Blast Your Podcast Blog

Bill "PHAT Albert" Cosby Releases 'Non-Rap' Comedy Album, With Soundtrack

2008-04-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Bill Cosby, most known for being Dr. Huxtable, most respected for his comedy stand-up. Today Cosby gets decidedly mixed reactions as he tries to be a voice to a new generation by brining the serious.

Arguably this new seriousness happened after his son was tragically killed, though 12-year run of The Cosby Show offered a serious, sober take of the reality of many African Americans other than inner-city.

Cosby, 70, has a reputation, now, as trying to preach and convince rather than persuade African Americans that a lot of what they're doing is dysfunctional and/or damaging. Of course, there is much to be said.

And he sees nothing useful in rap, so has made a point of saying his latest album will not feature any rap even though it has other music in the background. in the tradition of beat poetry.

The CD, Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency has Cosby, the voice of Fat Albert and Jell-O Pudding Pops, telling stories along with the hip-hop, pop and jazz stylings of others. It will be released next month.

I do not rap on any of these things. I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words.

(The album is) the opposite of what I think is the profanity for no particular reason, the misogyny for no particular reason. It really looks at the frustration and the anger that a young man may have.

[ --The Associated Press]

Britney Spears: As Troubled As She Wants To Be

2008-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

I've already said my piece about Britney and how the world would pretty much be better off if she, and a few other members of the SupahFly Tramp Club sort of, well died.

The start of the downfall, arguably, was her TV series, Chaotic. The more people knew about her and what she wanted out of life the more they lost any last vestige of being able to believe she wasn't exactly what they already thought. Then they just wanted to see her naked or more. Then she they just didn't want to see her.

Now people want to see her so they can mock her. What a career arc!

And Spears is more than happy to oblige. Apparently she's planning some "personal journal" videos for the Web. Presumably for BritneySpears.com, which hasn't changed much in a long time, which still shows her gloved hands over breasts from whenever, and which now promises "A New Official Site Coming Soon."

She might also appear in some reality show or Bally Fitness ad campaign to get fit and lose weight. That's be good, too. I don't think I've ever criticized her for her looks, more for her attitude, stupidity and general all around shameless cluelessness.

Either way, the mocking will continue and those with a soft heart - or more likely those who hate XYZ more will root for Britney' success because, well, because they've got nothing else to do apparently.

Amy Winehouse's Record Label, Empty Threats

2008-04-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

If Amy Winehouse can't learn to walk and run upright without a lean, her record label, Universal Music, says it will stop her recording career cold.

It's a pretty empty threat because the clamour from other record biz execs and fans will be too loud for them to get away with it. "Unofffical" recordings will filter out
Winehouse, like the (very very few) wife-beaters in pro-sports will find a venue and a market based on talent. Besides, drug use in music isn't exactly a taboo, though it remains extremely destructive.

Sex, drugs and rock n' roll may be more a myth now in corporate music land, but it's still a welcome myth.

So Winehouse - who must have felt from an early age that she needed to live up to her name - will be fine, though taking the booze and other assorted vices down a notch could fell good more than hurt. Winehouse's musical output so far isn't enough to establish her in rock history, however smoky and weighted her voice. Frank and Back In Black, as well as last year's well-received DVD, I Told You I Was Trouble are all wonderful but apparently not as wonderful or satisfying to Winehouse herself as drugs and being out of it. Woe is the pressure. Please. Say no more, create music, keep off the heavy stuff and enjoy life. If you can't enjoy it, create, create, create. Creation is almost always more useful than destruction.

Of course, then there's Prince, equally talented if not more so who was stuck behind a wall of death until he was able to put together enough greatest hits / remix packages and other assorted garbage - Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic is - to get out.

They were able to stop him. For a while. But he didn't stop himself.

REVIEW: Tila Tequila - Electric Bon Bon

2008-04-09T01:05:00.000-07:00

After ripping Tila Tequila - the most famous bisexual reality star this side of I don't give a shit - for "I Love U", the weakest I'm going to kick your ass song since TNKOTB's Hang Tough, I have to give a speck of credit here.

Electric Bon Bon. I don't think the song is really about anything but it sounds great. Rap-chant lyrics where very few of the words can be understood, the fucking back beat kills. There's wordless breaks and hand claps that just drive the song to 120 down the highway.

Ms. TT doesn't seem to have a strong sense of what makes sense. So the less words the better.

Hooray. I found a gem in the pile of public-persona manure that is MySpace maven Tila Tequila.

Just how did she get a reality show? Because vapid vastly outruled vamp in perception.

NEW MUSIC: Gabriella Cilmi's Serious Voice

2008-04-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Just 16, Gabriella Cilmi's voice reminds me of Debbie Harry - especially "Echo Beach" and, yes there's a deepness and maturity, in the voice anyway, that brings Amy Winehouse to mind. There are also hints of 70s disco and smooth RnB (eg the title track to her debut album), as well as rocker chick sensibilities.

She apparently got her start by getting on stage during a Rolling Stones' tribute night, belting Jumpin Jack Flash and awing the crowd. That was three years ago, and she's been crafting an album ever since.

That album, "Lessons to be learned" iTunes UK store) came out yesterday.

Heather Mills Got McCartney To Record 'Disability Rap'

2008-04-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

As I start to write this I suddenly wonder whether an article I saw yesterday was an April Fool's joke. I did find it on an Australian site where it was already 4/1 - or 1/4 I guess.

Still I'll write and then check back.

Heather Mills, who lost part of one leg in a 1993 motorbike accident, apparently persuaded Paul McCartney, her doting and adoring boyfriend at the time of the recording (hint, no all you is more than love) to add some music to her words.

And really bad words they are too. In the excerpts given I can't even begin to figure out a rhythm scheme much less a rhyme scheme.

It's been hard, other children can be cruel. Teasing and tormenting - freak, weirdo, retard. What do they know?"

AND

So you go to the NHS and they do their best with their limited budget. They make her limbs but she can't wear them - they're painful. And every step you take is even more painful to you. So you thank them because it's the best they can do. No Mr. Minister. It's not. And you know it.

Tempe Music Festival This Weekend

2008-03-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

When your headliner is Fergie - and no disrespect to her - your rocking Tempe Music Festival - seems a bit of a dud.

Turns out the festival, in the middle of ASU land has a lot more going for it than Fergie, who live in the great outdoors can't be much.

The Meat Puppets and Gin Blossoms for starters.

See, there is a certain type of person who goes to an outdoor concert. That type would much rather see the Gin Blossoms and the Meat Puppets.

Then, of course, there's My Chemical Romance. Their fan base is large and loyal, but generally younger. They take the stage Friday. But they would be more excited to see My Chemical Romance than Fergie's fans would be.

Across the three days and four stages are:

Friday -
DORSEY
THE SUMMER SET
DEAR AND THE HEADLIGHTS
BILLY TALENT
PUDDLE OF MUDD
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
AGE OF EVIL
DRIVE BY
VAYDEN
PEACHCAKE
NONPOINT

Saturday -
SOUNDRABBIT
CHRIS PARKER PROJECT
MATTHEW MOON
COWBOY MOUTH
EVE 6
MEAT PUPPETS
GIN BLOSSOMS
FERGIE (These last three come right after each other on the same stage.)

FLIGHT TO LONDON
3UG
TRACTOR PULL DIVAS
WHAT LAURA SAYS THINKS AND FEELS
JEDS A MILLIONAIRE
DREW ALEXANDER
LOVEBLISTERS
SECONDS TO BREATHE
THE SEASON PREMIERE
DUBWISE
SOUND THE CITY
WESTCOTT AVENUE
THE RINGLEADER

Uh-oh, Time to Think - Podcasts To Heat Up Your Brain

2008-03-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

A. Quinn sent me a link from the Online Education Database, which I believe she had a part in creating.

It's 100 of, in their view, the best College Podcasts out there.

Subjects such as Modern Theoretical Physics, Aircraft Systems Engineering and Principles of Chemical Science, are tackled, no doubt with killer bumper music.

I'll be buzzing through and seeing which ones may be most interesting - to mass and specific audiences both

Something for Rockets Live Webcast now

2008-03-18T20:15:00.001-07:00

I'm listening to a live Web cast as the band something Fort Rockets - or i think an offshoot - airs a Live Web cast of, I think, just an informal jam session.

I found out about it because SFR are on my Myspace listings so I'm checking it out and trying to figure it out.

The one guy, Rami, is reading some of the chat moments as he's on the screen. Kinda cool, since I haven;'t done one of these before.

Savvant Music @ SXSW

2008-03-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Savvant Music label owner Anny Randel spent some time at SXSW this past week, looking not only at new bands but how to develop an online community. She blogged about it all here

SXSW, I have to get to this thing next year, i could drive there no problem.

He Can Be Caught: Dave Clark Five Singer Dies

2008-02-28T23:15:00.000-08:00

The Dave Clark Five was one of the earliest and most successful bands of the British Invasion in the 1960s.

The group's lead singer, Mike Smith, died today in London of pneumonia at the age of 64.

The death comes a fortnight before the group was set to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald according to his agent, Margo Lewis, Smith's long illness came about as a result of spinal injury complications after a fall in 2003.

"Because,"" Glad All Over," "Catch Us If You Can," and "I Like it Like That" were big hits in the first half of the 1960s.

Tanya Harding opera in Portland

2008-02-28T22:29:00.000-08:00

Never thought you'd be a fan of opera outside, "Tommy"? That's because you never knew there would be a rock opera about former professional skater Tonya Harding.

Harding, a Portland, Ore. native has seen the production, Tonya & Nancy: The Rock Opera, saying it didn't reflect well on her life.

Harding was banned from professional skating following an attack in 1994 on Nancy Kerrigan by Harding's bodyguard Brian Griffith. Kerrigan had her knee whacked with a metal pipe. Kerrigan was given a spot on the U.S. figure skating team, both had been competing to represent America in the Olympics.

Songs include "Whip Her Butt" "Gillooly Colluded" and "Estacada." The 100-minute opera covers the attack as well as the childhood and budding careers of both skaters.

Harding appeared at the premiere and was invited on stage to speak, after reportedly laughing boisterously most of the way through it.

The opera plays through March 8 at the World Trade Center Auditorium in Portland, 121 S.W. Salmon St. $25 tickets are available here.

Tonya & Nancy is rated G for Gillooly.

Buddy Miles dies of congestive heart failure

2008-02-28T11:25:00.000-08:00

The statement published on BuddyMiles.com from family friend Geoffrey Menin detailed George Allen "Buddy" Miles' place in music history and the character of a man who kept on keeping on, with a drive for music.

Miles, a drummer foremost but also a singer and songwriter and one of Jimi Hendrix' short-lived Band of Gypsys, died at his home in Austin, Texas, aged 60. He was born in Omaha, Neb, Sept. 5, 1947.

By Geoffrey Menin

George Allen "Buddy" Miles passed away late last night in Austin, Texas after a long fight with congestive heart disease.

Born in Omaha in 1947, Buddy was a child prodigy, initially playing drums with his father George,Sr.'s band The Bebops. His nickname – given to him by his aunt - came from his tremendous love for his idol, Buddy Rich (they once played on stage together). He played in a variety of bands as a teenager including the Ink Spots and the Delfonics; at 14 years old, he played with Wilson Pickett. In 1967, together with Mike Bloomfield, he founded the Electric Flag, one of the first, if not the first, mixed race electric blues bands. With Bloomfield's searing guitar licks and the high wail of a terrific horn section, the Flag was a raving celebration, especially with Buddy's voice ringing o'er the top. After only two albums, the group broke up and Buddy formed the infamous Buddy Miles Express. Soon thereafter, Buddy began his legendary collaboration with Jimi Hendrix, participating in the famous Electric Ladyland sessions on "Rainy Day, Dream Away" and "Still Raining, Still Dreaming," and taking his place with Billy Cox in the all-black, short-lived but extremely influential Band of Gypsys. Their classic Live at the Fillmore East recording from New Years' Eve 1969/70 – in its initial release – featured a spot where Hendrix broke a guitar string, and during the 5 or so minutes it took Jimi to replace the string, Buddy carried on singing an improvised solo (replete with mouth-made wah-wah sounds) over the bass and drums until Hendrix slyly slipped back in the mix. The moment bears testimony to Buddy's capacity to carry the band himself with an energy which was all his own. This live session also feat red an early version of "Them Changes," a composition recorded and played by countless artists over time, which has safely entered the pantheon of rock music. Buddy went on famously to work with Carlos Santana, John McLaughlin and many others and he was the voice on the best-selling California Raisins albums (and commercials) including a wondrous version of "I Heard it Through the Grapevine."

I met Buddy Miles in the lobby of a hotel in Paris about 18 years ago. He had a way of speaking which was totally unique – although it was not always linear, it was always brilliant and rhythmic and it always made sense if you listened carefully. I had the opportunity to play with him at that time at the legendary New Morning club, and we became close friends and allies. No drummer could lay down a fatter pocket. I was proud to be his attorney-in-life. Buddy husbanded a strong creative spark and he consistently had ideas for new and different projects, right up to his end. He was a cat with more than nine lives. He always defied the odds and surprised everyone around him – his spirit was indefatigable. His performance with Stanley Jordan at our wedding on "Little Wing" holding Sophie's hand was as great a gift as one could ever receive. He could call up and sing you "Happy Birthday" and have you laughing and crying at the same time within seconds. His voice was as sweet as honey from heaven.

Buddy passed with loved ones holding his hands. Only two nights ago, I had the chance to phone him from Madison Square Garden so he and Sherrilae could hear Winwood and Clapton as they laid down yet another version of his song, Them Changes to thunderous acclaim. As his niece said when I was in Austin recently: "Uncle Buddy, you're not from this planet. Your people put you here, and now they're coming to take you back home." I think she was right. I think he's at peace now that he's home. Surely he left us with many treasures evidencing his visit to earth. We will miss him dearly.

Music - How Free is Free?

2008-02-16T23:58:00.000-08:00

It's a complex question with seemingly simple answers.

Music has always been free on the radio, and now free with online radio.

Music is free with such peer-to-peer sharing software as Limewire or Kazaa.

The difference, of course is advertising or the lack thereof.

Recently, in late January, a company called Qtrax made news - and repeatedly did so loudly and publicly - for saying they'd have free downloadable tracks that were iPod friendly. The iPod has proprietary software called Fairplay, which Qtrax claims to be able to bypass. Legally? Well, no, apparently not, yet and Apple hasn't been willing to let others play with their iTunes downloads, fair or not.

It's unclear whether Qtrax tracks will have advertising in them or on the player. Qtrax made, arguably, bigger news when companies such as Warner Music and Sony BMG announced they had NOT set up any licensing deals with Qtrax, owned by Brilliant Technologies. Three weeks later and clarification on what rights Qtrax has to use the music has not come.

"You can't change the attitudes and habits of what is now probably amounting to two generations who believe that music ought to be free on the internet," said Qtrax CEO Allan Klepfisz in a news release. "Those people are not going to be discouraged by Supreme Court decisions, they're not going to be discouraged by technological interference. Ultimately, what will discourage them is a demonstratively better service."

The number of tracks available has been reported as high as 30 million, which may be approaching the limit of all music on CD, but the Qtrax Web site, most likely as a result of the aforementioned publishing groups, only mentions 250,000.

I won't know for sure how the software works because it isn't available for the Mac or iPods until mid-March. I sure wouldn't trust any P2P software on a Windows machine.

Qtrax allows movement to portable mp3 players, like the iPod, but has DRM (digital rights management) that will ostensibly not allow burning them to CD. But they do avoid the customer being upset because they paid for them therefore they should be able to do anything with them.

Wired mag has had coverage that there's been serious suspicion that it's all a big stock scam.

Worst supportive quote for Britney Spears

2008-01-21T18:38:00.000-08:00

She is working on the choreography for her song Hot as Ice. She rehearsed an amazing routine with a chair. I let her use my personal copy of Blackout. She forgot her own CD.

-- Robert Baker, Millennium Dance Complex owner, People.com

She should definitely be left more alone by the media, lest too many people feel start to feel sorry for her self-involved fuckups. However, there's a likelihood that should would be found the next morning dead having ingested 15 different substances topped with swimming pool chlorine tablets.

Janet Jackson says Michael may not be up for Jackson 5 reunion

2008-01-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

The jokes about Michael Jackson returning to his kid roots pretty much write themselves.

Janet Jackson, according to the World Entertainment News Network, says that maybe her older brother won't be up for it, mentally. However, if the gifted one can focus in and sing and channel those negative energies into something positive a string of knockout performances will cast away many doubts.

The singer, while clearly indulging in behavior he best could and should have avoided, still has the goodwill of many a person who just wants to see him be a great musician again. His amazing dance days may be behind him - but then they thought that of James Brown long before it was true.

REVIEW: Gone, Gone, Gone - Robert Plant, Alison Krauss

2007-12-02T16:59:00.000-08:00

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant's new song, Gone, Gone, Gone just aired on CMT - Country Music Television. The cover of the Everly Brothers song, has a fresh sound, without a contrived genre.

It was good to hear Robert Plant's voice in a new setting. Because while it is a highly-honed instrument it is not pleasurable to listen to really surrounded by the traditional rock guitar, bass and drums.

With Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) I found myself wanting to hear him more. That is, after I determined it was him behind the dark-hair "soul patch" and thinner face. The song is heavy on chorus, light on story but though Krauss has a very listenable voice Plants' clearly overwhelmed it.

From the album, "Raising Sand."

Lily Allen's four-year career

2007-11-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

Says she wants to quit at 25

British star Lily Allen, who looks 13 now tells the Times of London that the shorter her career the better, as far as she's concerned.

Nothing [makes] me feel passionate. ... I love her and think she's brilliant, but I don't want to work as hard as she did to provide for us. That's why I've always wanted to make lots of money early on."

It was only last year that the triple-nippled Lily Allen, 22, made a semi-boom entrance with Alright, Still on the music scene around the world, less so in the United states.

I truly don't know why more celebrities don't retire at an earlier age - and some should as soon as possible, of course. It would be heaven if politicians took the chill pill a lot earlier. Maybe not 25, but wouldn't the world be a better place if Britney Spears had given it all up after four years?

Allen, caught drinking, smoking and blow jobbing s a teenager - who dropped out of school at 15 - is also the goddaughter of former Clash singer and guitarist, Joe Strummer.

Radiohead's experiment - OK

2007-11-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

In Rainbows was given an, "eh, it's OK" as about 400,000 or 40% of people who downloaded decided Raidiohead's album was worth paying anything for. MTV, itself vested by ownership in propping up big labels, reports a comStore study that of those who paid, the most frequent amount was less than $4.

That doesn't smell like success to me. It's about a million and it's 400,000 listeners (but necessarily new fans if they didn't like it). Imagine people listening to music for free to see if they like it? Has nobody ever heard of the actual radio? Or MySpace? Then there's this clueless comment, from the article:

"Whatever that 60 percent of people were going to do, they weren't going to buy the Radiohead album anyway," said the manager of several groups who have sold millions of albums on major labels, but who — like most of the people we spoke to for this story — requested anonymity. "Anyone who went to the Radiohead site to get it instead of PirateBay or some other site like that would never buy it, so it's not like they've been CD buyers their whole lives and supporters of Radiohead and decided, 'This week I'm not going to contribute.' Just consider those 60 percent to be gone already — except now Radiohead have their e-mail addresses and they can market to them."

They weren't going to buy the album anyway? That just doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't they? They like Radiohead. Secondly, its pretty much illustrating that 60 percent of people won't pay; that doesn't mean anyone has a right to it.

I'm a proponent of creative people getting paid for what they do. My tilting point is, once you're a friggin' Aerosmith, Eagles or Metallica, you can open up the purse strings a little and get your street cred back the right way. IE, they can afford to give it away.

People think paying less for an album is fine because the real money is made in concerts. However, have you seen the price of concerts these days? The number of people who'll get an album - I was going to say purchase but ... - is higher for sure, but the price of a concert is way up there and many people are priced out the experience.

There's a balance that needs to be reached - and 38 percent isn't it.

Gracenote Music Map Rocks?

2007-11-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

For some reason both my browsers gave up being able to auto load Flash movies and elements a few months ago - and nothing I've tried has worked. So this map, at Gracenote.com, of what the world listens to (and buys presumably) seems interesting but I don't know.

So tell me, is it?

Porter Wagoner, the original Rhinestone Cowboy dies, 80

2007-10-29T19:50:00.000-07:00

Porter Wagoner lasted about a year longer than anyone thought he might.

But Sunday the Grande Ole Opry star died in Nashville, aged 80. Lung cancer was the illness that finally took the good 'ole boy down.

Like Roy Orbison, Wagoner was enjoying a surge in modern popularity after a new release, Wagonmaster just a few months ago, in June. He was touring with the White Stripes weeks before he died. Wagoner had a 50-year career in music and was a TV host of "The Porter Wagoner Show" for 21 years until 1981.

He helped launch Dolly Parton's career by pulling her in to duet with him.

itune In With God

2007-10-28T15:45:00.000-07:00

Faith has taken a back seat to bribes. Or, it's just a way of modernizing religion.

To be fair, Church By the Glades Pastor David Hughes gives his Florida flock $15 itunes gift cards to attend, not church per se, but a specific sermon called "i: Successful Living in a Self-Absorbed World."

Having headphones on as you go about your day is one of the very definitions of self-absorption though. It cuts you off from the outside world in everything but smell. You can look around, but you are less likely to do so. you can't hear conversations of strangers. You don't participate, you just listen to music you like.

Your take?

REVIEW: Aaron McMullan - Yonder! Calliope?

2007-09-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

We'll walk through my dukedom
And a paradise we will share

Even though most of this professional debut disc's songs document Aaron McMullan's personal hell in searching for the best of himself, the music calms.

Mostly accompanied only with guitar, McMullan sings in an Irish scratch, where even a ballad such as "Sinead in Savage Purple" has the listener on edge. Yet still it calms.

"Yonder! Calliope?" is not a multi-mood disc. If you're angry it may be the perfect accompaniment. If you're happy and you know it, it may be perfect. But it won't be all things to one person. It's not pop music. It has feeling, layers and acoustic, rock-folk-punk striation. While a listener can enjoy the background of McMullan's voice while doing something else, his is music that usually stops you enough to think about what's being said.

That can be inconvenient, so it's not for all moods.

"Blue from Black" makes the introductions to a man who has something worth saying. A growling guitar and the Irish intensity commingle, where emerging from the black is a revelation, but won't guarantee never returning: Faces to the left and right and ahead of me while they fade with their twisting, snarling inside of me move from black in front of me.

"Sketches in Broken C" is the most mass-media friendly, neither a compliment nor condemnation. It's just that it follows the strictures of pop, something catchy repeated often. It starts as if set inside a continuous conversation and evolves through the imagery of piss and shit snarling with jealousy. About 1:20 in, the drums literally kick in and push the song into a rolling, lolling toe-tapper. This one may stay in your brain for a while, having that same meandering conversation with your thoughts.

In most any venue where McMullan throws himself it's his passion for existence and experiences that comes across most. He may feel alone at times, but clearly he's not. Aaron McMullan, formerly known in small circles as Duke De Mondo, gets passion and enthusiastic friendship in return, often sincerely disbelieving he's worth the attention. Yet, fighting against this disbelief blankets "Yonder! Calliope?" like Stephen King's "The Mist."

When he plays with others, nervousness dissipates. That's where frequent co-collaborator Ryan Flemming seems to play an important role. Though the hip-hop world is infested with unnecessary collaborations, McMullan would benefit from the synergy of another or others, allowing the release of different elements of his own voice.

Occasionally, as in "City Country City", that voice phlegms up, like he's singing half underwater, though whether he's sweeping up or sinking down is a matter of debate. It takes a couple of bars to clear the song. The possible (wildly speculative) explanations are numerous as to why.

One that I like is that Aaron McMullan was taken with uncertainty and a sparring bout ensued. There's more sound in this tune and it builds; clapping, banging plastic surfaces with metal and wood ballistics. There's whistling, there's odd auralities, moans, chants, that are all designed to "accidentally" fit together. On top of that he's supposed to lay down the lyrics while trying to avoid crashing-upon-itself cacophony.

It's ambitious to want to spruce up the sparsity and with the passing pleasant aroma of "Day in the Life" this one rides the edge of controlled chaos and crap, falling on the less brown side. As everything else goes on, it's his voice that still dominates "City Country ..." The Northern Irish timbre is strong and brings the memory of all the country's painful history and, to the untraveled ear can amaze just by existing. In the same way Americans are stunned by a black man with a "cultured" British accent.

Aaron McMullan is self-confessional about near self-destruction in a post-teenage wasteland of doubt. Though any quick scan of the man's writings shows a wide range of music loves, "Yonder! Calliope?" is more about the tradition of Irish music - dark humor through language play and earnest, seriousness combined.

The other overall quality that makes the disc worth listening to is an increasingly rare focus on lyrics, and meaning. It's worth it to examine what's being said, you get something new each time. The 20-something McMullan's world - at least through this disc - is one of stepping back into memory. And not stepping back very far.

These songs are clearly not trying to solve what are usually thought of as the world's problems - conquest, war, famine, death. However, the title asks, about a concept that plagues everyone - being stuck and getting out. Whether that's being stuck in a rut, stuck in a relationship or just stuck trying to bleed out creativity, we all ask, "Where's my inspiration?"

This disc can help you find it because it's clear McMullan struggles like anyone else. He is not content to just pour out rubbish but he wants, passionately, to present the best of himself.

Inspiration comes of all kinds. All kinds are not worthy of passing on to an audience. The self-flagellation must have continued while recording "Yonder! Calliope?", punching himself in the head at every note, every inflection that sounded off to him. And now, McMullan is going to have to promote and spend time with this album, but his music will have already moved on to new things.

The musician, now amused, can snort at my presumptions and laugh at being reviewed at all.

___________
TRY IT OR BUY IT
Listen ::: Last FM, Aaron McMullan
Buy ::: I-Tunes
Buy / Listen ::: Ex Libris Records

View vid-eo and other items at Exlibris Records - they're doing him up a treat.

Mindy McCready, arrested again

2007-09-16T10:45:00.001-07:00

She's blonde, sweet-looking and wholesome. Though her last hit, "Guys Do It All the Time" was more than 10 years ago Mindy McCready should be brought back into the news for her crimes. She's not a rapper or a sports figure but still, if there's a balance to be made ...

Mindy McCready, was sentenced recently for a fight-with-her-mother probation violation stemming from a prescription painkiller drug arrest in 2004. The mother of a 1-year-old son has a mixed up life, but it sounds like the son will get her back on track.

Bob Marley ringtones, family disgusted

2007-09-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

The issue of the meaning of music, and being meaningful, will always continue. However, seen more and more as a free commodity, the ability for music to touch people where it matters will continue to decline.

Bob Marley's family has sued Verizon Wireless and Universal Music Group (owner of Marley's record label, Island Records) as news came out in late August that the phone company would be exclusively offering Bob Marley ringtones, and using his name and image in their advertising.

"The agreement was entered into without the permission of the Marley Family," said a statement from Fifty Six Hope Road Music, a company owned by the Marley family.

Fifty Six Hope Music Ltd, has increased its involvement in lawsuits as commercial enterprise and ways to transmit music have diversified.

The lawsuit against UMG and Verizon has yet to be filed, but it has already filed or been part of five lawsuits so far this year in the United States alone. the count was twop in 2005 and none in 2006.