Merlefest Turns 20, Replaces Magic Kingdom as Happiest Place on Earth…
Above: Abigail Washburn ...But First a Long Story About the Wickedness of Strong Drink and How Getting There is Not Always Half the Fun (pt. 1 of 2) They may call my hometown “Hotlanta,” but the Friday rush-hour traffic on my way to North Carolina was flowing like a glacier. It was my 28th birthday, and the sun beat down through the glass, unforgivingly, into my bloodshot eyes. The night before had been a late one. Twenty-eight not being a landmark birthday, I’d decided to celebrate by throwing a benefit concert for the American Cancer Society in honor of my... read more
Starlight Mints gear stolen
Starlight Mints, photo by Christian Pitt It’s an annoying and maddening trend—bands having their gear stolen on the road. And yet another band has gotten bitten: in this case Oklahoma’s Starlight Mints, whose trailer was burgled in the early morning hours almost a week ago, on May 3rd, while in St. Paul, Minnesota. All told, the band lost more than $9,000 in gear. As for the details, I’ll let the band’s Andy Nuñez provide the scoop: “After a pleasant show at the 400 Bar in Minneapolis we walked down to eat at a great little veggie food place called Hard... read more
Concert Poster of My Dreams, w/Andrew Bird, The Shins
It’s been awhile since I had a rock-inspired dream. I blame it on the pressures that comes with having this blog to maintain. This dream dryspell has been troublesome for me, though, because I lead a simple life, and without these dreams I have no stories to tell. With no stories to tell, my coworkers and friends have little interest in what I have to say… and no one visits my blog anymore. But last night I had a baby rock dream that gives me renewed hope in the powers of my imagination! This was the dream… ... just a... read more
Spider-man 3 - The Great IM Chat
On Friday, Paste took a field trip to North Dekalb Mall to see the highly anticipated Spider-man 3, in which Tobey Maguire bears a striking resemblence to one of our favorite cover boys. Below is a transcript of our office chat following the screening. Weighing in with their opinions on Spidey, Topher Grace’s hair, and that surfing penguin movie: Paste Publisher & Film Editor, Tim, as well as the business, web, and editorial teams… plus two interns who used the same AIM icon during the chat so that I couldn’t differentiate who said what (their contributions will be credited to... read more
John Vanderslice, May 2
Guest review by Paste contributor Aaron Belz (who also happens to be a friend from my undergrad days at Covenant College): JOHN VANDERSLICE w/ST. VINCENT Date: May 2, 8 p.m. Venue: The Billiken Club, St. Louis, Mo. For those of us who have a long history of going to shows with our friends and staying up too late, drinking and smoking, laughing, talking, and listening to more music—gluttons that we are—memory has a way of fusing together. We don’t remember the venues clearly. We hardly recall the people we’ve danced with, flirted with, the combat boots that have kicked... read more
Year of the Swedes vs De(e/a)rs Update
A few weeks ago I presented an argument that 2007 was shaping up to be The Year of the Swedes or The Year of the De(e/a)rs. Some new Swedes and de(e/a)rs have come to my attention, so I present this revised Venn diagram. In other developments, The Wolf Pack have been making a comeback… I can see them lurking, waiting to pounce and take their reign again. Just have a listen to new tracks from Sea Wolf off the full length (out on May 8th… I can’t wait). Then there is Patrick Wolf, who just released a new... read more
Arcade Fire - The Great IM Chat
Last night the Paste staff and our fantastic designers at Metaleap Design went to see The Arcade Fire take over the Atlanta Civic Center. I acted as a Ticketmaster window, collecting all the orders and arranging seating for the Paste extended family (48 in all), so I’ve appointed myself official blogger for this show… It’s no surprise that today’s water cooler conversation was the amazing show… but since we don’t have a water cooler, we took our chat online. Here’s a transcript of the conversation/review of the show/random thoughts from the Paste team. The Arcade Fire Chat Words... read more
You don’t have this much fun at work.
Around Paste HQ, we like to think we have a pretty swell time on the job, but apparently we got nothing on the Connected Ventures folks, who recently did a lip-sync video tribute of sorts to Harvey Danger’s ‘90s one-hit, “Flagpole Sitta.” Now, depending on how old you are, you may have fond or fight-inducing memories of this song, but surely you can agree what a fine time these folks are having. And sometimes, don’t you just want to have a little fun? Enjoy: College Humor Lip Dubs Harvey Danger ... read more
Nerds for Norah
Norah Jones, photo by Danny Clinch My wife and I were fortunate enough to have seats to the sold-out Norah Jones show at Atlanta’s Tabernacle last night. The show was terrific, and a lot livelier than the last time I’d seen Norah & The Handsome Band, at Chastain Park Amphitheater, circa 2003. Apparently what she was telling me about learning to be a performer as opposed to just a musician had really paid off — while interacting with the crowd, Jones kept the show varied, briskly-moving and took smart advantage of the crackerjack band at her disposal. Daru Oda was... read more
Rosie Thomas tour blog - Cambridge, Mass.
(Above: Sheila strikes a pose while Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens goof off in the background.) Please note: All further tour dispatches will be posted at Dear Diary. Enjoy! In our ongoing effort to give you some interesting bloggity reads, we recently asked Rosie Thomas to send us dispatches from her latest batch of tour dates. She ended up being too busy having fun with her pals, Denison Witmer and Sufjan Stevens (also on the tour), but she managed to get another one of her friends, comedic mastermind, Sheila Saputo, to send us some words and photos. This is her... read more
Concert a Day … Sweetwater 420 Fest
Four down, one to go… it’s been a long week packed with live music and very little sleep. To recap once again: Concert 1, Tuesday—Brand New, with Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra Concert 2, Wednesday—Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with Elvis Perkins in Dearland Concert 3, Thursday—Brandi Carlile, with Ari Hest Concert 4, Friday—Sweetwater 420 Fest, with Dubconscious, Mad Professor, more My blogging assistant (the aspiring journalist from the local middle school that I’d hired to type for me) suddenly demanded minimum wage… apparently hers is a progressive middle school that teaches children about economics at an early age… but... read more
Concert a Day … Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile, photo by Katie Vesser This whole “Concert a Day” is starting to take a toll on my health. To quickly recap: Concert 1, Tuesday—Brand New, with Kevin Devine and Manchester Orchestra Concert 2, Wednesday—Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with Elvis Perkins in Dearland Concert 3, Thursday—Brandi Carlile, with Ari Hest Coffee seems to make me more jittery than normal now, and my motor skills are rapidly declining (in fact, I’ve hired an aspiring journalist from the local middle school to type this for me). But remember my whole “you could be watching something that will one day be... read more
Take off your Band-Aid
Today we’ve been engaged in a coversation about Wilco lyrics. One of the cool things about working for a music magazine is that such discussions are completely work-related. In the process of editing a review of the band’s latest, we’ve been in an email dialogue with one of our reviewers about the relative worth of seemingly willfully obscurantist lyrics like “I am an American aquarium drinker / I assasin down the avenue” (from “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart.") Then, on a complete tangent (and here’s the part that’s non-productive, which is why I’m blogging to get rid of... read more
Concert a Day… Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Last night was concert #2 of 5 for the week. I was a little tired this morning, and the idea of going to see another show tonight is tiring, too. But the show must go on, and I’ll be there to see tonight’s at Variety Playhouse (Brandi Carlile, with Ari Hest). Here’s some thoughts on last night, though: Concert 2: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, with Elvis Perkins in Dearland I’ve seen both CYHSY and Elvis Perkins in concert before, but was curious to hear them both perform new material (both are also former Paste 4 to Watch artists). I... read more
BREAKING - Will Ferrell Fights Drunken Landlord
PasteMagazine.com has learned that Will Ferrell, star of blockbuster comedies such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Old School and, most recently, Blades of Glory, recently got into a verbal squabble with his landlord. It appears Ferrell has been having trouble paying his rent as of late despite massive success at the box office. There is not much we can report at the moment, but one of our reporters did manage to snag some footage of the argument. Witness: ... read more
Concert a Day… Manchester Orchestra
For years I’ve suffered from an expensive addiction to concerts. As of Monday I had seen 345 bands live, as best as I could remember. And how do I remember that? Well, because I’ve maintained a detailed spreadsheet over the years cataloging all of these shows. I also collect set lists from these shows. When The Rapture told me that they don’t use set lists, they gave me neon electrical tape instead so I wouldn’t cry or go home empty handed. This week I will see five shows, one each night from Tuesday through Saturday. My friends think I’m crazy. ... read more
Admin, please ignore
Mandatory post to claim blog on Technorati engine. Boring stuff, nothing to see here, please move along… Technorati Profile ... read more
Noisettes in Atlanta
Today the Paste crew was invited across town to visit the local offices of Universal Music Group. The occasion? Four To Watch artist (May issue) Noisettes are in town, and are playing with TV On The Radio tonight at the Variety Playhouse, after having played in Athens last night. We feasted on meatball subs and Philly cheesesteaks and got to know the band just a bit, then they graced us with a few acoustic songs. The band was the toast of SXSW 2006, and today we found out why, as those “acoustic” songs were more rocked-out than many fully plugged-in... read more
Year of the Swedes, or Year of the De(e/a)rs?
2006 was the “Year of the Wolf”… Wolfmother, “Wolf Like Me” by TV on the Radio, “Wolves at Night” by Manchester Orchestra, “Wolves” by Josh Ritter, “The Wolf Is Loose” by Mastodon… and I can’t forget Wolf Parade, which led the way for all the other wolf bands. I declared back in December that 2007 would be the “Year of the De(e/a)rs” (Deerhoof, Deerhunter, The Dears) but as it turns out, 2007 has a need for Swede. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of Peter Bjorn & John (PB&J… how cute) and Loney, Dear, plus some other Swedes... read more
Brandi Carlile on Grey’s Anatomy tonight
Brandi Carlile and Reid Davis, Paste managing editor, at SXSW 2007. Photo and “hey, let me snap your picture” suggestion by Jeff Fasano Going where Gary Lightbody has gone before, tonight Brandi Carlile (Paste Four To Watch artist and April recipient of a Bud Scoppa feature profile) will get her first, significant network television exposure, at least in prime time. Her song “The Story” (written by bandmate Phil Hanseroth) will not only be on the soundtrack of Grey’s Anatomy, it will actually get the music video treatment, a la Snow Patrol’s “Chasing Cars.” This means that you’ll have to endure... read more
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