Already been announced.

Pirate-proof … Phil Thomson of The Vintage Record says he took a punt on the fact you can't download a record - and it has paid off. Photo: Steven Siewert Kelsey Munro EVERYWHERE you look, dark clouds are gathering over the music industry. Sales were down 10 per cent last year. The number of songs illegally ripped off the internet outnumbers legal downloads 20 to one. Last week, the musician Peter Gabriel told an industry conference in Cannes: "It's time to put the corpse of what we know as the record industry in the ground and let some other beautiful things start to grow out of it." At the same conference, U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, saw things differently - even if he agreed on the death bit. "The collapse of the old financial model for recorded music will also mean the end of the songwriter," he warned. As REM once sang, "It's the end of the world as we know it". To read the rest of the article click here: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/04/1202090317972.html

Beautiful Beat: Nada Surf Rides On Writer: Amanda Petrusich, photo by Peter Ellenby Can I tell you about the nerdiest thing I did recently?” Matthew Caws asks, leaning in, voice conspiratorial. We’re squirreled away in the back of a café in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, eating sandwiches and trading dorky anecdotes. I nod vigorously, and he continues: “I’ve moved a few times in the last few years, and because of circumstance, I culled my records down to a hundred or something. And I was ?ipping through them trying to browse, but now that we’re all so spoiled by iTunes and CDs, record spines seem really hard to read.” He pauses. “This is so ultimately nerdy, but they’re hard to read because the color ?elds keep switching—if the color ?elds were the same, it would be easier to read the type. So I thought: I’ll put them in color order! It was the most exciting hour of my life. It looks like a sand sculpture. I think I have a picture of it in my phone,” he says, ri?ing through his pockets. You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.pastemagazine.com/action/articl...a_surf_rides_on

Presence is my favorite Led Zeppelin record. Different strokes for different folks...

Yeah, everybody singing along, getting into the concert together. What a bitch.

I'm pretty sure they did, Oh Well (by Fleetwood Mac) was also in there. Perry never got enough credit? He's only on nearly every "Greatest/Best Guitarist" list I've ever seen. Not to even mention the number of guitar-related magazines he's been on the cover of. Now, someone like Danny Gatton or Rory Gallagher, there's a couple of guitarists you rarely ever hear about but Perry? I don't think so. I love all of those records but also favor Rocks. It's the sound of Aerosmith coming into their own.

There's no longer any mention of it (at least that I can find) but at one time this club in New Jersey was advertising an AC/DC appearance in March: http://www.jenksclub.com

I wouldn't say it's my favorite but I do enjoy it quite a bit, especially with the news that the upcoming album is going to be a return to more of a rockin' sound for R.E.M. I think a lot of fans they gathered with Out of Time and Automatic for the People must have been completely thrown off when they released Monster. I'm not sure about now but at one time it was the number one used album at pawnshops in the U.S. I always figured the return rate was so high because of causal fans that didn't know quite what to make of that record.

From what I understand they could be pretty shitty in concert back when they were all hopped up on drugs and alcohol. When they went straight the albums started to suck and their live shows improved dramatically. Go figure. Even though I've been a fan since the early days I never saw them live until the Get A Grip Tour in the 90s. While I don't care for the vast majority of their new material their live show did kick ass.

Hello walls, (Hello, hello.) How'd things go for you today? Don't you miss her. Since she up and walked away? And I'll bet you dread to spend another lonely night with me, But lonely walls, I'll keep you company. Hello window, (Hello, hello.) Well, I see that you're still here. Aren't you lonely, Since our darlin disappeared? Well look here, is that a teardrop in the corner of your pane? Now don't you try to tell me that's it's rain. She went away and left us all alone the way she planned. Guess we'll have to learn to get along without her if we can. Hello ceiling, (Hello, hello.) I'm gonna stare at you a while. You know I can't sleep, So won't you bear with me a while? We gotta all stick together or else I'll lose my mind. I gotta feelin' she'll be gone a long, long time. (Hello, hello wall.) Hello Walls Willie Nelson

TIFT MERRITT NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED! [uK & Europe dates in May will be announced shortly.] Sat March 1 Albany, NY Linda Norris Theater (Tift solo) Mon March 17 Philadelphia Johnny Brenda's Tue March 18 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Wed March 19 New York City Mercury Lounge Fri March 21 Alexandria, VA Birchmere Sat March 22 Durham, NC Carolina Theatre Fri March 28 New Orleans Parish/HOB (Tift solo) Sat March 29 Pittsburgh Club Cafe Sun March 30 Ashland, KY Mountain Stage / Paramount Theater Tue April 1 Toronto El Mocambo Wed April 2 Ann Arbor, MI Ark Fri April 4 Chicago Schubas Sat April 5 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon Sun April 6 Minneapolis Cedar Cultural Center Tues April 8 Denver Bluebird Theater Fri April 11 Vancouver Plaza Sat April 12 Portland Doug Fir Lounge Sun April 13 Seattle Tractor Tavern Tue April 15 San Francisco Great American Music Hall Thu April 17 Los Angeles Troubadour Fri April 18 San Diego Anthology Sat April 19 Tucson Plush Mon April 21 Austin Parish Tue April 22 Dallas Cambridge Room/HOB Thu April 24 Atlanta Five Spot Sat April 26 Wilkesboro, NC Merlefest With special guests: March 17 The Super Humble Country Band March 18 Haunt March 21, April 4-6 The everybodyfields March 22, April 11-19 Sara Watkins (of Nickel Creek) March 28 Paul Sanchez April 2 Hoots & Hellmouth April 21-24 Naim Amor Help spread the word: The super fans at www.tiftmerritt.net have started a volunteer street team to distribute Tift postcards and posters to record stores, clubs / venues, cafes etc. So far at 20 strong, they're looking for one volunteer in each of these cities: London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin, Kilkenny, Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Stockholm, Gothenberg, Malmo, New York, Washington DC, Louisville, Asheville, Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Tucson, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Toronto, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh. If interested email Phillip at preid@ec.rr.com

I would say those books really weren't all that informative then.

Then there are those that offer up an honest opinion. Personally, I've just never been a big Tom Petty fan, that doesn't mean I hate him. The same goes for lots of artists. If we all liked the exact same thing boards like this would be incredibly boring.

When I saw KWS several years ago on a bill with the Nuge and ZZ Top he was backed by Double Trouble. Not a bad show but it seems he spent a great deal of time showboating to tunes like Voodoo Chile. While he's definitely a good guitarist I didn't see where he was breaking any new ground. That's where the blues can be a little restrictive but there are folks out there pushing the boundaries such as the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Corey Harris, the North Mississippi All-Stars, the late Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside.

I have an advance of the first one drummer (Kenny Soule) gave me years ago at one of Nantucket's reunion gigs but I've never heard the second one. If you go to the sites listed below you can learn more about Kenny but only the first one addresses the demise of Dag: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DAG_(band) http://www.kennysoule.com/html/about.php http://www.2112online.com/nantucket/bio.html Kenny Soule's MySpace site

All I'm saying is that most rock shows I've attended there is always a party atmosphere. This can result in any number of reactions from the audience, the most common of these is the audience singing along to their favorite songs. As long as it isn't done in a disruptive manner, I personally don't have a problem with it at all. I could only imagine a band taking the stage to find the audience being quiet as a mouse. Some bands feed off of the energy of the crowd, if they acted like they were in church I could only imagine the band not feeling too encouraged by that.

I was referring to the Super Bore in general, not this year's particular game. As for sports, I do like some of them but they tend to be of the extreme variety such as skateboarding, snowboarding, etc. As for Petty being "damn good", I don't recall ever commenting on his performance, especially since I didn't see it. I do know that his voice has a tendency to grate on my last fuckin' nerve though. That said, I love me some Bob Dylan.

In the South sodas are referred to as Coke no matter if it's Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper or whatever.

I can't think of a single rock show I've been to where there hasn't been some sort of crowd participation, including audience members singing along to the artist on stage. As we've all stated several times it all depends on the setting, the artist, the type of music, etc. but it also depends on one's personality. Some prefer to be quiet at shows, other see it as an opportunity to cut loose a little. I always kinda figured the latter was a huge part of rock shows. It seems kind of beside the point to sit on your hands for the entire evening.

Unless you actually know Jon Bon Jovi, how would you know he's an asshole in "real life" (whatever that means)? As for his appeal, not sure I can explain that either as I never thought he'd be around long even back in the 80s.

Thanks for clarifying, I somehow got the impression that you were a big Janis fan and were well versed in her history. As for the Grateful Dead, you really need to fix that.

Leading up to Woodstock '94 there were lots of retrospectives and Where Are They Now?-type features on both the performers and attendees alike.

The Super Bore in and of itself is boring.

I consider myself a pretty big Grateful Dead fan and I can't think of one negative story about Pigpen off the top of my head. To my knowledge he was always well regarded not only by his bandmates but by Dead fans as well. Maybe you're thinking of the Peanuts character. I heard he was a real ass to Peppermint Patty on more than one occasion.

Singing I can deal with, screaming I can not. Like I've said, I also believe some degree of crowd participation is somewhat expected, especially at rock shows. If I didn't want that experience I may as well stay at home and just listen to albums by the artist in question.