New Video: Tom Waits - "Satisfied"

Check out Tom Waits' new video for "Satisfied" directed by Bob Dylan's son Jesse Dylan; this track is off his most recent album, Bad as Me (Anti)

To Ramona

[mp3] Lissie: "Everywhere I go"

While we're the 179,016th person to discover this 2009 video - it's no less charming. Looking forward to more from Lissie soon. She hasn't been on the site for a bit now. Thanks to When You Awake (great blog) for this.

Exclusive Stream: Bob Dylan The Bootleg Series Vol. 9- The Witmark Demos Stream

For this week only (ending 9/30), we are able to offer you an EXCLUSIVE STREAM of Bob Dylan's newest bootleg release, Vol. 9 - The Wimark Demos sponsored by Thumbplay Music. The widget below gives you access to 15 tracks from the new record which are currently unavailable for preview anywhere else outside this widget. The full album will be available at all sales retailers on Oct. 19.


For the full album track listing plus more information about Thumbplay Music, continue after the jump.

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Album Tracklist:
1. “Ballad for a Friend”*
2. “Man on the Street”
3. “Blowin in the Wind”
4. “Long Ago, Far Away”*
5. “Tomorrow Is a Long Time
6. “Long Time Gone”*
7. “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”
8. “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
9. “Paths of Victory”
10. “Guess I’m Doing Fine”*
11. “Farewell”*
12. “Bound To Lose”*
13. “I Shall Be Free”
14. “Girl From the North Country”
15. “Only a Hobo”

"Thumbplay Music has more than ten million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 35,000 independent labels.  In addition to an in-app media player, Thumbplay Music boasts several compelling features, including:

• Unlimited, on-demand access to any artist or album; choose from millions of songs.
• iTunes^® Playlist/Favorite Artist Import within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app.  With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on your smartphone and PC/Mac.
• Genie for music discovery: Instantly generate customized recommendations from select songs – it’s a great way to quickly build playlists that you know you’re going to love while discovering new music.
• Favorites and effortless Playlist creation to quickly build your personal collection; auto-syncs between smartphone and PC/Mac.
• Online and offline access: No connection? No problem!  Listen to music on the subway or in-flight.  Available anytime, anywhere for Android, BlackBerry and iPhone.
• Music Sharing – Stream songs live on Facebook from PC/Mac:  Select “Share” by right-clicking on any of the millions of songs within Thumbplay Music’s desktop app. Share music with specific friends or with everyone in your Facebook network – also coming soon for Twitter^™;
• Search: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs
• Free, “no strings attached” three-day trial; subscriptions are then available for $9.99/month."

Rare Dylan and The Band. Free Stream. Eat, Eat, Ya Vultures . . .

The Band taught at least a few of us around here how to listen to good music. I dare say those Canadian (and Arkansan) bastards even snatched victory from the jaws of "jam band-dom" in one particular case. Thank god for simple gifts . . . And for free gifts. Wolfgangsvault.com is offering a previously unreleased stream of Dylan and The Band's Valentine's Day, 1974 show at the L.A. Forum. Five million people sent in paid ticket orders by mail for the 650,000 tickets that were available over the course of the tour (in support of Planet Waves). It remains the most demanded concert ticket of all time. Who knew? The new live release has all the Dyan gems one really needs to hear plus some Band staples. Ain't nothin' wrooooong with that...

Photo

-Tim Emmerick, Stark Contributing Writer

Thoughts From My Lunch Hour: Am I Going to Hell for Not Enjoying Bob Dylan Live?

THOUGHTS FROM MY LUNCH HOUR by Andrew Daniels

...Yes, probably, whatever. Blasphemy! I saw Dylan live yesterday, and U-G-H. I wanted to dig him, wanted to walk away deeply moved or something, but all I felt was boredom and even a little gassy. You can read a quasi-and-I-mean-really-quasi-review that I wrote this morning, but it's probably just better if I copy and paste this Gmail chat I had this morning with Matt regarding the concert. Enjoy this unfiltered and incredibly meaningful conversation from two of today's brightest young minds. Mostly this is just lazy blogging, though. Enjoy:

Stark: how was the dylan show?
me: in one word, tedious. the atmosphere was great, and
obviously it was killer to see him and willie a few feet away
me: but honestly, it was incoherent babbling. really
disappointing. should've expected it though
Stark: yeah - it's a tough thing to get through
me: i mean, admittedly i'm only a modest dylan fan, love a couple of records and am
lukewarm to the rest... most people were there for the myth more than
anything
Stark: yeah - it's so weird to look up there and think that's the same guy
Stark: you see paul simon and you're like - ok I can see how he recorded Bridge Over Troubled Water, but you see Bob and you're like - I can't believe this was the kid who wrote Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
me: yes! totally totally what i was thinking. like, it took me 3 minutes into the song to figure out that he was playing dont think twice its alright, because you couldn't
understand him and the arrangement was terrible
Stark: yeah - it's just such a weird operation
me: if it's any consolation, the band ripped, but that was one of the few bright spots
Stark: yes

Like I said, very meaningful, very bright. The point is, I didn't like Dylan, and I shouldn't feel ashamed for that but I do. WHY ALL THE INTERNAL CONFLICT? Anyway, hate to be a drag, but that's it for today. More tomorrow!

Thoughts From My Lunch Hour: Backdoor Sliders with Boris, Bobby, Willie and the Cougar

THOUGHTS FROM MY LUNCH HOUR by Andrew Daniels

On a day where the gang around here is honoring the 1970's, I won't do such a thing, because hey, I like the aughts just fine and plus I know nothing about the 70's except for what happened in Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan's got magic legs! So I thought that I should honor something I do know and love a lot about: baseball. The best sport in the world - scientifically proven, don't front - is in the spotlight today because it's the All Star Game, duh. Also, all the steroids. Always with the steroids. But I'd like to point your attention to a couple of baseball-related items of interest today in the music world, but really only two, because this is more like a lunch half-hour. Chief among them being the brand spankin' new song from Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, the loveable indie-pop foursome who won thousands of hearts (mine) last year with the best album of 2008, Pershing. The folks over at Catbird Seat are premiering "Cardinal Rules," which the Missouri boys wrote exclusively about their town's minor league baseball team, the Springfield Cardinals. It (likely) won't be on the band's followup to Pershing, but it still rips. It's really anthemic with only the slightest bit of cheese, which means it's perfect to be blasted in minor league stadiums across the world, or just Missouri.

[mp3] Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: "Cardinal Rules"

I wish an indie band would write about my town's minor league baseball affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Oh! Segue! Read on.

So yeah, speaking of those Pigs, the stadium in which they normally play (Coca Cola Park) is occupied with other swine tonight: namely Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and John (Cougar) Mellencamp. I told you guys about this in my last TFMLH, way to be listening, an hour of detention for everyone. I'll be live tweeting from the stadium starting at 4 p.m. today for The Morning Call, and I'm actually really jazzed for it. Or folked, I guess. Again, none of these performers are even close to being in their prime and there's a good chance I might see one of them die on stage tonight, but you don't pass up the opportunity to see a couple of legends and John (Cougar) Mellencamp for free. So tweet I shall. I really hope J(C)M plays "Centerfield" tonight, for obvious reasons. Anyway, you can bet I'll have at least four thoughts on tonight's festivities in tomorrow's column, but I urge you to follow me in real time tonight, because hey, new media, right?

Follow my live updates HERE! For those of you with an aversion to hyperlinks, simply go to www.twitter.com/mcall and watch the tweets get progressively more cynical throughout the night. Until next time!

Today's Lunch Hour: Shut Up, I Love Third Eye Blind

Third Eye Blind - Don't Believe A Word from Sneak Attack on Vimeo.

THOUGHTS FROM MY LUNCH HOUR by Andrew Daniels

Another lunch hour, more tasty treats for you to snack on. Welcome to the second installment of Thoughts from My Lunch Hour. Today I'm chowing down on turkey and cheddar and scoping the brand new video from 90's alt-rock heroes Third Eye Blind. Shut up, I love 90's alt-rock heroes Third Eye Blind. They get unfairly labeled as one hit/album wonders (97's self-titled, the "doot-doot-doot" song) but in reality wrote three really great LP's of honest, confrontational and uncoventional pop music and still amass a larger-than-cult following. I think they've got a fourth great record in them with the impending release of Ursa Major, which finally hits stores August 18 after a five-year layoff. Here's the pretty cool new video for lead single "Don't Believe A Word," which despite its political bend is the band's most accessible song in years. (Even if the bridge is kinda laughable.) Stephan Jenkins may or may not be a douchebag, and I may or may not be interviewing him in a few weeks, but dude can pen some choice words and melodies. Yeah, the stop-motion-happy clip is above, you guys. More assorted thoughts after the jump.

So remember when I told you yesterday that the title of Brand New's new one was And One Head Can Never Die and we were all perplexed together? Now AbsolutePunk is reporting that the band decided to change its mind and has re-named the disc Daisy. I mean, whatever. The name is just fine. They could call it Shit Sandwich and I'd still be ALL OVER IT. Good band is good band. Check back tomorrow for the album's new title, I'm sure. Still is out 9/22.

OH. On September 29, Anti- is releasing The Swell Season's Strict Joy. You know, the pushing-40-Irish man (that would be Glen Hansard of The Frames) and the much younger maybe-not-even-20 Czech beauty (Marketa Irglova) who used to date and star in the Oscar-winning indie darling "Once" but then broke up and now just make gorgeous music again. Those guys. I am officially stoked on it.

Hey PR folks: Did you read the letter that lovable asshole Bob Lefsetz sent yesterday? It was an interesting piece in which the industry guru declared his contempt for press releases. As usual, some parts of his diatribe are spot on and others are way off base, but it's certainly an interesting read. I wonder how many press releases he got following the e-mail. Read it here.

Just found out that I get to attend (and live tweet) the Bob Dylan show at Coca Cola Park in Allentown next Tuesday on behalf of my newspaper. Pretty sweet. I forget who it was - maybe Vince? - who once said that seeing Dylan is like seeing the Dalai Lama. You don't really enjoy it, and you can't really understand it, but it's basically a rite of passage. Who's seen Dylan? Anything I should watch out for?

Another blog shoutout: The Singles Jukebox. Basically a collection of great writers discussing the merits of new singles pervading the undergound and mainstream. Sometimes the focus is too much on R&B and hip hop, but I dig a lot of what these cats have to say.

Head P4K honcho Scott Plagenhoef reviewed the new Discovery LP today - gave it a 6.8 - and he's pretty much dead on. That record is very top-heavy. Starts out with undeniably strong summer jams and then entirely falls apart midway through. Still, it's got a couple of certified iPod bangers, and that's good enough for a carefree side project.

Ok, I'm outies, but here's a last plea to Vote Victorino! Get the Flyin' Hawaiian into the All Star Game. One hour left, sports fans. I'm off to enjoy a three-day weekend in Ithaca, NY. It's gorges.

Beyond Here Lies...

...The violent new Pulp Fiction meets No Country For Old Men video for Bob Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothin" from his brand new Together Through Life. Although Bob probably only signed off on the script and final product, we'd like to think that this devastating episode somehow crawled out of Bob's gnarly brain and onto your computer screen. Creepy Bob. Really. There was an impressive photo compilation that Amazon billed as the "official" video, but this appears to be the real thing. This vid premiered on ifc.com and is directed by Nash Edgerton and features Amanda Aardsma and Joel Stoffer. Watch the shit go down HERE.

Featured Releases 4/28

Artist: Crocodiles

Album: Summer of Hate (Fat Possum)
Mp3: "Neon Jesus"
Mp3: "Summer of Hate"

This record blindsided us the week before SXSW. Then, Crocodiles went down south and blindsided the entire festival. Garnering wide-sweeping praise for their live show, on this blog and elsewhere, Crocodiles have just released their debut Summer of Hate today on Fat Possum. While the latter half of the record has lost some of it's luster over the past few weeks (a little long on noise and short on songs), there are gems on this album that make it absolutely worth the purchase -- notably the standout track "I Want to Kill." If Crocodiles can keep the momentum going they have potential to be one of the breakout bands on the indie scene in 2009.

Artist: Bob Dylan
Album: Together Through Life (Columbia)
Stream the Record @ Paste Magazine

Yeah, so - the new Bob record. Ok. Heard it was bad. From a few reputable sources. Contributor Mike Bailey said it was his weakest batch of songs since the 80s. Rolling Stone liked it, but they're hero mongering baby-boomers who will never give anything Bob does until he dies less than 4 stars. In fact, they will go back and give every Dylan record they panned 5 stars retrospectively. Apparently, there is more accordion on this record than a bad night in Venice. You know what? We're cool with that. I like Southwestern stuff, like chipotle. And belt buckles. Look, it's Bob, we love Bob, we sometimes even love bad Bob. So there you have it. Thanks to Microphone Memory Emotion for pointing out a great list of Dylan covers posted at Paste. She also posted a nice mp3 of Nanci Griffith covering "Boots of Spanish Leather." Click here for it. Damn you Suze Rotolo and your stupid trip to Europe. (Kidding, we still think you're awesome.)

Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson Announce Ballpark Tour

Photo Credit: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3247/2368051286_524d7c7fce.jpg

Rolling Stone just gave Dylan's Together Through Life a four star review. You know they would have gone five, but they would have caught too much heat from us bloggers. Plus, it would just be too easy to give Dylan five stars. He's Bob Dylan. We know. We love him.

Dylan, Shotgun Willie AND the original cougar, John Mellencamp are teaming up to take us all out to a ball game this summer, with a tour of the nations' most famous (or not famous) baseball stadiums. Sure, the sound will probably be shit in most of the venues, but deal with it. See tour dates and venues after the jump.

On a side note, we wish we could catch Tinariwen at Le Passion Rouge this evening, but we have the all important Pomp & Circumstance party to attend. Gotta represent.

Date City
7/2 Sauget, IL at GCS Ballpark
7/4 South Bend, IN at Coveleski Stadium
7/8 Louisville, KY at Louisville Slugger Field
7/10 Dayton, OH at Fifth Third Field
7/11 Eastlake, OH at Classic Park
7/13 Washington, PA at Consol Energy Park
7/14 Allentown, PA at Coca-Cola Park
7/15 New Britain, CT at New Britain Stadium
7/19 Syracuse, NY at Alliance Bank Stadium
7/21 Pawtucket, RI at McCoy Stadium
7/23 Lakewood, NJ at FirstEnergy Park
7/24 Aberdeen, MD at Ripken Stadium
7/25 Norfolk, VA at Harbor Park
7/28 Durham, NC at Durham Bulls Athletic Park
7/29 Sevierville, TN at Smokies Park
8/4 Round Rock, TX at The Dell Diamond
8/5 Corpus Christi, TX at Whataburger Field
8/7 Grand Prairie, TX at QuikTrip Park
8/11 Glendale, AZ at Camelback Ranch
8/12 Las Vegas, NV at Cashman Field
8/14 Fresno, CA at Chukchansi Park
8/15 Stockton, CA at Banner Island Ballpark

Bill Flanagan Sits Down With Dylan, Talks of New Album

http://themusicsover.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/richard.jpg

Rock journalist and MTV producer Bill Flanagan recently spoke with Bob Dylan about his forthcoming, 33rd release, Together Through Life. The five-part interview can be read in full at Dylan's main site; however, in support of more independent, online publications (...is print dead? not yet, but dying fast) the Huffington Post garnered rights to the fourth section of the Dylan interview.

Here, Dylan speaks of influential musicians, favorite song writers, songs, and pinning down his artist persona...it's Bob Dylan. Good luck with that.

"BF: Who are some of your favorite songwriters?

BD: Buffett I guess. Lightfoot. Warren Zevon. Randy. John Prine. Guy Clark. Those kinds of writers.

BF: Then what kind of artist are you?

BD: I'm not sure, Byronesque maybe. Look, when I started out, mainstream culture was Sinatra, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Sound of Music. There was no fitting into it then and of course, there's no fitting into it now. Some of my songs have crossed over but they were all done by other singers."

Get the New Bob Dylan MP3 Now, Before it's Too Late

Bob Dylan's 46th career release, Together Through Life, drops April 28 on Columbia. From now until midnight tomorrow, an exclusive first track MP3 for the album is available HERE, on Bob Dylan's homepage. The tune titled, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," rollicks with the blues-infused power of previous efforts such as 2006's Modern Times. Highlighting a subdued brass section, accordion and vivacious guitar lines, Dylan jangles along in typical, modern day fashion. There isn't much departure from the newer, more grizzled sound of Dylan's vocals; we weren't expecting another life chapter here, but there is no lack in musical quality either... it's Bob fucking Dylan.*
Pre-order the album here.

* As the rock myth goes, there have been three Bob Dylans: the first died in the infamous motorcycle crash in Woodstock, and the next was so bad, Columbia had him killed. We are living through the third Dylan currently, and Together Through Life doesn't seem to be a mythical, posthumous release.

Bob Dylan - Together Through Life

April 28th, 2009 (Columbia Records)

New Bob Dylan In April

We're not really sure where this came from, but Bob Dylan will have a record of 10 original songs coming out in late April on Columbia. Dylan's yet untitled effort comes quickly on the back of his truly amazing Tell Tale Signs --the eighth installment of the Bootleg Series. This will be his first collection of new material since 2006's Modern Times. According to Rolling Stone's description, the record sounds damn fine, and right up our alley. Some great surprise news for a Thursday.

The disc has the live-in-the-studio feel of Dylan's last two studio records, 2001's Love and Theft and 2006's Modern Times, but with a seductive border-cafe feel (courtesy of the accordion on every track) and an emphasis on struggling-love songs. The effect — in the opening shuffle, "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," the Texas-dancehall jump of "If You Ever Go to Houston" and the waltz "This Dream of You" — is a gnarly turn on early-1970s records like New Morning and Planet Waves.

Photograph by Matthew Rolston

Dark was the Night - Charity Compilation - 2/17

Even though the blogosphere has been alight for the past several weeks regarding this blockbuster compilation, enough can't be said about how all-around great it is. I'm sure there will be much debate over the "greatness" of all the artists, but you can't expect names like Wavves to sell this record. At least not yet. (No hate to Wavves here.)

We've been able to peruse about 3/4ths of it since it arrived yesterday, and what we've heard so far has been excellent. Not only does the tracklist feature a veritable who's-who of major indie rock artists of the past decade, but all of the proceeds of Dark was the Night go to the Red Hot Organization. This is the 20th Red Hot release, and the 20th anniversary of the Red Hot Organization. The organization is an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture.

Much more info and an mp3 after the jump.

Dirty Projectors and David Byrne "Knotty Pine"

The first disc of the two features darker more haunting versions of folk themed songs (some covers and originals). Highlights here include Antony's cover of Dylan's I Was Young When I Left Home, the reworked Grizzly Bear track Deep Blue Sea and the Dirty Projectors/David Byrne collaboration Knotty Pine (mp3 above).

The second disc brings forth a brighter collection of tracks, the "morning" to the first disc's "night" if you will. Personal favorites so far are the My Morning Jacket track El Caporal and the Sharon Jones cover of Shuggie Otis' Inspiration Information.

BUY this record February 17th via 4AD. Remember, charity people, don't be a torrenting asshole. Lots of great listening here. Tracks from the comp have been streaming for awhile HERE.

THIS DISC

1 Knotty Pine - Dirty Projectors + David Byrne http://www.4ad.com/audio/darkwasthenight/knottypine.mp3

2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) - The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez

3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) - Feist Ben Gibbard

4 Brackett, WI - Bon Iver

5 Deep Blue Sea - Grizzly Bear

6 So Far Around the Bend - The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)

7 Tightrope - Yeasayer

8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) - My Brightest Diamond

9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) - Kronos Quartet

10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) - Antony Bryce Dessner

11 Big Red Machine - Justin Vernon Aaron Dessner

12 Sleepless - The Decemberists

13 Stolen Houses (Die) - Iron and Wine

14 Service Bell - Grizzly Bear Feist

15 You Are The Blood - Sufjan Stevens



THAT DISC

1 Well-Alright - Spoon

2 Lenin - Arcade Fire

3 Mimizan - Beirut

4 El Caporal - My Morning Jacket

5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) - Dave Sitek

7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song "You are the Blood" by the Castanets) - Buck 65
Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)

8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) - The New Pornographers

9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) - Yo La Tengo

10 Another Saturday (traditional song) - Stuart Murdoch

11 Happiness - Riceboy Sleeps

12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) - Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues

13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) - Andrew Bird

14 Lua - Conor Oberst Gillian Welch

15 When the Road Runs Out - Blonde Redhead Devastations

16 Love vs. Porn - Kevin Drew

"Staying Up All Night in the Chelsea Hotel Writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands For You"

Photo via Hotel Chelsea Blog.

Today some sad news via Gothamist...

The bloggers over at the Hotel Chelsea have been keeping an eye on the new management of their ever-changing home, and most recently noted some falsified DOB construction permits obtained "in a move designed to sidestep requirement for certificate of non-harassment."

Today they've got photographic proof of the construction, and Bob Dylan fans: cover your eyes. The singer's former residence at the hotel, room #211, "where he lived in the 60s, writing 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,' and so many other great songs from his Blond on Blond album" is being destroyed! The room had pretty much stayed the same since Dylan was inhabiting it, something The Man and their sledgehammers are changing fast. Stanley Bard would surely object.

The Big Pink - "Too Young To Love" Video

This came to us via Mike Bailey and Some Velvet Blog. These London natives take their name from the once Woodstock home of The Band...The Big Pink; the home's basement served as a recording studio for the Dylan-Band combination aptly titled, The Basement Tapes. You know it.

As for the song, its got balls and promise. But the video is pretty fucked. There is some nipple, body morphing and strobe light raving. It's pretty good for a mid-Monday, non-caffeinated, wake up.

Bob Dylan Returns to Manhattan

Richard Manuel and Bob

Bobdylan.com has just announced a special concert November 21st at the United Palace Theater in NY which marks Bob's first return to Manhattan, in well, awhile.

Tickets will go on sale this Thursday, October 30, at 10 a.m. Eastern time. All purchases will require a password, which will be posted on our tour page before tickets go on sale.

This is not a pre-sale in the usual bobdylan.com fashion. There will be no general public on-sale. All tickets will be sold via the password published on bobdylan.com. There is a limit of four tickets per customer.

All tickets in the first ten rows will require a pick-up at the venue's box office the night of the show, and purchasers must present a valid i.d. and the credit card used to make the purchase.

There will be Hot Seat Packages available for this show, also on sale starting October 30 at 10:00 a.m. See our tour page for more information.

It ain't MacDougal street, but hey it's on the island.

Lynn Goldsmith: Show of a Different Sort

Quick note about a show of a different sort – not music, but photographs of musicians at the Jenkins Johnson Gallery in New York running through November 25. The show is a solo exhibition of the work of Lynn Goldsmith, and while I’ve tried to come up with a better way to describe her, “the rock and roll photographer” sums it up adequately, though not originally. I won’t attempt to regurgitate Goldsmith’s extensive bio here – suffice to say she enjoyed seemingly unfettered access to many of the biggest musical names of the 60s, 70s and 80s – her work has appeared on the covers of numerous magazines you’ve heard of, and did I mention, she dated Bruce Springsteen?

The gallery features work from Goldsmith’s 2007 book, Rock and Roll, but the images are worth seeing blown up and up close – especially the “rock mosaics,” which meticulously recreate a central image of an icon using thousands of smaller images. Goldsmith’s photography is arresting because it’s unscripted – the kind you don’t see any more in this age of publicists and other gate keepers. The faces are all familiar – among them Sting, Sid Vicious, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and the Beastie Boys – but the intimacy conveyed by many of the photographs was novel to me, as though they were taken by a friend rather than a photographer on assignment. This impression is reinforced when you consider that Goldsmith hand selects each of the micro images that comprise her mosaics. They are painstaking labors of love of which she is justifiably proud and one could spend hours looking at the individual thumbnails. These images show the rock and roll stories without explicit telling, and they alone merit a trip.

Visit the gallery at: 521 W 26th Street (betw. 10th and 11th Ave) Floor 5, NY, NY 10001 and see more of Goldsmith’s work at http://www.rockandrollphotogallery.com/

~Stark Contributing Writer Ashley Herriman

(The Inquisition is the fancy-shmancy name we've given to our interviews on Stark.)

STARK VS. EZRA FURMAN

Stark recently spoke with Ezra Furman about his to-be-released album, Inside the Human Body ( Oct. 7. on Minty Fresh --) the interview situation was an interesting one: over the phone as Furman drove his parents' minivan down the East Coast, picking up band members (The Harpoons) along the way. Their final destination was Chicago, Ill. where Furman and most of The Harpoons call home.

Stark previewed Inside awhile back in eager anticipation, waiting for the album to drop. Well, it still hasn't been released, but we have streamed the hell out of it.

The interview follows and to preface, each ellipses denotes an approximate 20-30 second pause. Yeah. It was an interesting one as you will read. Below is just a taste of how Furman thinks -- this quote is in reference to the up-coming album.

Ezra: It’s like having a baby (laughs.) The feeling of like, “I don’t know what this baby is yet.” It’s like this postpartum depression… kind of alienating. I mean you don’t know what it’s gonna grow up to be, you know…what college it’s going to go to. I think (laughs) it might go to a good college.

(Interview not in full sequential order)

Stark: So you’re dealing with real life now?

Ezra: Well… I wouldn’t go that far. (Laughs.)

Stark: So you are all living together in Chicago?

Ezra: Well, this is the next big decision…we’re figuring it out. It might be Chicago, it might be Boston. Were gonna have “the talk” now that we’re on the road. Our drummer is in New York, and we’re picking him up along the way.

Stark: So you guys have to deal with the price of gas?

Ezra: It’s absurd! (Laughs.) Gas costs 80 dollars.

Stark: What are you guys drivin? A van?

Ezra: Yeah, a minivan— my parents' mini van, just sort of re-appropriated.

Stark: They make you pay for gas?

Ezra: Hold on. (Aside)What!? You forgot your shoes!? You’re crazy.

Stark: Someone forget their shit?

Ezra: Yeah, shoes.

Stark: You gotta have shoes. Can’t go anywhere without shoes.

Ezra: You gotta have the shoes, I know. Job didn’t bring shoes when we were going to SXSW a few months ago in march, and he figured it would be warm down there, and it was, but he also didn’t realize there would be a snow storm in Ohio. Yeah.

Stark: So, you have a new album coming out. You released Banging Down the Doors, which was awesome. We really loved that album. We are big Andy Whitman fans and we found out about you through him. We saw you during CMJ and at Pianos a few times and really enjoyed it. So where did you write most of those songs for that album? Did you have some pre-written and then just recorded them? Or were you were writing them while the album was in construction.

Ezra: Well, all of them were written before – some of them were really old songs. Let me think. They were, well basically, since I was 16 I wrote about 1 song a week. I kept them all in some form, you know, a lot of them on tapes on my crappy tape recorder. So when we started the band I sifted through all the songs I ever had. I found all of these old songs. Some of them were awful, some of them I brought in and was like ‘hey we should do this song.’ The last album and some of this one, the songs were written before the band formed.

More with Ezra after the jump.

Stark: Did you guys form mainly in college or high school?

Ezra: We met in college sophomore year. Our anniversary is Feb.19, 2006.

Stark: How did you end up getting linked with Minty Fresh?

Ezra: Well, that was...see we had our first tour that was just thrown together cause we have this manager who is just the best manager, allegedly that a band could ever have, or so we believed, and I’m like ‘ok,’ so he put this tour together for us. We booked all the tour ourselves – this is in the summer of 2006 and our manager was the type of guy who knows people in Chicago, so he got the Minty Fresh people to come out to our concert in my hometown, and then he, well we gave them a CD and we didn’t think much of it, who he was –

Stark: Was that Beat Beat Beat?

Ezra: Yeah, that was Beat Beat Beat and we got this call the next day on our way to St. Louis, and he said they loved the show, and I don’t know…

Stark: Then the next thing you know you’re recording with Brian Deck…

Ezra: I know. We were amazed. I think you can tell on our first album, you can tell we were amazed… just overwhelmed. We had to get it all down ya know? It might have been a looser constructed an album. It was made very headlong and very fast. We didn’t really know what we were doing, and that’s a good thing. (Laughs.) It can be a good thing.

Stark: You make it out of the studio ok this time? We read on your blog you couldn’t make it out of the studio the last time.

Ezra: (Laughs.) What?

Stark: We read on your blog that you couldn’t figure out how to make it out of the studio last time. All you had to do was push the door.

Ezra: Oh yeah (Laughs.) That’s sorta like the symbol (Laughs.) I mean I had never even see the inside of a recording studio before haha yeah.

Stark: We just wanted to ask a few more questions about Banging Down the Doors before we move on to the new record Inside the Human Body. Is there an even mix of personal experiences as opposed to observed experiences in your songwriting? Like the song “Halloween Snow,” where does an awesome travel story like that come from? Or “Mother’s Day,” did you really know a whore in Chicago?

Ezra: Well, that did happen in a different version. I used to think that…I just consider it not my style, or tacky to talk about real things in your life in songs ya know? It’s just ah, it’s better to ah, maybe it’s that if you tell the real story of something, it doesn’t really tell what really happened inside for you – it seems – it doesn’t seem as incredible as when it happened when you try and re-tell – um – but to make a piece of art you gotta raise the stakes, because the stakes are much higher in your mind than your heart, than for some stranger. To get them to feel what you felt, you gotta try some tricks… (laughs) and you know present – almost like an exaggerated version of what’s going on. I knew a lot of, I don’t know, I think I knew a lot of girls in Chicago, that at the time, I referred to as whores (laughs.) They shall remain nameless. What I’m trying to say is that…well, that stuff really happened.

Stark: Right ok. In some form or another…sometimes it loses it’s sex appeal if you tell it straight up. So can we expect more of that kind of writing on the new album?

Ezra: Well, I think it’s, well, there are some stories on it. I think that they’re a little bit closer to the song.

Stark: Are we going to hear “Sunglasses” on this new record?

Ezra: Yeah, that’s on there – yeah – I like that one.

Stark: One of our favorite songs of yours is “American Highway” – and I think that what you were saying about how you want someone to feel how you felt at that time you have to write in a different kind of way, like the line, “she was about the age of Mary/when she had her wonder boy/ she’s an alcohol enthusiast who’s Dad is unemployed.” It’s lines like that that have critics hailing you as the “new Dylan” or “Dylanesque.” We were wondering if that pisses you off when people make that reference or is it redeeming in some sense?

Ezra: Well, I’ve always been a rock ‘n roll nerd. I would like go on the Internet and just read reviews, even of albums I haven’t heard, just researching them and finding out little facts about them, just learning about them. Then to read a review of what we made, I just kinda think of it in the same way, it doesn’t – I don’t know – I guess it gives me perspective on the other reviews I’ve read because you see how much smaller the music reviews can make something.

Stark: It sounds like you should be doing our job.

Erza: Well, I don’t… I mean it doesn’t piss me off. It just seems like – when they talk about Bob Dylan – it just seems like a blind thing to say. I guess you can hear a song with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica and think of Dylan as the first thing, but like – it’s different than – I mean Dylan was this weird actor/artist and he would do stuff and he would never actually be there. He would never be actually there talking you in a friendly way…kinda watching him or listening to him go into this poetic stuff. I mean I like – I’m very into poetry and into good songs, but more in a way that is grounded in a personal connection. I like Bob Dylan. But (laughs) – I mean he’s old.

Stark: Let’s change subjects and talk about your live performances. When we saw you live at Pianos, we thought your songs translated really well live. Even though they may be complex lyrically, you present them in a way that connects with the crowd – at least it did with us, which I thought was great. Where do you find that comfort and the ability to keep things witty and funny, but make people believe what your singing when you’re on stage?

Ezra: Well usually…I don’t know…I usually go to a concert and half the time they say things – the whole mood – a lot of time it’s just like – well it depends on the concert, but sometimes it’s like a dance tune and it’s just a fun experience – and not meant to hear a song. I always find that the best concerts are the ones you an get into…you can hear everything that’s happening. Then there’s most concerts where they don’t know what to say on stage, or they just say what they hear other people say like some sort of radio DJ. Things like, “how ya feeling!?” or “ready to hear a song?” But I’m like, “what are you talking about?” Some people…someone told me that I treat the crowd like it’s just a person that I’m talking to.

Stark: That’s what’s great… a good way to be.

Ezra: I think that’s a good way to be, cause I usually get scared at concerts. I just feel like that there’s no one there – no one can talk to me. It can be a lonely thing in a big crowd. I try to be more right there and nice to the individual audience.

Stark: When we were there you had a ton of your Tuffts buddies there rockin’ out…so that must’ve been pretty comforting.

Ezra: When was that? Oh yeah.

Stark: October, November. You prefaced “Sunglasses” that night saying “my girlfriend tells me never to wear sunglasses on stage” then you just started into it. That was the first time we heard it.

Ezra: (Laughs) Yeah – it must've been kinda new then?

Stark: So do you feel like you’ve moved on from those songs? Is that a new song or more of an old song for you now? Are they still fresh? It doesn’t come out until October?

Ezra: That one feels fresh. Actually they all do. The songs always feel fresh because I watch people and watch what they’re getting out of it. It’s a different mood every night…I usually never get bored. I’m never like, “ok let’s get this song over with.” In terms of that one (“Sunglasses,”) that song was written, I guess shortly before the Harpoons were formed. It was…it’s a weird one. I was in a friend of mine’s dorm room and she was like “play me a song” so I started just kinda playing the song. She didn’t know I was just kinda making it up you know. I basically played that exact song with all the syllables squashed together like that and she was like “is that new? You wrote that?” “I just made it up right now (laughs)” She said “you should go write that down.”(Laughs) I just played it into a tape recorder. I didn’t really edit anything about it.

Stark: It seems like you have the ability to pump out songs like that. Do you have a cache that you dip into when you’re coming up with a new album song-wise? Like you said you recorded a bunch on a tape recorder…do you have a bulk of songs that you can pick and choose from when making a new album?

Ezra: They’re on a bunch of scattered tapes. I feel like I don’t have any perspective on these songs. Some of them I get a good feeling about. I can’t really tell when it’s a good one. Writing a lot of songs… you write a lot of bad ones. That’s what I do instead of editing them – I just try to write better songs, but sometimes I’ll think a song is not very good for whatever reason, but then I’ll play it for the band and they’re like “oh we should play that song.” Although on this album, it was less the random “oh what songs do we want…” less the process of finding the old good songs. Since the last album, I started writing songs that had to do with some of the same things. The difference between this one and the last one is that there was less cohesion to the last one... it was more just grasping. It was like “here we are,” rather than deliberately constructed.

Stark: Is there something your most proud of on this new record? Anything that came out exactly how you wanted it in the recording process, that when you finished you were like ‘wow that was great.’

Ezra: Um well, about all of it.

Stark: That’s great.

Ezra: Maybe it’s not entirely true. I just really like the album. The first song on it, I feel like we… well, I don’t know. I feel really good about a bunch of different ones. I don’t think, again, that I have a good perspective on it. I have to get farther away from it. It’s like having a baby (laughs.) The feeling of like, “I don’t know what this baby is yet.” It’s like this postpartum depression… kind of alienating. I mean you don’t know what it’s ganna grow up to be, you know… what college it’s going to go to. I think (laughs) it might go to a good college.

Stark: (Laughs.) Well that’s what you want right?

Ezra: (Laughs.) It might be a neighborhood-favorite kind of kid growing up.

Stark: Not gonna be a ruffian is he?

Erza: Well, he’s got a sweet side and a mean streak.

Stark: That’s human you know?

Ezra: Yeah. It’s a good little metaphor for what the album is about… movin' inside the human body and coming out.

Stark: Well, there you go title of the album right?

Ezra: It does seem kind of hard to talk about. Sometimes I feel like other people tell me what our band is or where it came from better than I could. People keep telling us “oh your band reminds me of this” or like Jonathan Richman, but that’s how I learned about the Modern Lovers and now I really like them. When I was first playing music at open mics, people were like “oh you must love the Violent Femmes” – and that’s how I learned about the Violent Femmes. They’re probably right you know. This is a weird sexist metaphor, but I feel like I was impregnated with a song. Once I have a song, I don’t know who’s it is or where it came from. It’s like a bastard song – a lot of sexual politics in our band.

Stark: (Laughs.) You guys have plans on playing CMJ this year?

Ezra: Are we playing CMJ this year? (aside to band) I think it’s in the works...I think we are planning on it. I’m going to say yes.

Stark: Good because we are looking forward to seeing you guys again. So…what are you guys listening to these days?

Ezra: Well….I’m getting back into my first love band Green Day. I have all their albums. I don’t think it’s popular in the car. The other problem is the CDs are kinda scratched. I just discovered, like a month ago, Horses by Patti Smith which is just really good. In my mind, early rock ‘n roll and punk rock are fusing into a single genre, which is really the only genre I’ve been listening to.

Stark: Did this influence the new album?

Ezra: I think that this stuff I’ve been listening to…because I’m moving in my mind to stuff we might be doing on the next album… I know it’s very early to start thinking about that. I’ve just been writing these songs and have been really happy with them. This last album is more like…in a way it’s similar to that. I’m in some ways thinking of it as a cousin to the first John Lennon solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. It’s got some softer songs and it’s got a bunch of screaming crazy songs. We got more tender on one side and more wild and angry on the other.

Stark: We are really looking forward to it. We just listened to track one on your myspace. It sounds like your going in a more rock ’n roll/punk direction on that one.

Ezra: Yeah I’m playing more electric. Almost all electric on the new album.

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