Guadalcanal Diary "Always Saturday"

Christopher Guest was on The Bob Edwards Show on XMPR yesterday morning. This upcoming Spinal Tap reunion was not a topic of discussion but they did talk about the original movie. Apparently it hit so close to home for Steven Tyler he didn't even get the joke the first time he saw it.

I love their covers. Too bad they rarely do any in concert anymore.

J. Geils Is Together Again

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/subhajit_bane...years_ago_today

Fables is also my favorite. They are currently in the process of releasing deluxe editions of those early albums, Reckoning is next. When they get around to Fables I hope the extra material Mike Peters of the Alarm turned over to them from his basement will make the cut for some of the bonus material. If not, I hope it makes it onto the box set (which they say they won't release until they decide to call it a day). Back around the time of Fables they were playing college campuses. It wasn't until the Green World Tour that they graduated to the larger arenas. In case you've never seen them before, the R.E.M. Timeline and Chronicle sites are invaluable tools when researching their touring history and setlists: R.E.M. Timeline R.E.M. Chronicle

I haven't been real fond of the recent XM/Sirius merger, mainly because, as an XM subscriber I was a big X Country devotee (which was replaced by the vastly inferior Outlaw Country channel) but I do love Little Steven's Underground Garage. It doesn't always stick to what I've come to know as "garage rock" (they recently played Be My Lover by Alice Cooper, a song I love but I can't say I've ever thought of it as "garage rock") but it's a great channel. I understand about Surf as it does get a bit repetitious at times but when I get a hankering for it (particularly during these cold ass winter months) nothing hits the spot like a good surf instrumental. If I had known the Cowbunga surf collection was a limited pressing I would have purchased it long ago but I had no idea. There's used copies available but they're well out of my price range. Thanks to some friends, I've been able to obtain most of those same songs from a couple of other Rhino single disc Surf collections (which are also now out of print). For some newer surf stuff, I highly recommend the album Savvy Show Stoppers by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.

I don't know why it took me so long to finally see them in concert either but I was a fan from the moment I first heard Laughing on a local radio station back in the early 80s. The first opportunity I remember having to see them was when they played a benefit for African food aid at Meredith College in Raleigh in 1985 while on tour for Fables of the Reconstruction but I didn't end up seeing them until the following year when they played Duke University with Let's Active on the tour for Life's Rich Pagent. All along they had been playing local clubs such as the Pier in Raleigh and Friday's in Greensboro. I was into the local music scene back then but still those shows managed to pass me by. Thankfully, footage (as well as audio recordings) of some of those concerts have surfaced over the years. Needless to say, I haven't missed a tour since. R.E.M. w/Don Dixon "Wild Thing" (Meredith College 5/27/85) R.E.M. "Laughing" (The Pier 10/10/82) R.E.M. at the Pier with the audience onstage and the band in the audience for Gloria.

They obviously own a great debt to bands like Humble Pie, the Stones, the Faces, etc. but I've always loved The Black Crowes' version of that song. I definitely prefer that era of the Crowes to when they turned into a jam band and started channeling the Allmans and the Grateful Dead.

I just now noticed that. No need to get ugly about it. A quick glance of the Inductees at the Rock Hall site would have shown that U2 have already been inducted. That doesn't make me a "know it all prick".

It's still not too late. Considering they just finished a world tour I expect it will be a while before they tour again but they have already started writing new material for the followup to Accelerate. If anyone doubts their prowess as a live band be sure the check the clip below that was uploaded to YouTube by REMhq.com at the end of their most recent tour.

I'm a big fan of rockabilly, surf and some garage (old and new) stuff. Rhino has done a magnificent job over the years of releasing some great box sets in this very vein. I just hate I never snatched up the Cowabunga! surf collection before it went out of print. The Children of Nuggets box has long been on my ever growing and expanding Most Wanted List. I also love Southern Culture on the Skids who combine surf, country, rockabilly, rock, garage, etc. and put on a very kickass live show involving fried chicken, nanner puddin' and on occasion, watermelon. Southern Culture on the Skids

There's already a thread for Rush here.

U2 are in. Some of the artists you listed aren't even eligible yet. An artist isn't eligible until 25 years after the release of their first record. You can find the criteria for induction here and a list of inductees here. This topic is already under discussion in this thread.

Not necessarily, I just wasn't sure who you were referring to. I also wasn't sure what you meant by "the chord king". By this, do you mean Buck plays chords as opposed to notes? I know he doesn't take a lot of solos but I've always admired that about him. It also struck me as a bit odd that you're fan of R.E.M. yet consider Buck to be a "lame guitarist". In case you've never heard them, he takes pretty wicked solos during live versions of She Just Wants To Be and Country Feedback. The Monster era movie they released was Roadmovie. It's cool that you got to see R.E.M. while Bill Berry was still with them but I'd say that was probably my least favorite tour since they were playing all of their tunes with the amps set to 11. It worked well for the Monster material but not for some of the quieter stuff. I also wouldn't rule out ever seeing them again just because you haven't been taken with the newer records (if indeed that's the reason). I'm not so fond of the post-Bill Berry era myself but those songs work much better in concert since they're forced to play them as a five piece rock band (six when Ken Stringfellow of the Posies was with them). Having seen every tour since Pagentry in '86 I can say without question they haven't played with as much vigor since the 80s. The fact the newer songs worked better live finally dawned on them so they made Accelerate with exactly that notion in mind. This last tour was also full of lots of their lesser played older material as well as at least one song (Ignoreland) that had never even been played live. For my money, they're still one of the best live bands out there. They'll never be the same without Bill Berry but Accelerate was definitely a step in the right direction. Buck even threatened to walk if they made another record like Around the Sun. I liked Around the Sun better than some of my fellow R.E.M. fans but it was quite obvious (especially to Buck) that they were capable of much better.

Been watching a lot of Turner Classic Movies as of late....

Nothing against their studio craft but have you ever heard any of their 80s era live shows or seen Tourfilm? Who is "the chord king", Peter Buck?

What makes people think hippies have disappeared from the landscape? They're still out there and I don't mean the ones that "play" hippie at Widespread, Phish, etc. shows. They exist on the fringes of society just as they always have. I also wonder about the fascination some seem to have with wishing they had grown up in the 60s or 70s. Why would anyone want to go back to such a turbulent time in our nations history, as if the times we are living in aren't turbulent enough. Having grown up in the 70s I can say without hesitation that you really didn't miss out on much. I'm more about living in the now.

The latest installment in Dylan's Bootleg Series, Telltale Signs is full of outtakes, alternate takes, previously unheard live cuts, etc. all culled from the period of 1989-2006. I'm amazed at just how good the songs are, particularly the rearranged versions of tunes like Diginity. It just goes to show what an outstanding talent he still is and that everything that ends up on the cutting room floor doesn't necessarily belong there. As for collections like that, of course you're going to get some songs that don't always live up to that artists' usual standards but sometimes you get some real gems as well as a glimpse into their creative process. Those tunes provide an invaluable insight, at least to me.

I loved how it didn't go for the usual predictable "Hollywood" ending, that would have ruined the entire movie for me.

I'd love to attend but can't really afford it. I entered the ticket giveaway anyhow.