I've never really followed the Monkees all that closely or anything but it seems the most Nesmith's said in years was when Davy Jones died. I'm not sure who'll fill Davy's shoes but it says a lot that he's taking part in this tour.

I'm guessing no one saw this coming.

Wet Willie from an old episode of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert though this was obviously filmed elsewhere

If I remember correctly, Neil and Crazy Horse already have the follow up to Americana in the can. I'm just taking a stab in the dark here but I would imagine they may be tired of that record and have already moved onto the next thing and are just more excited about playing the newer material.

Deep Purple (Overseas) and EMI are pleased to announce The 40th Anniversary Edition of "MACHINE HEAD" is to be released on October 8th 2012. This five discs special edition will be accompanied with fully illustrated 60 page hardback booklet, housed in a luxury box. CONTENTS INCLUDE: •CD1: ‘MACHINE HEAD’ ORIGINAL ALBUM 2012 REMASTER •CD2: 1997 REMIX BY DP's BASSIST ROGER GLOVER •CD3: ORIGINAL ALBUM QUAD SQ STEREO (2012 REMASTER) •CD4: IN CONCERT ’72 - 2012 MIX (RECORDED LIVE AT PARIS THEATRE, LONDON 9TH MARCH 1972) •CD5: 2012 HIGH RESOULTION REMASTER & SURROUND MIX (DVD) Booklet features: •Detailed essays from original bassist Roger Glover and Mojo magazine editor Phil Alexander •Quotations from Deep Purple fans Mikael Akerfelt, Luke Morley, Sebastian Vettel, Eddie Jordan, Brian Tatler, Janick Gers and Peter Hook. • An interview with famed photographer Didi Zill, whose photos of the legendary recording sessions in Switzerland illustrate the booklet.

One of several new Neil and Crazy Horse songs (see below), this one's called "Twisted Road". This was recorded during the second night of their current tour at Red Rocks in Colorado. Here's the setlist from the tour opener the previous night in Albuquerque. In typical Neil fashion he and Crazy Horse only did one song from their newest album, Americana but he did debut several brand new songs (including "Twisted Road"). Neil Young & Crazy Horse The Pavilion Albuquerque N.M. 8/3/12 1. Love And Only Love 2. Powderfinger 3. Ontario* 4. Walk Like A Giant* 5. The Needle And The Damage Done 6. Twisted Road* 7. For The Love Of Man* 8. Every Morning Comes The Sun* 9. Cinnamon Girl 10. Fuckin' Up 11. Party Girl* 12. Mr. Soul 13. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) Encore: 14. Jesus' Chariot 15. Roll Another Number * - song debut

The packaging for the 25th Anniversary edition of R.E.M.'s Document which will be released on September 25th. A limited edition master recording of Document will also be released that day on vinyl. More info here.

When I first found out about them, it was during a meteor shower I experienced back in the 70's. A friend alerted me to them when one passed what seemed like what was just over our heads, leaving a green vapor trail. I've never seen anything like that since but I try my best not to miss them every August.

I'm not sure if meteor showers count but the Perseids are coming up on August 11th.

Back when Drive-By Truckers were asked to open for Lynyrd Skynyrd, Gary Rossington was quoted as saying he found the Truckers album Southern Rock Opera to be "weird". Makes me wonder what he would have to say about Unknown Hinson...

Even though he was in the public spotlight for the majority of my adult life I never really knew a whole lot about Gore Vidal so I found this entry in PBS' American Masters series to be very informative. In lieu of his recent passing, PBS is making The Education of Gore Vidal available for online viewing up until this Thursday, August 9th. Click on the image above to watch.

New video from Mic Harrison and the High Score's album Still Wanna Fight that came out earlier this year. Some of you may remember Mic from the V-Roys and SuperDrag.

Never have seen this before, the video for "Teenage Lament '74" from Muscle of Love.

Not a huge fan myself but I did see him perform during The American Beauty Project at Page Auditorium at Duke University a couple of years ago along with Ollabelle (which includes Levon Helm's daughter Amy), Catherine Russell and Aiofe O'Donovan (from Crooked Still) and thought he and the others did a very commendable job. It was a salute to the more roots oriented dimension of the Dead so the focus was largely on the American Beauty (hence the name) and Workingman's Dead albums.

As you may have noticed in the link I posted a few posts back, Dave is all for it. I guess it's just matter of the Superbowl people deciding who they want. Personally, I don't really pay any attention to the Superbowl or any of the performers they have at half-time but I'm sure I'm in the minority.

Like I said, I've got to hear it before passing judgement. In recent years he's also mentioned Alicia Keys, James Joyce and Billy Joe Shaver in some of his songs and I didn't really have any problem with that. And yes, Robert Hunter is most definitely still kickin'. In addition to Dylan, he's also collaborated with Jim Launderdale, Los Lobos and Mickey Hart in the past few years. The first time I ever heard anything of his outside of the Dead was the Tales of the Great Rum Runner's LP. I also have Tiger Rose in my collection but I've never given it much more than a cursory first listen after finding it in the budget bin several years ago. Probably because I've never been real big into spoken word records unless of course it's along the lines of Richard Pryor or George Carlin.

I haven't seen them on this tour but I did see them on the previous one back in 2008 and thought they did a pretty remarkable job, especially in light of all of the criticism that's been leveled at them regarding Wolfgang, Dave's voice, onstage glitches, etc. That said, the clips I've seen of Edward playing "Eruption" from the current tour are a marked improvement over what I saw in 2008. That's not to say that he sounded shitty on that tour or anything but he seems much more animated and with it this time out. More like the Edward of old before drugs and alcohol nearly did him in. I must also say they sound pretty good on their latest album, which would make a pretty good followup to Women and Children First stylistically speaking. It's just got more of that sort of raw power I more closely associate with Van Halen and has none of the spit n' polish sound of their latter Dave-era stuff.

According to a recent article I read, the Titanic song also includes a nod to Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm not so sure how I feel about that but I'll give it a listen before passing judgement. For whatever it's worth, I wasn't a huge fan of Together Through Life either, especially considering the musicians taking part and that Robert Hunter collaborated with him on some (if not all) of the songs. As for the positive reviews of Tempest, I read one the other day myself (see post #165, though they purposely didn't get into a whole lot of detail.

This is a photo that was taken in Kitty Hawk, NC earlier this week that was posted by WCTI TV 12 in New Bern on their Facebook page. The photo has also since been sent off to a marine science lab so they can help to identify what type of shark it is.

This performance from Adam Granduciel of the War On Drugs playing in downtown Raleigh is the latest entry in the Independently Weekly's ongoing Simple Music Series. To learn more about this clip, as well as the Simple Music Series itself, click here.

Now, there's a couple of flashbacks.