Ryan Adams, you silly billy

This is the blog belonging to no other than Ryan Adams. Talk about oversharey! But honestly that's what makes it good.

I've really gotten into Ryan Adams these last few years, it started with Jacksonville City Nights in Richmond, VA. Great album. Funny, when I was supposed to like him during the early 00's, I thought he sounded weak. Now I keep Jacksonville City Nights, Easy Tiger, and Follow the Lights in heavy rotation.

Going back to his blog, I thought this was interesting... While attempting to dispel multiple rumors he writes:

3. I never KICKED OUT anyone from a concert. The Ryman Auditorium (a shit hole in Nashville) has the balls to charge you for security when you play there but if some college kid, and I mean SOUTHERN college kid decides to get wasted and scream through 7 songs of a solo acoustic performance, they could give a fuck. I went into the audience and handed him what I thought the ticket price was (40 bucks) and asked him to leave. I said “you have successfully ruined this concert so here is your money, now will you go home now so I can at least try and give the rest of this audience what they paid for. It did not work as the woman who runs that shit-hole re-seated him and BELIEVE IT OR NOT people CHEERED when he was ushered to a new seat. As most of that concert were people telling him to “shut up” There was NO BAND just myself, and I was joined by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (heroic figures to me) to sing a few tunes and still the man screamed over it. In fact, “Summer of 69” was not shouted when I went to ask him to leave. It was in fact something else. He was so drunk, so very very drunk he did not even know he was there.
The writer who wrote it up the next morning submitted it to AP (the Associated Press) in hopes it would bring him a few extra dollars and some exposure. I have suffered since.
I seriously could give six shits about Bryan Adams or that song. In my opinion he is not a serious artist. His songs have ” implied target market audience” written all over them and in fact he is quite embarrassing in general. Also a piss poor photographer. I guess it is kind of amazing he got to stand next to Tina Turner though. She is rather heroic and an obvious artist. In every sense. Also she was kick ass in Mad Max BeyondfThunderdome and I wish I could coddle her in her chain mail in Barter-Town but that place does not exist.

Yeah. The truth will set you free, my friend. Of course he lives in New York.

Muxtape Madness

I first heard of this website, Muxtape.com, on Gawker. According to Muxtape's website:

Muxtape is a service for creating mixtapes... Muxtape is alive.

You can put up to 12 songs on your own personalized "Muxtape" site, just don't repeat the same artist from the same album. I found myself listening to a lot of random music at work. It's a pretty bitchin' idea, so I made my own Muxtape (not without effort, I had to convert all the songs I uploaded to .mp3s since that's the only format the site accepts). You can find it at www.mattical.muxtape.com (don't forget to turn UP your speakers). Enjoy! If you make a mix, I'll listen to it while I'm at work. Promise.

Quickly, before I start my taxes...

If the shovelglove hasn't been having the desired effect, you might want to try this.

[photo source]

The marathon is easy. There are no lions.

I am liberally copying / pasting / plagiarizing /rearranging all of this post from this original article in the UK's Guardian newspaper.

This is the true story of Six Maasai warriors picked to run the London Marathon to raise money for a well in their village. Isaya, 24, is their chief. They'll work together and have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.

Isaya's diary:

Friday April 4
The plane was so big and frightening, and I closed my eyes. My family didn't want me to come to England because they never saw a plane before.

Our elders told us we can do the marathon because we have been running all over, killing a lion and herding cattle. I sometimes run for two or three days with my cattle, and I have to protect them from lions.

Saturday April 5
I miss meat and blood very much. Not vegetables because they are food for a woman. There is milk here but blood is better because it gives energy. English tea with sugar is good and we tried Coco Pops, but the nicest food is croissants.

We heard about showers before, in a briefing about the country. It said be careful - when the shower is hot it is really hot, and when cold, really cold. This is true.

Tuesday April 8
The Houses of Parliament are the best buildings in London. They use very strong materials. We hoped to see the Queen in London very much, but she is never there.


Thursday April 10
We rode a real horse for the first time too. It is amazing that people can talk to them, tell them where to go and they do it.

Saturday April 12
I am excited to get the marathon done and get clean water to save lives. We have a dam that we share with wild animals so every morning the children go to get water, it's dangerous for them. Some have lost their lives. Next week we will drill and get clean water for the top life. Then I would like to study community development in America so I can be a great chief to my people.



It's like a real life Jungle 2 Jungle, only no Tim Allen!

the attempted assassination of the coward gerald ford

gerald ford, the man who wussed out by withdrawing from vietnam* and by pardoning nixon, (also inherited his chief of staff, rumsfeld and cheney) faced two assassination attempts while president. the first attempt (proved later to be a lousy one) was by a female member of the manson family. seventeen days later, sara jane moore shot at the president and would have killed him if not for the heroics of a man (pictured far left grabbing gun) named oliver sipple.

*just kidding

the hardest working man in show business

the day after dr. martin luther king, jr. was shot, james brown played a show in boston...

Don't Make Me a Target

Last night Emily and I went to Upper West side to see Spoon. I've got Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on wax and bought the tickets for the show, and was pretty eager to see a good-live-newer-band. It was fun. They are interesting, with class and style, no pretension (except the two encores) and good energy/cool vibe. They played all the songs I wanted to hear, plus some intriguing ones (a cool "Rungle Through the Jungle"-ish tune that ended up being a Paul Simon cover). There's a link below to a npr interview/performance. I haven't listened to the show, but the interview is cool.

The first track of Ga is "Don't Make Me A Target" which could easily be interpreted as a citizens request to politicians...by all means, make yourself one if you please, but not me!

Interview/Performance

"The Harmonica is the world's best-selling instrument. You're welcome."

I'm sure some of this may be familiar to some of you, but here was a fun stat-gathering read on Theme Time Radio, particularly One-Liners, Deep Thoughts, and yes, more Bad Jokes. Message to J, i'll accept more episodes . . . at any time.

r.i.p. charlton heston

don't judge an album by its cover

need some ideas for your next album cover?

Updates on the Warpath

Does Chris need to set up an Etsy shop?

World Cafe Interview and Performance

Big Profits in Back Yard Frog Raising

I first came across this article a few months back: long before anyone was putting anything in plain site. Given the current economy, I thought it might come in handy. If anyone's got the space for a few 20' x 20' ponds and needs an extra pair of quick hands, let me know.

Highlights:

A back yard is large enough to start the thriving business of frog raising. How to build up a big income with a very small investment is told in the following article. The white meat, with a taste similar to a tender, juicy squab, is greatly in demand.

...

When ready for marketing, the frogs are caught at night by blinding them with a search light. When the catcher gets a frog he puts it into a burlap sack with others. They are then put into small pens awaiting the dresser who grabs them by their rear legs and pierces the head with a nail by a downward stroke of the hand. The entrails are removed and the frog is ready for shipment in barrels of cracked ice

[full Modern Mechanix article from May 1934]

Don't Go Takin' My Heart

This story is like something out of Edgar Allen Poe. Or CSI: Miami.

Suicide claims two men who shared one heart
By RENEE DUDLEY
Published Saturday, April 5, 2008

After Terry Cottle killed himself more than 12 years ago, his heart beat on in former Hilton Head Island resident Sonny Graham.

Grateful for the transplant that saved his life, Graham wrote to thank the Cottle family. Through that correspondence, he met Cheryl Cottle, his donor's widow. Then the unexpected happened -- they fell in love and married.

Earlier this week, the unexpected happened again, when Graham's life ended the same way Terry Cottle's did.

On Tuesday, Graham took his own life at his home in Vidalia, Ga. He was 69. ...

Click the link for the rest of the story and for a picture of the twice-widowed wife. She's suprisingly young-looking for a gal hitched to a 69 year old.

Was foul play involved? Or does Cheryl Cottle just chew her dinner so loudly that two separate dudes couldn't stand to live in a world with her in it? Or maybe it was some sort of cursed voodoo witch heart? Or maybe Terry Cottle didn't like the idea of this guy mackin' on his lady and used some sort of psychic afterlife connection to drive Graham to self-extinguish.

Anyone Else Ready for A Cigarette?

I've never been interested in Mike Wallace, but there's a couple of interesting names on this list of interviews that have been posted for free.

We Didn't Start the Fire

"The plan was for the torchbearers to be encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on rollerblades and on foot. Closest to the torchbearer would be the Chinese torch escorts, with Paris police on rollerblades moving around them. French firefighters in jogging shoes would encircle the rollerbladers, while motorcycle police would form the outer layer of security."

Had the torch been extinguished by protest during previous Olympic ceremonies?

Former Richmonders Drop It Like It's Hot

They put up the track this week:

http://rvanews.com/eighttrack/

(notice the jellies...probably around the same time The Dude was wearing 'em)

Weekend Radical Links

Isn't it nice that the weekend is here? Sit back and relax... if you can.

-here The King of America (gets really good at 4:25 into it)

-here Most Liberal Sites in America.

-here How to write a song.

-here Bear Stearns deal goes under the microscope.

-here Tom Cruise Purple.

-here 37.

Making It Easy for My Stalker

Past Matters

There is a great feature (and equally great artwork) in this week's paper for anyone interested in roots music, the traditional strategies of the recording industry, and/or the various quirks of Asheville's colorful history. For one long week in the summer of 1925, Okeh Records came to Asheville to seek new talent and explore the idea of field recording (as opposed to draggin' these goofballs all the way to big, bad New York City). Considered a failed promise due to insufficient technology, the sessions were mostly abandoned. Two years later, the same team ventured to Bristol, VA to make stars of Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter Family. It was here that "country music" claimed its more popular birth. Linked here.

Delicious, refreshing, meaty

http://dinnerinabottle.com/ is my pick for today's best foolishness.