John Askew making the magic happen

I was in the studio this morning with producer John Askew to record a version of John Fogerty’s “Who’ll Stop The Rain” for some commercial type thing. John always manages to get killer drum sounds and Type Foundry (the studio) is a magical place to record. T.F. has cranked out some mighty big records from artists like M Ward and the Decemberists.

August is a big month for session work. Next up is a country album!?!

Watch out Ned Flanders..there’s a new Ned in town. I always wanted to know what I would look like as a character on the Simpsons..now I know. You too can create your own character at the Simpsons Movie page

Y’know what’s nice? When you’re still getting a ton of enjoyment out of the last release from an artist or band then you hear that a new album is on the way. I still have Mark Knopfler’s last CD Shangr-La in heavy rotation and I found out yesterday that his new album Kill To Get Crimson will be released on September 17th. Heck, I still have Sailing To Philadelphia in the ol’ CD changer. Knopfler just rules in my opinion.

Mark’s longtime collaborator Guy Fletcher (the only Dire Straits member still in the fold) usually does a blog about recording and touring. He has some cool picks of Mark and Co. recording here(scroll down to see pics). For the geeks: note the mics they’re using. I believe that the Neumann fet 47 used on the kick drum is a $5,000 mic.

Yet another sign of the demise of the CD and the decay of the traditional music industry:

From the Oregonian:

After weeks of rumors, it finally happened: Owner Terry Currier announced today that Music Millennium will be closing its location at NW 23rd and Johnson at the end of August, leaving its east side location on East Burnside as the store’s only branch.

Currier cited the rising cost of rent in the trendy 23rd area as the cause for the closure, combined with a downturn in the sales of recorded music that’s hurt revenue at music retailers nationwide. That downturn has been more marked at the west side shop, which has been in its current location since 1995.

This is an unfortunate causualty of the new trend. Music Millennium is practically a historic landmark in Portland - it sucks to see it fade away.

Alicia Keys at Live Earth

I don’t know why but I’m a sucker for these massive multi-city, simulcast, every-one-sing-Hey-Jude, extravaganzas. I was the geeky kid who tried to record the entire broadcast of Live Aid on cassette tape - so naturally I had to monitor the Live Earth concerts which happened on 7/7/07. MSN streamed each performance from each city live over the web - which was pretty damn cool. It was fun to watch Crowded House at night in Sydney then bop over to a mid afternoon performance in New York.

Unfortunately the running theme with these type of concerts is that most artists disappoint (think Led Zeppelin at Live Aid). Maybe it’s because bands don’t get a proper sound check or the musicians simply get too amped to focus on things like tempo or pitch. Also some bands just don’t translate well on Wembley sized stages. Live Earth was no exception. There were so many mediocre, and quite frankly bad, performances that at times I felt compelled to turn the whole thing off. But thankfully I hung in there because there were some amazing moments. First let’s start with the no-brainer: Spinal Tap did not disappoint. From the first moment they walked on stage and David St. Hubbins bellowed over the mic “Helloooo Wimbelton!” (they were in New York) to the ultimate version of “Big Bottoms” with twenty or thirty of the best rock bass players, all playing bass, onstage together at the same time, they were truly awesome. Next honorable mention goes to John Mayer. Many artists seemed to be going through the motions; Mayer’s set was very soulful and his guitar playing is rising to a Clapton/Stevie Ray level. Definitely not the flash in the pan I thought he was. The show stealer for me was Alicia Keys. She was outstanding. There are stars..and then there are superstars (a la Springsteen, U2, Gabriel). She is a superstar. Her set started out with a medley of cover tunes done with her own twist followed by a killer new tune that will be on her next record (gonna buy that fer sure)…then she capped off her set with this song.

The Avett Brothers/Photo Credit Tim LaBarge

Well…we’re a month out from the Pickathon festival which I co-own and run with two other partners. Tickets sales are very strong and we’re more organized than ever before…but the tsunami of details is about to crash down on me. No matter how much I prepare there’s no escaping the responsibilities that a promoter faces. This year is a very important year for the fest. We’ve been acknowledged by the national press as a premier NW music festival and we have some of the hottest “Indie-Roots” talent in the world on the bill. If all goes well this year’s event should solidify Pickathon as a major U.S. festival on par with Telluride, Wakarusa and the Pitchfork festival. In my opinion we have the best festival web site hands down. I can hear the flood in the distance…

Pickathon Roots Music Festival
August, 3,4,5
Pendarvis Farm
Portland Oregon
www.pickathon.com

A sweet track from Kurt Hagardorn’s new release is being featued on localcut.com. Click here to view the page and stream the song. As a drummer you always like to read reviews like this: “Man, his backing band sounds like solid gold on this track. The slide guitar, the clickety-clack drumbeat, the organ and walking bass all give the track a Nashville sound that totally does it for me.”