There’s been alot of talk this past year about “MF Doom Is Dead”, about fake Dooms taking the stage, and about Doomposter. When you like an artist that wears a mask, you’ve got to be prepared for an avalanche of fiction and misdirection. My plan is to watch this video and wait him out. “Doomposter” supposedly drops this year. Come back, Doom.

featuring a quote or two from Talkdemonic:
Bands On The Run — From High Gas Prices

(written by Luciana Lopez; appeared in The Oregonian in June)

As mayor of mixmeamolotov.com, I’m declaring that today is officially Bernstein Day! Go out and celebrate: take the day off from work and go do something you’ve never done before. Ride your bike to a neighboring state, make a movie, write a song, do some fingerpainting, learn to play backgammon. And don’t fear the haters along the way, because deep down inside everyone loves to boo.

And European fans, get your boos and heckles ready. And stick some new batteries in your recording equipment. Dan Bern is headed your way:

20 Sep — La Casa Encendida — Madrid, Spain
22 Sep — Costello Club — Madrid, Spain
28 Sep — Roepaen — Ottersum, Holland
30 Sep — In The Woods — Lage Vuursche
02 Oct — Kroller-Muller Museum — Otterloo
03 Oct — WVHEDW — Amsterdam
04 Oct — Take Root Festival — Groningen
07 Oct — Q-Bus — Leiden
11 Oct — Cultureel Centrum — Meise

And finally, I have some music to help you celebrate the first annual Bernstein Day! These are some favorite tracks from shows I’ve been listening to lately. I hope you enjoy them!

Dan Bern - Asterisk Nation (live) : don’t say BOO, say KBOO! Dan played this song live on radio program “The Dharma Wheel” on 16 Nov 2006 and was captured by me from KBOO’s audio stream. Dan played at the Doug Fir Lounge later that night. Some clips from that show can be found on YouTube.

Dan Bern - Year By Year Home Run Totals Of Barry Bonds (live): recorded 27 Nov 2008 at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, CA. First of two nights at the Crepe Place. Great show, you can find this entire show at the Live Music Archive.

Dan Bern - 2014 (live): recorded 28 Nov 2008 at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, California. This show is also available from the Live Music Archive.

Dan Bern - Royal Jelly (partial) (live): from a show at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco, CA on 16 Apr 2008. Dan Bern covers a classic Dewey Cox song. I think this counts as a rarity!

Dan Bern - Luke The Drifter (live): recorded 16 Apr 2008 at the 12 Galaxies club in San Francisco, CA. I think this song is quickly becoming a fan favorite. I put it right up there with “Blue Highway” in my list of favorite recent songs.

Okay, everybody go do everything! See you later…..

I had a dream last night that my mom wrote me a $43,000 check. At least that’s what the note said. When I looked at the check itself, it had so much writing on it (basically it was the “memo line” on steroids - my mom had written notes about where the money came from and how she wanted me to spend it) that you couldn’t even make out an amount.

Singer/Songwriter Jill Sobule, on the other hand, has $82,557 worth of actual real money that fans have given her to make her new album. I missed my chance to contribute (as The Weepies would say, “this is not your year”), but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been curious about the proceedings.

True to expectations, Jill has written about the first two days of recording. It will be a treat for anyone who wants a “fly on the wall” view of a recording session in general. But Jill is…..so Jill! She includes a quick video where she takes us on a search for Dolly Parton, looks upon a hallway of American Idol stars with no clue as to who any of them are (which is totally refreshing), and ends with her getting busted for filming by the IdolSecurityGuard.

Don Was is producing this new album from Jill, and if last year’s “San Francisco” single is any indication, I think it is going to sound amazing. Look for it, and don’t just read this post about her post, go read the original!

Jill Sobule - Mom
The Weepies - This Is Not Your Year

Tomorrow is Record Store Day. I’d give you the rundown of PDX happenings and participating stores, but that recordstoredaywebsite is the worldwidewait right now. I do now that Menomena will be at the downtown Jackpot store playing foosball with you, the customers.

Record stores have been dear to my heart since I was in my teens. Back then I’d take a 90 minute bus ride into San Francisco on weekends to do what I called RSB’ing (Record Store Browsing). I’d hit the Tower Records at Fisherman’s Wharf (they had an amazing import section back then), and then from there sometimes I’d go to Haight Street, where there were about 5 or 6 different stores I loved. I also spent alot of time at Village Music in Mill Valley, Rasputin Records in Berkeley and the Used Record Shoppe in San Rafael (long gone). Also, Planetspin Records in downtown Novato (also long gone) and Ken Watts Music (which I’ve blogged about previously).

You’ll find me doing my part tomorrow over at Music Millenium (the remaining store on Burnside). I’m not sure if they’re participating tomorrow or not, but I’ll be supporting them just the same.

If you’ve got a scoop on Portland Record Store happenings, feel free to post in the comments.

Thanks!

XTC - Boarded Up (Homegrown)

Thanks to Largehearted Boy today for hipping me to a new blog called Normal Bias. Looks like a music junkie and former college DJ is digitizing the best of his 1,000+ cassette collection and making them available for us other junkies. Today’s listening features 90 minutes of announcements and other produced audio from an Instant Replay system at WMWC radio. Former college DJs (of which there are millions) will probably get a touch of nostalgia hearing this stuff. Upcoming posts will include some radio shows and demos of bands we’ve never heard of.

http://www.normalbias.org

Hi ya!

First off, thanks to all the people who have started following mixmeamolotov on twitter. Dunno how y’all found me, but I keep getting a few more here and a few more there every couple of weeks. I haven’t been finding the time to post here lately, but posting album reviews and first impressions in 140 characters or less (on twitter) is something that I _can_ get my head around.

To be honest, I’ve been somewhat removed from the 2008 album releases…I spent most of this first quarter catching up on 2007 releases that I hadn’t yet heard. I really enjoyed Steve Earle, Christine Fellows and Blonde Redhead. Stuff that didn’t really hit me include that Robert Plant & Alison Krauss album, Battles, and Justice.

Of the new stuff, I’m really enjoying Cat Power’s Jukebox, and the new Kaki King record. I’ve also spent some time with the Malkmus record, the Mountain Goats, and the Kelley Stoltz.

That’s all for now. Thanks for checking back here - so sad to keep visiting near-dead blogs searching for signs of life (a personal example would be Indie Rock Forever - please come back!) but I promise I’m not done. Just busy.

When not appearing in indie music videos, Jenny Conlee can be seen rocking the pipe organ at McMenamin’s Chapel Of The Chimes pub in North Portland (AKA my hood) on Thursdays in February from 7:30-9:30pm.

She’s also accompanying Casey Neill tomorrow night up in Olympia, WA at a venue called Plenty.

Oh, and she’s also in The Decemberists.

The Decemberists - Think About Me
Fleetwood Mac - Think About Me

Chris Walla video for “Sing Again”

Update: My pal Todd just blogged about some assistance that the DecemberistAccordionista gave to him at a gig the other night. Or maybe it’s just a Secret Society Of The Accordion thing.

happened as I stumbled onto Mates Of State’s blogcument about simulataneous pregnancy and album-making, just as Peter Mulvey’s kicks-my-acoustic-loving-ass “Notes From Elsewhere” album came up on the iPod.