This Is The Last…

From Brooklyn Vegan…

Asked whether Radiohead would consider distributing its next album independently, Yorke unhesitatingly said yes. “We have two or three options, and that’s one,” he said. “Once we finish whatever we think is good enough to put out, then we’ll start thinking about it. We haven’t discussed it a great deal. I would love for us to drop a chemical weapon within the music industry. But I don’t see it as our responsibility, either.”

That would be such a rad gesture to the music industry, if Radiohead said, “No, we don’t need you guys anymore”. Truly, they don’t. They already have a fanbase. They can go to any studio and promote it through the internet. Cut ouf the greedy middle man. That would be SO rad.

Last night I saw Jolie Holand at my favorite San Diego venue, the Casbah. Sean Hayes opened for her. Hayes is from North Carolina, and currently resides in San Francisco. He’s a lanky guy, with an amazing voice. Jolie Holland joined him on stage, during his set and lended her vocals and her violin playing. Their voices harmonized very well. Both of them have a folky style. After the concert, I spoke with Hayes briefly. I asked him if he collaborated with Jolie on the songs they performed together. Hayes said that he wrote all the songs, that Jolie just hops on the stage and accompanies him. Hayes is a super-nice guy.

If you’ve never heard Sean Hayes before, you can hear some of his songs here.

It was so hot last night. Jolie Holland came on stage wearing a polyester blouse, a heavy black skirt, and nylons. In between songs, Jolie would stop to fan herself. She played a lot of her new work, but I was thrilled that she played some of the oldies but goodies. She performed Old Fasioned Morphine and The Littlest Birds. Her voice is bluesy and sultry. During her performance, she played guitar, violin, keyboard, and a cigar-box banjo (???). She told us a story about how her long-time boyfriend dumped her for another girl. And just that morning, he called and asked her if she would buy him a standup bass. Then she launched, into this really beautiful song about their breakup. She also told us about how she tried to be a busker for a while, but she didn’t want to be like the homeless people that play guitar, so she played violin on the streets. And she showed us a little trick, she taught herself. She played a song on the violin and sang at the same time.

If you haven’t heard Jolie, you can hear a couple of her songs here.

From Spin Mag…

The life of Jeff Buckley, one of the most celebrated musicians of the 1990s, will be documented in an upcoming biopic. The film, set to be written and directed by Brian Jun — whose debut, Steel City won critical acclaim at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival — will focus on Buckley’s career, including the recording and release of Grace in 1994, his work on Sketches (for My Sweetheart the Drunk), which was released posthumously in 1998, and his untimely death at age 30 when he drowned in the Wolf River in Memphis, Tennessee. Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, will produce the film.

“I can tell Jeff’s fans with complete confidence that Brian is not the sort of fellow to sugar-coat or manipulate the facts,” Guibert said in a statement. “I know that he’s a straight shooter… and I have seen from his filmmaking that he has the courage and the skill to do this the way it should be done.”

As for casting the film, Guibert insists they’re not even close to that point in the film’s production. “So, now, my friends, you can swing on the chandeliers speculating about which actors will play which parts,” she said. “But, don’t ask me! Read my lips, you actors, out there! We will not be making any decisions about casting a film we don’t yet have a script for.” Guibert expects they will have a script by the fall of this year.

I heard that Brad Pitt was trying to get the wheels rolling on this, because he really wanted to play Jeff Buckley. He’s not right for the part though.

I could see James Franco…

…or a young Ethan Hawke.

From their site…

After eleven years as a band, Sleater-Kinney have decided to go on indefinite hiatus. The upcoming summer shows will be our last. As of now, there are no plans for future tours or recordings.

We feel lucky to have had the support of many wonderful people over the years. We want to thank everyone who has worked with us, written kind words about us, performed with us, and inspired us.

But mostly we want to extend our gratitude to our amazing fans. You have been a part of our story from the beginning. We could not have made our music without your enthusiasm, passion, and loyalty. It is you who have made the entire journey worthwhile.

With love and thanks,
Sleater-Kinney

Sleater Kinney’s last few shows:

07.29.06 - Louisville, KY - Mellwood Arts Center
07.31.06 - Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom
08.01.06 - Washington, DC - 930 Club
08.02.06 - New York City, NY - Webster Hall
08.04.06 - Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza (Grant Park)

(Link via Brooklyn Vegan)

From Neatorama…

The Daddle is a child-sized saddle (with accompanying knee-pads) intended to be strapped onto a grown-up’s torso to formalize horsie rides.

On You Tube, you can find…

Radiohead performed a new song “All I Need” during their performance in Chicago last week. You can watch it here. (Link via Prefix Blog)
The music video for Badly Drawn Boy’s “Pissing in the Wind”. (Link via Torr)
Stevie Wonder’s smoking performances on Sesame Street here and here. The first link is to a Sesame Street-ish song and the second line is to “Superstitious”. (Link via Boing Boing)
Fiona Apple’s music video for “Paper Bag” here.

Props to Jason, for letting me know that “This American Life” is streaming all of their shows on their website here. They have a large archive of shows to choose from.

TAL is a weekly-produced hour long radio program, distributed by Public Radio International. Every week a topic is explored over 3-5 stories told. The stories are always told well. Sometimes they’re funny and sometimes they’re sad, but they’re always very entertaining.

Its perfect for listening to at work or during a long drive.

Last night I saw Fiona Apple play. Its been my wish, for the last few years, that I would get a chance to see her perform. For all the flack that she’s gotten in the past, I’ve often wondered what kind of performance she would give. For my husband’s sake, I was hoping it would not be a night purely of feminist angst. And I have to say she was powerful.

Here’s a rough setlist I wrote down, in the dark, on the back of my grocery list..

Get Him Back
Your Love
Shadowboxer
The Way Things Are
I Know
Sleep to Dream
Limp
Paper Bag
Tymps
Oh Well
On the Bound
Slow Like Honey
Not About Love
Better Version of Me
Get Gone
Fast As You Can

Encore:
Extraordinary Machine
Criminal

Some of the songs she was angry and she was screaming the words out in a rough, blue-sy sorta way. Then, she performed Paper Bag, and she was a happy little girl swaying in the wind. The she played Tymps and she was a dancing Greek goddess. I honestly can say that for all the concerts I’ve been to in my whole life, I’ve never heard anyone sing with such raw emotion, pure anger and hurt and pain. It was beautiful.

I just read this on Brooklyn Vegan…

Jeremy Enigk has a new solo album coming out. This summer he’s touring solo (not with The Fire Theft or Sunny Day Real Estate). All dates below…
Mon 07/31/06 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
Wed 08/02/06 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck
Thu 08/03/06 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theatre
Sat 08/05/06 Cleveland, OH House Of Blues
Mon 08/07/06 Toronto, ON El Mocambo
Fri 08/11/06 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
Thu 08/17/06 Utrecht, NET De Halling
Fri 08/18/06 Hasselt, BEL Pukkelpop Festival
Sun 09/03/06 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot Festival

I’m wondering if since this tour is coming before the album comes out, if Jeremy Enigk is gonna give his songs from “The Frog Queen” another go with symphony and all. If that’s true, then I think I’d fly to Seattle to see that.

Since I decided to move to Denmark next winter I’ve been making lists of things that I have to do/see before I leave this strange island of mine. One of these things is to travel as much outside Reykjavík as I can. All these amazing places that I’ve always wanted to see but never had the chance to. All those mountain roads that I’ve dreamt about for so long. I’m feeling like its now or never. 

So I’ve been going crazy driving anywhere and everywhere. And last weekend I finally went the famous mountain road called Kjalvegur (just two days after it was open) where you drive between two glaciers. I found the landscape there to be amazing! The road takes you to a magical place called Hveravellir. Its really crazy to think of being so close to a glacier but having all those hot springs there! There are two logdes there and a camping area and next time I’m defiantly gonna stay the night there and just relax in the hot springs there.

So if you see some lunatic driving too fast with funny sunglasses its moi… queen of the road!