Alanis on Weed

Who knew... :-)

Alanis Morissette Credits Marijuana for Creativity
Posted on Dec 1st 2009 1:30PM by John D. LuerssenComment (1)

If her stint on 'Weeds' wasn't enough of a hint, Alanis Morissette openly pledged her love for marijuana in a new interview with High Times. According to the singer, pot helps her with her songwriting and unlocks her creativity.

"I'm all about moderation -- as best I can be," Morissette told the magazine in an interview for its January issue. "As an artist, there's a sweet jump-starting quality to [marijuana] for me. I've often felt telepathic and receptive to inexplicable messages my whole life. I can stave those off when I'm not high. When I'm high -- well, they come in and there's less of a veil, so to speak. So if ever I need some clarity ... or a quantum leap in terms of writing something, it's a quick way for me to get to it."

That said, Morissette acknowledges the drug isn't for everyone. "I have a lot of friends who have wanted to specifically quit smoking marijuana because they felt that it was having a negative effect on their lives, and I absolutely supported them doing so," she added. "Then I have other friends who I've coerced into smoking because I thought it would be great for them."

Morissette, who is photographed in a California marijuana garden for the article, thanked her boyfriend and medical marijuana advocate Tom Ballanco for showing her the drug's benefits.

"I've always resonated with people who are on the front lines," she said. "I've always felt that way about Tom and about the community around him -- Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone. I have a lot of friends around me who are very courageous and willing to 'come out' -- and Tom is definitely beyond the front lines. Any fears that I had about cannabis were quickly assuaged. Now I feel like a professional!"

[From Alanis Morissette Credits Marijuana for Creativity - Spinner]

New Stanton Record Player

I'm such a dork... just had to share my new purchase.

Of course then I also had to organize my small record collection...

WTF??

I usually like to keep things positive on this blog (as in life), but I need to get critical here...

What the hell is up with this cover?? Nothing about this makes me interested in their music. It feels purely manufactured.

First... the hair. Guy on the left. Why would you allow them to do that to you. I know it wasn't your choice...

Second... the tattoo. Lead singer guy, would I be wrong if I guessed that was airbrushed on your chest. If not, did the label pay for it?

Overall, nothing about this makes me feel like these are true, genuine musicians. Even if they are, I lose respect for whatever they're attempting to portray here.

Oh, and the music sucks too.
Alright, enough of the hatin'.

Deer Tick & Joe Pug w/ the Ice Cream Man

I've heard of this "Ice Cream Man" before, but this is my first time seeing him... This little video highlights his adventure at the Newport Folk Festival, along with the sounds of Deer Tick & Joe Pug - two of my new favorite musicians. It's quite the little tasty treat for your Tuesday Morning. No embeds, but go ahead and click on the image below.

Follow Shindignation!

Just catching up after a long (and phenomenal) camping weekend... Have some great shows to catch up on, as well as some great photos to share. In the meantime, I wanted to give you a heads up that my friend Rebecca's show / Shindignation! / on WRUW 91.1 has moved to Friday's from 9-11pm. Listen while you drink.

Help Chris O'Brien

You may remember me talking about Chris O'Brien's show at the Barking Spider. Wonderful.

Well, he's working on a new album and is looking for some help. He's a great guy, and a great musician and he deserves it. Click below to help.

He'll also be back in town and performing at the Winchester on Monday, September 28th.

A Great Food & Drink Weekend

The Beachland is hosting a BBQ throwdown, featuring some of the best food Cleveland has to offer (details below).

This is also the weekend for Great Lakes Christmas in July! Several bars in the area should be tapping the crack-in-a-glass tonight.

The Agora Closed Their Doors?!

I missed this! I can't say the Agora has been bringing in many shows that I'm interested in, so I'm not that sad - but I do hope they come back this Fall. It is a Cleveland legend.

The Agora Is Closing It's Doors

The Agora is closing its doors. I don’t know sadder words in the vein of Cleveland music history.

Hank LoConti Sr said the Agora is closing for the summer with plans on re-opening in the fall but we have heard that from many businesses in the past especially in these hard economic times.

The Agora was/is our Fillmore West, our Whiskey, our CBGB, and our Stone Pony. The Agora was our identity when Cleveland was the place for music in the country, when we really were the Rock And Roll Capital Of The World.

The Agora was originally started in 1966 by LoConti near Case Western Reserve University campus. Hank really was a pioneer of promoting live music in the Cleveland area and quickly outgrew the original building and the next year moved to the famous 1730 E24th St location next to Cleveland State University where music history was made not only for Cleveland but on the national and international level also. After a fire destroyed the E24th location in 1984, LoConti moved The Agora to the present location on Euclid Ave.

[From Bears Rants from Clevelandrockandroll.com: The Agora Is Closing It's Doors]

The Ticket Shuffle

Sacrifices suck. I'm going to have to give up my ticket to the sold out Kid Cudi / Asher Rother show at the House of Blues next Friday (July 17th) in order to get to Chicago for Pitchfork at a reasonable time. Grrr... So I have 1 ticket (possibly two) that are up for sale. I'm only asking to recoup my costs ($38.70).

Respectively, I have a friend coming to Pitchfork with us and he only has a Saturday ticket and needs one for Sunday. Know of anyone willing to sell one?

Email me: onlymusicleft.blog@gmail.com

The Zender Agenda

Taking another step towards establishing my place as one of the Cleveland-area music illuminati, I've begun a monthly piece over at Spangle Magazine. Called The Zender Agenda (thanks Brian), it will be highlighting the "best of the best" of next month's concerts coming to the Cleveland area (along with some noteworthy road trips). Well, "best" meaning shows I'm excited to see... well sorta, it's actually a compromise. I'll also be pointing out stuff that I think is important to Cleveland. For example, i'm not a huge fan of Kings of Leon, but I'll list them because I know they're respectable, think it'd be a good show to see, and I'd like to see Cleveland give them a good turnout.

I'm sure there are many more shows happening that are not making my list, but you gotta start somewhere. The fact that it's a gay magazine and that I'm a gay man, hopefully there's some kind overlap of my interests with that of their readership. I hope so... This is some good shit. ;-)

Check it out.

Lilith Fair To Return In 2010... Kinda Scared

I can't tell you how exciting this could be. I was devastated when Lilith Fair ended... and I'm a little shocked that it's been over 10 years!

Much has changed in that time... Back then, if it were a female singing, I was instantly interested. I've become much more discerning in my taste, and a re-working of the once great Lilith Fair could turn into a marketing & corporate hell. Hopefully, some of the original intent will remain... though the mention of Avril Lavigne initiates my gag reflex (and not in a good way).

Lilith Fair To Return In 2010

Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair is set to return in 2010 after a decade-long hiatus. April 28, 2009 03:23 PM ET Jason MacNeil, Toronto Lilith Fair, the successful summer North American female-oriented festival created by Sarah McLachlan which ran from 1997 to 1999, will make its return next year, Nettwerk founder Terry McBride has confirmed to Billboard.com. McBride first made the announcement in an April 25 Twitter post. The festival will be doing a two-week tour in Britain and Europe sometime in 2010. The news comes following an original post which said: “Lilith Fair 2010 here we come!!” The festival’s official web site,lilithfair.com, also states it will be returning next year.              Although there’s no indication as to artists for the bill, both McLachlan and Avril Lavigne are expected to release new studio albums in 2010.              Lilith Fair reported 104 shows to Billboard Boxscore from 1997-1999 that grossed $52,937,965 and drew 1,616,500 people. The shows featured a wide range of acts including Sheryl Crow, Jewel, Dixie Chicks, Erykah Badu, Sinead O’Connor and Me’shell Ndegeocello, among others.

[From Lilith Fair To Return In 2010]

Some Kid Cudi updates...

Kid Cudi just posted a free song on his blog. Check it out.

There's also another mixtape out there: DatNewCudi.com presents the '09 Mix

He's also major label now... [From Rapper Kid Cudi Signs With Universal Motown]

Finally, some slick pics from his blog...

Record Store Day is Tomorrow!

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Not only am I going to a rain barrel workshop at the Shaker Lakes Nature Center, where I'll be getting my first rain barrel, but it's also Record Store Day! How sweet.

Here are all the details from Music Saves:

BLUE ARROW RECORDS IS OPEN! THERE ARE NOW THREE RECORD STORES ON WATERLOO!

RECORD STORE DAY FULL DETAILS! NEXT SATURDAY, APRIL 18! OPEN NOON-11pm!
EVENTS GALORE at MUSIC SAVES and other locations on the street! FREE live music!
It’s all right here: http://www.MUSICSAVES.com

ALSO, the other street events we know of so far (we’ll have flyers with a final event list strewn around Waterloo on Saturday):

Blue Arrow Records is offering 10% off everything in the store (except furniture - from noon-10pm) and hosting a FLOOR CONTEST to win a vintage Derek Hess poster!

This Way Out is offering 10% off everything in the store (from noon-8pm)!

If you spend $10 or more at MUSIC SAVES, This Way Out, or Blue Arrow Records, each of those 3 receipts is good for $1 off a beer in the Beachland Tavern! The Tavern will open at 11am with a special lunch menu PLUS the brunch cocktail menu!

At Shoparooni, bring in a mixtape (or mixCD) formed after one of these 3 themes: Porkchops & Awesome Sauce (Marlee), Glitter & Sequins (Steve), or Caught on the Spot (Heather) and get 30% off your purchase PLUS they’ll have a photo booth set up!

Expect the Arts Collinwood Gallery, Low Life Gallery, and the Waterloo 7 Gallery to all be open AND look for the debut of the new WATERLOO CAFÉ!

Newsweek Article on Neko Case

Interesting article on the "indie" music scene, focusing on Neko Case, from a major publication perspective (note the mentions of / comparison to Kelly Clarkson). A good read.

All the Pretty Verses, Indie Style

Alternative bands once avoided melody. No longer.

Seth Colter Walls

NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Mar 16, 2009

You may think this month's most powerful new album from a singer-songwriter belongs to Kelly Clarkson. Not quite. Though the talented "American Idol" alumna has just given us "All I Ever Wanted," her new songs fall short of the mark set by "Middle Cyclone," from Neko Case. "Cyclone" is a platform for Case's voice, an instantly recognizable instrument that could win "Idol" in a walk, if its owner wouldn't detest the very idea. Though her music does crack with an addictive, sugar-buzz quality that matches the highs derived from bubblegum, it is decidedly not pop. Case is an indie artist—the kind who writes songs titled "I'm an Animal" or uses a tornado as a narrator. And yet her style is instantly appealing, blending Patsy Cline's rich country tone with the gale-force intensity of the original blues shouters, plus a jazz chord or three. If that sounds suspiciously ornate for indie music—well, you haven't been listening to the new notes from the underground.

While the idea of indie rock used to suggest radio-unfriendly noise or hopped-up aggression, a wave of unapologetic loveliness has swept through hipster nation. Acts such as Bon Iver, Iron & Wine and Antony and the Johnsons have been bringing pretty back, to paraphrase Justin Timberlake. Not all of indieland is preoccupied with elegance, of course. You can still seek out bands like Tyvek for joyous blasts of tuneless skronk, if that's your thing. But whereas Kurt Cobain once felt the need to hide affection for R.E.M. from his underground peers lest he be booted from their secret society, today's alternative acts no longer look at melody as the love that dare not speak its name.

What's changed since then has to do with the age-old dance between the mainstream and the underground. Back in the America of Bush the First, smiley-faced pop prodded punks like Nirvana and Green Day to embrace raw guitar feedback and bratty defiance. But pop music, that resilient thief, absorbed their innovations and turned outsiders into industry standard-bearers. By the middle of Bush 43's tenure, Green Day was selling 14 million copies of "American Idiot," and so the underground's contrary, hit-'em-where-they-ain't philosophy was pointing toward a less bombastic direction—a path filled with vulnerable melody and pretty voices. The fact that, by the 2000s, the vogue in pop production had largely retreated behind ringtone-bleep fetishism only fueled indie's desire to stake a claim on graceful writing and singing.

Though the construction of Case's own songs can be deliberately odd, there's no doubting the central grace and flexibility of her voice. Just as capable as Bon Iver or Antony when it comes to singing with subtlety, she also knows how to belt in a radio-ready fashion. That volume, when it appears, never strains her range, which seems elastic enough to fit any conceit—a rare-enough talent in all eras, let alone one that finds "Idol" preaching against vocal restraint. During the song "People Got a Lotta Nerve," in which a female tiger confesses to being a "man-eater" as though she were a supermodel prowling the meatpacking district, Case deftly plays off her own image as every straight indie boy's heartthrob. It's a good joke, and a better chorus—one that, if there's any justice in the world, will inspire as many singalongs among girlfriends at bars as Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" did a couple of summers back. After decades during which the underground studiously paid attention to the mainstream—if only to subvert it—perhaps it's time for the establishment to start taking notes. If they listen up right now, uninspired hit makers won't hear anything that needs rebelling against. What they will hear, simply, is the thriving pulse of American song.

Dodo's on NPR

If you haven't checked out the Dodo's yet, listen to this set on NPR Music. Good stuff.

The Dodos' Tribal-Folk Crossover

Elizabeth Weinberg

Meric Long and Logan Kroeber of The Dodos.

World Cafe, March 10, 2009 - The Dodos began as the unlikely partnership of Meric Long's country-blues finger picking with Logan Kroeber's experimental drumming. By incorporating their experiences with West African Ewe drumming and prog-metal, The Dodos created a sound driven by polyrhythmic tribal beats and acoustic guitar, as well as sincere lyrics. Though the band's almost primitive play with syncopated beats has likened it to acts such as Yeasayer andAnimal Collective, Long and Kroeber have developed a distinctly lyrical and sweet folk style.

The Dodos' propulsive sound is best consumed live, but it's captured effectively on band's sophomore album,Visiter. The constant conversation between driving guitar and energetic drum patterns turns what would otherwise be simple folk-pop melodies into dynamic, danceable hits. In a session with host David Dye, the duo discusses the complex creation ofVisiter.

The Artists Den (CD, Ani DiFranco, Josh Ritter, etc.)

I received an update that Ani was going to be on the new Artists Den CD (exclusively at B&N), which I will definitely pick up.

Went to the Artists Den website and LOVED the video video quality.

Check out Josh Ritter...

And Ani DiFranco...

iTunes eCards on someecards.com

Great stuff... both of these were sent to me by my co-worker. I've been on the lookout for eCards that weren't the obnoxious flash, sound, motion-craziness. I think I've found it.

Fabchannel is Closing... Another Win for Greed.

Sad news... You have 1 week left to watch (record?) any of the concerts in their archive... Ugh, so many.

Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest Leaked

So Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest has leaked. I was a little surprised it happened this soon too...

I like Grizzly Bear's take on this. Both understanding a little regret, which is completely understandable. What I can't wrap my head around is buying albums that I don't know if I like. Unless I was a huge Grizzly Bear fan (which I'm not), then I want to know the album before dropping $16.99 + shipping for the Vinyl. Maybe I'm just cheap. But I'm going to get comfortable with the leaked copy before I decide to buy.

I definitely appreciate supporting artists and will always do so. If not by buying their album, then by seeing them in concert or promoting them on this blog. Most of the time it involves all 3.

There’s a hole in the bucket, Delilah

Hey all,

So yeah, we are kind of bummed this leaked so early. We know it’s not the 90’s anymore and times have changed, and we’re super grateful for all the support people have shown us on the blogs and internet, but we were kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon.

Ultimately we feel like we put out a great album and hope people enjoy it, and we really hope people take the time to pre-order and support the good one-and-a-half years it took to write and record it.

I promise you the album art for both CD and vinyl is going to be gorgeous. And a bonus: all vinyl people will get a high quality download coupon with their purchase.

Leaking is a tricky subject; as we all know, I’ve had my run ins with the law O__o (Hi, Mr. Sheriff!) I have conflicting opinions about it, as it’s really complicated, but ultimately it saddens me that a bummer-quality version of Veckatimest is going around. Please consider putting your energies into a pre-order or into waiting till May 26 for the album the way we intend it to be presented.

Not to get all mushy, but we definitely put a lot of love and work into this one and are just excited to hit the road and tour it again.

Ok, there! Got that off my chest.

Warm regards.

Pre-Order directly from the band:

- CD - or - Vinyl -

or from Insound:
- CD - or Vinyl

In the UK:
- CD - or - Vinyl -

Laura Marling: Indie-Folk Darling

NPR is definitely doing something right with their music coverage... Another great NPR session. Laura Marling has been one of my favorites these past couple months.

Ghosts - Laura Marling