I'm a pretty big fan that came onboard around the time their first live album, All The World's A Stage was released. To this day it not only rank's as one of Rush's best live albums but one of the best live albums, period. I've remained a fan throughout the years with a few periods of disinterest, the first when they started to delve more into synths in the 80s. I also lost interest a few other times over the years but always came back to them. Recent highlights have included the very excellent Different Stages disc as well as the R30 CD/DVD that show Rush to still be one of the very best live bands out there. Unfortunately, what I've heard of their last couple of studio albums (which admittedly isn't much) hasn't compelled me to seek them out.

I was never a huge fan of punk rock or New Wave (at least the variety that got the most attention on MTV in the early 80s) but I am a big fan of postpunk/postmodern or whatever you want to call it, the music that followed punk in the late 70s and early 80s. R.E.M. U2 The Cure 10,000 Maniacs The Replacements Let's Active The db's The Connells The Blasters Guadalcanal Diary The Alarm World Party The Church Innocence Mission Indigo Girls Drivin' n' Cryin' Pylon Lone Justice Beat Farmers Cruzados Long Ryders Jason & the Scorchers

Black Sabbath is not only one of the very first bands I ever heard back in the early to mid-70s but they are also among the first artists I ever owned an album by. In this case, it was Paranoid. To this day they are still one of my favorite bands and I still listen to their music just as frequently as I always have. They are definitely one of the cornerstones of rock n' roll and will continue to influence other artists for eons to come.

Bleach went largely unnoticed by the general public and In Utereo was pretty much geared not to get airplay but still, it yielded a hit single in All Apologies. Unplugged was much more successful and got lots of airplay but it was mostly live versions of previously released material so no signature songs there. In all fairness I think Nirvana never really had a chance to create a list of hits due to the obvious. To this day there's still a demand for their music as can be evidenced by the release of posthumous material. In the case of R.E.M., each one of their albums produced a hit (or three) up until New Adventures In Hi-Fi when the band themselves decided to release E-Bow the Letter as a single. Great song but not good for mainstream radio airplay. Intentional or not, they shot themselves in the foot with that one. Since then Bill Berry left and the climate of American radio has changed drastically, no longer making a place for artists like R.E.M. In that regard their last three albums have recieved little to no airplay in the U.S. but they have managed to remain successful overseas.

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) — It was an unlucky day for two squirrels and hundreds of Midwestern power customers. Brian Elwood, a spokesman for Xcel Energy, said a squirrel came in contact with an overhead transformer and knocked out service to 177 customers Monday. Power was fully restored in just under an hour, and repair crews found the remains of the "unfortunate squirrel," he said. By coincidence, another squirrel got into a substation 40 miles away in Ironwood, Mich., Monday morning and caused a temporary outage that affected about 1,400 customers in Ironwood and two nearby communities, Elwood said. The utility takes many preventive steps to keep the curious animals away from lines, he said, but they are one of the leading causes of outages, trailing only severe weather. "We kind of liken it to anyone who's had a bird feeder and tried to keep the squirrels out," he said. "They find a way." Rodney Johnson was stuck on an elevator at the city's Enterprise Center, where he works, when the power went out. "For a couple of minutes there, I wasn't sure if I'd make it to Thanksgiving," said Johnson, who said he is somewhat claustrophobic. "They kept talking to me while they were trying to open it up, though, so that helped." Once a firefighter opened the door, Johnson wasted no time in getting out. "I'm surprised I didn't knock him down," he said.

The other board was never considered the "official" Led Zeppelin messageboard. Up until now one has never existed. Congrats to Sam for landing that honor.

R.E.M. would be one with their signature song being Losing My Religion. Everybody Hurts, Man On the Moon, The One I Love and a handful of others also seem to be fairly widely known. With each successive album R.E.M. sold more records than the one before, this goes all the way back to their early years on I.R.S. Records. It was their grassroots success via touring the country in a van coupled with favorable press and extensive college radio airplay that led to their initial breakthrough success with Radio Free Europe. This work ethic is what paved the way for the band to eventually be signed to Warner Brothers Records for Green and the string of hits that followed, including the overwhelmingly popular Losing My Religion from their second WB effort, Out of Time. That song was a hit worldwide but it wouldn't have been possible without all the hard work R.E.M. put in early on by touring the country as often as they did throughout the 80s. The vast majority of their I.R.S. catalog but that has been helped along in recent years, especially with last year's And I Feel Fine collection which focuses exclusively on their tenure with I.R.S. Records.

I have to second the commotion for the Live at the Gorge box set, there's a bit of crossover from disc to disc but overall the performances throughout showcase just what a powerhouse live band Pearl Jam are at this stage of their career. Another fine example is the just released Immagine in Cornice DVD which doesn't show them letting up one iota. Overall, I love their entire catalog with my favorite being Vs. I also enjoy No Code, which never seems to get enough love. Binaural is probably my least favorite. I don't hate it by any stretch of the imagination but for whatever reason, I've just never been able to fully connect with that record. I also enjoy Riot Act as well as their self titled new one. The first few tracks capture Pearl Jam in a frenzy which is very remincent of their earlier sound. While top heavy with some of the albums more heavy tracks, the rest of the record is balanced out with other touchtones of the Pearl Jam sound that make it one of their very best studio efforts in years. I also highly recommend the very excellent Benaroya Hall double live acoustic record as well as the odds n' ends collection Lost Dogs if they're not already part of your collection.

I have no idea what the best album of 2007 is so far but my favorite at this point is Raising Sand followed by these albums, EPs and DVDs, in no particular order: Ryan Adams Easy Tiger Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles Diamonds In the Dark Jimmy Buffett Live In Anguilla Mitch Easter Dynamico Mary Gauthier Between Daylight & Dark The Gourds Noble Creatures Jason Isbell Sirens of the Ditch Bill Kirchen Hammer of the Honky Tonk Gods Lyle Lovett It's Not Big, It's Large John Prine & Mac Wiseman Standard Songs for Ordinary People R.E.M. Live Son Volt The Search Southern Culture on the Skids Countrypolitian Favorites Two Dollar Pistols Here Tomorrow, Gone Today Wilco Sky Blue Sky Archvial Release/Reissues Chris Knight The Trailer Tapes Neil Young Live At Massey Hall 1971 Todd Snider Peace, Love & Anarchy: (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol.1) Compilations Various Artists Oxford American Southern Music Sampler #9 Various Artists Finest Worksongs: Athens Bands Play the Songs of R.E.M. Box Sets Pearl Jam Live at the Gorge EPs Ryan Adams & the Cardinals Follow the Lights Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 Sex, Food, Death...and Tarantulas Patty Hurst Shifter Fugitive Glue DVDs Jimmy Buffett Live In Anquilla Johnny Cash The Best of The Johnny Cash Show Guy Clark Live From Austin, TX Pearl Jam Immagine In Cornice: Picture in a Frame John Prine Soundstage 1980 Todd Snider The Devil You Know R.E.M. Live

From Backstreets: Rumors about Danny's health -- not unfounded, sadly -- have grown louder in recent days, particularly since the moving Magic performance in Boston on Monday night We now have an official statement, and since a lot of fans are understandably concerned, I wanted to make sure you saw this right away: Danny Federici, an original member of the E Street Band, is taking a leave of absence from the current Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band tour to pursue treatment for melanoma. Charles Giordano, who played with Bruce as a member of the Sessions Band, will temporarily fill in for Danny until he is able to return. Federici has been playing keyboards with Springsteen since the late Sixties. Said Springsteen, "Danny is one of the pillars of our sound and has played beside me as a great friend for more than 40 years. We all eagerly await his healthy and speedy return." Federici has been actively supporting the Melanoma Research Foundation and its Wings of Hope Gala, honoring Dr. Paul Chapman. "Impressed" seems like such a small word when I think back to the last two months of Danny rocking out night after night, cancer be damned. With Thanksgiving upon us, those nights with this band are high on my list of things I'm grateful for. So is modern medicine. Our thoughts are with Danny, with prayers and high hopes for successful treatment. Our thoughts are with Charlie, too, as he prepares to step into some big shoes as the Magic tour rolls on. From what we saw on the Sessions tour, if anyone can do it, he can. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, with good food, good friends and family. Chris Phillips Editor & Publisher, Backstreets

Night one of the filming of the live Tres Chicas DVD in Raleigh.

The Police w/ Fiction Plane Thursday, November 15th Bobcats Arena Charlotte, NC You can view a slideshow of the performance here

Disc Two

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