Large Land Mammal

A remembrance in three parts...

2011-09-11T08:16:00.001-05:00

Everyone has their story about September 11, 2001. This is mine, in three parts, spread across a decade.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

Here's something I started writing September 12, 2002...

The line doesn't come as often as it once did, but occasionally I do say "Words are my life."

If only I could describe how many times words have actually failed me.

Sept. 10, 2001 (c) Ed Rode
Like when I was driving an SUV down the Jersey Turnpike and I hear the words over the two-way, "Guys, you better turn on your radio. Something just happened in New York City."

You know how you start to use a phrase to describe someone, and it starts sticking, no matter what circumstance you're using it in, and even if the person you're talking to knows exactly who you're talking about? I'm pretty sure I've described Ed Rode to his wife as "my buddy Ed."

My buddy Ed called me sometime in the summer of 2001 to tell me about this freelance gig he was going to be part of, and wanted to know if I wanted to come along. I don't remember the date, but I remember taking the call. I was on my cell phone in the middle of Hickory Hollow Mall, fresh from a haircut and sort of wandering aimlessly, as I had no particular place to be that afternoon. Such is the life of a freelance writer.

He told me the story of the Williams Gas Pipeline Company and how they do this United Way fundraiser every year. This year, they were planning on being especially ambitious, putting together four teams to concurrently trace the company's pipelines across the country, riding the line as they called it, on bicycles. The shindig raised some $20 million-plus for the United Way, and Ed had been contracted to shoot still photography and create a website for the event. He was scheduled to shadow the ride's biggest group, some 80-plus riders, on their trip from New York to Houston.

And he needed a driver, which is where I came in. Oh, sure, we finagled some extra cash for me to write a few things for the site, but mainly I was a chauffeur.

As the gig got closer, Ed discovered that no one would rent him an SUV (we needed the room, and he needed to be able to shoot out the back) for a one-way trip from NYC to Houston. I jumped in with the suggestion that we rent the truck here in Nashville, I'd drive it up to New York, he'd fly in and meet me there, we'd do the trip, he'd fly back from Houston, I'd run up to Oklahoma to visit my folks for a few days and then drive it back to Nashville.

It was all falling into place. The vans that were ferrying the riders and their equipment around were in Harrisburg, Penn. the Saturday before we were scheduled to start on Monday. The plan worked like a charm: I'd drive to Harrisburg on Saturday, a piddling little 12-hour drive, and meet up with our Williams contact. We'd all caravan to the hotel we were staying at outside NYC, where everyone else (riders, Williams muckety-mucks and Ed) would come in on Sunday.

I remember very clearly standing in the parking lot of my apartment building, truck loaded, details taken care of (I checked the lock on my apartment door at least three times), and SUV door open, ready for me to hit the road. All that early September morning, some inexplicable feeling of dread had settled over me, and as I stood next to that door, one foot on the running board, I stopped and said a prayer asking God to watch over me, Ed and these people I was about to meet, that everybody would be safe, and the trip would be a success.

I got in the car, somewhat comforted, but still had this feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The ride up went without a hitch. I drove through a part of the country I'd never driven before, I listened to a lot of music, I made a few phone calls, and generally just enjoyed the ride, what with a new (albeit rented) SUV at my command and time on my side. I made it to Harrisburg in the early evening, and after hooking up with the Williams folks, running to a nearby grocery store for some last minute supplies (I had forgotten batteries, which to me is a good sign that I haven't forgotten something at home), and scarfing down a club sandwich (hotel food that never seems to satisfy) I went to bed.

The following day went like clockwork as well. The drive from Harrisburg to NYC was uneventful, and I got a good idea in my head of the kinds folks I’d be dealing with over the next week by listening to the walkie-talkie traffic of the seven vans of people in front of me. I was traveling in a non-trailer laden red SUV, so I volunteered to take up the rear of the caravan, and my vehicle became known as The Caboose within minutes, a name that would stick for the rest of the trip.

As we approached Manhattan, before veering off toward our hotel just over the river in The Meadowlands, I remember thinking, “I never thought I’d be driving a car where I could look out the window and see the World Trade Center.”

The rest of that Sunday, September 9, was relatively uneventful. The 2001 NFL season was kicking off that day, and from the window of our hotel room, you could look out and see Giants Stadium, where the Jets were playing their home opener. Ed and I cooled our heels in the room, plotting out the trip in our heads, checking our gear, watching some football and generally resting up for the big launch banquet later that night. The sit-down dinner kinda put a crimp in our plans to grab a cab and head into Manhattan to catch our newly-beloved Tennessee Titans that night on the screens of the ESPNZone in Times Square, but we figured we should probably stay with the group, meet the folks we were going to be spending the next nine days with, and of course, being the former newspaper geeks we are, we had to adhere to the unofficial Journalist’s Credo: free food tastes better.

Our wake-up call wasn’t especially welcome the following morning, especially since the Titans lost fairly spectacularly the night before. But we knew we needed to get our gear into the truck and have it ready to go by 5 a.m., because not long after that, we’d be pulling out, along with seven vans and trailers, to attempt to find parking spaces in lower Manhattan. We were kicking off the ride at the Today show, and everybody had to be there.

A quick trip through the Holland Tunnel, a couple of wrong turns and the first of many overpriced parking garages later, Ed and I made our way to the 30 Rock plaza where our group had gathered. Our spot on the show wasn’t going to be until the 8:30 half-hour, but by God, we were going to be there early if it killed us.

The spot went off without a hitch, Williams getting a good deal of free air time, great, let’s move on. We were due at another media event a few blocks uptown, but that still meant moving a lot of people and a lot of vehicles.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

September 11, 2008

And that’s where I stopped writing that day, one year and one day after the events. Because it was just too painful. And it still is, seven years later.

But the nutshell facts are these: I was in New York City the day before all this happened. Ed and I, and the 100+ people from scattered parts of the country, whom we’d just met hours before, were leaving Princeton, N.J. and rolling toward Philadelphia when it happened. We were standing on the deck of the U.S.S. New Jersey when the towers collapsed. From that deck we watched a stream of airplanes land quickly, in succession, at the Philly airport…and then nothing. We were supposed to have an event at the White House the next day.

I have a different perspective than most of the rest of the people I know, not because I was in downtown Manhattan the day before, but because I didn’t watch the coverage on TV. I only heard it on the radio, picking up scattered patches of NPR stations as we serpentined through rural Pennsylvania to get to our destination outside D.C. I didn’t see the now-iconic footage until early in the evening, just before President Bush spoke and just before the meeting that determined that we would continue on that trip.

And so, we became a caravan of wanderers, making our scheduled run down the east coast, along the Gulf and onto Houston 10 days later, mainly because there was no other expedient way to get home at the time. Sure, Ed and I could have veered off at any time, but we stayed, because we had a job to do.

Particularly schlocky fiction writers would wrap up the story with the ride into Houston and that we all remain close-knit friends to this day, having witnessed the triumph of the American spirit together. Fact is, other than Ed (and we keep trying to shake each other but CMT, the CMA and Jack Daniels, among others, keep throwing us in cars together), I’ve not seen or heard of any of those people again, especially since Williams got Enron-ed out of existence a few years back.

The fact is, I couldn’t wait to get away from the throng we’d traveled more than 2,500 miles with. Ed traveled to New Orleans to stay and decompress with friends before heading back to Nashville. And as soon as the festivities were over, I headed north up I-45, through the Metroplex, and into Oklahoma to my parents’ place.

My feelings of anguish and despair over what had happened 10 days earlier dominated my thoughts as I sped through central Texas, mirrored by the torrential rainstorm that hit just outside of Dallas. The storm stopped as I approached downtown, and with the familiar skyline to my right, I remember seeing the most amazing sunset, not because of its beauty, but because of the vivid ugliness – blacks, purples, midnight blues, fiery oranges – contained within. The sky, the spirit, the soul…all had been badly bruised and were going to take a long time to heal.

The specifics of those 10 days on the road have faded pretty much over time as well…mainly because I did get to witness the triumph of the American spirit, how resolve in the face of tragedy was unanimously shown in those dark days after, how denizens of small towns and big cities alike experienced and redirected grief in the exact same ways.

Those memories have faded because I’ve watched that unanimity be shattered, willfully and consistently, over the past seven years.

I grow increasingly weary of people saying we can’t afford to live in a pre-9/11 world anymore. And while there are aspects in which they are right, I know they didn’t see what I saw as we traveled from state to state over that week-and-a-half span. And I know we can’t afford not to live in that post-9/11 state of mind. And yet we do. Because of the bad decisions others have made for us.

So today, as happens on a lot of days, my heart goes out to those who lost their lives on that day. But as unimaginable as that horror was for them, for those still around, life in America has become a much longer and more sustained type of horror. Because there remains this sense that much of this never had to happen in the first place.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

September 11, 2011

And so we complete the circle…looping around to the 10-year anniversary of the most horrific day most Americans will ever witness.

Looking back on the events, from one year, from seven years and now from 10 years, I wonder what we’ve learned.

The only thing I know is that we’re not who we were, nor are we who we wish to be.

Or at least I’m not.

I wish we had both learned more and applied it. Again, that 9/12/01 mindset of loving and respecting and caring for your neighbors has been obliterated — willingly and repeatedly — by some whose power and influence far outstrips their humanity.

Hence, the landscape of the American Dream, much like that of New York City, looks very different now than it did a decade ago. For a lot of us, it’s just about survival…keeping one’s head down and just trying to make it through the days and years, rather than looking skyward and dreaming of a better life for ourselves, our friends, our families and our nation.

I’ve thought that way for a long time. And in many ways, I still do. But circumstances have changed, not quite as suddenly (though close) but certainly as dramatically.

New life has come into my life, and while myriad challenges face me and those close to me, I have new impetus to act as an agent of change. So when another zero anniversary of this day comes around, I can say to those people, “We’re not who we were. But we’re a lot closer to being who we wish to be.”

Things left unsaid...

2011-07-03T13:26:00.005-05:00

Or untweeted.

I made a vow to myself that I would experience U2's first Nashville show in three decades through the highest-res image processors I possess...my own two eyes. OK, yes, I did have my crappily trusty Nikon point-and-shoot, but other than that, I was bound and determined not to tweet the show away, to live in the moment that was in front of me.

I maintained radio silence. I reveled in the event taking place. I sweated my posterior off. And I was reminded of the simple power of rock 'n' roll, and the humanity of people who do it really, really well.

That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking in 140-character chunklets. So imagine, if you will, what I might have said had the phone been on...

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

(UPDATED 7/5: The Gigapixel Fan Cam shot from Vandy is up. And the shot of me couldn't be any more meta if it tried. I swear on all that is holy...I didn't know they were shooting the picture at that very moment.)

Best part of the #U2VU run-up for me? Reconnecting with "Achtung Baby," a record that bridged two eras, and I'd never really been a fan.

Again, hoping the support acts on this tour realize the respect they're given by the band, because Florence + The Machine sounded amazing.

Gotta think the sweaty denizens of The Circle were thinking this thought as Florence sang "Dog Days Are Over": "Um...no. No, they're not."

The main thing F+TM's set did was make me want to see them @TheRyman. That voice in that room? Would be nothing short of spectacular.

The other thing Florence's set did for was a little more visceral. I mean, come on...a statuesque redhead in a diaphanous emerald dress?

(Wondering if I've sent any of you scrambling for a definition of "diaphanous"...)

On to the headliners. "Space Oddity"? Check. Walk-up shot of the band? Check. Launching with "Even Better Than The Real Thing"? OH HELL YEAH.

After the Anaheim audience and twittersphere both exploded two weeks ago, they had to have thought, "Yeah, let's keep this opening sequence."

"EBTTRT" -> "The Fly" -> "Mysterious Ways" -> "Until The End Of The World -> "I Will Follow." That's a potent first act, people.

And to have "Mysterious Ways" and "UTEOTW" back-to-back? They coulda said "thank you and good night" right then and I'da gone home happy.

When Bono yelled "Music City!" it generated the biggest hometown pop I've ever heard. And a big stupid grin from me. I love my town.

That's not to say there weren't moments when "music industry Nashville" showed up. But I'm going to attribute most of that to the heat.

It was, by far, the cleanest sounding stadium show I've ever heard. They've got that sucker dialed in, which you'd expect after 100 shows.

T'was in The Circle for the Atlanta show in '09, so didn't see all the production elements until now. They use every trick in the bag...

...yet it never seems egregious. Every cue, song treatment, concept piece vs. straight video of the band...every decision is the right one.

Thrilled to hear seven people I know and respect get name-checked from the stage, even if one got his quasi-iconic middle initial mangled.

You knew they were going to tip their caps to Johnny Cash. I mean, you just *knew* it. And by god, they broke out "The Wanderer."

For. The. First. Time. EVER.

Best part was watching Bono huddle with Edge to cue it up, and then struggle over doing it a la Cash vs. finding it in his own voice.

The perils of a three-decade career and a much-beloved catalog of songs? Something you adore is gonna get left out of the setlist.

For me, it's usually "Desire" and "Angel of Harlem." I am an unabashed sucker for the stuff off "Rattle And Hum."

For others, it might have been reaching the tour-long closer "Moment of Surrender" without hearing "All I Want Is You." Little did they know.

In the moment, sans any other information, I thought, "Wow, he's drunk. Why did he get pulled up?" Then he played, and the script flipped.

The thought then became, "Only in Nashville can you pull a random guy up out of the pit and have him competently and confidently play that."

Then you get the real story, which we heard from a reliable source on the way out of the stadium. Getting teary just thinking about it.

Seriously, watch this. If you don't have some sort of emotional reaction, then god, Jed, I don't even wanna know you. http://youtu.be/xNZjfz8rgT8

For all the flak these guys take about what they do (Bono especially), we've consistently seen these kinds of humanizing acts for decades.

From pulling that girl out of the crush at Live Aid in 1985 to Saturday night, you can draw a thread of them doing stuff like this all along.

This band made this guy's LIFE last night. And the rest of us get a little more human by extension. Not a bad gig if you can get it.

Thanks to @cdlowell and @mattwertz, don't have to type the setlist. Yes, technology is occasionally good for something. twitpic.com/5kmo31

(Though, if you look at the top of the setlist, it reads "Version 2.0." Somebody get on digging up v1.0 please...thanks...)

Pleased to see so many people I like, love, admire and am challenged by have such a transformative experience with this show. Hope it lingers.

UPDATED: The Gigapixel Fan Cam shot from Vandy is up. And the shot of me couldn't be any more meta if it tried. I swear on all that is holy...I didn't know they were shooting the picture at that very moment.

"One day, you'll be cool."

2011-06-29T23:29:00.003-05:00

A couple of threads emerged from the stories told Wednesday night at “When Love Comes To Town: A U2 Tribute” at Downtown Presbyterian Church.

One, most every artist who told a story of how they came to know the Dublin quartet spoke of an older sibling or family member that introduced them to the band’s music.

And two, most came to that music at a time in their lives when they were profoundly uncool.

(The above headline comes from a seminal moment in the Cameron Crowe film “Almost Famous,” when William Miller’s older sister Anita is leaving home and leaving her music collection for him as a means of escape. She grasps him by both shoulders, looks him squarely in the eyes and dispenses this prophecy: “One day, you’ll be cool.” Which of course, because William is destined to become a Music Journalist, never comes true.)

The revealing factor is that, for most people, U2 was Somebody Else’s Band first. Which is good. It’s a grounding thing that helps connect that music with a time, a place, a person around which one can build their own interaction and history. They just didn't stumble across it via some mass media avenue; there was a flesh and blood and emotional connection there that was carried through the music.

And, clearly, the artists who played Wednesday night have gone on to form their own connections. Kate York in introducing “Running To Stand Still,” told the story of her umpteenth family uprooting, settling as a 9th grader in Colorado Springs and her introspective lunchtime reverie broken by the sound of a flag whipping against a flagpole and Joshua Tree playing on a Walkman.

Thad Cockrell spoke of U2 intriguing him by dint of not initially understanding the band, their music and what they were trying to accomplish, before giving way to a powerful rendition of “In God’s Country.”

Most of the players stuck to the band’s '80s catalog, with the exception of Sarah Masen’s slowed-down, sliced-up “Lemon,” and wife-and-husband pair Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb championing “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around the World” and “Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car,” respectively.

Still, that idea of Bono et. al., being Somebody Else’s Band got stood on its head via Mike Farris’ story of not liking the band when he first heard them (“they were too white,” the former Screamin’ Cheetah Wheelies frontman insisted), and then growing to respect them as he heard more. But it was in the urgency and insistence of his now-teenaged son watching — repeatedly, it seems — a DVD of the Vertigo Tour that rekindled Farris’ interest, which he proved with a scorching rendition of the night’s title song, “When Love Comes To Town.”

The night, conceived and produced by singer/songwriter Matthew Perryman Jones and author/emcee David Dark, was also a benefit for The Contributor, Nashville’s monthly newspaper benefitting and advocating for the homeless population. That connection underscores this music’s earth-bound resonance, even in the midst of dealing with matters spiritual and political.

The show was a fitting nudge down the hill toward Saturday’s U2 360 show at Vanderbilt Stadium. It was, most assuredly, one of those “only in Nashville” nights, an event that other cities with pockets of fans as rabid as ours would kill for and that we Music City music fans too often take for granted.

Because, in our quest to be cool, we can sometimes be profoundly uncool. But not this night, not these people and not this music.

Setlist:
“Red Hill Mining Town” by Bulb
“Running To Stand Still” by Kate York
“Two Hearts Beat As One” by Stephen Mason
“Lemon” by Sarah Masen
“In God’s Country” by Thad Cockrell
“Like A Song” by Matthew Perryman Jones
“Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” by Sandra McCracken
“Daddy’s Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car” by Derek Webb
“All I Want Is You” by Griffin House
“When Love Comes To Town” by Mike Farris
“40” by Julie Lee, et. al.

Faraway, so close...

2011-06-26T14:13:00.000-05:00

After beginning the month with my annual immersion into the world of commercial country music (see below and thanks per usual to the fine folks at USA TODAY for giving me the reins again), it's time to put thought into the upcoming extravaganza that is U2's first Nashville show in nearly three decades.

Say what you will about the Irish quartet...and many have, especially in the wake of their recent Glastonbury Festival headlining gig. But what I saw from the video feeds coming out of Glasto Friday night were 80,000-plus faces, in the rain, waving flags and singing along with every word.

So, for this week in Nashville, if you're a U2 hater, do us all a favor...keep it to yourself. The faithful have been waiting a long damn time for this, and we intend to enjoy every second.

Which will also include an incredibly cool show Wednesday night at Downtown Presbyterian Church titled "When Love Comes To Town: A U2 Tribute" which will include a boatload of Nashville's most talented artists covering U2 songs with the suggested cover donation going to The Contributor, Nashville's newspaper devoted to helping the homeless. (In other words, a good time for a good cause.)

Meanwhile, I'm going back into the photo archives from 2009 and pulling up some shots from the Georgia Dome, the first time I took a ride on the Irish spaceship...

U2 360 ATL

It’s a wrap for CMA festival, 40 years young

2011-06-13T11:02:00.002-05:00

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson for USA TODAY

The fans "have been wonderful," says Trace
Adkins who lost his home in a fire
June 4. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

By all accounts, Nashville’s CMA Music Festival is holding up pretty well at age 40. From the return of Dolly Parton to the introduction of American Idol’s Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, country music present and future unfolded this weekend in Nashville in front of appreciative, if overheated, fans.

Ready for the ride: In preparation for his Get Closer tour, which launches Thursday in Biloxi, Miss., Keith Urban invited in several hundred fans and industry onlookers for an 11-song glimpse at Municipal Auditorium, where he has been rehearsing. The new stage set, including a huge circular projection screen and roller-coaster-like rigging above and in back of the stage with rolling lights, is a far cry from Urban’s club days coming up. Back then, “I bought four sections of prefabbed white picket fence,” Urban says. “I hung them from the ceiling and put lights through them. So to go from that, to be able to put this together, there’s no shortage of gratitude.”

Slow burn: Georgia native Jason Aldean has ratcheted his game up over the past year, and with high-profile collaborations with Kelly Clarkson on Don’t You Wanna Stay and his CMT Music Awards turn with rapper Ludacris on Dirt Road Anthem, he appreciates the doors opening up for him. “It’s cool that those kinds of people dig what you do enough to want to come in and be a part of it,” Aldean says. “And it’s a lot easier to make it happen if they’re taking your call.”

Leaving off the parentheses: Brad Paisley knew there was risk in titling an album This Is Country Music but cautions that in the end, it’s just one person’s opinion — namely, his. “I didn’t say ‘This is only country music’ or ‘This was country music’ or ‘This will be country music.’ It’s more this is what it is, for me. That’s sort of the parentheses that’s not officially on the title … ‘For Me.’”

Stuck like glue — in your head: Artists who’ve been around the creative process long enough can pretty easily pick up on how a song will hit their fans. Hence, asking Sugarland if the two knew while writing monster hit Stuck Like Glue that the song was going to be such a relentless … “Earworm?” says Jennifer Nettles, finishing the question. “Absolutely! When we were listening to it the first few times, Kristian (Bush, Nettles’ partner in the duo) was saying, ‘This makes me nervous, and I kinda like it!’” Bush remembers: “No matter how many times I heard it, I felt like I needed to hear it again. It was like good candy. You think, ‘I want another piece.’”

Meet your new Idols: Idol’s Final Two, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina, were constantly on the go, starting with a cameo on Grand Ole Opry Tuesday night and ending with surprise appearances on LP Field Saturday night (he with Josh Turner, she with Martina McBride). The two acknowledged taking in advice as they met more of their music heroes. “Mainly just the simple ‘Just be you,’” says McCreery. “Don’t let Hollywood or don’t let Nashville get to you, and I don’t plan on changing, so that’s the advice I’m going to stick to.”

Hello, Dolly! Sunday’s festivities marked superstar Dolly Parton’s return to the fan festival, signing autographs for a select group of 40 contest winners — befitting the event’s 40th anniversary — as throngs of onlookers snapped photos within Fan Fair Hall inside the Nashville Convention Center. Parton had last taken part in an autograph session at the event in its earliest days in the mid-’70s.

Are you ready for some football? At LP Field, Rascal Flatts got to thinking that the NFL’s labor standoff is causing some to consider career changes. “We’re hearing that (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell just got a label deal,” Joe Don Rooney quips. Counters Gary LeVox: “He and (Tennessee Titans owner) Bud Adams are forming a band and replacing Brooks & Dunn.”

Truly touched: No one would’ve begrudged Trace Adkins if he hadn’t appeared, given that a fire June 4 destroyed his home while he was on the road in Alaska. The gritty-voiced superstar, whose presciently titled new album Proud To Be Here arrives Aug. 2, turned first to his family to make sure they were taken care of before figuring out the professional side. “All my girls are incredibly strong women, and I knew that I was OK to fulfill all my obligations.” As for the fans, “they’ve been wonderful,” Adkins says. “Just the outpouring of generosity and sympathy and well-wishes has just been overwhelming.”

JaneDear girls hit the big stage at CMA Fest

2011-06-13T10:49:00.002-05:00

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Sunday at CMA Music Festival featured a break in the weather — if you call closer to 90 degrees than 100 a break — but hardly a let-up in the star power or array of musical styles featured within the event.

The JaneDear girls play CMA Music
Festival's LP Field Stage.
(Wade Payne/AP)

Everything from the return of late ’80s progressive country duo Foster & Lloyd to the shoot-‘em-up (meaning whiskey rather than bullets) snark of Sunny Sweeney to the neo-traditionalism of Terri Clark took its turn under the bright Sunday afternoon skies.

Hello, Dolly! Sunday’s festivities marked superstar Dolly Parton’s return to the fan festival, signing autographs for a select group of 40 contest winners — befitting the event’s 40th anniversary — as throngs of onlookers snapped photos within Fan Fair Hall inside the Nashville Convention Center. Parton had last taken part in an autograph session at the event in its earliest days in the mid-’70s.

Gone like that: Josh Kelley— brother of Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley and husband of actress Katherine Heigl— praised the resiliency of the CMA Fest crowd while introducing latest single Gone Like That during his Sunday afternoon Riverfront Park set. “You’re tanned, you’ve got smiles on your faces — and you’re hammered.”

Size apparently matters: Last year at this time, the JaneDear girls — Susie Brown and Danelle Leverett — were playing a CMA Fest stage outside Nashville’s Hard Rock Cafe. This year, they snagged one of the coveted new artist slots on the main stage at LP Field Sunday, on the strength of their hit Wildflower. “I have to admit, when we went on stage for soundcheck, I did a little dance because I was so excited,” Brown said. “This is by far the biggest stage we’ve ever played on.”

A good problem to have: Three CMA Fests into his tenure as a country hitmaker, Darius Rucker sees the ratio of fans who know him in this sphere coming closer to the ones who know him as the frontman for Hootie & the Blowfish, which still plays a number of shows during the year. “There’s a lot of young people who have no idea what they’re hearing when we play a Hootie song,” Rucker says. “Then, at the Hootie shows, the country fans complain about not hearing the country hits, but we do throw a few of them in there.”

Don’t get comfortable: Even within a musical unit made up of family members, roles change, sometimes dramatically. Such was the case with The Band Perry, which moved brother Neil upfront for a couple of fairly important showbiz reasons. “He started out as a drummer, but we pulled him to the front of the stage because he likes to flirt with the ladies and he’s a pretty good dancer,” says lead singer Kimberly Perry. “So he’s had to make the biggest adjustment.”

Weekend adds to CMA Music Festival feel

2011-06-12T10:30:00.005-05:00

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Saturday at the CMA Music Festival always seems to take on a different feel, as Nashville’s regular downtown denizens have finished their workweek and the festival-goers truly take over. Music echoes constantly from block to block as eight different stages open to the public feature artists all day long. Newcomers and familiar faces alike are found on stages, in autograph booths, and sometimes in impromptu meetups, with fans’ point-and-shoot cameras further illuminating the already sunny Middle Tennessee afternoon.

Scotty McCreery poses for a portrait
before performing at the CMA Music
Festival. (Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

Idol country: As expected, some of the biggest buzz surrounded country’s newest ambassadors, American Idol’s top two finishers Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina. (Check out a recap of their CMA Fest experience, including exclusive comments from the USA TODAY portrait room, at idolchatter.usatoday.com.) From this reporter’s observation, McCreery brought about the most extended individual freakout witnessed in 10-plus years of covering the event. After exiting the autograph line at the Idolwinner’s appearance in Fan Fair Hall Friday afternoon, a teenage girl walks over to her waiting family, very quietly says, “I got his signature” once before shrieking the phrase at the top of her lungs four more times and then breaking down in tears. That, dear reader, is a fan.

Always on the calendar: For Rascal Flatts, CMA Fest is frequently the tentpole around which so much of their year revolves. “We finish a tour somewhere around March or April, and then try to head back out for the summer tour after this week,” says vocalist Gary LeVox. “So this is always in the plan, and it’s one of the most exciting times of the year for us.” Bandmate Jay DeMarcus mentioned the event’s changing role in exposing fans to new acts, especially in the music business’ changing and challenging times. “Because it’s so much more difficult to get songs on the radio or sell records, people can go out, hit it hard and do a great show and win new fans here,” DeMarcus says. Meanwhile, given their presence within an NFL stadium, the Flatts got to thinking that the current league labor situation is causing some to consider career changes. “We’re hearing that (NFL commissioner) Roger Goodell just got a label deal,” Joe Don Rooney quips. Counters LeVox: “He and (Tennessee Titans owner) Bud Adams are forming a band and replacing Brooks & Dunn.”

Truly touched: No one would’ve begrudged Trace Adkins for a moment if he had not appeared at CMA Fest, given the fire that destroyed his family home June 4, while he was on the road in Alaska. The gritty-voiced superstar, whose presciently titled new album Proud To Be Here releases Aug. 2, turned first to his family to make sure they were taken care of before figuring out the professional side. “All my girls are incredibly strong women and I knew that I was OK to fulfill all my obligations.” Meanwhile, Adkins remains visibly touched and humbled by the interaction with fans throughout the weekend. “They’ve been wonderful,” Adkins says. “Country music fans are the best fans in the world, and just the outpouring of generosity and sympathy and well-wishes has just been overwhelming.”

Give country a chance: Even though she has been through the roller-coaster rides of both Hollywood and Broadway, Kristin Chenoweth knows that the challenge for any newcomer hoping to make an impact on country fans is authenticity. So while she has been in and out of Nashville over the past year, working with world-class songwriters and musicians on her upcoming country debut (not to mention serving as a judge on the recently completed CMT’s Next Superstar), she hopes fans recognize this career move has been a long time coming. “I’m really not out to prove anything, I’ve just wanted to do this kind of record for 20 years,” Chenoweth says. “Not everybody knows this is how I grew up singing, so hopefully my fans, even if they’re not country music fans, they’ll say, ‘I wonder why she’s doing that,’ and they’ll come listen.”

Imagine what they could’ve done with a full minute: With an event consisting of as many moving parts as the nightly CMA Fest concerts, plans change. When USA TODAY was told that Lady Antebellum didn’t have a ton of time for a backstage portrait shoot, the photo team positioned the trio on two sets and captured 31 frames in a shooting time of 38 seconds. Says Charles Kelley, as the group ran back out the door: “Man, I wish they could all be like that!”

Yes, this happened...

2011-06-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

Kristin Chenoweth, left...
(Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

(and yes, that's the original cutline USAT photo editor Jym Wilson wanted to put on the photo...)

I hope the lovely-and-talented Ms. Chenoweth realizes the magnitude of me being photographed, in shorts, after a day of wandering among the masses at CMA Music Festival, and then having it posted on the website of the nation's largest newspaper (depending on the day). She looks fantastic...I look like a schmuck.

Seriously, she was a tremendous sport about it all. Jym and Bob had her run through the traditional gamut of things they do in the USAT portrait room, when Jym said, "OK, we have got to get a shot of the two of you together." He hadn't even finished the sentence when Kristin kicked off her heels and was all about it.

And as I was doing my normal "lean in so there's some semblance of being in the same shot" that I do when taking photos with other people, she bellows "Don't you DARE lean over!"

Yes, dear reader, a 4'11 blonde Broadway star yelled at me, albeit in fun. The things I do for a national byline...

Sugarland, Urban highlight day 2 at CMA Fest

2011-06-11T10:41:00.002-05:00

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — Nashville’s status as the home of country music tends to leave people with the impression of a genteel Southern town that just happens to be a haven for the musically creative.

Which it is. But it’s also a fully functioning mid-sized American city, so when you take over a good portion of downtown with stages and exhibits and tractor trailers and tens of thousands of extra people wandering around, Friday afternoon commutes can get a little extra dicey.

Sugarland's Kristian Bush and Jennifer Nettles
strike up air guitars before playing CMA Music Festival.
(Robert Deutsch/USA TODAY)

Still, CMA Music Festival, celebrating its 40th birthday and 10 years since the move into downtown Nashville, has proven itself a well-oiled machine, programming stages and events during the day that allow fans to easily transition from one place to the next before the exodus across the river to LP Field for the nightly concerts featuring some of country’s biggest names.

Some of Friday’s daytime highlights included both debuts and re-debuts, as Shania Twain made her CMA Fest return to sign copies of her new autobiography From This Moment On before introducing Sugarland at LP Field Friday night. Meanwhile, Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina made their first stop at Fan Fair Hall, the artist/fan meetup hub within the Nashville Convention Center, signing and posing for almost two hours before heading off to the Grand Ole Opry to make their debut on the venerable radio show.

Stuck like glue — in your head: As much as today’s modern music business is reliant on numbers and research, artists who’ve been around the creative process long enough can pretty easily pick up on how a song will hit their fans. Hence, asking Sugarland if they knew while writing monster hit "Stuck Like Glue" that the song was going to be such a relentless … “Earworm?” says Jennifer Nettles, finishing the question. “Absolutely! When we were listening to it the first few times, Kristian (Bush, Nettles’ partner in the duo) was saying, ‘This makes me nervous, and I kind of like it!’ ” Bush remembers: “The wonderful thing I remember about recording it is that, no matter how many times I heard it, I felt like I needed to hear it again. It was like good candy. You think, ‘I want another piece.’ “

Taking the risk: Count Dierks Bentley among a select group of artists lucky enough to take a leap of musical faith and have it affect them positively in the long run. Even in this run-up season to the release of a new, mainstream country record titled Diamonds, Bentley thinks fondly of the risks taken and course charted on his roots/bluegrass 2010 release Up on the Ridge. “It’s left a permanent scar on me, for the better,” Bentley says. “It wasn’t just something you do and come back away from, which I discovered trying to make this new record. Up on the Ridge will always be a big part of who I am and a defining moment of my career.”

Tonight was a good, good night: For some, CMA Fest is very serious business. For bluegrass cover outfit The Cleverlys, which used its time playing during changeovers at Friday’s LP Field show to roll out their version of the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling, among others, opportunity can be found in the most unlikely of places. “It’s been awesome to be included in this show with all these great people,” says frontman Digger Cleverly (even though his driver’s license reads “Paul Miller”). “But also we found stickless corn dogs at the convenience store, so it’s been a gold mine.”

Family tradition?: More than one artist commented on CMA Fest’s role as unofficial “family reunion” for fans and artists alike. If that’s the case, then what’s Jake Owen’s role within the familial unit? “I’m like the annoying cousin. I’m the guy where people are, like, ‘Really? He’s coming to Christmas dinner?’ ” Owen says, shortly before joining Keith Urban on the LP Field stage for a surprise appearance on Owen’s song Don’t Think I Can’t Love You. “You never know what you’re going to get out of me. Some days I just kind of float under the radar, eat my salad at the end of the table, but some days, I’m going to be the guy who spills his wine over the place.”

CMA Music Festival showcases country artists big and small

2011-06-10T10:15:00.014-05:00

(VIEW ORIGINAL)
By Lucas Hendrickson, Special for USA TODAY

NASHVILLE — By all accounts, the CMA Music Festival is holding up pretty well at age 40.

Brad Paisley performs during CMA Music Festival
at Nashville's LP Field. (Wade Payne/AP)

While longtime festival-goers and music industry folk alike can lapse and call it “Fan Fair” out of sheer habit, young talent is also well-served at the venerable annual gathering of country music fans.

From the buzz surrounding American Idol final duo of Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina to the dozens of up-and-coming artists getting a chance to showcase their talents on stages around Nashville, country music’s future continues to unfold in front of appreciative, if warm, crowds.

Thursday continued a string of a dozen straight days of temperatures above 90 degrees in Middle Tennessee, and traveling from stage to stage to check out new music meant getting your sweat on, whether you wanted to or not.

Ready for the ride: Many artists use CMA Fest and the opportunity to connect with fans as a way to celebrate career achievements, but Keith Urban used the platform to look ahead, specifically at his new Get Closer tour, which launches June 16 in Biloxi, Miss. Urban and his band invited several hundred fans and industry onlookers to get an 11-song glimpse of the new production at Municipal Auditorium, where they’ve been rehearsing the show. The new stage set, including a huge circular projection screen and roller-coaster-like rigging above and in back of the stage with rolling lights that provide tremendous visual impact, is a far cry from Urban’s club days coming up. “We had no money, no budget, but I went to the hardware store and bought these four sections of prefabbed white picket fence,” Urban says. “I got wire and hung them from the ceiling of the stage at unusual angles and then put lights through them, just to make them a set piece. So to go from that, to be able to put this kind of thing together, there’s no shortage of gratitude for that.”

Slow burn: Count Jason Aldean among those well aware of and thankful for the slow build of a superstar-level career. The Georgia native ratcheted his game up over the past year, and with high-profile collaborations with Kelly Clarkson on "Don’t You Wanna Stay" and his CMT Music Awards turn with rapper Ludacris on current single "Dirt Road Anthem," Aldean appreciates the new doors opening up for him. “It’s been such a gradual climb that’s it’s given me time to adjust to everything and be able to enjoy it and take it in,” Aldean says. “It’s cool that those kinds of people dig what you do enough to want to come in and be a part of it. I love trying new stuff, whether it be with somebody like Luda or Kelly Clarkson or Randy Owen from Alabama. And it’s a lot easier to make it happen if they’re taking your call.”

Taking it all in: Singer/songwriter Sonia Leigh is in the midst of one of those decade-long “overnight success” scenarios that make for great stories. While currently identified as a Zac Brown Band protégé, whom she joined on the main stage at LP Field Thursday night, Leigh’s been kicking around for as a performer since the late ’90s. Sporting both a gritty attitude and winning smile, Leigh was completely open about taking in everything her first CMA Fest experience was presenting. “I’m excited and blessed and bewildered to be here,” Leigh says. “Alan (Jackson) — and I learned to play guitar listening to his songs — came up and gave me a hug at soundcheck and told me he liked my record, and that is such …” She pauses. “I might cry. I’m really hoping to just get out there and kick some butt and rock the crowd and show these people that I’m here to rock ‘n’ roll and entertain them. I’m excited to be here.”

Leaving off the parentheses: Sometimes there’s danger in declarative statements when it comes to popular music. Brad Paisley knew there was risk in titling an album This Is Country Music, but cautions that in the end, it’s just one person’s opinion — namely, his. “I was self-conscious about making sure that if I’m going to call it This Is Country Music that it felt like it is,” Paisley says of his newest collection of songs, including the current single "Old Alabama," which reunites members of the seminal band Alabama. “I didn’t say ‘This is only country music,’ or ‘This was country music’ or ‘This will be country music.’ It’s more this is what it is, for me. That’s sort of the parentheses that’s not officially on the title … ‘For Me.’ It wouldn’t have been nearly as cool an album title that way, but it is implied for me.”

Drawing the boundaries: From very early on in her career, Sara Evans has been adamant about respecting the two different sides of her life: artist vs. wife and mom. “It’s not so much a separation of the two as it is always making sure the kids come first and making sure that I’m a hands-on mom,” Evans says of her blended family of seven kids with husband Jay Barker. “I say ‘no’ to a lot of things just to make sure they’re not suffering in any way, shape or form because of my career. This has been a rebuilding year for me as an artist, and I’ve had to work three times as much as I normally do, but they’ve handled it really well and we’re getting back to the normal routine of the career.” And while the kids love hearing Mom on the radio, especially with new single "A Little Bit Stronger," Evans says they haven’t yet gotten to the point where they’re weighing in on her song choices. “They’ve always been around it, it’s not a big deal to them,” she says. “Right now, they just love everything I do. Maybe it’ll be different when they get older.”

Generations collide? World-class guitar-slinger Steve Wariner found his focus a little split on Thursday. He faced a busy day with an appearance for the fundraising arm of the Grand Ole Opry, the Opry Trust Fund, as well as appearing on the bill at LP Field, where he celebrated the set of multitalented artists that have charged to the forefront of country music. “I love it that there are a lot of artists that are the triple-threats: the writer, the singer and the musicians,” Wariner says. “To see a guy like Brad (Paisley), who I’ve known since he was about 13, have this kind of impact is awesome.” But earlier in the day, Wariner’s mind was 60-odd miles south of Nashville, where his son Ross’ band Uncle Skeleton was one of the acts opening Bonnaroo, having won a contest sponsored by performance rights organization BMI for a slot at that festival. “He took 15 pieces to Bonnaroo,” Wariner says of his progeny’s electronica-infused prog-punk collective. “I saw some video clips and they absolutely tore it up.”

Revisiting the Moments...

2011-03-07T16:36:00.000-06:00

So I'm in this musical mood again, where I'm trying out the various subscription services out there to see if they stack up...even while still lamenting the demise of my beloved Lala.com...

Trying out Rhapsody (my former, and perhaps future, favorite) on their current TWO MONTH free trial. And giving Rdio another spin, mainly because of the existence of a dedicated desktop app for the Mac. But I've only got a week to figure out if I want to drop the $10/month.

However, Rdio does allow one to create embeddable playlists, so that might move the needle in their favor...

My favorite "holiday" song...

2010-12-24T13:16:00.000-06:00

Yes, I do have a fondness for the absurd...look at the name of my site, for pete's sake...

Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays to all...travel safe if you're going somewhere, enjoy the stillness if you're not...

Suspension of disbelief...

2010-11-11T15:04:00.000-06:00

The 13 Terms...

2010-10-12T18:58:00.002-05:00

A blast from unconferences past...my session at last year's post-BCN Ignite event, and my trial run at using SlideShare's Screencast editing function...

The 13 Terms...

View more webinars from Lucas Hendrickson.

Stories and songs about stories and songs...

2010-09-14T09:23:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of good music and good writing about music, you owe it to yourself to do three things today, not necessarily in this order:

1. Go read Peter Cooper's excellent profile on country music's current in vogue outlaw, Jamey Johnson.

2. Find your way clear to listen to Johnson's epic new double album, The Guitar Song. (But certainly try before you buy, like on Rhapsody or Rdio or Lala...oh, wait...)

3. Don't bother reading the comments down at the bottom of the page of Peter's story. I align myself with AuntB's thought that Nashville media members deserve much better trolls, and this set of yayhoos continues to prove that blog comments are, for the most part, worthless. (Except yours. Yours are awesome. Love ya, mean it.)

"Seven Years Later..." Two Years Later...

2010-09-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Everybody has their story about where they were nine years ago today.

This is mine.

"Seven Years Later..."

And you are...?

2010-09-10T14:14:00.001-05:00

Let’s get the introduction out of the way. Hello, my name is Lucas...and I’m a geek.

(Hello, Lucas.)

The other thing I need to get out of the way? Thanking you for your continued interest in BarCamp Nashville.

(Wait, who said I was interested?)

Well, chances are you clicked on a link that brought you here, so I’m assuming you have some sort of interest in our upcoming event.

(Yeah, but you know what assuming does, right?)

Good point. So, then, let me take a minute to pique your interest about BarCamp Nashville.

(Seriously? Who uses the word “pique” in conversation anymore?)

Me, for one.

(For only.)

Whatever. I said I was a geek, remember? Mine just manifests itself in the world of words.

But we’ve got so much more geekery to offer people, like you, interested in BarCamp Nashville. Saturday, October 16 will be an amazing day, filled with great sessions circling around the universe of tech, merged with the opportunity to network with some of the most engaged, energized thinkers in the Middle Tennessee area.

However, as I’ve always told anyone who asked about BarCamp, it’s an experience shaped by those who show up.

(Meaning what, exactly?)

“Showing up” means throwing your hat in the virtual ring to speak, or raising your hand to volunteer, or opening your checkbook to help sponsor, or even just walking through the doors of Cadillac Ranch that day and immersing yourself in the educational and networking opportunities.

But you have to make the first move.

(Which is?)

First, create your profile on this very site. Or update the one you created in the past with your current info.

Second, sit and think about how you want to show up. If you want to speak, then go here and start to craft your session. Be bold, be smart, be witty and be quick...the available sessions slots fill up fast.

(You do like your lists, don’t you?)

Hush, you’re ruining my rhythm here.

Third, and maybe most importantly, help us spread the word. Follow @barcampnash on Twitter, follow our page on Facebook, tell your friends and fellow geeks to join you Saturday, October 16 at Cadillac Ranch.

(You do like your message repetition opportunities, don’t you?)

I learned from the best.

So, what do you think? You going to join us and get to the good stuff at BarCamp Nashville 2010?

(Yes. For I am a geek.)

That’s what I thought.

-- Lucas Hendrickson is an independent journalist, adjunct instructor at Belmont University and unrepentant geek. He’s also the Chair of the BarCamp Nashville 2010 Crew.

A Benefit For Bella

2010-06-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

Chris Cobb is one of those people who just seems to have sprung fully formed out of nowhere. He's just there, he's engaged, he's working hard and he's passionate about whatever music-related endeavor he's involved with at the time.

(I mean, what other promoter would you find on a side street in Austin, navigating through SXSW traffic with a dolly laden with both a guitar amp and a keg of beer, racing from one venue to another? That's how I ran into Chris in March 2009…)

Unfortunately, his new daughter Bella emerged a little too early, born 14 weeks early and weighing only one pound. But, completely like her parents Chris and Telisha, little Bella is engaged, working hard, passionate about the endeavor in front of her…which, at this point, is both healing and inspiring others around her.

Chris has long been an important face in this community of music; it's time for us to honor him and this new chapter for him. Monday night, Exit/In hosts A Benefit for Bella, featuring American Bang, Will Hoge, Ricky Young and J-Roddy Watson. If you can't make it out to the show, you can donate to the Cobb's and Bella's ongoing medical situation at this link: PayPal link for A Benefit For Bella.

(For those of you with Facebook: here's a link to the event and a link to a video of Chris and Bella and big brother Dylan on Bella's one-month birthday...and have some tissues handy...)

Godspeed and blessings on you, Bella, Chris, Telisha and Dylan…and Nashville, it's time, once again, to step up.

Local music, local solutions...

2010-05-12T12:25:00.002-05:00

Music-related flood relief efforts continue to spring up, but this partnership between local independent radio station Lightning 100, local independent music download service NoiseTrade and local independent artists (see a theme here?) continues the grassroots feel of the current recovery period.

Interested parties can download the 19-track "Local Lightning, Vol. 1" from NoiseTrade, featuring songs from big buzz acts like Mikky Ekko ("It's Only You"), The Civil Wars ("Tip Of My Tongue"), Space Capone ("Good Love"), Madi Diaz ("Love You Now") and others.

The download is free (in exchange for an email address and postal code), but you can also use NoiseTrade's Tip function (and a major credit card) to donate to The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.

The big orange slider bar in the middle of the page defaults to an $8 tip/donation, but can be moved to any amount from $1 to $100.

The complete track listing for "Local Lightning, Vol. 1":

Andrew Belle - "Static Waves"
Hammertorch - "Too Little Too Late"
Mikky Ekko - "It's Only You"
AutoVaughn - "A Million To One"
Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - "Fire & Dynamite"
The Apache Relay - "Tongue Tied"
Trent Dabbs - "Your Side Now"
Reno Bo - "There's A Light"
The Civil Wars - "Tip of My Tongue"
Hightide Blues - "Dreamin' Alone"
Cassino - "Maddie Bloom"
Brenn - "OS OS (The Follower)"
Space Capone - "Good Love"
Heypenny - "Reprise"
Madi Diaz - "Love You Now"
The Cold Stares - "John"
The Non-Commissioned Officers - "Just North"
Mean Tambourines - "A Flight A Crash"
Natalie Prass - "Jenny"

(Hat tip to The Civil Wars' Joy Williams for the heads up...)

Lala.com RIP…or will it?

2010-04-30T10:28:00.004-05:00

Woke up this morning to the news that my favorite streaming music service, Lala.com, would go dark as of May 31.

Can't say that I'm surprised.

I knew the headline would provoke some strong reaction very quickly, primarily from devoted McLuhanist/unofficial Lala.com spokescurmudgeon Paul Schatzkin (who's right, by the way). And, as predicted, I'm already seeing plenty of hand-wringing/finger-pointing/bird-flipping from my digital circle of interaction.

But when news of Apple buying Lala last winter was followed by no news at all about the service (or its technology/innovations) even in the midst of a boatload of broader yet easily associated Apple news (iPad, iPhone OS4.0, etc.), it seemed inevitable that Cupertino was going to put Lala on the shelf.

(Now that I'm thinkin' 'bout it, why not take some time out of your day and listen to my Lala-hosted "Moments of the Aughts" playlist to your right? I get not one iota of remuneration from it...plus it'll be gone in a month...)

When my friend (and unrepentant St. Louis Cardinals fan) John Clore showed me Lala a couple of years ago, my initial thought was "Here we go again…another service trying to carve out a space in the digital music universe. Wonder how long it'll last."

It wasn't until a couple months later, when I finally decided to ditch my long-standing Rhapsody membership (although at the time it was the best $15 per month I spent for my profession) and really dug into what Lala had to offer when I finally realized how revolutionary the service could be.

And how that made it even more doomed to not be around very long.

The primary attractions to Lala for me were:
    •    Ability to listen to any licensed music in their catalog once for free.
    •    Ability to purchase web-only versions of songs for 10 cents per track or $1 for an album, on average.
    •    Reasonably priced, high-quality MP3 downloads for music you actually wanted to purchase to play on mobile devices or burn to hard copy media.
    •    Most importantly, the idea of their Lala Mover software, which looked at your iTunes music folder, matched the (properly metatagged) music you had on your computer with what they had licensed, as well as securely uploaded unique tracks you have (ie., bootlegs, pre-releases, etc.), essentially re-creating your iTunes library "in the cloud."

(I say "the idea" of the Mover software, because it was always kinda clunky and didn't work extremely well. Granted, I have a fairly sizable library of music, but not as big as others', and it took several DAYS for Mover to upload my catalog. And keeping it updated with new material was another story altogether.)

So what happens now? Will we see some/all of Lala's functionality transition over into the next major upgrade of iTunes, which will need to happen right around the time iPhone OS4.0 rolls out? Will we see the industry's first viable music subscription service appear, with an established user base reaching into the hundreds of millions worldwide? Or will we see a continued adherence to the existing digital access models (ie., $1.29 a track, you gotta download it and manage it yourself)?

The short answer is: I have no friggin' clue. But what would I do if I were Apple? (Because I know that's what you've been waiting for…my suggestions.) If I were integrating some of LalaRIP's functionality into iTunes, my number one priority would be to keep the "Play Once For Free" option. The 30-second sample is dead, dead, dead, should stay dead, should never have been brought to life in the first place…dead.

(Yes, the Music Industry complaint will be that people can take that one-time listen, reproduce it digitally and distribute it willy-nilly around the globe. To them, I say…you need to change your calendar from 1995.)

Whatever voodoo Lala did (within the browser experience, even) to allow users/members to listen to tracks once all the way through and then provide samples after that has to have led to sales. It has to. Obviously I don't have numbers to definitively back that up (sorry, KateO), but anecdotal evidence/gut feeling tells me it's so.

So Apple should rework whatever technological and contractual obligations it has to to make this happen. Yes, that's the oft-forgotten second piece of the puzzle, the deals with music companies large and small Apple has in place, but considering iTunes now accounts for a quarter of U.S. music sales, methinks there's enough of a lever there to make the POFF model (yes, I just acronymed it…feel free to spread it around) an ongoing reality.

Now, the web tracks/cloud storage/subscription service modes? Do I think they're gonna happen? Yes. Is it going to be when *we* want it, as in yesterday (or at least before May 31)? I seriously doubt it.

But I'm OK with that, because I don't think it's bad for us, as Consumers (yes, I used the C word) to have a little skin in the game…a topic for another day.

An object lesson...

2010-03-29T14:48:00.001-05:00

In the five years I've been teaching as an adjunct instructor at Belmont University, one of the things I've noticed is a real lack of reading comprehension and retention.

This next phrase is merely anecdotal observation of the 'Net-enabled age, but it feels like unless it's front of mind, people are overly reliant on the opportunity to Google something or Yahoo something or now Bing something and call it knowledge.

Hence, a decrease in the perceived need to read and retain.

So I tried a little object lesson. Granted, during my collegiate days way too many years ago, did I always read over the exam before starting to churn through it? No…as my GPA clearly indicated.

But here is what I dropped into the text of the third exam of the spring '10 session of my Mass Media & Society class.

And yes, it was absolutely real.

And no, nobody picked up on it until it was too late.

The one "outside the classroom" lesson I've carried with me from college was the destructive power of the assumptive leap, that A plus B definitely does not always equal C.

Lesson (hopefully) learned for my students today: Look before you leap, and READ BEFORE YOU ACT.

What is a browser?

2010-03-16T10:12:00.002-05:00

If they had taken my Mass Media & Society class, they'd know. (Or, you know, not.)

Why I'm going to (working with, writing about, otherwise endlessly promoting) PodCamp Nashville…

2010-02-03T12:09:00.000-06:00

We're in a new age of media creation and consumption the likes of which we've never seen before. We have more tools, we have more avenues, and more choices to be made than ever before.

But it still comes down to who is saying what to whom through what channel and with what effect. (Otherwise known as the Lasswell model for you communication geeks out there)

However, "where" is an important part of it as well. Nashville is as vibrant a media creation community as there is in this country and probably the world.

Obviously, we've got the music. But there's an incredibly active publishing, visual arts, photography and technology community that needs knitting together. PodCamp Nashville can help accomplish that.

It's not just about podcasting. Let me rephrase that: IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING.

(Ok, that wasn't so much a rephrasing as it was screaming at you that IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING.)

The PCN Crew (a lovely and talented group, I might add) has chosen the tagline/catchphrase "Find Your Digital Voice" and not without a touch of conversation and controversy.

But again, because IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PODCASTING, we think PodCamp can be that place where, if you're an enthusiast about digital content, both creating and consuming, you can go and expand your horizons.

Similarly, if you're a digital media expert, from image editing wizards to top-notch videographers to social media entrepreneurs to, yes, podcasters, and you have skills you can share, we heartily encourage that as well.

We keep bandying about the phrase "unconference" as both a style and an ethos, but even more as a storytelling point.

What it really means is that it's an experience created by the people who get involved, both the speakers and the attendees. We're not telling you what to think or even what to think about (the traditional role of mass media, if you've ever been one of my students)…we're just giving you the venue at which to think.

That said…what are you waiting for? If you're interested in attending, create a profile and sign up at www.podcampnashville.org.

If you're interested in speaking, create a profile and sign up at www.podcampnashville.org, then click on "Create A Session" (starting Feb. 9…but start thinking about what you want to say now…)

If you're a company flush with cash and a desire to get in front of an active slice of Nashville's digital community, then we reaaaaaaaally want to talk to you, and encourage you to check out the Sponsor page linked here.

If you're an interested newcomer in the world of digital media, or if you a seasoned pro just looking to get an energy boost about your chosen field of interest, I can guarantee you'll find something that will fit your needs Saturday, March 6 at Cadillac Ranch.

I'm so confident of it that, if you're not satisfied, I'll give you your entrance fee back.

Will you be one of The Five?

2010-02-02T16:37:00.000-06:00

I don't like marketing to my friends.

Yes, I said it, and my myriad of recently added social media-focused acquaintances are rolling their eyes at me, scoffing at the "old media guy hopelessly stuck in the past."

"Don't you know that it's all about relationships?" they'd likely chide. "Everybody shares, everybody benefits, blah blah blah."

Perhaps. Perhaps this is all the wave of the present. But it still feels weird.

Case in point: Today I went to a reputable music site run by people I know and trust and like (NoiseTrade.com) to acquire music by someone I know and trust and like (Sarah Masen's 2007 EP A History of Lights and Shadows).

The NoiseTrade model (as it exists now, but will change in the very near future) espouses two modes of acquisition: "Pay What You Like," enabling direct payment to the artist, or supply them five email addresses, and let the system send out your recommendation of the music you just downloaded to friends of your choosing.

I pursued the latter course, because I am, after all, a full-time freelance writer (read: bereft of cash).

But two of the email addresses I gave weren't so much bogus as they were, well, me. (Sorry, Sarah.)

It's not that I don't think many of my friends wouldn't enjoy Sarah's music, because many of them already do.

It's just that I feel bad for sending them even more email, unbidden, in yet another piece of the omnipresent marketing puzzle that has become our everyday lives.

However, I want to continue to discover music, to support NoiseTrade and the artists they serve, and to help spread the word of the good things I find.

So, then…I'm asking your permission. Who wants to be a member of The LargeLandMammal Five? Who wants to be alerted when I find something on NoiseTrade (or similar services) that allow free and legal music downloads, based on email acquisition.

(I will, in return, serve gladly as one of Your Five, if you so choose.)

If I get enough response, I'll even break it down further, creating Fives for different styles of music, like singer/songwriter, power pop, rock 'n' roll, Brazilian goat herding, etc.

I just want to help serve a community of music fans that wants to be served, rather than just scattershooting random emails at friends and running the risk of denting our relationship by becoming "that guy."

Who's in?

In praise of the dinosaurs...

2010-01-25T11:59:00.004-06:00

In my bio for PodCamp Nashville, I say that I'm an operator of new media, but a defender of old media. And I will continue to stick to that mostly self-appointed task, in this era of old being routinely quashed and ignored by the new (unless you're Conan O'Brien.)

One of the great characters I got to work with in my salad days at the Nashville Banner was Bob Battle, whose official title at the time was "senior business editor" but whose real title was "who you go to when you needed a phone number." Bob knew everything and everybody, having spent his entire life in Nashville and his entire career newspapering at the Banner.

Bob passed away Friday, January 22, and I'm grateful that the final time I saw him, at the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue event in 2008, I got a warm handshake and a smile. It was an event at which Bob was a fixture as a judge, and he was reveling in the attention he received as the barbecue glitterati (yes, they exist) lined up to greet him.

(By the way...I'm linking to the first-day Tennessean obit, even though it's a touch incomplete. Why? Because the second-day story's headline speaks only of Bob's role as semi-occasional columnist for a Tennessean regional publication, not the near five decades he toiled for the Banner. If it was a young copy editor who wrote that headline, they should be admonished. If it was anybody who's been in this town longer than a decade, they should be beaten soundly with multiple copies of the Banner's final edition. End of rant.)

Another talent cut from that same cloth a half-generation later is Tim Ghianni, who wrote this more realistic tribute to Mr. Battle and his role within the halls of the city's afternoon newspaper. Tim, as per usual, paints a great picture of the man, flaws and all, that makes one wish they could be whisked back to those days of capturing a city's heartbeat via words and pictures on pulped wood and ink.

As someone four decades Mr. Battle's junior, I always felt when I started at the Banner that I was coming in at least one era too late. And I responded to Tim's column this way...

I do not lament for Bob, Eddie, C.B., Mr. Russell and the like, because they got to do the job the way it was meant to be done.

I lament for those of us who got to do the job, for a little or a long while, in the midst of the numbers meaning more than the product.

I also lament for the generation existing in "journalism schools" right now who will never work alongside not only their peers, but talented folks mid-career, much less the "dinosaurs" who have so much to offer because they know where the bodies are buried, not only within the communities they're charged with covering but also within the organizations that cut their checks.

They're going to be caught up in an endless loop of overreacting to an underinformed audience's ignorance, rather than do the job of actually informing that audience. Message boards, search engines and social media crowdsourcing will be their fall back, rather than working the phones or pounding the pavement.

And their "brand managers" or "producers," rather than their editors, will keep track of how much time they spend in their chairs rather than how many stories they break. (Oh, wait...)

I do count myself lucky to have spent my brief time in full-time newspapering with a group of people who never had enough time or enough resources, but spent every day maximizing both, and having the more-than-occasional blast of fun doing it.

And I count myself lucky to have been able to read the always engaging, ever-mystifying-as-to-where-he-found-his-subjects work of one of the greatest feature writers/biographers I've ever met.

It's not your --30-- time yet, sir.

Here's to you, Mr. Battle. And to you, Mr. Ghianni.

Moments of the Aughts...

2009-12-30T19:03:00.024-06:00

I'm not paid nearly enough to attempt to encapsulate "the best" of the music of the decade now passed (depending on when you read this), so instead I'll focus on the songs and the situations that meant something to me. In absolutely no particular order (other than maybe the playlist to your right might make for good sequential listening...), I give you my Moments of the Aughts.

"Not That Cool" by Will Hoge
I'd known about Will for years, having seen him around town in various band/solo configurations (plus having worked in the same building with his dad Peyton for a number of years). But it wasn't until I was driving through the southern Illinois countryside listening to this song on a pre-release of his major label debut Blackbird On A Lonely Wire that I got the gut-punch that told me this guy was the real deal. I remain a huge fan.

"Vertigo" by U2
Yeah, I'm a late-comer to the party, but this was the decade where I learned to love U2. Sure, I was around for all the '80s stuff, but for whatever reason, that era of U2 just irritated me. Then the '90s stuff just pissed me off, because here was a band that went from being a smidge self-righteous to fully self-centered. But with All That You Can't Leave Behind, I saw and heard a U2 that took a step back, saying "OK, we just spent the better part of 15 years believing our own press. We're going to get back to making rock 'n' roll now." And then, in the wake of 9/11, the Irish foursome became the prototype of an American band, and the back half of the Elevation Tour helped to salve the wounds. They were one of us. This particular track I loathed when it first came out, thinking I'd heard them do it (or something very much like it) a dozen times over the years. It took a road trip with "my buddy Ed" to Lynchburg, Tenn. for a freelance job for us both to realize what a kick-ass song "Vertigo" is. Yes, they've careened a bit back into the ethereal navel-gazing mode with the last record, but I'm way more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt now than I was 10 years ago. Plus, Bono walked over my head this year. (hey, T-Veg, remember that time...?)

"What Do I Do Now" by Sam & Ruby
I knew I wasn't gonna be alone when Sam & Ruby's debut took my breath away. I didn't know the Associated Press was going to name it the No. 1 album of 2009, but I couldn't agree more. As much as I frequently lament the lack of truly outstanding material emerging from the morass that is the music business today, Sam Brooker and Ruby Amanfu have forged a partnership that has generated the sexiest mind-moving record you'll hear this year. Or, at this rate, any other.

"Paranoia in B Major" by The Avett Brothers
Gonna refer you back to the Record Store Day post from earlier this year. Again, 'twas wonderful to see a young band get their licks in in front of a young, appreciative crowd that sang along with every word, especially on this song.

"Chief" by Patty Griffin
In 2000, I got the simultaneous pleasure/consternation of seeing Patty Griffin play in front of the biggest crowds of her career opening for the Dixie Chicks. A dozen times, I watched arenas full of people meet one of the greatest singer-songwriters of her generation and have absolutely no clue what to do with her. No matter...the people who need to know Patty Griffin know Patty Griffin. And they (we) love her. Hearing "Chief" for the first time on a pre-release of 1000 Kisses, then hearing it again in the confines of the Belcourt Theatre and the Ryman Auditorium over the course of the following couple of years just underscored what a truly talented artist she is. (And just wait until you hear the upcoming Downtown Church, if you haven't already...it's spectacular.)

"Hey Pretty" by Poe
It was the early days of The Rage (back when it was pamphlet-size, yet had plenty of room/resources for people to, you know, write things?), Poe dropped her second full-length album titled Haunted, which had the story points of being recorded completely digitally and was a tie-in with her brother Mark Danielewski's novel House of Leaves. I didn't really care about all that. I just knew that it sounded freakin' awesome throughout, living up to its title in many spots, with Poe's voice able to send chills in the midst of defiance. I remember laying on the floor of my office spinning the record over and over again, soaking it in. Still a favorite. (What is it about me and loving bands that only make two records?)

"Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
Yeah, here's the surprise entry. Because if you know me, you know I hate American Idol. Wait, hate isn't good enough. LOATHE it. I think it's the embodiment of everything that's wrong with both the music biz and television today, and I can't wait for it to run its course. That said, I freakin' love this song, wrote as much in a one-shot magazine piece I did, and was reminded why in a recent "All Songs Considered" episode wrapping up the decade. Big production, big vocals, big hooks...it's a reminder of what pop music should be. And yes, I'm only slightly embarrassed by liking it so much.

"Heaven" by Los Lonely Boys
I remember having lunch with the Garza brothers at La Hacienda on Nolensville road sometime in 1998. They were all in their teens (in Ringo's case, just barely), and their dad had moved them from San Angelo, Texas to Nashville, in hopes of them becoming country stars. That didn't pan out, but as they grew into their own as musicians and fully embraced their rock side, a powerful power trio emerged. It was really cool to watch their career take off back in '03 via this song.

"Work" by Jars of Clay
And here's another set of musicians I've known since they were in their teens...well, one of 'em anyway. I've watched Jars of Clay have explosive success and ridiculously high expectations placed on them, and make some head-scratchingly interesting musical choices, and still watch them reinvent and redefine themselves over a decade and a half. For me, "Work" represented an unleashing for Jars, and I first heard it in two contexts in the same night, both at Nettwerk's space just off Music Row. First, as an acoustic move, the likes of which I'd heard them do dozens of times over the years, and it didn't really take. It was when their short performance was over, and they pumped the recorded version through the speaker that I realized this record was going to be a monster of a different color. It was Jars rocking out in a fashion I'd been hoping for for years.

"Killing Him" by Amy LaVere
Memphis girl. Plays a stand-up double bass that's way bigger than she is. Indescribable voice. Played this song during an XM Radio "in the round" event at AMA '08 that also featured Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider and Lyle Lovett. Yes, she sang this song while standing next to LYLE FREAKIN' LOVETT. Love it, love her.

"Diablo Rojo" by Rodrigo y Gabriela
All the years I've been doing this (whatever "this" as it relates to my "career" is), I still can't write while listening to music, unless the music is instrumental sans lyrics. I somehow got on a bit of a flamenco kick a few years ago, and really wanted to find something new and different from that world. Enter Rod y Gab, former punk rock kids turned flamenco masters. Their runs will leave you breathless.

"Radio Nowhere" by Bruce Springsteen
"57 Channels And Nothing On" for the iTunes/BitTorrent generation. When are people going to realize that radio can still work? But for it to do so, it has to be relentlessly local, that it has to not only reflect but be woven deeply into the community it serves? Worldwide exposure on the Internet is great, but it doesn't do you any good when the people "out there" don't affect what you're doing (read: patronize your advertisers) "right here."

"Worry Too Much" by Buddy Miller
Buddy's Universal United House of Prayer record was a staple for me when it came out, a moving, touching, cautionary gospel record in an age when "Christian music" has lost its identity (right alongside most of American Christianity). This cover of Mark Heard's classic came to mind when I heard that Buddy had suffered a heart attack while out on the road with Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin and Patty Griffin, and even though I don't know the man all that well, I can't explain how happy I was to see him shuffle into Expo Design Center a few weeks later, only hours back in town, scraggily bearded but grateful to still be around. So say we all, Buddy.

"Mexican Wine" by Fountains of Wayne
Like I said before, I'm a sucker for hooks. And while "Stacy's Mom" got FoW a fair spate of national attention (and former VP Al Gore showing up at an Exit/In show got them notice on the local level), it was this opener of the Welcome Interstate Managers record that really sucked me in. I love the fuzzy jangle detailing 21st Century "circle of life," leading in to the big crunchy guitar-and-snare attack that makes power pop so damn fun.

"Ego" by Fugitive Glue
Speaking of power pop and Nashville, FuGlu is a four-man 2GBD project from some of Music City's finest session/side men. The cool thing is everybody involved (Eliot Houser, Craig Wright, Michael Webb and Rick Plant) is pretty much interchangeable from both an instrumental and vocal standpoint; everybody plays everything and sings to boot. The fact that it's a song about ego as played by a band without a lot of individual egos about who does what makes it even sweeter. (And if you get a chance, head over to the band's MySpace page and spin the seminal classic, "Everybody Sucks But Us.")

"Don't Let Me Down" by Go Jane Go
I wrote about my friend Kristy West and her band Go Jane Go a couple of years ago here. I like that it's pop/punk that's a little raggedy. It's Kristy flexing her muscles as a songwriter, performer, recording artist and frontwoman. Is it going to make her a superstar? Likely not. But it's great to see people expand their artistic skills, to get into position to get into position should the right break come their way. Plus, it's just fun.

"Joining A Fan Club" by Jellyfish
Yeah, this isn't from the Aughts. It's just barely from the '90s. But it represents one of the first musical obsessions I developed when I moved here early in the previous previous decade, and it's a record that I return to again and again when the mundanity of music without filters starts to get to me.

"Going In The Right Direction" by Robert Randolph & The Family Band
When a local publicist approached me to write a story about a New York kid coming out of the "sacred steel" tradition of the House of God church, I was skeptical at best. And then I heard RR&tFB's live, pre-label release Live At The Wetlands. And when I was able to peel myself off the back wall I was blown to, I jumped at the chance to interview this pedal steel whiz kid. The cooler thing was, months later, when I would run into him again at Nashville River Stages mere moments before he took the stage, he remembered my name and asked how my folks were doing, a subject that came up in our previous interview. Oh, yeah...this was after he'd basically been awake for the previous 48 hours, having played in Australia opening for Dave Mathews Band (I think), flown across the planet, got on a bus in New York and riding down to Nashville. Great guy, even better music.

"Everything Will Never Be OK" by Fiction Plane
Musical nepotism frequently doesn't work out all that well. But I was OK with Fiction Plane opening for The Police on their reunion tour a couple of years ago, because at least FP had given it a go as a baby band, attempting as best they could to minimize the familial connection found via frontman Joe Sumner. Still, when I saw the band at Nashville's famed Exit/In, the parallels with Joe's single-pseudonymed pater familias was ridiculously evident.

"Love Isn't Made" by Jon Foreman
I've talked to Jon Foreman as he's been in a number of different roles over the past few years: frontman for Switchfoot (his most well-known role), partner in the collective Fiction Family and solo artist releasing a series of four, season-themed EPs. This track from the Spring EP vaulted its way back into my consciousness via a random iTunes "genius" playlist as I was driving across Nashville on a recent Friday night, the fog of human interaction uncertainty obscuring a lot of things. The chorus/mantra "don't let the panic bring you down" didn't so much snap me from my reverie as reassure me that I was far from alone in feeling the way I did at that very moment. Identification is a powerful tool.

"Red Morning Light" by Kings of Leon
2009 found the Followill boys finally getting the Stateside success they'd long craved, and of course, they spat at it sideways (see also: Nathan's recent "mom jeans" comment.) But this moment from the beginning of their debut record always reminds me of seeing them for the first time at the old 12th and Porter and walking away thinking "These guys are barely competent on their instruments, but there's something there." Three years later, they're opening for U2 on the Vertigo Tour, and I got to witness some incredible rock 'n' roll behavior over dinner at Fleming's in an interview just before the tour kicked off.

"American Dirt" by Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State
Matthew Ryan is a gritty genius. I have this very vivid memory of sitting in a shopping mall somewhere in Alabama, transcribing an interview and quickly writing a feature on Ryan in the days right after 9/11. The interview happened before that horrible day, but the feelings conveyed therein (and found frequently in his work over the years) were prescient. Life is hard. Living in America is hard. And it's not going to get any easier, and we might as well admit it. This comes from his "band project" Vs. The Silver State, and I love how bad he makes me feel in the midst of listening to his songs.

"The Wrong Thing To Do" by Mudcrutch
Mudcrutch is Tom Petty's pre-Heartbreakers band from his teenage years in Florida, and when they got back together in 2008, they basically put out the best Heartbreakers album we'd heard in years. Though that project, I got to interview guitarist Tom Leadon and keyboardist Benmont Tench, and they were both espousing the idea that you should never put too much of your past away, because it might come back and be better than you expected. Plus, every guy can relate to the chorus "I got a woman waiting/at the top of the stairs/it's the wrong thing to do/but I don't care..."

"Horseshoes & Hand Grenades" by Trent Summar & The New Row Mob
In the summer of 2001, Trent Summer had a song out talking about creating his own Jungle Room, so I asked him when was the last time he'd been to Graceland. He had to sheepishly admit that, at that point, he'd never been. I got a great lede out of it, and I've been a big appreciator of Trent's talents ever since. He's one of those guys who writes killer country hooks and can deliver a high-energy show like nobody's business, but it just hasn't happened for him in the way he deserves. Here's hoping he will keep plugging away.

"Jesus On The Mainline" by Ollabelle
A ramshackle post-9/11 NYC bar choir turned recording group turned out a spiritually laced debut record, devoid of the posturing and politics of the "Christian music business," making it my favorite "gospel record" of 2004.

"Every Little Thing About You" by Raul Malo
True story: Walking up 2nd Avenue late at night, sometime early in the decade. The "world famous" pink NashTrash bus passes and all of a sudden I hear "Hey, it's Raul Malo!" and people start waving. At me. Nevermind that I've got about 10 inches in height on the man. But I wish I had that voice. Loved the Mavericks, love his solo stuff.

"Get Rhythm" by Reverend Horton Heat
OK, for good or ill, when you exit a three-year relationship, you should have some sort of positive take-aways. For me, it was seeing and adopting music that I normally wouldn't have. The psycho-rockabilly of The Rev is one thing that I wouldn't have sought out on my own, but I do have an appreciation for now. (Plus, I've got that whole "West Texas oil field brat" thing in common with Jim Heath, so we actually had a couple pretty good conversations.)

"Rock & Roll" by The Clutters
Big, crashy, Farfisa-laced, crunchy-chorded rock 'n' roll. The Clutters' first record was absolutely sublime in its primality. Very fond memories of nights at The Basement and Exit/In etching these grooves into my memory.

"I Believe In A Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
From the sublime to the ridiculous. The Darkness was a camera flash of spandex metal that broke up the emo fabric that balled up most of the decade. Saw them first at a converted church in Atlanta (where members of Aerosmith and Cheap Trick had hung around after their shed show the night before just to see this batch of lunatic Brits), and then later at the Muni here in Nashville. I interviewed the brothers Hawkins, separately, the day after they picked up one of Great Britain's biggest songwriting awards. And just like that, they were gone...

"Still Learning How To Fly" by Rodney Crowell
Crowell is still one of the greatest hybrids in the business: part journalist, part storyteller, part protest singer, part troublemaker. His four-album arc this decade (The Houston Kid, Fate's Right Hand, The Outsider and Sex and Gasoline) are as vivid a portrait of one-man's life (not necessarily always autobiographical, but frequently) as you're going to find committed to bits.

"100 Days, 100 Nights" by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
If you're not stirred by the soul-shaking talents of Ms. Jones and her cadre of Dap-Kings, then I weep for your past, present and future. Finally got the chance to interview her (and Dap-Kings bandleader Binky Griptite), on the dusty plains of Zilker Park during the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, and she's every bit the firebrand off-stage as she is on it. Go see them next time they're in your town...you will not regret it.

"Zombieland" by T Bone Burnett
It feels like T Bone finally got his long overdue reception as "big-time producer" this decade, with the O Brother soundtrack blowing up at the beginning, and the Plant/Krauss combo and Costello/Sugarcanes collabo rounding out the end. But my favorite thing was his solo record The True False Identity, a record he admitted to me he was worried if Nashville would "get." I don't know about the rest of the city, but speaking for myself (and by extension, the thousand or so at the spectacular show at City Hall), I get it. And I continue to use the line "Machines always do just what you tell them to do/As long as you do what they say" as one of my .sig files to this day.

"Whine Whine Twang Twang" by The Doyle & Debbie Show
I have nothing more to add that is either relevant or true.

"Up To The Roof" by Blue Man Group with Tracy Bonham
Some people can look at the azure aesthetes/PVC-weilding percussionists of BMG and think "one trick pony." But their "rock record" The Complex was every bit as original and thrilling as their stage show, and the tour supporting it was equally impressive. (Google "Words On The Left" and see if you can make any sense of it.) I somehow ended up with front-row seats for the spectacle at TPAC, and it was the most visually stunning night of rock 'n' roll I've ever experienced. And Tracy Bonham's contribution to this track is my favorite part of a record I still pull out of the stacks frequently.

"Conservative Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males" by Todd Snider
Todd sure likes his list songs. And I can relate, considering this is the decade I veered away from some (not all) of the characteristics of this song's antagonists and toward some (not all) of the characteristics of its protagonists. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

"The Highway's Coming" by Tommy Womack
And we finish with some of the most sage words ever committed to tape (or whatever digital thingamjig passes for tape these days): "Leave the banjo...take the sausage." Tommy's another one of those troubadours whose talents I've admired from afar and have enjoyed conversations with when I get the chance. And you have to love interview subjects who aren't afraid to get quippy, as Tommy was when I asked him in 2002: When did rock ‘n’ roll become a dirty word? His answer: "About 12 years ago, I seem to remember the party where they declared it a dirty word, and it was a weird new world the next day." This track is both an ode to the Golden Rule and to circular logic, every bit of which we're gonna need as we cross the threshold into this new decade.

Which really doesn't start until this time next year, but I'll leave that argument to the numerically anal-retentive. Me, I like fives and zeros, so Happy New Decade, ever'body...

What will you be doing when '010 arrives?

2009-12-11T13:22:00.004-06:00

There are still a handful of people who remember Guilty Pleasures' origin, back in what we lovingly (or wistfully or hungoveredly) refer to as "the Slow Bar days."

Once more, back into the archives, for a look at what has turned into a Nashville New Year's Eve tradition (for which you can snag tickets by clicking here). But back then, it was usually just a sweaty, loud, packed trip down a more recent memory lane.

From the Nov. 20, 2002 issue of The Rage:

What's Your Guilty Pleasure?

It always looks different in the daytime.

Especially when you were there last night till late-thirty, riding high on the after-effects of a packed, sweaty house that was rockin' all night, what with it being Guilty Pleasures' ''Rock Night'' and all. But the rag-tag, fugitive, fleet-fingered members of Nashville's greatest loosely configured '70s and '80s cover band are back at it again this fall afternoon. There may be football on the TV over the bar, but there's also Trisha Brantley's ''big book of lyrics,'' and there are songs to be learned.

What? You thought Grimey, Kimbrough, Tashian, Deaderick, Gerhke, Tommy, Marna, Kat, Kim, Masa, Jen, Jocelyn, Jeremy and whoever else ends up on the Slow Bar's stage know all those tunes by heart? Think again....

''We got it, man!'' exclaims Slow Bar proprietor/Guilty Pleasures guitarist Mike Grimes as I walk in the door. He's not talking to me, though; he's encouraged by the fact that their rendition of Heart's Alone, featuring Jocelyn Taylor and Brantley on vocals, has come together so quickly. Tonight, Grimes notes later, is ''Chick Night,'' with a power ballad-heavy rundown destined to bring out the Benatar-lovin' best from band and crowd alike.

After a verse and chorus, the band has the instrumental rudiments down; now it's just a case of locking in the harmonies, which, on a Heart song, ain't an easy task. Keyboardist John Deaderick is pretty much warbling as high as his lanky frame will let him, and Jocelyn is trying to find the right place for her rich soprano. Brantley is the utility infielder, cracking the whip to keep the rehearsal flowing, shuffling around the reams of paper that make up the Guilty Pleasures ''songbook,'' and even providing some last-minute stage attire for horn guy/singer Tommy Keenum from her vintage clothing enterprise, The Hip Zipper. Right now, though, she's waiting for Jocelyn to find her vocal comfort place, which is where she'll jump in for the harmony part. ''You pick a note and I'll follow you,'' Trisha says, mostly patiently.

That's how it goes for a Guilty Pleasures rehearsal. They try to mix up the show as much as possible (save for guitarist Will Kimbrough's spot-on delivery of Journey's Lights, which always kicks off the night), but the experience and versatility of the players lets the singers play around a little bit.

Sometimes all it takes is one pass, as it does this day with Kevin Rhoads, a shaven-headed kid who has apparently spent way too much time listening to Vanilla Ice. Rhoads walks in while the band is picking up Annie Lennox's Why, with Marna Taylor wailing away while bassist Daniel Tashian plucks out his part prone on the floor. The band takes a moment to reset, then launches into Ice Ice Baby, for which Rhoads mounts the stage and doesn't miss a word, syllable or Rob Van Winkle vocal nuance. And when the song is over, just like that, he's gone.

Sometimes it takes a little experimentation, as with the re-creation of the Phil Collins/Philip Bailey hit Easy Lover. They cycle through four different sets of male vocalists in about 30 seconds before handing the assignment to Tashian and Keenum. With Keenum doubling Bailey's ridiculously high vocal parts, it's agreed this one is better earlier in the night, and tentative set lists are starting to form.

And then there are times when it takes just a little more effort to get a song off the ground. Japanese-American folk-rocker Masa needs four runs through My Sharona to get the lyrics down. (''You guys won't know what I'm saying anyway,'' he accurately notes later on.) Kat Martin, Keenum and Jocelyn need a little extra time for the ornate ''choreography'' required for Salt 'N' Pepa's Push It. And, as the band approaches the seventh hour of rehearsal (following an equal amount of rehearsal time plus a nearly four-hour show the night before), the appeal of learning Boys Don't Cry's I Wanna Be A Cowboy is just about nil.

Eventually the rehearsal breaks up, but by around 10:30 p.m., when the lights go down in the city and the sun shines on the bay, the crowd wedged into the bar that has become an East Nashville mainstay will have little to no idea that the players on the platform before them have been aiming for this moment since about noon today. The crowd is just there for the music and the memories. And so are Grimey, Kimbrough, Tashian, Deaderick, Gerhke, Tommy, Marna, Kat, Kim, Masa, Jen, Jocelyn, Jeremy and whoever else ends up on the Slow Bar stage.

–Lucas Hendrickson

Getting below the Surface...

2009-10-01T15:57:00.000-05:00

Turn up the radio...

2009-07-16T17:11:00.004-05:00

It feels a little weird to sit and reminisce about decades-old audio equipment while listening to Pandora, but there seems to be an influx of stories and blog posts honoring the 30th anniversary of the Walkman and various other music consumption gear.

So when I started seeing several places mentioning a website devoted to boomboxes (look under the "Golden Years" section), naturally my curiosity got rolling. Namely...would they have a photo and/or a mention of my very first portable stereo?

The answer: yup.

"Another Sanyo, this one from 1983 boasts a 4 band tuner, 10 step VU/Sound Level LED display and AMSS, aka automatic music search. What's AMSS? It's a "smart" feature that allows you to rewind or fast forward through songs, then stopping just before the next one begins (similar to skipping through a CD's tracks). It's nothing more than a noise detection mechanism, that stops the motors when the player hits a spot on the tape with no audio."

I can't remember if it was a birthday or Christmas gift, but that thing got hauled all over West Texas to innumerable athletic events, and as with previous generations of student-athletes that attended my small, private alma mater high school, there was the unspoken agreement that if music with "objectionable content" was being played in the van (yeah, we traveled in vans...we were that small), several occupants would cough loudly when the objectionable word(s) would come up. Our coaches/teachers must've thought there was an odd case of pleurisy that only appeared during weekend athletic trips.

It was also part of my audio arsenal throughout college, and even made the move to Tennessee, finally settling in my bathroom and serving as my morning entertainment as I got ready to head to the Banner at 5:15am. I'm sure my neighbors appreciated that.

I also can't remember what eventually happened to it, but I think the thing finally shorted out due to residing in a bathroom for a few years.

I wonder...is there going to be this same kind of nostalgia when the iPod generation starts getting early onset mail from AARP? I'm betting not.

Stories you never want to see...

2009-07-04T16:49:00.003-05:00

Much less have to report...much less have to think about...much less have happen in the first place...

I spent an afternoon with Steve McNair in the summer of 2004 getting photos for Sports Nashville magazine. You could tell McNair had a lot on his mind that afternoon, but was receptive to the ideas that were being thrown out to him.

My most vivid memory comes from when we had him down by a creek on the property where we were shooting. We kept moving around trying to get the right angle or right light, but McNair was perfectly content with the fishing pole we'd put in his hands to just cast a few times into this stream. It was the most relaxed we saw him all day.

It now stands in stark contrast to the news of the day, a story that's probably only going to get uglier as the details emerge.

Rest in peace, Steve. I'll always remember your strength on the field, and your smile beside that stream.

USA TODAY: "CMA Festival hits all the right notes"

2009-06-15T09:16:00.002-05:00

(This story appeared in the Monday, June 15 edition of USA TODAY.)

As one-half of what brought the music world's attention to Tennessee this weekend, Nashville's CMA Music Festival attracted thousands of fans and dozens of country artists. USA TODAY took it all in.

Get the party started: Rodney Atkins served as grand marshal for the downtown parade that kicked off CMA Fest Wednesday, an honor he didn't learn about until the day before and one that allowed Atkins and his family (wife Tammy Jo and son Elijah) to have time together before the hectic five days ahead. "She took her flip-flops off and she rode through the parade barefoot," Atkins said. "We just got to be ourselves, have fun and do it together as a family."

Shift into overdrive: The members of Little Big Town see the festival as the equivalent of a sports season's opening day. "It's the thing that puts it into the extra gear of summer," said Jimi Westbrook. While the group's Wednesday fan club party was at the beginning of the festivities, Kimberly Schlapman says planning for next year's bash starts before the last autograph is signed. "Every year when we finish a fan club party, we go, 'Here's what we're doing next year and here's what we're doing different, here's what we liked and here's what we didn't like.' "

Picking and choosing: Wednesday's most anticipated event was the Alan Jackson club gig marking his 20 years of hitmaking, and fans had to make some tough choices if they wanted to get in on the rare opportunity. "We had to leave (Little Big Town's party) to come get in line for a wristband for Alan," said Linda Stolting of Memphis. "We stood in line for about two hours to get in there, but we could only stay for a few songs."

So you're saying Alan Jackson wins out? "Every time."

Caution, superstar traffic ahead: Euphemisms about her looks aside, Kellie Pickler literally stopped traffic Wednesday afternoon while filming bits for ABC's CMA special airing Aug. 31. Coming out of the world-famous Ernest Tubb Record Shop on Broadway with TV crew in tow, Pickler was instantly mobbed by fans who moved with her in an amorphous blob as she attempted to cross the street.

"This is amazing!" Pickler squealed. "As long as everybody's having a good time and nobody gets hit, then it's great."

The future is now: Marty Stuart's Late Night Jam can usually be counted on as a place to find young and upcoming acts — but not always ones as young as the showstoppers called The Martin Brothers. Guitarist March, 11, and singer Kell, 8, are sons of Stuart's Fabulous Superlatives bass player Paul Martin, and the boys played and sang a pair of numbers with Stuart's band, garnering a standing ovation Wednesday night from the Ryman Auditorium crowd. "You don't have steady jobs and you've got a pretty girl driving you around," Stuart said, referring to beaming mom/vocalist Jamie. "Congratulations, boys — you're professional musicians."

That's dedication: A line started forming alongside the Nashville Convention Center at 9 p.m. Wednesday for signing sessions with Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire that didn't start until 1 p.m. the next day. "As soon as we found out they were going to be here, we knew we had to be in line," said Amanda Breeden of Martinsburg, W.Va., who was in the prime spot for the Thursday sessions.

"I just can't believe the devotion and the support they always give," McEntire said after her session. "It still amazes me that they will come to Nashville and do that to get an autograph."

The trend presented itself again Saturday afternoon when fans started lining up at 3:30 p.m. for Taylor Swift's marathon session that began at 10 a.m. Sunday morning.

Where's a ShamWow when you need it? Heidi Newfield used CMA Fest to signal Thursday's launch of her fan club. "I wanted to wait until I got on my feet and really got some music out there that people recognized, and to make it a little bit more special," she says. But even though she's fairly new to the solo artist thing (she's formerly of Trick Pony), she's got years of experience with the autograph pen and a quick answer to the most difficult surface on which to leave her mark.

"A sweaty head is the hardest thing to sign," Newfield says. "Sharpie just won't stay on a sweaty, shaved head."

Twist and shout: Even though Bo Bice was able to use American Idol as a springboard to the music world's attention, he admits that he can still "goob out" when he sees somebody of whom he's a fan. That includes Steve McGranahan, the "World's Strongest Redneck," who performed one of his feats of strength for Bice on Thursday, hand-twisting a horseshoe into the shape of a heart. "This is going right up there with my gold records, dude," Bice said, beaming at McGranahan. "I'm happy."

When it rains …: A 3½-hour rain delay Thursday night prevented Rascal Flatts from performing during the nightly concerts at LP Field, but the power trio made its way through the press gauntlet before the downpour. Always looking to lighten the mood, Jay DeMarcus decided to engage in a little canine conversation during the band's photo shoot with USA TODAY, exchanging barks with Julianne Hough's spaniel Lexi.

Like almost every other act appearing during the week, Rascal Flatts talked about the importance of fans and how artists in other genres are coming to realize that today's music industry requires a new level of transparency. "You are naturally personable with your fans or you aren't," DeMarcus says. "That's not something anyone can teach you."

Avoiding sophomore slump: CMA's best new artist Lady Antebellum lit up the LP Field crowd Friday night like the seasoned performers they're becoming, but the band is keenly aware of expectations for a second record looming around the corner. "We'd be lying if we said there wasn't pressure," Hillary Scott said. "It keeps you on your toes, but you can't let it consume you because then you're off your game."

CMA Fest vs. Bonnaroo: The Atlanta-based, six-piece Zac Brown Band had one of the more musically diverse weeks, being one of two bands (bluegrass family outfit Cherryholmes being the other) playing both CMA Fest and Bonnaroo. But lead singer Brown noted the two festivals shared one important denominator: "It's two different demographics, but they're all just people wanting to hear good music."

When the going gets tough: Country rocker Jason Aldean hardly slowed down Friday, racing from his prime-time slot at LP Field across the river to the Wildhorse Saloon for a fan club show benefiting the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation. If he was tired, he wasn't going to let it show. "You tell yourself that it's just a few days and they're the ones who give us a career and support us all year long, so it's a small price to pay," Aldean says.

Ring her up: Sometimes, it's as simple as picking up the phone. "He just called and asked if I wanted to do the duet with him, and I said absolutely," said Martina McBride matter-of-factly about performing with Kid Rock on Picture during Rock's "surprise" appearance Friday night. "He's a great guy and it was a blast. I had so much fun."

Bring Mom to Work Day: Though Wynonna has worked hard for her solo stardom, she does get excited about the occasional onstage reunion she and mother Naomi have as The Judds. Backstage before such an occurrence Saturday night, she admitted to nerves beyond what she normally experiences. For starters, "I never know what my mother is going to do or say," Wynonna says. Then "I never know what the fans are going to do or say to me on stage. It's somewhere between panic and peace."

Dude, where are you supposed to be? CMA media relations director Scott Stem talked about a reporter from a surfing magazine showing up for credentials because he'd been told to fly to Nashville and check out the music festival, likely meaning Bonnaroo. "We weren't going to turn him away," Stem said, "but he's probably going to look funny going home with stories about Reba McEntire for a surfing magazine."

Tennessean: "Kid Rock invites Martina into the 'Picture'"

2009-06-14T13:57:00.002-05:00

(This story appeared in The Tennessean and on TuneInMusicCity.com Sunday, June 14.)

Sometimes, it's as simple as picking up the phone.

"He just called and asked if I wanted to do the duet with him, and I said absolutely," said Martina McBride, matter-of-factly. Martina was speaking of her appearance with Kid Rock on the song "Picture" during Rock's "surprise" appearance at Friday's CMA Music Festival concert at LP Field.

"He's been to our studio before and worked, he's a great guy and it was a blast. I had so much fun."

Martina was at it again Saturday with her annual appearance at the charity auction benefiting the YWCA Domestic Violence Center. Martina says not only does the event generate much-needed funds, but it also gives her an extra bit of personal motivation.

"This coincides with my closet cleaning every year. I brought out some items that are really special to me, the dress I wore to sing at the White House for Stevie Wonder and the dress I wore on the Flameworthys a couple years ago to close the show," she said, referring to the former name of the CMT Music Awards.

"It's an opportunity for me to go through and try to figure out what would really mean a lot to my fans and what would bring the most money for the YWCA."

TIMC: "Aldean keeps music going late-night for Komen For the Cure benefit"

2009-06-14T13:54:00.002-05:00

(This story appeared Saturday, June 13 on TuneInMusicCity.com)

So many aspects of CMA Music Festival involve hybrids.

For the fans, the week is both a vacation and a chance to celebrate their favorite music and artists. For the artists, the fan interaction merges with the opportunity to get exposed to a wider audience.

So when an event within CMA Fest can serve two purposes – late-night fan party and worthwhile cause benefit – even better.

Friday night’s Jason Aldean-headlined show at the Wildhorse Saloon featured the requisite special guests, as hitmakers Luke Bryan and Jake Owen brought the party straight over from LP Field to play short sets after newcomer Ashley Ray opened the show.

But the true stars of the night were the breast cancer patients and survivors supported by the Susan G. Komen For The Cure organization, the event’s beneficiaries. Having such an event tied in with country music’s biggest party is a natural for an organization that celebrates cancer survival alongside early detection and education.

“Country music has such a universal message and the fan base is so broad, it really helps us reach every element of the fan base with our message,” said Tracy Rode, president of the Greater Nashville affiliate of the Komen organization. “There’s so much work to be done to cure breast cancer, but everyone’s involvement can really make a difference.”

Aldean, who was whisked from his prime-time slot at the stadium to the Wildhorse, said the loss of the wife of one of his best friends to breast cancer at age 29 got him involved with the organization, and that the multi-purpose event suits him well.

“It’s something we started doing back in 2005 and it’s gotten a little bigger and better every year. It’s a really serious disease, but at the same time we have a lot of fun with the show,” Aldean said. “It’s not all about the sad side of breast cancer. There are so many people who are survivors of it, and the other thing is that affects both men and women, which is something not everybody realizes.”

“CMT Top 20 Countdown” host Lance Smith served as emcee for the event, and even amidst the hectic pace of the week, noted that this event was a personal highlight. “I get asked to do a lot of events because I’m that four-letter word – host – but really it’s just about friendships and relationships,” Smith said. “Then you look at what it’s for, and everyone’s been affected by cancer, directly or indirectly. When you see benefits like this, it’s easy to say yes, regardless of who you know.”

TIMC: "World’s Strongest Redneck works over CMA festival"

2009-06-12T16:09:00.005-05:00

(This story appeared Friday, June 12 on TuneInMusicCity.com)

Steve McGranahan stands out.

At six feet tall and 375 pounds, the North Carolina native gets his fair share of requests for pictures. His favorite pose? Lining up his 22-inch biceps alongside somebody’s thigh. McGranahan’s arms are usually bigger.

The photo requests are merely part of the gig of being the “World’s Strongest Redneck,” the moniker McGranahan has used through stand-up comedy, motivational speaking and, most famously, appearances on CMT’s “Country Fried Home Videos” and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” showcasing his feats.

McGranahan’s fame has literally been built by hand, using his prodigious hand strength to rend, morph or otherwise obliterate objects into shreds — or works of art. One of McGranahan’s favorite tricks is to twist — by hand — a horseshoe into the shape of a heart.

He did it back stage Thursday at Cadillac Ranch for an appreciative and awed Bo Bice as part of the hectic schedule McGranahan was keeping during CMA Music Festival.

In-between the A-list superstars and the street-level performers just trying to get noticed during the Country Music Association’s festival is a galaxy of potential stars with a story, a gimmick and some professional experience trying to make that next step. McGranahan knows that even 10 years into this kind of career, there are logical progressions to that step.

“The goal here is getting sponsors, growing the brand out there, hopefully getting some more support,” McGranahan says. “There’s strategy behind it, sure, but a lot of it is just going through the doors as they open. We did more in the first day of my visit this year than we did the whole time last year. Each year, we build upon what we did last year and it just keeps getting bigger and better.”

In the short term, McGranahan hopes to shift his act to a touring support role for artists who love what he does while continuing to hone his feature performances. “It’s all about getting out there, getting that 15 minutes of glory every night, get the crowd fired up, laughin’, happy and exuding endorphins, then boom, let main act hit.”

Meanwhile, McGranahan is more than willing to methodically work at elevating his profile, much the same as he is methodical about honing and performing his tricks. He prays aloud before hand rolling a frying pan into what he called a “redneck hot dog cooker or blow dryer,” an object that fetched $200 during the live auction at Andy Griggs’ celebrity poker tournament.

McGranahan is careful to wrap the ends of a 60d nail (more a spike, really… 6 inches long and one gauge thick) with cowhide straps before bending it in half…one of his favorite greetings. When he hands you the nail, you can feel the heat emanating at the bend point.

And McGranahan knows what he does is unique, so much so that he offers anyone who can bend the 60d nail in half a free “World’s Strongest Redneck” T-shirt. He hasn’t parted with much clothing over the years.

“In the 10 years I’ve done this, I’ve had six guys get free shirts,” McGranahan says. “And three of ’em were from Pennsylvania. There are some strong dudes there.”

So how far can the really strong ones who don’t make it, but give it their all, bend the nail? “Usually about 10 degrees,” he says. “Beer muscles show up with these guys sometimes, too. And they wake up the next day wondering why every muscle in their bodies hurt.”

New Day for "Tonight"...

2009-06-02T11:16:00.004-05:00

Big day in the media world yesterday as Conan O'Brien took over as the fifth host of "The Tonight Show."

And for the first time in 17 years, it felt like "The Tonight Show."

Big, expansive stage. Band to the right. Interview set to the left. Announcer/sidekick at about 8 o'clock as we're looking at the host.

And an emcee who has hit his stride in such a way that he should not only bring his hard-earned audience forward an hour with him, but is savvy enough to get the folks used to a certain sort of post-late news comedic world to stick around.

The show's cold open, with Conan realizing he hadn't done the final item on his show prep checklist and having to sprint from sea to shining sea (or at least to the Universal lot), also did one other, slightly more subversive thing.

Set with the background of Cheap Trick's "Surrender," it said that this is going to be the "Tonight Show" for Generation X, that much-maligned and now-suffering group of folks in their late 30s, early 40s who live in an absurdist world not of their own choosing.

We're the ones hopefully with kids, jobs, responsibilities (clearly, I'm not talking about myself...) that just want a look-in on the world from between our toes as we start drifting off to sleep.

And sometimes, we want that look to be a little off-kilter...Leno was never really able to provide that, certainly not in the way his predecessor could (Carnac and/or Art Fern, anyone?) and not in the way his successor will.

Amazing how different two guys from Boston can be. Part of it is their background: Leno as a stand-up guy who slugged it out in front of club crowds for years, O'Brien plucked out of a writer's room on The Simpsons who suffered his performance growing pains in front of a national TV audience (albeit small those first few years.)

But after close to 3,000 hours spent with a camera pointing at him, Conan's got this stuff down pat.

And say what you will about Leno still having a few good years in him and he's still making NBC Universal a boatload of money and he'll redefine prime-time when his new show debuts in September...it was time Conan graduated to the big stage.

So congrats to the folks at the new "Tonight Show," including recently transplanted Nashvillian/music guru Jim Pitt, on their first outing. The big-name stunt booking is going to bring them plenty of eyeballs this week, but if the first show is any indication, it'll be the quality of the production that keeps them looking in.

Brother (and/or Sister), can you spare a mouse click?

2009-05-28T15:41:00.006-05:00

So here's the deal...I'm asking for your help.

(Those of you who are sports fans and/or Tennessee Titans fans, I'm *really* asking for your help.)

In the interest of full disclosure, I'm feeling a little bit like Crash Davis from Bull Durham here. After so many years in the "getting paid for my work" leagues, I don't like to try out. (Nor do I believe in quantum physics when it comes to matters of the heart, but that's a discussion for another time.)

However, I'm finding myself in the odd position of trying out for a position...namely as an NFL correspondent for the CBSSports.com-affiliated site BleacherReport.com.

They're looking for writers in each NFL city for the upcoming season, and they're basically holding open auditions right now. Since I've been a rabid observer of NFL football since I can remember, and since there's a team in my virtual backyard, I thought I'd give it a go.

Here's where you come in...I need you to go read my stuff. I've written and posted five pieces already, with a couple more to go per the tryout requirements.

Here are the links to the pieces I've posted:

I need to pump up the page views. For those of you with opinions on the NFL and/or the Titans, I need some comments, criticisms, etc. (Yes, feel free to disagree with me, so many do...)

Mainly, I just need to bring my significant and oh-so-influential friend/fanbase to the party.

Can you take a few minutes and help a ridiculously tall re-emerging sports writer out?

Thanks so much...love ya, mean it...

Been there, experienced that...

2009-05-27T11:53:00.002-05:00

(h/t to David Bean for bringing this forward...)

A night of firsts...

2009-05-11T12:31:00.004-05:00

As many times as I've been in the audience at the Ryman Auditorium, it's only on the odd occasion that something new happens to me.

At Sunday night's "Unwigged and Unplugged" show, featuring Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest, the following brand-new things occurred:

* I was handed a live mic and allowed to address the artists on stage.

* My name was spoken aloud from that hallowed stage (twice, actually...)

And...

* I was proposed to from said stage.

Back to the final bullet point in a minute.

It's long been my contention that everyone who even thinks about working in the music business (even in the miasmatic state its in today) should be required to watch This Is Spinal Tap before drawing their first paycheck. Even as the film celebrates its silver anniversary this year, the characters and situations still ring true.

I could point you in the direction (in several different genres, actually) of real-life analogues of not only David, Derek and Nigel, but also Ian Faith, Bobbi Flekman, Artie Fufkin, Sir Denis Eaton-Hogg and many more. I know dozens of people who could tell stories of gigs gone awry, record labels falling out of love with their artists (and vice versa), and chemistry problems (both metaphorical and actual) within the band.

So This Is Spinal Tap has long been a great primer for actually working in and around this business of music.

But I think that when people look at that movie, and the others that sprung from the fertile comedic fields of this trio and their usual suspects (ie. A Mighty Wind, Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, etc), they tend to focus primarily on the improvisational aspects of the film.

What people don't realize, and what was underscored tremendously with the Unwigged show, is that yeah, it's easy to improv around basic tenets of a story when you've got anchors like these songs you can use to grab and hold onto.

As opposed to other, lesser attempts at improv comedy filmmaking that tend to focus on one good piece of supporting material (if that), This Is Spinal Tap has a dozen-plus songs (and snippets of many more) that add to the overall filmmaking and -watching experience. You feel that (albeit manufactured) history underscoring and enhancing the (albeit manufactured) reality...and hilarity.

So when McKean, Guest and Shearer rolled out songs like "Hell Hole," "Stonehenge" and "Big Bottom" from Tap's metal period, supported by their skiffle anthems "All The Way Home" and "Gimme Some Money" or the psychedelia of "(Listen To The) Flower People," it amplified the power those pieces have, adding to the storytelling experience in such a way that exposition never could have.

And that's just the stuff from This Is Spinal Tap. "Never Did No Wanderin'," "Blood On The Coal," "Old Joe's Place" and the title track from A Mighty Wind did the exact same thing.

So, back to the proposal story...

I'd heard that they had a Q&A section in the middle of the show, so armed with that knowledge, the fact that I ask people questions for a "living" and that I would be sitting in the second row led me think maybe I'd have a pretty good chance to be chosen for a query.

The plan deepened right before the show, when I met up with my friend Yvonne Smith, a ridiculously fetching blonde woman unafraid to join me on the second row. I told her my intended question, of which she approved, and so we decided that she would garner the boys' attention, then hand off the mic to me for the question.

Which is exactly what happened, and Yvonne admitted it on the mic before handing it over to me. Only McKean jumped ahead of the question to ask, "Lucas, you're not going to ask her to marry you right now, are you?" to which I could only sputter into the mic a denial. Shearer said something about the pressure being on me now.

I asked the question: "If J.J. Abrams were to approach you about a Spinal Tap prequel..." (pause for audience reaction) "...who would you suggest play David, Derek and Nigel?"

Guest responded first by saying, obviously, Nigel should be played by comedian Martin Lawrence. Shearer, apparently unaware that Dwayne Johnson stopped going by this name a while back, said Nigel would be better suited being played by The Rock. Seth Green got thrown into the equation by McKean.

Shearer (I think) said the casting question was food for thought, but then looked at me and answered seriously that the prequel idea was something they've been approached about many times, but they've consistently turned away.

The crowd laughed, the guys laughed...for me, mission accomplished. Not just that I got my question asked and answered, but it was something clearly they're not asked about in that context often. I derive a lot of satisfaction from interview subjects having to think about an answer, rather than spewing something they dig up on autopilot.

Right after the Q&A section, they showed the second of two fan videos set to Spinal Tap songs, this one the Lego version of "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" (see embedded video below), and McKean noted that rather than throwing up the devil horns/rock fingers sign, from now on we should all just throw up the "Lego hands" (kind of a cockeyed C-shape) to show our pleasure with something that rocks especially hard.

And so, after they played "A Mighty Wind" and a jazzed-up version of "Big Bottom," Yvonne and I both thrust the Lego hands into the air microseconds before McKean did it on stage. He looked at us, laughed, and said "Lucas, would you marry *me*?"

"Wow," I thought as I struggled for breath while laughing, "...awkward." I remember feeling the iPhone in my shirt pocket and thinking, "I wonder what kind of messages are going to be waiting for me when this show is over."

And then McKean goes a step further in underlining the awkwardness, introducing his wife, the lovely and talented (and Oscar-nominated with McKean) Annette O'Toole, who sang with the trio on "The Good Book Song" and dueted with McKean on "A Kiss At The End of the Rainbow."

Oh, sure...propose to me one minute, kiss your wife two songs later.

To say Nashville's Unwigged tour stop was a memorable night will forever be an understatement. It was fun to see yet another set of artists be staggered by the history of the Ryman Auditorium, to see locals like Delbert McClinton, Bela Fleck and Casey Driessen adopted into the Tap fold temporarily (and gratefully, if the looks on the primaries' faces were to be believed), and to see an energetic crowd show such love for rock 'n' roll 'n' movies 'n' more.

But, Michael...as flattered as I am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn you down. I'm holding out for Harry, mainly because of these two simple words: Simpsons money.

Still boldly going...

2009-05-08T15:21:00.002-05:00

If the Star Wars prequels taught us anything, it's one simple idea: "Don't suck."

The power of J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise comes in the form that, although the film takes you back to the beginnings of characters you know and love, it doesn't presuppose that everything you know about those characters will inevitably happen. (An idea which, according to friends who are also LOST devotees, kinda runs counter to Abrams' now-most famous TV work...)

In fact, it goes a long way to tell you, repeatedly, that they might not. Doesn't mean they won't, but it doesn't mean they're gonna.

Everything is new once again. Yet nothing you know is wrong. Yet not everything you know will be right.

Chris Pine plays James T. Kirk with a recklessness that isn't done to distance himself from what we know of William Shatner's portrayal, but in a way that is completely (and eventually) explainable within the storyline.

The storyline also presents Zachary Quinto's Spock with the only scenario worse than being a child of two worlds, yet welcome in neither, his primary dramatic conflict throughout the series. Spock's inner struggles are only enhanced by the choices he's made, to deny part of himself, only to have the source of his choice taken away tragically.

The difference between this version of the Star Trek franchise and the superhero movie series we've seen roll out over the past few years is that we're conditioned to view the superhero universes as fluid. The comics and graphic novels change course at the whims and wills of the creators and or companies involved. We know that the Superman, Batman and Spider-man origins presented on the big screen aren't meant to be canon, merely a representative of that character in that format.

Star Trek, however, has remained remarkably consistent across the four decades (and various series and spinoffs) of its existence. These core characters have stayed true to their original mission, and the echoes of their work have carried on through the motion pictures and television efforts.

Abrams' film doesn't erase what has come before, but simply resets it, allowing this Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura and company to chart their own course, one that may or may not be equal to the one we already know.

What this sets up is not only a sense of curiosity about their futures, but also a sense of peril. These folks may or may not survive through subsequent chapters, because this film sets up their future as unknown. Which makes for great potential storytelling.

At the same time, Abrams doesn't ignore the past (or future) we already know, going so far as to plant a character who remembers what the Enterprise crew becomes. (How's that for awkward tense structure?)

That's just the underpinning. The action, the pacing, the humor (never overt, but certainly present)...all of them add to the overall impact of the movie as a whole.

This is one Star Trek experience I wish I could see unfold in front of me every single week. Too bad it'll probably be three years before we see what happens next...but happen it shall, especially after Paramount sees this weekend's box office numbers.

This one, naturally, goes to 11...

2009-05-05T12:50:00.001-05:00

Sunday night. Unwigged and unplugged, but not unTapped. Can't wait.

One fan at a time...

2009-04-22T15:56:00.004-05:00

Scant moments after this shot was taken, I could feel a music-spawned smile form on my face.

(And, no, it wasn't because I was most of the way through a Yazoo Hop Project #14. Though it certainly didn't hinder the process.)

I felt myself smiling because not only was standing outside of Grimey's New and Preloved Music/The Basement on a glorious mid-April afternoon, listening to a band that I've become very fond of -- the stompgrass stylings of The Avett Brothers -- but also because there were hundreds of others, mainly college-aged kids, doing the exact same thing.

And singing along with every word.

A bulk of this crowd was in near-constant motion -- jumping 'round, pumping fists, pointing their heads to the bright blue sky as they bellowed out lyrics. And I thought it was fantastic.

Because with the constant talk of artists having to take it upon themselves to pluck fans one at a time out of the ether...and music fans having to act as their own de facto A&R folks and wade through the miasma of music being "released" every day...it was heart-warming to see a young band and their young-and-growing crowd be able to stop that process for a little while and enjoy each others' company.

Here's hoping this particular paradigm can happen more often.

From another fan perspective...

Feelin' Drooby...

2009-03-26T12:20:00.003-05:00

This is the perils of living in a town that's more musical than technical in nature (even though most of the musical folks are also Mac addicts...)

Specifically, last time I did a Twitter post about Drobo (the data storage device), a couple people thought I was talking about a Dobro (the resonator guitar model)...

Oh, Nashville...I do love you so...

So, hey, @scottbourne, let me help you spread the gospel o' Drobo...you seem to have more than a few to spread around...

Ustream Studio Austin: Day One

2009-03-14T10:33:00.002-05:00

Note the title. The vast, vast majority of the time I'm spending in Austin over the next week will be spent working with Ustream.tv and their Ustream Studio.

(Though, if anybody wants to toss me a badge for the music section of "the festival that shall not be named without prior permission," I probably wouldn't turn it down. More on that story later.)

Through this, we'll deliver between six and eight hours of conversation and music PER DAY over the next 10 days.

I'll be moderating the daily versions of "Are You Really Experienced?", a discussion of music, tech and creativity, together with a rotating panel of folks, including tech writer Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins from SiliconAngle.com.

(The rest of the time, looks like I'll be stage managing the shows, shuffling people on and off the set, and generally trying to keep to a schedule...which is generating laughter from some of you at this very moment. But realize...this also means I'm getting to occasionally yell at people, which I find fun. So there.)

There's way too many ideas flying around this small room at The Belmont on Sixth Street (which, if you're gonna be stuck in a small room for a bunch of days, you want to be stuck there), but I'll try to capture them as best I can. If nothing else, I'll get some shots with Jeff "The Dude" Dowd, the real-life inspiration behind one fictional Jeff Lebowski, a character I've been more and more accused of looking like lately.

See you at 4pm Saturday at the Ustream Studio for "Are You Really Experienced?"

It's a marathon, not a sprint...

2009-03-13T08:23:00.005-05:00

Even after all these years of being an observer/commentator about the music world, it's fun to know that I can still experience some firsts.

I'm in Austin for the first time during South By Southwest.

I'll be with the Ustream.tv Studio folks most of the time, at the way-too-cool venue The Belmont. (There aren't much nicer places to spend SXSW, I'd imagine.) I'll be "on air" daily as part of the "Are You Really Experienced?" music/tech discussions, and then generally trying to see what kind of havoc I can get myself into.

It will be pure sensory overload, I feel certain. I'll try to process it as best I can, and redirect it back out here for you.

Meanwhile, if you want to give me any directions, caveats, pitfalls to avoid, barbecue to consume...follow me on Twitter @tuneinlucas or send an old-fashioned email to largelandmammal@gmail.com.

PasteMagazine.com: Jack White unveils new band, The Dead Weather

2009-03-12T22:55:00.002-05:00

(Posted March 12, 2009)

By Lucas Hendrickson

You first have to wonder just how many side projects one musician needs.

Then, when you see the attention to detail for both his new band, The Dead Weather, and the new physical space for his Third Man Records endeavor, you know the answer for Jack White: as many as he wants.

As hackneyed as the phrase “supergroup” has become, White, last night in Nashville, unveiled another unit in which he can ply his seemingly infinite musical curiosity. The Dead Weather is a tightly wound four-piece consisting of The Kills vocalist Alison Mosshart on vocals, Queens of the Stone Age’s Dean Fertita on guitar, White’s fellow Raconteurs racket-maker Jack Lawrence on bass and White on drums.

White certainly doesn’t keep his contributions confined to the kit, though the rhythm section does seem to drive a preponderance of the tracks on the group’s forthcoming debut, Horehound. White also played guitar, but left the bulk of the leads to Fertita (who also contributed organ and piano work) during the three-week tracking sessions that generated Dead Weather’s first effort.

The band previewed the recorded project in front of a select audience at the new Third Man Records space in Nashville, followed by a live show in the complex’s performance space. The first single, the muscularly fuzzy “Hang You From The Heavens,” is available now on iTunes, with the full album to follow in June.

The Horehound sessions found the band playing live together in a single room on many of the tracks, choosing to focus on purpose rather than perfection, and was recorded to two-inch eight track tape rather than digitally. A cover of Bob Dylan’s “New Pony” that made it onto the record was even drawn from a rough mix.

White’s longtime manager Ian Montone welcomed the evening's listeners to the Third Man headquarters, and talked about plans for the downtown Nashville location, including rehearsal space, a photo studio and eventually a record store. The latter plan spins right into the companies’ relationship with United Record Pressing, one of the few remaining vinyl pressing plants left in America.

White called the new location his “new bear cave away from home,” calling the effort a way to combat “the age of invisible music, which is causing us to be fearful for 50 different reasons.” He also said the company has a number of projects already in the works, but looks forward to the opportunity for fostering bands he sees potential in, and bringing them to the complex for quick-turnaround recording, imaging and product manufacturing that can generate 45s for the bands to sell at shows.

“This is about the physicality of music,” White said. “It’s music you can smell, touch…taste if you want to.”

Set list:

60 Feet Tall
Hang You From The Heavens
Weapon
Treat Me Like Your Mother
New Pony (Bob Dylan cover)

This week on "AYRE?"...No Lines, No Videos, No Time Left Before SXSW

2009-03-11T22:59:00.002-05:00

This week on "Are You Really Experienced?" we lifted our embargo on U2's No Line On The Horizon, talked about the YouTube/UK music industry rift, and generally geared up for a week's worth of shows live from South By Southwest.

The usual cast of characters (Michael Sean Wright, Dr. Tony Shore, the recently tanned, rested and ready Joe Kirk, the "way smarter than we are" Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins and yours truly) hashed it out, just like we do each and every Monday at 10E/9C/8M/7P. Join us, won't you?

Now THAT'S original...

2009-03-02T12:08:00.003-06:00

Not normally a big "Family Guy" guy, but this definitely strikes a chord. Especially if you think there's not a lot of originality in music these days...

AYRE?: Set The Music Free (?)

2009-02-19T13:06:00.003-06:00

If you'll look to your right (no, not that far), you'll see the new "The Podcast" section, which includes the widget for the "Are You Really Experienced?" podcast I've been involved with for the past month-plus, and to which I'll likely remain involved with for the immediate future.

(At least until Michael Sean Wright and Dr. Tony Shore figure out how much of a closet Luddite I actually am when it comes to matters musical, and start declining to unmute me when the showtime rolls around...)

"Showtime? What's that you say? When do you blithering twidiots (idiots with Twitter accounts...I'm trademarking that momentarily) actually spout this nonsense?"

So glad you asked...we're live on the interwebs every Monday night at 9 pm Central/7 pm Pacific/1 pm Guam. (Just in case we have any hardcore music 'n' tech fanatics tuning in from Guam.) Once again, here's the link: Are You Really Experienced?

On this most recent epic, we delve more into the Live Nation/Ticketmaster marriage, what 360 deals really mean for artists and the companies that offer them, what Nashville's Belmont University (my oft-times employer) does for its students seeking interaction with the music industry, how we were completely unsurprised that Sirius XM is/was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and so much more.

Our bantering is fleshed out by Joe Kirk from NoiseTrade.com, who usually sits kindly by as MSW, Tony and I flail away, and then jumps in with the proper cogent comment.

Take a listen, if you will...let us know what you think.

What if...you don't really, really like it?

2009-02-10T10:30:00.004-06:00

This week on “Are You Really Experienced?” we talk about what was right and wrong (and what Michael Sean Wright thought was wrong) with the Grammys, the ongoing Ticketmaster/Live Nation effort for a virtual ticketing monopoly, a mini-RIAA invasion of the DoJ, what the average person knows/cares about the PROs, and hey, we actually talk about some music! Listen as MSW, Dr. Tony Shore, Joe Kirk and I blather on for an hour about the music ‘n’ tech issues o’ the day…

Let me try to crystallize some thoughts that have been racing around in my head for a long time.

If T Bone Burnett decided he wanted to lead a coup d'état on the nation of Music, sign me up as a foot soldier. I trust his leadership on matters musical implicitly.

However, his comments backstage at the Grammys seem to echo a growing notion of abandonment of music as a method of mass communication, one that I don’t think bodes well for our society as a whole.

“What I think is that there is a limited number of people who like music. But those people really, really like music,” Burnett said. “The record industry got into the business of trying to sell music to everybody. If you make music for people who really care about music, you can do well.”

But if music – the “universal language” – starts to become a mode of communication solely intended for those who “really, really like” it, don’t we all lose in the long run?

The pure idea of mass media products – books, music, film, good writing, solid and credible information – becoming democratized so that those higher ideas are available for all who want them has been watered down over time, and that process of erosion has certainly sped up with the advent of easily available technology.

So much so that pretty much the only thing we’re left with is the lowest common denominator. We, the root level consumer, get the dregs because they’re easy and cheap to produce, and we’re told to like it.

And when you combine that with the flip side of a great and growing number of “consumers” who think, illogically, that all this content should be “free” because they’re unaware (or unwilling to become aware) of the economic structures involve with producing said content, it reinforces the content producers idea that the only thing they should produce is the product they absolutely know will sell. Not “think” will sell…know.

So what happens to the mass of potential music fans – those people who might “really, really like” great music if given the opportunity of exposure to it – don’t get that opportunity if the people who make the music don’t reach out past those who already love it, the people who distribute the music don’t bring it to the much-vaunted “marketplace of ideas,” and audience members don’t think they should have to part with anything other than some hard drive space?

Simple: they don’t become music fans.

Do I think everybody who even ever-so-slightly loves music should listen to and learn to love "Raising Sand"? Absolutely. Do I wish everybody I know who has even a passing interest in music would rush out and buy Burnett's classic "The True False Identity"? Absolutely.

But do I think Burnett and his oh-so-talented co-horts should only make music for those who "really, really like" it? Absolutely not.

Are You Really Experienced?: The Boss

2009-02-03T16:49:00.003-06:00

I don't get a chance to weigh in on what I thought about Bruce Springsteen at the Super Bowl, but Michael Sean Wright and Dr. Tony Shore do. I do, however, get to pontificate on the Sony/Apple slapfight, how young bands can spend too much time on their digital lives and not enough learning how to be a band, and a plethora of other topics on this week's edition of "Are You Really Experienced?", the weekly talkcast of music and tech.

TIMC: "Fiction Family grants musician new outlet"

2009-01-31T08:59:00.004-06:00

(This appears on TuneInMusicCity.com)

By Lucas Hendrickson • FOR THE TENNESSEAN • January 29, 2009

Let's say, for the purposes of illustrating a point, that you're a musician from Southern California.

You've paired with like-minded musicians in pursuit of something a little different for a season. You make a record, you release said record and you decide you want to tour for said record. What's the first thing you do?

Why, travel through the frigid northeast in a van acclimated to life in much warmer climes, of course.

"These are actually the best roads we've seen in a long time," says Jon Foreman, who with guitarist Sean Watkins is traveling as the new collective Fiction Family, in an interview on the road between New York and Boston. "It's been kind of like a winter wonderland tour, with Michigan and Chicago having record low temperatures all the way across."

The Fiction Family project takes Foreman, known by most as the front man for Switchfoot, and Watkins, the rock-solid guitarist for Nickel Creek, out of their musical — and for now physical — comfort zones, giving both a chance to refresh and stretch themselves while their bands are on hiatus.
Partnership grew slowly

Even though Foreman and Watkins are both from the San Diego area and live about 10 minutes from each other, there wasn't much interaction until their bands played a festival-type bill in the city. Numbers and e-mail addresses were exchanged, as well as song ideas, and a new creative partnership formed, albeit slowly.

"The whole process took a long time because we were both on tour and we had no ambition of really doing anything with it," Foreman says. "We were making it song-by-song just for fun, and maybe we'd put it out some day as an EP or just give it away for free. But the whole impetus was just making the music itself."

The tracks on the self-titled Fiction Family debut amble along the acoustic spectrum, a much farther cry from Switchfoot's output than Nickel Creek's. They range from the poppy, XTC-reminiscent first single "When She's Near" to the stark, noir-esque "Betrayal," the first song the pair completed. The songs also gave each musician a chance to play one role at a time in the creation process.

"The second song we did together, called 'Out of Order,' (Sean) pretty much wrote on his own and I provided more of the producer role," Foreman says. "That's a good example of how we both wore different hats: When one of us was producing the song, it allowed the other to dive more into the artistic elements of the song, and vice versa."

And so, with a project under their belts that emerged primarily and simply because it could, Fiction Family is on the road, together with drummer Aaron Redfield and bassist/keyboardist Tyler Chester. Foreman says, after a decade-plus within the framework of Switchfoot, that he's enjoying the challenges of creating a band persona from a clean slate.

"There's a great chemistry and a real friendship because of where we're coming from, but I'm thankful for that," Foreman says. "Switchfoot is a band of brothers and we're all friends, but to start a new band, you don't know what the vibe is going to be like.

"It keeps all of us on our toes, and it's something I've kinda been looking for — musical sparring partners to push all of our techniques and abilities."

"Are You Really Experienced?" 1/26/09

2009-01-26T23:45:00.002-06:00

The new music/tech talkcast I've been hijacked into (thanks, guys!). This week, we deal with the Warner Bros./YouTube tiff, the official White House record collection, the Zune flying off the shelves during the Circuit City liquidation, music subscription models, how MSW is finally going to be able to send us all to SXSW, and so much more.

The continuing saga of Doyle & Debbie...

2009-01-08T09:12:00.010-06:00

They've continued on their 20-year path to stardom, they got their second go-round on national late night TV, they've clearly upgraded their outfits. So, now's a good a time as any to roll back out the "unauthorized" biography of America's Country Sweethearts(tm), Doyle & Debbie...

From the Jan. 10, 2008 edition of All The Rage:

Few things quicken the pulse of a veteran performer like stepping back into the spotlights after such a long time away.

The year just past saw that phenomenon happen for many of the biggest names in music: The Police. Led Zeppelin. Garth Brooks. And now, Doyle & Debbie.

As one-half of the big dogs on the top rung of the fourth tier of country music’s greatest duos, Doyle Mayfield has seen his share of the triumphs associated with limited regional success. In the late ’80s, you could barely turn on your radio in western Idaho and south central Alabama and wait five or six hours without hearing Doyle & Debbie’s breakout hit “Stock Car Love,” which Mayfield performed with first partner, later second wife, Debbie Gentry.

“I knew just as soon as we hit ‘stop’ on that Tascam four-track cassette recorder in 1988 that ‘Stock Car Love’ was gonna be a hit,” Mayfield says. “My wife at the time, Darlene, wondered what I was doing spending all that time in our spare bathroom with Debbie, but when I waved that tape in front of her face and said, ‘Baby, this is the ticket to the good life,’ she understood.”

Neither Darlene Mayfield Schwartz nor Debbie Gentry Mayfield could be reached for comment.

After Mayfield and Gentry married in 1989 and as the first incarnation of Doyle & Debbie toured relentlessly into the early ’90s, hits like “Grandma Flickertail” and “Whine Whine Twang Twang” made their way onto low-power radio stations and truck stop compilations alike, filtering back to Mooney’s Gap, Tenn., one of Mayfield’s five childhood hometowns.

It was back in Mooney’s Gap where those recordings made a dramatic impact on young Debbie Purdy, who had her own dreams of stardom, albeit dashed by very early motherhood.

“I knew every song in the Doyle & Debbie catalog inside and out,” Purdy says, “and so many of them I took to heart, like ‘Barefoot and Pregnant.’ It’s like they were singing about me right in my face, and the fact that Doyle was from my hometown made it that much more exciting.”

As the early ’90s rolled along, the dramatic changes taking place in the country music business mirrored the turmoil in Mayfield’s life. In the midst of a 1993 promotional tour stop in Uvalde, Texas for their latest single “Coochie Coochie Coo,” Mayfield meets another young singer named Debbie, surname Cochran, and decides to take her on as the first client in his short-lived management firm, El Pollo Diablo Productions.

“I had a certain fondness for mescaline at the time, so I’m not sure what I was thinking, bringing two Debbies into my life at the same time,” Mayfield says.

It was the transition into 1994 that showed the most potential for success for the act, rechristened “Doyle & Debbie & Debbie” for single long weekend in Reno before dropping back into the more familiar duet formation with Cochran now in the primary Debbie slot, and Gentry taking an “extended hiatus” from touring, which lasted until her divorce from Mayfield in March of 1995.

With Cochran in the fold, Doyle & Debbie notched another moderate hit in Utah with “When You’re Screwing Other Women.” D&D were poised to jump into a much bigger spotlight with “God Loves America Best,” which was scheduled to be the theme song for George W. Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign in Texas, until an unfortunate incident at one of the first campaign rallies, the details of which remain sealed by federal court order to this day.

Still the song remains a linchpin of the Doyle & Debbie live experience. “I don’t look at that song as so much ‘pro-war,’ as ‘pro-military/industrial complex,’” Mayfield says. “It says to me, ‘Look at how great America is: we can entertain you and we can blow your [expletive deleted] up at the same time, using materials from the exact same company.”

Meanwhile, back in Mooney’s Gap, Debbie Purdy embarked on what she imagined would be her final pit stop on the race to the checkered flag of superstardom with a New Year’s Eve gig at the Mooney’s Gap VFW Hall. Little did she, or eventually her three children, know that the one night stand would turn into 12 years of performances on that tiny stage. “They were so good to me at the VFW,” Purdy says. “They even gave me a little plaque the night I sang ‘Stand By Your Man’ for the 10,000th time. I was touched they kept count.

The strain of the small pockets of nationwide success started to show for Doyle & Debbie during the back half of the ’90s. Cochran and Mayfield married in January 1996 and divorced later that same month, but continued on as a duo, notching another minor hit with the ode to conjugal visits “Death Row Jethro.” Cochran stayed with the act until late 1998, when Mayfield announced to a festival crowd in Butte, Montana that he could take any woman in the crowd and make her into what he called “my next Debbie.”

Debbie Cochran Mayfield Stephens O’Leary could not be reached for comment.

Mayfield doesn’t like to talk much about what he calls “the bump in the road,” or what country music historians call “the Debbieless Years” of 1999 through late 2007, though there were plenty of “part-time Debbies” Mayfield auditioned for the role. “The problem is gettin’ ‘em to wanna change their names. If they’s worth a damn, they want their own name,” Mayfield says. “So either you settle for someone with a average voice who’s kinda needy, or you find a good one already named Debbie.”

April “Debbie 3” White, Shelby “Debbie 4” Miller, Jackie “no, not that one” Collins, Jacquelyn “Debbie 5 and 9” Parker, Shelley “Debbie Mark VI” Parker, Jennifer “Debbie for a Day” Kirby, Loren “Debbie 8” Dennihy, and Jasema “Debbie X” Colley all could not be reached for comment.

That’s also not to say Mayfield didn’t attempt to make it big on his own, albeit in a slightly different fashion. In August of 2000, Mayfield attempted to challenge comedian/newly minted Monday Night Football commentator Dennis Miller to a fight after Miller’s off-hand comment about touring a Nashville “sequin mine” during a preseason broadcast.

“That got me fired up right quick, some know-it-all Yankee comin’ to my adopted hometown and sayin’ something like that,” Mayfield remembers. “Once I found my keys and got that Geo Metro jumped, I high-tailed it to Adelphia Coliseum and waited for that no-good so-and-so to come out.

“But turns out I blacked out from the excitement and the Loratabs, and didn’t realize it was three days later. I wondered why the parking lot was empty. But it’s all good between me and Denny-boy now that he’s on Fox News all the time.”

Representatives for Miller, the Tennessee Titans, the National Football League, and Fox News Channel could not be reached for comment.

It wasn’t until six weeks ago that Doyle Mayfield’s collision course with fame got back on track when, back home in Mooney’s Gap to take care of some unspecified community service, he stuck his head into the tiny VFW Hall for a cold one. There on that tiny stage he beheld his destiny, an angelic singer, warbling the distaff hits from the Doyle & Debbie catalog, and already named Debbie.

“I know it’s the big break I’ve always been looking for,” says Debbie Purdy, who after five minutes of conversation with Mayfield that cold, gray night joined Doyle & Debbie full-time. “It’s like I was born to be part of this amazing country music tradition, what with me being named Debbie and all.”

In the very short time they’ve been together, Mayfield and Purdy have already added two new songs to the act, the linguistically poignant “ABC’s of Love” and the destined-to-be hit “For The Children,” which Mayfield is already shopping around Music Row.

“We haven’t even finished the demo yet, but we’ve already been turned down by Faith, Martina, Carrie, Trisha, Reba, and Shania, so there’s some buzz on it around town,” Mayfield says. “We’re hoping to get it to Jessica Simpson by the end of the week, Lord willin’.”

News of the newly reconstituted Doyle & Debbie spread throughout the entertainment community like wildfire. Late night talk staple Conan O’Brien was the first in line to grab the duo for his show, with Doyle & Debbie scheduled for an appearance this Friday, even if Purdy isn’t quite sure who O’Brien is.

“I’ve been singin’ till three o’clock in the morning for the past 15 years and we didn’t have TV down at the VFW Hall, so I haven’t even seen this ‘Late Night with Conan The Barbarian’ stuff,” Purdy says. “Is this the fella that replaced Arsenio Hall?”

But the big news for Doyle & Debbie is their Tuesday night residency at the world famous Station Inn, which started January 8, giving longtime fans the chance to see the old hits (and new Debbie) in an intimate setting. “This is something I never thought I’d get to do,” Purdy says. “Here I am, taking Nashville by storm, right alongside the most famous man ever to hail from Mooney’s Gap, doing it right in the shadow of massive amounts of condo construction. It don’t get any better than this.”

“That’s mighty fine, Debbie,” Mayfield replies.

“Thank you, Doyle,” Debbie concludes.

Oh, by the way...

2009-01-06T11:44:00.001-06:00

Go OU!

Kinda funny coming from two Texans...

2008-12-22T15:48:00.001-06:00

But then again, Bruce and Kelly have always been insightful...

TIMC: "Nashville's Christian music community teams to aid children in need"

2008-12-10T18:28:00.007-06:00

(This article also appears on TuneInMusicCity.com)

It boils down to contributing something small to something big for someone small.

The “WOW Shares” event at the Curb Event Center Wednesday found more than 1500 volunteers from the Christian music and Belmont university communities doing just that: donating a little bit of physical effort toward the goal of packaging more than 400,000 meals for children in more than 60 countries around the world.

The event was aiding Feed My Starving Children, a faith-based relief organization that has dozens of these packing events at their three Twin Cities-based and one Chicago-area facilities year-round, not to mention a number of these off-site events.

The Belmont event is the group’s largest single-day event to date, the continuation of their work with EMI Christian Music Group that started last year. This event with Christian music’s three largest companies -- EMI CMG, Provident Music Group and Word Entertainment -- essentially served as a de facto industry-wide Christmas party, with an emphasis placed on the volunteer work rather than just another holiday celebration.

That spirit of service fit right in with what FMSC does every day.

“Part of our mission is that it’s done with volunteer work,” says Laura Nielsen, the group’s manager of off-site operations. “We really believe that the hand-to-hand connection is important, not only for the people who are packing the food, but for the people receiving it as well. They’re also our largest donors. When they have this experience of packing the food themselves, they tend to donate more.”

The three Christian music companies joined forces years ago to create the WOW series of compilation products, designed to highlight the best music in the industry. The “WOW Shares” initiative grew out of that 10-year-plus intra-industry relationship, and is something executives from each company hope can flourish.

“We’ve always been charitable with WOW, and part of the proceeds since the beginning have gone to charitable organizations or events,” says Provident president/CEO Terry Hemmings. “We want to continue to do that, and through this, maybe we can do it in a little more organized fashion than we have in the past.”

“What we’ve loved is that we could roll up our sleeves, get our hands dirty and participate in helping others around the world,” says EMI CMG president/CEO Bill Hearn. “We basically give our Christmas away to those who are less fortunate than us.”

Additionally, the event continued the relationship the industry shares with Belmont, long a partner with the various spokes of Nashville’s music business community. The FMSC effort gave Belmont students a chance to wrap up their extremely busy fall semester with a chance to help others.

“In the past at this time of year, we’re either ratcheting down or we’re doing some big celebration to blow off steam,” says Andrew Johnston, Belmont’s associate provost and dean of students. “The thing that turned Belmont students on was the chance to do something for starving children, and frankly, to do something of this scope. What we do here can feed 1100 kids for a year. That’s just about the size of our freshman class, so we were pointing that out to make the connection.”

Artists from each of the three companies -- Provident’s double Grammy nominee Brandon Heath, along with Word’s Francesca Battistelli and EMI’s Josh Wilson -- performed a special noontime concert for the volunteers, and Heath says events like this can help foster creativity going forward a lot more than the daily machinations of the music industry treadmill.

“I feel more purpose if I’m doing things like this, in addition to the music,” Heath says. “You can really focus on your career and the charts, but those things will go away. This is making an eternal difference, and what’s so cool about it is that it’s so simple. It’s an act of sacrifice and kindness, and it has a greater impact than a lot of things.”

So what does this make Snoopy?

2008-12-08T11:58:00.001-06:00

Andre 3000 or Big Boi?

The Startling Success...

2008-12-01T15:31:00.002-06:00

They say a watched pot never boils? A watched pot also doesn't flare up and catch a tree on fire. This is pretty much 10 minutes of nothing exciting happening (no "hey, man...watch this!" moments, sorry), but dang, was that turkey good after it came out of the fryer...

Looking and listening...

2008-11-05T10:24:00.002-06:00

No trumpets blaring, no horsemen on fire outside my window.

Time for everybody to realize this isn't the end of the world.

A reminder...

2008-11-04T22:16:00.001-06:00

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Reflections on a Monday night in Nashville...

2008-10-28T12:45:00.003-05:00

Let's see...do I have any thoughts on the Titans' beatdown of the Indianapolis Colts on national TV Monday night? Maybe one or two...

Kerry Collins: Game Manager
Move the ball, move the chains, run the clock. You do those three things, especially in the second half and against an offense that's just begging to shake off it's doldrums, and you're gonna win some ball games. The facts are these: Kerry Collins hasn't had a 200-yard passing game this season, and his completion percentages is pretty average. But he's only thrown three picks and only been sacked once. He's doing what's being asked of him, and has the physical and mental skills to adjust his game to what the defense is giving him. Against KC, it was getting the ball to his rushers, allowing them to thrash the Chiefs for 300+ yards on the ground. Against the Colts, it was hanging in the short-step pocket, allowing the routes to emerge and finding his target and delivering the ball on target. He's the perfect quarterback for what this team wants to accomplish right now. The future will take care of itself.

7-0, could also mean 7-9
Look, a lot of phrases are being thrown around on the national level about this team: "game manager," "small market," "no-name defense." But Jeff Fisher's got these guys' heads in the right place. Kevin Mawae throwing up five fingers on one hand and two on the other to signify their seven wins is about as demonstrative a statement this team is going to make. I've been impressed with how they've approached every victory with the idea that all it does is guarantee that number of victories, that it could all fall apart from here and that you should never take a good start for granted (*cough*Vanderbilt*cough*)

Step on their necks
One of the hallmarks of the last time the Titans were this good was that you never knew if they could finish a game out without losing the lead they'd worked so hard for at least once. This time around, they're getting the lead and keeping it. The two-point conversion and the two consecutive fourth-down stops? All three plays were potential game changers, and the Titans came up big each time. They're playing with a tremendous amount of swagger on the field, and completely avoiding that swagger off it. The "We're not getting any respect" line you so typically hear from teams of this caliber? Nowhere to be found.

Most ridiculous line of the night...

2008-10-25T08:45:00.001-05:00

Overheard during the hero worship of omnipresent Food Network personality Guy Fieri at The Jack last night: "You know, he's kinda like the Elvis of food."

Um...no.

He's more like the Sebastian Bach of food. Now Alton Brown...there's an Elvis of food, albeit Costello.

It all makes sense now...

2008-10-08T15:33:00.002-05:00

Lowering the bar...

2008-10-02T11:55:00.003-05:00

On the McCain camp setting expectations for tonight's debate exceedingly low, I paraphrase C.J. Cregg from "The Red Mass" episode of The West Wing:

"I can't believe how many times I get asked what would be a win in the debates. At this point I feel like if - and only if - [Palin] accidentally lights [her] podium on fire does [Biden] have a fighting chance."

Once more, into the fray...

2008-09-24T10:48:00.002-05:00

Getting on a plane very early tomorrow to head to the Austin City Limits
Music Festival...join me, won't you? If you can't be there in person, follow
my micro-updates at www.twitter.com/tuneinlucas, check out my posts on
TuneInMusicCity.com, or listen to me on the nightly wrap-up shows on
Nashville's Independent Radio(tm), Lightning 100 (www.lightning100.com).

Posted by email from Lucas's posterous

This is why...

2008-09-22T12:34:00.002-05:00

I profess my undying devotion to Aaron Sorkin:

"The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it."

Though it does make me wonder is Maureen Dowd owes the NYT another column on her contract because Sorkin essentially wrote this one...

Seven years later...

2008-09-11T10:48:00.009-05:00

Here's something I started writing September 12, 2002...

The line doesn't come as often as it once did, but occasionally I do say "Words are my life."

If only I could describe how many times words have actually failed me.

Like when I was driving an SUV down the Jersey Turnpike and I hear the words over the two-way, "Guys, you better turn on your radio. Something just happened in New York City."

You know how you start to use a phrase to describe someone, and it starts sticking, no matter what circumstance you're using it in, and even if the person you're talking to knows exactly who you're talking about? I'm pretty sure I've described Ed Rode to his wife as "my buddy Ed."

My buddy Ed called me sometime in the summer of 2001 to tell me about this freelance gig he was going to be part of, and wanted to know if I wanted to come along. I don't remember the date, but I remember taking the call. I was on my cell phone in the middle of Hickory Hollow Mall, fresh from a haircut and sort of wandering aimlessly, as I had no particular place to be that afternoon. Such is the life of a freelance writer.

He told me the story of the Williams Gas Pipeline Company and how they do this United Way fundraiser every year. This year, they were planning on being especially ambitious, putting together four teams to concurrently trace the company's pipelines across the country, riding the line as they called it, on bicycles. The shindig raised some $20 million-plus for the United Way, and Ed had been contracted to shoot still photography and create a website for the event. He was scheduled to shadow the ride's biggest group, some 80-plus riders, on their trip from New York to Houston.

And he needed a driver, which is where I came in. Oh, sure, we finagled some extra cash for me to write a few things for the site, but mainly I was a chauffeur.

As the gig got closer, Ed discovered that no one would rent him an SUV (we needed the room, and he needed to be able to shoot out the back) for a one-way trip from NYC to Houston. I jumped in with the suggestion that we rent the truck here in Nashville, I'd drive it up to New York, he'd fly in and meet me there, we'd do the trip, he'd fly back from Houston, I'd run up to Oklahoma to visit my folks for a few days and then drive it back to Nashville.

It was all falling into place. The vans that were ferrying the riders and their equipment around were in Harrisburg, Penn. the Saturday before we were scheduled to start on Monday. The plan worked like a charm: I'd drive to Harrisburg on Saturday, a piddling little 12-hour drive, and meet up with our Williams contact. We'd all caravan to the hotel we were staying at outside NYC, where everyone else (riders, Williams muckety-mucks and Ed) would come in on Sunday.

I remember very clearly standing in the parking lot of my apartment building, truck loaded, details taken care of (I checked the lock on my apartment door at least three times), and SUV door open, ready for me to hit the road. All that early September morning, some inexplicable feeling of dread had settled over me, and as I stood next to that door, one foot on the running board, I stopped and said a prayer asking God to watch over me, Ed and these people I was about to meet, that everybody would be safe, and the trip would be a success.

I got in the car, somewhat comforted, but still had this feeling that something bad was going to happen.

The ride up went without a hitch. I drove through a part of the country I'd never driven before, I listened to a lot of music, I made a few phone calls, and generally just enjoyed the ride, what with a new (albeit rented) SUV at my command and time on my side. I made it to Harrisburg in the early evening, and after hooking up with the Williams folks, running to a nearby grocery store for some last minute supplies (I had forgotten batteries, which to me is a good sign that I haven't forgotten something at home), and scarfing down a club sandwich (hotel food that never seems to satisfy) I went to bed.

The following day went like clockwork as well. The drive from Harrisburg to NYC was uneventful, and I got a good idea in my head of the kinds folks I’d be dealing with over the next week by listening to the walkie-talkie traffic of the seven vans of people in front of me. I was traveling in a non-trailer laden red SUV, so I volunteered to take up the rear of the caravan, and my vehicle became known as The Caboose within minutes, a name that would stick for the rest of the trip.

As we approached Manhattan, before veering off toward our hotel just over the river in The Meadowlands, I remember thinking, “I never thought I’d be driving a car where I could look out the window and see the World Trade Center.”

The rest of that Sunday, September 9, was relatively uneventful. The 2001 NFL season was kicking off that day, and from the window of our hotel room, you could look out and see Giants Stadium, where the Jets were playing their home opener. Ed and I cooled our heels in the room, plotting out the trip in our heads, checking our gear, watching some football and generally resting up for the big launch banquet later that night. The sit-down dinner kinda put a crimp in our plans to grab a cab and head into Manhattan to catch our newly-beloved Tennessee Titans that night on the screens of the ESPNZone in Times Square, but we figured we should probably stay with the group, meet the folks we were going to be spending the next nine days with, and of course, being the former newspaper geeks we are, we had to adhere to the unofficial Journalist’s Credo: free food tastes better.

Our wake-up call wasn’t especially welcome the following morning, especially since the Titans lost fairly spectacularly the night before. But we knew we needed to get our gear into the truck and have it ready to go by 5 a.m., because not long after that, we’d be pulling out, along with seven vans and trailers, to attempt to find parking spaces in lower Manhattan. We were kicking off the ride at the Today show, and everybody had to be there.

A quick trip through the Holland Tunnel, a couple of wrong turns and the first of many overpriced parking garages later, Ed and I made our way to the 30 Rock plaza where our group had gathered. Our spot on the show wasn’t going to be until the 8:30 half-hour, but by God, we were going to be there early if it killed us.

The spot went off without a hitch, Williams getting a good deal of free air time, great, let’s move on. We were due at another media event a few blocks uptown, but that still meant moving a lot of people and a lot of vehicles.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

And that’s where I stopped writing that day, one year and one day after the events. Because it was just too painful. And it still is, seven years later.

But the nutshell facts are these: I was in New York City the day before all this happened. Ed and I, and the 100+ people from scattered parts of the country, whom we’d just met hours before, were leaving Princeton, N.J. and rolling toward Philadelphia when it happened. We were standing on the deck of the U.S.S. New Jersey when the towers collapsed. From that deck we watched a stream of airplanes land quickly, in succession, at the Philly airport…and then nothing. We were supposed to have an event at the White House the next day.

I have a different perspective than most of the rest of the people I know, not because I was in downtown Manhattan the day before, but because I didn’t watch the coverage on TV. I only heard it on the radio, picking up scattered patches of NPR stations as we serpentined through rural Pennsylvania to get to our destination outside D.C. I didn’t see the now-iconic footage until early in the evening, just before President Bush spoke and just before the meeting that determined that we would continue on that trip.

And so, we became a caravan of wanderers, making our scheduled run down the east coast, along the Gulf and onto Houston 10 days later, mainly because there was no other expedient way to get home at the time. Sure, Ed and I could have veered off at any time, but we stayed, because we had a job to do.

Particularly schlocky fiction writers would wrap up the story with the ride into Houston and that we all remain close-knit friends to this day, having witnessed the triumph of the American spirit together. Fact is, other than Ed (and we keep trying to shake each other but CMT, the CMA and Jack Daniels, among others, keep throwing us in cars together), I’ve not seen or heard of any of those people again, especially since Williams got Enron-ed out of existence a few years back.

The fact is, I couldn’t wait to get away from the throng we’d traveled more than 2,500 miles with. Ed traveled to New Orleans to stay and decompress with friends before heading back to Nashville. And as soon as the festivities were over, I headed north up I-45, through the Metroplex, and into Oklahoma to my parents’ place.

My feelings of anguish and despair over what had happened 10 days earlier dominated my thoughts as I sped through central Texas, mirrored by the torrential rainstorm that hit just outside of Dallas. The storm stopped as I approached downtown, and with the familiar skyline to my right, I remember seeing the most amazing sunset, not because of its beauty, but because of the vivid ugliness – blacks, purples, midnight blues, fiery oranges – contained within. The sky, the spirit, the soul…all had been badly bruised and were going to take a long time to heal.

The specifics of those 10 days on the road have faded pretty much over time as well…mainly because I did get to witness the triumph of the American spirit, how resolve in the face of tragedy was unanimously shown in those dark days after, how denizens of small towns and big cities alike experienced and redirected grief in the exact same ways.

Those memories have faded because I’ve watched that unanimity be shattered, willfully and consistently, over the past seven years.

I grow increasingly weary of people saying we can’t afford to live in a pre-9/11 world anymore. And while there are aspects in which they are right, I know they didn’t see what I saw as we traveled from state to state over that week-and-a-half span. And I know we can’t afford not to live in that post-9/11 state of mind. And yet we do. Because of the bad decisions others have made for us.

So today, as happens on a lot of days, my heart goes out to those who lost their lives on that day. But as unimaginable as that horror was for them, for those still around, life in America has become a much longer and more sustained type of horror. Because there remains this sense that much of this never had to happen in the first place.

Because spelling is for elitists...

2008-09-05T11:22:00.003-05:00

My friends, one thing I noticed during the RNC production was the sheer number of "hand painted" signs, especially during Gov. Palin's speech.

My friends at YesButNoButYes saw that my friends at NBC News caught a particularly apropos one for a brief second during Sen. McCain's acceptance Thursday night.

My friends, I've seen better spelling on signs at a WWE event. What does it say when a well-dressed, well-connected, well-funded attendee at a nationally televised event doesn't even bother to read the sign he's waving around like an idiot?

This or That: The Music Edition

2008-09-03T15:02:00.003-05:00

OK, so it occurs to me that the occasional person stumbles into this neck of the online woods because they know me, but they haven't seen me for the better part of several decades for one reason or another.

Anyway, while not necessarily being a fan of the whole meme concept, there is one that I filled out a couple of years ago that might (but probably doesn't) shed a little more light onto what I've been doing with as a "grown-up" to this point. (Yeah, I laugh when I think about me as a "grown-up" too...)

That said...

1. The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
I once referred to The Beatles as an "overachieving Liverpudlian skiffle group," a phrase that earned me a certain measure of respect from a huge Beatles fan and pop genius in his own right who shall remain nameless. That said, I also once turned down a $5 front row ticket to see the Stones at Vanderbilt.

2. Queen or The Eagles?
'Tis far better to hear a drunken karaoke version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" than to hear a group of drunken rednecks try to harmonize on "Seven Bridges Road."

3. Ozzy or Dio?
Pre-MTV badass Ozzy? Yes. Drunken buffoon "father of the year" Ozzy? Pass.

4. Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?
Priest.

5. Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughn?
SRV. I'm from Texas, sue me. The night before my last two finals in college, SRV was playing in my little college hick town. I weighed the two choices: "study" or "Stevie." I studied. Four months later, he's dead. I wish I'd gone to the show. I'd still have my degree *and* a kick-ass musical memory.

6. The Beach Boys or The Monkees?
I'm sayin' Monkees because (a) I can name all of them without thinkin' hard and (b) if I know what's good for me in the sweet lovin' department.
(Editor's note: this *was* from late 2005. Not sure if my latest attachment has a Monkees fascination or not...)

7. Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen or Joe Satriani?
I'm going to continue to give Casey the respect he deserves for the following phrase: "That's like choosing between syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes."

8. Led Zeppelin or The Who?
Tough call, but I'm goin' with The Who. As Pete Townshend would say, "Whad' you say...?"

9. Pink Floyd or Yes?
The third and fourth CDs I ever bought were Yes' "90125" and "Big Generator."

10. Queensryche or Rush?
Rush, simply because Geddy Lee guest-starred on the Bob and Doug McKenzie album...

11. Lynyrd Skynyrd or Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR)?
Personal rule: No Skynyrd before 10pm. It's just safer that way. And what's up with Nashville crowds freakin' the freak out everytime "Sweet Home Alabama" starts up at a ballgame? I'll never figure that out.

12. KISS or AC/DC?
AC/DC never had a disco hit.

13. Nirvana or Pearl Jam?
Like it or not, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" changed everything.

14. Favorite Member of the Beatles?
Stu Sutcliffe

15. Favorite Member of the Who?
Thunderfingers. Entwhistle played a club gig in Nashville, and you could hear his soundcheck from outside...three blocks away.

16. Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall?
All in all, you're just another...band whose legend far outpaces your work.

17. Guns N' Roses or Motley Crue?
GnR, if only for the first few bars of "Sweet Child of Mine." How's that Chinese Democracy record coming along, Axl?
(Editor's note: Almost three years later, still no sign.)

18. Ratt or Quiet Riot?
Bang your head...metal health will drive you mad.

19. Bob Dylan or Eric Clapton?
Dylan, if only for "Blonde on Blonde" and "Live 1968." Now, though, just painful to try to listen to live. Willie Nelson kicked his posterior all over their joint minor league stadium tour.

20. Hair Metal or Heavy Metal?
Two very different sides of the '80s music coin. And it's a coin I spent a long time ago.

21. The Clash or The Sex Pistols?
The only band that matters.

22. The Mars Volta or Coheed & Cambria?
I reviewed the latest Mars Volta record last year, and it's an hour or so of my life I'll never get back. The others by default.

23. Black Sabbath or Deep Purple?
I have nothing to say about either band that is either relevant or true.

24. Randy Rhoads or Zack Wylde?
I have a lot of respect for Zack Wylde, but Rhoads was also a member of Quiet Riot. So there.

25. Aerosmith or Bon Jovi?
Aerosmith wins by a nose, simply because they brought Run DMC to a larger audience.

26. David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar?
Sammy and Dave toured together a few years back. Sammy, who'd been playing with his band The Waboritas for several years at that point, delivered a tight, rockin' set that had the crowd on its feet the whole time. Dave, who'd hired the best Van Halen cover band he could find, opened with "Panama" and "Hot For Teacher" and lost the crowd's interest three songs in. Not sayin' Dave (or more precisely, the VH material he was on) was bad...I'm just sayin' Sammy's better. And you can threaten to kick my ass over this all you want...many have tried, all have failed.

27. Van Halen or Def Leppard?
Van Halen. Gary Cherone, however, is best left unmentioned.

28. Brian Johnson or Bon Scott?
Coin flip. Gotta love a guy who's official coroner's report reads "drank himself to death." But Brian Johnson is the voice of "Back In Black." I abstain.

29. Velvet Revolver or Audioslave?
Thing is, I was never a huge fan of any of the four bands that were distilled down to these two. Probably have to lean toward Audioslave on the point of pure musicianship.

30. Grace Slick or Janis Joplin?
Grace Slick wasn't even the best female singer in her band...that honor would have to go to Mickey Thomas.

31. Woodstock or Ozzfest?
Nope. Nein. No. Next.

32. Elton John or Billy Joel?
Billy Joel circa "Glass Houses." After that, I've no need for either.

33. Journey or Foreigner?
Strangely enough, I'm going with Foreigner. "Double Vision" is an underappreciated album.

34. Kazaa or Napster?
Direct Connect

35. Beastie Boys or Run DMC?
Who's house? Run's House!

36. Cinderella or Whitesnake?
Saw 'em both on the same bill in 1985. The headliner that night? Quiet Riot.

37. U2 or REM?
My only musical mark-out moment of 2005 came in Chicago the split-second "Vertigo" started at the United Center.

38. Motorhead or Metallica?
Both have done "Enter Sandman"...

39. Dream Theater or King Crimson?
My most favorite interview of 2005? Adrian Belew.

40. Boston or Blue Oyster Cult?
When I moved to Nashville, you could count on hearing at least one Boston song per day on 103-KDF. That said, I've got a fever...

41. The Cure or The Smiths?
Pass the razor blades, please...

42. Tom Petty or Dire Straits?
Petty is one of the most quietly charismatic frontmen you'll ever see. That said, "Sultans of Swing" is one of my top five songs of all time...

43. Jethro Tull or The Doors?
The winner of the first-ever Grammy for heavy metal? Tull, thus cementing forever the Grammys lack of relevance.

44. Poison or the Scorpions?
Greatest "Behind The Music" quote ever: "It went from the House of Whores to the House of Horrors." God love C.C. Deville.

45. Skid Row or Twisted Sister?
Twisted Sister, if only because Dee Snider had to testify before Congress.

46. Smashing Pumpkins or Radiohead?
Put it this way...if there had been no Radiohead, there'd be no Coldplay. And the world would be a better place for it.

47. Kansas or Nazareth?
"I heard a man saying something..."

48. ZZ Top or Blackfoot?
ZZ Top. I have the keychain to prove it.

49. Steve Miller Band or Marshall Tucker Band?
Steve Miller Band right up until "Abracadabra".

50. Ted Nugent or Peter Frampton?
For the life of me, I'll never figure out how Nuge hooked up with Jack Blades from Night Ranger and Tommy Shaw from Styx to form Damn Yankees. "Frampton Comes Alive"...overrated to be sure. But Frampton was also the music director/coach for the band Stillwater in "Almost Famous," and that redeems him greatly in my eyes.

The answers...

2008-09-03T08:44:00.003-05:00

OK, chances are somebody's gonna stick their head in here, if they haven't already, that I haven't seen in nigh upon two dozen years, so pardon me while I answer the inevitable questions...

No.
Never have been.
Can't really say.
Not to my knowledge.
After college.
Too many to count.
A lot, but really only a few close ones.
A cat named Jake.
No, it's just something I stumbled into.
Yes. Very much so.
Yes. Very much so.

Not quite monkeys with typewriters...

2008-09-02T16:16:00.003-05:00

...but rather the Mythbusters guys with 1000+ paintball guns...

If this isn't "fine art" I don't know what is.

Yeah, I'm doomed...

2008-08-26T15:34:00.002-05:00

Why? Because I weighed in on an idiotic discussion going on at TVNewser.com, talking about an on-air confrontation between MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and David Shuster.

Here's what I posted...

This is one of the most unprofessional moments I've ever seen on live television. Scarborough interjecting snide remarks over top of the (intended to be opinion-free, but seldom are) news segments of his show, and then hammering Shuster about his political affiliation (or lack thereof)?

It's truly a shame that the profitability requirements of television news (or more precisely, the inexplicable success of a particular enterprise) has caused everybody to think they have to pick a side and not deviate from it.

The only thing that's engendered is a distrust by the American people of journalism as a whole, the elevation of pinheads who can shout louder than the next guy, and a slew of unprofessional moments like this.

What will likely happen is that my remarks will get lost in the shuffle...but seeing some of the remarks of the trolls who live there, I'm halfway expecting some interesting emails.

Why do I do this to myself?

The Gospel According to Bruuuuuce

2008-08-20T08:54:00.003-05:00

I remember the thought very clearly: "This is church."

That was my take-away from Bruce Springsteen's last Nashville appearance, a GEC show in April of 2000. It was my first time to see The Boss live, and it was a full-bore, flat-out, hair-on-fire exploration of the spirit of rock 'n' roll.

And I expect nothing less from the man and the E-Street Band this Thursday.

Apparently I'm not the only one who thinks the Jersey Shore's resident revivalist's work has spiritual merit.

This link to a recent NPR Weekend Edition Sunday story about a new book about how Springsteen's music mirrors some of the Gospel's fundamental ideas is yet another example of how we can find truth in all kinds of pop culture, not just the ones marketed via certain companies.

The author, Unitarian preacher Jeffrey Symynkywicz, notes that Springsteen's biggest gift is how he conveys hope. "Springsteen isn't much of a romantic in his music," he says. "He presents life as it is — life in all its grit and all its pain."

I'm sure all that grit and pain will be on dispay at the SoC (c'mon...my new nickname for the Sommet Center...who's with me?!?) on Thursday. But I apologize in advance for those of you who may be in attendance, but won't see it clearly. Chances are, you're standing behind me...and I'm six-and-a-half feet tall. Sorry.

(And hey, if you're not preemptively irritated at me for blocking your view of Clarence Clemons, follow me on Twitter at tuneinlucas. You'll be glad you did...maybe.)

This is why Jake is a total pro...

2008-08-11T14:45:00.003-05:00

He insisted on trying out the new office chair before me. It's great to have a business partner who looks out for your interest this way. Now if only he'd go out and drum up some clients.

(Yes, I know. It's red. It doesn't match anything I own. But it was on sale and I fit in it. Case closed.)

Sometimes we forget...

2008-06-16T08:13:00.000-05:00

Revisiting "The Speech"...

2008-06-01T21:46:00.004-05:00

So I start teaching the first of two summer sessions of Mass Media & Society Monday morning...and this is how I like to kick things off. From the late and only quasi-lamented "Studio 60"...

The 800-pound gorilla

2008-05-13T13:33:00.005-05:00

Xerox. Frisbee. Kleenex. CCM.

All registered trademarks, and all frequently misappropriated.

I honestly don’t know if John Styll ever cringed when he saw the name of the magazine he started 30 years ago used as a catch-all descriptor for a certain segment of the music industry.

And where those aforementioned brands have been able to employ high-dollar representatives to actively defend the proper usage of their names, Styll and his associates frequently just had to look the other way when the magazine’s name was misused in other media forms, occasionally as a pejorative.

But the undeniable fact is this…from CCM Magazine's humble newsprint beginnings in Southern California grew a prism through which a billion-dollar industry was viewed, thousands of artists were profiled, and countless lives were impacted.

And now that magazine is gone.

Sure, the current stewards of the trademark (to whom Styll and his former partners sold the magazine in 1999) vow to keep CCM Magazine’s legacy alive through an online-only presence. But that same company has other, similar properties in that space, and will they truly devote the resources necessary to maintain the brand’s impact in this new scattershot media age? Time will tell.

The cover the final print edition showed seven of modern gospel music’s current (and future) hitmakers, six of whom I’ve had the opportunity to have lengthy sit-down interviews with. (Aaron Gillespie from The Almost? Just a heads-up…you’re next.)

Each of those artists, and every other music maker whose triumphs and tragedies were chronicled in CCM Magazine’s pages owe Styll and the writers, editors, designers, photographers, ad sales people, marketing folks (and yes, web developers) who followed a debt of gratitude.

Why? Because it’s a tough job to successfully and compassionately comment on others’ creative works, and a tougher job still when that creative work deals with matters of faith.

For me, the final printed edition of CCM is bittersweet because it’s the first publication for which my byline appeared and from which I received a paycheck. I was in my “ill-fated year of grad school” in Texas, and I wrote a multi-page feature on various bass players plying their trade within Christian music. The thrill of taking that issue out of the mailbox and realizing that my work was contained in those pages remains with me today.

A generation of writers and editors got that same initial thrill through CCM’s existence. Many of those people remain close friends of mine to this day and have done great work for a variety of different endeavors.

This is where the Christian music fan will suffer, in the not having dedicated and talented music journalists ready to sift through the miasma of products out there, ready to shine a light on those artists and that music worthy of attention.

Yes, that means there had to be determinations made, judgments passed and consequences faced. Those listed on the magazine’s masthead (fancy publishing industry term for the people on staff, FYI) took on those challenges willingly, professionally and with a sense of purpose and grace.

(Except on those occasions where they accidentally let schmucks like me say what I really thought. That’s where we all learned that if a writer says something nice about an artist, it’s because the artist is great. If he or she says something negative, then the writer is clearly in the wrong.)

The gatekeeping function of CCM Magazine (and most other music-only publications, really) is gone now, left to the free-for-all nature of the Internet. That reality, while occasionally exciting, is also quite scary.

Because here’s the real secret behind working at any sort of music publication: We listen to a bunch of crap. Mainly so you won’t have to. That layer of protection has been removed, and people are pretty much left to fend for themselves. It also means that some of the really good stuff, music that frequently flies under the radar, is left to try to find a place as well.

The simplistic theory is that if music is good, it will rise to the top and succeed. But even in the Internet age, success means finding exposure through as many credible, impactful avenues as possible, and the 800-pound gorilla of Christian music journalism has just been silenced.

And it won’t be replaced. You can always find a new and better photocopier, a faster and more colorful flying disc, a softer and more absorbent facial tissue. But there will never be another CCM Magazine.

(This column also appears on the Christian music channel of TuneInMusicCity.com)

I liked the book better...

2008-04-23T08:18:00.000-05:00

In the interest of full disclosure...

2008-04-19T07:47:00.002-05:00

Here's my inaugural column in my new quasi-regular role as a writer for The Tennessean's TuneInMusicCity.com:

You try writing about yourself some time.

Oh, wait...many of you already do. It's amazing to think about how many people would never think of keeping a journal or a diary, but have jumped on the blogging bandwagon. But along with that has come a sort of devaluation of the written word, and a definite criticism of the process of traditional criticism.

In other words, why am I here? Because I've been here before. If you've read about music in this town over the past decade and a half, you've probably run across my byline at least once. (If you've enjoyed what you've read, fantastic. If you remember anything about what you've read, then I've done my job.)

I've contributed to The Tennessean on and off for more than 10 years, I was involved in the launch of Citysearch.com's Nashville office as the music editor. I worked for Gaylord Entertainment's short-lived foray back into country music web content in the late part of the last decade, and I've been a contributor to All The Rage since day one.

(Remember when it was just called "The Rage" and it fit in your back pocket or purse? These days, some editions you can roll it up and fend off a pack of crazed pumas.)

But maybe more precisely, why am I here? On the Christian music channel of TuneInMusicCity.com?

I've been asking myself that same question since Nicole Keiper and I met a couple weeks ago to talk about my joining the team. I mean, I know my own credentials... I got my start as a professional writer as a freelancer in the pages of the recently departed CCM Magazine (more on that tomorrow) while in college, I was on the editorial team of an ambitious CD/magazine hybrid product called Crossroads in the mid-'90s, and I've contributed profiles on a slew of Christian artists to publications around the country.

But it's a very different time in both the Christian music business and the opinion-spouting business than when I first stuck my toes in the water. The shift toward vertical worship music and away from pop music with a Christian message has fundamentally changed the landscape of Christian music. It's also engendered a bit of homogenization industry-wide in that it's tougher to differentiate between artists if the primary output is praise choruses.

To the outside music world of 10 years ago, there wasn't much difference between, say, a dcTalk, a Newsboys and a Jars of Clay. But to those who were paying attention, they were three very different bands trying to reach very different segments of the audience.

Today, there doesn't seem to be as much differentiation, lyrically or sonically, between the artists making the biggest impact on the charts, at the box office, and in the hearts and minds of the listeners. But when you take a serious look at and listen to country music these days, much the same thing can be said.

There are, however, a great and growing number of artists who have made it their goal to express themselves (and the eternal truths they carry close to them) in a way that communicates clearly to the world around them. Some of them you know, some of them you remember and are still around, and some of them will be brand new to you. And to me.

There's certainly much more to be said about the current (and future) state of this side of the music industry, and I hope you'll stick around as we attempt to do it. Just remember, I'm not your youth pastor or your camp counselor... I might say some things you'll disagree with, and that's OK. That's what the comments section is for...just be civil and we'll all get along great.

I'm looking for excellence in both music and spirit. I hope you will too. Otherwise, why waste time listening (and in my case, writing) at all?

"Just kidding..."

2008-04-14T06:17:00.002-05:00

Um, like, as verbal punctuation, as least it's better than "um, like"...just kidding.

The future of...

2008-04-02T13:06:00.005-05:00

So, there's really no hiding it...if you Google my name, you get an inordinate amount of posts concerning Christian music, because I've generated a fair number of pieces about it and the artists who attempt to make it.

This month marks the end of the print version of the publication for which I got my professional start, CCM Magazine. And while I haven't contributed to said pub for several years, there's still that pang of regret when (a) another piece of regularly published pulped wood bites the dust and (b) it continues to signify the perilous state all forms of mass media find themselves in.

[There should probably be a (c) it means I have to add another dead publication to my list, but I'm getting more and more used to that...]

As would befit the growing trends of "final issues," the current regime at CCM asked one of the most thoughtful, considered and honest people around this corner of the industry to weigh in on "The Future of Christian Music."

And as per usual, Charlie Peacock pulls no punches, and that's why we love him for it.

I say all this because I'm dealing with a situation that may/may not put me in the crosshairs of the genre again, and I'm truly having some struggles with it. Charlie's words are all at once sobering, cause for contemplation and a source of inspiration.

Robot's best friend...

2008-03-28T11:40:00.002-05:00

We had a dachshund when I was but a wee land mammal. Mean little sucker. Now if only robot technology like this had existed at the time, perhaps he would've been a little more pleasant to be around.

(Note he takes off when the 'bot starts retracting the firing mechanism...classic...)

Now that I've got some distance from it...

2008-03-26T14:34:00.002-05:00

Do I have anything more to say about my recent Zero Day Shindig? Not really...other than, if you weren't there, you missed a pretty cool party.

If I do say so myself.

I do want to thank everybody that came out and played...I'm wading through the audio files and seeing if there's anything else I can share, but did want to give a little taste of what went on.

Man, I'm grateful for other people's creativity, and blessed to be able to call on some of it for a celebration of the wonderfulness that is me.

Judson Spence at the ZDS...

The greatest newspaper-related prank ever!

2008-03-21T14:41:00.003-05:00

This just warms the cockles, because of the simplicity and outcome.

The beautiful thing is...they got to tweak their crosstown rivals *and* their own new foul-mouthed multi-billionaire boss AT THE SAME TIME!

How did I found out about it, living in Nashville? Well, turns out my friend/Trib feature writer Lou Carlozo was instrumental (literally) in the creation of the track, and because he's been a fixture in and around the Christian music journalism world for years, I GOT A FREAKIN' PRESS RELEASE ABOUT IT.

On Good Friday, no less.

We're just swimming in media biz irony today, folks.

For Macheads only...

2008-03-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

Another one from the "Yes, somebody bothered to do this" file...

One more reason to love/hate Garageband at the same time...

We're leaving ground (leaving ground)...

2008-03-07T08:08:00.002-06:00

If this is the future of classical music, I'm a little bit conflicted. Cellos and headbanging (not to mention one-hit wonders) shouldn't necessarily go together, but it is strangely compelling.

On a quasi-unrelated note...Yo-Yo Ma rules!

Now that the writers are back...

2008-03-04T08:51:00.003-06:00

Actually, this is before they left, but I think Lew makes some good points...from the 2007 Emmys...

Granted, they're not going to do any of this...or much of anything else, because, remember, the actors are next...

This might rival the "Great Umlaut Drought of '93"...

2008-03-01T09:26:00.003-06:00

Idiom Shortage Leaves Nation
All Sewed Up In Horse Pies

If I Had...

2008-02-29T18:47:00.003-06:00

And who woulda thunk that having a million dollars Canadian would be preferable? Regardless, this is how it might break down, should you be so inclined...
(h/t to YesButNoButYes and the Flickr Song Chart Pool)

Let's just end the suspense...

2008-02-28T13:52:00.003-06:00

Every four years, we're treated to a few special events above and beyond the U.S. presidential elections...like Leap Year and The Olympics...

But don't you know we're just going to be inundated with stories about drug use within The Games...so maybe somebody should just take the lead of this old SNL Weekend Update piece from eons ago...

(BTW, this is probably the first and last time Dennis Miller will appear on my site. Just so's you know...)

This is me...brimming with confidence...

2008-02-14T12:16:00.007-06:00

Anybody else concerned about this approach to taking out a broken spy satellite?

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, The Associated Press has learned.

U.S. officials said Thursday that the option preferred by the Bush administration will be to fire a missile from a U.S. Navy cruiser, and shoot down the satellite before it enters Earth's atmosphere.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the options will not be publicly discussed until a later Pentagon briefing.

The disabled satellite is expected to hit the Earth the first week of March. Officials said the Navy would likely shoot it down before then, using a special missile modified for the task. Other details about the missile and the targeting were not immediately available.
But the decision involves several U.S. agencies, including the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Defense and the State Department.

Is it just me or does this remind anyone of The West Wing episode called "The Drop-In" where Leo is trying to get President Bartlet to continue funding a missile defense shield, and has him sitting in on a sitroom monitoring of the latest test when it goes, shall we say, predictably awry...

MAN 1 [on radio]
Negative intercept.
KM warhead has overshot
it's target.

BARTLET
It was just enthusiastic.

LEO
By how much?

GENERAL
Uh, Leo...

LEO
[sternly] By how much did it miss the target?

COLONEL
One three seven.

LEO
We missed the target by 137 feet?

COLONEL
Miles.

LEO
[looks at him, incredulous]
We missed it by 137 miles?!

BARTLET
When you consider the size of outer space, Leo,
that's not so bad.

One more reason to like the guy...

2008-02-12T13:44:00.000-06:00

Doesn't matter whether you're voting for him or not...you gotta like a public figure who'll strike a pose that everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) who's ever been to the town square in Metropolis, Illinois has done...

Glomming from Facebook...

2008-02-10T23:20:00.000-06:00

Chris Willman's status update amplifies my reaction to Album of the Year:

"Chris Willman has too much respect for Herbie Hancock to cast too many aspersions on the NARAS membership, but... well, it WAS a mass senior moment."

Gotta love the technology...

2008-02-10T22:44:00.000-06:00

Three and a half hour show, and the Macbook has still got an hour and a half of juice left...

I, however, don't. Thanks for playing.

What The...

2008-02-10T22:37:00.000-06:00

We're done?

I just got up to get water!

Final thoughts...

2008-02-10T22:34:00.000-06:00

All the focus on the history of pop music, and they have to cut the tribute to the 40th anniversary of "Sgt. Pepper" for time?

A ton will be written via the annual "Grammy's are out of touch" argument, but I don't think it's the Academy fault, per se. It's just that now there's so much out there, how do you choose what to highlight and what to honor, and how do you line it up alongside the stuff you want to bring forward from the past?

Memorable performances for me: Carrie. The Foos. Rihanna/The Time. Jerry Lee.

Memorable acceptances: Kanye and Vince.

Album of the Year Again

2008-02-10T22:28:00.000-06:00

OK.... Herbie! If it can't be Vince, this is a great choice.

Album of the year...

2008-02-10T22:27:00.000-06:00

Wow! Herbie Hancock?!? For an album of Joni Mitchell covers?!?

Herbie speaks about the giants upon which he stands. But it's a jazz album of folk covers. It's not a bold choice...and Herbie's done much more interesting work in the past. It's Herbie's "Scorsese winning for The Departed" moment.

However, the whole category was a testament to diversity, and really, they couldn't go wrong with anybody.

I just don't think it's as revolutionary a choice as people will make it out to be. (Sorry, Craig...)

The next big thing...

2008-02-10T22:26:00.000-06:00

Black sparkly detailing in the attire. Will.I.Am too!! ;)

When Medleys Go Wrong...

2008-02-10T22:24:00.000-06:00

And here we thought Fergie was the Black Eyed Pea who couldn't sing.