The Monday Covers Project - Expressway To Your Skull

For The Monday Covers Project, I raided the archives of, well, archive.org. It starts off with Athens, GA-based Drive-By Truckers playing "Rockin' In The Free World," a Neil Young song. I heard the piece performed live at the Rockfish Palace the first time I visited Athens, covered by Drivin N Cryin with Peter Buck as a guest guitarist. So, there's obviously a bit of nostalgia at work. I conclude my brief list with a cover version of a Sonic Youth tune -- something that, for some reason, I don't see nearly enough of -- along with a few other cool picks from Ryan Adams (I particularly like his Rocket Man, the studio version of which was featured in David Duchovny's latest TV show, Californication). Cheers to our adoration of covers and, since tomorrow is the election (FINALLY), an end to this eight-year nightmare!

Rockin' in the Free World (Neil Young cover)
Drive-By Truckers [10.26.08]
People Who Died (Jim Carroll cover)
[Recorded at The 40 Watt -- 11.3.06]

Where is My Mind? [9.8.07]
The Frames (Pixies cover)

Firecracker [6.7.03]
Annie Bethancourt (Ryan Adams cover)

Rocket Man [12.3.01]
Ryan Adams (Elton John cover)
Sweet Jane (Lou Reed cover) [10.30.02]
Wonderwall (Oasis cover) [5.14.05]
Expressway To Your Skull (Sonic Youth cover) [8.3.06]



"We’re gonna kill
the California girls
we’re gonna fire the exploding load in the milkmaid maiden head
we’re gonna find the meaning
of feeling good
and we’re gonna stay there as long as we think we should

mystery train
three way plane
expressway
to your skull"

Sunday Live - Cracker 11.4.07

"Following the break-up of his seminal 1980's band, Camper Van Beethoven, David Lowery, looking to the future, formed Cracker with Johnny Hickman. Cracker was, and continues to be, an ideal showcase for Lowery's invariably satiric, oft-times, acerbic take on present day Americana. Anchored by Hickman's pan-rock stylings they glide seamlessly between rock, alternative and country musical styles, flummoxing those wanting to pigeon-hole the band, and giving them the freedom to consistently re-invent themselves. As a result, they have enjoyed a longevity possessed by few rock bands."

Typically, I would be loathe to read -- much less quote -- a bio from a band's own Web site, writing it off as narcissistic [censored by Blogger]. But in the case of Cracker, I'll make an exception, because Lowery deserves a lot of credit for working to create some [censored by Blogger] great music with his post-CVB outfit. If you're not familiar, or are just looking for more than this concert, try the band's site and register as a member of the "community" (you only need to pass along an e-mail addy), where you'll get access to loads of freebie MP3's (from Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven) and other stuff.

For Sunday Live this week, I'm posting a Cracker performance recorded at The Bottleneck in Lawrence KS on 11.4.07 (from archive.org). You can download the entire show as a 64Kbps MP3 ZIP or VBR ZIP file.

One Fine Day
Riverside
Everybody Gets One
Euro Trash Gigl
Big Dipper
Mr. Wrong
Lonsome Johnny Blues
Infirmary
Useless Stuff
The World Is Mine
Something You Aint Got
St. Cajtean
Low
Gimme One More Chance
Sweet Thistle Pie
Loser



"It's been a long time since I've been so very low
It's been a long time since I've been so very low
When I was young you were no stranger
Around the world and slip through my fingers
It's been a long time since I've been so very low

Hey Hey Hey Yeah

Sweet Thistle Pie
Sweet Thistle Pie
Sweet Thistle Pie"

Halloween with Springsteen and The Jersey Devil

A treat from The Boss:

Dear Friends and Fans,

If you grew up in central or south Jersey, you grew up with the "Jersey Devil." Here's a little musical Halloween treat. Have fun!

Bruce Springsteen

MP3 download: "A Night with the Jersey Devil"

"Hear me now!
I was born 13th child, 'neath the 13th moon
Spit out hungry and born anew
Daddy drag me to the river tie me in rocks
Throw me in where it's deep and wide
I go down, I don't die
Hole in the river bottom, I crawl through
Come back kill six brothers and sisters, kill papa too
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go

Into my bed with her kerosene my mama creep
Set my flesh to burning, whilst I sleep
I burn, burn, burn, till my soul burn black
Black rains fall, I come back, I come back
Get down Mama, get down low
They gonna know me wherever I go

16 witches, cast 16 spells
Make me guitar outta skin and human skull
Sing you a song like the wind in the sandy loam
Bring you baby out'cha your happy home

Ram's head, forked tail, clove hoof, love's my trail
I sup on your body, sip on your blood like wine
Out world theirs, this world mine
So kiss me baby till it hurts
God lost in heaven, we lost on earth
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go
Wherever I go, wherever I go

Well I got a brand new lover
I love her yes I do,
She's my one and only and her name is Baby Blue..."

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP) / EMI Music Publishing (BMI)

Disney's Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House

Disney's "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House" is the standard when it comes to Halloween recordings to set the tone for a holiday that is favorite of kids of all ages all around the world. I couldn't think of a more perfect post for this day than the entire collection of these wonderful pieces in MP3 format. For a much higher quality, please check out iTunes.

John Frost wrote the following in The Disney Blog: "In 1964 the facade of what would become Disneyland’s famous Haunted Mansion sat empty, unoccupied by any of its future ghostly residents, waiting for Imagineers to return from other projects to finish the attraction. But that same year, perhaps to remind the public that the Haunted Mansion would be opening some time in the future, Disneyland Records and the Walt Disney Sound Effects Group released the classic sound effects record ..."

And so, here are the recordings. Happy Halloween!

"Side 1 contains ten stories in sound in which the narrator sets up the situation and the sound effects take over and tell the story."
The Haunted House
The Very Long Fuse
The Dogs
Timber
Your Pet Cat
Shipwreck
The Unsafe Bridge
Chinese Water Torture
The Birds
The Martian Monsters

"Side 2 is a collection of sound effects grouped by category. these may be used to create your own stories in sound.
Screams and Groans
Thunder, Lightning and Rain
Cat Fight
Dogs
A Collection of Creaks
Fuses and Explosions
A Collection of Crashes
Birds
Drips and Splashes
Things in Space



"You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hilltop near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One night, a light appears in the topmost window in a tower of the old house. You decide to investigate. And you never return..."

CMJ - two days & a lifetime later

Yes, I missed it. I'm a loser, baby. I suck. That's right, I didn't make it to NYC for CMJ and a blur of odd, fortuitous connections, and nightly music-driven soirees. Well, to be fair, that's simply a world that I'm no longer a part of. But I suppose that I've been overtaken a bit with some sort of nostalgia, thinking of a time when I was music director of a small college station, and the center of that chaos is precisely where I belonged.

In any case, I've found a way to sort of reconnect with this previous life, across a profound distance, by simply going online and reading reports, listening to music, and so forth, and am posting some links for anyone else stricken with this probably nauseating wistfulness. Right, then. Cheers!

Here is a great place to start: Stereogum's excellent archive of CMJ 2008 coverage.

From there, you might want to move right in and check out KEXP, declared "Station Of The Year," one of the "2008 College Radio Award Winners" at CMJ. It was quite a lovefest, really, and they also took home the "Most Groundbreaking," "Best Podcast," and "Most Likely To Reinvent Radio" honors. They were of course in NYC for this year's festivities, and here are some links to their award-winning podcasts:

Broken Social Scene -- Live @ CMJ
"Broken Social Scene perform a laid-back and off-the-cuff set live on KEXP from New York City for CMJ. Recorded live at the Gibson Showroom on 10/24/08, this set contains 4 songs from the radio set plus an impromtu song song for the studio audience and selections from your favorite children's tunes: Hit the Wall, Untitled (or Choose Your Own Adventure), Xerxes, Love is New, Audience Song, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/ABC/Puff the Magic Dragon"

Fujia and Miyagi -- Live @ CMJ
"Expanding from a three-piece to a four-, Fugiya and Miyagi expand their funky electronic and rock groove in this session, performed live on KEXP from NYC for CMJ. Recorded at the Gibson Showroom on 10/23/08 - 5 Songs: Pickpocket, Sore Thumb, Knickerbocker, Goosebumps, Sick and Tired"

Bang Bang Eche -- Live @ CMJ
"NZ dance-punkers Bang Bang Eche rock the Gibson Showroom for KEXP from CMJ 2008. Recorded 10/22/08 - 5 songs: Fingers In The Till, Exchange, Four To The Floor, Time Mismanagement, Hangers"

Vivian Girls -- Live @ CMJ
"All-girl Brooklyn trio Vivian Girls throw down a sonic barrage that's equal parts rock, surf and punk during their performance from Gibson Showroom during KEXP's broadcast from CMJ. Recorded 10/20/08 - songs: I Can't Stay, Lake House, Second Date, Tell The World"

For those of us who didn't make it to the city, there was a plethora CMJ-related blog coverage. Here are some great links:

CMJRELAY - The CMJ Staff Blog

CJLO (Montreal) was awarded "Best Student-Run Non-FM Station," and you can read their CMJ 2008 TRAVEL BLOG here.

The Ourstage Blog
Samples of MP3's Ourstage posted from bands who performed at CMJ:
Chemicals by Dead Men Dreaming
Draped in Blue by Mieka Pauley
The True History Of Rock n Roll by Dirty Fuzz
All the Water by Joanna Erdos and the Midnight Show

Sound Bites: CMJ 2008
Sample MP3's:
It Must Be Me by Whitsundays
The Brigde by Kirsten Ketsjer
Scooter by Radio Luxembourg

The Culture of Me
mp-FREE samples
I'm Pretty Sure by Drew Danburry
Every Minute by Mojo Nation
Some Are Lakes by Land Of Talk

RCRD LBL CMJ - free MP3's
Everything With You by The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
Are You Sensation (VHS Or Beta Remix) by Tigercity
Chicago by The Uglysuit

The TONY Blog (from Time Out New York)

Metromix New York's CMJ 2008

KCRW's CMJ 2008

The Music Slut @ CMJ
Sample MP3:
American Names by Sebastien Grainger

According to Stranded In Stereo, they're not "just a blog, it's a free CD/DVD compilation. Just Sign Up and you'll receive them as they come out." Worth a shot.

NME's New Music Radar CMJ Blog

And let's not forget the venerable NY Times and their CMJ FESTIVAL ArtsBeat Blog



"Drive forth, give your kids American names, give them more than what was given to you
Some of you in hell won't know it, but most of you don't show it,
We all have pride and shame.
And hey man, I wish we could just drive them both away

Driving, driving away
Driving, driving away

Come on, I can see it
Come on, we've been saying this for years
Come on, I can see it, come on...


If your always on your way out the door, you never had a place to call home
and home is always too far to drive


Driving, driving away."

Sunday Live - Alejandro Escovedo 9.9

A founding member of SF-based punk band The Nuns, Alejandro Escovedo moved to Austin, and after working with bands like Rank and File, playing "roots rock/alternative country," released "Gravity," his first solo album, in 1992. He's since worked with the likes of Ryan Adams, and has garnered a significant cult following. But after battling Hepatitis for years, and nearly succumbing in 2003, Escovedo recovered only to find himself deep in debt from medical expenses. According to Wikipedia, "friends and admirers around the country organized benefit shows to help the songwriter. This effort grew into the album "Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo," a two-disc set whose proceeds benefit the Alejandro Escovedo Medical and Living Expense Fund. Contributing musicians included Steve Earle, Jon Dee Graham, Lucinda Williams, John Cale, Jennifer Warnes, Ian Hunter, The Jayhawks, and Son Volt (available through the artist's Web site)."

"This June," according to AlejandroEscovedo.com, he "released his 9th solo album Real Animal. Produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T.Rex, Thin Lizzy), Real Animal is a collective journey through Escovedo’s various musical incarnations from punk rock to string quintets and is as introspective as it is retrospective. Recalling the people, places and influences that helped shape his career, Real Animal represents the primitive aspect of Escovedo’s music - the instinct, the urgency and a survivor mentality that fuels his musical passion."

For Sunday Live, I'm posting Alejandro Escovedo, Live at The Troubador in West Hollywood, 9.9.08 (from archive.org). You can download the entire show as a 64Kbps MP3 ZIP or VBR ZIP file.

Here are the individual tracks as 64Kbps MP3's:
01. Put You Down
02. Always a Friend
03. Everybody Loves Me
04. Sister Lost Soul
05. Juarez > Rosalie
06. Sensitive Boys
07. I Was Drunk
08. Chelsea Hotel '78
09. Real as an Animal
10. Castanets
11. All the Young Dudes *
12. Beast of Burden *^
(* w/ David Garza - vocals & ^ guitar)

THE BAND:
Alejandro Escovedo - guitar & vocals
David Pulkingham - guitar
Josh Gravelin - bass
Matthew Fish - cello
Hector Munoz - drums
Carrie Rodriguez - violin

A L S O

You can download the studio version of Always A Friend, a track from the new album, at AlejandroEscovedo.com.



"Well Billy rapped all night about his suicide
How he kick it in the head when he was twenty-five
Speed jive don't want to stay alive
When you're twenty-five
And Wendy's stealing clothes from marks and sparks
And Freddy's got spots from ripping off the stars from his face
Funky little boat race

Television man is crazy saying we're juvenile delinquent wrecks
Oh man I need TV when I got T Rex
I'm a dude man

All the young dudes (Hey dudes)
Carry the news (Where are ya)
Boogaloo dudes (Stand up Come on)
Carry the news"

EELS free EP

[OFFER EXPIRES 10.28.08]

The Eels will be releasing a 4-LP vinyl limited edition of BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS, and "to celebrate," are giving away a 4-track EP download with live music from MANCHESTER 2005, an album available exclusively with the new deluxe set. The free EP includes ""Fresh Feeling," "Packing Blankets," "Jeannie's Diary," and "Climbing to the Moon." The offer will expire with the official release of the Blinking Lights package, October 28th, and in order to get your free music while it's still available, "simply enter a valid email address and follow the link from the email for easy download." I never actually received my link. It was probably caught up in a well-intentioned spam filter. So, if you'd like to skip any potential snags/headaches, give this link a shot. A generous offer from Mr. E. & co., and some great music.

OK. And for something completely... similar. Additional Eels stuff:

I'm Going to Stop Pretending that I Didn't Break Your Heart (demo)

Somebody Loves You (demo)

My Descent Into Darkness

The BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS jukebox sampler (streaming)

Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
Interview part 1
Interview part 2

The Shootenanny! jukebox sampler (streaming)

Shootenanny! interview

Live at Town Hall DVD samples

Trouble With Dreams -- Live 2008 (youtube link)

Until 10.28.08, you can watch PARALLEL WORLDS, PARALLEL LIVES, "the award-winning documentary about EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett and his quantum physicist father Hugh Everett III" here.

Mark Oliver Everett of The Eels published a book this month, "THINGS THE GRANDCHILDREN SHOULD KNOW," and you can hear a section being read by The Chet, the band's guitarist. You can also read a brief excerpt here.

The Spinner.com interview: Eels' Mark Oliver Everett Comes to Terms With Death, Life and Physics.

A L S O
You grab an MP3 of the song Skywriting at C/NET's Download.com.



"Saturday in the yard
They'll bring you by
We'll lay down on the grass
And watch as the sky closes in

I won't be denied this time
'fore i go out of my mind over matters
Got my foot on the ladder
And i'm climbing up to the moon"