Caitlin Cary (Tres Chicas, Whiskeytown) and Matt Douglas (The Proclivities) are The Small Ponds:

New tour dates as reported here. June 10 Stockholm, Sweden, Cirkus 11 Oslo, Norway, Folketeatret 13 Malmö, Sweden, The Consert House 14 Copenhagen, Denmark Koncerhauset 16 Lisbon, Portugal, Aula Magna 17 Porto, Portugal Teatro, Sa Da Bandeira 20 London, UK, Barbican 22 Brighton, UK, Dome 23 Manchester, UK, Bridgewater Hall 25 Glasgow, UK, Academy 26 Oxford, UK, Oxford New Theatre 28 Amsterdam, Holland, Concertgebouw

"In the Still of the Night" lifted heavily from "Kashmir", I think that's where most of the criticism stems from. Most of Whitesnake's latter day output is little more than the kind of hair metal that used to make up the majority of MTV's playlist back in the day but some of their early work (especially circa Live...in the Heart Of The City) is really good. As far as Page's post-Zep material is concerned, I'll take Whatever Happened To Jugula? anyday over that Coverdale/Page record.

This is one of those movies I wasn't sure I was going to like at first but the deeper I got into it, the better it was. Hard to say too much about it without giving it away so I'll just say it's filled with some very pleasant surprises. I'd read some mixed reviews on this one which caused me to be wary of renting it. Goes to show you should always see for yourself because your opinion may vary wildly from those of others which was most definitely the case here. This is not really an anti-war film (as so many are) but more of a character study of a soldier who loves his job, perhaps a little too much.

Schoolkids Records had a sale on used CDs over the weekend, which included the new one from Lucinda. The copy I have is a promo version of the deluxe edition and has a different cover than the one depicted above. I'm aware that there are as many as eight different covers for this record but the one I have isn't even available on Amazon, probably because of the promo aspect.

The Baseball Project (Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey of R.E.M., Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and his wife, drummer Linda Pitmon) played in Athens, GA last night. The first clip is from an in-store appearance at Wuxtry Records. Kevn Kinney (Drivin' n' Cryin') & the Musical Kings (Tim Nielson of Drivin' n' Cryin', Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Bill Berry of R.E.M. and John Keane [local Athens producer]) opening for The Baseball Project at the 40 Watt club in Athens:

I certainly enjoyed it. Not that anyone mentioned it but I don't think it's for kids. There isn't really any foul language but there are some violent scenes that would make it inappropriate for young kids. Plus, it references several movies that would go over toddlers' and even most young adults' heads. Aside from that, I thought it was well done and isn't just a special effects extravaganza (though there's obviously plenty of that). It actually has a plot and despite a couple of slow moments, it keeps your attention throughout. 2 hours is a bit much though, an hour and a half running time probably would have been much better. Saw this one last night: Apparently it's another one that passed most everyone by when it was first came out at theatres so more folks are discovering it thanks to it's release on DVD. Though the underlying theme of the movie is sad, overall it's very uplifting and funny as Walken and his son scheme their way across the U.S..

The Borders going out of business sale continues. These were already marked down so it was especially hard to pass 'em up. Plus, I have a tremendous soft spot for both Tres Hombres and Fandango. Tres Hombres has to be among the first 2 or 3 records I ever owned along with Alice Cooper's Killer and We're An American Band from Grand Funk Railroad.

Two new releases (Since 1966 and Beat the Band, respectively) from Tim Easton that seem to only be available from his website.

I don't remember a series but there have been several official releases that collected some of the songs Zeppelin lifted from. I believe one of them was called The Roots of Led Zeppelin. I don't see the one I was specifically referring to but you can find several of them here.

New Bruce Cockburn, out now: Beach Boys' Lost 'Smile' Album to See Release in 2011

Would purchasing this help you any?

What I thought was a surf movie documentary turned out to be more of a proclamation of Christianity that had little to nothing to do with surfing. That aside, it has some great surf footage and some wonderful vistas from around the world. The "message" aspect of it isn't even noticeable at first but at the movie goes along it becomes more and more dominant to the point where the movie isn't even about surfing any more.

How many times are you going to post the same exact videos here again and again? The first five times were annoying. You're now approaching grating.

Brian Setzer's new bluegrass album. Click on the album cover below to hear his take on "Earl's Breakdown". Jimmie Dale Gilmore was a guest on Fresh Air with Terry Gross last night where he discussed his upcoming new album (due in May) called Heirloom Music. To listen to the interview click here.

You don't say, it's only the fifth thread I've seen them posted it. Then again, the night is young.

I wouldn't go by that review as this record is vastly different from Up, Reveal and Around the Sun. While those albums have a similar sound so did Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction and Life's Rich Pageant but I don't think any of them are "interchangeable". If you want to listen for yourself, Collapse Into Now is still streaming at NPR up until March 11th. To my ears, it's the best thing they've done since New Adventures in Hi-Fi. That's not to completely discount the albums in between but it does speak to how deeply Bill Berry's departure affected them.

Did you know that someone born in 1968 was 27 in 1995?

I agree and the same thing goes for any genre. Not sure if they've been mentioned but Blue Cheer is often cited as one of the first hard rock bands and the term itself was first used in "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf. Both "hard rock" and "heavy metal" mean different things to different people so it's hard to arrive at a meaning that everyone can agree on. Same thing for "rock n' roll" itself. Some even like to split hairs over "rock" vs. "rock n' roll" but to paraphrase Billy Joel, they're all the same to me.

Somewhere in here is a possibly great movie dying to get out. Never before have I see so many well known actors (Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon among them) do such a lousy job of acting. The exception is Edward Norton who plays twins. From reading more about the film I found that fault may be found with the screenwriter (who's also in the movie), Tim Blake Nelson for not fully fleshing out the script. Not a bad movie over all but I agree, it could have been much better. It has a very likable soundtrack that includes tunes from John Prine, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle (who also has a small role in the movie). Perhaps if the script had been better realized Nelson could have achieved what he was shooting for. Instead, it just came out sort of sloppy. Also, what's up with movie posters depicting scenes that never happen in the movie? For instance, not once during the movie is Norton's character ever seen bearing a crossbow. His enemies do but not Norton.

I have never seen this particular special on my local PBS affiliate but it's on the accent that's so prevalent in the Outer Banks region of the state: