dinosaur jr. stolen gear alert

Just over a year ago I interviewed Dinosaur Jr. drummer Murph for an East Bay Express piece (click here to read) .

And while I'm not suggesting any kind of reverse Midas cause and effect (after all, a year's a long time, even for my shitty luck), following their Tuesday night show at the Warsaw in Brooklyn, Dinosaur Jr. had their gear stolen from outside their van parked outside their hotel in (urp) Long Island City, NY.

So if you live in the area (or spend a lot of time on Craigslist), please be on the lookout for the following:

Guitars
1959 Fender Jazzmaster SN# 38927 - decal coming off. cracked headstock at top near low E peg. color black with purple/bluish sparkle coming through. adonized pick guard gold metal. tuneomatic bridge gold, tuning pegs gold.

1961-3 Fender Jazzmaster SN# 62012 - purple sparkle, black pickup covers. headstock repaired, a whole new piece of wood was glued on for the top part of the headstock under the tuners and up a 1/2" , along the whole top of the headstock. gold tuneomatic bridge, gold tuners

1964-5 Fender Jazzmaster SN# L21581 - orange, white pearl pickguard, stickers all over it, original tuners.

Fender Purple Jazzmaster new SN# R074329 - purple sparkle with matching headstock gold adonized guard tuneomatic bridge.

Rory Gallagher Stratocaster new SN# R25507 - has a big gold grover tuning peg on low E

Rickenbacker 197? Fireglo Bass SN# 4001 - checker-board binding.

B.C. Rich Warlock Bass SN# 4242413

Cymbals
[1] Paiste 20" 2002 medium
[1] Paiste 20" giant beat
[1] Paiste 20" 2002 crash
[2] Paiste 19" 2002 crash
[2] Paiste 15" 2002 sound edge top hi-hats
[1] 15" 2002 sound edge bottom hi-hats

The band asks that you contact their management at 303.998.0001 with any information.

todd snider on letterman

Monday evening I walked over to the Letterman show so as to hang out in the sixth floor dressing room while Todd Snider and band (including friends Will Kimbrough, Molly Thomas, Peter Cooper, Tommy Womack and Paul Griffith) served as the musical guest for the second taping (meaning that the show, with two segments of Al Franken, will be broadcast this coming Friday, September 1st - check your local listings).

there was one specific ventriloquist reference and one classic Buddy Hackett joke that will likely be excised from the taping (just a guess).

afterwards the band walked over to Randolph's Bar inside the Warwick Hotel for multiple celebratory rounds (thanks Jose).

the above pic was taken no more than a couple rounds in, and photo credit probably goes to me (and who the hell really remembers), but the shot definitely came from Molly Thomas' (new) camera, regardless of who was standing behind it at the time.

great lost song of the day: "Rutherford B. Hayes" by The Great Plains (available at eMusic)

no you didn't

no you did not say that Sylvain Sylvain looked like Grandpa Munster.

for shame (but yeah, he kinda does).

lots of things can go wrong with a camera

film (yep, still using film), batteries (the bane of my existence), lens caps and straps. you name it.

and Friday night at the New York Dolls show I obviously forgot to remove my Sylvain Sylvain magnet.

tell me when it's over

the consequential cut of the day comes from our good friend Steve Wynn's first album, the Dream Syndicate's Days of Wine and Roses.

and I'm here to tell you that it's over.
the guests are all gone and the triptych of commemorative celebrations of the anniversary of my birth is complete (plus we're almost eight hours past the official 24-hour cycle).

the highlight, of course, was Will Kimbrough's performance at the Lakeside Lounge (photo courtesy of Louis Chen), but we also managed meals at Benny's Burritos, Two Boots, Vong and Tribeca Grill (with only Benny's falling short of the balance in my memory bank), an afternoon walk through the Chihuly glasswork at the New York Botanical Garden and a show by the New York Dolls at the South Street Seaport, all shared with thoughtful friends.

I'm fairly exhausted, yet filled with internal (as opposed to, you know, external) gladness.

thank you all.

sam baylor

I've been thinking a lot about Sam Baylor recently.

Sam's the former guitarist from Will and the Bushmen and he's had a rough few weeks (but I'll let him tell his own story). But earlier in the year he released his first solo album, Life on Trouble Street (how's that for foreshadowing), and it's damn good and I've been listening to it quite a bit, particularly "God" and "Free Advice."

I'm at a somewhat of a loss as to a reason, but I'm fairly certain that back in my performing days I covered more songs of Sam's than any other contemporary. Covering other folks' songs, especially nearby folks, just wasn't something that you did, and yet we covered Sam's stuff. Guess we thought it was really good.

Will Kimbrough was kind enough to allow me to assist on his cover of Sam's "Free Advice" last night during his Lakeside Lounge set and it felt pretty damn wonderful to both play with Will and to sing one of Sam's songs.

So: it's a beautiful day in the city and we're thinking of and listening to Sam in celebration.
You should too.

congrats to todd snider and will kimbrough

for their mentions in this week's Robert Christgau Consumer Guide.

both Will and Todd will performing in NYC later on tonight - Will at Lakeside Lounge and Todd at The Canal Room - so if you're in the area go see one or both.

this week's pub/other news

something like three and a half, maybe four publications this week (which is why last week was so damn busy):

1) a Frank Black piece for Village Voice (if you hurry you might catch it on "the cover" of their website)

2) a slightly different version of the Frank Black piece (hence the "three and a half, maybe four" confusion) in Riverfront Times

3) a review of The Sadies' new album, In Concert: Volume One, in Philadelphia Weekly (third review down)

4) an advance for Say Hi To Your Mom's gig in Lauderdale which ran in New Times Broward-Palm Beach

in other news, after a second viewing of the new Pixies' film loudQUIETloud at Lincoln Center tonight, I plan to rush home to catch Todd Snider (and by extension Tommy Womack and Paul Griffith) on The Tonight Show.
Todd's new album, by the way, The Devil You Know, came out yesterday.

last book read: The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley

currently reading: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

listening to: Lambchop's Damaged
The Byrds' There Is A Season
Gram Parsons' G.P./Grievous Angel
Richard Buckner's Meadow
Waylon Jennings' Nashville Rebel
The Black Keys' Magic Potion

americanitis update

oh, oblivious me.

'twas not until late last night (after wrestling with a Frank Black feature, a Say Hi To Your Mom advance, a review of The Sadies' upcoming disc, a full day of work at the day job and a screening of the Pixies' film loudQUIETloud) that I realized that NPR had designated "Less Polite" from Americanitis as their Song of the Day (just click to be taken to a free spin - you won't regret it).
and the best radio station in Will's hometown of Mobile, Alabama (still independent!), WZEW, has declared these seven days as "Americanitis Awareness Week."

kudos Will!

more news later, but for now it's still hot.

americanitis comes to nyc

temperatures have reached the triple digits in NYC. and not to sound too much like a Texan, but 100 degrees in New York City is a little different than 100 degrees everywhere else.
sure, the humidity is worse (much worse) in the South, but the South can't fit eight million people in a space 13 miles long and two miles wide. and the South doesn't have those little underground transportation tunnels that'll damn near knock the breath out of you when you enter.
yes, our own little conveyor belt through hell (at least temperature-wise).

but that's not the big news.
the big news is that Americanitis (in the person of one Will Kimbrough) is coming to New York (hope it's cooler for him).

two weeks from today Will Kimbrough will be performing at the world-famous Lakeside Lounge and we're having a party to celebrate.
we figure the festivities to run from about six to nine that evening with Will playing somewheres in the middle.
come join us (and bring a fan).