I made last minute plans yesterday to go check out The Reverend Horton Heat at First Ave. Met up with a buddy from college for some grub before the show, and made our way in around 9. The Rev didn't hit the stage until 11:15. A little late for a school night, but the Reverend has always put on a great show. 
Boy oh boy, this man is prolific. On the heels of releasing a double album this summer, Frank Black has a new album, Christmass, out for the holidays. It features an audio disc containing 20 tracks - a mix of live and studio cuts. The album also includes a DVD containing live performances of 12 songs. It was released on Monday this week, and the only way you can get it is by ordering through Cooking Vinyl. Mine's on the way from across the pond, and I can't wait to give it a spin. For those that are curious, here's the tracklisting:
Here's the 4th exclusive track from the Foos' Skin and Bones DVD - "What If I Do?" I believe that this live rendition is far superior to the album version. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Here's the 3rd exclusive track from the new Foo Fighters' Skin and Bones DVD - "See You". Dave does band introductions in the middle of the song, which ends up being pretty funny. Enjoy.
Here's exclusive track #2 from the new Foo Fighters' DVD Skin And Bones - "Still". Enjoy, and happy Friday.
I went and saw Borat last night with a buddy of mine (it was a toss-up between that or the Pick of Destiny - not sure if we made the right choice or not). While I was expecting more laughs, I did find it very enjoyable. If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, just let me tell you that there is a scene in a hotel room that is both hilarious and deeply disturbing at the same time.
Michelle and I attended a Halloween party in our neighborhood last night. After struggling for several days to come up with a them for our costumes, Michelle came up with the excellent idea of a "Deal or No Deal" motif. She dressed up as case girl #17, and I tried to pull of my best Howie Mandel impression. Needless to say, our costumes were a hit at the party, and we ended up winning "Best Couple's Costume", or something like that. Big props go out to Shel for coming up with the costume idea. We both had a blast - good food, good drink (Blue Moon on tap...with orange wedges!), and good company. The Heiland family wishes you all a happy, safe and kickass Halloween.
Now it's your turn...what songs/albums/bands give you The Chills? Come on, leave your thoughts in the comments section. And make sure to have a killer Friday.
In the new issue of Rolling Stone hitting stands this Friday, our Brian Hiatt reveals what he’s discovered about the long-awaited Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy. The article begins with this elusive quote from GN’R manager Merck Mercuriadis, in which he essentially retreads stuff we already know: “The album will come out this year. There are ten Tuesdays left before January – it will come out on one of them.” But trust us, it gets better.
- Following Guns’ headlining gig in San Bernadino, California, on September 23rd, Axl threw a party at his mansion and played the full album in his poolroom for visitors, including his friend Sebastian Bach, former singer of Skid Row. “It was mind-blowing,” says Bach, who is opening for Guns n’ Roses on their upcoming North American arena tour. “It’s a very cool album – it’s badass with killer screams, killer guitar riffs, but it’s got a totally modern sound. The word for it is ‘grand.’ It’s fucking epic. He’s reinvented himself yet again.”
- The album includes some tracks that have been played live or leaked onto the Internet, including the poppy “Better” and the hard-hitting “I.R.S.” “There’s this one song called ‘Sorry’ that’s almost like doom metal with Axl singing really clean over this grinding, slow beat that is fucking mean,” says Bach. “I cannot get it out of my head.”
- Veteran engineer Andy Wallace, who mixed Nirvana’s Nevermind, is working on the project, according to a source close to the band. “We’re absolutely delighted with the mixes,” the source says.
- On October 24th, the band will kick off its North American tour in Miami. Two dates — November 10th in New York and November 20th in Halifax, Nova Scotia — are already sold out, according to Mercuriadis. Additional U.S. dates will be added in early 2007, and the band will return to the States in the summer as well, he says.
- Though a source told Rolling Stone that the album is due November 21st, Mercuriadis declined to confirm this. “I don’t know that we will announce a release date,” he says. “You just might walk into your record shop one Tuesday and find it there.”
It was 1:00pm and I was getting ready to play in front of 20,000 people at my favorite festival in my favorite city. If you've ever travelled by bus or plane then you know how dry the air can get. I was in the back of the bus getting dressed when I noticed a drop of blood down my lip. At first I didn't think much of it, I went to the bathroom got some toilet paper, pinched my nose and leaned forward over the sink. I've had my share of pick-your-nose nosebleeds that last 10 minutes but this was much different. This was some kind of a spontaneous-dual-nostril
-bloodbath. After a few minutes I knew something was wrong. I've never had so much blood come out of my head before! 1 hour in, a festival paramedic was pinching my nose while her walkie talkie was blaring with other medical emergencies like a snake bit girl and a passed out drunkard. The minutes were flying by and all of a sudden it was 2:30 - my scheduled time to hit the stage! Everybody wanted to put me in an ambulance and cancel my show. Fuck that! There's 20,000 people out there, I'm not gonna cancel a show because of a nose bleed. What kind of excuse is that? I'm certainly not gonna make up some bullshit Axl Rose excuse! With blood barely stopped and a group of concerned friends around me, I headed to the stage. Forgetting all pre-show rituals or setlists, we took the stage and I immediately explained the situation to the fans but promised I would play until it got too gross for them. I said I'd bleed to death in front of them and I meant it.
The blood really kicked in half way through the first song and I would've bled to death had my manager not dragged me off stage 5 songs later. The hardest thing was trying to sing while swallowing and choking and spitting. Gremlin, my roadie, brought me a cigarette filter but it was too small for the situation. That's when I got the idea to ask the audience for a tampon. After being pelted by several, I picked up a travel tampon, opened it up and put it in the right nostril. It helped until it expanded too much. So i removed it and decided to play "Falling" on the piano. The keyboard quickly became a puddle of blood and my hands were slipping all over the place and I could barely sing. During the song my manager was waving & signaling for me to leave the stage. After the last chord was played he jumped over to me and said "Come on, we're taking you to the hospital!". I walked into the arms of some paramedics that took me on an ambulance ride to the hospital. I was at the hospital for 3 hours waiting for the blood to finally stabilize. It turns out there is such a thing called a Nasal Tampon! That's what they packed in my nose at the hospital.
Anyway, I'm back on the bus next to my new penquin shaped humidifier. Today my new album is released worldwide and we're playing in Tempe, AZ. I wanna thank everybody for all the kind words and support. I was determined to stay up there as long as possible but it's probably good that I didnt lose too much blood. I look forward to coming back to Austin in the new year to play a concert where I can actually play some music and sing!
Love Always, Ben
Stop the presses! Britney Spears had a baby boy the other day. I guess that means she can resume that awesome music career of hers soon.
I had the pleasure of attending The Flaming Lips show at the MN State Fair last evening. My friends and I battled our way through torrential downpours (and a round of Fudge Puppies) to witness this rock spectacle at the Grandstand. As always, they did not disappoint. From huge confetti cannons and streamer pistols, to Wayne's venture out into the crowd inside his "Space Bubble", the show was full of non-stop entertainment. And the songs eminating from the speakers weren't too shabby either. Here's the setlist:As if the show didn't promise to be wild enough, what with Oklahoma's radical Flaming Lips as headliners, Mother Nature kicked up a wallop of a storm just before show time. The opening band, the Magic Numbers, had to blow off its set because its gear got soaked, although the Lips brought the group out for a couple of songs later. Otherwise, the show went on as planned before nearly 8,000 poncho-clad fans.
"You came!" was Sonic Youth singer-guitarist Thurston Moore's greeting to the crowd. "We were told you weren't going to show up."
A band that sometimes doesn't play full force, Moore's team put on a powerful, if abbreviated, set. After "Teenage Riot," the New York art-punks launched into two songs on their new CD, "Rather Ripped," and mostly stuck to the album from there, with only one more oldie, "Eric's Trip."
The weather made things especially difficult for the Flaming Lips, whose elaborate stage show (video screen, confetti shooters, etc.) had to be hastily assembled after Sonic Youth. Lips frontman Wayne Coyne apologized for not going on until about 10:20 p.m., but the wait certainly paid off with an eye-candy freak show complete with psychedelic movies, costume-wearing dancers and streamer guns whose leftovers probably still will be hanging around for Rascal Flatts' big grandstand show Saturday.
"This show looked like it wasn't going to happen two or three different times," he said, praising "the union guys who made it work."
For his part, Coyne worked it, rolling out over the crowd in his inflated Space Bubble before the opening tune, "Race for the Prize," and emphatically urging the crowd to sing during "Free Radicals" and "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots."Nature or the universe conspired against us," he said about the weather, "but [expletive] them."
Well put.
| Sun | 10/29 | St. Paul | Xcel Energy Center | 7:30PM | Foo Fighters (Acoustic) |
Here are some excerpts from Bob Dylan's Rolling Stone cover story that should be appearing on newsstands soon. Be sure to pick up his new album, Modern Times, next Tuesday (it's quite good). Also, if you have never seen No Direction Home, I order you to go see it as soon as possible. Borrow it from me if you need to. And if you have seen it, go see it again. It's one of those movies that will give you the tingles.
Be prepared to be amazed at the opening of the Minnesota State Fair this Thursday as The Flaming Lips take the Grandstand stage. Opening support acts include indie noise-rock legends Sonic Youth and The Magic numbers. Tickets are still available (I hope) and an absolute steal at $28.
I strongly urge you to head to the iTunes Music Store and snag a copy of the new Raconteurs EP. This EP consists of 3 live tracks taken from their recent Zane Lowe BBC session, and the tracks are as follows:
| Simply stunning...fast forward to around the 2:50 mark and check out the shredding solo. | |
