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Inside Jeff Tweedy's Head
Live Music Beth
March 10, 2008
He wrote about what goes on in there for the NY Times. It's a really interesting read about his battle with migraines, anxiety and painkillers. Click here to check it out.

Tweedy's doing better these days, as evidenced on SNL. Who needs painkillers when you've got a suit like this?!?! That's pretty bad-ass.

Me and my friends over the weekend...
Mike McKinley
March 10, 2008
4am or so...

Bisco on Iclips - Sometimes I love technology
Mike McKinley
March 2, 2008
I'm sitting home Saturday night dicking around on the internet pretending to get some work done, when I see that the Disco Biscuits are playing at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey - the last show of a three-night run. Iclips.net is streaming the show live. A few clicks and away and I'm watching the show as it's happening and the quality is fantastic.

The second set was a ripper - the whole "Astronaut" jam was phenomenal. They improvised like liquid - moving through all different textures and colors. They played with great intensity, but without abandoning their sense of humor (if you download, note the samples they use). At the end of the set they go back into "Astronaut" - Barber smashes his guitar like he's Pete. Jerzee Bisco'd.



Good times... Maxim reviews Warpaint without hearing it...
Mike McKinley
February 22, 2008
This is too funny. Maxim reviews The Black Crowes new album, Warpaint, without hearing the entire album. This is right on course with the sound byte world of media we live in. Read below for the scoop.

From The Black Crowes web site


How is it that a magazine can review an entire album--and assign a star rating to it--without actually hearing the album?

Case in point: the "review" of Warpaint--the new album by THE BLACK CROWES--in the March issue of Maxim magazine. The writer--who has not heard the album since advance CDs were not made available--wrote what appears to be a disparaging assessment anyway, citing "it hasn't left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth."

Incredulously, the magazine gave the album a two and a half star rating--although neither the writer nor the editor could have heard more than one song (the single "Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution").

When approached for an explanation, the magazine described the review as "an educated guess preview." Huh?

Black Crowes manager Pete Angelus says, "Maxim's actions seem to completely lack journalistic integrity and intentionally mislead their readership. When confronted with the fact that they never heard the album they are claiming to 'review' in their music section--with a star rating, no less--they attempt to explain that it was an 'educated guess.' In an email correspondence, Maxim went on to state: 'Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we don't want to ignore that aren't available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. It's either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.'"

Angelus continued, "It speaks directly to the lack of the publication's credibility. In my opinion, it's a disgrace to the arts, journalism, critics, the publication itself and the public. What's next--Maxim's concert reviews of shows they never attended, book reviews of books never read and film reviews of films never seen?"

After reading Dennis Cook's article in the new issue of State of Mind, where he digs deep into the heart and soul of where this album came from (and he actually listened to the record... a lot), reading this made me puke in my mouth a little. But why is a rock 'n' roll band as genuine and real as The Crowes being reviewed in Maxim anyway? If they're going to bullshit, shouldn't they should stick to reviewing bullshit?

I guess if you read a shitty publication with no substance or depth, you can expect music reviews the same way. Kudos to The Crowes for calling them out.

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