Nobrainer’s Think Tank

Recently, an internet DJ in Ireland received an email requesting to hear a little Hank Williams, something the writer couldn’t find on the radio. At home. Near Nashville.

The sad fact is Hank Williams just can’t get played on American roots radio these days and the same thing goes for other genuine legends like George Jones, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings.

In a world of glossy production values, expensive Stetsons and stylists, those guys just don’t fit in. You could say they’re ‘too country’.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but much of what passes for country music in the States is little more than sanitised pop of the lowest quality.

This is something that has been bothering me lately. The more I listen to Waylon, Merle, and Cash, the only thing I can think when I listen to a country music station is “these guys fucking suck.” I knew the end had come when I heard Trace Adkins’ “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” Others who have drawn my ire recently are the band Rascal Flatts, and Keith fucking Urban.

The formers’ lead singer’s voice makes me want to put my DeWalt cordless drill and a 3/8″ bit to work on my ear drums. The latter looks like someone only the guys from Queer Eye could appreciate. Seriously. This guy:

is a country star? Nice haircut, Fabio.

I think it bears repeating:

Listen up folks. Apparently pennies are essential fundraising devices. And as we all know, Kevin Federline needs all the help he can get. His seed spreads like dandelions–his presence like kudzu. He won’t go away. He won’t die. He just keeps multiplying. And clearly he has no discernible talent with which he can earn a real income and support his brood. The guy needs charity. Get it?

So bring in Sir Richard Branson. Huh?

As anti-penny sentiment spreads on Capitol Hill, Virgin Mobile USA refuses to stand down and allow this historic coin to be abolished. To do their part to save the penny and renew its purpose, Virgin founder and chairman Sir Richard Branson, performer and rapper Kevin Federline and Americans for Common Cents Policy Director Matthew Eggers will band together to introduce Virgin Mobile’s Save the Penny campaign.

They called K-Fed a rapper. Isn’t that cute.

Excuse me while I clean up my vomit.

Hippies everywhere! They want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad.” Or at least that’s what I was thinking through most of last night.

A little bit after 7, I had just cracked open an icy cold PBR when my neighbor dropped by, asking if I wanted to go the downtown Mall. When you answer a knock at your door holding a PBR, your answer to the going out question is without doubt in the affirmative. It turns out that Charlottesville has a pavilion that has just been completely upgraded and last night was the first show. Being the first show it was free. But damn, the band on staged rocked the place. Seriously though, the crowd consisted of about a thousand hippies and me. Surprisingly, I noticed no illegal narcotics, nor a general unpleasant aroma. The upcoming shows include Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, Bruce Hornsby, Violent Femmes, & the Spin Doctors. Maybe Charlottesville ain’t so bad.

So. Who was playing last night? It was Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe. I’ve never heard of them before, but they certainly got my attention. They are a 6 piece band — keyboards, drums, bass (6 string), guitar, a guy who plays some trumpet and cornet (and who appeared to be surfing the internet at times), and the lead singer who also plays the sax and flute… and they include cowbells. They played for at least 2 hours, and even though I’m not a big fan of live music, I was drawn into the experience. In checking out their website, I really dig their tour schedule. They look like they’ll play any time, anywhere as long as you give them a stage and the possibility of an audience. After Charlottesville last night, they head to Nashville, to Asheville, back to Viginia, to New York, to Missouri, to Wisconsin to Minnesota to Indiana to North Carolina to South Carolina to Florida. In all they’re scheduled for 15 shows from today through August 14th. Awesome. I’ve done some crazy road trips in my life, but nothing to compare to these guys… and I can’t even play an instrument.

Well I gotta get to campus. Later.

It has occurred to me over the last several weeks that I haven’t felt like saying a lot. There have been plenty of posts. None of them seem that original, and many serve better as highlights of someone else’s work. Even the semi-political/current events/crazy news issues seem forced, as if I needed to make a comment for the sake of commenting.

For the most part, it seems like I have been keeping up with the news. That may be the problem. By the time I read enough of something, there’s generally very little left to say. Even then, I haven’t been terribly interested by anything. My opinions of which I am interested are so incredibly mediocre, that there’s no sense in posting.

Although this brings up a blog etiquette question. I often find myself caught up in discussions in other forums or blogs. I often feel the material is quite blog-worthy. However I always feel like a hack for repeating myself. I dislike tautology. Is it better to be repetitive, to some degree, to more widely share? It probably is. I’m still not too comfortable with it though.

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In a drastic change of subject, I suggest you check out a band from Ohio that I have been following for years. (I’ve probably posted on them before, but I’m too lazy to check for redundancy.) I used to work with their old drummer, AKA Sambo. Initially known as Vise, they changed their name to Swim for a few years before settling on the current July for Kings. Several years ago they signed with RCA… right before RCA went under. Anyway, I’m listening to the CD they released under that label, Swim. All in all, it is one of my favorite CDs in the collection. You may recognize (probably not) track 4, Girlfriend. It was later re-released by one of the guys on The Bachelor who tried to start a solo career (Bob Guinea?).

They’re better than 90% of what I heard on the radio (when I still listened) over the last several years. Anyway, they’re a great band that needs additional ears.

That is all.

you thank “the great COKE-Cola Company of Los Angeles” on the inside cover of one of your albums.

Can you name the band?

I’ve gotta say, that I have enjoyed some of Nickelback’s songs. I thought they were generally bland and definitely nothing revolutionary. Of course, I also thought when the lead singer recorded a song for some movie, that it sounded a whole like an older Seal song, which I think was also made for a movie.

Anyway, the folks at Webshite.net put together a comparison of 2001′s “How You Remind Me” and their 2003 effort “Someday.” I recommend using a pair of headphones, otherwise try to get as much stereo separation as possible.

This offers yet another example of the crap the music industry slings to the herd of consumers.

Thanks to Grooveswitch for the link.