Alright, so it’s only Time Canada, but still. I guess I’m shocked because I can remember when the band was still blogger hype and the album, Funeral hadn’t even come out yet. Even more shocking is that bands I like don’t appear on Time magazine. Sure Eddie Vedder did back in the early 90’s, but that was PEARL JAM; we’re talking about the Arcade Fire here. This is funny, because I’m betting that the majority of people who read this or the Time Canada article for that matter won’t know who they are, but they will.

I remember being back in Milwaukee on one of my countless trips back moving my stuff to my new home in Madison, and buying the record, asking for it by name, and the guy behind the counter had no idea who they were, only knew that they had one copy. I bought it and listened to it an endless amount of times in my newly emptied one bedroom studio in Milwaukee as I pack up my things and said goodbye to the only city I’ve really loved. I loaded it on my ipod, and it guided me from 43 South to Interstate 90/94 through the smell of yeast and beer, past Miller Park, and all the memories that Milwaukee held for me. I made a few phone calls, telling my two friends Mullins, and Jake about the disc, Jake caught on, and I’m not sure if Mullins has or not. Either way, Funeral is an amazing album, and deserves all the acclaim it receives.

I can also remember the night when the Arcade Fire was playing at Mad Planet in Milwaukee, and I had just recently relocated to Madison, and teetering on the edge of whether to make the hour plus drive. Well, work got the better of me that night, and as I left the office after 7pm there was no part of me that wanted to make that drive. It turned out to be a big mistake. No doubt the next time around will be amazing, but it definitely won’t be the same. I think the reason this album means so much to me is that it represents a new beginning in my life. The one thing that I’ve always loved about music is that it puts your life in chronological order for you. I can remember where and who I was with when I first heard this, etc. Like listening to Everclear’s “Sparkle and Fade with my friend Sadie in high school, I bet we played that disc a hundred times, and even though I haven’t listened to that album or band in years, every time I see something on TV or in a magazine about Everclear, I’m once again a high school sophomore just happy to be with my friend and to share music. The same goes with Pearl Jam (Yield specifically, and the song Black) and my friend Jake, I don’t know how many drives to and from Wisconsin Dells that Pearl Jam was the soundtrack for. Those brief moments when Jake would steer the Buick century back home on a semi warm Wisconsin night, and we’d exhausted all conversation, the music was there to fill our minds, and, at least for me, my memories.

For me, the Arcade Fire’s disc envelopes the change from one place to another and all the adjustments that come along with relocating. I suppose it could have been any album that I was really digging at the time, but it wasn’t, and therefore, it doesn’t matter if the Arcade Fire turn out to be a flash in the pan, this album will always mean a lot to me.

The Time magazine article is here, and you can but the Arcade Fire’s album, Funeral here.

Bruce Springsteen - Devils & Dust
April 26th, 2005

1. Devils & Dust
2. All The Way Home
3. Reno
4. Long Time Comin’
5. Black Cowboys
6. Maria’s Bed
7. Silver Palomino
8. Jesus Was an Only Son
9. Leah
10. The Hitter
11. All I’m Thinkin’ About
12. Matamoras Banks

From BruceSpringsteen.net:

DEVILS & DUST (COLUMBIA RECORDS) TO BE RELEASED IN DUALDISC FORMAT ON APRIL 26

Bruce Springsteen’s new album, Devils & Dust (Columbia Records) will be released exclusively in DualDisc format on April 26 in the US, with the full album on CD on one side of the disc and DVD content on the other side.

The DVD side will feature the first live performances of Devils & Dust material. Filmmaker/photographer Danny Clinch captured new, acoustic renditions of “Devils & Dust,” “Long Time Comin’,” “Reno,” All I’m Thinkin’ About,” and “Matamoras Banks,” each with Springsteen’s extensive, personal introductions. The performances were filmed in New Jersey in February 2005. The DVD side will also contain the entire album mixed in 5.1 channel surround sound and in stereo.

Springsteen closed shows from ‘The Rising’ tour by showing Clinch’s black and white, super 8mm film of the performer singing a country blues version of “Countin’ on a Miracle,” a track from ‘The Rising.’ Danny Clinch has directed several music films, including “Ben Harper: Pleasure and Pain,” and has authored two books of photography.

DualDisc releases are two-sided discs with a conventional CD side and a DVD side, allowing artists to use audio and video content on a single two-sided disc. For more information on DualDisc technology, please log on to http://www.dualdisc.com.

I changed my “Now Playing” selections. Hope you get a chance to check some of them out.

Kings of Leon
DJ Krush
RJD2
Assembly of Dust
Blue Merle
Amos Lee

Just announced, thanks More Cowbell. Never seen either of these acts before. The 1st is my birthday, and will be a summerfest show. I can’t wait.

7/1: Milwaukee, WI, Marcus Amphitheater
7/15: Tinley Park, IL, Tweeter Center
7/16: Caddot, WI, Rockfest

I played a show tonight with a pretty incredible group of hard rockers; Stone Float. They play some in your face Rock and Roll, and if you don’t have plans tomorrow night (3/24), you should head over to the Come Back Inn (attached to the Essen Haus) and watch them get down. It was only two man tonight, but I’m looking forward to hearing the whole band at the Come Back Inn. See you there. If I haven’t convinced you, check out their site for some downloads and info.

There are a lot of really good albums coming out today. I took some info from my favorite Wisconsin record store, Atomic Records. Go ahead and go out and welcome the new season with a new disc (or two). I know I will. (All promotional items are only available w/purchase at atomic records while supplies last.)

Queens Of The Stone Age - Lullabies To Paralyze (Interscope)
The Special Edition features a DVD that includes a look into the making of the album with an exclusive video for “Someone’s In The Wolf” and candid interview footage. Initial quantities of the single-disc version are bundled with a much slimmed down, promotional version of the bonus DVD. Free posters while supplies last, too!

Moby - Hotel (V2)
Moby plays all of the instruments and sings on this sample-free album, accompanied by guest-vocalist Laura Dawn.

Decemberists - Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)
This is going to be huge. A beautifully orchestrated masterwork from beginning to end.

Yo La Tengo - Prisoners Of Love: A Smattering Of Scintillating Senescent Songs 1985-2003 (Matador) Best-of collection available in your choice of twenty-six songs spread over 2 CDs, or 42 songs on 3 discs.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - B-Sides And Rarities (Mute)
3 disc set featuring previously unreleased tracks, rarities, and different versions of some of their most beloved tracks.

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm (Vice)
Not since the emergence of Gang Of Four has a band been so overtly political in nature and managed to garner the rave reviews that have been heaped upon them. They have refined the edges and reinvented what was post-punk and taken it all to a new level of excellence.

M.I.A. - Arular
Finally! Maya Arul lives up to the hype garnered from her glitterati smash Galang (Best song of 2004! -Jeff B.) with a sexy collection of booty shakin’, bass-car quakin’ party anthems.

Ben Folds Five - Whatever & Ever Amen (Sony)
Reissue features new artwork and seven bonus tracks comprised of rare import B-sides and the previously unreleased studio track Video Killed The Radio Star.

Brendan Benson - Alternative To Love (V2)
Bittersweet, joyous, epic and memorable, highly contagious songs you can sing along with after one listen.

Louis XIV - Best Little Secrets Are Kept (Atlantic)
San Diego based group serves up a majestic, inventive melange of royally raucous riffs and big bawdy beats. Includes a sexy photo booklet with purchase!

Here I sit at the end of my day, ready to read for an hour before I go to bed. I can’t come to grips with the school shooting that happened today in Minnesota. I just don’t understand it. I don’t understand how things get that bad, and hopeless, and just utterly messed up to the point where something like this happens. I think about the fear in those kids and how horrible something like that must be to go through. Something I can never, and don’t want to ever understand. I wish there was something I could say or do, but what really can be said? It’s a tragendy and a sad day, and I can’t believe things like this aren’t preventable or able to be stopped. How can a kid plan something like this, get access to the weapons??? So many questions….At that age, there is so much promise, so much future, so much of just toughing out the bullshit for a little while. It’s not easy being a kid, as most of us can recently remember, but as bad as it ever was I can’t recall a single fleeting instant where anything like this ever entered my mind. My heart aches for the poor people of this community, especially the students, faculty, and families of the victims.

The John Butler Trio will be opening for the Trey Anastasio band at the Rave in Milwaukee on May 8th. I wasn’t too excited about this show initially, but now with the JBT on the ticket and Trey’s new band set up, I’ll be ordering a ticket at noon today. For more info on the John Butler Trio, click here.

I’m not even 25, and this marks the second major drinking occasion that I didn’t take part of in 2005. I skipped New Years Eve, and mostly due to the horrible Wisconsin weather, I chose to spend St. Patrick’s Day at home watching college basketball (a sport that I have had a serious falling out with since Chris Corchiani left NC State). I’ve got what my English girls call the “holiday blues”, or the travel bug. Call it what you want, but I’ve been restless ever since I came back to the US. My mind is constantly taking me to daydreams of Japan or Australia, or anywhere but where I am. Maybe this is normal; maybe it’s a quarter life crises. I don’t really know what it is, but I guess I’m going to have to deal with it. Just when I had thought that Wisconsin was the state for me, and the weather began to break in the Springtime direction, mother nature drops a massive snowfall upon us, and what appeared to be the end of snow for me, has now once again turned into a shoveling, sliding, and, in general, a horrible experience.

I want to move somewhere warm. Not forever, but sometime, and not when I’ve 64, and golf is the only thing that I have left to hold on to. There’s a good possibility that I’m writing this only to myself, but I guess that has its cathartic qualities, so that’s fine. What I really need is to fall into some money that lets me travel for an indefinite amount of time, until I’m content, and can say, “Alright, now I can find a job and settle down”. Until then I’m going to remain of the belief that Paris won’t be as romantic when I’m 40, that Japan won’t be as amazing as I picture it now, and the waves won’t quite be the same in Australia if I wait until I’m in my 30’s.