James Hunter with special guest Jesse Dee

The Majestic Theater, Triple M Skybox Series, Feb. 9th

Our Skybox Series Grand Prize Winner, Kyna G., shared her experience with us…

The Jesse Dee and James Hunter show at the Majestic Theatre was a special treat (even better in the Skybox)! Jesse Dee is a very talented musician, who definitely had the chops to impress the crowd, even all by his lonesome. His emotive voice and beautifully sounding hollow-body guitar work was a sight to be seen. After he finished we were left wondering if the headliner could top him! Well, sure enough, James Hunter and his band surely did! My friend said, “That band is best thing to come out of England since America!” Although, it was plenty cold that night, his stellar performance sure got things heated up quickly. James Hunter is the whole package, crooning voice (even despite a cold), great guitar skills, and even some crazy dance moves! Thanks much, Triple M! It was a great night!

With everything that’s going on in Madison, you might be tempted to go all Charlie Sheen on us…but I hope we can all somehow manage to maintain our grip on reality.

So in that spirit, I’ve got some things that we can be happy about.

1. Shamrock shakes at McDonalds. Even though they are not made from shamrocks.

2. Spring is coming. I’m pretty sure the governor can’t cancel that.

3. Puppies. Click here to check out The Puppy Channel!

4. Sunshine!

5. Music…whether it’s a protest song or a favorite tune that just helps you want to go on living, music can be a great healer.

It’s time for another moment of distraction!  Kitty and I have been talking about all the turmoil connected to Governor Scott Walker’s “budget repair bill”, but we’ve also done are best to cover  other subjects as well.

So here’s another moment of distraction.  Actually this moment of distraction comes every year around this time.  It’s something I look forward to even if we don’t have a governor doing his best to pit the people of his state against each other.

What is this moment?  It’s the first pre-season baseball game for my beloved Chicago White Sox.

Heck yeah!  This afternoon there will be baseball on the radio.  Will the game matter?  No.  Will the players try very hard?  Not really.  Most of them are still trying to shake the winter off.

It doesn’t matter because this is the first step towards another season of hope and promise.  As much as I enjoy football and basketball, baseball is my first love.  There have been plenty of books, movies, songs and even musicals written about baseball.  So I’m not going to try to compose some brilliant statement about why the game is so great.  It’s been done many times before by people who are much better writers then me.

I understand a lot of people think baseball is boring and I’m not writing this to convince anyone about why it’s so enjoyable to follow.

Those who love it know what I’m talking about.  It’s great to see snow on the ground, but hear your favorite announcers in the air.  Even if it’s cold outside, the sound of baseball takes you back to summer and what lies ahead.

My dad always says the most exciting time for a big event like a vacation or an anniversary or birthday is the day BEFORE the event.  He says the anticipation is often times better than the actual event.  I couldn’t agree more.

Later today I’ll  turn on the radio and hear a little of a  pre-season meaningless game and I couldn’t be more excited.

Wow! First Arcade Fire takes Record Of The Year at the Grammys and now Trent Reznor wins an Oscar for Best Original Score. Award shows are so much more enjoyable when artists you’ve followed and been a fan of for years are actually recognized for their talent. Makes you think.. that Kirk Douglas segment wasn’t so bad after all. Ok wait, that might be pushing it.

Trent described writing the score as, “..kind of like writing songs for someone else’s lyrics and point of view. I enjoyed the experience and will continue scoring here and there but hope to balance it out with working on various albums as well. I’ve realized what makes me love a certain film is that synergy of all the elements coming together.”

Reznor has just finished recording the next How To Destroy Angels record with Atticus Ross (who he worked with on The Social Network score) and his wife Mariqueen Maandig. The material still has to be mixed and will drop this fall. Reznor plans on releasing the music as a free download at a low bit rate while charging for higher quality downloads and physical product.

Trent Reznor and Ross are currently working on the score to David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo which will hit theaters in December.

“Fixin’ To Die”
G. Love & Special Sauce

“The G stands for Garrett and the ‘Love’ just felt right.” And G. Love & Special Sauce has put out another album last month that is a fun and catchy ride. Produced by the Avett Brothers (and I’m a fan of them), I have to say that this is sound is a banjo filled fun time.

Here is the title track from the album:

G. Love & Special Sauce ramp up the blues in this album.  The second song of the album is “The Road,” a melancholy ode to the grungy life of a band, connecting with fans but far removed from your family.  The same goes for “Katie Miss.”  I was struck how this album goes from the high energy of “Fixin’ To Die” to the soft lulling of “Katie Miss” to a song about coffee in “Milk and Sugar.”  But, I’m not particularly fond of odes to hot beverages and this is one of the few that fails to deliver.

Amazing Covers

• I think that all artists should cover someone on their albums.  It’s a recipe for collaboration and a deep sign of respect.  So, I especially loved the cover of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” one of my favorite songs by Paul Simon.  G. Love & Special Sauce add their own special instrumental ending and it is spectacular.
• The title track is by Bukka White, and has been covered by a host of musicians including Bob Dylan on his debut album.
• The next cover is “Pale Blue Eyes,” by Velvet Underground.  I really enjoy this song and it it s a great way to end the album.

There are other great songs in the mix like “Walk On” and “Get Going” and several others.
Overall:

I think if you’re a fan of The Avett Brothers, you will like this album.  It has a nice mix of raucous and slow blues.  G. Love & Special Sauce have created a great lively R&B album and I think that the range of covers is fun and well-done.  I didn’t like all of the songs, but I think overall there is a strong selection that a wide variety of listeners will like.

-Soren Nieminen

The Walkmen have just released a music video for their song “While I Shovel the Snow” off their new album Lisbon.  You can check out our review of the album here.  The video is absolutely stunning.

Here is:

The best part of my week is reading all the clever captions you guys come up with. You never disappoint! So without further adieu  here come the honorable mentions.

We start with Rick:                       

But i thought spayed & neutered was a band??

L.W. Davis, took a similar approach:

Viewers at the Veterinarian Surgical Center sat in rapt attention, mistakenly thinking that they were going to watch Fluffy get tutored…

Not surprising, we got a number of topical, political captions like this from Kraig:

Like we needed further proof that the whole world has gone to the dogs.

From Marci:

I believe we have a quorum, quick vote before the Cats get here!!!

and Michael:

Members of Canine Local 116 sit in stunned silence upon hearing Scott Walker’s new proposal to cut the feeding of table scraps to pets.

Moving to a new theme, we have this one from Steve:

And the winner of best picture is “Dog Day Afternoon”!

I loved Jame’s Canis Film Festival!

The Canis Film Festival was always a major fashion event.  But as every one knows, no one could rock it quite like the French Poodles.

Abbe just cracked me up with this:

“Sparky, quit drooling, it’s not like you’ve never seen Lassie without her collar on before.”

And that brings us to this week’s first runner up. I can relate to John’s because I am all of 5 feet tall!

I just know that a Great Dane is going to sit down right in front of me.

                          But this week’s winner, of 4, count ‘em, four autographed posters is…Michael!

Members of Canine Local 116 sit in stunned silence upon hearing Scott Walker’s new proposal to cut the feeding of table scraps to pets.

 Thanks  to everyone who played along and those who just read them and chuckled. Next week it’s back to creepy guys!

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, the duo behind The Black Keys,  will be coming to Summerfest and playing at the Marcus Amphitheater on Wednesday July 6th.  They will be joined with Florence and the Machine and Cage the Elephant.  Tickets go on sale Wednesday March 6th.

Ok…you can breath now.

The Black Keys are coming off their success of their newest album “Brothers” that won Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance, Best Alternative Music Album and Best Recording Package.  It is an awesome album.  Here is their most well-known song “Tighten Up” below:

The Black Keys will also be at Bonnaroo in June.  You can check out their entire schedule here.

There are some great songs from the 70’s, but there are plenty of songs that were awful.  One of those is “Watching Scotty Grow”.  However, thank goodness the song was made because it gave Madison’s very own Peter Leidy a chance to make a great parody.

Here’s to you Governor Walker…

Today marks the 68th birthday of George Harrison, the lead guitar player of the Beatles..and the man who inspired many of today’s top guitar players to pick up the instrument.

As a tribute, the entire 2002 Concert For George is being streamed live today at www.concertforgeorge.com.

You can watch some of the same folks that are on the Concert for George on this video as well. Can you figure out who every one is?