Now that I live in Austin and I'm not writing a weekly music column for SFist anymore, I've been thinking a lot about where else I can channel my writing energy.  The redesign and revival of my TypePad blog art is the new religion has been a huge step for me, and I want to take a moment to commemorate the completion of one full week of posts.  Hooray!

by draw.vox.com

Recent highlights & post notes from art is the new religion:

12/5 - Frank Smith is a band not a man:  My dear friend Ashod IMed me today and gave me the gentle, friendly advice that I need to make good on my promises.  Meaning, if I say "I'll let you know what I think of the show" (which I did in this post) then I actually need to do it.  He went on to point out the times I haven't done it.  I do feel a twinge of guilt when I never follow up on that sort of thing, but then I tell myself no one's reading so no one will notice if I don't follow up.  So thank you, Ashod, for pointing out that at least one person does care and I need to do a little work on my follow-through (and perhaps my writerly self-esteem).  Stay tuned over there for my thoughts on the Frank Smith show!

12/6 - Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac:  Did you know that Fleetwood Mac was an amazing band even before Stevie and Lindsey joined it?  (I can hear the comment one of you is making right now, and I'm ignoring it.)  Peter Green was a phenomenal guitar player, circa 1969 before he went mad and left the band.  The writer of the Santana classic "Black Magic Woman"?  Peter Green.

I have so much to say about Fleetwood Mac that it's a little scary.  I once got into a half hour discussion about Fleetwood Mac with a dude in a bar in Portland -- he'd popped off with some ill-informed tidbit about them and suddenly we were in an in-depth discussion of their history and musicality.  As much as he initially annoyed me, I kind of loved him for giving me the opportunity to talk about an obscure obsession of mine.  It was an intensely gratifying experience.  I feel obligated to mention that Ashod was at that bar with us.

Anyway, in this post all I do is embed three YouTube videos of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac and also link back to my recent 'Mac-related post here on Vox.  But the videos are really good.

12/7 - The GRAMMY nominations are in:  In which I ramble on about a company I worked for 8 years ago and share my opinions on awards for which I am not qualified to vote.  Bonus:  A comment from GRAMMY Nominee Ottmar Liebert!  (Thanks Case!)

12/10 - The Hacienda Brothers:  The good part is when I quote my friend's description of the difficulty of playing pedal steel.

And now I've realized that this post is really meta and self-promotional and therefore kinda creepy.  Sorry about that, it's just that I'm excited.  And it also illustrates the difficulty I'm having in separating the subject matter of what I post about there vs. what I post about here.  Though I have done it on occasion, I'm philosophically opposed to cross-posting, so at the very least I will try to keep the content on both blogs unique.  But being meta, self-referential and self-promotional is fair game!

OK I'm done now.

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"Stop Draggin My Heart Around" is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I think it should be one of yours too (if it's not already).  Let's take a few moments to watch the genius of Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty together in this video.
 

Stevie Nicks - Stop Draggin' My Heart Around

While we're on the subject of duets by Stevie and Tom, a much more obscure but still gorgeous one is "Insider" from his excellent album Hard Promises.  Some of the harmonies and lyrics in this song make me want to cry, in the best possible way.

Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty - Insider

They're like peanut butter and chocolate, these two.

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Russ and I have been having another conversation about The Cardigans, via posts (mine, his) and comments in each other's blogs.  In my latest comment to him, I asked if he'd heard Nina Persson's cover of "The Bluest Eyes In Texas" and his response was that he wasn't aware it was a cover and could I share the original with him?

Oh, yes I can.

In fact I will share it with all of you because of how very awesome it is.  Restless Heart was one of the country bands whose music seeped into my bloodstream by nature of growing up in Texas in the '80s.  They're totally slick and inoffensive which can often be boring or artless, but a few of their big hits were really great songs.

Here's the original version of "The Bluest Eyes In Texas" by Restless Heart.  This video is chock full of amazing men's fashion (watch for yellow short shorts, extremely tight jeans and general bedazzlement), blow-dried mullets and bad acting. 

Restless Heart - The Bluest Eyes in Texas (Music Video)

Here's the cover by Nina Persson and Nathan Larson which was originally released on the Boys Don't Cry soundtrack and later on the A Camp album.

Nina Persson & Nathan Larson - The Bluest Eyes In Texas

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Super Extra Gravity

The Cardigans

I was listening to The Cardigans' Super Extra Gravity again just now.  Every few times I listen to this record, a new song grabs me, and this time it's "Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)". 

(I think it's coincidental that it happened to also be the first song in my musical horoscope from the other day, but maybe it was subliminal and I'm just that easily influenced.)

Besides being a lovely song, the lyrics were what drew me in this time.  I found the video on YouTube and it's also pretty interesting.  If I can't come back in my next life as Stevie Nicks or Nancy Wilson, I wouldn't mind coming back as Nina Persson.  I could be even more Swedish than I am now, sing beautifully, become a better songwriter as I get older, and oh yes marry the dreamboat supertalent Nathan Larson.  Sign me up.

"Don't Blame Your Daughter (Diamonds)"

Don't blame your daughter
that's just sentimental
and don't blame your mom
for all that you've done wrong
Your dad is not guilty
you came out a little faulty
and the factory closed
so you can't hold them liable
You come from an island,
you're cutting diamonds
with a rubbery knife
Your autograph is worthless
so don't send me letters
and don't mail me cash
'cause your money is no good
What's left in your mattress
is holes and lack of love left
some hair from a horse,
and none of it is yours, man
You come from an island,
you're cutting diamonds
with a rubbery knife
And the song you sing today
wasn't always in your head,
the words you tryin' to say
are the ones you shouldn't 've said
they're glistenin' like diamonds,
go out and find' em
but don't blame your daughter
Read me your tombstone,
tell me you're sorry, fax me your will,
you owe me something still
Blood is like water
the bath that you poured me
has drained and it's gone,
don't blame it on your son
And the song you sing today
wasn't always in your head,
the words you tryin' to say
are the ones you shouldn't 've said
they're glistening like diamonds,
go out and find'em
The world is full of diamonds
go out and find'em
but don't blame your daughter

The Cardigans - Don't blame your daughter

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I heard Big Country's "In A Big Country" during today's morning commute.  Normally I'm opposed to bands who have song titles that include their band name, but I make an exception here and there.  This is such a great song but I never really paid attention to the lyrics before. 

So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you.
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded.
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming.
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted.
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered.

Here they are lip-synching the song on Top of the Pops circa 1983:

Big country

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If only I could be in four places at once.

There are four amazing music festivals happening this weekend:

Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas:  It's only in its third year but it offers a high-quality range of huge headliners, smaller bands and local acts.

Monolith Music Festival near Denver, Colorado:  Two days and two nights in the Red Rocks Amphitheatre.

Treasure Island Festival on Treasure Island near San Francisco:  Brought to us by the fine folks at Noise Pop and Another Planet, Saturday features electronica and hip hop and Sunday features a whole bunch of indie rock.

End of the Road Festival near Salisbury in the UK:  This is the one I most wish I could go to, especially since a few of my friends are playing.  More than the sum of its parts, it's an awesome lineup of true artists and independents.

Three of the festivals will feature a set by Spoon (I hope they're not burned out by the time they get to Treasure Island) and a couple are even trying to keep it green.

Alas, I'll only be able to go to the Treasure Island Festival on Sunday.  Let me know if you'll be there too.

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I'm on the list +1 for tonight's all-acoustic Eisley show at Swedish American Hall, and I still haven't found someone to go with me.  It shouldn't be this hard to take someone to a free show.

Combinations

Eisley are a quintet of three sisters and a brother, plus another guy, all in their early 20's and hailing from Tyler, Texas, a small town I know too well.  I wrote a lot about their major label debut Room Noises (one of my Top 12 of 2005) and I can't wait to hear their new CD Combinations (out August 14th).  What I've heard from their MySpace page so far is the ethereal harmonies and pop melodies we expect (think The Sundays, Sixpence None The Richer) with even more weirdness added in, no doubt developed during their extensive touring over the last few years.

Watch the video for their new single "Invasion".  (I'd put it in the post, but Warner Bros. has inexplicably turned off embedding for the video.  Why do people do that?)

Or just watch this old video for "Marvelous Things".

Eisley - Marvelous Things

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The free tickets fairy just granted me a pair to see Ryan Adams at Herbst Theatre on Monday the 23rd.  Hooray!  You can also catch him in Berkeley on the 24th at the Berkeley Community Theatre.  I love a good seated show in a nice, civilized setting.  And I'm really liking his new album - the music and the title.

Easy Tiger

Ryan Adams

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I'm supposed to be writing interview questions for St. Vincent, but I just got mesmerized by this video instead.

St. Vincent - Your Lips Are Red (DUMBO session)

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I keep forgetting to blog this, and I need to say it:  I am obsessed with St. Vincent.

Marry Me

St Vincent

I haven't felt this way since I discovered Feist in late '04.  It's that feeling of this is something new, a start of a new relationship with an artist.   It goes far beyond this one song is pretty cool.  It's the excitement of knowing that the music of St. Vincent, aka Ms. Annie Clark, is going to be with me for a long time.

You might have heard of her as a touring guitarist for Sufjan Stevens and Polyphonic Spree, or opening up as a solo artist more recently for Midlake and John Vanderslice, but this is the first time she's stepped out with her own album.   I'm taken with her voice, her songwriting, the new little synapses her sounds forge in my brain.  The fact that she's drop-dead gorgeous (and from Texas) doesn't hurt.  It's important to note that she's only 24 years old, and I don't point that out to make most of us feel bad.  It means that, though songs from her debut Marry Me are already set to become some of my all-time favorites, her very best is yet to come.

Her album Marry Me comes out July 10th on Beggars Banquet.  Listen.  And keep track of her on her blog.

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