Three dollars and 63 cents

I'm headed to the fair this weekend, but not for the music. I was disappointed by the selection this year, considering they had Sonic Youth and the Flaming Lips a few years back. I'll probably skip Katharine McPhee and Keith Sweat on the free stage to see the racing pigs and eat a lot of food served on sticks. Classic rock dominates the radio in this region, so I'm sure Aerosmith could have brought a lot of people to the fair. There's nowhere else within two or three hours that they'd ever play. I wonder in this economy how many people just couldn't justify dropping over $100 after service

Our league needs at least one more team, since we only have five and I'm pretty sure Yahoo won't run it if there's an odd number. Our draft is set for Thursday night.

I have no doubt that this will be awesome. I hope a VCer can go and report back here for all of us who can't be there tonight. It's also worth mentioning that Nels will be playing as part of two groups at the Angel City Jazz Festival in LA in early October. One of them is the CD and book release for the long-awaited Dirty Baby project that will include poetry by David Breskin, art by Ed Ruscha, and music by two ensembles that Nels assembled, some of whom will be playing at the release (Nels and his brother Alex, Scott Amendola, Danny Frankel, Vinny Golia, Dan Clucas, Bill Barrett, Wayne Pee

I hope it comes back in stock soon

Everybody who's still looking for lodging or lodging closer to the festival than where they're currently scheduled to stay should remember to call the Holiday Inn in North Adams tomorrow or check their website. Tomorrow is the cut-off for cancellations for people who have weekend reservations. I do hope that if this happens again, they consider moving it to somewhere easier to reach from far away and where there are more (and more affordable) hotels. A few of my really good friends can't make it because North Adams is too difficult and/or expensive to get to, which is really a shame. I'm hi

Me too. It's still one of my favorites from Achtung Baby. I would love to hear them break out Two Hearts Beat As One again, too. They haven't played it since those Point Depot shows in December of 1989, and it's too good of a song to be buried for 20 years. I'm also really hoping HMTMKMKM might mean they're also considering resurrecting some Pop songs. Mofo and Last Night on Earth would be especially cool. From the day I first listened to No Line On the Horizon, I've been fantasizing about how amazing it would be if they'd bring out a string section for Breathe, then keep them onstage for A

The show in Philadelphia last night was AMAZING--the entire crowd singing "Wake Up" at the top of their lungs to close the show was one of my most memorable concert experiences ever. It was a peaceful, friendly crowd, and the sound and view were excellent, even though I was in the second orchestra section. Spoon went on right at 7:30 and played for an hour. They opened with Black Like Me, which is one of my favorite songs off the last album, so that drew me in right away. The crowd was very sparse at the start of their set, but it filled up quite a bit as they played. One of the drummers fro

I'm going to the show tonight in Philadelphia. I decided not to listen to any of the new songs so I can experience them live first, and that's making me more excited. It's also my first time seeing them after really liking them for five years. I wonder if they'll have the album for sale? It would be a nice treat (and would make the two-hour drive back more exciting). Otherwise, it will probably be the end of the week until I can get it, since I'm visiting family and nowhere near a decent music store.

We may have to wait awhile--the episode of Piano Jazz that aired this past weekend was recorded in February

The Books' new album is one of NPR's First Listens this week: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128415181

Brooklyn Vegan has a pretty good review of Tuesday's sets at Le Poisson Rouge, along with some fantastic pictures here. Despite the typo in the last line, they didn't play in a grove The upbeat new songs really come alive in performance.I haven't been listening to much jazz for the last few months, so I haven't spent as much time with the new album as I probably should have before going to hear songs from it for three nights, but the shows made me really want to revisit it. King Queen, Floored, and Divining are stellar live. I was surprised that the set lists were so similar every night. Th

I really liked that new song they played, Aminette. It was the only time they played it all week, but aside from that, the set list was very similar to what they played for both sets Tuesday and on Wednesday. I was really surprised that they didn't play Floored (they didn't in Philadelphia, either). Thurston County and Something About David H. were standouts for me. A lot of people in the crowd were really receptive, which I was glad to see, but quite a few people left early, too. Some of them looked completely confused and freaked out as they were leaving, which was hilarious. What were they

The Singers recorded two segments for NPR this week, one in their studio in Washington DC and one for the Piano Jazz program in New York. No word yet on air dates for either of them, but I'll keep an ear out for them.

I'm bumping this thread to remind everybody of the shows Nels will be playing in the next few weeks. With the Singers: tomorrow at Dazzle Jazz in Denver (both sets are sold out!) Thursday and Friday: High Sierra Music Festival in Quincy, CA (Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and Friday at 11:15 a.m.) Tuesday, 7/6: le poisson rouge in New York (sets at 7:30 and 10) Wednesday, 7/7: Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia (with Richard Crandall and Good For Cows) Thursday, 7/8: The Black Cat, Washington DC (with Insect Factory) With Jenny Scheinman's Mischief and Mayhem (with Jenny Scheinman, Todd Sickafoose,

I'll be interested to hear about this show. I was going to come out for it, but I'm doing a lot of traveling in the next few weeks and just couldn't fit in another trip.

Mikael will be playing with Pronto at Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street, on July 18 at 8 p.m. The Facebook event page is here. Don't miss them--it's their only New York appearance this summer!

I think the Singers are playing Sunday. That's the date Scott Amendola has on his website. I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow

I managed to track down a six pack of this when I was in Columbus a few weeks ago. Not bad for a style of beer I don't usually like that much. Maybe the name made me a bit partial

I just got my ticket for Philadelphia. There must have been huge presales, because the entire orchestra area was already sold out. I finally went with a seat in the second row of the left center section of the middle section. For $65.50 including fees, they'd better be amazing!

Mavis Staples is an awesome addition! I also noticed that one of the art exhibits will be a selection of Pat's Polaroids

I liked it better the first time I heard it, when it was called Black Eye and it was by Uncle Tupelo. Even seeing Nels switch instruments midsong can't get me to pay attention to it live. I always zone out as soon as I recognize that's what it is.

Would you rather have had a bunch of conflicting reports instead of a few days of media silence until they could figure out Bono's prognosis? I've been really critical of a lot of the business decisions U2 has made in the last few years, but I don't think this is a business stunt. Sciatica, a herniated disc, and ligament problems that were bad enough to warrant emergency surgery--that's serious stuff. I read somewhere that he had some paralysis in his leg. He's had back problems for years, so I don't think the reports are an exaggeration. They know people travel the world to see them, and I do

I love the slow burn of These Days as an album closer. I was a little resistant to it at first, since I thought Things Ain't Like They Used To Be was a perfect album closer for Attack & Release and These Days seemed to copy that, but it's grown on me a lot.

I might be in the minority, but I really didn't like the MOF album. Every few months I go back to it, thinking I'll like it better, and I don't. I do think the Roots took a mediocre song and made it better. I wouldn't go buy the album because of it, but it works better than I thought it would.

Boxer is the deal of the day on Amazon's MP3 store. They have it for $3.99.