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.

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.

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.

The Kevn Kinney Band w/ David & Katherine of Waylandsphere at the Pour House in Raleigh. Throughout the evening Kevn evoked the names of Ryan Adams, Todd Snider, R.E.M., Jesus, Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers Band, Bob Dylan, the Georgia Satellites and the Drive-By Truckers. His music is somewhere within that template as well, and then some. He was joined on a few songs by John Teer (on fiddle and guitar) from Chatham County Line. It was a mix of solo stuff, at least one cover (Ryan Adams' Come Pick Me Up, a hint of Black Mountain Side), Drivin' n' Cryin' and some brand new material. All and all a very outstanding show.

They had a hit called Our House that was nearly inescapable back in the 80s. They were part of a larger movement of twotone ska performers that also included The English Beat and The Specials. The last show I saw was The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players with Lady Blanche at the Pour House in Raleigh. They travel the country visiting estate sales, yard sales, garage sales, etc. rummaging for old slides which they then set to music as part of their show. Dad plays the guitar and keyboards, Mom runs the slide projector and their daughter Rachel plays the drums. Each also has their own sideprojects. Rachel currently stars in her own children's program which she describes as a "psychedelic Sesame Street". During the show she did a couple of numbers, one of which was a cover of a Pink Floyd song. The opener, Lady Blanche is a singer-songwriter who struck me as a cross between humorist-songwriter Todd Snider with the sexually frank lyrics of Liz Phair. If so inclined you can check out samples from both artists below (you can even download Lady Blanche's album for free from her site). Lady Blanche

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts w/ The T's, the Bleeding Hearts and I Was Totally Destroying It at Raleigh's Downtown Live concert series last night. Afterwards I caught a bit of a band called Perfect Colour across the street at the Pour House.

From Billboard.com: Details On The Next Lynyrd Skynyrd Album New record for the "Skynyrd Nation" features tributes, Rob Zombie... Lynyrd Skynyrd will release a new studio album, God & Guns, on September 29th. Frontman Johnny Van Zant calls it "a tribute to the past and to the future of this band, too." "The old saying is if it ain't broke, don't fix it, so we didn't step out too far," Van Zant says." "We're doing what we do and singing what we know about. I can tell you it's great and there's a lot of good stuff on there, but the fans will tell us if we did the job right. Some time in October we'll know whether we did the record that we should've done." Rob Zombie guests on the album track "Floyd", and his guitarist John5 also helped the band out. The first single is "Still Unbroken", due later this month. Other songs include "Skynyrd Nation" and "Gifted Hands", a tribute to late keyboardist Billy Powell.

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts playing for free as part of the Downtown Live concert series in Raleigh this evening. Lots of good local bands are also on the bill including one of my very faves, The T's.

Olympic Ass Kickin' Team at Sadlack's in Raleigh.

Looks like the remdublin.com site is active again. Clips from the upcoming Live from the Olympia CD/DVD have been uploaded: Songs from Reckoning, Songs from Dublin

'Freebird' ultimately unforgettable Lynyrd Skynyrd released the song 35 years ago. Since then, it has been an anthem, a demand, an ode to personal independence and the lamest heckle in the history of rock. Christopher Borrelli | Tribune reporter "Man, do not write this," said Bruce Finkelman, owner of the Empty Bottle on Western Avenue. "Let that song die. It's almost dead! There's a generation out there for whom this song means nothing! They're not yelling it like they used to!" Sorry. Thirty-five years ago, Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd -- playing next Sunday with Kid Rock at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park -- released the single "Freebird," and in the decades since it has been an anthem, a demand, an ode to personal independence, the lamest heckle in the history of rock. But what it has never been is forgettable -- not to the band who played it, not to the disparate acts who still get a rowdy "Freebird!" shouted at them, regardless of what they play or who they are. "The best thing about touring Europe is no one yells 'Freebird,' " said James McNew, bass player for the indie band Yo La Tengo. And yet, Finkelman is right -- depending whom you ask, people aren't shouting "Freebird!" like they used to. Tim Rutili, the Chicago musician who once fronted Red Red Meat and now leads Califone, said he only gets "Freebird!" shouted at him "maybe once every few years." Which is sad, because what would going to a concert be without that one person who shouts "Freebird"? To read the rest of the article click here.

Cheap Trick should be great. Too bad they aren't the headliners on that tour, which is where they belong. I'd have no interest whatsoever in seeing the other two bands.

Best to get all the heavy lifting out of the way in time for the weekend.

I picked up on it but thought of it as rhetorical so I didn't reply.

There was another thread about this exact same subject just a few weeks ago: Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

No Depression has announced the winners of the Reckoning contest: http://community.nodepression.com

The Church at the State Theatre in Falls Church , VA.

The Loners and Cracker at Downtown Live in Raleigh.

From the Friday Morning Quarterback site: R.E.M. has announced a new two-disc set, Live From The Olympia, due out in October. The release collects songs from the band's five-night "working rehearsals" during the making of Accelerate, where new songs were tried out and old chestnuts unearthed at the Olympia in Dublin in the summer of 2007. A four-song digital sampler of Live From The Olympia will be released on July 7. The sampler will feature four songs off Reckoning, to tie in with today's deluxe re-issue of R.E.M.'s sophomore album.

"So I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd but I sure saw Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads in '82 Right before that plane crash." Drive-By Truckers "Let There Be Rock" From the album Southern Rock Opera

I'm guessing you meant The Respectables. The Replacements ceased to exist circa 1990. Last night I saw Marah at the Pour House in Raleigh.