Grateful Dead

- "Let Love In"- "Nocturama" (copied to MP3 from the vinyl record) - "Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!" - "Push the Sky Away" - "Mermaids" digital EP

Been on a bit of a Frank Black Francis trip of late. I seem to fall into and out of love with this guy every few years, and this is apparently the year I fall back in love with his music. The current playlist looks a little something like this:- "Come on Pilgrim" (Pixies) - "Wave of Mutilation: The Best of Pixies" (Pixies) - "Teenager of the Year" (Frank Black) - "Show Me Your Tears" (Frank Black & the Catholics) - "93-03" (Frank Black/FB&tC) - "Live Sessions (iTunes Exclusive)" (Frank Black) - "Bluefinger" (Black Francis) - "The Seus" (Black Francis) Speaking of the Pixies, now that Kim Deal has parted ways with the group, they apparently have a new song the released just this morning, "Bagboy": http://pixiesmusic.com/new/.

Solid Sound 6/21/13, the "covers" show. Pretty fun setlist, running the gamut from the Beatles to the Replacements, the Modern Lovers to Cheap Trick, Television ("Marquee Moon") to Blue Oyster Cult, Neil Young to Daft Punk. "Waterloo Sunset" (Kinks) to "Waterloo" (ABBA). And yes, the Dead. And Pavement, Thin Lizzy, Big Star, Dylan and the Stones. Have I left anyone out? Yo La Tengo, Count Five, Velvet Underground. And much more, or at least a little more...

"The Second Album + the First Rehearsal Tapes." These guys were punk before punk was punk. And they'll still be punk long after punk stops being punk (which, I believe, will be next Friday). I can't think of another team of musicians that is more of the antithesis of "popular music" than Martin Rev and Alan Vega. At their core, these guys are artists, just a voice adrift in the dull pulsings of a cheap keyboard and an old drum machine. I don't recommend this band for the casual music listener. It took me a couple years to *like* these guys, so imagine how long it took for me to start singing their praises. Bottom line: forget everything you think you know about music, because it doesn't apply here. To call them abrasive would be an understatement.

Jolly vacation time is winding down so I've got Bunny Wailer's "Rock 'n Groove" rolling along. I had it converted from LP to CD - it ain't perfect but when you've got some of the hardest grooves ever laid down by both Sly & Robbie and the Radics, you can't lose. I know it's just one thing, but with marye's approval, I could vine it. ? Next up? Marley, Isaacs, Studio One - Lord have mercy, music hits with 0 pain. Deadicated

Blaze of Glory I'm always happy to find someone new to like, even if she ain't that new or young at all. And always encouraged to know that there's more good music in the world than I'll ever get a chance to hear. But as a kid who grew up listening to and loving the Beatles, the most popular band of all time, it's always a head-scratcher to me that I can't find the music I love among what currently passes as "popular music." Not that I necessarily want the music I love to be "popular" (when, in fact, there's a lot of pleasure in having these folks all to ourselves, getting a chance to see them in clubs and theatres instead of fighting the arena crowds), just wishing more success for the artists whose music I love... I'm using this little gem of an album as a set break in my May '77 immersion, a palate-cleanser. Now back to the GOGD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSR6ZzjDZ94

A buddy of mine bought the new album, "Kveikur," on vinyl from Amazon, and, thanks to AutoRip, had no use for the download code included with the record and sent it to me. This is my first experience listening to these guys, though I have a number of fans who are raving fans. Just never got around to giving 'em a listen, I guess. They're Icelandic, and not a lick of their lyrics are in English, but whatever. I dig their sound; they remind me a lot of Switzerland's Dungen and the U.K.'s Durutti Column. They play very spacey, ambient, post-psychedelic rock, which I dig. I mean, if you can stomach the Legendary Pink Dots, grooving to these guys is a cake walk. Of course, I say all this assuming no one here has ever listened to Sigur Rós before....

6/18/74 I've got a combo of Road Trips & Miller in the unit - so far so good. Essential '74 Dead.

I've sang to and with my Dad just about everyGrateful Dead song ever written. But... This was the last one, the last one I sang to him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=rT0rhVhXnNA&NR=1 The ending in this fits. He has been my Master Teacher and Our suffering has been un-measurable yet Our love has been at every ending... it's like a full-house Aces and 8's.