Honor By August Video - "Found"

In case you missed last weekend's Honor By August show, you can check out their new video for the title track from their new album, Found.

Tom Petty's "Southern Accents"

After listening to a band cover one of my favorite Tom Petty songs, "Southern Accents," on the internet, it just made me want to listen to the original. Here's Tom and the boys at a 2006 show in his hometown of Gainesville on a simply beautiful rendition of "Southern Accents."

P.O.S. covers Pearl Jam's "Why Go Home"

Rapper P.O.S. delivers a pretty cool version of Pearl Jam's "Why Go Home" as part of an MTV2 covers celebration of the deluxe edition of PJ's Ten. It's definitely worth a listen.

Idol Thoughts

A few thoughts on last night's Motown-themed American Idol...

Matt Giraud: He opened things up and brought it on with a very strong, soulful version of “Let’s Get It On” – perhaps his best performance of the year, starting off at the piano, and then getting up and parading around a bit.

Kris Allen: Not a fan of the song “How Sweet It Is,” but I’m sure the girlies will like his solid acoustic guitar-accompanied rendition of it – are we supposed to vote for one of those numbers on his shirt?

Scott MacIntyre: His “You Can’t Hurry Love” wasn’t memorable, just meh, but at least he showed that he could do something up-tempo, albeit something a bit jumbled. I was going to take pity on him for getting dressed in pink pants and a paisley shirt – but he admitted that he knew what he was wearing! So forget that.

Megan Joy: Maybe she should bring back her Corkery. Her version of “For Once In My Life?” Totally pitchy, dawg! And somebody get her a lozenge. The old-school arrangement was too loud and forced her to scream, eliminating her trademark “vocal quirkiness,” of which I’m not all too fond of anyway. She should have done a slowed-down acoustic version.

Anoop Desai: He laid down a rock solid vocal performance of one of my most unfavorite Motown songs, Smoky Robinson’s “Oooh, Baby, Baby.” Not a lot of showmanship and he sang it straight – he’s been all business these past two weeks. It’ll be interesting to see if he brings the party next week like Randy suggests…

Michael Sarver: His voice just wasn’t big enough for “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” and each judge told him his karaoke-like version sucked donkeys. Strangely enough, nobody mentioned his terrible dancing. He’ll still probably make it through to the next round anyway.

Lil Rounds: Unfortunately, on of my favorites, Lil, was a Motown disappointment for me with her version of “Heatwave.” It wasn’t bad, per se, but it got shouty at times, and it didn’t give her a chance to show her range. I expected more this week. Cool Motown outfit.

Adam Lambert: Finally, somebody used a stripped-down arrangement so they didn’t have to compete with all those loud Motown horns! I don’t know if I’m an Adam fan, exactly, but I’m definitely curious to see what he cooks up each week, kind of like with David Cook last year (though I liked David Cook better). Anyway, Adam’s acoustic performance of “Tracks of My Tears” was interesting and used his falsetto nicely. Good job.

Danny Gokey: Wow, he had such great texture to his voice, though his version of “Get Ready” seemed a tad on the hammy side, however. The judges really brushed him off afterwards!

Allison Iraheta: She really dug her gritty, bluesy vocals into “Papa Was A Rolling Stone.” Wow. And she gave it a realistic worn-down by life sound the song needed. Very impressive.

"Where The Wild Things Are" Trailer

As a child I never actually read Where The Wild Things Are, which is quite surprising, so I guess I probably won't have strong feelings regarding a movie adaptation based on the book. Even one that promises to be very visually stylistic, since Spike Jonze is directing it.

Metro Pole-Huggers

You know who they are. Those Metro riders that drape themselves around the poles on the Metro as if they’re going to slide down it. Or the ones that lean their entire bodies against poles, staking out a claim on the entire pole real estate. Basically, in either situation, no other rider is able to get a hand in edgewise. If it’s off-peak hours, no big deal. But in the sardine-can of a metro car that is rush hour, it’s just not cool to have nothing to hold on to. Gotta share those poles!

Honor By August @ 9:30 Club Saturday

Locals Honor By August have got a second album under their belts; they’ve got a big CD release party for Found this Saturday, March 28th at the 9:30 Club in DC. With their first single, “Stuck on Survival,” HBA stays in their melodic modern rock wheelhouse, relying on lead singer Michael Pearsall’s distinctive, inviting vocals and anthemic, reverb-drenched guitars.

MP3: Stuck on Survival – Honor By August

Photo by Rachel Buchholz

The Films

Butch Walker rocked the 9:30 Club last night, but as usual, he had brought along a strong opening act that I had never heard of. At previous BW shows I got to see bands such as The Honorary Title, The Academy Is and Hot Rod Circuit for the first time and came away impressed with their live acts. Anyway, I really dug last night’s opener, The Films - especially their track, “Belt Loops.” Love those jagged, pulsing guitar chords, twisty lyrics, and raucous vibe.

MP3: Belt Loops – The Films

PHOTO CREDIT: Gregory Nolan

Allmans/Phish Live @ The Beacon

The Allmans annual run at the Beacon Theatre the other week was a guest-laden one, with Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Trey and Page from Phish sitting in with the band on various nights. Check out YouTube for more. Anyway, here's Trey and Page sitting in on the Allmans covering one of my favorite Grateful Dead tunes, "I Know You Rider."

Butch Walker

Butch Walker will be at the 9:30 Club this Saturday, and he's releasing a new EP that includes a duet w/ Pink on it ("Here Comes The..."). Here's Butch and Pink performing on Ellen back in February...

Bert & Ernie Gangsta Rap...

I get a kick out of B & E getting a little gangsta to M.O.P.'s "Ante Up."

Threefer

WAITING: Looking forward to the eventual release of the Tom Petty documentary Running Down A Dream on DVD – here’s the trailer for the film

ONE: Rollingstone.com has a cool article in which different musicians talk about their favorite U2 songs and U2 albums here

MACHINES: Still waiting for Terminator Salvation? Here’s some essential facts about it, as well as a trailer for the movie

Butch Walker / Live "ATL"

Butch Walker - "ATL" from Paste Magazine on Vimeo.

Here's Butch Walker performing a track ("ATL") from his new CD, Sycamore Meadows during an in-studio session for Paste. Just a songwriter and his keyboard.

Geoduck, Anyone?

Smithsonian.com has a very interesting video here with Season 3 Top Chef Hung showing how to prepare geoduck (a giant and rather phallic-looking clam). Take a gander. And admire the knife skills.

David Cook & Carrie Underwood Duet

It's Idol times two! Here's David Cook & Carrie Underwood dueting on a country-tinged version of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Check it out.

Shane Hines & The Trance CD Release Friday...

This Friday, March 6th, local modern rockers Shane Hines & the Trance have got their CD release party for The Glory Journal at Jammin Java. It’s been an interesting ride, as Shane and the boys decided to go the grass roots financing direction to fund their newest album, letting their fans (“team trancers”) contribute to the recording sessions with producer Chris Grainger (Switchfoot). And contribute the trancers did, shelling out over $34K, minus the big brother atmosphere of a record label. Pretty supportive fans, huh?

MP3: Way Up – Shane Hines & The Trance