The Replacements: “I’ll be you”

Being out of power is certainly no fun, but the theme music isn’t too shabby:

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry has endorsed John McCain.

I especially liked this statement:

“I’ve been a hardcore Republican my whole life,” he told the Herald. “My mother and father drilled into me from the very start that if you work hard and be positive, you’ll get what you’re working for. I guess I’m living proof of that.”

Well said.

Hat tip to Jonah Goldberg at The Corner.

Music for a lazy Saturday, from my favorite band (Jars of Clay):

Courtesy of The Art of Manliness.

Which songs would you add to this list?

For my homies:

You can read about it in Rolling Stone Magazine online here. (cross-posted)

Update: USA Today includes a video of one of the album’s live numbers, “Ring Them Bells.” You can see the video on this page (click “Play Video” on the right). Here are the lyrics:

(more…)

Well, shoot.  I wasn’t having such a great day to begin with, and now this news comes across the wire.  Bo was 79.  You can view an impressive fan site here.  He’s well-represented on You Tube, of course; here’s a cool short clip to kick off your viewing.

The prolific pop composer was 88. And, yes, you have heard him perform at least one of his compositions.

More: Much more about Hagen’s career is available on this fan site.

Your must-see video o’ the day.

After reading this glowing review over at TNLM, I went ahead and pre-ordered the CD (which has not yet been released in the United States).

To read more about “Chant: Music for the Soul,” check out the CD’s website.

h/t: BH.tv

For my lawyer homies billing late into the evening, here’s some classic Radiohead:

Here are some that come to mind:

The Cure: “Head on the Door”

Jars of Clay: “Who we are instead”

R.E.M.: Reckoning

Alarm: Strength

U2: October

Thoughts?

. . . can you find a video of the Leningrad Cowboys, a Finnish rock-and-roll band, singing “Sweet Home Alabama” with the Soviet Red Army Choir:

From the SA mailbag:

Since you are constantly plugging Jars of Clay, you might like this new band that is produced by one of Jars’ original members (Matt Bronleewee, who seems to have a hand in all cool Christian music these days): Leeland. The lead singer is only 18, but Michael W. Smith says he’s the best thing he’s heard in a long time. Click on “music” to hear some clips. Anyway, it’s my new favorite band as well.

Best,

Stuart

I gave Leeland a listen tonight, and I was blown away. These guys are incredible. I agree with Michael W. Smith and Stuart, Leeland is the best band I’ve heard, well, since Jars of Clay. Check them out.

Oh, and fwiw, I just order the band’s debut CD, “Sound of Melodies.”

sometime this week, on a PBS station near you (check local listings).

For those of you who enjoy Sting’s music (as I do), he has a new CD coming out on October 10th that looks very promising.

Another interesting post from the good folks at Get Religion.

And you can preview “Good Monsters” here, courtesy of the fedster. Just type in the code: jars0fc1ay

Oh, and if “Oh My God” doesn’t deeply touch your soul, then you don’t have one, friend.

Just a reminder that JOC’s new cd, “Good Monsters,” is out on September 5th. You can preorder it here, and get an autographed copy of the cd, as well as access to streaming audio right now.

If you’re not a fan of JOC, you should be. They’re the best band that you’re not listening to, so check ‘em out.

S.T. Karnick is one of the journeyman writers of the conservative-libertarian (or as he would say, classical liberal) movement.  His work has appeared just about everywhere.  Some of you may remember him from his editorship and co-creation of American Outlook, which was a very good policy and culture magazine put out by the Hudson Institute for several years.  He and Wlady gave me my first opportunities in freelance writing a few years ago.  (Thanks to both for helping through a couple of lean years in Waco.)

Although Karnick has written about just about everything between his freelance work and his regular editorial pieces for the Hudson magazine, he really shines when opining about popular culture.  After years of encouraging him to focus on that area, I am happy to report that Karnick on Culture is now in business.  After only a few short days, Karnick has written posts covering Mickey Spillane, Monk, Psych, the Beach Boys, Touching Evil, Nero Wolfe, The Closer, and Superman Returns.  Spend a little time with S.T. Karnick before you make another CD, DVD, or fiction purchase.  You’ll be glad you did. 

Has anyone else noticed that a snippet of Rick Springfield’s song, “Affair of the heart,” sounds like Harry Potter speaking in parseltongue?

(Post inspired by Sirius Radio)

Jars of Clay’s latest effort comes out on September 5th, and you can preview the tracks here.

Dan Haseltine, the band’s lead singer, describes the theme of Good Monsters as follows:

“I was not sure how all of the experiences of the last few years would translate into music. There have been so many things to look at and describe. This record is part confessional, part euphoric love poem, part bitter divorce, and part benediction. It was born out of many experiences and conversations between addicts, failures, lovers, loners, believers, and beggars. And so the language of recovery and the honest discourse about our attempts to live apart from God and apart from each other is a theme. Engaging people who are doing the hard work of laying their lives open to others, and avoiding isolation, has allowed me to see that there is both immeasurable evil and unfathomable good mixing under my own skin and it is grace, mercy and freedom that allow me to not simply be a monster, but to be a good monster.”

You can also read an early review of the CD here.

Move over Bono.

She’s at it again:

The Chicks can’t hide their disgust at the lack of support they received from other country performers. “A lot of artists cashed in on being against what we said or what we stood for because that was promoting their career, which was a horrible thing to do,” says Robison.

“A lot of pandering started going on, and you’d see soldiers and the American flag in every video. It became a sickening display of ultra-patriotism.”

“The entire country may disagree with me, but I don’t understand the necessity for patriotism,” Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. “Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don’t see why people care about patriotism.”

Yes, Natalie, it’s hard to understand why Americans would want to rally their countrymen in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. What were we thinking? And patriotism? Man, that stuff is for the birds. It’s not like this country came into existence because of patriotism, right?

Just in case you haven’t heard.  Big list of world-wide links here; (disappointing — i.e., no music) Minnesota Public Radio story here (with many links); Bob’s home page here (including all lyrics and many audio clips).

Us younger Boomers have just one question, Bob:  How does it feeeeeel?

More:  Scott Johnson points to a Times of London article on Martin Scorcese’s Dylan documentary, “No Direction Home,” and a great City Journal article on the “made-up ‘tradition’ of American protest music.”

Whether it’s politics or music, it is never a good idea to intentionally anger your base of supporters.