We’ve been very pro-Aimee Mann, ever since she gave away her single “Thirty-One Today.”

Well, we recently got more Mann news, this time in the form of a contest. From June 4 (which is in the past) to July 7 (in the future) she’s holding a Youtube contest (did you watch the video up there?) to see who has the best video of themselves signing her new song “Freeway”.

I’d like to point out that the it said “whoever makes the best video” wins the top prize and not “whoever sings it the best.”

Oh, the winner will get the chance to sing with Mann at one of her shows. Ten runner ups will get an autograph copy of her new album “@#%&*! Smilers.”

Find lyrics and the instrumental version of the song here.

Mann’s Tour

Jun 6 ‘08 House of Blues Anaheim, CA
Jun 10 ‘08 Largo Los Angeles, CA
Jun 12 ‘08 Minnesota Zoo Mineapolis, MN
Jun 13 ‘08 Pabst Theater Milwaukee, WI
Jun 15 ‘08 Bonnaroo Festival Manchester, TN
Jun 16 ’08 Cains Ballroon Tulsa, OK
Jun 17 ‘08 La Zona Rosa Austin, TX
Jun 18 ‘08 House of Blues Dallas, TX
Jul 9 ‘08 Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, CO
Jul 11 ‘08 Botanical Gardens Denver, CO
Jul 12 ‘08 Deer Valley Resort Park City, UT
Jul 14 ‘08 Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
Jul 15 ‘08 Stewart Park Roseburg, OR
Jul 16 ‘08 Woodland Zoo Seattle, WA
Jul 18 ‘08 Vancouver Music Festival Vancouver, BC
Jul 19 ‘08 Aladdin Theater Portland, OR
Jul 24 ‘08 Calgary Music Festival Calgary,AB
Jul 26 ‘08 Berklee Performance Center Boston, MA
Jul 28 ‘08 Washington Park Albany, NY
Jul 30 ‘08 Highline Ballroom New York, NY
Aug 1 ‘08 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
Aug 2 ‘08 9:30 Club Washington, DC
Aug 4 ‘08 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA
Aug 5 ‘08 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA
Aug 7 ‘08 Edmonton Folk Festival Edmonton, AB
Aug 28 ‘08 Koolhaus Toronto, ON
Aug 29 ‘08 Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak, MI
Aug 31 ‘08 Ravina Highland Park, IL
Sep 2 ‘08 The Pageant St Louis, MO
Sep 3 ‘08 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN
Sep 4 ‘08 Bama Theatre Tuscaloosa, AL

Yes, remember this movie homeslice? The high school story about geeky love in suburbia with a teenager making up her own slang almost at will? Then you no doubt became obsessed with the music behind all those frames of dramedy. And the reason for that is Kimya Dawson, a leader in the revolution that is anti-folk (they find folk artists and beat the shit out of them…ok not really).

But then why did I put a picture of “Juno” on the front of this post? Because if put this picture up, you’d be taking my anti-folk joke seriously and wonder how many folk artists this person trapped in her closet.

Right, the news. Dawson is releasing a new album on Sept. 9 called “Alphabutt,” which is a collection of children’s songs she wrote with friends and their kids (if you’ve heard her music before, then you know this is a perfect fit).

And why is this tour a big deal? Because the dates with the “*” next to it means she’ll be opening for none other than Ani DiFranco, queen of the anti-folk massacre of 1999 (it’s too easy…and too much fun).

Get your tickets early. Ani sells out lightning quick.

July 2nd        Music Hall of Williamsburg        Brooklyn, NY
July 11th       The National                             Richmond, VA *
July 12th       Pines Theater                           Florence, MA *
July 13th       Cape Cod Melody Tent             Hyannis, MA *
July 15th       Ives Concert Park                     Danbury, CT *
July 16th       United Palace                           New York, NY *
July 25th       Capitol Hill Block Party             Seattle, WA

It’s true. High gas prices have inspired people to bike, bring car pooling back in the mix and have forced touring bands to wonder if they will ever make it in the music industry.

According to the Chicago Tribune, bands are finding their gas bills doubling and making it almost impossible to make a living as an unknown to medium-sized band on the road (panhandling and whoring are still acceptable ways to make a living in rock).

How do you offset this? Higher ticket prices? Traveling festivals. With Donkey rides. More exposure on 52shows. Dancing monkeys. Taco night (huh?).

In the end, it’s the musicians and fans who will suffer the most (and probably the dancing monkey who is unlucky enough to have a horrible agent and suggest they go on tour with a band).

I’m on the verge of biking it to a show this summer. I’ve only done it once before and it was when I lived in Arizona. My editor and i were trashed after a Distillers show and rammed our bikes into trees. Hilarious.

So that’s what we have to look forward to…and maybe it’ll mean a better world, one where Vinyl outsells the CD and where people crash into each other’s bikes instead of each other’s cars, all the while with that drunken ringing in their ears from the show they just saw.

Who is Mike Edison? He’s the former High Times editor. He’s a musician. And now he’s an author thanks to the book “I Have Fun Everywhere I Go: Savage Tales of Pot, Porn, Punk Rock, Pro Wrestling, Talking Apes, Evil Bosses, Dirty Blues, American Heroes, and the Most Notorious Magazines in the World.”

But, more importantly, Edison is my hero because he has created the ChroniCaster, an electric guitar that is also a usable bong (see video above if you haven’t yet).

He also has a CD that Jon Spencer produced that bears the same insanely long name as his book. I can only imagine what his shows are like and what that ChroniCaster is like to use/play.

05/22- 7:30 PM Portland, OR @ Powell’s Books
06/04- 9:30 PM Philadelphia, PA @ Tritone
06/16- 7:00 PM New York, NY @ Half King Reading Series
06/19- 7:30 PM Brooklyn, NY @ Pete’s Candy Store
09/30- 7:00 PM New York, NY @ KGB Reading Series

When I explained the Apocalyptica concept to my girlfriend, “four cellos and a drummer doing Metallica covers and stuff,” she was a bit skeptical. “Meh,” were her exact words I think. As we drove to Ventura for the show, I tried to convince her that it was going to be an awesome, unique, live music experience. She seemed more interested in visiting the Camarillo Outlet Mall, going shelling at Leo Carillo, looking at cute craftsman houses in Ventura, and having me take her out to dinner.

While enjoying the latter, we discussed our expectations for the show. Would there be a mosh pit? Would we get beaten up? What exactly happens at a metal show? You see, we were both metal virgins and more than a little nervous that our cherry-popping would be a loud, painful experience. And we weren’t entirely wrong.

Upon entering the aptly titled Majestic Theatre, most of our initial concerns were swept aside. We walked past elderly couples in flannel, parents toting small children, a man in a kilt, and a woman belly dancing by herself in some lonely corner of the room. The hardcore metal fans were pushed up front on the first landing in front of the stage. The older, more cautious in attendance, Christine and I included, sat in white plastic chairs well back of any potential mosh pit hot spots. The stage was dressed with two pairs of thrones, built to look like skulls, surrounding a huge drum set, all in front of a massive winged skull cello backdrop. I thought to myself, “so this is a metal show.”

After it was clear the halfway empty theater wasn’t going to get any fuller, the house music, The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” climaxed in long, high screeching note, and then segued into some unholy, beastly sounds. It was a bit cheesy, but had a surprising affect. Christine dragged me down to the front landing for “the real experience” of rocking out right in front of the band.

The lights went down and Apocalyptica appeared on stage urged on by a raucous applause from the hardcore fans on the floor. Their music is dark, wonderfully layered, complex, textured strings, punctuated by machine-gun-fire drums. And it’s loud. Really really loud. I can’t stress that enough. They began playing seated in their skull thrones, but quickly got up and began marching around the stage, cellos in hand, long Finnish hair swirling hypnotically as they began to head-bang.

The crowd was into it too, at least those who were there for a metal show. The older people in the back rows who showed up for cello quartet clapped politely after each song, but seemed a bit uneasy.

During “Race” a mosh pit broke out next to Christine and I. It was probably the pussiest mosh pit in the history of metal, three teens with long hair and tight pants smashing into the crowd and one another. Like little gnats, they were easily batted aside but still quite annoying, so Christine and I moved closer to the speakers to avoid being swallowed up in a teeny-bop whirlpool of hormonal angst.

About halfway through the set, Toryn Green (new singer for Fuel as of last year) joined the band to provide vocals on a couple of songs, including David Bowie’s “Heroes.” The less said about his time on stage, the better. His presence there not only greatly diminished my pleasure of the music, but had me wondering for the first time whether or not this was just a novelty show.

If “This is Spinal Tap” didn’t already exist, Apocalyptica would be the perfect candidate for a mocumentary. In between hardcore songs with titles like “Betrayal” and “Somewhere Around Nothing” the band adoringly addressed the crowd with sweet Finnish accents and broken English. They giggled and discussed the national sports of Finland (hockey and head-banging), the beauty of California, how much they love metal, and offered several apologies for not speaking better English.

Whenever they spoke, they came across as cute. Cute like, I wanted to take them home to meet my mom and have a big bowl of matzah ball soup, cute. I can’t imagine there are many metal bands who would appreciate that type of invitation or label.

The only thing that kept them from becoming a bad SNL sketch, was the sheer quality of their music. I laughed every time they spoke, but as soon as they started playing, I was instantly nodding my head and totally into it. They combined incredible orchestration, with precise execution, and I couldn’t help but get fired up. That was, until my ears stopped working.

Christine was also suffering. Her ears were destroyed and she was getting upset, so we ventured to the back of the room to escape the speakers. From our new perch, we both enjoyed covers of “Enter Sandman,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and the epic “Hall of the Mountain King.” The later proved to be both playful and cathartic, two adjectives I would’ve thought were nearly mutually exclusive.

After a (somewhat undeserved) double encore, Christine and I returned to my car for our drive back to LA. She hates metal and instrumental music, but I managed to get her to admit, the show was not only interesting but truly impressive. The quality and complexity of the music we had witnessed was unlike anything either of us had ever seen. It was our first metal show and a pretty incredible experience. She did have a few complaints, mostly about the songs with vocals and how much her ears hurt. Fortunately, I was at the same rip-roaring, head-banging, incredibly awesome and loud show, and her complaints fell on largely deaf ears.

(From Eddie: Check out a video Apocalyptica made for 52 Shows a couple of weeks ago)

We wrote about the upcoming Aimee Mann tour a while back, but now more dates have been added and, as if that wasn’t enough, we got sent a link to a video of her performing “Freeway” at an Artists Den event. And, because I just had some ice cream, I’m in a sharing kind of mood.

Just watched the video…is it me or does Mann look like she just stepped out of a video game and picked up a guitar? Some of her movements make her look a little video-game tronic…I dunno. Maybe I’m insane.

Her new album “@#%*! Smilers” is due out on June 3…I’m pretty sure that’s kind of soon. Yea.

Jun 2 ‘08 Largo Los Angeles, CA
Jun 6 ‘08 House of Blues Anaheim, CA
Jun 10 ‘08 Largo Los Angeles, CA
Jun 12 ‘08 Minnesota Zoo Mineapolis, MN
Jun 13 ‘08 Pabst Theater Milwaukee, WI
Jun 15 ‘08 Bonnaroo Festival Manchester, TN
Jun 17 ‘08 La Zona Rosa Austin, TX
Jun 18 ‘08 House of Blues Dallas, TX
Jul 9 ‘08 Chautauqua Auditorium Boulder, CO
Jul 11 ‘08 Botanical Gardens Denver, CO
Jul 12 ‘08 Deer Valley Resort Park City, UT
Jul 14 ‘08 Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
Jul 15 ‘08 Stewart Park Roseburg, OR
Jul 16 ‘08 Woodland Zoo Seattle, WA
Jul 18 ‘08 Vancouver Music Festival Vancouver, BC
Jul 19 ‘08 Aladdin Theater Portland, OR
Jul 24 ‘08 Calgary Music Festival Calgary,AB
Jul 26 ‘08 Berklee Performance Center Boston, MA
Jul 28 ‘08 Washington Park Albany, NY
Jul 30 ‘08 The View (tent.)
Jul 30 ‘08 The Highline Ballroom, New York, NY
Jul 31 ‘08 Barnes & Noble Union Square New York, NY
Aug 1 ‘08 Music Hall of Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY
Aug 2 ‘08 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
Aug 4 ‘08 World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA
Aug 5 ‘08 World Café Live, Philadelphia, PA
Aug 7 ‘08 Edmonton Folk Festival Edmonton, AB
Aug 28 ‘08 The Music Hall Toronto, ON
Aug 29 ‘08 Royal Oak Music Theatre Royal Oak, MI
Aug 31 ‘08 Ravina Highland Park, IL
Sep 2 ‘08 The Pageant St Louis, MO
Sep 3 ‘08 Ryman Auditorium Nashville, TN
Sep 4 ‘08 Bama Theatre, Tuscaloosa, AL

In the recent issue of Rolling Stone, there was a story asking whether high ticket prices and a crappy economy would lead to less people going out to shows. And with more reports coming out that are predicting a discouraging $5 a gallon for gas (W.T.F.??) in the coming months, it even had me thinking whether or not I would go out to see shows this summer (or, at the very least, become more picky in my choices).

I have tickets for Grand Archives next month and that’s it. I was going to hop a plane to check out the Pitchfork Festival, but now it costs an arm, a leg and a first born to fly. That and I’ve heard nothing but horrible experiences with planes from family and friends.

So does this mean biking it? Or perhaps the more popular (and slightly degrading) rickshaw? Maybe donkey rides for all?

OK, maybe donkey rides are a little unrealistic, despite never-ending capacity for joy. But for reals, will you be curtailing the concert going this summer? Or, in the name of all that is rock, will you find a way to see a show no matter what (and if so, explain your plan).

Mine involves the aforementioned donkey combined with a hot-air balloon and a hang glider.

It’s been no secret that Foxboro Hot Tubs are the secret side project of Green Day (you know, that “punk” band you wrote off till you heard “American Idiot”).

Now the trio is on tour in very select cities for $20 at the door. No advance tickets available. You have to battle and wait in line to get in.  I have their free EP that they released a couple of months ago, but it’s on the external harddrive and I’m in bed right now…and very lazy.

So to hear their music, go to their Myspace.

Oh and just to be extra controlling, the press release we got stated (in bold lettering) “No Cameras.”

Pssf! Whatever. I just won’t tell Green Day about my secret side project…it’s so secret that the Internets don’t even know about it

May

19^th Little Rock, AR Juanita’s Cantina

20^th New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jack’s

21^st Dallas, TX The Loft

22^nd Austin, TX Emo’s

25^th Phoenix, AZ The Brick House

26^th San Diego, CA Soma (Sidestage)

27^th Los Angeles, CA The Roxy

28^th Long Beach, CA Alex’s Bar

Wait, people still do this?

As I wrote before, I was at a Jimmy Eat World/Paramore show recently and witnessed crowd surfing in th emiddle of the arena. Maybe it’s because I’ve only been going to indie shows at small rock clubs where this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore…but I kinda thought this died. Whatever.

Here begins the unwritten rules for crowd surfing. In no particular order…

No ass punching

No picking of wallets or asses

Someone falls, pick them up…unless that person owes you money

No farting…by anyone. It’s close in there and we don’t need any potential sharts happening

Only surf forward. No one wants to end up in the back

Any more?

It’s always an interesting day when you decide to finally clean out your inbox.  You find emails you meant to respond to, forgotten bill statements, and various shout-outs from old friends wondering why you never write back (it’s cause I’m a lazy bastard who can’t find the time to this once a week).

Today, I found an email about Jessie Baylin, a Los Angeles-based folk/country singer who will be releasing her major label debut, Firesight, on June 24.

Maybe it’s because it’s Friday or because it’s a bit dreary outside. Either way, I was in the mood to hear the sounds of Baylin, which are bit like country and folk with a touch of Brandi Carlile’s voice.

But the interesting thing is a promotion she’s doing called “See Jessie Run” that asks fans to send in live photos of Jessie performing for free tickets to a show (wait…but you have to see her first to take the picture which means you get to see another show, but what if she doesn’t come to your city and…OK I’ve gone cross-eyed).

Anyway, it’s an interesting promotion and hopefully we’ll be able to ask Jessie about it personally soon. Here’s what’s left of her tour, along with her single “Was I on Your Mind” on the bottom.

May 17            Cedar Rapids, IA         CSPS Legion Arts Center‡
May 19            Denver, CO                 The Soiled Dove Underground‡
May 20            Provo, UT                   Club Velour‡
May 23            West Hollywood, CA    The Roxy Theatre‡
May 24            San Diego, CA            Brick By Brick‡
May 27            San Francisco, CA       Great American Music Hall‡
May 29            Portland, OR               Doug Fir Lounge‡
May 31            Seattle, WA                El Corazon‡

Jessie Baylin “Was I on Your Mind”