The Current Music Blog: January 22, 2007 Archive

The Buffering Stream also comes in returnable bottles, 1/22

Posted at 7:09 AM on January 22, 2007 by Hans Eisenbeis

$1000 for War Pigs

Posted at 10:24 AM on January 22, 2007 by Lindsay Kimball (63 Comments)

Cake wants to make you rich...or at least $1000 richer. I'll take it! Cake has crafted their own version of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," which you can find from their newsletter here and on their upcoming Rarities album, but they don't want you to just listen to the tune...

Cake is asking its fans to develop a short movie or music video as inspired by their version of War Pigs and upload the finished product to YouTube. The lucky winner of the competition will earn a solid $1000. Check out Cake's website for the full details.

I guess this means I have even more incentive to practice "War Pigs" on Guitar Hero.

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Naked Raygun Back in Action

Posted at 12:06 PM on January 22, 2007 by Ali Lozoff (2 Comments)

So the seminal Chicago punk band Naked Raygun is playing out again, including some upcoming dates at the Triple Rock in May. (Does anyone else wax poetic over the reverse-drum solo that come in about 30 seconds into the anthemic anti-love song "Vanilla Blue"? Gets me every time.) Looks like the current line up consists of Jeff Pessati, Bill Stephens, Pierre Kezdy and Eric Spicer. My memories of the 'gun include John Haggerty on guitar (before he split to form Pegboy in the late late '80s), so I'm a little bummed that's not the line up touring, but die hard fans will be thrilled at this version making the rounds. So my question is - what do you think of these founders of "The Chicago Sound" making a comeback? Do you like seeing the originators show the kids these days how it's done, or do you feel like it's a little weird to see guys in their '50s play such youth-oriented music? (See also Buzzcocks, Blondie, Iggy Pop and various other aging punk bands who have recently played SXSW, Lollapalooza and Coachella.) Does the anger and exuberance of punk rock seem out of place when it's banged out by people in that age group, or is it comforting to know that age is just a number and you can rock out with your (ahem) out at any stage of life?

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The Nomi Song

Posted at 1:24 PM on January 22, 2007 by Steve Seel (7 Comments)

Don't ask me how or why these things happen -- I just get on weird jags of curiosity sometimes. But this weekend, I decided I needed to know more about Klaus Nomi. You know, this guy. So I bought the DVD "The Nomi Song", a film about his short career which, sadly, contained no real interview footage with Klaus himself to speak of -- indeed, that's how short his career really was, before he died of AIDS. Fortunately, though, the film did find time to cover this stunningly amazing appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1979, where he sang backup for Bowie on three songs.

Come to think of it, it's that SNL appearance that must have jogged my curiosity, since my head is obsessing a bit on long-lost American TV appearances of great musical artists these days. Most of this stuff just isn't available on DVD, forcing all of us to watch clandestine versions on YouTube. Note to giant media corporations: many of us would be willing to pay to own some of this stuff.

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Goodies!

Posted at 1:33 PM on January 22, 2007 by Barb Abney

The Decemberists recently announced their upcoming spring tour dates in March, April and May. Get in on the Pre-sale beginning tomorrow at 1 PM. Bookmark this site today.

Today the Current’s Song Of The Day was a song from The Earlies off their forthcoming album 'The Enemy Chorus'. If you go to this site and send them a message with the title of the album in the subject line and include in the message your mailing address and t-shirt size (M or L) you could win a t-shirt!

The Kooks are also giving you an opportunity to win some sweet stuff. Like Cds, t-shirt, stickers, a poster and a rare vinyl release. Get more info and registered here.

Which city rocks for you?

Posted at 2:30 PM on January 22, 2007 by Mark Wheat (19 Comments)

In interviews I've often asked the question..."Which cities are fun for you to play in?"
Jesse from Chooglin' got excited about Tuscaloosa... "Because they have the best BBQ in the world and there was only like 10 people at the show but they were REALLY into it!" Ricc the drummer from Earl Greyhound was awestruck by their Entry audience..."they were amazing!" Their road manager summed it up... "the crowd wouldn't let the band leave and had grins from ear to ear!"

I wish I had interviewed Pigeon John and asked him that question after finding this post :
Check these out

I have been really digging tracks from his "Summertime Pool Party" release and I remember Danny saying that he was fun to talk to when he came in to do a session.

Any local rockers have similar stories or out of town listeners want to represent for their city?

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