The Current Music Blog: March 18, 2009 Archive

Today In Music History, 3-18-09

Posted at 6:27 AM on March 18, 2009 by Steve Seel

1961 - Grant Hart was born.
1965 - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones were arrested for urinating on the wall of a gas station. The owner wouldn't let them use the restroom.
1967 - The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 single with 'Penny Lane.'
1970 - Queen Latifah was born.
1976 - The Film 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' featuring David Bowie premiered in London.
1977 - The Clash released their debut single 'White Riot.' It peaked at No.38 on the UK charts.
1982 - Singer Teddy Pendergrass was paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash in Philadelphia.
1982 - XTC singer Andy Partridge walked off stage during a concert in Paris after only 30 seconds. He had long suffered from stage fright. The group only played one more show ever, in San Diego.
1991 - After attending an in-store promo appearance U2 were fined £500 ($850) after being found guilty of selling condoms illegally at the Virgin Megastore, Dublin.
2001 - John Philips of The Mamas and The Papas died of heart failure at a hospital in Los Angeles. He was 65.

Music History Highlight: Soul singer Wilson Pickett was born on this day in 1941. Pickett died of a heart attack on 19th Jan 2006 aged 64. Pickett had 16 total Top 40 singles, but easily his best known tune is the one I chose today, his 1965 No. 21 tune (UK No.12), "In The Midnight Hour."

Song Of The Day Info - Fol Chen 03/18/09

Posted at 9:48 AM on March 18, 2009 by Barb Abney

Song Of The Day Info - Fol Chen 03/18/09
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Fol Chen with the tune "No Wedding Cake" from their debut record, Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made.
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Live Blogging 03/18/09

Posted at 10:16 AM on March 18, 2009 by Barb Abney

1:15 p.m. BLK JKS (Black Jacks)
Get their SxSW schedule here...

12:45 p.m. Animal Collective
They're plaing First Avenue on May 20th.
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12:40 p.m. Manchester Orchestra
They're playing Station 4 on May 9th.
Mean Everything To Nothing will be released on April 21st.
You can pre-order it here.
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12:30 p.m. Local Music - The Honeydogs
According to their messageboards they're playing the OLL Blast in Mound in May and an in-store at The Electric Fetus next month.
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12:20 p.m. Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3
They're playing The Varsity Theatre April 19th.
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11:55 a.m. The Gaslight Anthem
They're playing The Varsity with Heartless Bastards on April 4th.
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11:50 a.m. Depeche Mode
Their 12th studio album Sounds Of The Universe, will be released April 21st.
They will begin their Tour Of The Universe in May.
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11:30 a.m. Local Music - P.O.S.
He's playing Soundset '09 along with MF Doom, Brother Ali, Sage Francis, Atmosphere, El P, Eyedea & Abilities, I Self Devine and others. It's on Sunday, May 24th at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. Tickets go on sale to the general public later this week (Saturday) but you can get pre-sale tickets at Fifth Element.
Steve Seel and I will give you several chances to win tickets tomorrow and Friday.
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11:15 a.m. Glasvegas
They're playing Varsity Theater on April 7th.
Yesterday, they announced that they will be opening shows for both Kings Of Leon and U2.
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11:10 a.m. Local Music - Halloween, Alaska
Their forthcoming record, Champagne Downtown will be released April 7th. The CD release show is at First Avenue on April 10th.
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10:55 a.m. Great Lake Swimmers
Their new record, Lost Channels will be released on the 31st. Pre-order it here.
They're playing 7th Street Entry on April 22nd.
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10:40 a.m. Local Music - Idle Hands
They're playing Cash Moneyapolis while they're at SxSW.
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10:30 a.m. Metric
Their forthcoming record, Fantasies will hit shelves on April 14th. However, you can pre-order it along with some extra goodies here.
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10:20 a.m. Franz Ferdinand
They're playing First Avenue on April 28th.
They've got some artwork up for auction in the UK.
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10:15 a.m. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Their forthcoming record, It's Blitz! will be released on the 31st.
At this time their only scheduled North American appearances are the Coachella, Sasquatch and Bonnaroo music festivals.
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My 3 Songs 03/18/09

Posted at 12:07 PM on March 18, 2009 by Barb Abney (1 Comments)

My 3 Songs 03/18/09
Andrea Zander from Big Lake picked this set because..

"They are in memory of my beloved dog, Skye. Our sweet boy left us on January 2 after losing his fight with pancreatic cancer. He blessed our lives with 12 1/2 years of faithful love, and we miss him terribly."

The Smiths - "Asleep"
Sarah McLachlan - "Hold On"
Vera Lynn - "We'll Meet Again"

Make your "My 3 Songs" requests here.

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Tunes On The Telly Tonight 03/18/09:

Posted at 2:21 PM on March 18, 2009 by Barb Abney

Tunes On The Telly Tonight 03/18/09:
Vampire Weekend on Jimmy Fallon
Modest Mouse on Letterman
MSTRKRFT on Jimmy Kimmel

SXSW here we come!

Posted at 6:48 PM on March 18, 2009 by Melanie Walker (1 Comments)

Ah yes, Austin Texas and the annual pilgrimage to South By Southwest, the biggest music conference in the world. Over 1800 bands from as many homelands as the UN, and four days and nights to try to see as many as you can catch.

For many years I used to feel bad if I didn't maximize my band time, but a few years back I started to give up on the quantity issue and instead focus on a combination of seeing what I want to see, and allowing for the delicious accidents - which in years past enabled me to wander into venues and discover a young Neko Case or an unheralded band like Fanfarlo or We Are Standard, both of whom I hope to see again this year.

If you've been to SXSW, you know it's truly the epicenter of music for these sunny spring days, and if you haven't been, how can I describe it? First off - there's Sixth Street - where in the course of sever or eight blocks that are closed off to pedestrian traffic only every night, over 50 venues blast music into the street with hourly showcases. Add another couple dozen venues on the side streets that run into sixth, and you've got a virtual musical smorgasbord to choose from every hour. Mix a combination of rising stars (Glasvegas, Cold War Kids, Andrew Bird, Peter Bjorn & John, The Hold Steady, Silversun Pickups for example) with returning veterans (Echo and the Bunnymen, Devo, That Petrol Emotion, PJ Harvey), and never-heard-of-em-but they might be cool bands (We Were Promised Jetpacks, French Horn Rebellion, Dananananakroyd), and you start to see how you can be paralyzed by too much choice.

In recent years the lines for the big shows have made it sometimes difficult to get in to see everyone you want to see - prompting longtime SXSWers to long for the old days when there were a few thousand badges instead of the tens of thousands of the past few years - but with the economy in the toilet, this year it might be easier to get in to see bigger names at the Festival.

I'm typing this as our plane departs Dallas for Austin and the start to the mayhem. I have a list of artists I hope to see - but most hours of every day there are four or five entries for every hour from 12n till 2am. So at this point, I have no idea who I'm going to end up seeing - it depends on who's in my posse, where I'm coming from, what level of Shiner Bock intake is at that time of day... but whatever we go see, it'll probably end up being a lot of fun, and a great musical experience. More to come from Texas soon!

- Jim McGuinn @ SXSW

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Clashman's Closet

Posted at 8:12 PM on March 18, 2009 by Mark Wheat (1 Comments)

This time last year we were down in Austin watching Mick sweat bullets in the sun playing with his band Carbon/Silicon. Don't forget you can check out all our sessions from last year in the archive. I wish I'd known about this collection then, it would have made me feel a little more comfortable to approach him, to know that he's a crazy fan too!!

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