Weekly FeaturesDec 24-Jan 6Issue 2.32by The Editors • It's time to look back through the musical events of 2008 and remember what the hell happened. While magazines folded, websites collapsed, and a bunch of people got sued and/or shut down by the RIAA, somewhere in the midst of all this silly chaos, some music actually happened. Remember that stuff? It's pretty good, especially for getting over the bullshit life hands out.…read more by Michael Lydon • Originally published in The New York Times, March 1968 "Will he burn it tonight?" asked a neat blonde of her boyfriend, squashed in beside her on the packed floor of the Fillmore auditorium. "He did at Monterey," the boyfriend said, recalling the Pop Festival at which the guitarist, in a moment of elation, actually put a match to his guitar. The blonde and her boyfriend went on watching the stage, crammed with huge silver-fronted Fender amps, a double drum set…read more by The C! Team • As the winter months keep us cooped up indoors avoiding the cold night air, it is now that we forgo exercise and many of those other extracurricular activities we generally like to partake of when it's actually nice and light outside. It's the perfect time to slow down the ridiculous pace of modern life to hunker down under a blanket, maybe even next to a fireplace, and read a few books.…read more Recently in Feature Stories Recently in Classic Vantage
by Howard Wyman • As another 365 days of scandal, warfare, and crisis ripples in our wake, now is the time to glean what we can for the next go-round. ...read moreby Mike Conklin • I've gone back and read everything I've written over the past 12 months and chose my favorite stories—some serious, many just ridiculous—in hopes of taking a brief, telling snapshot of the year that was. ...read moreby Max Mobley • 2008 was definitely an odd year with a great finish somewhat tainted by reality. Reality is my least favorite thing on TV, and yet another year passes and I don’t shoot it (the TV). ...read moreby Ryan Wasoba • As the blue-haired crust punk I had met 45 seconds prior slid her body out from under our van, I expected the worst. ...read more
1. Okkervil River, The Stand Ins
While recorded at the same time of last year’s stellar The Stage Names, The Stands Ins is far more than a retread of previous themes. As we learned last time around, fame’s a bitch, life’s a bitch. But now the stakes are higher, the melodies more buoyant, and the lyrical references more meta. Let’s shout our...read more by j. poet1. Murder Mystery, Are You Ready for the Heartache Cause Here It Comes...read more Vanilla Fudge, Richie Havens
The Youngbloods, Cold Blood
December 31, 1968 at Fillmore West
Artwork by Lee Conklin Since the earliest days of Bill Graham’s business in concert promotion, New Year’s Eve has taken up worldwide residency as the premier night to bear witness to epic sets of live music. A New Year’s Eve concert brings together like-minded folks and bestows on them a perfect way to bid farewell to the disappearing year, as well as a celebratory way to ring in the next. Before New Year’s extravaganzas took place at the larger Winterland and Oakland Coliseum, the place to ring in the new year in the San Francisco Bay was at Graham’s Fillmore West with the emerging bands of the day—be it blues-rock, folk, or psychedelic—providing the live entertainment. One thing was certain: If the bill was assembled by Bill Graham, then it was certain to be eclectic and brimming with promise. This trippy poster is a visual testament to the night the world said farewell to 1968 and hello to 1969. Artist Lee Conklin, known for his elaborate and delicately constructed images inspired by the hallucinations of an acid trip, couldn't refrain from the Bosch-like reminder that the sins of 1968 had piled up beyond recovery, a reference to the riots, police beatings, assassinations, and the escalating Vietnam War. Despite the dire suggestion of the images contained within the ticking hourglass, the night was one of surprise, festivity, and celebration. Happy New Year! View the Rock Art Rock Gallery See more photography by Baron Wolman |
Daily UpdatesJan 5MySpace Monday  One of our favorite records of 2008 came from Blood on the Wall, a trashy-chic garage rock trio. So it comes as no surprise, really, that we'd also love progenitors, Bandit Teeth, that features BOTW guitarist/vocalist Brad Shanks and sometimes drummer Zach Campbell along with Charlie Downey. They are punk-infused garage band hailing from Lawrence, Kansas, back now from a seven-year haitus and have a song titled "Pajamazon." We love.
**No news items while we take a break and go see our families and such, and ready ourselves for a new adventurous year in music.** Warner Music pulls down all music videos by its artists from YouTube after "contract negotiations broke down." (Reuters) A cassette tape of a "drunk" John Lennon sold at an auction in LA for $30K. (BBC) Michael Jackson is said to be very ill from a lung condition and will need to undergo a transplant. (Billboard) Guitar Hero co-founder claims that music video games will "become the biggest platform for music distribution in the world." (Daily Swarm) Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is the song of the moment! Check out 20 facts on the masterpiece. (Telegraph) The RIAA plans to stop focusing on lawsuits in the fight about illegal downloading, instead first asking perpetrators to kindly stop. (Idolator) NPR offers up the Top 10 mixtapes of the year, from Wale to Atmosphere. (NPR) As forecasted in April, digital downloads for the year will surpass one billion. (LA Times) “So I'll keep my head down
If you keep it quiet from now on
In the halls I'd rather hear silence
Than the bell of new love” - She & Him, “Change Is Hard” January 5, 1940 This day in 1940 saw the first test transmission of FM Radio, soon to be home of Top 40 radio. January 5th: 1923: Sam Phillips
1941: Grady Thomas (Parliament/Funkadelic)
1950: Chris Stein (Blondie)
1960: Phil Thornalley (The Cure)
1969: Marilyn Manson The video for Will Oldham's "Agnes, Queen of Sorrow" features lovely animation from artist David Shrigley.
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