Okkervil River- A Compelling Mystery

What do you get when you combine the anthemic grandeur of the Arcade Fire, with vivid, mysterious songwriting that brings to mind John Roderick (of the Long Winters) and a voice that recalls the attitude of Rhett Miller? It might sound something like Will Sheff and OKKERVIL RIVER- a band from New Hampshire that now calls Austin, TX home.

Lou Reed is a big fan of this clever band- you've gotta check out their tune "Plus One," which makes reference to numerical songs like "99 Luftbaloons" and "Eight Miles High" from their new one, THE STAGE NAMES.


It's high-end indie rock; a garage band with strings- and possibly, one of the most interesting listens of the year.

Hokies Unite!

Tonight I had the pleasure of going to "A Concert For Virginia Tech" Featuring Phil Vassar, Nas, John Mayer, and my personal favorite, Dave Matthews Band. The cars on I-81 all had VT Magnets on them. I had my music blasting getting pumped up for the show and felt the Hokie love for the next 175 miles. So I roll into Blacksburg, meet up with a friend and walk over to Lane Stadium.

Maroon and Orange clothing is worn by almost everyone, "Hokies Unite" cover the shirts. In between Vassar's and Nas' sets "Let's Go Hokies" was chanted repeatedly, this would end up continuing throughout the entire night, even when Dave Matthews would pause between songs. Emotions ran high the entire night, Mayer serenaded the crowd and dedicated "Gravity" to the Hokies. Dave Matthews Band, the headliner, came on at 8:30 and would not walk off the stage until 11:15PM, taking a 5 minute break and encoring with "Ants Marching."

In all the concerts I've seen in my short life of 22 years this one tops the charts, including the DMB show I saw on the one year anniversary of 9-11. Dave pulled out some old songs, and had the whole crowd singing "Every Little Things, Gonna Be Alright" from Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds", This would go on about 5 minutes, with the band and then crowd only, you could feel the emotion, even Dave was fighting to hold back tears. I'm still taken in the event and wish VT Students and College Students around the world, a great year!

Check out Dave's full setlist here: AntsMarching.ORG

The Greatest Tenor of His Generation

By now, you've probably heard news of the passing of the legendary Luciano Pavorotti. A voice who had the ability to touch music lovers of all generations and genres, the maestro got together with U2 and Brian Eno a few years back to record a song that juxtaposes beauty amidst the ugliness of war.

One of my favorite Movies because of the song!

Who doesn't love To Sir With Love? This is one of those movies that you love and love even more because of the music associated with it. Ok, Ok, I admit it. I'm a Lulu fan! --all the way through Ab Fab! To Sir With Love became a huge American hit in 1967---making this song 40 years old! Heck, I'm just 45!

Here's the video so you don't have to stay up late and watch the whole movie like I did! (oh..and if you're Brit Com fan--here is some Trivia. Hyacinth from Keeping Up Appreances has role-Patrica Rutledge plays one of the teachers!

Al Stewart

Al Stewart A Folk Rocker In The 70's Had Hits With "Year Of The Cat" And "Time Passages". He Wrote Historical Political Songs Like Noone Has Since. It's His Birthday Today And Reminded Me Of "On The Border".

If I Could Write a Song, I'd Plant a Bad Seed...

and it would grow into something like this:



The Australian who can marry death and love and pronounce it beautiful, the ambient-punk Nick Cave packs quite a courtly wallop when it comes to the issue of the issue of how music has been hijacked for sport, as revealed in a letter to MTV back in '96 following a video award nomination. Something to think about, for certain, but mainly I just wanted to share my favorite obsessive, tortured love song with you.

Remebering Danny On His Birthday

Danny Gatton Would have Been 62 Today. Here's A Clip When He Played Gallagher's

Walking to NOLA 2 Years Later

If music is the universal language, then New Orleans is the capital of the World. And if hip hop is the CNN of the street, then maybe we should pay attention to Spellbinderz report on the state of Crescent City, post Katrina (with a little help from Fats).

How Awesome Is This

Feist enlists some of her friends from Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, Mates of State and the National to perfrom a great live version of her song "1234" from her album The Reminder on Letterman. Check it out.



Late night TV was never so indie

Kate Bush

Kate Bush's Influence On Female Alt/Indie Singers Is Undisputable. We'll Listen To
Kate Throughout Her Career On The Old School Segment This Week On Altered Friday.



Love This Version Of Running Up That Hill. Bad 80's Hair, But David's Guitar
Is Perfect.

Kraftwerk- Groundbreakingly Goobertastic!

Alright, uber computer goobers, here's a blast from the past! The pasty, robotic German group, KRAFTWERK created some pretty groovy sounds in the 80's with their, then, groundbreaking use of synths and voice modulation. They were later lampooned in, or at least, an inspiration for the Mike Meyers Saturday Night Live skit, Sprockets.

I still have COMPUTER WORLD and AUTOBAHN on tape somewhere. The musical equivalant of dot matrix and DOS, let's get down to the multi-lingual count fest, NUMBERS from Kraftwerk.

Grrrls put the HARM in Charm City

A girl-fight is not usually my thing, but put ladies on roller skates and helmets and you've got a bout worth cheering for!
Last night I caught the Night Terrors taking on the Junkyard Dolls during the latest Charm City Roller Girls match. The Terrors Joy Collision was making a wreck of the Dolls, with Killer Kitten ending up IN the crowd more than once. But hey, it's all in good fun at the roller rink!
If you haven't yet caught the Charm City Roller Girls there is still some time left in the season.
And if you haven't made their acquaintance here's your introduction...

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HD Radio Makes A Difference

On Friday, I went out and finally hooked my car up with an HD Radio...the previous soundsystem, the 1997 Camry Set Up was getting a little boring for me and as a music man I need to hear my music and feel it too. So after a few dollars spent and an hour installation my problem would be solved.

What's so great about HD Radio? It's crystal clear, it's the way radio should sound, and it's FREE on the user end. A little more costly for the station. If you havn't made the switch, you might want to.

A STYLE-ish Evening

Got invited to a great party last night for the annual Music Issue of Style Magazine in Baltimore. The event at Mosaic (in Power Plant Live) felt upscale and trendy, but classic Baltimore because of how laid back all the guests were.
I'm one of the lucky DJ's they featured in the issue and I got to talk with a few other radio folks from town who I had never met before.
Also got a chance to catch up on the local music scene with Jason Tinney of
Donegal X-Press. He wrote a piece for the new Style issue about being in a band in this city for 10 years, a smart and funny piece. Which makes sense that both he and his wife were smart and funny!


Jason gave me the low down on the upcoming Irish Festival in Baltimore, happening September 14th & 15th in Canton. Little did I know, but seems as though our esteemed Governor will be yet again strapping on the guitar over the weekend to play with his own O'Malley's March!


Here is one of the most recent performances of O'Malley doing 'Time Of Your Life' at his inauguration

Damien Rice and Burma

With news of a pro-democracy protest on the streets of Rangoon today, my mind drifted to the poignant tribute paid to Nobel Peace Prize winner and prisoner of conscience Aung San Suu Kyi by Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan. Check out this live version at a Nobel concert in Oslo.