Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters - Houston, TX - The Scout Bar - 7/22/08
Photos taken at The Scout Bar by Rob Inderrieden... read more
September Movies That Look Promising
I've only seen a couple of these ahead of release, but here's my premature opinion on what we've got to look forward to in September:... read more
Sweet Talk & Newport Folk Festival on CNN
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Call+Response Trailer
I've said it so many times, but it still sounds surreal: There are more than 27 million slaves on this earth, more than existed in during any point in the trans-Atlantic slave trade 200 years ago. About 80% of those are women and children. No government officially condones it, but even in America, kids are trafficked from other countries or from state to state, forced into prostitution with the threat of harm or death. My own city of Atlanta is one of the Top 10 in the nation for human trafficking. There have been several good fictional films dealing with... read more
Young @ Heart Chorus
Sorry for the general abscence this summer, but Sweet Talk has been on the road doing the festival circuit. Sweet Talk was proud of bringing several artists to stages all around the country, but one of the absolute highlights was bringing the Young @ Heart Chorus to Newport Folk. They are not a novelty, they are the truest form of musical expression, full of humor, joy, passion and poignant emotion. And yes, I did cry during their Radiohead Cover of "Fake Plastic Trees": http://blog.ourstage.com/2008/08/25/youngheart-newport-folk/ ... read more
Outside Lands 2008 - Day 3
Above: Little BrotherPhotos taken at Outside Lands 2008 by April Brimer... read more
Outside Lands 2008 - Days 1 and 2
Above: BeckPhotos taken at Outside Lands 2008 by April Brimer... read more
SoCo Music Experience: San Diego
With multi-day musical bonanzas like Bonnaroo, Coachella, Bumbershoot and godfather/standard-bearer South by Southwest using massive budgets and marquee status to lure the bands of their choosing and, subsequently, hordes of music fans, single-day city festivals heavy on local acts are often seen as also-rans in the eyes of aural addicts. But the SoCo Music Experience's latest stop in San Diego, Calif., proves that's not always true.... read more
G. Love's tour diary - Back on Track
Well, I've had a bit of a rough couple weeks. I didn't want to say anything public about it but now my mood has changed and I'm gonna spill the beans on myself. Before my tour launched, I was asked by a friend nicknamed Bluefish who was paralyzed (and luckily recovered) to play a benefit for the Christopher Reeves Foundation. The benefit was at a small room in Avalon, NJ called the Rocking Chair. I was able to raise $13,000.00 for the CR Foundation and had a good time as well. However, during the course of that show, I hurt... read more
The Hold Steady studio diary - Stay Positive - #7
It’s always fun watching band members disappear during the overdub phase of a record. There’s nothing like sitting and listening to the same guitar part or vocal line over and over that will send other musical types running for the local bar. With four more days at Water Music and plenty of overdubs to do, we needed to make sure we used the big room to it utmost. That means picking the overdubs more suited for the space we were in.... read more
Abigail Washburn tour diary - The Ambassador, a Famous Opera Singer, Hot Dogs and the Great Hall of the People
Ambassador Randt and his wife have welcomed me into their home four years in a row to play for them and 80 of their closest friends. This time with the Sparrow 3 was no exception. The guests filter in thru the courtyard and into the “venue,” which is the long living room overlooking the courtyard and the dining room with a big impressionist painting of W Jr. and steaming handmade hotdogs waiting for the conclusion of our show to get munched up. ... read more
6 New Fall TV Shows That Actually Might Be Good
With a new fall TV line-up, comes a new hope for quality shows. Call me an optimist if you like. I did have hope that Obama and McCain would offer a higher level of discourse to our political landscape, and we can all see how that's working out. But here are five shows that could maybe, possibly have an off-chance of being good:... read more
Good Day Atlanta at the Paste Office
Fox 5 came to the Paste offices this morning for live coverage of The Bridges, one of the cover subjects of our Best of What's Next issue that just hit newsstands. The three sisters, one brother and one cousin from Oxford, Alabama, showed up at 6 a.m. on the dot this morning ready to play, and they were a joy to have in the office. Fox 5 studios cut live to us several times throughout the morning, including a couple Bridges songs. You can watch three of the segments on the Fox 5 site now. You can also watch my... read more
Paste Favorites with New Records
Years before there was a Paste magazine, there was a website called PasteMusic.com. We sold CDs of independent artists we loved. The idea was that there were a lot of great musicians out there that no one seemed to know about. Each had built a modest fanbase, and we wanted to connect good music to fans who would appreciate it. Early artists included Pedro the Lion, Vigilantes of Love, Over the Rhine, Michelle Malone and Sufjan Steven's first band, Marzuki. Though we had no money, we figured out a way to buy out another website that had a similar vision... read more
Jackson Hole Music Festival - Jackson Hole, WY - 8/16-8/17/08
Photos taken at the Jackson Hole Music Festival by Mark DiCristina... read more
Breakfast Wars: Pink Floyd vs. Nico Muhly
For almost four decades Pink Floyd's 1970 album Atom Heart Mother has reigned as the undisputed champion of breakfast sound effects. The thirteen-minute opus that concludes the album, "Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast," raised the bar so high in terms of the sounds of sizzling bacon, butter knives scraping on bread, and cereal crackling under freshly poured milk that it seemed pointless for other aspiring breakfast afficionados and musical freaks to even attempt to match its magnificence.... read more
Robyn Hitchcock - Philadelphia, PA - World Café Live - 7/17/08
Photos taken at World Café Live by Doug Seymour... read more
The Ones That Got Away
As a general rule, outtakes are outtakes for a good reason. They're not as good as the tracks that make it to the officially released albums. But let's make an exception for the greatest songwriter of the past 50 years, shall we? As an obsessive collector of "rare" Dylan for more than 30 years now, I can assure you that Dylan has discarded more than his share of masterpieces in the studio, and that some (but far from all; the man is nothing if not maddeningly inconsistent) of his live performances are truly legendary. I have dozens and dozens of... read more
Ben Harper and Robert Randolph jump on stage for impromptu song at Jackson Hole Music Festival
The Jackson Hole Music Festival just wrapped a few hours ago. A great weekend. To celebrate, a handful of locals and festival staff and attendees went to the Mangy Moose for drinks. There, our crowd of about 75 were treated to one of the real highlights of the weekend when Ben Harper jumped on stage, soon joined by Robert Randolph, for a performance of Bill Wither's "Use Me."More on the festival later. For now, here are some iPhone pictures of the duo (if only we'd brought the real camera...): ... read more
10 Best Songs in Commercials During The Olympics
Since the advent of the DVR, sports are about the only thing I watch live on TV. So the Olympic Games have reintroduced me to the TV commercial, something I've managed to avoid outside of college football season and the occasional Braves game. And the quality of music has been a pleasant surprise (even a crappy beer like Bud Light—or Bud Light Lime—has the sense to use Santogold). Here are the best songs in commercials running during the Olympic Games:... read more
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