I see a couple of mentions for Billion Dollar Babies. Great album but to me, it's dragged down by some subpar numbers towards the end of the record. Personally, I'd rate Love It Death and Killer higher as far as being "essential hard rock" albums. by the way, in case neither of you have it, the deluxe edition of Billion Dollar Babies is a must own. The bonus material kicks ass. Speaking of which, I can't say I've ever thought of Sgt. Peppers' Lonely Heart Club Band, The Joshua Tree or Rumours as "hard rock" albums. Same for Dark Side.

Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey at Duke Gardens on the Duke University campus. What a beautiful setting for a concert and a great night for one too. It had just rained before the sun started going down. Usually this time of year around here that means a dramatic increase in the humidity once the sun comes back out but last night we got a cool evening breeze instead. Superb.

I think it's fairly rare and one of several of their albums that have never been issued on compact disc, at least to my knowledge.

When can you speak ill of the dead? By Tom de Castella It's a month since the death of Michael Jackson - an event which triggered much worshipful coverage of the singer's life. Has enough time passed for a more impartial assessment of the man? When Michael Jackson died the global media cleared the decks for the King of Pop. But not everyone was reading the script. "This guy was a pervert," said Peter King, Republican state congressman for New York. "He was a child molester, he was a paedophile, and to be giving this much coverage to him day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country?" The British satirical magazine Private Eye summarised the media's U-turn on Jackson thus: "What you didn't read in all the newspapers: 'Mad Paedophile Dead: Yesterday a 50 year-old mentally ill paedophile died in America.'" Our traditional response to a person's death can be summed up by the Latin "de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est" - roughly translated "don't speak ill of the dead". But in the information age, where the news keeps on rolling and the notion of deference has long since been replaced by a fascination with fame, how does the old maxim hold up? Click here to read the remainder of the article.

Click here to watch the clip.

Robert Kearns with Skynyrd in Raleigh Friday

Plants are "living" things. Damn plant killers! I don't have a problem with veterinarians but I do have a problem with the militant ones. Remember several years back when PETA supporters were throwing blood on people on the streets of New York? Could you imagine folks trying to push their meat eating ways on them? It reminds me of a group of church goers that would show up at one of the local clubs I used to frequent in the 80s telling us all to go to church on Sunday morning. What if we had gone to the local churches encouraging them to all come out to the clubs at night?

Speaking of ZZ Top, I just caught them on a new installment of Storytellers on VH1 Classic. Only thing is, there weren't a lot of actual stories. It was more like a Q & A with the audience. Still very good though and quite entertaining. Hard to believe they're about to celebrate their 40th anniversary. Tres Hombres is one of the very first albums I ever owned so if I didn't feel old already, watching that special helped do the trick. Last shows I saw were Max Indian with Ryan Gustafson in Chapel Hill Friday night. Last night it was the Charlie Daniels Band with Yarn at Downtown Live in Raleigh. Afterwards I saw the Bleeding Hearts with Stonefox at the Pour House.

Which has lead to lots of folks doing "needledrops" so there's plenty of vinyl rips out there that sound vastly superior to the CDs they originally came from.

Yeah, the earliest records are great. There's even some very good stuff on the latter ones but they are a bit spotty in places. I haven't heard it yet but I understand the new one they've just released is pretty good. I've never seen them in any incarnation so I'm looking very forward to their show here next month. I'll always be thankful for N.R.P.S. because they, along with Commander Cody, Pure Prairie League, Goose Creek Symphony, the Flying Burrito Brothers, etc. were my introduction to what was then known as "country rock".

For those that haven't checked the Beatles' site lately there's a clip up on the making of Revolver along with lots of other info about the release of the remasters in September.

John "Marmaduke" Dawson 1945-2009 Click on the photo for more info from No Depression.

That's professional.

At the end of time there will be two people left: Keith Richards and Abe Vigoda.

I'm not sure of the connection but after a quick Google search it does appear to be the same Kevn Kinney. Evidently at one time Malloy used Drivin' n' Cryin's Straight To Hell as his intro music (and perhaps still does, I haven't heard the show).

Got several from this one during Kevn's performance at the Pour House in Raleigh last night including the hilarious Which Jesus along with a tune that namedropped R.E.M., DBT and the Georgia Satellites that'll be on the next Drivin' n' Cryin' record. The new solo album is half music/half poetry.

Better Than Ezra are playing our Downtown Live concert series soon. Next weekend it's the Charlie Daniels Band.

Ryan Adams 7th Street Entry Minneapolis, MN 11.01.2000