Sure you can (and should) go on over to The Mountian Music Lounge Archive Page and hear the full interview and performance by Brandi Carlile. But wouldn’t you also like to know the range of topics discussed while Brandi got settled, sound checked, and collected herself after the performance? That’s the juicy stuff, right?

So, let see: Minneapolis (she’s a fan!), mutual friends (Hi Lisa, we love you), dogs (she’s a closet dog whisperer), contracts between ex-lovers, prison slang, and did I mention DOGS?

I love this girl. She’s an amazing artist and a real, complicated simple country girl. I hope you’ll come see Brandi at Winter Warmth. I’m threatening to bring the World’s Greatest Dog, Charlie Trout, to the show for Brandi to work her magic. So if her Santa costume is covered in dog hair, please forgive her.

Brandi in the lounge:

- Shawn

What’s up, Bob Dylan? First, you decide to put out a Christmas record. That’s kinda weird. Then you put on a wig and cavort around with Santa? And is that John Cusack you chase out of the house?

I like you. You are a genius. But you really do put the original in American Original.

And one more thing…I like this arrangement of Stuck Inside Of Mobile even if you sound like you swallowed Draino:

(Readers who are not Dylan: Apologies for the crap video…this is how far back I was for Dylan at Wamu, but I thought you might enjoy hearing how…er…patina-d his voice has become!)

- Shawn

So tickets have gone on sale for U2’s June 20 show at Key Arena and you are wondering…what’s it going to be like? Well, if you are a little bitty U2 fan, it might look like this!

…which begs the question: How does one’s child get selected to go on stage? Let’s do some detective work and find out. I want a mini Mountain listener on stage and wearing Bono’s glasses!

- Shawn

Like lots of Seattlites of a certain vintage, I worship The Pixies. No, not little faeries who live in curled up flower petals (nothing against you, Faeries!), but rather the Boston band known for loud and soft sounds, boy and girl vocals, fast and slow guitar riffs. The Pixies rolled through Seattle Thursday and Friday, playing 2 sold out shows at The Paramount Theatre. Like Devo just a few days before, Pixies are touring playing 1 of their albums in full, start to back. Devo played Are We Not Men, We Are Devo (complete with breakaway jumpsuits), and Pixies played Doolittle.

Here’s a couple of shots of Pixies at The Paramount:

And Devo at The Moore:

As I was listening to Pixies play their mighty anthem “Monkey’s Gone To Heaven,” I was thinking that for all their angsty, edgy squirts of guitar, for all their cryptic lyrics, for all their tension (and pretention!), they really are a lot like Devo: Highly conceptual, challenging, not appreciated in their own era (not enough anyway) and most importantly… important!

Sorry to all American Idol winners and runner ups, to all Ladies, Princesses, Girls, and Dutchesses and to all teenage trios of Disney do-gooders, I miss important music. Not all the time. Not every time, but once in a while, isn’t nice to be challenged? To put on a record or see a show and go, “What were THEY thinking?” That happened with the first Devo disc and the first Pixies disc.

So is anyone making important music these days? …but of course. You are welcome to do your own math but here’s my equation:

Devo + Pixies = Arcade Fire

The first time I saw Arcade Fire at Neumo’s, they could hardly fit the whole band on stage, they rocked an accordion, they wore costumes including a motorcycle helmet, which was really more of a necessity for the guy wearing it because the drummer kept playing on his head. And they had something to say, or at least I *think* they did, which is exactly how I felt about Devo and Pixies.

So, what do you consider is important music that needs to be heard RIGHT NOW??

- Shawn

Speaking of Vets… this will make you laugh and cry!

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

Your thoughts? Share them below!

- Shawn

Hey Veterans, it’s your day.

Our friends at Seattlest put this great list of freebees for Vets:
 http://seattlest.com/

- Shawn

I’ve been meaning to post these photos forever. They are a random look at the life of an MD; all the fun, crazy, odd things I get to do and see over the course of a week or two.

Woah, hello, hair style. My hair was big and so was the hospitality of the folks at Home Depot in West Seattle. I met listeners, chatted about OneThing, and got a personalized apron.

Let’s call this one Sisterhood of The Travelling T-shirts. Sarah from Cameron Catering and I baked pies together for Project Pie (still time to order one, people! Check it out here!) and wore orange t-shirts. Why not?

Side note: I bet I’m the only Music Director in the whole US of A with 2 photos of themselves in an apron.

While we’re on a sartorial tangent. David Gray is a dandy dresser, as evidenced by his Paul Smith suit hanging in my office. That’s our new intern Brittany, and me, teaching her how to be a borderline creepy super fan.

These are Steve Martin’s banjos. Yes, that Steve Martin. Saw him at Benaroya last week with his bluegrass band. Rumors rumbling that he’s coming back for a certain shall we say ‘grass extravaganza’…

Coolest show of the year? Devo at The Moore playing Are We Now Men in its entirety. Breakaway jumpsuits, shorts and kneepads, fearlessly embracing middle age, and Chuck Statler films? Are we not men? No, we’re impressed!

From the desk of Kat, VP of content…

Ahoy, Seattle! It’s good to blog with you once again.

I’m back from Pittsburgh for a mini-vacation here in Seattle, and of course, I had to drop in on the old haunts to see my favorite MD.

Upon arrival, I ventured with Shawn to a special new upstart here in the city… it’s Swink, Seattle’s first style bar. Now, I thought I was going to tip back a few mango margaritas with Ms. Stewart, but NO! Swink is a trendy new hair salon that features quick styling that is sure to make you look sassy!

Not to sound too much like an ad, I’ll leave it at this… I got a great curl from Cass, Shawn got a cute braid-curl from Danielle, and we both received compliments throughout the rest of the day.

Here are the details:

Swink Style Bar
611 Stewart St
Seattle, WA 98101
206-682-7070
 http://swinkstylebar.com/

And of course, you HAVE to see the back. It makes me want to curl my hair every day. It’s the perfect way to go see Ghostland Observatory at the Showbox tonight!

- Kat

Radio stations typically don’t have Green Rooms or Chill Rooms, or any place for artists to hang out, even though a lot of artists hang out in them. The Mountain space is devoted to CD storage, run of the mill office cubicles, a huge outdoor grill a listener won but hasn’t picked up yet, and broadcast equipment. So when David Gray needed a place to change into one of his dandy suits, my office had to suffice. I’m in the studio all day so it’s pretty quiet in there and *bonus*, I have a solid door that locks!

As the following photo essay demonstrates, Brittany and I felt positively school-girlish at the thought of DG stripping down to his boxers in the place we call home.

David’s suits…nice haberdashery!

Neill’s boots

Jack Bauer protecting David’s beverages

So David didn’t actually put on a suit, as this photo illustrates.

But he still put on a gorgeous and RAW performance in the lounge. Check out this amazing version of Babylon.

- Shawn

Mat Kearney visited the lounge yesterday, and we chatted about the lost art of letter writing.

He wears a stamp, like a family crest used to seal letters around his neck. I mentioned that I’d just heard that Lord Byron had some letters up for sale and that word on the street was he had pretty cool handwriting.

You might think this conversation would have led to Mat and I becoming penpals and reviving the lost art so I could see Mat’s handwriting and Mat could use his seal. But come on, son, it’s 2009! We did immediatley follow each other on Twitter : )

Here’s Mat being amazing in the lounge:

Mat and I, after the lounge:

Mat and our brand new intern after the lounge:

You can follow us all on Twitter: @askthemd, @matkearney, @brittanyann00

Or you can write me a letter… I’d love that!

- Shawn