Blip

Very quick update, new playlist up, John Doe interview was great. Check him out with Neko on Conan O'Brien this Thursday.

Next week: The Bravery, Heavy Trash, Placebo.

Michelle, are you out there? Give me a holler!

Homework

Tonight's show features Chatham County Line (produced by Chris Stamey) and Yo La Tengo (formerly produced by Chris Stamey). Plus, if all goes as planned, an interview with the legendary John Doe! That is starting around 8:30 so tune in a little early.

For your homework, as we might refer to it a couple of times tonight, check out Tom Waits' favorite stuff over this-a-way.

Yay, the wife and I are hitting Toronto Saturday! Gotta check out the "grand opening" of my favorite bookstore.

More, as always later.

new stuff

The new playlist will be up any second over at the WBER site, so check it out. Next week, we tackle Chatham County Line (produced by Chris Stamey) and the wonderful new Yo La Tengo compilation.

Awesome, vindicating Kylie review over at Popmatters. Yay!

And next week's big surprise, alluded to last night on the show: if all works out we will be talking to the legendary John Doe on the phone at 8:30 PM before the Review, so stop on by. His new album, Forever Hasn't Happened Yet, is very good (if too short) listening indeed, and comes out today, so treat yourself. With Case and Hirsh on it, you cannot go wrong.

Also out today, at long last---M.I.A. Drop what you're doing and go, now.

Let me paraphrase everyone else...

If this song is this good, the album....

On top of things

Just when I plan to do a bit of a look at up-and-coming label Asthmatic Kitty, the Onion Av Club
beats me (slightly) to the punch. Makes me feel a little prescient. Tune in Monday for more.

NR: John Crowley--"Lord Byron's Novel: The Evening Land"
Just got an ARC of this and am so psyched it's silly. Can't wait to dive in tonight.

Fellow local librarian expounds on books, life, and stuff here. Now here's someone who know how to keep a blog going. Great stuff!

Ides

A week later and we have a new playlist, it's over at the station website, you know the drill.
Just for a more permanent record, we played Andrew Bird (good), John Doe (really good), 50 Ft. Wave (Kristin Hersh, awesome as always).

Tentative playlists below remain unchanged for now. I'm getting kind of nervous about the new Daft Punk CD, so far the reviews have been middling at best (those lovable snots over at Pitchfork gave it their usual scouring, but I've been upset since they didn't like the new Low that much anyway).

Another good show coming to Rochester, Glenn Tilbrook at Milestones on 4/16. I've never seen Squeeze or any of its components so that should be an interesting one.

It seems like I'm really doing a ton of things at once but haven't been writing about it here. What's a blogger to do? For one thing, quit apologizing that I don't update this often enough, it will flow when it flows.

As for reading these days, I must say, I finally started Ian Macdonald's "River of Gods" and am loving it very much indeed. Would be nice to see it win a whole bunch of SF awards. Speaking of which, I thought this year's Tiptree winners were rather surprising, so two more things I wouldn't normally have read go into the to-be-read basket (if you're not familiar with the Tiptree Awards, I strongly urge you to click on the link and scope them out. New winners aren't up there yet, find them over at Locus.)

So many cool books and CDs, so little time. And as long as I'm in a loquacious mood, May 24 is starting to look like a d-day for some very fun music releases I'm waiting impatiently for. The new Gorillaz Cd shows promise, the Smile DVD looks very amazing indeed (I'm curious what it will sound like in 5.1), and of course, the new Sleater-Kinney, which, in keeping with the bands wishes, I will dutifully purchase on the exact day of release.

And finally, there's some stuff on this page that freaking rules. Go down to ABC+OPP and watch your smile grow.

16 big ones

Tonight is the Spotlight Review's 16th Anniversary. That's right, 16 years, starting as a 20 min segment of First Impressions way back in March 1989, give or take a day or two. Just gonna kick back and play guilty pop music with a very slight alterna-bent, if nobody minds (and what if they do?)

Tentative stuff coming up, way subject to change:
3/14: John Doe, Andrew Bird, 50 Ft. Wave
3/21: M.Ward, Asthmatic Kitty (label)
3/28: Best of Part 1: Pearl Jam, Verve, Placebo
4/4: Best of Part 2: Trevor Horn, Fuzzbox
4/11: Sugar Hill (label)

and there's stuff coming out in a couple of weeks that may push stuff all around, like that triple Yo La Tengo comp, and a new Daft Punk CD, 1st in four years. I remember playing my future bride the last one while driving along the Niagara Parkway on one of our early dates...sigh.

The Shonen Knife show was an absolute blast, Visqueen being the real show stealers and a gas to talk to as well. Saw lots of old friends, a few new ones, and just had a great time, first time out to a band in about 5 months. Will definitely avoid the BugJar beer next time around though. If I had my druthers, I'd check out Low in Toronto June 4, but I should save myself for some real big stuff I'm waiting on: Sleater-Kinney, the Posies (who say they are gonna tour everywhere this time), the New Pornographers. I don't have any dates, but stay tuned. Oh, here's one I do have: the Trashcan Sinatras are coming to Milestones April 27. That should be a real treat indeed.

More to come, tune in tonight and have fun.

The week in stereo

OK, new playlist at the ready, right this way here. If you were listening last night, I mentioned that I couldn't say the name of the Thieves record company over the air, so there you go. (And if Joey takes it down, the name is Liquor & Poker Records, ghod bless them). 'Course seeeing the name of Wreckless Eric's company reminds me of my old Stiff Records t-shirt...

And there you have a rundown of the show I'm definitely going to see this Thursday at the Bug Jar: Shonen Knife, Visqueen, and the Scarlets. More info at the BJ link. We really don't get many intriguing combos in every sense of the word here in Rochester, so I'm particularly going out of my way to hit this one. Maybe I can get some ideograms on my Shonen Knife tribute LP.

I meant to give a shout to my friends up in Ontario, Michelle and Cam, but got caught up in the moments, so hi guys! I cannot wait to see you in another month.

I am having some senior typing moments so I better quit while I'm ahead. More hopefully this week, I'll even try and review the show if I'm not too burnt. And we may still be interviewing Chris Stamey this week so stay tuned.

BTW, Sleater-Kinney is supposed to be on this show Friday. The wait for their new album is almost painful.

NR: Vonda McIntyre--"Little Faces"