Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (1976) Upon release of their debut effort, and amid a brief UK tour that saw the UK press tag them as both “punk” and “new…
Jeff Giles
2 Min Read
Greetings from northern Illinois! There was no time to write any updates on the trip yesterday. Only time for driving. And driving. And more driving. We covered nearly 1,000 miles…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Two things, real quick: 1. I’m posting this from a moving car. Technology is pretty cool, when it does what I want. 2. My buddy Gene rescued about 99% of…
John C. Hughes
4 Min Read
My junior year in high school, a few friends and I decided to form a New Wave band. Our inspiration? R.E.M.? The Smiths? The Replacements? Not exactlyÁ¢€¦ Try Animotion. We…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Greetings from Sundance, Wyoming! Yesterday we spent pretty much our entire day on I-90, driving through Montana (the uglier 2/3 of it, as correctly noted by A Giac) and Wyoming….
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
If it’s Thursday, it must be Montana! We’ve actually been here in Big Sky Country since yesterday Á¢€” we headed east from Spokane, through Coeur d’Alene (which is gorgeous, by…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Greetings from scenic Spokane, Washington! We drove from Santa Clara, CA all the way up here yesterday, a haul of over 1,000 miles. The AAA TripTik said it would take…
John C. Hughes
5 Min Read
SITE NOTE:Thanks everyone for pitching in with the clicks to help defray server costs. I won’t give you the hard sell, promise – just remember, if you download a track,…
Darren Robbins
1 Min Read
Since I’m on my way into the backyard for some quality hammock time on a lazy Sunday afternoon (okay, it’s hotter than you-know-what today, maybe I’ll just hit the local…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Okay, folks, this is it Á¢€” as of tonight, my desktop will be packed up in boxes. As of tomorrow, it’ll be on the moving truck, bound for New Hampshire….
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Here’s a question for you, music lovers: Which band or artist, in your opinion, is the most overrated of the rock era? For me, it’s easy: Jim Morrison and/or The…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Okay, remember last week, when I told you about our good friend Joe and how he’d made it possible for you to hear that sweet Joe Jackson bootleg? Well, this…
Robert Cass
2 Min Read
Note: This week’s Cutouts Gone Wild! comes to you courtesy of our friend Robert in Chicago, who thoughtfully volunteered to step in and share one of the dustier pieces of…
Jeff Giles
3 Min Read
Billy Joel – 12 Gardens Live (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) For as long as people have been able to buy music, old music-loving farts have sat around griping about how…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Ron Sexsmith – Time Being (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) This may surprise you, given the periodic glimpses of my personal politics I’ve let seep into what is supposedly music criticism,…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Don Dixon – The Entire Combustible World in One Small Room (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) As concept albums go, Don Dixon’s latest — ten songs about rooms — sounds like…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Thanks to our pal Billy K. for the tip! In much the same fashion as Tobey Maguire personified innocent charm on the big screen with his breakout role in Pleasantville,…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have been tearing it up inthe jam band circuit the past couple of years opening up for Trey Anastasio, Soulive, Dave Matthews, and North Mississippi…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals have been tearing it up inthe jam band circuit the past couple of years opening up for Trey Anastasio, Soulive, Dave Matthews, and North Mississippi…
Jeff Giles
12 Min Read
[Note: Given some of the stuff I’ve admitted here in the past, I have no problem letting you all know that I’m one of the folks that our pal Eric…
John C. Hughes
4 Min Read
SITE NOTE: Whew, those Stars on 45 did a number on my bandwith! Help a brother out Á¢€” hereÁ¢€â„¢s the deal Á¢€” if you download a track, click on a…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
The desktop’s back. Hallelujah! $300 later, I can confidently tell you that only a fool tries to make the Knievel-esque jump from Intel to AMD hardware without the assistance of…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
While weÁ¢€â„¢re tackling the question of who Á¢€Å“inventedÁ¢€ New Wave, letÁ¢€â„¢s ponder another query: Who pioneered Turntablism? Possible answer: One of the most bootlegged early turntablism records Á¢€” a three-part…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
First of all, a word of heartfelt thanks to everyone who has volunteered assistance of any kind in this mess…hopefully I won’t need it, but it’s nice to be reminded…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Um, you guys, I think I just lost about 300 gigs of music. So…I’ll be looking for a data recovery wizard over the next few days and wincing as I…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Dr. John – Mercernary (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) Being a lifelong, unrepentant music geek, I sometimes forget how my perspective on this or that performer is very different from that…
Jeff Giles
2 Min Read
Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint – The River in Reverse (2006) purchase this album (Amazon) Okay, true confession time: I am not now, and have never been, much of an…
Jeff Giles
2 Min Read
Cheap Trick – Rockford (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) Cheap Trick fans are a long-suffering bunch. You Guns & Roses fanboys who’ve been waiting for Chinese Democracy all these years —…
Jeff Giles
1 Min Read
Live – Songs from Black Mountain (2006)purchase this album (Amazon) Am I the only person perplexed by the fact that Live has a major-label deal in 2006? I’m not really…
Jeff Giles
13 Min Read
[Jefito’s Note: Another week, another brilliantly guest-blogged Idiot’s Guide! This one’s brought to you by John Bergstrom, certified FOJ (that’s Friend of Jefitoblog to you, mister) and writer for PopMatters….