Blogs

Nothing warms up the soul for a little rock ‘n roll better than reggae.

Warren Haynes, a latter-day recruit of the famed Allman Brothers Band, probably learned that long ago. But regardless of when Haynes crossed paths with Toots Hibbert, frontman of the legendary Jamaican band Toots and the Maytals, Denverites at the Fillmore Auditorium on April 26 got to reap the benefits.

Here's a bonus for fans of Joseph Arthur, who's profiled in the April 26 edition of Westword. The published piece was based on an extensive Q&A reproduced below. Among the topics Arthur touches upon: his risky new solo album, Let's Just Be, and why at least one song on it is closer to punk rock than most of the current music labeled as such; the assembling of his current band, dubbed the Lonely Astronauts; his decision to start his own label, rather than submitting to the whims of corporate suits; the issue of how much material is too much to release in a given time period, complete with a defense of Ryan Adams; a few words about his intriguing online tour blog, which can be accessed by clicking here; his participation in a Bruce Springsteen tribute at Carnegie Hall; the almost dada-like sequencing of his new CD; and a hint about what treasures remain in his musical vault.

Go, Joe, go:

Virgil Dickerson has always suspected that people have been stealing his music. Now he has irrefutable proof. When we spoke last month, the head of Suburban Home Records had no quanitfiable evidence to support his claims that illegal downloads were taking a toll on the label’s bottom line. Still, he had his premonitions. Those suspicions were confirmed a few weeks ago, when a friend tipped him off to a blog that had been linking to free downloads of Love Me Destroyer’s latest effort, The Things Around Us Burn -- in its entirety.

The crowd that gathered on April 22 for the Decemberists' gig at the Fillmore Auditorium was dominated by college agers who looked as if they'd decided to take a break from writing a paper for their semiotics class or post-grad couples looking for a little intellectual stimulation in advance of the more carnal sort. In other words, smart people into smart music -- and the headliners provided plenty of the latter. Colin Meloy and his compatriots aren't the most scintillating live act, but the gig proved that brains, charm and sincerity can take performers a long way.

Andrew Whiteman of Apostle of Hustle, the subject of this profile in the April 19 Westword, is among the brighter singer-songwriters on the current scene, as the complete text of his interview indicates. Below, read about his first musical influences, a little-known poetry album that didn’t exactly fly off the shelves, his entry into Broken Social Scene, misunderstandings about his love of Latin music, and intriguing information about the sequencing of the latest Apostle disc, National Anthem of Nowhere.

Consider this another chance to do the Hustle:

The profile of Sean Lennon in the April 19 edition of Westword offers a glimpse into the life of a talented singer-songwriter still figuring out how to engage a public that prefers to view him in the context of his famous parents, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, rather than as a worthy performer in his own right. Below, get a fuller portrait thanks to a transcription of the entire interview.

During the intriguing give-and-take, Lennon proved to be an extremely good listener, yet he was also extremely wary, as if he expected each question to become increasingly uncomfortable. Among the topics he touched upon are the contrast between sweet music and pained lyrics on his latest disc, Friendly Fire; the risks and rewards of delivering such songs from the stage; the reason for the long gap between his first album and its successor; his membership in Wylde Ratttz, a failed supergroup that included Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Steve Shelley, as well as Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton, the subject of a lengthy Westword Q&A; the satisfactions inherent in being a supporting member of a band as opposed to the audience's focal point; his unexpectedly academic approach to music; and his definition of success.

Read on -- because the conversation sure wasn't kid's stuff:

When proto-punk and original-era punk acts were in their prime, I was either too young or too far from the various scenes to catch them in action. As a result, my only chance to see such groups perform has been in reunion formats -- and my experiences at such shows have been extremely mixed. During the early '90s, I caught a reconstituted Buzzcocks at a small Denver club and was pleasantly surprised by their vigor. In contrast, I witnessed a Red Rocks gig by the surviving Sex Pistols later the same decade that was pathetic in the extreme. Between virtually every song, John Lydon/Johnny Rotten staggered to the rear of the stage area to suck on oxygen, looking like a sad, decidedly unlethal version of Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet.

The April 17 gig by Iggy and the Stooges, who headlined at the Fillmore Auditorium, fell somewhere between these two extremes. Don't know if I could quite classify the appearance as "good" in the most common sense of the term -- but it was a bizarre spectacle I'm very happy to have witnessed. And most of the credit is due to a certain Mr. Pop.

You've already met Zac Pennington. He's the well-dressed kid behind the counter at the record store; the one with the Modest Mouse good looks who intimidates you with his storehouse of music knowledge. He's the one standing outside the venue passing out hand-drawn flyers for some multimedia art-rock show he's putting on. He's the one, of course, you knew it all along, that would either end up as a music writer or writing his own music. Pennington is, at heart, every overly ambitious scene nerd that you've ever encountered -- and his many occupations only validate that further.

It was one of those moments when a music fan can feel as if he's fallen through the looking glass. This morning, I had to dash to my neighborhood King Soopers, in the Ken-Caryl Ranch area, to pick up some orange juice and milk, and as I stepped inside, the song filling the store was "Been Caught Stealing," an affectionate ode to shoplifting by Jane's Addiction that originally appeared on the 1990 album Ritual de lo Habitual.

In answer to your unasked question: Yes, I paid for my items, but I was sure as hell tempted to snatch and grab -- and there's no telling how many others succumbed. King Soopers reps might want to check that playlist a little closer next time. -- Michael Roberts