Blogs

By ERIC BARTON

If you've ever been to Lochloosa, you’d wonder why JJ Grey is always singing about it. It’s up in the Florida lake country, past nothing and halfway to Hawthorne. I think there might be a Hardee’s there.

But there’s something in Grey’s voice when he sings that song about his hometown. There’s something that feels like true life homesickness.

I first heard that in Grey’s voice back in 2002 at a Tampa juke joint called Skipper's Smokehouse. It’s actually a place that feels a lot like where I saw Grey and his band Mofro tonight, at Crossroads Kansas City. Like Skipper’s, Crossroads is nothing more than some park benches, mulch, corrugated metal and a sound system. It actually feels like it could be in Lochloosa.

Those heading out to the Crossroads at Grinders tomorrow night for the English Beat/Fixx/Alarm show may be interested to read this review of the tour stop last night in St. Louis by "Dreamboat" Annie Zaleski at our sister paper, the Waterfront Companion. The intrepid Zaleski also shot a couple of videos, including the one below of the English Beat.

Kinda makes me wish I were going. Oh, and check out Dreamboat Annie's interview with Mike Peters of the Alarm.

You already know the Foo Fighters are playing this Saturday, July 19, at Kemper Arena.

And we've already told you lots about openers Supergrass.

Oh, Supergrass ... love them.

But another band worth loving a little, too, is going on first, at 7:15, to be exact: Year Long Disaster.

Photo by Paul Harries

More on the band, plus audio/visuals, after the jump.

By ANDY VIHSTADT

Ted Leo stopped by NPR’s soon-to-be-cancelled Bryant Park Project for a short solo set. Included in the interview and performance is a cover of the Waterboys’ “Fisherman’s Blues” and a new one. Tune in here.

Tune in to 90.1 FM tonight from 10 p.m. to 12 a.m. to hear Pitch music experts Jason Harper and Crystal Wiebe chat with host Charles Ferruzza about the Kansas City music scene and the ghosts, llamas and fashionistas that populate it, as well as spin lots and lots and lots and lots of music, including, but not limited to the following....

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin. “I Think I Wanna Die.”

Koufax. “Strugglers.”

The ACB’s. “Everyone Wants to See You”

Dri. “You Know I Tried.”

The Architects. “New Boots and Truncheons.”

Super Black Market. “Wonderwall (Oasis cover).”

The Beautiful Bodies. “Strut.”

Devil Blare. “The Journeyman.”

The Black Tarantulas. “Outta My Head.”

Rooftop Vigilantes. “Oscar Want 7.”

and more after the jump!

And the password is: orphans.

Until 10 p.m. tonight, login to Ticketmaster and enter the password to buy tickets early for the September 29 show at the Uptown Theater in KC with opener MGMT.

In other news, The Pitch has two tickets to Ozzfest in Dallas on August 9. So, if you're goin' down to Texas 'round then, hit us up for the tix by creating an account and logging in at our Pitch.com promotions page.

Thank you and good day.

Since departing his post as Pitch spin cycle columnist, Chris Milbourn has taken giant steps toward getting his DJ and hip-hop 'zine and Web site, Demencha, straight off the ground.

Not only is a print 'zine available, Demencha.com offers regular downloads, including the latest from Lawrence hip-hop producer and MC Johnny Quest. Download it via Demencha here.

And join us in checking Milbourn's endeavors regularly to find out what's going on in the world of local underground beats.

By FLANNERY CASHILL

Punk rock has a few recurring characters. Nearly every ‘80s band riffed on Reagan, nearly every band now rips on Bush. The Misfits made motifs of JFK and Jackie O, Millions of Dead Cops roasted John Wayne, and I wouldn’t know who Sacco and Vanzetti were if it weren’t for Against All Authority. But I’m tired of political name drops, and partial to more creative tributes, like this track from local late '90s punks the Basement Disasters. Somehow their homage to Gilligan of TV’s Gilligan’s Island transcends kitsch, and the blistering chorus “I! Am! Gilligan!” is sung with such fury that you can almost taste the spittle. I take dumb punk very seriously, which is why I'm awed by lyrics like I wear a white hat/I wear a red shirt/ They think I'm stupid/ One day I'll kill them. Members of the now defunct Basement Disasters went on to other bands including the Black Tarantulas and Ad Astra Per Aspera. Enjoy this now, before the last remaining cassette tape melts on someone's dashboard.

MP3: The Basement Disasters, "Gilligan"

Have old and esoteric MP3s from Kansas City past? Send them my way.

By ANDY VIHSTADT

To rev up for this weekend’s festival in Chicago, Pitchfork TV has put together a highlight reel from last year’s proceedings. Included in the mix are live performances from Slint, Grizzly Bear, the New Pornos and plenty more. Watch here and stay tuned for more from the Pitchfork Music Festival.

By ANDY VIHSTADT

While we wait for Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek to finish up the sequel to 2000’s Reflection Eternal: Train of Thought, Okayplayer.com has posted a couple Kweli cuts that didn’t make it onto last year’s Ear Drum. Listen here.

Hospital Ships' Geiger counter

For two weeks in a row now, tastemaking indie music blog Stereogum has featured Lawrence bands in its Band to Watch segment. As the blog itself says:

As we pass saturation point for press coverage of Montreal, Portland, Brooklyn and et cetera, it seems Lawrence, Kansas is poised for its coming turn in the music media trend piece carousel. At least from what we're hearing; this marks two straight BTWs from the burgeoning midwestern artistic oasis.

The fallacy here, of course, is the implication that Lawrence only recently began to have a music scene, its rise being conveniently timed with Stereogum's editors' collective fatigue with bigger, more European-like North American cities. When, really, Lawrence has had a GREAT music scene since at least as far back as '05. I kid.

Anyway, last week it was Rooftop Vigilantes. I hadn't heard of these guys, wait, maybe I have, but judging from the free song available, "Oscar Want Inch," I'll be listening.

This week, the Band that needs Watching is Hospital Ships, a new side project from Jordan Geiger of Minus Story, which I was also unaware of. I applaud the S-gum readers who dutifully posted the names of other good Larrytown bands in the comments.

By FLANNERY CASHILL

Supergrass fuse cocksure Britpop with stomping '80s new-wave. The band plays Kemper Arena this Saturday.

MP3: Supergrass, “Rebel in You," from Diamond Hoo Ha (Astralwerks)

Boris flog the Granada with squealing speed metal.

MP3: Boris, “Statement," from Smile (Diwphalanx Records)

More after the jump.

By JASON HARPER

1. I don't remember any of the 413,000 other power ballads that sound exactly like this song.

2. If you're going to get pulled over for drunk driving while on a date, it's actually safe to have it happen outside of a theater where Bryan Adams is playing, because if your date wanders off and falls in love with Bryan Adams while he's singing "Heaven," the acne-scarred Canadian sex bomb will not be able to steal your date after the show because the door to the outside will be chained shut and there will be a blizzard in the alley.

3. If you're a man and need to run somewhere on foot, don't do it while wearing a flappy-sleeved white T-shirt tucked into high-waisted jeans.

See Also: DJ Sammy and Yanou, feat. Do

By ANDY VIHSTADT

Stay Positive hits stores today and to keep things on the up and up, the Hold Steady popped into AOL’s Interface Studios for a live preview. Get it here in video or audio form. You can also listen to the album for free, along with the Black Kids’ debut, Partie Traumatic (out next week), right here.

Beck's late-summer tour behind new disc Modern Guilt touches down in Kansas City on September 29. The show is at the Uptown; no word yet on opening acts or prices. Tickets go on sale Monday, July 21.

The gig's on a Monday night, so plan to feel some remorse Tuesday morning. That's not the same as shame, of which the press release announcing the tour has none:

As always, Beck's creativity extends into the presentation of his music. The vinyl edition of Modern Guilt, which will be in stores July 22, includes download codes for high-fidelity (320 kbps) MP3s produced from a playback of the vinyl master. In other words, the first MP3 starts with a needle drop, and the ten MP3s will sound like a vinyl playback. Leave it to Beck to invent the first mobile turntable.

Yeah, yeah, leave it to Beck. That's what Steve Jobs says when you ask him what music to listen to on your iPhone 3G. Apple and AT&T are working on a way to make your calls sound like old vinyl albums, at least when Beck's on the line. Meanwhile, these nuns are still waiting for the musicians union to get them credited on Modern Guilt, a subject they like to sing about.