If you think the G Strings in your Victoria’s Secret catalogs are hot, wait till you see the G Strings in The Fretboard Journal. There’s no two ways around it, the photos of all things stringed in this beautiful, locally published mag will make you lust for a guitar, uke, or banjo.
The Journal’s founder and publisher, Jason Verlinde, dropped by today to share a copy and tell us about his upcoming celebration of 5 years of featuring musicians, guitars builders and the instruments they love.
The always entertaining Ingrid Michaelson joined us in The Lounge yesterday, along with her band-mates Allie Moss and Bess Rogers. Thanks to intern Gavi’s camera skills, we snagged an up-close vid of Ingrid’s brand new song Parachute:
Some highlights from Ingrid’s show at The Showbox Sodo: the band’s entrance in black capes to Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song. Ingrid’s solo performance of Nightswimming by REM, the choreographed dance moves during a Britany Spears cover and the punk rock version of The Way I Am to close the show.
There was a major low-light: 5 fans were hit by a drunk driver outside the showbox Sodo after the show. 1 remains hospitalized at Harborview. We’re trying to locate the victims to send along our well wishes. We’re putting out APB’s on facebook and twitter, so if you know of anyone involved, please email me at sstewart@kmtt.com.
And finally, a confession. Ask The MD is not my only blog! I’ve got a little something on the side totally unrelated to music called Closet Collusion. Ingrid, Allie, and Bess make a special appearance in Closet Collusion and you can check it out here: http://bit.ly/a6nDgw
A visit from Ingrid Michaelson is always fun and the music is always beautiful. Here’s the full-length video of her Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge session:
She does an acoustic version of her new song Parachute, but here’s the official video for this bewitching track:
Compare and contrast Ingrid’s version with the version that was a huge hit in the UK, by Cheryl Cole:
Ingrid’s told me she’s planning to release her next album sometime next year. Any excuse for a return visit!
This is good news! The Cars – including Ric Ocasek – are working on their first album in 23 years. According to Billboard.com, the brilliant new wave pop-rockers have already recorded several new songs at a studio in Millbrook, New York. Check out a tantalizing 73-second taste of a new track called Blue Tip by going to the band’s Facebook page.
That ’s right — I’m talking Ocasek, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson. (Benjamin Orr, the original bassist, died of pancreatic cancer in 2000.) They’re also talking about touring.
You may remember that The Cars split up in 1988, with each guy going in his own direction. Ocasek said a reunion would never happen, but in rock & roll, never say never.
In 2005, Ocasek took a pass on joining The New Cars with Easton and Hawkes, so Todd Rundgren took the lead singer job. The New Cars released a concert disc in 2006, titled It’s Alive!, that was fleshed out with three new studio tracks, but I thought the whole thing was slightly lame. This seems a lot more promising!
Here they are with a song from their blockbuster album Hearbeat City (the last great record they made, if you ask me.). Believe it or not, this video was TOTALLY cutting edge when MTV ran it contstantly in 1984.
I just returned from a few days in the beautiful Methow Valley. I hiked up mountains, to lakes, along streams, and deep into passes with The WDG (World’s Greatest Dog) Charlie Trout. I spent the entire time with limited human contact so when I needed to be reminded who I was, I made a little sculpture out of sticks and stones.
I won’t go bananas with vaca photos, promise. But here are a few highlights from some sights deep in Washington’s wilderness.
Lake Wenatchee
Charlie rolled in a dead fish here. Best vacation starter ever!
First Signs of Ice
Our first trek was off the end Twisp River Road: Lake Louis. Didn’t see another hiker all day and I mean all day. We left the trailhead at 9am and returned after 4! Our destination:
Lake Louis
Home sweet home:
Owl's Nest Cabin
Next day, we drove up past Washinton pass to the exquisite Blue and Cutthroat Lakes.
The View From Blue
Charlie Searches For A Big Martini Glass At Cutthroat
Last day of hiking was a little more pedestrian…but no less lovely, right around Sun Mountain Lodge.
This Is Not A Room At Sun Mountain Lodge
Charlie Helps With Construction
And Sees Her First Deer
We drove across the pass on the stunning North Cascade Loop and made it home in time for The Seahawks game. Ah, civilization, I do love ya, if only to replace my hiking socks. I hiked holes into my best pair!
I hope it’s because he’s participating in Dog-O-Ween, the annual dog costume contest that benefits Citizens for Off-Leash Areas in Seattle. It’s COLA’s biggest fundraiser of the year, and it’s Saturday at Genesee Off-Leash Park in Seattle.
I’m bummed that I can’t be there this year, but if you have a dog, or if you just love hanging out in a giant field filled with dogs, you should be there. Here’s the info.
And here’s a video of a Chihuahua playing billiards:
Well it’s not looking too rosy, if you listen to Chrissie Hynde. She was up here with her new band, JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys for a session in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge. Here’s the view backstage as they do a soundcheck before their performance:
And here’s what Chrissie said about the future of her “other” band:
Check out video of JP & Chrissie’s full session on the main page of our site, and hear a nice pro-vegetarian rant by Chrissie as well as the inside scoop on the “doomed romance” that inspired all the songs on the band’s debut album, Fidelity! It’s good.
Chrissie may seem a little prickly when she answers (or doesn’t answer) some of the questions, but I admire someone who says what she thinks. And after the session, she was totally great when she hung out with listeners, posed for photos, and chatted. She said she’d love to come back to The Mountain any time. She’s a rock star . . . . and it’s fun when rock stars drop by!
If you’re talking about the trees in the Mountains-to-Sound Greenway, they probably came from a few hundred volunteers who toiled on Saturday to plant trees in Squak Valley Park in Issaquah. I was there . . . and here’s the lowdown on our mission:
Here I am, shovel in hand, doing my part, utilizing all the tree-planting knowledge I accumulated over the past . . . oh, 15 minutes or so. And then I have myself a nice cupcake:
A great day in the crisp Northwest autumn air. My favorite new expression: “We’re in the soup!” (Also, my gratitude and apologies to Wayne and Jennifer and all the great volunteers from AAA Washington. I promise we didn’t actually bury any batteries.)
For some reason, we’re having a hard time getting the whole video of Heart’s exquisite performance in The Lounge up on the web, so I turned to my trusty flip cam for a little glimpse of a couple of songs. Actually, it’s more than a glimpse thanks to intern Gavi who managed to capture a couple of Heart classics while I stood in awe on the other side of the room!
Let’s start with Dog and Butterfly:
And here’s Barracuda with a slip about the song’s future that the ladies were asked to keep quiet. But now that the word out…
Clearly, I’m a fan. I love his music, I enjoyed chatting with him backstage at Bumbershoot last month, and as I collect paintings of people with crustaceans on their shoulders, I thought we’d have an instant bond.
But alas…my Mountain Music Lounge with Bob Schneider might go down as the worst ever. He wore sunglasses throughout. He answered questions to his band not to the audience and pretty much treated the whole experience like it was one big inside joke. If the music hadn’t been so incredibly transcendent, I would probably not invite Bob to return. I guess that’s why they call it “transcendent”: because it has to get you past your discomfort. So before I go on, let’s transcend.
Bob’s not the first musician who’s acted like a crackpot in an interview. When I lived in MPLS, the guys in The Jayhawks & Soul Asylum were notorious for making fun of me on the air at REV105. And here at the Mountain, the guys from Augustana rolled their eyes and texted each other during a lounge! (I think they actually did get sent to R & R Charm School because they have been dreamboats ever since). Backstage at Bonorroo, Elvis Perkins acted like I was shoving bamboo shoots under his fingernails and the guys from Spoon were just cruel.
It’s sad, because we want to like the bands whose music we love but sometimes they make it hard. After the debacle, I mean interview, Bob told me he thought things went “great”! And I thought about letting it go, but just this once, I actually told him I wished we’d done better, connected more, let the audience in rather than leaving them scratching their heads. He told me he was self conscious. Well, aren’t we all? He should be proud! He’s so good. Check out this new song he debuted in The Lounge:
I guess we made up before he left because he let me wear his sunglasses for a photo.
For the record, wearing them inside made me feel more self conscious, not less. Oh, and you can hear the whole cringe-worthy interview and transendent performance on our homepage.
