playlist: tailgates and substitutes

Posted by Campbell at Wednesday, April 30, 2008 1 comments

Blaze Foley's "Clay Pigeons"

Posted by Campbell at Wednesday, April 30, 2008 0

Today's Ridiculous Hipsters

Posted by Campbell at Wednesday, April 30, 2008 1 comments

The terrible band Abe Vigoda

Blaze Foley

Posted by Campbell at Tuesday, April 29, 2008 1 comments

The first few years that I attended SXSW in Austin, my friends and I always made a point to make a day trip to Waterloo Records. Whenever we'd depart, we'd all hop into our rental car and furiously dive into our overflowing bags. I can clearly remember one person saying, "Good god, I just spent $350". Another classic memory was San Francisco's own Jason Smoliak quickly unwrapping Richmond Fontaine's "Lost Son" and sliding it into the CD player as we headed for Club de Ville. About two songs in there was a chorus of "this is terrible". I still laugh every time I pass that clunker on my CD shelf. I bet Smoliak does as well.

The year 2000 was the one year that I went all-out at Waterloo. I recall first picking up The Magnetic Fields' "69 Love Songs" and then running around the store looking for anything that caught my eye. As I scoured the racks, I was caught by the music playing over the speakers. About three steps from the register, the cashier belted out, "Blaze Foley's 'Live at the Austin Outhouse'". A few minutes later the CD was part of my massive bag of CDs.

Now eight-plus years later, I've still only listened to this record two or three times. I recall enjoying it, but it ultimately began collecting dust amongst the other F's on my rack. Until about two weeks ago. I was riding on the bus and the song "Clay Pigeons" came on the iPod. Not knowing the artist, I ripped my iPod out of my bag to check the artist. Since that weekday morning, I've listened to "Live at the Austin Outhouse" five or six times. Tonight I listened to the entire record front-to-back. Blaze Foley's a mix of Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt and well, Townes Van Zandt.

As I sat listening to the music and storytelling, I began to wonder about this Blaze Foley guy. Outside of that March day in Austin, I have never once heard anyone mention his name. A little research revealed that Foley was born in 1949 and died at the age of 40 in 1989. His first record, the one that's playing right now, wasn't released until 1999. As I make it through my second listen, I'm incredibly interested in finding out more about this guy. Why did it take ten years after his death for this beautiful music to finally see the light of day? Was music simply a hobby for Foley? How long did it take him to grow that mountain beard?

I found a website that alludes to a documentary; however, I can't seem to find anything about its existence. This is going to be an interesting journey. Hopefully I'll find out more about this man. And hopefully it won't take me another eight years.

playlist: all my metaphors fell flat

Posted by Campbell at Tuesday, April 29, 2008 0

Album of Week 17

Posted by Campbell at Monday, April 28, 2008 0

Gob Iron : Death Songs For the Living
Transmit Sound, 2006

playlist: sold me an apple to william s. burroughs

Posted by Campbell at Monday, April 28, 2008 0

To My NYC Friends

Posted by Campbell at Monday, April 28, 2008 0

Tonight: Josh Ritter @ The Music Hall, Williamsburg

Cable Nonsense Network

Posted by Campbell at Monday, April 28, 2008 0

My decade-long obsession with cable news ends today. Ever since the Gore/Bush campaign began, I have been a cable news junkie. MSNBC is usually my network of choice, although CNN probably gets about 25% of my news viewing time.

A few years back I was disgusted with CNN when they let go of Aaron Brown in favor of 23 hours of Anderson Cooper in a windbreaker. But the past few months, they've really outdone themselves. The additions of Tony Harris and Rick Sanchez have truly doomed any credibility that this network once had. Both men are FOX News clones, over-hyping the most basic news bite with raised voices, odd facial expressions and an American Idol-esque simplicity. These men are puppets to their corporate bigwigs and exhibit absolutely zero journalistic integrity. Toss in the gratuitous Betty Nguyen legshots and you have a network that's simply fallen to the lowest form of news coverage. And don't even get me started on that freakshow Lou Dobbs.

Tonight I remove both CNN and MSNBC from my TV options. This narrows my TV watching to The Office, Frontline and baseball. Sorry, Wolf.

One Hundred Songs

Posted by Campbell at Sunday, April 27, 2008 0

I have just under 15,000 songs in my iTunes library. I've attempted to cull the top 100 songs into the greatest playlist known to mankind. Here it is:

Isolation : John Lennon
Black Eye : Uncle Tupelo
Catch You Alive : Damnations TX
You and Your Sister : Chris Bell
The Way : Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Big Brown Eyes : Old 97's
4am : Richard Buckner
Two Hearts : The Jayhawks
Formula, Cola, Dollar Draft : Marah
Black : Okkervil River
Norwegian Wood : The Beatles
Troublesome Kind : Tim Easton
Poncho & Lefty : Townes Van Zandt
Wrong 'Em Boyo : The Clash
The Lucky One : Freedy Johnston
Powderfinger : Neil Young
Fuel : Damian Jurado
Backstreets : Bruce Springsteen
Via Chicago : Wilco
Lost Cause : Beck
Return of the Grievous Angel : Gram Parsons
Triggers and Trash Heaps : Centro-matic
Violence in the Snowy Fields : Dolorean
Bled White : Elliott Smith
Lip Service : Elvis Costello
Tear Stained Eye : Son Volt
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues : Bob Dylan
Impossible Germany : Wilco
Waitin' for a Superman : The Flaming Lips
Rise : Josh Rouse
Long Gone Lonesome Blues : Hank Williams
Jackson : Lucinda Williams
Right Moves : Josh Ritter
Trying Your Luck : The Strokes
Range Life : Pavement
The Harder They Come : Jimmy Cliff
Chickamauga : Uncle Tupelo
Every Grain of Sand : Emmylou Harris
No Matter What : Badfinger
September Gurls : Big Star
Jerusalem : Steve Earle
There She Goes : The La's
New Slang : The Shins
Migration : Jimmy Buffett
If Not For You : George Harrison
Losering : Whiskeytown
Someone To Pull the Trigger : Matthew Sweet
Stay With Me : The Faces
Sister Jack : Spoon
Orangeworker : For Squirrels
I've Been Loving You Too Long : Otis Redding
Not Dark Yet : Bob Dylan
I Shall Be Released : The Band
Misunderstood : Wilco
Thunder Road : Bruce Springsteen
Oklahoma, USA : The Kinks
Mostly Water : Bap Kennedy
New Brookland : South San Gabriel
I Can Hear the Laughs : Freedy Johnston
Cyprus Avenue : Van Morrison
Squeeze Box : The Who
Orphan Girl : Gillian Welch
Metal Guru : T. Rex
True Love Will Find You In the End : Daniel Johnston
God : John Lennon
Driving the View : Son Volt
These Arms of Mine : Otis Redding
Before the Deluge : Jackson Browne
Climbing To the Moon : Eels
Front Porch : Slobberbone
She Belongs To Me : Bob Dylan
Out of Time : The Rolling Stones
King of Carrot Flowers Part 1 : Neutral Milk Hotel
I'll Follow the Sun : The Beatles
Many Rivers To Cross : Jimmy Cliff
Settled Down Like Rain : The Jayhawks
Old Shoes : Tom Waits
Stolen Car : Bruce Springsteen
Ft. Worth Blues : Steve Earle
A Damn Good Disguise : The Mendoza Line
One of These Things First : Nick Drake
Papercuts : The Havenots
A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall : Bob Dylan
Sloop John B : The Beach Boys
Put the Message in the Box : World Party
Anything You Want : Spoon
Heroes : David Bowie
Black Cab : Jens Lekman
Fade Away : V-Roys
He's Misstra Know It All : Stevie Wonder
Pilgrim : Steve Earle & The Del McCoury Band
Bring It On Home To Me : Sam Cooke
Billy and Bonnie : Steve Earle
Fly : Nick Drake
Tecumseh Valley : Townes Van Zandt
Jailbreak : Thin Lizzy
Lovesick Blues : Hank Williams
Gun : Uncle Tupelo
So. Central Rain : R.E.M.