SAVE THE DATES!

Bel Air Summmer Shows:

July 28th - Don Pedro's Brooklyn

August 9th - Legion. Toy Box Theater Company Fundraiser!

August 20th - Pete's Candy Store. Acoustic Show!!

Details will follow.

R.I.P. MICHAEL JACKSON

As sad as I am that the world has lost Michael Jackson, it seems appropriate that our modern day Peter Pan didn't grow old. He will be missed.


The poster that hung on my childhood bedroom wall.



One of the best albums EVER.

ADAM WON AFTERALL

We take all kind of pills to give us all kind of thrills
But the thrill we've never known
Is the thrill that'll get you when you get your picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Rolling Stone
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Rolling Stone
Wanna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Rolling Stone

ON THE BEAT - SUMMER EDISH

"My skin's soaked right through to the skin!" (R. Starr,1965)

It may not feel like it with all this rain - but in a few short days it will officially be Summer. Check out my recommendations for Summer Festivals in my latest On the Beat column for EightMillionStories.com. It's 10% information, 90% rambling.

LUNCHTIME POLL RESULTS

Our man on 4th Street, Bob Dylan, scored a whopping 50% of the votes in our "Best Songwriter" poll. Way to go!


The weiner.

HEY YOU!

Do you have the Moondoggies album "Don't be a Stranger"? You should get it, if not. I got a long time ago and just re-discovered how good it is.

As you were...

SOMETIMES

Rhett Miller has a song called "Sometimes" on his new self-titled album. He and I are on the exact same wavelength. It's like we share a brain.

I'm a little disappointed with his new album cover, though. It just doesn't show off what a good looking man he is:



Seriously. You don't waste potential like this:

BOOK REPORT #3

Michelle Mercer is a writer and NPR contributer, but beyond that, she is, like myself, a fan of Joni Mitchell. She writes from a (highly informed) fan's perspective. I like that. I relate to that. If it's dark sides you're looking for, this may not be the right book. If you are a fan - especially of her "Blue Period" - you must read this.

Mercer met Joni while working on her first book Footprints: The Life an Work of Wayne Shorter. After interviewing Joni for that book, she continued to conduct first hand interviews with her, many of which are chronicled and quoted in the book. She also looks into her motivations as a songwriter and storyteller. Some of Joni's more obvious influences are relationships and her geographical surroundings but Mercer takes it to a higher level: What makes anyone want to write a song about themselves at all? Why do we engage in so-called "confessional songwriting"? As much as she is associated with it, Mitchell doesn't like that term. Nevertheless, the history of confession-as-art is documented by Mercer with references to Augustine among others. It's very meta. Why was Joni doing these things she didn't even like or know she was doing? Because it's human nature or some kind of collective sub/conscious...yadayadayada. I dig it.

The "Blue Period" is, arguably, the span in Joni's career when she did her best work. It covers 1971 - 1976 (Blue, For the Roses, Court and Spark, Hissing of Summer Lawns, and Hejira). WOWOWOW. What a collection of albums. All amazing. Just to go on record - Hejira is my favorite. It's a masterpiece. Before I read this book, I didn't know that it was primarily written while Joni was driving across country to Damariscotta, Maine on a pseudo kidnapping mission. I like knowing these things. This book is informative and anecdotal without being gossipy. There are no piano songs on Hejira. It's much easier to write guitar songs on the road. Very eeenteresting.

Some may take issue with Mercer injecting the book with stories from her own life but I found her stories entertaining and her writing good -if a bit aggressively anti-Dan Fogelberg/Carly Simon. Sometimes I felt like telling her "If you don't have anything nice to say..." but perhaps she had spent a little too much time Joni. Anyone who's read interviews with Joni knows that it's better not to get her started either. Don't bring up that "minor talent" Jackson Browne if you know what's good for you!

I recommend this book to all fans of Joni Mitchell, all song-writers, all hippies and Graham Nash who is all of the above.

SOLO MENSCH

Years ago Breakup Breakdown played a house party in Brooklyn on the coldest night of the year. It was an absolute blizzard. The car service that brought us and our gear to the place had to go 5 miles an hour. We were lucky to get the few people that showed up in the audience. Anyway, as we were loading out, I took some pictures and got such a good one of Jeff that I told him I thought it should be the cover for his first solo album:



At the BUBD reunion rehearsal I took another picture of Jeff that should be his follow-up album:

LAST NIGHT AT BLACK BETTY EVER!!

The Break-Up has reunited (and it feels so good) to play the very LAST Hot Rocks party at Black Betty. The restaurant/bar is closing it's doors after a long, successful run due to greedy landlords. We are happy to be a part of it, even though the occasion is sad. It gives us all an excuse to drink tall boys of Bud in the same room together again.















And, yet another picture of Jeff flipping off the camera:



Good times.

The LAST Hot Rocks Party EVER:
The Break-Up and The Vitamen
Black Betty
Havemeyer and Metropolitan, Williamsburg
Tuesday, June 9th, 8pm