The Fabled Automatic

Based on some recommendations from fellow Springsteen fanatics, I have been checking out a more recent Jersey-based act a little bit lately, The Gaslight Anthem .  I would describe what I have heard so far as power-punk-pop; lots of recognizable influences in their music. I really like them so far.  Last week they played the final show of their tour at the Asbury Park Convention Center; Bruce's back yard of course and a venue frequently used by the E Street Band to warm up for their own tours. Wouldn't you know, the man showed up, clearly ready to hit the road and the stage this spring.   Proving once again that he is the man.  Great song and, to me, what the history and the future of Rock and Roll is all about.  I think the look on the the lead singers face at 3:15 just about says it all.  Part II.  Thanks to Pat for this link. And the reciprocal, from the same day.  The verse Brian from Gaslight Anthem takes is phenomenal.  I ha...

Read today that Craig Finn, frontman for one of The Fabled Automatic's most favorite bands, The Hold Steady , will release his first solo record "Clear Heart Full Eyes" on January 24th.  Not to mention a tour to go with it that will have stops in both the StL and the AtL.  Check out a preview here. http://bit.ly/twihG5 I am excited about this and interested to see what directions he takes with his solo work, but after listening to the previews and noting how much like Hold Steady songs they sound (not surprising given his ultra-distinctive voice), I am a bit worried about the future of the band.  Couple this solo project with the departure of keyboardist Franz Nicolay in 2010 (which has really changed their sound) and one has to wonder about the trajectory of the band. They are probably my favorite band discovered in the last five years (I think Dad would second that), and I would hate to think that we're already on the downhill with these guys, especially coming of...

There are an endless number of reasons to like a song, but it usually comes down to the fact that it makes you feel good somehow; it has a catchy or meaningful lyric, a pleasant melody, a scorching solo or perhaps it just plain sounds good in your ears.   Often, however, it is because it associated with a memory that is especially personal and unique to you. I’m not a big Van Halen fan.   Eddie is a phenomenal guitarist and the band is musically sound but I never particularly cared for David Lee Roth.   He has an interesting voice but I could never get past the little shriek he does.   Truth be told, I much prefer the Sammy Hagar edition of VH.   There is, however, one VH/DLR tune that ALWAYS brings a smile to my face. Back in about 1995 my wife and I told Scott we’d get him a twelve string guitar for Christmas.   He and I decided we would make a “Grand Tour” of all the guitar stores in northeast Atlanta over Thanksgiving weekend.   Along with...

Great news from E Street this week.  Bruce and The E Street Band will indeed be hitting the road behind a new album in summer 2012.  What the lineup will look like and how the horn 'section' will be filled remains to be seen.  After The Big Man's passing, both Bruce and Steve emphasized that the band would still make music together, because 'that's really all we know how to do'.  I for one am glad. www.backstreets.com Another interesting note on Backstreets.com this week... Thanksgiving Day 2011 is the 35th anniversary of perhaps the greatest concert (and without a doubt the greatest rock movie) of all time ,  The Band's legendary farewell performance, The Last Waltz. I knew it was my favorite holiday for a reason.... Little Steven (the coolest guy in the world, post on that coming soon) is honoring the occasion with Robbie Robertson week on The Underground Garage.  If you have never checked out his radio show, you really should.  It is one of th...

…or maybe not.   There are people who you’ve never met that, because of their art, you know and know you.   They understand what is going on in your head.   For me, Stephen King is one of those people.   Larry Munson was another. Even if your blood doesn’t run Red and Black, it was impossible to listen to Larry call a Bulldog game and not get fired up.   His broadcasts were poetry in its rawest and most visceral form.   In all my years of listening to sports I’ve never heard anyone communicate the passion, the naked emotion of what it meant to be a fan the way Munson did. A great heart has beat its last; the wonderful gravelly voice has gone silent.   We shan’t hear its like again. Thanks, Larry.   You enriched our lives more than you’ll ever know.

For me, discoveries of a new band for my collection are usually an exercise in critical mass over time. I come across an act thorough too many independent sources not to check them out. Two recent unearthings that fit firmly in this category are Death Cab for Cutie and John Hiatt.     How I missed these two for so long when they fit so nicely into my soundtrack is beyond me.     This model can be bad if you tend to get obsessed with artists. Is the one record enough, or must you own everything? All of a sudden there may be 3 or 5 or 10 albums to buy and digest. What if you happened upon their best work, and the rest is either no good or repetitive? On this, Pandora is such a double edge sword. On one hand it often answers some of these questions and gives you free (legal) access to a lot of a bands’ music. On the other hand in an hour, it could send you down even more rabbit holes fraught with the same peril! (In the course of writing this I bookmarked 2 oth...

While the rest of St Louis is watching to see if the Cards can cap their improbable run with a World Series title tonight, I'll be seeing one of my favorite bands at the best venue in the StL.  Drive By Truckers at the Pageant This will be the 2nd time in a year I have seen DBT here and I am really looking forward to the show.  This band is a relatively recent obsession (spurred by Dad nonetheless) but I have gone in whole hog.  What I love most about DBT is they know exactly who they are, and they do it very well, both in the studio and on stage.  Fronted by two prolific songwriters (Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) each with their own distinctive style, DBT are not especially progressive or groundbreaking, but they consistently deliver fantastic, edgy rock and roll steeped in the musical traditions of the south. Regrettably, I somehow completely missed this band during their early days in Athens, which completely coincided with my tim...

I don’t recall actively pushing music on my children, but they will tell you there was always music around; for the most part it was Classic Rock.   For me it was just music I’d gotten stuck on between the ages of 18 and 25.   If I was at home and the TV wasn’t on, I had the stereo playing.   I rigged up speakers in the basement workshop so I could have music down there.   Before the days of Walkmen and iPods I even rigged an old transistor radio with a headphone jack so I could listen to music while I mowed the lawn. In the car it was 96 Rock most of the time.   They played the artists I liked, but not just their hits. They also played deep cuts from older albums and new releases. I’d sometimes switch over to Fox 97, the “oldies” station that played 60s and 70s Top Forty and sing along, certainly mortifying my daughter when she had friends in the car. As Scott got be a teenager (I think of this as his ‘In Living Color’ phase), he would actively campaign f...

Wanted to post this after the awesome comment my friend Ben left us on "That Silver Record Player". Hope he doesn't mind, I'm going to quote him directly because he hit it dead on.  "I think we forget how trained our ears get to the new production styles. Plus the tactile feel of handling the jackets and the vinyl reminds me just how much value music has...and I like introducing my kids to this, as I want to make sure they understand the concepts as well. Music does not have to be disposable. Music is valuable." Damn.  Wish I could have written that.  It's not huge, but I love my vinyl collection, love my turntable, love putting on records, for all these reasons.  I even have albums I purposely do not own electronically so that if I want to hear them I have to get the record out. The day Clarence Clemmons died this past summer was tough.  The worst feeling was wanting to do something, but just not knowi...

I’ve been thinking a lot about the CD player that Mary bought me for Christmas 1986 and how it was the start of the musical connection that Scott and I have.   I was going to give him credit for the fact that Springsteen’s “Live 1975-1985” showed up under the tree, but apparently he was just along for the ride. His reference to “the amazingly cool upright silver record player in the corner Dad so cherished” certainly brings back fond memories. Now that we can all carry the contents of a large record store around in our pockets, it’s sometimes hard to remember the energy (and money) that went into feeding a music obsession in the pre-digital era.   My first stereo was a Christmas present freshman year of college   (I guess even Mom recognized the obsession…), a Zenith green plastic portable unit where the turntable folded up with a handle on top for easy transportation.     It had detachable speakers (wow!) and a “changer”; a tall mechanical spindle that ...

I know that music was around in my house from day one, but to be honest I don’t remember specifics.   Not until Mom bought Dad a CD player, Christmas 1986.   In 1986, a CD player was a big deal, new and a novelty. To this day I am not quite sure how she pulled it off, but I imagine that she appreciated his passion for Rock and Roll and understood that this technology and the sound that came with it would mean very much to him.   As far as I am concerned it was the most thoughtful and important gift Mom ever gave to Dad.   After buying it, she asked the guys at the record store ‘what is the best?’ What ‘CDs’ sounded so great that he would know that this was the future, and that the amazingly cool upright silver turntable Dad so cherished would soon be a thing of the past. There may have been other discs that Christmas morning, but I only remember two.   Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Live 75/85 .   If...

“I could easily get to the Trailways depot before she left Connecticut …but I wasn’t going to do it.   She was right, we had said a brilliant goodbye in my old station wagon; anything more would be a step down. At best we would find ourselves going over the same ground; at worst we’d splash mud over last night with an argument... I folded her letter, stuck it into the back pocket of my jeans, and drove home to Gates Falls . At first my eyes kept blurring and I had to keep wiping at them.   Then I turned on the radio and the music made things a little better.   The music always does.   I’m past fifty now and the music still makes things better; it’s the fabled automatic.”                                                  Stephen King, Hea...

I guess it’s not surprising that my taste in music is relatively eclectic.   My formative years were spent in the heyday of vinyl and Top Forty radio.   As the fourth of nine children I usually didn’t have a lot to say about what we listened to.   There was one radio, one record player (an old monaural Zenith) and, for at least one whole year, no television.   I remember spending hours listening to my parents’ albums as a family.   Fifty years on I can still recall a few of the artists; Jerome Kern (Big Band, I think), Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo playing the vibes, the Four Lads and The Lettermen singing beautiful pop harmonies.   My sisters and I danced the reel to the Billy Vaughn’s rendition of The Orange Blossom Special, twirling around the living room.   We sang along with Mitch Miller albums.   Mom’s show tunes also had their place, especially South Pacific and The Music Man. Thanks to my mother I discovered the genius of Les Paul yea...