Jaimoe

Ironically, I was just talking about/trashing Audioslave at length last night with a friend of mine. I was really curious about the band upon hearing of their formation a number of years ago. I like Soundgarden and respected Rage (although I've always hated the band), but combining elements of the two resulted into a band that is boring and overblown thanks specifically to Chris Cornell. I think Tom Morello is an excellent riff master, but one of the most infuriating lead guitarists. He can shove the screeches, scratches and whistles he calls guitar solos down his throat.

I too saw the Bravo! Arts & Minds program and was impressed with Pavlo's chops and creativity. Have fun tonight Corey.

What I'm saying is that sometimes I like reading about the vibe/size of a crowd because it creates a visual for the reader.

When I was at The MC5 reunion tour last year at The Phoenix, I found the people at the front of the stage antagonistic, constantly egging on guest frontman Evan Dando. Fights almost ensued between the Lemonheads singer, crowd and the remaining members of The MC5. Dando deserved the abuse, but I felt sorry for him because it's obvious that he is not well.

Unless the crowd at a concert gets your attention, like a perceived common vibe, look or theme that permeates throughout the venue, I don't find it necessary to mention a crowd other than by tallying a head-count; i.e., "the place was packed" or "the club was surprisingly empty given the band's pedigree" etc...

You gotta take all music reviews in context too. We as music fans can immediately find samples of an artist, thus a reviewer's merits can be judged rather quickly.

I've been given some excellent advice from critics in magazines and books, in particular All Music Guide, Guitar Player and Guitar World. I find the reviews in All Music Guide to be generally bang-on and the cross referencing invaluable, especially in the genres I don't know intimately. I'd never know the genius of Luna or Galaxie 500 if it weren't for All Music Guide's amazing cross-referencing tools and useful reviews. Using Guitar Player as an example, a number of years ago the mag ranked Television's Marquee Moon as the #1 guitar album of 1977. I read the review and it convinced me to buy the album (five or six years ago). I've since never looked at guitar based rock and guitar playing the same. That magazine also gave me a heads-up on The North Mississippi Allstars a month before their first and only good album Shake Hands With Shorty was released. If you look outside the rock box, there's some damn fine writers out there. Even that fucking pompous Toronto Star dweeb Ben Rayner is a good writer, even when he's not trashing hippies or romanticizing the glory years of the abhorrent shoegazer sub-culture of the late 80's.

Either of these two blues greats that sold their souls at the crossroads: Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson. Tara Reid Pete Doherty Keith Richards

The Elmo is a perfect venue to see a band, especially for the first time. I can't wait to see The Slip, a band I know nothing about other than owning one average CD and reading many testimonials over the years.

I'm watching The Raconteurs new video "Level". It's the best rock single I've heard this year.

Happy birthday Dave. I hope the Leafs win one for you tonight to make your big day's celebration complete.

I'm looking forward to hearing Trey's new album for the first time and then trashing it in a CD review.

Phish can take a hike. The Yardbirds clip is one of the best things I've ever seen on Youtube. It's one of the only existing and interesting artifacts regarding the transformation/break-up of The Yardbirds and the formation of Led Zeppelin.

For once, Harry Neale didn't have anything to worry about. Cassie has a shrill voice, but she wasn't prepared content-wise for the game either. I've yet to hear good colour or play-by-play for that matter by a woman doing a men's hockey game - but I think that day will come sooner rather than later, just not by Campbell. If only Mary Carillo called hockey.

For those of you who don't know the name Richard Hell, he's a CBCB's punk original. He played bass and eventually left his first band Television before they recorded their proto-punk masterpiece Marquee Moon, only to go on and form his own equally influential and iconic CBGB's band Richard Hell and the Voidoids in the mid 70's. Who better to write a tribute to the soon-to-be-closed New York City institution than Richard Hell? I was at the club two years ago and I'll never forget it. R.I.P. CBGB's. October 14, 2006 Op-Ed Contributor Rock ‘n’ Roll High School By RICHARD HELL CBGB’S shuts down this weekend. There’s not too much left to say about the character of the joint. It’s the most famous rock ’n’ roll club in the world, the most famous that there ever has been, and it’s just as famously a horrendous dump. It’s the archetypal, the ur, dim and dirty, loud, smelly and ugly nowhere little rock ’n’ roll club. There’s one not much different from it in every burg in the country. Only, like a lot of New York, CBGB’s is more so, way more so. And of course, for three or four years in the mid-70’s, it housed the most influential cluster of bands ever to grow up — or to implicitly reject the concept of growing up — under one roof. On practically any weekend from 1974 to 76 you could see one or more of the following groups (here listed in approximate chronological order) in the often half-empty 300-capacity club: Television, the Ramones, Suicide, the Patti Smith Group, Blondie, the Dictators, the Heartbreakers, Talking Heads, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, and the Dead Boys. Not to mention some often equally terrific (or equally pathetic) groups that aren’t as well remembered, like the Miamis and the Marbles and the Erasers and the Student Teachers. Nearly all the members of these bands treated the club as a headquarters — as home. It was a private world. We dreamed it up. It flowered out of our imaginations. How often do you get to do that? That’s what you want as a kid, and that’s what we were able to do at CBGB’s. It makes me think of that Elvis Presley quotation: “When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie. So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times.†We dreamed CBGB’s into existence. The owner of the club, Hilly Kristal, never said no. That was his genius. Though it’s dumb to use the word genius about what happened there. It was all a dream. Many of us were drunk or stoned half our waking hours, after all. The thing is, we were young there. You don’t get that back. Even children know that. They don’t want their old stuff thrown away. Everything should be kept. I regret everything I’ve ever thrown away. CBGB’s was like a big playhouse, site of conspiracies, orgies, delirium, refuge, boredom, meanness, jealousy, kindness, but most of all youth. Things felt and done the first time are more vivid. CBGB’s is where many things were felt with that vividness. That feeling is the real identity of the club, to me. And it’s horrible, or at least seriously sad, to lose it. But then, apparently, we aren’t really going to lose it. CBGB’s is going to be dismantled and reconstructed as an exhibit in Las Vegas, like Elvis. I like that. A lot. I really hope it happens as intended. It’s occurred to me that Hilly’s genius passivity is something he has in common with Andy Warhol. Another trait of Warhol’s was that he fanatically tried to keep or record everything that ever happened in his vicinity, from junk mail in “time capsules†to small talk to newspaper front pages and movie star publicity shots to 24 hours of the Empire State Building. We all know that nothing lasts. But at least we can make a cool and funny exhibit of it. I’m serious. God likes change and a joke. God loves CBGB’s. Richard Hell, a musician, is the author of the novel “Godlike†and the film critic for BlackBook magazine.

This is pretty tempting, especially when you take into account the musical guests and that the episodes are unedited. This set probably won't entice too many youngsters weaned on the "brilliance" of Chris Kattan and Jimmy Fallon to get the set, but damn, what a great show, especially the first four to five years: SNL

I love the new MMJ live album too - one of the better major label live releases you'll hear this decade. However, I have a hard time putting a live album on any list unless that said album is full of unreleased material. Okonokos ain't no Live At The Fillmore East, Band Of Gypsies, Rust Never Sleeps or Kick Out The Jams.

It's been a good rock year too. That Wolfmother album does not suck.

This is one of my favourites of the year. A perfect companion album for their early 90's underrated classic Goo:

I gotta say that The Raconteurs album kicks major ass. Maybe not album of the year, but certainly worth adding to the list. Anyone seen their new video for the song Level? Some smoking and lengthy solos with a killer Zeppelin-type riff.

I love the Luther Alison version of You Can't Always Get What You Want on Paint It' date=' Blue[/i'] - the Hammond on that gets me every time. I love that too, especially because Luther was dying of cancer at the time - a young Derek Trucks adds some nice slide work on that track and album.

I generally agree, but those Rolling Stones tribute albums done by blues artists are pretty darn good.

Well Roller, they ain't no Franz Ferdinand or The Killers so you might not like them.

The irony is that everyone seems to believe that "improv" is what we hear when we listen to jambands. Most people would run screaming from the room if they heard a *real* improv artist' date=' like John Zorn or someone like that.[/quote'] Or Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Eric Dolphy or John Coltrane.

This thread is turning into improv vs songs and it's sad and predictable that the improv side is winning.