Hahaha, hope LedZepFan77 doesn't see this.

Davy Graham is THE BOSS of 1960s English folk guitar. Not that I am saying Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, and others aren't great in and of themselves...but it ALL sprang from Davy Graham. He was the well they all drew from. I wrote a thing about Davy Graham years ago, but I couldn't find it here so it must have been on the old Electric-Magic forums. I cannot imagine anyone here that is of a certain age that DOESN'T have Davy's "The Guitar Player" and "Folk, Blues and Beyond" albums. They are the mainstays of any decent record collection. So, all you youngens out there that don't have any Davy in your iPod or whatever, you need to rectify that deficiency, PRONTO! Oh, and Davy's collaboration with the great Shirley Collins "Folk Roots, New Routes", is also a must-have.

I guess they're saving THAT for the book.

^^^That actually has been well-known news for quite some time now...the whole Whitney lip-synched the Star-Spangled banner came out shortly after the 1991 Super Bowl. It was a great rendition, nonetheless.

Yes...good call on those!

Well, you're in luck, Jahfin...not only did the L.A. Times review the new Van Halen, but they also reviewed Sharon Van Etten's album. First up, the Van Halen review: Van Halen "A Different Kind of Truth" (Interscope Records) Two-and-a-half stars (out of four) By Randall Roberts On “A Different Kind of Truth,” the first studio album from Van Halen to feature original lead singer David Lee Roth since “1984,” the charismatic front man sings about trying to land that “stone cold sister soccer mom” he’s chasing in “Honeybabysweetiedoll.” But hooking up is the least of the challenges facing Diamond Dave and his bandmates in this year of their comeback. Some of the higher hurdles: Can they pull off this reunion moment without killing each other? Can they convince their fans that bassist/son-of-the-guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen really has earned his place in the band and can lock in with drummer/uncle Alex Van Halen? And, most important to the band’s success, is guitar maestro/dad Eddie Van Halen still able to effortlessly dance his fingers up and down the neck of his instrument in ways that not only support his claim as one of the great rock guitarists but advances his craft in a meaningful way. And then there’s the challenge of the marketplace: In the 28 years since Roth recorded a full album with Van Halen, the landscape has completely changed. When the band’s original lineup last released a record, home taping was “killing” music and the question was whether to buy “1984” on LP or cassette, or borrow a friend’s copy and tape over Foreigner “4.” Now the dilemma isn’t just, should you spend money on the CD ($14.99 list price) or a digital copy (also — frustratingly — $14.99). It’s also, how much are you willing to commit to buying in? Will a few dropped bucks on a handful of the best individual tracks suffice? Or will “A Different Kind of Truth” be the perfect Spotify streaming album, not good enough to pay hard money for but worth a mouse-click when you’ve got a spare few minutes? Or should you just ask your computery friend to Sendspace you a pirated copy? Looking at this record in purely financial terms: It’s got three works, “As Is,” “Outta Space” and “Big River” that would warrant spending real money on. These could have been hits in the alternate universe in which Van Halen followed up “1984,” not with the Sammy Hagar-helmed “5150” but with the original lineup intact. Three others are halfway decent songs that might click at some point (“You and Your Blues,” “Bullethead,” “Blood and Fire”), that you’d be advised to put in your queue for further reflection; a few harmless filler tracks; and three clunkers that the band should be reimbursing us for (“Tattoo,” “Beats Workin’,” “Stay Frosty”). It’s actually a perfect rock record for the pick-and-choose era: a handful of good songs that you can buy without having to deal with the fat. “A Different Kind of Truth” is actually not bad; in fact, it’s pretty good, all things considered. Faint praise, sure, but given the quality of the band’s first single from it, “Tattoo,” and the history of aging bands reuniting for another stab at the charts and a cash-in on former glory, one can be forgiven for being skeptical. A pop metal song that bangs around in the head clumsily, “Tattoo” certainly wasn’t a positive portent, but that half of the record rises to the level of the band’s glory days is a testament to the ingredients that made up Van Halen circa ’84, and “Truth” is a confirmation that this band wasn’t a fluke. Thirteen high-volume songs created after successful negotiations between the Three Twins LLC (a.k.a. Alex, Eddie and Wolfgang), and you-know-who’s Diamond Dave Enterprises Inc., “A Different Kind of Truth” lives up to its name: This is alternate-reality rock in which a band attempts to time travel into 2012 from 1984, rehearse for a few months and complete enough decent songs to convince fans that a tour ticket will be worth it and that Van Halen is a real deal band making a real deal record despite the inter-band machinations and tour revenue prognostications. Killer riffs abound. Were Eddie Van Halen stripped of his legend and offered to the masses as a hot new find, he’d still be received as one of the meanest, most thrilling metal guitarists in the genre’s history. Throughout “A Different Kind of Truth,” Eddie maneuvers between massive speed metal sprints and his trademark wailing solo style; the latter flashy guitar runs tend to sound samey over the course of the album, but taken individually, Eddie has seldom sounded better. One listen to his contributions to “Big River” should shut up any doubters. The other way to look at it is that despite the bangers that successfully revive the Van Halen brand, half of this record features songs that will seldom if ever make it onto a concert set list. It’s these songs that drag the whole thing down and make “A Different Kind of Truth” feel tired, like an awesome old-school Trans Am that can do a wicked burnout from time to time but stalls from misuse. Copyright 2012 Los Angeles Times ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now, the Sharon Van Etten review: Sharon Van Etten "Tramp" (Jagjaguwar) Three stars (out of four) By Mikael Wood The title of Sharon Van Etten’s new album refers to the transient existence she led during its creation: touring; sleeping on friends’ couches; showing up for recording sessions at the Brooklyn home of the National’s Aaron Dessner, who served as her producer. But if “Tramp” follows an unstable period in this New Jersey native’s life, the record hardly exudes the jitters you’d expect; it sounds like the work of someone rooted solidly to the ground. Much of that quiet sturdiness derives from Van Etten’s singing, which anchors the music even as Dessner fills out his gloomy arrangements with dense indie-noir details. Members of Wye Oak and the Walkmen appear on Tramp, as does Zach Condon of Beirut in a stately duet, “We Are Fine.” But it’s also the result of Van Etten’s devotion to her subject matter, a commitment to self-examination she crystallizes in “Leonard” with nearly comic precision, admitting, “I am bad at loving you,” over a luscious waltz-time groove. (You know the lyric isn’t actually comic because, as she tells us later in “Ask,” “It hurts too much to laugh about it.”) Van Etten never strays from that emotional terra firma, and though its handsome desolation can threaten to become dreary, she makes her own psychological space feel as fact-like as any permanent address. Copyright 2012 Los Angeles Times

Awesome Ady! Thanks for posting these...I missed the news about these shows the first time around.

To the above list I would add 7.15.73 Buffalo 7.17.73 Seattle

More like "enough, Jimmy, enough!"

If he did nothing else, Nic Cage would still be immortal just for "Wild at Heart" alone. But then you add "Valley Girl", "Rumble Fish", "Raising Arizona", "Leaving Las Vegas", "Face/Off", "Matchstick Men", "Adaptation", "Lord of War", "Moonstruck", "Guarding Tess" and "Peggy Sue Got Married" and Nicolas Cage doesn't have to apologize for anything. Hell, even "The Rock" and "Con Air" have a kind of pulpy, goofy kick to them.

No offense but In my nightmares I'm stuck at a concert of The Wallflowers, Dave Mathews Band, Counting Crows, and Creed.

"IF" and "COULD HAVE" are some of the saddest words in the English language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nse9QwJwG3Y&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Moving on to the second Broadcast album, 2000's "The Noise Made by People":

Ever see a fat heroin addict? There's your answer.

There is Jane's Addiction and there is JANE'S ADDICTION!!! While all the various later lineups have had their moments and they even had one brief reunion with Eric Avery back in the fold, it is the Jane's Addiction of 1986-1991 where the legend was forged. The line-up of Perry, Dave, Eric and Stephen that created some of the most bewitching and hypnotic concerts I've ever witnessed this side of Led Zeppelin. Jane's Addiction was born in Los Angeles, but with their shaman-esque spell and voodoo vibe, they could have just as easily come from New Orleans. In fact, the band LOVED playing New Orleans and their shows there rank among the best in their history. Today is February 15...so it is the 21st anniversary of one of those great shows: Feb. 15, 1991 at the Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, LA. "Ritual de lo Habitual" came out in August 1990, and to tour the album, JA did three tours. The first was their 1990 tour of Europe and America. The third and last leg was the first Lollapalooza Festival tour that Perry put together for the summer of 1991. Of course, by Lollapalooza, band tensions and drug addictions were at their highest and most volatile, so you never could be sure what kind of JA show you were going to get: EPIC GODHEAD or a train wreck. That is why among many of us JA addicts, it is that second leg...the early 1991 tour from Feb. to May...that ranks as the last great tour. For one thing, the band added to the lineup ex-Camper Van Beethoven violinist Morgan Fichter, which allowed JA to add "Of Course", "Classic Girl", and "Then She Did" to the set with Morgan adding haunting violin. They played 4 nights at the Universal Amphitheatre here in Los Angeles, with Nine Inch Nails as the opening act. I saw 3 of the four concerts and they remain among the best and most indelible concerts of my life. Shortly after those shows, they hit New Orleans for a show at the venerable Municipal Auditorium. Miraculously, somebody was filming and I found three clips of the show on YouTube, including the mesmerizing "Then She Did", with the lovely Morgan Fichter lending her talents. Enjoy. Curious to know if any of you NOLAs were there? Deb, Rock Historian, jjustawoman?

Whoa...there goes MY appetite.

Katy Perry is a bore and was yesterday's news before yesterday even arrived...she'll be forgotten in no time. But while you may not like Lady GaGa's music or some of her attention-grabbing antics, I feel she has just as much talent as Adele. Maybe even more. That is the conundrum of Lady GaGa...she has the voice and the instrumental chops to succeed without all the auto-tuning and disco circus she surrounds herself with. It'll be interesting to see how she matures as her career moves forward. Madonna's best albums ("Like a Prayer", "Ray of Light") came later in her career after her pop ingenue phase. I think Lady GaGa has the same capability to get better as she gets older.

Do you get paid for your chores? I'm making chocolate chip cookies...which always makes me happy.

It's not new at all...there's already a 171 page thread on 'this or that' here:

Someone's been into Whitney's medicine cabinet again.

^^^The true test...the "proof in the pudding" so-to-speak...comes when Carmelo Anthony comes back to the lineup. Can Melo and Amare deal with the attention this kid is getting? Will they be happy with Lin playing the point even if it means less touches for them? Or will it turn into a New York soap opera? You might be a basketball addict if you find yourself watching the Reno Bighorns take on the Texas Legends in the NBA D-League on the NBA channel. Go Reno!