertainment scale (And, yes, I revisited those a couple of years ago when I was strapped to a hospital bed with a television two feet from my nose.They took away my headphones and wouldn't let me read. Health care in America is really in a sorry state).
It appears Mad TV gave up on music altogether and SNL should have. I saw some 'next big thing' called VAMPIRE WEEKEND. Avoid this drek at all costs.
But I am hear to praise and not to bury.

RIDLEY BENT - BUCKLES AND BOOTS

WBEZ, our local NPR affiliate decided to dispense with music entirely. I don't know where Blues Before Sunrise went and all the wee hours jazz is gone. I couldn't sleep so I tried to lull myself listening to some CBC news. I imagine that hundreds of former Blues Before Sunrise listeners have developed a penchant for the Montreal Alouettes. To illustrate one point or another, the newscaster played a song about a break-up and an erroneous dividing of a record collection. It was something about, "she got my nine pound hammer and I got her Nine Inch Nails".
It took me a couple of weeks to track down RIDLEY BENT.
He wanted to know where I had heard the song and I tried to explain to him. I tried to get a copy from him or the record company, but they aren't interested in this weasel. The best I could do was to listen to the four tracks he had up on the My Space page. Pretty good stuff. Western swing with a rockabilly twist ala Wayne Hancock. You should go take a listen. Ridley probably will hook up with an American label and they will process the best out of his sound. I wouldn't invest the $20+ to buy the album, but wait for the dollar to strengthen or Ridley's label to offer it to us at an affordable price. At last check nobody was giving it up on Amazon either. Hope we don't forget about it by the time us poor folks can afford to buy.

DUFFY - HAVE MERCY

This is one from the UK. Bob Lefsetz turned me on to this. She is another kick ass (blond)and blue-eyed soul singer. It seems that she is a little more genuine than Joss Stone. Bob liked the Warwick Avenue song, but Mercy kicks my butt. Universal has their grimy mitts on her and are bringing her to SXSW where I'm sure she'll be the show to see.
Universal only has clips on My Space, but you can catch a good look on You Tube. I didn't like any other cuts aw well as Mercy. I'm kind of reminded of Gayle MacCormick from Smith. Hope she stretches it longer than the one hit.

I keep waiting for SHELBY LYNNE to hit and she keeps missing. It has to be about twenty years. Pairing her with Dusty Springfield seemed to be an inspired choice. Again, never got the promised promo so I listened to a couple abbreviated songs on My Space. It was so awful that I stopped asking. Everything was slowed to a dirge. All the life was squeezed out of Dusty and she had been dead for a couple of years. I'll go back to the original Dusty better luck next time Shelby.

And what is the deal with the abbreviated clips on My Space. The record companies seem afraid that after we get done filling up our tanks and paying our taxes that we won't have enough left over to spend at the local record store. Oh wait, there isn't a local record store anymore. Best Buy is cutting back and Wal-Mart wants smiley face prices. Do they think that we audiophiles are going to be happy with a low grade analog copy of a tune to compress into a MP3 file and download to our I-pod?

Lest we think that it just the major record companies treating music like it is a defense contract, ERIC TAYLOR, a personal fave also employs the abbreviated clips. I'd be happy to buy Eric's records, but his record company web site is selling them for $20 and up. I thought that I could find them in the vast Texas section at Cheapos in Austin, but I guess Eric doesn't cut any slack to indie record stores either. I got into Eric by listening to used CD's that I paid $3 for. I'd like to meet him somewhere in the middle. It is really a shame that we can't listen.

Old buddy OTIS GIBBS finally has a new disc coming out in July or August. You can listen to four new tracks on My Space. Everyday People is my fave, but Preacher Steve is kickin' too. Nice to see somebody walk the walk and talk the talk (and sing the tune too). I'm sure we'll feature Otis when we get the new discs and I'm sure we'll all buy one.

I don't know where new buddy, TIM LARSON got the mud on his boots. Maybe he stepped into one of Richie Daley's potholes.
Chicago like Detroit was a destination for southern white migrants as well as African-Americans. A lot of the country that Tim evokes was secreted in the apartments in Uptown. The longing for the return south that Bobby Bare sang about in 'Detroit City' or Haggard captured in 'Sidewalks of Chicago' was a very real thing.
Now that the city is being gentrified a lot of the transplanted heirs of the country tradition are finding themselves alienated in a faux suburban landscape.
Tim strips it all down to a single suitcase that is easy to carry. What we have here is a Chicago sound that would leave the Phairs, Vedders and Corgans bewildered.
You need to go to page one and buy this one from the Record Emporium 2.0.

And speaking of new sounds. I sat in on the Razor and Di show on WLUW a couple of weeks ago. Thursdays 11-2. A real interesting playlist with lots of to intrigue you. These guys are really supportive of Chicago music.
Just leave you bullshit at the border folks.
Til I find some more stuff...
Mike