A Glass And A Half In Every Heather

I tell ya people, this having an actual life that takes time away from my blogging is really a pain. That being said, I’ve been busy and it’s been a while since I’ve done a sort of Odds & Ends post, but there’s several good things rattling around in my brain today that I thought I’d share.

Plus it’s Blizzard 2006 here in Colorado so no work, no schools, no nothing except being a homebody all day. I was going to post a few great sets of music, but EZArchive seems to be migrating to a new system and may be unavailable for 24 hours. Bah.

Ûž The first diversion of the day is the Advertising Slogan Generator where you plug in your name and it makes you your very own slogan. Mine is above in the subject line, and it’s awesome. What’s yours? I keep hitting refresh and laughing out loud.

Ûž The charming Mr. Tim Young has assembled a fantastic Contrast Podcast #30: “A Song I Like By A Band I Don’t.” I had several discussions about my possible submissions last week when I was on vacation, but ultimately didn’t get my stuff together in time to submit anything. I had some good ideas, though (sure, sure).

Ûž I posted about the Brokedown Melody soundtrack last week, and got the news today that there are 2 song streams available (thanks “Craig”!) — one for the Eddie Vedder track (without the annoying AOL voiceovers every time he stops to take a breath) and the other for one of the 2 unreleased Jack Johnson tracks:

“Let It Be Sung” – Jack Johnson with Matt Costa & Zach Gill
STREAMS: [.asx] [.ram]

“Goodbye” – Eddie Vedder
STREAMS: [.asx] [.ram]

Ûž Fuel friend and fellow blogger Bruce makes XPN Radio in Philly one of the coolest stations on the air. They’ve got a few great live performances this week for your streaming pleasure:

-TODAY: (Oct. 26) at 2PM EST, Lindsay Buckingham interview and performance on World Cafe at www.xpn.org
-FRIDAY: (Oct. 27) at 12pm EST, it’s Sean Lennon live in concert on www.xpn.org and www.npr.org.

Ûž Speaking of streaming, the new Damien Rice album 9 is streaming in full at A-O-Hell (AOL). I have a little window open here and intend to listen to it very soon. I want to give it the full attention it deserves.

Ûž Chad over at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands is a huge Elliott Smith fan, as anyone who has ever spent even a little bit of time with him likely knows. In observance of the Oct 21 anniversary of Elliott’s death, he has posted a lovely and heartfelt tribute piece. Recommended reading with soundtrack.

Ûž Howie Payne was that guy from The Stands (who put out a pair of kicking albums), and since they’ve broken up I have been keeping an eye on his solo MySpace page. Finally there are some new streaming songs from him, and they sound great — bluesy & rolling.

Ûž Everybody’s doing it: Robert Schneider (Apples in Stereo) is set to release a children’s album, according to You Ain’t No Picasso. Kids these days are going to grow up never having to listen to bad music, and that’s clearly the first step towards world peace.

Ûž A few of you astute and kind readers have sent me a recent Chris Cornell set from Sweden, with a fantastic blend of solo, Audioslave, and cover songs. J over at Sweet Oblivion has now saved me the time uploading it, he’s got it for ya. Nice set, how ’bout that Michael Jackson cover?

Ûž Aquarium Drunkard has ripped some vinyl audio for us from his much-beloved Bill Withers at Carnegie Hall LP, and it makes me love Withers (and A.D.) even more. Check out the warm snap, crackle and pop of these tracks.

Ûž Finally, Lore Sjöberg over at Wired.com has penned the funniest article I’ve read all week: MySpace, Now With Random Crap. He muses, “I don’t really know what to do with my 319 new online chums, compatriots and cronies . . . I think you just collect them, as they collect you. It is the 21st century, and we are all each other’s Hummel figurines. I think MySpace should take a hint from collectible figure games like HeroClix, and find a way to let you make your friends fight.”
Read the entire thing here.

New from Brushfire Records: Brokedown Melody soundtrack

Just got word from the folks at Brushfire Records (Jack Johnson’s label) that they are finally releasing the soundtrack from the 16mm surfing film A Brokedown Melody (2004). Johnson’s other surf films have had very interesting, well-put-together soundtracks (see the write-up of Sprout here) so I am looking forward to hearing this one as well.

Notable ’round these parts is the inclusion of a nice little ukulele ditty with Ed Vedder which, as I recall, played over the closing credits. A friend of mine once said I’d do backflips for this but I was never able to find a version of it until recently. And I’ll admit, I fairly did.

“Goodbye” – Ed Vedder
This version from 3-15-02 in Los Angeles, the first live performance

Here’s the full tracklisting of the album, which includes the usual suspects (Jack Johnson, Matt Costa) and some notably interesting inclusions (M. Ward, Kings of Convenience, The Beta Band):

01. The Cave – Culver City Dub Collective
02. Breakdown (film version) – Jack Johnson
03. Know How – Kings Of Convenience
04. We Need Love – Johnny Osbourne
05. Transfiguration No. 1 – M. Ward
06. Let It Be Sung – Jack Johnson/Matt Costa/Zach Gill
07. Goodbye – Eddie Vedder
08. Needles In My Eyes – The Beta Band
09. Heart (Things Never Shared) – Doug Martsch
10. The Road – Matt Costa
11. Vuelo Al Sur (Koop Remix) – Astor Piazzolla
12. Home – Jack Johnson

It’s available for pre-order now and comes out November 14, to coincide with the theatrical release of the film. Speculation is flying fast and furious that this would be the perfect song for Vedder to bust out at the Bridge School Benefit this weekend, which I am conveniently in-town to attend. I wouldn’t mind hearing this one live at all.

Let’s go surfin now (everybody’s learnin how)

With all this winter nonsense abounding, sometimes a gal just needs to relax and remember warmer days. Although I do not (and probably never will) surf, the soundtrack to the surfing movie Sprout is one of the best chillout soundtracks in my collection. Out on Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records label (check out Thicker Than Water & The September Sessions too), this laid-back collection features Calexico, Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions (who I blogged about recently), Superwolf (Bonnie Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney), The Shins, Sam Prekop, and others. These are two of my favorite tracks:

Two Stones In My Pocket – Neil Halstead (this song is only on the iTunes version of the album, as far as I can tell)

Got My Sunshine – Mojave 3 (also with Halstead, if you think the voice sounds slightly familiar)

You can also see the video for one of the best instrumental tracks on the album here, which completely makes me want to get a little sunburned:
Butternut video – Sprout House Band

So check out the album, eh? Feels warmer already.