August 6

I'm writing about Elliot Smith because he reminds me of somebody. Elliot chose the name Elliot growing up because "Steve" sounded like a jock's name and "Steven" sounded too 'bookish' for him. After four years in college, he did odd jobs and collected unemployment, anything to support the music he played with his friends in Heatmiser:

But it's his music on his own that made Elliott Smith renowned - his music, and the melancholy of his own life. Elliott was content playing in the band; he just happened to end up with a solo career, just like he happened to end up an Oscar-nominated songwriter.

Elliott Smith released five albums in his lifetime, so there's a lot of music to discover. But the reason I'm writing about Elliott Smith - the reason he reminds me of somebody- is because he still feels gone too soon, even if he was expecting it.
I knew somebody - barely knew somebody - whose funeral is happening the day after his birthday. I don't have enough stories, good memories, to sustain me, and I can't stand it. I'm even apologizing for not knowing the right Elliott Smith song (if there even was one) to dedicate, and just picking one, because rain is rain. This one kind of feels right, though:

August 1

I think I'm heading to a place of closure with only 21 days left to cover. I'm pondering what to do next, and what the future of this blog is. Meanwhile, I'm throwing a short entry in today, due to being out with family for the weekend. Today's birthday spotlight shines on Dean Wareham, who started two indie rock classic bands, Galaxie 500 and Luna. Today, he records with his wife under the name Dean & Britta, with an emphasis on film scores (apparently.)
But here's a Luna song that still haunts me:

July 22

I'm featuring Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls today, because I'm something of a fan. I don't have any albums, but there's a few songs of theirs I've learned by heart and can strum them on guitar. I don't know what they call male Indigo Girls fans (besides naive, I guess), but I've liked their music since high school.
And it turns out Emily's the one I prefer. She tends to sing the higher parts in the harmonies. Also, she sings the vocals for my two favorite songs, which means she wrote the lyrics to my two favorite songs:


Arguably, Emily's highest charting hit isn't with the Indigo Girls, but in a duet with Vonda Shepherd, from one of the Ally McBeal albums:


Anyway, the Girls are in Lexington tonight, so if there's any tickets available, snatch them up and enjoy the show. Tell her Happy Birthday if you see her...

June 22

I've got a category called "Japan" that I don't use very much. It's a designation I cribbed from other blogsites to signify those things that come off as so mind-bogglingly weird, something must have been lost in translation... Basically, it's another way to say "WTF?"
I haven't used it as much because:
1) it's kinda racist
2) a lot of the Japanese stuff I end up finding isn't that weird.
3) the Koreans have been much weirder, but who's gonna say "That's So Korea..."?

I've kept the label, because it's a flaw of mine worth learning from. Case in point: Emmanuelle Seigner, the current Mrs Polanski. Polanski's only directed her in 3 of her 29 films; she's been nominated for France's version of the Oscar, and best known to American audiences for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

Seigner also sings in the band Ultra Orange and Emmanuelle, which sounds like Nico singing shoegazer music:


But the 'Japan' moment for me was her starring role in the Death in Vegas video "Hands Around My Throat":

Because who knows "WTF" better than the French, right?

Maybe I haven't learned anything...

June 12

Today's featured artist is a Giant to me, no question. John Linnell is the skinny, slightly quieter half of They Might Be Giants, the band that plays those songs that seem silly enough for kids, all the while planting little intellectual C4 charges that go off in our mind as we grow up and study all those things we're supposed to learn in school, college, and real life.
I didn't have a favorite John (Flansburgh is the other one) until they took a group hiatus and put out their solo stuff. Flansburgh actually put together a band named Mono Puff, while Linnell released "State Songs" as his solo project. He only managed 18 of the 50 states, but I've got a couple of favorites, while I can't name any Mono Puff songs. (I still need some Flans action for a proper TMBG song; he brings the savoir faire...)
Fortunately, they resumed business as TMBG, eschewing radio charts for multimedia success with all ages. (They learned a lot from Malcolm in the Middle.) Not sure if State Songs will ever be completed (They Might Have covered that with their Deranged Millionaire series.) For today's blog, I've chosen a bootleg recording from an in-store "State Songs" performance:

November 5

Who do we talk about today? Who gets to wear the paper crown at our little birthday party?


Johnny Damon? I liked you better when you looked like an Apostle. I liked you better when you looked like a Geico caveman. I liked you better when you didn't steal a World Series from my Phillies. Is that petty? Sure it is, but you just got another World Series ring, so you already got a present. No cake for you! Go drown your sorrows in your victory champagne, and your other World Series ring, and your hot baseball wife, and your mansion, and your money bin where you can swim like a porpoise in piles of Sacagaweas...


Ryan Adams? You really have the same birthday as Bryan Adams? Ryan, did your parents really not know? Or are they really really big fans? Or did they think it was funny? No wonder you're so surly...
It would be so easy to feature you today; you released that "Happy Birthday" song barely over a month ago! And now it's pulled? Because you can't decide if you're going to self-release, reunite Whiskeytown, or retire from music altogether? Heck, you turned Mandy Moore into Mandy Moore-Adams anyway, so NO CAKE FOR YOU!!


Bryan Adams? Didn't you used to be cool? Why did you write a song like "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You"? Why did you have to write a song like "(I Wanna Be) Your Underwear"? (What is up with) This Schtick? Anyway, you got your own postage stamp, so...

No; today, the birthday tiara goes to Angela Gossow. Not because she deserves to be more reknowned than she is. Not because she's attractive, even by Swedish standards. Not because she's the growler in the death metal band Arch Enemy. Not because she used to be a music journalist who gave the guitarist her demo tape months before the band needed a new singer. Not even because she's the voice of Lavona Succuboso on Metalocolypse.
No, she's our birthday girl today because she scares me.
Here, let her band scare you too...



Angie and the boys are celebrating her birthday in Australia; they'll be in the US in early 2010. You can check the tour dates here.

October 29

Our birthday spotlight shines on Winona Ryder, actress and 80's/90's hottie. To commemorate the occasion, I've invited the Winona Riders (not to be confused with the early 90's punk band Winona Ryders) to share one of their after-school practice sessions at our little party here.


Hey, look! It's Blake Sennett, her indie rocker ex-boyfriend. He's co-founder of the band Rilo Kiley. Look's like he's got something to say...


And there's her ex-boyfriend Rhett Miller, singer/songwriter and frontman for the Old 97's. What's on his mind?



There's Ken Stringfellow, singer/songwriter and frontman for the Posies...



There's Ryan Adams, singer/songwriter and- hey, wait a minute...



I'm sensing a trend here...



Funny; that doesn't look like Pete Yorn...



Hey! Page Hamilton from Helmet! Somebody that rocks!



Look! Matthew Sweet's written a song for her...



So has Les Claypool!

Here comes Dave Pirner. He looks pissed...



Look, I know, this joke is going to get old in about two more clips. If I can get another six or so after that...



It'll be effin' hilarious...



It's the "funny by overkill" rule in comedy. Will Ferrell does it all the time...



Look, don't consider this an attack on Winona's character. For crying out loud, she's been on the dating scene since the 80's. I'm just making light of the fact that sensitive rockers seem to be her kryptonite. Honestly, this list reads like the dating history of any typical indie club talent booker...



I mean, if you got together all the bands that have an ex-boyfriend of Winona Ryder's for one superconcert, it would be cooler than Coachella. And two days longer, probably...

Winona's also dated a few actors, comedians, one or two directors... The latest I found, she's hooked up with ex-actor-turned-professional-rapper Joaquin Phoenix. So that's progress, I'm sure...



Meanwhile, what's going on with her acting? The biggest role she's had in years was playing Spock's mom in the new Star Trek. Otherwise, parts have dried up to the point that she's signed on to a sequel for Heathers (Christian Slater, too... and that works HOW?!? Is he going to be some Jigsaw-level evil mastermind delivering videotaped instructions from beyond the grave?)



Oh, now he's not even a real musician! What's he doing in here?



Mike Nesmith?!? Really? She dated a Monkee?

Okay, this ain't funny anymore; girl needs an intervention. Somebody find her a nice orthodontist, stat!

October 27

I'm in a low mood, which may explain why I've gravitated toward observing Sylvia Plath's birthday today. (My lady, meanwhile, has been obsessed with the last days of Poe.)
It reminds me how misused the appelation 'emo' has become: the only time it's used is to ridicule any music that isn't... rockin' enough? When did All-American Rejects and Fall-Out Boy become emo? I thought Dashboard Confessional and anybody that sang Morrisey songs un-ironically was emo. I swear, anybody who uses the emo label in front of me is going to get a copy of Plath's "Daddy", and they will have to read it out loud, while I provide musical accompaniment on the accordion. Now that's emo.
But today is about one of the few vital poets of the 20th century that wasn't a lyricist. So here's a smooth performance by Ryan Adams on piano, of his song "Sylvia Plath":

UPDATE: to the anonymous commenter- thanks for the correction, brah. i put i in the wrong place, once again...

October 10

I'm fitting a twofer in today's entry. First, Happy Birthday to the oldest Oscar winner on the planet, Robert F Boyle.As an art director or production designer, he has been responsible for giving shape to the worlds of Fiddler on the Roof, North By Northwest, The Birds, and over 70 other films. Nominated four times, he accepted a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2008, at the age of 98. If you're looking for a movie to watch tonight, a list of his films is here. Here's a 2000 documentary about Mr Boyle, "The Man on Lincoln's Nose":


I also want to send out a Happy Birthday to my friend Jason Schumaker. I first met him in 1997, when he was chief instigator of The Militant Fags, a shock rock band that became an urban legend in the Illinois suburbs of St Louis, Missouri. After finishing high school, he dived into new musical ventures with extreme ravenousness: one year, it's metal (Spire); the next, it's prog-rock (Dangerfield); and the next, it's emo (Shut-In.) His 'pop-art/rock" band Snaggle contributed "The Veil Awaits" to the soundtrack of the 2004 thriller "Dark Garden".
In his career, he's had three strikes working against him: 1) He lives in St Louis (and is not trying to be a rap artist); 2) He has spent a lot of years and energy wresting his addiction of certain people, places, and things; 3) He is an Internet Luddite.
He recently set up two MySpace sites: one for his older compositions, and one site for his newest endeavor, Later That Day. He just posted demos for Later That Day earlier this week, and his songwriting powers are as strong as ever. Stop by his page, and let him know what you think, before he takes his songs on the road...

September 22

Today’s theme is discoveries, as in “I just discovered all these guys which have nothing in common, but I HAVE to talk about them.”

Like Bethany Dillon, who might be the nicest, most mellow artist I write about this week. I’ve embedded the video for her song “Dreamer,” featuring clips from the movie of same, simply because there’s clips of Lexington, Kentucky in there, which is my present home. My reasons may be superfluous, like watching sitcoms to see a high school classmate do his walk-on as “Airport Passenger Checking Watch…” But twice now, the Lexington link got me to check out some nice things; first, a decent family film about Snake Plissken and a little horse that could… and now, this song:


Next, happy birthday to Andy Cairns, mastermind of Therapy? a Northern Irish rock band that’s as big as an underground band can get after 20 years. I remember “Screamager” on the local alternative rock station, back when there was such a thing (1993.) They’re still making their style of psychological post-hardcore rock; here’s this year’s model, the title track from “Crooked Timber”


Now, Emilie Autumn is not my cup of tea, but I know she will be for too many of my friends. She’s an electric violinist with that dark cabaret vibe, bloody corsets and all. I guess my problem is that her songs seem to have this overwhelming “no boys allowed” vibe, which is problematic for a listener with a scrotum. So I may not be the best judge. However, my instincts tell me that all my Rasputina and Dresden Doll loving friends will dig her. They’ll just resent me on principle, later…
Anyway, Emilie Autumn and the Bloody Crumpets are touring North America this year, and a special edition of her album, “Opheliac,” should be at your local Hot Topic next month.



Finally, I’m returning to my 90’s indie rock vibe, which seems to be flourishing these days in Bulgaria. Ostava, led by birthday boy Svilen Noev, are keeping the rock alive in Eastern Europe: smart, stripped-down rock from a country that, apparently, hasn’t discovered Nickelback yet. Here’s hoping that this pristine environment can be preserved…



Happy Birthday, whenever it is…