Rusty Shackleford

It would appear that R.E.M. has collapsed into now. http://remhq.com/index.php This makes me sad.

The National, opening for R.E.M. The Vaselines, opening for Teenage Fanclub John Doe, opening for Wilco Pete Yorn, opening for R.E.M. Conor Oberst, opening for Wilco

From today's AV Club: http://www.avclub.com/articles/new-ryan-adams-album-set-for-release-oct-11,60265/ We recently reported that Ryan Adams had ended his so-called hiatus and was at work on a new album with legendary classic-rock producer Glyn Johns. Now that album, titled Ashes & Fire, has an official release date of Oct. 11, via Adams' label PAX-AM and Capitol Records . The full tracklist is below: Dirty Rain Ashes & Fire Come Home Rocks Do I Wait Chains Of Love Invisible Riverside Save Me Kindness Lucky Now I Love You But I Don't Know What To Say

This site (Nora Guthrie's?) says Mermaid Avenue Deluxe Box Set coming March 2012 on Nonesuch. http://www.woody100.com/newreleases.htm Maybe old Billy knew something after all.

They just posted new tour dates for the fall. http://www.jayhawksofficial.com/shows.html These are pretty screwed up, with Charlotte listed twice (the first one is Charlottesville) and several states are wrong. I can only hope that the lack of a DC date is also a mistake.

It's a pain that they're not including the one itunes bonus track with the deluxe CD, but it seems like bands do this all the time, only to release the bonus tracks as one-off freebies over the next several months. Given the shipping cost, I'm tempted to just buy through Amazon like I do for everything else, but I will probably preorder the CD through the band's store in order to get the download. For Wilco (the album) I definitely noticed that the download from the band's store was better-sounding than my own rip from the CD, even though both were at similarly high bitrates. I believe (

Watch out for the pigeons.

Some pre-sales are tiny, so it's not at all unusual to get shut out. Check back for venue pre-sale (which can also be tiny) and regular on-sale. Don't give up yet!

Best. Presale. Ever. See you in the pit at Merriweather!

Don't know about the band's presale, but the IMP presale for Merriweather says GA floor tickets are will-call only, which should also cut down on the scalping and make it easier for us true believers to get tix.

It looks like that's the IMP (promoter) presale. There's usually a password for such things, and it'll be released in the weekly 9:30 club email newsletter, which should be out tomorrow. You can sign up at 930.com to receive the newsletter.

My 7-year-old also loves Star Wars. The problem for me is, he doesn't know that the first three movies are money-grabbing add-ons to a classic trilogy, so he wants to watch those as much (or more) than the original movies. Turns out maybe Lucas was onto something with Jar-Jar Binks.

I will say, Tampa has done a great job putting together that team this year, and they're hot at the right time. They'll beat Boston/Philly and give the West champ a good run. But watching Martin St. Louis hit another series-clinching goal against the Caps...it's like the last eight years never even happened.

Caps keep finding new ways to lose in the playoffs. At least the home fans didn't have to see it in person this year.

Years ago when I was in college I worked summers as a bank teller. My co-workers were all middle-aged ladies, and they would take their half-hour lunch break at the same time every day; the time they took either dictated or was dictated by the soap they would watch in the breakroom. I ended up with the second shift of All My Children. And I must say, I couldn't help but to get into it. I even watched every now and then when I went back to school. Kelly Ripa and Sarah Michelle Gellar will always be Haley and Kendall to me. Two things I would point out about soaps and why they might be

1. Trace 2. A Ghost Is Born 3. Summerteeth 4. Being There 5. Anodyne HM. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot HM. Still Feel Gone HM. Weird Tales (Golden Smog)

Easy (like Sunday Morning) - the Commodores Wednesday - Drive-By Truckers

Go-Go Boots is okay, but it rivals TBTD as their weakest album yet. This album sounds tired. Cooley's contributions are particularly disappointing. The lyrics are fine, but the music is sort of country-by-numbers. He's usually got more energy than this. And I know this shouldn't affect my enjoyment of the songs, but it irks me that these "new" Cooley songs have been around for years. Combined with Patterson's 2 long songs about the same murder and 2 covers, and the whole thing feels sort of mailed in. Not to bring this up yet again, but I feel like this band misses Isbell a lot more th

Thanks!

1. Wilco, The Strathmore, North Bethesda MD 2. The Bottle Rockets, Iota, Arlington VA 3. Teenage Fanclub w/the Vaselines, 9:30 Club, DC 4. Drive-By Truckers, 9:30 Club, DC 5. Jeff Tweedy, Lincoln Theatre, DC 6. Jay Farrar & Mark Spencer, The Birchmere, Alexandria VA

I went to that show at the Patriot Center--it was fantastic. They played plenty of stuff from the Document/LRP era that they don't play much any more, which was great. I've never seen it on DIME but would love to get my hands on a copy.

It's been hard to stay interested in R.E.M. over the last 10 years, especially since the band seemed to lose interest in themselves. Reveal was an okay album, and one that I think they sincerely put a lot of effort into, but they followed it up with a non-essential greatest hits album (that, to be fair, was accompanied by a pretty great tour), the lousy "Around the Sun," and the insultingly bad "R.E.M. Live," which does not get nearly the hate that it deserves. With the RRHOF induction, the Olympia residency and "Accelerate," the band seems energized again, and I'm hopeful for the new record

I officially have my hopes up for the new album now. The snippets sound like classic R.E.M., without trying so hard to be aggressive (I'm looking at you, "Acclerate.").

I wouldn't call them a "nostalgia act" if they're releasing a new record. I didn't catch them back when they were an active band, so I'm really looking forward to whatever they plan to tour on.

They changed the trash cans on the floor too. It was insane. The quietest audience I can recall, and there's trash-can commotion from the venue staff. Maybe I'll complain to the theater--not that they can do anything about last night, but someone really should get popped upside the head for deciding to empty the trash in the middle of the show. Change it between acts, change it during the encore break if you really must (although it's not like people were filing by and dropping trash in there during the show), but not right in the middle of the show.