It seems the organizers of Bonnaroo want another week to solidify their lineup, at least if past years and rampant internet rumors are to be believed. Last year ‘Roo officials sent an email to subscribers saying the initial lineup annoucement would be made in slightly under a week’s time. Well, that time has come and gone for us – leading us here at TRM to believe we’ll be seeing a week delay.

Why they are postponing it is not exactly clear. It appears ‘Roo organizers were so sure that Feb. 2 would be the day that they actually confirmed the date to one web site. Now it appears likely that we’ll be getting the announcement on Feb. 9th. All festival goers should receive an email announcement from organizers next Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, but nothing is in stone. Time will tell…

Here was last year’s annoucement, issued on Wed, Jan. 28th:

“It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The time when you finally see if the rumors are true or if we have some tricks up our sleeve…

 Can’t wait for the Bonnaroo lineup? We’ll be making our initial artist announcement on Tuesday, February 3rd. Check out the Bonnaroo website and look for an email, we have lots of exciting updates coming soon!”

Especially during Grammy week.  This place is always popping and has the coolest rock n roll vibe of any place I have ever seen, let alone stayed at.  It is a staple of Slash’s and I think Billy Bob Thorton is an owner.  They have classic rock prints all over the walls but it’s far from the cheese of a Hard Rock.

In the past 12 hours I’ve seen Jeff Tweedy, Billy Joe and Carrie Underwood…as well as countless record execs trying to dress cool.

Pianos in the Villas

I have stayed here a few times and also recorded in the studio in the basement

As far as rap acts go: 2008 was Kanye. 2009 was Snoop and Public Enemy. Now what? Well all indications point to Jay-Z as the next major rap act to hit The Farm. According to several outlets,  Jay-Z has signed on to be one of this year’s headliners, exciting news for any fan of hip-hop. As for which night and stage he’d play on, I’d have to think it’d be the big stage. Hova is simply too big for any other stage, in my opinion, even for a festival with jam band roots. I, for one, wi’ll be interested to see where he is placed, if the many rumor mill is to be believed.

Side note, if Jay does indeed play, there is a very good chance Kanye would join him on stage. Read about that possibility here: http://www.ruralminority.com/trm/2010/01/25/bonnaroo-2010-perfect-platform-for-kanye-west-return/

We started with a bare SBC 400 block. We took it to Bob’s Automotive (owned by Bob Repine, of former “Hemi Thrasher” fame) in Eldred, PA and had it hot tanked, bored .030 over, line honed, and decked. We added Ross Racing pistons with a slight dome for more squeeze. The air/fuel mixture will be fed to the Dart Pro 1 Platinum aluminum heads through an off-brand hi-rise single plane intake. The valves will open thanks to the .630″ worth of lift provided by the Comp roller cam setup. The Ford 9″ rearend will accept the monstrous Chevy-powered torque by way of a steroid-fed 350 Turbo, with a full manual valve body, and a 5000 stall converter; which was put together by our good friend Kevin at R&R Racing Transmissions in Olean, NY. All this in a car that should tip the scales around 2800 pounds.

In short, it’s going to be fast.

The music industry and The Sherman Anti Trust Act have been going toe-to-toe this week.  The most recent incident is a juicy allegation of price fixing amongst Guitar Center, Gibson, Fender, and other manufacturers.  Guitar Center is more or less synonymous with price gouging so there’s no surprise there.  Gibson is now run by an egomaniacal lunatic and, a few months ago, had its Nashville headquarters raided by the feds  for allegedly importing some endangered wood from Madagascar.  So, again, not a lot of raised eyebrows when those assholes are named in litigation.  The inclusion of Fender on the list intrigued me at first until I remembered this tid-bit:  I bought a new Telecaster last year on credit with the promise of 0% financing for an entire year.  I did what any rational person did and paid Fender $0 for the next 11 months.  Now February is approaching and they’re gonna tack on a bunch of interest if I don’t pay the balance in full.  I’ve spoken with friends, family, and a few bankers and they all assure me this is normal and I’m a dumbass.  Well who’s the dumbass now?  The gig is up, Fender!  I know all about your price fixin’…free Teles for everyone (or just me)!

While the FTC is busy getting their panties wet over $900 guitars, the Justice Department has found that the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Livenation does not present a threat of monopolization to the live music industry.  Really?  TM and Livenation, as separate corporate entities, were already snugglin’ up uncomfortably close to Miss Monoply in their respective fields.  Now we’re supposed to believe that the combination of the largest ticket seller and largest venue booker is supposed to alleviate the problem?  Call me a cynic, but I’m pretty sure that’s way fucking off base.  There’s a lot of details and contingencies and yada yada yada but whatever.  I may not be a Supreme Court Justice or anything but I live with a Vanderbilt Law student and scored in the 92^nd percentile on the LSAT.  I’m pretty sure those two tid bits qualify me to call a spade a spade and call bullshit on this merger.

To top it all off, Christine Varney of the DOJ insists that as a result of the merger “we will see [ticket prices] come down.”  How many times did she have to practice that line in the mirror before she could say it without going into hysterics and messing her pant suit?  I know I sound bitter but trust me, I’m pretty much VIP at any show I want to go to anyway, so I’m fighting for you guys, not me.  I’m a man of the people…as long as I don’t have to rub shoulders with those people.  They’re generally poor and carry communicable diseases.

I was able to head over to the Gramercy Theatre last night to see Daniel Merriweather perform.  I remembered him from the Mark Ronson record and saw him sing with Mark back at his show at the Highline Ballrom (about a year or 2 ago…not sure).

The show was solid and this was the first time I have been back to the theatre since it ceased from being the Blender Theatre (wow, that’s really interesting).  He played a solid set including an interesting cover of the White Stripes “You Don’t know What Love Is (You Just Do As Your Told)” as well as Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

You can see a decent video of the entire performance of his cover of the Smiths song “Stop me if you think you have heard this one before” at the bottom as well as some pix and the setlist.

Setlist:

For Your Money
Chainsaw
Change
You Don’t Know What Love Is (White Stripes Cover) <-I will post my video of this soon
Live By Night
Giving Everything Away
Cigarettes
Getting Out
Impossible
Stop Me/Keep Me Hanging On <-video of this from last night posted at the bottom.
I Think I’m In Love
Maybe I’m Amazed
Red <-Get this song NOW…it’s great and was fantastic live.

Nothing Like A Tall Boy

I also took a bit of video that turned out pretty good.  Here is

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFN8IE4Jbdo[/youtube]

Multiple sources are now confirming that Dave Matthews BAND will be at Bonnaroo this year. The group just released their June summer dates and there is a giant hole from June 8th to the 15th. One would have to think that they’d play Sunday night as the closer, as jam bands have been the traditional closer at The Farm, but that has yet to be determined.

I know it’s a few weeks late, but one of my co-workers [and 80s music buff], Jon Abelack, put together his Top 10 Studio Album List of 2009 followed by his Top Five Live Albums of the Year. This is not a fly-by-night list like many already out there, but a very thought out, well put together piece by one of the best ears out there. Without further ado:

1. Alice in Chains—Black Gives Way to Blue—  Wow, after a 14 year Hiatus, Chains are back and  in true form.  The new singer William Duvall(not Robert duvalls’ brother) sounds just enough like Layne Staley but still different enough so you never think you’re listening to an Alice in Chains cover band, the music is great, couple of nice slow songs on the album, great riffs and all, fav (4) song on the album is Lesson Learned. A very well put together album.

2. Them Crooked Vultures- Self Titled—Damn Rock and Roll as I live and breathe and almost lose my breath again!  Supergroup comprised of John Paul Jones who is god on bass, Dave Grohl god on drums and Josh Home from QOTSA on guitar and vocals a solid musician in his own right.  The songs rock and are always changing tempo, never know what you’re going to get kind of like a james Cameron movie but not nearly as bad as how he looks now!  Great grooves and moves on this album, solid debut effort… it puts the R in rock and the L in roll….  4 song(fav song)—is  Gunman, kind of dancey, funky song.

3. Bob Dylan— Together Thru Life— The first Bob Dylan original CD that I actually have the others are copied—just a great mix of all different sounds, voice sounds good, band is solid,  4 song(fav song) is Forgetful heart… as long as it doesn’t stop beating!!!

4. U2—No Line on the Horizon—   Well, call it a comeback as in my opinion this is their best album since the classic achtung baby,, Pop and Zooropa have some great songs on the albums but I don’t think those albums are so great overall..  The ballads on this album are about as smooth as drinking a strawberry milkshake, singing is good, Edge is in top form, and the half instrumental song Fez being born is a very creative song… 4 song(fav song) on the album is Magnificent….

5. Dream Theater— Black Clouds and Silver Lining—After a couple of subpar records DT bounce back with a solid effort, long epic songs, god on guitar, great music, good singing, tempo changes and all… fav song(4)—is Rite of Passage.

6. Pearl Jam—Backspacer—Well, not as good as the album that preceded it but still very good, some of the songs have a good pop rock style to them, singing as always is great, songs at times are a bit short… still a must have for any pearl jam fan to keep up with the catalog—4(fav song) is Got Some, ironically enough the first time I heard this song was on a late night tv show at linus’s place and I thought it was just okay but on the album it has the best drumming on it and good punch to it, not the kind you drink!

7. Chicken Foot—Self titled—Another supergroup with Chad smith or is that Will Farrell on the drums from chili pepers, satriani on guitar, michael Anthony on the bass and the one and only Red Rooster Sammy Hager on the vocals— Chad Smith shows another side of his drumming on this album which is just great, stead bass and fraternity boy looks by Michael Anthony, god on guitar by Satriani he’s like a Lamborghini just can’t stop it! And vocals that have never changed in over 30 years by sammy hager.. some corny lyrics at times but I think the music is so great it compensates welll… 4(fav song) is Running Thru… awesome guitar solo in this song.

8. Air–  Love 2–  well, I enjoyed their last album more than walkie talkie which fans tend to like more, this is their best album since the classic I’d take this disc on me to a desert island to be stranded with Moon Safari… great mix of electronic and 70s sounds blended in, some but not much singing, feel like I’m on another planet when I listen to it… Fav song (4) is Missing the light of day.

9. Peter Yorn–  Back and Forth—Coming off a solid album the album before this one, Pete Yorn returns with what he does best a good blend of acoustic and electric sounds, lyrics are good, singing is in top form… 4 song (fav) is Paradise Cove…

10. Jarvis Cocker- Further Complications—Just hitting the top 10 close race with Depeche Mode’s album—for his second solo record Jarvis returns with a slightly more rock oriented sound, catchy hooks, his first album is def better but this is a good listen.. fav (4) song is Sludge.

Fav live Albums that came out in 2009.

1. The Doors—Live at the Felt Forum 1970— Wow, this 6 cd set is a must get for any Doors Fan, crystal clear recording, great singing, music is solid, many different versions of lightmy fire and others and all sound so great..

2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers—Live Anthology 4 cd set—as always, does a great job of adding to and mixing up songs live, proof is it’s good to be king where he takes a good song and makes it outstanding with guitar solos etc, and woman in love, it’s not me sounds better than ever on this record with the great lead in on keyboards by benmont tench (sp?)… I dig it, dug it and want to keep listening….!

3. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club—live from last tour—solid psychedelic rock by these rockers,songs are crisp and fast, like a rollercoaster in the dark.

4. REM- Live at the Olympia—Can’t go wrong with REM live, singing keeps getting better, music is strong, downside not as much jangly pop rock sound that’s their tradermark, songs are more rocking which is good and sometimes not as good… 4 songs(fav) is These Days.

5. The Cult- Love Live—and let’s be flippant about 9 11 in concert!  I think it’s good but the rhythm section we saw live is def better than this album but its still very good.

Jay-Z rumors went from luke-warm to boiling over the weekend for this year’s ‘Roo party, which opens the door for one thing: The Return of Rockafella protege Mr. West. Kanye, as we all remember, decided to delay his “Glow in the Sticks’ ‘Roo show til the sun was up a year and a half ago, enraging many in the audience at the same time. [Some of this was Pearl Jam's fault as the Seattle rockers ran late, but  they are only at minor fault as Kanye then reportedly had one of his ego trips that delayed the show further.] When he did hit the stage – at the ripe hour of 4:30 a.m. – people threw his glow sticks back at him and went on to spray paint ‘not-so nice-things’  after Kanye refused to even apolgize for the delay.

Back to present tense, having Jay-Z at The Farm this year would be the perfect venue for Kanye to return to the public eye. Following the Taylor Swift incident last year at the MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye left the spotlight and has been rarely seen in the public eye. In short, he says he wants to be a better person and returning to the stage (under Jay-Zs watchful eye) would be a good way to do that.

In addition, the media loves stories such as this. Think of the headline: “Disgraced Rapper Makes Triumphant Return”. Time will tell if this comes to fruition, but I like the chances if Jay-Z hits The ‘Roo this summer.