All right all right all right. In the immortal words of the mulleted, pre-pundit Dennis Miller, what can I tell you?
Singer-songwriter/alt-country superstar/intensely polarizing indie-scene figure Ryan Adams has posted something like eight albums' worth of songs and demos on his site, ryan-adams.com. The material is broken up into three personalities — DJ Reggie, The Shit and WereWolph — and runs the gamut from noisy punk to rockabilly to electro-doodling. Like most of what Adams does, the quality varies wildly, but a lot of it is worth looking into, particularly the Shit tracks, which feature titles like "Passed out in AA — Fuck" and "When Pants Become Toilets" …
Ghostface Killah, perhaps the most consistently awesome Wu-Tang Clan member in a solo setting, has a new album coming out. It's called More Fish (a reference to the disc's status as the follow-up to this year's acclaimed Fishscale), and it hits the streets on Dec. 19 … Do you like the incredibly hip, reportedly literary Portland, Ore., band The Decemberists? Do you also happen to think your pathetic dabbles in the field of animation are better than other geeks' pathetic dabbles in the field of animation? Then boy, does collegiate video-monolith offshoot mtvU have a contest for you. It seems the group was unhappy with the animation done for the video of their song "O Valencia!" and thinks their fans can do better. Get all the info, including the original, unadorned green-screen performance footage and format requirements, at mtvu.com/reanimatethedecemberists/, and get it now; submissions must be postmarked/uploaded by Dec. 15 …
The New York Post reported last week that original shock-rock innovator Alice Cooper has sold the rights to his memoirs to Random House imprint Crown Books for half-a-million bucks. No word as yet on a publication date … In other "we don't know when" news, a spokesvoice for Universal Music Canada recently contradicted Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose's repeated claims that Chinese Democracy would see the light of day before the end of '06. Apparently, a journalist for the Toronto Sun was told there was "no indication" that new GNR product would surface this year. If you're surprised by this, kudos to you. Your seemingly boundless optimism is trumped only by the vastness of your gullibility …
A second volume of performances culled from the famed annual Bridge School benefit concerts at California's Shoreline Amphitheatre has been made available for purchase at iTunes. (The first batch was released as an album in '97.) It includes material from more than 50 artists who've appeared over the years, including Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, R.E.M., Pearl Jam and Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a few. The Bridge School is a special-needs facility founded by Neil Young and his wife Pegi to educate children with physical and/or communicative impairments …
In an interview with Britain's BBC Radio last week, former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page mentioned that he intends to record a new album in '07. I've already sent my wizard's robe with the moons that only show up under blacklight to the dry cleaners … Attention, fans of Underworld (the electro-composers, not the shitty Kate Beckinsale vampires-versus-werewolves franchise): The eclectic project has teamed up with film-score maestro Gabriel Yared to create the soundtrack for the new film by The Talented Mr. Ripley/The English Patient/Cold Mountain director Anthony Minghella, Breaking & Entering. The flick, which unsurprisingly stars Jude Law and deals with the complexities of relationships or something, opens nationwide on Jan. 19, but the soundtrack will be available on Dec. 5 …
If you're as pissed off as I am that killer Atlanta prog-metal bar-raisers Mastodon didn't stop in the Bay area during their last round of touring, then you'll be stoked to know that they'll be hitting St. Pete's Jannus Landing on Jan. 28 with Converge, no less. Mastodon's latest album, Blood Mountain, is simply jaw-dropping …
And, finally in national music news, I scoured MTV's busy, cluttered, misguided and generally un-navigable new website to find out that both OutKast's less flamboyant half Big Boi and possibly retarded emo-pop kingpins Fall Out Boy have new albums coming in '07. Yay and boo. Big Boi hasn't set a date or title for his eclectic solo joint as yet, but Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High is coming to terrorize the world on Feb. 6.
Now, on to the local stuff … soulful Pinellas power-pop unit Four Star Riot will officially welcome its fifth self-produced effort, the full-length Burn So Bright, with a CD release party at Dunedin Brewery on Dec. 2. I got an advance copy of the disc, and it seems they've gone screamo. Just kidding. Burn So Bright is full of the alternately insanely hooky and heart-on-the-sleeve earnest guitar rock you've come to expect from the quartet …
It's starting to look like original local bands may have more to look forward to regarding the annual Gasparilla festival than just playing some outdoor stage between cover acts. Word on the street has it that the Gasparilla Film Festival (Feb. 28-March 4) will be featuring "a music sub-category for music videos or films about music" in its '07 lineup. Details are still sketchy, and there'll be more on this as it develops, but the possibility of having entrants/nominees perform during the festival is being tossed around. This seems like a great way not only to grant exposure to local acts, but also to open up an ongoing creative dialogue between the area's filmmaking and music scenes. Hit up gasparillafilmfestival.com for more information as it becomes available …
Does anybody remember the days when big Thanksgiving local shows were sort of an unofficial annual tradition and something of a big deal? Roots-rock bully Crash Mitchell does and has organized The Seminole Heights Socialite Turkey Night for Thanksgiving night at that neighborhood's Corner Club (Sligh Avenue and 15th Street), an intimate little dive that, according to Mo, has some of the cheapest and coldest beer in the county. Crash's quartet will be joined by semilegendary, recently reunited toilet-humor specialists Mega Smegma and great, Clairmel-cannibalizing punk 'n' roll outfit Watson. The fun kicks off 8 p.m. and there will be food, just in case you cause a scene, tell your family you hate them and storm out of the house before you get any green bean casserole in your gut.
This article appears in Nov 22-28, 2006.
