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That’s how I think of Brett Dennen. He’s this 6′ tall red head that has an imposing presence, yet a very calming voice. Today Brett was in the WTMD Playlist, but we put him next to a different picture by his new song “Make You Crazy”, so I wanted you to see Brett in all his glory. Read the rest of this entry »

With 3 names. He is David Andrew Smith and will be playing live tonight at 8pm on WTMD’s Baltimore Unsigned. The Ellicott City native will be solo for the performance, but we get nothing but his best. Check it out for yourself on the song “Wit’s End”.

From today’s b, the paper

I don’t like to wander too far afield from the Baltimore scene, but sometimes the occasion requires it. Patti Smith is that occasion.

Hearing Smith cover “Smells Like Teen Spirit” at Lincoln Center’s live outdoor amphitheater in New York City is kind of like watching Alfred Hitchcock recite lines from “The Shining” at Druid Hill Park (just to give you a sense of things). You look at the red-haired, middle-aged mom standing next to you enthralled and wonder what strange portal of pop culture you’ve arrived in.

Needless to say, Smith can still keep up with the best of ‘em. Her hour-and-20-minute set included classics “Gloria” and “Because the Night,” along with newer tunes such as Ralph Nader’s campaign anthem, “People Have the Power,” and the equally political “Peaceable Kingdom,” from 2004’s album Trampin’. The audience was treated to a performance that could easily be held up alongside a CBGB’s gig from a mid-’70s Patti Smith (and Patti Smith Group).
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From today’s b, the paper

For more than 40 years, the music of Little Feat has been an inspiration for fans and fellow musicians alike. On Join the Band, a number of musicians not only celebrate the forty years of extraordinary music but re-create the songs of Little Feat in an appropriate and tasteful way. The admirers include Bob Seger, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Sonny Landreth and more.

Tribute records are always tricky, especially in the case of Little Feat. Since the death of Lowell George in 1979 the band has seen a number of re-incarnations. With Join the Band, it was crucial that the guests on the record (for the most part vocalists) could connect with the feeling and emotion that Lowell brought to the original recordings.
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Music is music. Who really cares if it comes from a fake band or not? Maybe it’s not the person’s real voice, fingers playing the guitar or the band is made up of a bunch of actors and haven’t even gone on tour.

Most of you are probably a little too old (or cooler than me) to remember that MTV had a fictional boy band movie called “2gether” back in ‘99 in the height of the boy band craze. Naturally, being a teeny bopper 14-year-old, I fell victim and was in love with the faux pop group. Their songs made fun of the typical, sugar coated and nearly sexually explicit songs of their real counterparts. Even if you hate this kind of pop music, you have to appreciate the humor of it all:

FYI, I still have their CD and movie. Moving along! Here are my favorite fake bands:
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matthew sweet
Sunshine Lies
For those not familiar with Matthew Sweet’s ’90s opus of jangly power-pop, Girlfriend, and its misconstrued love for Winona Ryder, maybe his cameo as a member of the “band” Ming Tea from an Austin Powers movie might jog some memories.After years of uneven work, and following 2006’s fantastic sleeper (with his Powers’ co-star Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles) Under The Cover’s Volume 1, Sweet conducts a lesson on how to channel the spirit of The Beatles and keep it fresh and, well, sweet, with Sunshine Lies.

Drenched in a wall of dizzying riffs, crunchy chords, crisp solos and ’60s Mamas and Papas-like harmonies (layered with his own voice or Hoffs’) Sweet doesn’t quite muster the masterpiece mojo of Girlfriend, but comes very close.

There won’t be instant chord-classics, such as “Devine Intervention,” but “Byrdgirl” and the title track to Sunshine Lies will stay planted in your brain.
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From today’s b, the paper

When Gabe Dixon decided on the cover art for his band’s self-titled album, it was only fitting he chose legendary photographer Henry Diltz (Crosby Stills & Nash, Neil Young) to capture an image of a ramshackle house that looks like it could have been taken 30 years ago.

Rooted in piano rock, Dixon formed the group at the University of Miami. While drawing comparisons to Elton John and Jackson Browne, Dixon’s grand voice and honest, contemporary lyrics feel relevant, and could serve as a springboard for young fans to discover the golden era of ’70s rock ‘n’ roll.

The Gabe Dixon Band will release their self-titled album next Tuesday.
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If you’ve ever heard a song by the Dave Matthews Band, you know that their saxophone player was one of the most distinctive and important parts of their sound. That sax player, LeRoi Moore, has died at the age of 46.

In a statement on it’s website, the Dave Matthews Band writes:

“We are deeply saddened that LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, died unexpectedly Tuesday afternoon, August 19, 2008, at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles from sudden complications stemming from his June ATV accident on his farm near Charlottesville, Virginia. LeRoi had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin an intensive physical rehabilitation program.” Read the rest of this entry »

Uh, discuss … if you dare to listen. It’s called “Overdosin’.” Really.