It’s little secret that I’ve been fairly obsessed with the work of Steve Earle for the last while – ironically, since I decided NOT to go to his last show in Toronto this past May (which, incidentally, will rank very high on the 2003 list of regrets). Rarely does a day go by that I don’t have at least one of his albums in my CD wallet at work. I just finished reading his biography Hardcore Troubadour, by Lauren St John. I knew the basics of Earle’s life but to read the whole story in one telling… By all rights, the man should be dead – several times over, no less. The depths to which he sank in the early 90s – homeless and living only to score heroin and crack – was a hole that no one should have been able to escape. But he did, after being incarcerated and forced to go through detox for several months, and then came back to produce arguably the best work of his career.

Listening to anything from acoustic comeback record Train A Comin’ through last year’s ferociously political Jerusalem and understanding the road he took to create them emphasizes the autobiographical aspects of his songs and gives them extra emotional heft. When the man says, “Be careful what you wish for friend/ Because I’ve been to hell and now I’m back again”, you’d do well to pay attention because it’s bloody well true. There’s a terrific fan site for Steve here.

I sometimes wonder how a Chinese-Canadian kid from the suburbs of Toronto gets fixated on country-rock music, but that’s a pondering for another day.

Things aren’t looking good for Michael Jackson. Am I correct in thinking his current predicament differs from the one a decade ago in that last time, he was investigated but never charged, whereas this time they’re ready to arrest him? Make no mistake – I think the guy’s got serious issues, but part of me hopes that the allegations aren’t true, if only to prove wrong those who are always so quick to crucify celebrities and seem to take great pleasure in doing so. It’s a poor thing to take pleasure in the misfortune of others.

Download a live Low show in Italy from two weeks ago here. Link from LHB.

np – Emmylou Harris / Stumble Into Grace

24 this week – Don’t think I didn’t notice that everyone made a point of stating where Tony had been shot. “Tony’s been shot in the neck!” “Michelle, we were so sorry to hear that Tony was shot in the neck.” “Tony will need surgery for that gunshot to his neck.” Etc. Again – another strong episode, especially the last 10 minutes. Whoo. At first, I was thinking, “Wow, that Chase is a loose cannon. He plays by his own rules”. But then, I was all, “Wow, that Jack is a looser cannon. He MORE plays by his own rules.” Or something like that.

Here’s a handy list for my next jaunt to Queen Video – The Guardian’s top 40 directors in the world today. We’ll ignore the fact that I abhor their number one pick, David Lynch. Instead, rejoice that their long MIA number 37, David O Russell, finally has a new film ready for release next year – I Heart Huckabees stars Jude Law and Naomi Watts (I heart Naomi Watts), and is about “A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.” I’m laughing already.

Also from The Guardian – 60 notable Brits and Americans take the opportunity to welcome George W Bush to Great Britain.

After making his name with cult fantasy/horror films like The Evil Dead, The Evil Dead II and Darkman, Sam Raimi was probably thinking that people weren’t taking him seriously as a director and that he was becoming typecast as a b-movie auteur. So he went out and made A Simple Plan – a masterfully executed suspense about two brothers who find a bag containing millions of dollars in a crashed plane, and the calamaties that ensue when they decide to keep it. I watched it last night and it was really good. Lots of others thought so too – it got terrific reviews and Raimi got accolades as a serious director. And then, flush with his new standing as a maker of serious films, he went out and made Spider-Man.

Some new release tidbits from two of my favorite bands – first from the Luna camp – bassist Britta Philips told the mailing list that they’ll be entering the studio next month, expect to be done by end of January and that they’d like to have a new album ready for April. These projections are probably far to premature to hang a hat on, but it’s nice to have a ballpark to look forward to.

Also, Billboard reports that Wilco is back in the studio with producer Jim O’Rourke working on their new album, tenatively titled W*lco Happens. They expect to be done recording by late Spring, which probably means an Autumn release date.

Let the lists begin! Amazon has listed their 100 best albums of 2003. I refuse to make my lists before the middle of December, giving me time to a) absorb everything that qualifies and b) pick up whatever releases might prove worthy. For the record, I own 23 of Amazon’s 100 – I usually score about 30% on major year-end lists, so I guess I’m a little less hip than I was. Alas.

np – Steve Earle / Train A Comin’

Band photos last night! Genuine, honest-to-goodness band promo photos. We headed down to the apartment of a photographer friend of Brad and Five’s and drank wine, listened to Big Star and The Darkness and did silly stuff that hopefully yielded some hopefully good/interesting shots to use for… whatever. Someone out there is also writing a bio that’s hopefully more fiction than fact.

Belle & Sebastian have rated the cover of the new Big Takeover, out in the next few weeks. After shunning the media for so long, they’ve certainly dived right into things to promote Dear Catastrophe Waitress. BTO‘s interviews are always massive affairs – this one should be good.

The Cure are the latest band to get into the massive back-catalog reissue game. In addition to the Join The Dots box set of b-sides and unreleased material due out January 27, they’ll be remastering and reissuing their entire catalog with a bonus disc of unreleased material over the next year and a half. It’s enough to make the devoted fans’ mascara run with joy. Full details at Pitchfork.

After a prolonged absence, Swizzle Stick is back. Everyone go and welcome Chip back to the unreal world.

Information Leafblower and associates have offered up for your consideration their choices for the 40 best bands in America right now. I scoff at seeing the Strokes at number one, but things get more interesting from there on.

np – Beulah / Yoko

I’ve commented in the past that American independent cinema, while great filmmaking, can be pretty dour, depressing stuff. Apparently Chris Gore of Film Threat thinks so too – that’s why he’s making My Big Fat Independent Movie. I like the idea, I hope the execution measures up. While we’re at it – can anyone recommend some good indie comedies?

Film Threat has a response to Michael Medved of USA Today‘s assertion that films like Kill Bill are dragging America’s cultural standards into the toilet. And speaking of Kill Bill, I saw a commercial for it yesterday wherein all blood splatters in the fight scenes were rendered black instead of red – so Uma is fighting off the sword-wielding gangsters drenched in like, oil or tar. I understand that geysers of blood might not be appropriate for prime time television, but it was still strange to see.

100 artists and graphic designers offer up what they consider to be the greatest album covers that never were. Some are cool, others look like some kid’s Photoshop project. From House Of Hot Sauce.

Watch the video for The Shins’ “So Says I” here. Link from Slatch.

My blogroll has been hijacked. NOT HAPPY. Especially since I don’t actually KNOW any of the URLs of sites I usually visit. Shiiiiiit. I hope my old list is recoverable, I’d hate to have to rebuild the whole thing again. Update: Yeah, I’m rebuilding the whole thing again. Sigh. Update 2: And now they’ve erased everything I did as (I assume) they attempt to fix the hacking. SIGH. Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.

I can’t remember the last time I bought a box of cereal with a toy in it.

np – Wheat / Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second

The Liz Phair in-store yesterday afternoon, a half-hour acoustic set with just her and her guitarist, was pretty good – or at least it sounded good. So large was the crowd that I couldn’t see a damn thing. Didn’t see one bit of her through the whole performance, though I did catch a glance of the top of her head when she got up to leave. I think. I spent the set listening to the music and reading the backs of Criterion Collection DVDs (making note to try and rent some Kurosawa films – they look interesting). Her voice was stronger than I expected and more on key than I expected, and she opened and closed with older (read: better) material. A promising portent for the full show later, hopefully.

Update: Chart was close enough to snap the photo I’ve posted, and have a couple comments of their own from the instore. Read em here and a review of the concert here.

To kill time before the show, saw The Secret Lives Of Dentists – a film I knew nothing about going in save that Denis Leary was in it. I had thought that it was a comedy, but despite some funny scenes, it’s really not. Campbell Scott and Hope Davis are married dentists with three young daughters, dealing with the ennui that sets in after ten years of marriage. Scott, who is looking a helluva lot like Kevin Kline, suspects Davis is having an affair and grapples with how to handle the situation while managing his family. Leary starts off as an acerbic patient and becomes voice to Scott’s inner turmoil – an imaginary Great Gazoo type of character. Naturally, he gets the best jokes and lines. Overall, it’s a small, very intimate and effective film with some terrific performances. A pleasant surprise.

Wheat are one of those little bands I’d adopted as my own back in the summer of 2000, after hearing some snippets on the CBC, of all places, and on the recommendation of my friend Dave. Before long, Hope And Adams was soundtracking my life. Since that time, they’ve been through label troubles and the new record, Per Second, Per Second, Per Second… Every Second has been a long, long time in coming – as I’ve documented over the last while. I’ve mostly come to terms with their trading in much of their hazy, dreamy mid-fi indie-pop sound for sharp, polished rock, and was curious to see how their live show had changed since their last jaunt to Toronto for NXNE in 2000. I thoroughly enjoyed their half-hour set, so happy was I to finally be able to see them again and get the new album that all reservations I had about their new sound and major label debut evaporated. Scott’s voice has gotten a lot stronger though his stage banter could still use some work. They crammed a lot of material into their half-hour set and seemed to be having a terrific time. Hopefully they won over some of the crowd. It was also fun to be able to buy the new CD from drummer Brendan Harney (since, contrary to what Scott said onstage, it has NOT been released in Canada, or at least not so that you could tell). Our converstaion – Me: “Hey Brendan, great show”. He: “Thanks – hey, did you just call me by my name?” Me: “Yeah, I came mostly to see you guys”. He: “Wow, thanks a lot”. (handshake) It’s the little things, y’know?

I’d never seen Liz live before (before this afternoon, anyway), and really didn’t know what to expect. The last reviews I’d read were circa Whip-Smart and the recurring theme was how her stage fright tended to torpedo her shows. Seems she’s over that now. I’ll sum up her show in easy-to-read point form for the attention deficit disordered among us.

The Good:

1) The setlist, mostly. There was healthy representation from the earlier albums, particularly Whitechocolatespaceegg and Exile In Guyville. I think she knew what most of the crowd was there to hear (though they did cheer loudly for “Why Can’t I”).

2) The energy. The crowd was stoked, Liz had a perma-grin on her face, good vibes all around.

The Bad:

1) The sound. Liz had elected to use one of those headset mics favored by Madonna, Garth Brooks and Britney, and it was not a good idea. Besides eliminating the ability to use the mic as an instrument (it’s hard to move around a mic when it’s fixed in front of your mouth), it rendered the vocals terribly shrill and strident. When Liz went for the high notes, it was time to cover your ears. Plus the bass was too loud and muddy. The mix never sounded natural.

2) The new material. Alongside the older stuff, it just seems toothless and bland. Maybe on its own it doesn’t seem so obvious, but side-by-side, it couldn’t hold a candle – musically or lyrically.

3) The guy standing behind me. For fuck’s sake, STOP SCREAMING. She’s not going to come into the crowd and screw you or anything. His voice hurt more than the PA.

The Weird:

1) The number of kids there. Like under 10 years old kids. I realize the tickets say ‘all ages’, but that’s not a request. It looked as though some fourth-grade teacher decided a Liz Phair concert would make a fine field trip for her pupils.

2) These same kids singing and dancing to tunes like “Flower”, “Rock Me” and “Supernova”, tunes with decidedly, er, mature themes and raunchy lyrics. Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but that’s just not right.

3) The crowd in general. If Liz’s goal was to reach as broad an audience as possible, I’d say she was successful. There were the kids, the top 40 radio drones, the indie hipsters not too put off by the new record and, of course, the dirty old men. Who were out in force.

The short:

1) Liz’s skirt. Yow.

So the show was decent, which was a relief. I had feared it would be the official “How A Major Label Fucked Up A Decent Indie Artist Tour 2003”, but it was alright. Wheat were great, Liz was sorta patchy but decent overall. I wish I brought my camera – as I found out when I got there, their only policy was no flashes, which would have been fine with me. I guess digital cameras are so commonplace now that they’d have to confiscate them from half the audience if they tried.

np – Wheat / Medeiros