Mon 08/29/05 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Tue 08/30/05 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre
Wed 08/31/05 Chicago, IL Auditorium Theatre

I made some new additions to the Now Playing page. All the albums listed there are rocking my ipod on a regular basis. In the next couple of weeks I will be adding a new page for my favorite albums of 2005, it’s been a really great year for music, so look for that in the future.

Last night my friends and I caught the Greyhounds at UW’s campus. They’ve really progressed from the band I saw play for 11 people (including themselves) a couple years back in Milwaukee. It was pretty cool to see Matt and Jeremy from the Westfall join them onstage for a bunch of songs, and I couldn’t help but wish that Matt would play bass for the Greyhounds on a permanent basis, just adds so much to their material.

In other news:

I bought the new Lucero album today. I’d been listening to it online all week, and decided I better add it to my collection. If you live in the Milwaukee area you can catch Lucero Sunday (5/29) at Atomic Records at 4 p.m. then later that night at Mad Planet.

I also had to pick up the new Sleater Kinney disc, “The Woods”. It’s been getting a lot of praise lately, and deservingly so. It came with a bonus DVD that I’m looking forward to checking out.

If you like Andrew Bird, go here and here for two great live show downloads.

You can listen to the new Oasis album here (It’s not half bad)

A really great article/interview with Ray LaMontagne.

I’ve got a bunch of discs on my want list, in case anybody wants to hook me up:

The Boy Least Likely To - The Best Party Ever
Troubled Humble - Making Beds in a Burning House
Bunky - Born To Be a Motorcycle
The Robot Ate Me - Carousal Waltz

This weekend, and for every weekend in the foreseeable future, I will be spending my time here.

The Zooma Tour was conceived to provide fans with an exceptional musical and entertainment experience. Due to unforeseen circumstances, it has become clear that it would not be possible to provide that experience at the level initially envisioned. Rather than go forward with a tour that falls short of what was conceived, everyone involved has mutually agreed that it is best to cancel the tour altogether. (more…)

Common and De La Soul will hit the road with John Legend for the singer’s first North American tour since releasing his debut album, Get Lifted. Adding to the hip-hop element of the show will be beatboxer Rahzel, DJ JS-1 and new comer Lyfe, all of whom will appear on select dates. The tour, launches in June and is Legend’s first major outing since his performances on the SRO Alicia Keys tour, which ran from February to April.

7/30 Milwaukee The Rave (w/Common, De La Soul, Rahzel with DJJS-1)

Also:

7/26 - Tegan & Sara - Luther’s Blues, Madison

I just got back from Chicago. It was my last day off for the next three months (don’t ask), actually I have two days off but they are both for weddings so I’m not counting them. I saw Riviera play in Milwaukee on Sunday night, and picked up their brilliant new CD, “At The End of The American Century”. My friend and listened to it countless times on our way to and from Chicago to see the Jeff Tweedy show at Northwestern University. That show was absolutely incredible, the silence of the crowd was perfect, and Jeff put on a flawless acoustic performance (Alright, he messed up How to Fight Loneliness… a couple times). I had the privilege of talking with Jeff after the show; we talked about guitars and the upcoming Vic Theatre DVD. He signed my copy of A Ghost is Born. Here’s a review from The Daily Northwestern and the setlist from the Jeff Tweedy show:

Jeff Tweedy
5/23/05
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall
Evanston, IL

Remember The Mountain Bed
Airline to Heaven
Sunken Treasure
Muzzle of Bees
IATTBYH
Forget The Flowers
Far, Far Away
Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard
John Wesley Harding
Blasting Fonda
How to Fight Loneliness
Nothing’severgonnastandinmywayagain
Summerteeth
Hesitating Beauty
ELT
Gun
I’m The Man Who Loves You
———————————
Not For The Season (a.k.a. Laminated Cat)*
Chinese Apple*
The Late Greats*
Candyfloss*
Passenger Side*

*with Glenn Kotche

Making my rounds this morning, I lauged out loud at this . His name is Dodge and he runs the super My Old Kentucky Blog. I also got turned onto The Underrated Blog via that site, and it’s definitely worth checking out. She’s got some great MP3’s up on her site, and reviewed Coldplay’s upcoming record so well that I might actually buy it now.

Tomorrow night, I’ll be returning to my old home of Milwaukee to see Riviera. I saw them open for Jeff Tweedy at the Vic Theatre in Chicago a couple months ago, and it just so happens that I am seeing Jeff play on Monday at Northwestern University, so it was logical that I hit up the Riviera show in Milwaukee en route to Chicago.

I heard a vinyl rip of the new White Stripes album, and I was surprised. There is tons of piano on the album but a surprising lack of guitar. Can’t say I love it, can’t say I hate it. Listen for yourself right here.

Baseball great, and former LA Dodger skipper, Tommy Lasorda has a blog.

I also added a link to a blog I’ve been reading for awhile now; Largehearted Boy.

This is probably old news, but I just got into this blogging thing, and Pinchworm’s Letter to Pitchfork is one of the truest things I’ve read on the internet. Dead on, and the truth. From Pinchworm’s site, I stumbled onto the REALLY NICE music site called 75 or Less.

By MAUREEN CALLAHAN
taken from NY Post

MEET the new yuppie: the urban striver who listens to “O.C.”-approved indie rock, checks the right blogs to find out about “secret” rock shows, considers white iPod earbuds the ultimate fashion accessory - and is a lawyer with a mortgage and a baby on the way.

Whereas once a yuppie was defined as being part of the establishment - think the ’80s corporate drone who wore power suits, watched “thirtysomething” and loved the soundtrack to “The Big Chill” - today’s yuppie strenuously identifies with all things counterculture. (more…)

She lifts her skirt up to her knees
Walks through the garden rows with her barefeet laughing
I never learned to count my blessings
I choose instead to dwell in my disasters
Walk on down the hill through the grass grown tall and brown and
Still it’s hard somehow to let go of my pain
Walk past the busted bank and old and rusty Cadillac that sinks into this field letting rain
Will I always feel this way
So empty, slow, and strange

Of these cutthroat busted sunsets
These cold and damp white mornings
I have grown weary
If through my cracked and dusty dime store lips

If I spoke these words out loud would no one hear me
Lay your blouse across the chair
Let fall the flowers from your hair
And kiss me with that country mouth so plain
Outside the rain is tapping on the leaves
To me it sounds like they’re applauding us
The quiet love we make
Will it always feel this way
So empty, slow, and strange

Well I looked my demons in the eyes
Laid bare my chest said do your best destroy me
See I’ve been to hell and back so many times
I must admit you kinda bore me
There’s a lot of things that can kill a man
There’s a lot of ways to die
Yes and some are already dead that walk beside me
There’s a lot of things I don’t understand
Why so many people lie
It’s the hurt I hide that fuels the fires inside me
Will it always feel this way
So empty and estranged

Taken from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal Thanks to Peter “Bosio” Best for the info….

THURSDAY, May 19, 2005, 5:01 p.m.
PabstCity plans move forward

Plans to convert the former Pabst brewery into an entertainment complex—with $41 million in city cash to help pay the tab—moved forward this afternoon with preliminary approval from Milwaukee officials.

The Redevelopment Authority approved the city financing assistance for the $325 million PabstCity project, which will bring several attractions to downtown. PabstCity’s lineup includes a House of Blues restaurant and concert venue, which has agreed to lease 47,000 square feet—up from the initial proposal to operate a 32,000-square-foot club.

The authority’s board voted 5-2 to approve the controversial financing plan, which calls for the $41 million to be paid back within 22 years through property tax revenue generated by PabstCity. The plan also needs approval from the Common Council, and its Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee is to vote June 7 on the proposal.

The vote is a “significant positive step” for PabstCity, said Jerry Franke, president of Wispark LLC, which is leading the efforts to develop PabstCity.

Franke said the authority’s approval would help with efforts to attract restaurateurs, store owners and other prospective tenants at next week’s International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas, where PabstCity will have a display.

“It will allow (tenants) to see that this is a living, breathing project,” Franke said.

By contrast, PabstCity opponent Pete Jest was fuming about PabstCity, which he called the city’s “biggest boondoggle.” Jest, operator of Shank Hall, a small concert venue at N. Farwell Ave., and other restaurant and club owners say the House of Blues and other PabstCity attractions will draw customers away from their businesses.

“I’ve put my whole life into my business,” Jest said. “But I can’t fight We Energies.”

Wispark is the development subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corp., the utility holding corporation that also owns We Energies.

- By Tom Daykin