Thursday link roundup

• Bill Buckley and Hugh Hefner
• Town buys strip club to shut it down -

  The town of Lavonia shelled out nearly $1 million Tuesday to buy and shut down the strip club along I-85. Then, the city quickly burned the interstate signs advertising the club, which was popular with truckers.

  For those curious, that's $1,287 per household. Such a wise use of taxpayer dollars.
• Toby Keith opposed the Iraq War
• Quote of the moment (by Ben Franklin) "A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."
• Check out this Despair.com post, and the government reply - quite funny, and scary too.
  

I play with video

From my new tiny video camera. The sound quality is impressive, the degree to which YouTube Crunches it is not welcome.

Tom Waits

Last night I saw Tom Waits playing the Fox Theater. The show was wonderful; he did about half the songs I was hoping he would do. The only fly in the ointment was the massive array of hoops that TicketMaster made everyone jump though; only two tickets per household, original credit card required to enter, ticket checks every 20 feet, etc. It was a bit like the old Soviet Union. Security was much tighter at the show than at my visit to the capital last year actually.

And an addendum - I was talking to a long time Waits fan after the show and she said that the security concerns probably were Waits' idea; apparently he's willing to go a long way in his vendetta against scalpers.

With summer comes five more strings

Lately I've been fighting a craving for a banjo, I see the wonderful rendition of a Dock Boggs song (below) and I'm almost out the door to buy one....

Or should I get a mandolin?

The Freedom House sessions

Yesterday marked the first of what will hopefully be many Freedom House sessions, this time with Rocksploitation. Recordings will be available soon.

Rocksploitation joins the internet

Check out the new Rocksploitation site - designed and built by me.

I play a different venue

In this case, Blind Willies in the Highlands on Sunday night. Judging the reaction of the small but appreciative crowd, it sounded good.

Band Name needed

It seems that the impromptu pairing of myself and a bass player has resulted in a gig of sorts, which means we need a name.

Any thoughts anyone?

Funniest description of my musical ability

From the quite talented (both technically and in performance) Keith Lokey last night

"Your voice isn't very good, but it is appropriate".

What I'm reading while uploading...

• Hardcore Troubadours - a bio of the Old Crow Medicine Show
• Catalogs of Data Visualization on Coding Horror
• Minorities become the majority in 10 percent of U.S. counties - which has the interesting quote

  In northern Virginia, Teresita Jacinto said she feels less welcome today than when she first arrived 30 years ago, when she was one of few Hispanics in the area.

  "Not only are we feeling less welcome, we are feeling threatened," said Jacinto, a teacher in Woodbridge, Virginia, about 20 miles southwest of Washington.
  ...
  "I think across the board all of us feel like we're not welcome," said Jacinto, who was born in the U.S. and volunteers for an advocacy group called Mexicans Without Borders.

  Perhaps it's because she's feeling unwelcome because she's advocating an unpopular cause?

• The Old Crow Medicine Show on AT & T Blueroom
• Green Fakers on Radar. The celebrity excuses are funny.
  

Addendum to the Grateful Dead post

I came across this interview with Ann Coulter on JamBands.com, evidently she's quite the fan. Favorite Quote:

Moreover, I really like Deadheads and the whole Dead concert scene: the tailgating, the tie-dye uniforms, the camaraderie – it was like NASCAR for potheads

Most interesting fact

My collection of Dead tapes, by the way, was the reason I heard one of the Linda Tripp tapes before Ken Starr did. Tripp's lawyer obviously needed to hear the tape before turning it over to the prosecutor, but he only had an old 1950's tape player and couldn't get it to work and Ken Starr wanted the tape the next morning. He was terrified he'd hit the wrong button and erase the evidence. In the wee hours of the morning, it occurred him, a Deadhead himself, that he knew one person in D.C. who definitely had a tape machine. So, at around 2 AM, he called me and asked to come over to use my tape deck.

Friday in appreciation, volume III

I was in Chicago last week so I didn't get a chance to do the in appreciation post, but here is this week's.

This week's in appreciation is the Grateful Dead. While I'm not a huge fan of the music (I love Old and in the Way, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band is quite good) they stand out as true American icons, especially for artists. Not only did they commit to a style of music and a style of life, they created it first. And seemingly with the attitude that it's better to have a small achievement than a great excuse (to paraphrase Hoffer). They spend 30 years doing what they wanted to do without asking favors or permission. Contrast that to the Live 8 and the Live Earth crowd and they become a marvel.

So, Grateful Dead, you get this week's In Appreciation.

A good time was had by all

My first ever gig at Limerick Junction was a success. Everyone seemed to have a good time. The songs "I Miss Ronald Reagan" (written by Tommy Womack) and my song "Heroin and Cheetos" seemed to go over particularly well. My would-be guitar showcase of Bonaparte's retreat fell a bit flat. The room sounds noticeably different when full than when half full and that threw me off a bit as the set progressed.

On the whole a good night. The A-Sides rocked as usual. The photo was taken by my brother, who also recorded the show.

Come see me play tonight

If you're in Atlanta come out and see me play in my first ever scheduled gig this Sunday at Limerick Junction Pub. I'll be going on at 8:00. Atlanta legends the A-Sides are the headliner.

Last night's open mic

It was a decent performance, the crowd was withdrawn, but not rude.

A good crowd

As usual, I did the open mic last night. Unusually, there was a good and enthusiastic crowd, probably the best I've ever had. I happened to be in fine voice last night too, which helped. A good time was had by all.

Performance anxiety

So, at long last, I have my first gig as a solo performer in one month, opening for the A-Sides. And I need a full hour of material.

It's good to have goals. And deadlines and stress I suppose.

Local music legends mentioned in the mainstream media

Atlanta based garage rock duo The A-Sides are briefly mentioned in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Sunday photography

I wound up taking some shots for a friend of mine's site and wound up with a lot of good shots. My brother took the one of me (the first one) and I took the one of Steve Coffey (of the band the Rockin' Pontoons) (the second one). Galleries on the way soon.

Taken at my brother's house

Taken off of North Highland

It's hard to sell domestic violence

While on my way to the Open Mic last night I passed a street performer/near vagrant. As I walked by I got the a pitch for money, with the memorable opening line of "Can you help me out man, I just did six months for domestic violence". I gave him a dose of the evil eye (look at a spot an inch above his eyes, try it, it works) and he backed off rather quickly.

Why would he think that would be a good way to get money out of anyone? Then again, thinking probably isn't a strong suit.

My funniest line from last night

Was when I said "I've seen the greatest minds of my generation destroyed by Dave Mathews", which got a good laugh from my fellow acoustic purists who were going over new material at the open mic last night.

Which I won by the way. I could just barely hear myself in the monitors, but evidently is sounded good in the crowd. I got my guitar showpiece, Bonaparte's Retreat (in Drop D tuning) mostly right, which is a rare thing.

The theme for the best of all country songs

I was looking up the history of my favorite fiddle tune, Bonaparte's Retreat (I play it in drop D), and came across this little Southern gem. To wit, three men

were taken prisoner by the Guard-no one knows why, but the area had been ravaged by scalawags and bushwackers, and the populace had suffered numerous raids of family farms by Union troops hunting provisions. The village of Waynesville had been burned two months earlier, and the citizenry was beleaguered and anxious. Cantrell writes: "The group traveled toward Cataloochee Valley and Henry Grooms, clutching his fiddle and bow, was asked by his captors to play a tune. Realizing he was performing for his own firing squad Grooms struck up Bonaparte's Retreat." When he finished the three men were lined up against an oak tree and shot, the bodies left where they feel. Henry's wife gathered the bodies and buried them in a single grove in Sutton Cemetery No. 1 in the Mount Sterling community, the plain headstone reading only "Murdered."

Now I just need to write the song.

Bold new insight

Barack Obama is a lot like Lenny Kravitz. Both have a well defined personal story which makes for an easy story for critics and pundits. They both sound just like vague rehashes of the Kennedy era so they seem familiar to those in the pundit demographic. Both were barely born then, so the talking heads can proclaim them to be "new". Both are of mixed race ancestry so people can feel good about themselves for saying they like them. Both have problems with "authenticity".

Where's my CNN.com column?

Tommy Womack at Decatur CD

Yesterday I went to see the immensely talented Tommy Womack at both Decatur CD and later Eddie's Attic. One of the best shows I've seen in years. The photos are from the in-store appearance at Decatur CD.

"I get real depressed and tell everybody"

That's my favorite line on Tommy Womack's latest album "There I Said It". I like this album a lot. Womack has been on my top three list of favorite living songwriters for several years now, and this is probably his best work to date. It's a bit more electric than much of his prior work, which usually i don't like but it works quite well on this album.

For those of you not familiar with Tommy, he was in the bands Government Cheese and the Bisquits and also worked with Jason Ringenberg on several albums. He's had five (I think) solo releases; all very good. I'd ordered several of his other albums through his website and he was nice enough to send me an advance copy of There I Said It several months before it came out. I think it's his best yet. He's one of the very few non-bluegrass artists I listen to at this point in my musical life.

I think this is the only album review I've done on the blog to date.

Happy, Happy

I won the open Mic at Limerick Junction last night, it was a decent performance on my part. I did the standard material.

Three items of interest

• The UltraMarathon Man
• David Lee Roth Doing Bluegrass - sort of disturbing
• Not disturbing is Norman Blake in a rare YouTube appearance
  

Loving the new camera

The new D-80 quite nice. From the A-Sides show at A Capella books last night. That's my guitar.

For those scoring at home

I won the open mic last night. I flubbed the Carter family song but the flatpicking on Ruby Ridge went over very well.

Quote of the moment

I think my life will run out before my work does.
Townes van Zandt

Quick Wednsday rapid fire

• Free Fusion Razors
• Folk Alley seems cool
• Photoshop Tutorials
• Microsoft launches an html editor called Expressions. I'm quite curious.
• Republican uses animals, mariachi band to critique border security
• Google goes solar
  
• Crunching the Numbers on Hydrogen
  

Open Mic Night once again

I did the open mic night at Limerick for the first time in quite a while last night. The songs I played were Blackjack County Chain, Red Clay Halo, Will You Miss Me, and
Waitin' Around to Die. I played breaks on Blackjack County Chain and Will You Miss Me. It's hard to tell how it all sounded with the PA the way it is. I'm bringing my pre-amp next time.

The A-Sides are in the photo above.

Midweek rapid fire

• Real life Pac Man - hysterical
• One must not question the existence of Global Warming - This is in line with a trend I've been noticing in the media and it's associated hacks, which is the annoying "No serious [insert either scientist, economist, expert, industry insider, analyst] disputes the existence of [insert theory that one is pushing]" mantra.
  
• Proportionate responses - one of the more daft comments on the Israel -Hezbollah conflict was that Israel's response was disproportionate. Intentionally proportionate responses went out with the Greeks, and it's only by accident now when the response is proportionate. The whole notion of strategy is matching strength to weakness. That is most of Sun Tsu's Art of war.
• AcousticFriends.com - MySpace for the bluegrass/acoustic crowd. I'm listed on there as "Pale Rider".
• Townes van Zandt Lyrics - and some tab
• A guide to black and white photography
  

A circle of hell appears at Turner field

I came across this somehow

A Guinness World Record-Setting Event for Banjo Players!
...
We plan to bring together the most number of banjo players assembled at one location to play the same song at the same time.
...
All banjo players are welcome to attend. Only those who can demonstrate the ability to play the song Foggy Mountain Breakdown for 5 minutes will be counted toward the Guinness World Record. The tempo will be 120 beats per minute, and we'll play in the key of G.
...
We'll stand together on the field in small teams, according to the type of instrument played and the style of play.

That's a whole lot of banjo. I have all the usual bluegrass prejudices against the banjo I suppose.

Mike and I go along with the Black Rider

Last night was the first Tom Wait show in Atlanta since 1978, and it was quite interesting. The AJC has a nice review of it, along with photos.

I was quiet impressed by the band, two discreet percussionists and a discreet bass player make for a very smooth sounds where the instance of the sound doesn't vary much from the concept of the sound. It was surprisingly true to the albums. Tom Waits in person sounds exactly as raspy and rough as all of his records.

He did most of the songs with a band, doing only one acoustic (with the band) and about three on the piano. It had much more in common with a play than the average rock show (which it wasn't). The lighting and shadowing was well done and gave me many ideas for photography.

On the whole a good time. The only downsides were the oppressive heat inside the Tabernacle and the long (anti-scalper supposedly) lines. We spent a little over an hour outside in line, and about that inside waiting for him to start, which meant that we spent more time waiting for the show to begin than the show itself.

Quote of the moment

A happy childhood is the worst possible training for life
Kinky Friedman

Give your tickets to the dog faced boy

Mike and I are going to the Tom Waits show this evening. I'll have a scouting report soon.

Johnny Cash

MySpace is streaming the soon be released final Johnny Cash album this weekend, it's here http://www.myspace.com/johnnycash. It's the final Rick Rubin/American record.

It's being released on July 4th.

Cracker Soul

Saw Cracker at the Variety Playhouse last night in a very wonderful show. They only did two songs off Countrysides, but that's my only complaint.

Sunday rapid fire

• Create Visio diagrams programatically
• An interesting interview with Frank Miller
• Creepy pictures from North Korea
• A new studio album from Ramblin' Jack Elliot!
• I rode past this last week.
  

New gallery - HoundogRadio.com party

Not my best work, but some of them turned out well. I only got shots of the A-Sides and the Luxury Kings.

Check it out.

Last night's open mic

It went very well. I didn't win, but everything was well received, and the playing and singing were good. For some reason the bass drops out in the monitors, but other than that, it was good fun. I did Magnolia Wind, Left Alone, Waitin' Round to Die, Red Clay Halo and Walkin' Cane.

Quote of the moment

"Money doesn't talk, it swears".
Bob Dylan

Victory was mine (somehow)

I did the open mic last night at Limerick. I played a rather weak set of Walkin' Cane, my Tom Waits' song, the new one (Left Alone) and Raining this Morning. Somehow I won.

I'm going to be practicing the songs instead of the flatpicking all week now.

The power and glory of YouTube

In case anyone has wondered what I'm trying to do on the guitar, this video of Doc and Merle Watson says it all.

Also, check out these videos of the Velvet Underground (with Nico) doing acoustic versions of Heroin and Femme Fatale in 1972.

Last night's open mic

Not so good. I couldn't hear my guitar in the monitors, and my playing was a bit off because of it. It was a noisy, but nice crowd. The previous act was having problems too. Evidently the problems were only noticeable to me. I did the usual material.

Friday rapid fire

• Reno 911 is popular in Iraq of all places. It seems they think it's real.
• A nice collection of flatpicking tablature, all in Tabledit format.
• Hounddog Radio seems cool.
• View System Uptime.
• A nice article on using curves and levels in Photoshop.
  

Recording attempts

Last night I attempted to record four flatpick tunes, and eventually to create a Steve French, Musician site on MySpace. I was unable to get the recording levels right on three of them (I blame the Samson digital pre-amp) and I can't seem to get the musician page set up right on MySpace.

In any case, one of them did turn out okay; the volume level is very low (just like me!) but it's not terrible.

I played Cooley's Reel, which is an old Irish fiddle tune in E-Minor. I do it a bit faster than it's normally done, but I think it turned out okay. I originally heard this song done by Steve Kaufman, but the actual music I got from BluegrassGuitar.com. I do both lead and rhythm on the song.

You can download it here (right click and choose "Save As" (Command-Click on the Mac)).

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Eric remixed it for me, which helped the volume levels a lot. The file is updated.

Another open mic night done

Due to the small number of entrants, I wound up doing six songs. They were "Walkin' Cane", It's Raining Here This Morning", "Red Clay Halo", "Ruby Ridge", "Blackjack County Chain" and "Tin Foil and Stone". Tin Foil and Stone was the new song for the week. I think I'm going to work in a Guy Clark song for next week.

Last night's open mic

It went well. I did Red Clay Halo, Walkin' Cane, Ruby Ridge, Blackjack County Chain, and a new (to me) Tom Waits song.

Quick zinger roundup

• "George W. -- We will be forever in his debt." (Bumper sticker quoted on Andrew Sullivan's site)
• "If he was shot in the head by the front, that is good marksmanship, if he was shot in the head by the back, that is good judgement." (from the WikiPedia entry on the outlaw and gunfighter John Wesley Hardin)
• "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months and then taken outside and run over with a car"
  
  and
  
  "like how you'd sound if you drank a quart of bourbon, smoked a pack of cigarettes and swallowed a pack of razor blades... Late at night. After not sleeping for three days"
  
  (people describing the singing voice of Tom Waits)
  

The open mic night went well

I was quite pleased with my performance and the response. It's reassuring to hear yourself through the monitors. I did "Raining Here This Morning", "Red Clay Halo", "Walkin' Cane", and "Blackjack County Chain". I could have slowed them all down a tad, but on the whole, I'm pretty happy. A good first real open mic night.

Yet another gallery

My black and white phase continues with my visit to the Oakhurst Earth Day celebration. It was dark and I forgot the new monopod, so the photos turned out a bit grainy. I decided to accentuate the grainyness in most of the photos via photoshop.

Check out the new gallery.

The article I referred to at lunch

Where did I have lunch? What was the reference?

These things are a mystery. However, here is the article

Man accused of diverting others' mail to himself

A man was charged with using scores of change-of-address forms to divert mail from all over the nation to his address in Beaver County.

Federal prosecutors this week charged Fred Hill of Aliquippa with wire fraud, accusing him of diverting mail from people both living and dead.

Postal inspectors said in court records that when they entered an Aliquippa home where Mr. Hill had stayed, they found "a significant volume" of abandoned mail along with lists of Social Security numbers and names of people in California, Georgia and Arkansas.
...
Since January, Fred Hill had used the Postal Service's Web site to file 170 change-of-address forms since January, authorities alleged in court records. The same credit card had been used to pay the $1 charge for filing change-of-address forms online, they said.

170!

On another note, Ralph of Luttrell Guitars did a wonderful job installing the new FishMan pickup.

That's been my day so far.

An interesting evening at Mulligans open mic night

Last night I attended the Mulligans Acoustic Thursdays event. While not really geared for me (I like the strict structure and announced keys of bluegrass) it wasn't bad. I basically played with Matt Greenia and various members of the Sour Mash band for a few hours. While I am not a fan of the jam band sound, they do actually get up and play out, which is nice. I did figure out Me and Bobby McGee for this girl from the crowd to sing.

Another fine show by the Boo Hoo Ramblers

Last night I saw the Boo Hoo Ramblers, who now feature Jim Landt on dobro. It was their standard set played to a very deserted Blind Willies. Evidently they played Turner Field last week.

New and cool (Bruce version)

Amazon has a new Springsteen video on their site. It's from his new Pete Seeger tribute album, which I still think is an odd thing for him to do. He does not seem to be using Seeger's style, which would not be a good fit for him.

Also

'We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions' will be released in DualDisc format, with the full album on one side of the disc and DVD content on the other side. The 30 minute video side of the DualDisc contains extensive behind the scenes footage of the recording of the album. In addition, the DualDisc package will contain two bonus tracks and a special booklet including a note from Springsteen.

which is a nice touch. A very good way to get people to actually buy the disc instead of downloading it from somewhere.

And Pete Seeger's only worthwhile quote is "Any darn fool can make something complex; it takes a genius to make something simple."

Prince and Tamar deliver one of the best shows I've ever seen

Absolutely flawless. I thought it would be a well done performance in a style I didn't care about, but was absolutely blown away. Prince's shows are as good as everyone says they are.

I plan your life so you don't have to

Your schedule for the rest of the week:

For you Bon Jovi fans out there, they will be performing on the Tonight Show this evening.

For Nick and me, Neko Case will be performing on the Tonight Show on Thursday.

An odd choice

Springsteen to cover the songs that Pete Seeger kept alive, but didn't write? Strange.

A new blog in our midst

My favorite CD store, Decatur CD has joined the blogosphere. They've always had the best email newsletter of any I've signed up for and now they reveal that they have the new Neko Case album in, though not for sale. It comes out March 7th evidently. Oh well.

Tuesday rapid fire

• The story and original lyrics to Bonaparte's Retreat.
• A very good bio-article on Micky Spillaine.
• A new conspiracy site!
• You've got your pain ray in my sonic blaster!