Published by David September 11th, 2007
in Random, Concert and 2007.
Add The White Stripes to this list: Amy Winehouse, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Jon Dee Graham. According to Austin 360 and the ACL message boards The White Stripes have canceled their performances at ACL and Stubb’s due to an illness. Now I am really happy I have Dylan tickets for Saturday night; that is until they put someone in that slot that I wanted to see. Hopefully we’ll find out by tomorrow what the ACL promoters will do. No word if the Stripes will be playing their Thursday gig at Kiva Auditorium in Albuquerque yet. If they do that would be kinda weird since they’re citing medical issues for the cancellations.
EDIT:
They have officially taken The White Stripes off Saturday’s schedule (although they’re still on the front home page) and they moved Muse to the Stripes slot. Dr. Dog has been added but they’re up against “Sound Team”. Damien Rice is now up against Arctic Monkeys, which makes much more sense. St. Vincent has been put in Jon Dee’s open slot.
Published by James March 2nd, 2007
in Random.
It can be said with great certainty that I am a man full of excuses, especially since the birth of my daughter, and my posting here has been particularly slack-assed. So what have I been up to? What am I listening to? Short answer: a pile of new stuff. The only problem is that I am wicked unfocused, more than normal that is, and all this music is sort of floating about my head like a fog, ephemeral and indistinct.
Now, maybe the problem is that these ten albums are all over the place from the quirky progressive stylings of Deerhoof to the grind of After The Burial and everything in between from the sparse House tracks of Bodycode and the trance inducing song cycles of Etran Finatawa. Who knows.
Anyway, while I continue to nosh on these albums for the weekend I’m hoping to get my head back in the game and knock out a couple of reviews before I am completely buried. So apologies all around for my absence and hopefully your heart remains fond of us here at Candied Pop.
Published by James September 6th, 2006
in Random.
Needless to write, I have been largely quiet these past few weeks for reasons both mundane and occasionally interesting. My wife’s pregnancy has been a roller coaster so that is one excuse the other is my less than two year old iRiver needed a battery replacement so my music listening has been spotty at best especially during prime dog walking hours. I had ordered a replacement on eBay last month but figured I could squeeze a couple more months out of the old one. Nope.
This morning was the last straw as a full night’s charge yielded about 5 minutes of playback which left me really unhappy. Lucky for me there have been some brave souls that preceded me in changing their batteries and documented the struggle against really snug manufacturing. The first complaint I had was who in their right mind put the molex plug on the opposite side of the board? Really, as if it wasn’t hard enough to get the cover off I have to disassemble the entire product just to unplug the old battery and plug in the new. the next complaint is what the hell was I thinking to undertake this task without a set of tweezers? Those screws are really little and my fingers are stubby and sweaty.
All said and done I had the old battery out and the new one in and charging in about 45 minutes. 45 expletive filled minutes. But now I should be able to listen to an album all the way through without needing to be plugged into an outlet or sitting at my computer so look for some reviews from me soon. 
UPDATE: Scott jogged my memory that I should update with the links to the store where I got the battery. Licketysplitauctions has em for 1/2 the cost of Staples and it ships quick!
Published by Scott June 12th, 2006
in Meta-Chatter.
It’s time for our annual trip to Michigan to visit with our families. Normally I kind of look forward to the 12+ hour drive each way because I get a chance to listen to a zillion albums. Not so, this year. Our minivan’s radio crashed and burned this week. (I know what you’re thinking- He drives a minivan? That’s so cool!) In a fit of possession it turned itself on, switched to a non-station of ear splitting static, and refused to respond to any buttons, knobs, or outright beatings. I finally had to pull over and yank the fuse. Later attempts to resuscitate it were unsuccessful. So now I’m in store for a whole lot of Hank the Cowdog stories on my kids’ boom box instead of the thousands of mp3’s I have loaded up on my player. Oh well. At least Hank is pretty funny. James, who is a very busy guy and posts more than me anyway, has graciously promised to pick up my slack. See ya sometime next week!
Published by Scott June 1st, 2006
in Random and Meta-Chatter.
Some random music related thoughts and happenings:
- I had two teacher work days this week to finish up the school year. Brought in my DIY boom box and rocked out. It was quite a luxury. For some reason I can’t get away with that when the students are around.
- One of the best new-to-me albums I heard was The Spinto Band’s Nice and Nicely Done. They sound to me like a cross between Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Arcade Fire, and Weezer. Very, uh, nicely done. I love “Brown Boxes” and must have played it a dozen times. There’s your mixtape track.
- I’m thinking about checking out Saturday night’s show at the Athens Popfest on August 12. I sure would love to see Apples in Stereo and Circulatory System. If only it wasn’t so late. AiS isn’t even scheduled to start until 1:00 AM. Factor in an hour and fifteen minute drive and I probably wouldn’t make it home until around four. I’m not even sure I could stay awake that long! Yes, my wild stay-up-all-night days are behind me. It might be different if I could sleep in the next morning but my kids would definitely put a stop to that. I think I just talked myself out of it…
- I am going to Sunday night’s outdoor free show at Athfest on June 25 to see Drivin’ n Cryin’. I’m pretty excited. I wouldn’t mind seeing Jason Ringenberg (only a twenty minute set) and Don Chambers + GOAT on Saturday either. I’ve never listened to Now It’s Overhead but will check out the freebies on their site to see if I can convince myself to go two nights in a row. If Summer Hymns was playing a longer set on Friday I wouldn’t hesitate to make the trek then either.
- I subscribe to Paste and generally think it’s a decent magazine. A little heavy on singer-songwriters for my tastes but definitely worth reading. I also like to support it because it’s based in Decatur, GA which is close to where I live. That said, the new issue is pretty lame. It’s got a 60’s era picture of Bob Dylan on the cover for the “100 Best Living Songwriters” feature. I understand that people like lists and they’re trying to sell magazines but to me it smacks of Rolling Stone, especially considering the list contains all the usual yuppie worshiped icons that have been drooled over ad infinitum. You mean Dylan is a great songwriter? Who knew?!?
Published by James May 16th, 2006
in Meta-Chatter.
Seeing as I have been uber-remiss in making my posts over here I thought I would offer up several lame excuses for your choosing.
- I was abducted by aliens and spent the weekend subjected to usability tests regarding the Oasis back catalog. I’m currently seeking treatment due to lingering after effects.
- Started out clubbing on Friday only to wake up this morning inside a telephone booth outside Lake Flambeau Wisconsin with no pants. Picked a bad time to go commando.
- Busy working on my anthology of “Perfect Strangers” fan-fic.
- It’s not you, it’s me.
All the same I’ve been listening to a handful of new releases and if I can locate my pants and get Wonderwall out of my head might have a review up in a day:
Loka - Fire Shepherds: Blissful Space-Jazz-Funk
Kaskade - Here and Now: San Francisco House
DJ Icey - YK4: Dirty, frenetic, four-on-the-floor Bass
PHON.O - Burn Down the Town: House meets Ghetto-Tech
I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness - Fear Is On Our Side: Honorable Mention in the longest band name contest
Oh, and I’m still fiddling with a site redesign. If only I could make up my mind on what looks less than worst.
