Super Bowl Boss: Interview on NFL.com
Bruce and the Band held a press conference today in Tampa. Can’t find video yet of the actual presser, but here’s a nice interview with the Boss that took place right afterward…
Click here or on the image:
I’ll post the press conference video when I find it.
The Who at Kilburn DVD – A Giveaway
Psst… I’m looking to unload a sweet 2-DVD SET: ‘The Who at Kilburn 1977′. Some nice folks sent it to me a few months ago, and if they don’t see a giveaway soon, the goons are gonna show up at my door and shove toothpicks under my fingernails or waterboard me in my kitchen sink.
To be eligible to win, you gotta live here in the U.S.A, and you have to leave either of the following in the Comments….
A Limerick:
There once was a blogger named Ick
Who fancied a good limerick
So please pause yer drinking
And do get to thinking
The one with wit should do the trick.or
Haiku:
Townshend and Daltrey
Went to a local bath house
And ate shepherd’s pieYou see? It doesn’t have to make sense. Multiple entries allowed too. F it.
I’ll pick a winner from the entries in about a week.I call that a bargain, the best you ever had, don’t you? The trailer and more details about the DVD after the jump…
Check it out on Amazon here.
Ick’s Pick (Week IV): Springsteen’s Working On A Dream
In 1975, When Bruce was blowing up on the cover of Time and Newsweek because of the groundbreaking Born to Run (an album that came out when he was 25, for crying out loud), I wonder if he ever pondered his long term success, if he ever wondered how his career would be trucking along in the year he turned 60?
Well, it’s 2009, the year Bruce Springsteen will turn 60. And if anyone is proving that age is just a number, Bruce is it. Look at the year he’s embarking on… his 16th studio album is released this week. He’ll play for something like a billion people around the world this weekend as the half time entertainment for the Super Bowl (go Cardinals!). He’ll embark on yet another world tour. He’s winning awards for his contributions to film (but inexplicably shut out for the Academy Awards – F.U. Oscar!). He played at the inauguration celebration of the new U.S. President. All told, he’s set to have a banner year (hell, he already has). It’s good to be the Boss…
So it’s a no brainer that my pick for week 4 of the year is Working On A Dream. I’ve been letting it seep into me for the last couple of weeks (don’t worry, I’m buying the deluxe version this week!), and, like all Bruce albums before, it evolves more and more with each listen. The way I feel about certain songs now will inevitably be different days and months down the road. I’ve read a ton of reviews already – almost regretfully at this point – because reading a critic’s opinion of one of my (two) favorite artists has a way of polluting the music for me. The way a human being feels about music is as intimate as it gets, so I feel like that special one-on-one relationship is spoiled a little if you let those other opinions trickle into your listening experience.
The common consensus about the opening track, “Outlaw Pete”, is that it’s too long (at eight minutes). When I first heard it, I had my eyes closed, and total focus, and… I loved it! I love the story he has to tell about this character from the Old West. The way the tune meanders and swells… And I love the fact that Bruce opened an album with an 8 minute song so far out of left field. It’s a tale that takes its time in the telling…. It’s one of my favorites from the album. And it didn’t make me think of Kiss until I saw this.
By far the track that clicked with me right off the bat is “Tomorrow Never Knows”, an upbeat saloon shuffle of a tune, complete with strings, and the shortest song on the album (2:14). Upbeat in tempo, but subject matter-wise, a calm look at the uncertainties of the future and the life beyond… Oh, and does anyone else hear “Here Comes My Baby” in the melody (I favor the Yo La Tengo version, by the way)?
“The Last Carnival” is a gorgeous tribute to keyboardist Danny Federici, who passed in April 2008. It sets itself in the same carnival atmosphere of “Wild Billy’s Circus Story” from The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle – a tune made so memorable by Danny’s accordion. Danny’s son Jason does the honors this time around.
“My Lucky Day” is the E Street Band barn burner of the album. Uptempo, Clarence’s sax, Steve sharing vocals… My prediction for show opener for the first part of this tour.
“This Life” gets better with every listen. Great vocals by the Boss on this one. And the subject matter seems to fit with many of the songs on the record… “A bang then stardust in your eyes / A billion years or just this night / Either way it’ll be alright /…. This life, this life and then the next / With you I have been blessed, what more can you expect.” The finiteness of life on this earth winds its way through the album.
On “Good Eye”, Bruce uses that voice altering thingy (hey man, I’m technical) to give him that delta blues swampy sound. Good tune, and no baseball analogy to be found, like I expected from the title.
“Working on a Dream” I’ve liked since day one. Some think it’s a tad generic for the Boss, but I enjoy singing along, and I think it’s catchy as hell… “Rain pourin’ down I swing my hammer / My hands are rough from working on a dream.” Man, can I relate. Except I work inside and bang on a keyboard. And my wrist hurts sometimes. And sometimes I bang my knee when I swivel in my chair.
Songs like “Kingdom of Days”, “Queen of the Supermarket”, and “What Love Can Do” haven’t done much for me yet, to be honest. But like I said, who knows how I’ll feel down the road. Tomorrow never knows, right?
Is Working On A Dream among Bruce’s best work? No way. That’s setting the bar way too high for someone with Bruce’s history. But what we do get is a collection of songs from an artist still completely driven to make fresh, creative music. And what’s even better, he’s still committed to taking his powerhouse of a band out on the road, to treat his fans to the experience that is an E Street Band concert. And at 59, he’s as great as ever.
Speaking of…. April 3rd here in Phoenix!! Who’s joining me in the pit?
Buy Working on a Dream (Deluxe Version)
Visit Bruce’s Official Site
Tour Dates…
DATE / CITY / VENUE / ON-SALE DATE
Feb 1 Tampa, FL Super Bowl XLIII
Apr 1 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion at San Jose Feb 2
Apr 3 Glendale, AZ Jobing.com Center Feb 2
Apr 5 Austin, TX Frank Erwin Center Feb 7
Apr 7 Tulsa, OK BOK Center Feb 7
Apr 8 Houston, TX Toyota Center Feb 7
Apr 10 Denver, CO Pepsi Arena Feb 2
Apr 15 Los Angeles, CA LA Memorial Sports Arena Feb 2
Apr 21 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden Feb 2
Apr 22 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden Feb 2
Apr 24 Hartford, CT XL Center Feb 2
Apr 26 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena Feb 2
Apr 28 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Spectrum Feb 2
Apr 29 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Spectrum Feb 2
May 2 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum Feb 6
May 4 Hempstead, NY Nassau Veterans Mem. Col. Feb 2
May 5 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena Feb 2
May 7 Toronto, ONT Air Canada Centre Feb 6
May 8 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center Feb 2
May 11 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center Feb 2
May 12 Chicago, IL United Center Feb 2
May 14 Albany, NY Times Union Center Feb 2
May 15 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium Feb 2
May 18 Washington, DC Verizon Center Feb 2
May 19 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena Feb 2
May 21 E. Rutherford, NJ Izod Center Feb 2
May 23 E. Rutherford, NJ Izod Center Feb 2
May 30 Landgraaf, Holland Pink Pop Festival March 7
June 2 Tampere, Finland Ratinan Stadion ON SALE
June 4 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 5 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 7 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm Stadium SOLD OUT
June 9 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT
June 10 Bergen, Norway Koengen SOLD OUT
July 2 Munich, Germany Olympiastadion ON SALE NOW
July 3 Frankfurt, Germany Commerzbank Arena ON SALE NOW
July 5 Vienna, Austria Ernst Happel Stadion ON SALE NOW
July 8 Herning, Denmark Herning MCH ON SALE NOW
July 11 Dublin, Ireland RDS Jan 30
July 16 Carhaix, France Festival des Vielles Charrues Jan 30
July 19 Rome, Italy Stadio Olimpico ON SALE SOON
July 21 Turino, Italy Olimpico di Torino ON SALE SOON
July 23 Udine, Italy Stadio Friuli ON SALE SOON
July 26 Bilbao, Spain San Mames Stadium ON SALE SOON
July 28 Benidorm, Spain Estadio Municipal de Foietes ON SALE SOON
July 30 Sevilla, Spain La Cartuja Olympic Stadium ON SALE SOON
Aug 1 Valladolid, Spain Estadio Jose Zorrilla ON SALE SOON
Aug 2 Santiago, Spain Monte Del Gozo ON SALE SOONIckmusic’s Old School Mix
I’ve been itchin’ for a while to put together a nice little collection of my old school favorites. In the mid 80’s, I was in my mid teens when I became obsessed with a. Prince and b. the rap/hip-hop of the day. These are some of the songs I came of age with.
Now, some of my favorites included some not so PG material. In fact, some of it was downright foul. Too Short’s “Freaky Tales” is the biggest offender here, followed closely by that 2 Live Crew classic “We Want Some P***y”. But hey, I gotta keep it real, people!
Enjoy…
Ickmusic’s Old School Mix (mp3 – about 71MB)
Playlist:
Run D.M.C. – “Peter Piper” (from Raising Hell)
LL Cool J – “Rock the Bells” (from Radio)
Whodini – “Funky Beat” (from Back in Black)
Public Enemy – “Public Enemy Number 1” (from Yo! Bum Rush the Show)
Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick – “La Di Da Di” (from The Show / La-Di-Da-Di)
Schoolly D – “Saturday Night” (from The Best of Schoolly D)
Eric B. & Rakim – “I Know You Got Soul” (from Paid in Full)
UTFO – “Roxanne Roxanne” (from UTFO)
Too Short – “Freaky Tales” (from Born to Mack)
Beastie Boys – “Hold It Now, Hit It” (from Licensed to Ill)
2 Live Crew – “We Want Some P***y” (from 2 Live Crew Is What We Are)Ick’s Pick (Week III): Beausoleil’s Alligator Purse
The great thing about cajun music is that you know it’s going to raise your spirits and it’s gonna shake your rump. As the torchbearers of traditional Cajun music since their inception in 1975, Michael Doucet and Beausoleil accomplish this with every album. Cajun and zydeco barn burners are a staple of their work. But interspersed always are some surprising gems that stray from the mold.
This week, Beausoleil released Alligator Purse, their first album for Yep Roc. The fun traditional stuff is represented in songs like “Reel Cajun (451 North St. Joseph St.)”, “Theogene Creole”, and “Marie”. But the new territory is just as fun to explore. Like their reworking of Bob Dylan’s cover of Muddy Water’s “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” (yes, a cover of a cover) – they cajunize it and sing it in French: “Rouler et Tourner”; their version of J.J. Cale’s “The Problem” is a creole roots-rocker, with Doucet reaching down into his lower vocal registers for a sweet whiskey-soaked sound [By the way, why is it that I like every J.J. Cale song I hear, yet I don’t have ANY of his stuff? I need to fix that.].
The band brings in some special guests: Garth Hudson (The Band) on “I Spent All My Money Loving You”, Natalie Merchant on “Little Darlin'”, and Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, among others.
The album is a journey through American music, southern Louisiana style. It’s rich, tasty, zesty, and genuine. I’ve been eatin’ it up like a big ol’ hot bowl of jambalaya baby. Week III delivers!
Beausoleil will be all over the country this year, including April 3rd here in Arizona at the Chandler Jazz Festival. Come on down and join me.
- Listen to previews of all the tracks over her Yep Roc’s site.
- Buy Alligator Purse
President Obama
What an amazing day. All of the majesty, symbolism, and history behind today’s inauguration of Barack Obama was nothing short of breathtaking. Thanks to ABCNews.com, I was able to catch the oath and the speech at work. It’s a very large corporation, with layers of security, firewalls, web filtering software and the like, so I was happy to see that at least one web site’s streaming video of the ceremony was working.
I must say though, I wasn’t impressed that: a) there was no acknowledgment by the company, no communication to its thousands upon thousands of employees, that addressed the magnitude and significance of the day.; and b) there was absolutely no enthusiasm, chatter – no nothin’ – from my co-workers. Sure, the economy sucks, everyone has a job to do, work work work, focus focus focus, blah blah. But to go the entire day at work with no one (around me, at least) even opening their mouth to talk about this historic day? Well, I was a little disheartened and disappointed. I figured my enthusiasm for the day would be matched at least by some people. Maybe they were out there, but they sure weren’t verbal about it.
But let my rant end there and let me sum up by saying how refreshing it will be to wake up tomorrow with President Obama at the helm. I’m proud of my country, and I have the utmost confidence that this President will be a great leader through these very tough times.
Old Crow Medicine Show – I Hear Them All
Did anyone see Old Crow Medicine Show on Austin City Limits recently? Great set, and prompted me to dig out some of their stuff. This song is fitting for the moment, in my opinion.
I hear leaders quit their lying
I hear babies quit their crying.
I hear soldiers quit their dying, one and all.I hear them all
I hear them all
I hear them allThe Boss Was Made for Lovin’ You?
The Boss lifting from Ace, Gene, Paul and Peter? A new controversy brewing on the interwebs is the similarity between Bruce’s new album opener “Outlaw Pete”, and Kiss’ 1979 foray into disco, “I Was Made For Lovin’ You”. Similar? Sure, but not to the extent of Coldplay’s rip of Satriani. I rule in favor of – guess who? – The Boss!
What do you guys & gals think? Did Bruce dip back into his repository of shitty disco-rock?
“Outlaw Pete” vs. “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”:
Dr. Dog Live at Amoeba Records
I got turned on to these guys through a local band here in Arizona, What Laura Says. I was at their CD release party over the summer and heard a Dr.Dog tune on the PA before the show. I pulled out my iPhone, opened Shazam (sweet #&$ app!), and it brought back “The Old Days”. So since then, I’ve bought Fate and We All Belong.
They have a very cool retro, psychedelic, wild sound. Check out this in-store performance at Amoeba Records in Hollywood…
Howard interviews Paul McCartney
Say what you will about Howard Stern, but you gotta admit, the man is one of the best interviewers around. He has a way of putting his subjects at ease, and he delves into territories you won’t find on the morning or late night talk shows. He asks the questions a regular person would want to ask, and goes beyond the prepackaged “tell me about your latest project” crap best exemplified by Mr. Jay Leno.
On Wednesday of this week, Paul McCartney dropped by Howard’s show on Sirius-XM. Now this is how you interview a Beatle…
Howard Stern interviews Paul McCartney (1-14-2009):
Paul discusses, among many other things, his latest album as “The Fireman.”
Lotusflow3r.com updates…
Every day I’ve been cruising over to Lotusflow3r.com, Prince’s new web site, to see if there’s anything new. Well, it’s nothing earth-shattering, but we do have a few changes since yesterday…
First off, snippets of three new tunes have replaced the three previous. “Chocolate Box” is another selection from MPLS, Prince’s “old school” Pro Tools album, which I’m looking forward to the most. “A Colonized Mind” is supposed to play next, but at this point I hear only silence. That one I’m guessing comes from his second new album, Lotus Flower. The third is “All This Love”, which must be off Bria Valente’s new album, Elixir. Only about 30 seconds of each song are streaming…
Secondly, we have an itty bitty little ticket icon on the site. If you click it, you’ll see the ticket pictured here. Looks like January 31st will bring us a show in L.A., or some other item up Prince’s sleeve that will cost $77. Better than $777… You can also enter in your name and email and sign up for updates.
