So, there's like...an event coming up or something?

We never hear anything.

I Need That Record!

“I Need That Record” is a documentary feature examining why over 3000 independent record stores have closed across the U.S. in the past decade. Are they going to die off? Will they survive?

Record stores serve as important community spaces that provide foundations for new musical and artistic scenes and movements, a place where unique under the radar bands have been continuously supported, a place where the underground can thrive, a place where independent thought is encouraged and challenged, a place where people of different ages, races, and taste can mix and mingle face to face. Unlike the internet, physical stores are a real place, with real people, where community is formed and supported. Not just record stores, but original mom and pop main street stores are all in a fight to stay alive. Independent businesses are hubs for new jobs, new innovations, and creative thought.

Over the past ten years it has become increasingly harder to compete with big chain businesses that have big money and Congress protecting them. The rich and powerful in business and government have thrown a wrench in the wheels of progress. American culture has become more isolated and atomized as a result of homogenous culture and thought. Businesses and establishments that make different parts of America distinct from one another are disappearing. In order to save community, ourselves, and our world what we need are independent creative places where new ideas and thought can be nurtured. Not more of the same…

Some interviews include- Ian Mackaye of Dischord Records Fugazi/Minor Threat/Teen Idles, Chris Frantz of the Talking Heads, Pat Carney of the Black Keys, Mike Watt of the Minutemen/reunited Stooges, Noam Chomsky, guitar composer Glenn Branca, punk author Legs McNeil, rock photographer Bob Gruen, Bryan Poole guitarist of Of Montreal, Numero Records, Rhino Records, Bloodshot Records, United Record Press (the largest vinyl plant in the U.S.), and many many many indie stores across the U.S. (NYC, Boston, DC, Cleveland, Detroit, Ann Arbor, Chicago, Minneapolis, Memphis, Nashville, L.A.). (Via thedailyswarm.com)

TVD's Weekend Shots

Music from the bus stop, cigarettes, pinball, a buttered bagel, and the Aquarian.

Todd Rundgren - Couldn't I Just Tell You? (Mp3)
Rolling Stones - Can't You Hear Me Knocking (Mp3)
Alice Cooper - No More Mister Nice Guy (Mp3)
Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper (Mp3)
Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain (Mp3)
Pat Benetar - Heart Breaker (Mp3)
Queen - I'm In Love With My Car (Mp3)
Judas Priest - Living After Midnight (Mp3)
Rainbow - Since You've Been Gone (Mp3)
ACDC - Rock And Roll Ain't Noise Pollution (Mp3)

TVD Remembers Danny Federici

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (Mp3)
(Live, February 5, 1975 at The Main Point, Bryn Mawr, PA)

TVD | Friday @ Random

No dice...no caution to the wind. The noble Friday experiment in unchecked shuffle play whimsy has come to an end. Oh sure, sure - it was fun for about a half hour...there were the regulars (cheers whiteray!) and the copyists...ahem...but basically, I'm just bored with Bored. It'll reappear every now and again, but from here on out the TVD bully pulpit begins each Friday morning...whatever is in constant rotation, the best of the blogs, or something that simply needs to be said. And played. And shared. It's here -- Fridays @ Random.

Blanket of Secrecy - Say You Will (Mp3)
Two People - Rescue Me (Mp3)
Fiction Factory - Feels Like Heaven (Mp3)
Peter Godwin - Images of Heaven (Mp3)
The Payolas - Eyes of a Stranger [Full Version] (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | The Motors "Tenement Steps"

My buddy Shark owned the Trouser Press Guide to New Wave Records (pictured below, bottom left) which ostensibly became our go-to Bible regarding all sorts of Punk/Post Punk and New Wave band and record release ephemera. This handy reference guide put to rest many an argument back in the day. Once "slippery fingers" Ben "borrowed" the Guide and man, there was hell to pay in the house. After several tense phone calls, Ben admitted he had "borrowed" the book (without asking, natch) and it was returned to me in a nondescript brown bag ala contraband. The thing was GOLD.

So, it cracks me up to think that Ira Robbins--editor of the Guide and one of the founders of Trouser Press Magazine--and I probably wouldn't...get along. In polite company, we'd be hurling insults and trash-talking each other's taste in music for certain. (And I'd welcome it, because well, I'm a reluctant fan.) Now, after yesterday's rebuke of Spacehog (a band admittedly I wouldn't go to the mat for) he offers this take on today's LP:

"The Motors effectively disbanded after (their) second album. Garvey and McMaster continued working together using the group name, eventually engaging Jimmy Iovine to produce their next album in New York. Tenement Steps, the unfortunate result of far too much time spent in the studio, is an appalling, overblown mess, reeking of self-indulgence and artistic confusion. The chorus of the best-known track, "Love and Loneliness," sounds exactly like Steve Stills' "Love the One You're With" — and that's as good as the record gets."

Well, it ain't that bad. Sure, the keyboards on "Love and Loneliness" are a bit much...yet all these years on, I'm still singing the song in the shower. And that says something, yes? (Just don't say it to Mr. Robbins.)

The Motors - Love and Loneliness (Mp3)
The Motors - Metropolis (Mp3)
The Motors - Tenement Steps (Mp3)
The Motors - Here Comes the Hustler (Mp3)
The Motors - That's What John Said (Mp3)

Tickets. We get 'em.

...and now you will too, loyal TVD reader. We're giving away two tickets courtesy of The Frontier Brothers for their show TONIGHT at Iota in Arlington, VA. Most convincing plea for these passes either in the comments section or to us directly gets 'em -- but the contest closes at 3:00EST, so get those pencils moving.

Born in space, razed in Fort Worth, and now regenerating in Austin, The Frontier Brothers have only just arrived, yet early notices are truly something for the E.T.s to phone home about. "The Frontier Brothers cover the wicked terrain between The Beach Boys and The Kinks with just a touch of mad Syd Barrett," says Vivien Goldman (BBC America). While the Fort Worth Weekly declares, "(The Frontier Brothers) have a love for the pure pleasures of music-making." Individually known as Marshall Galactic, Brett Moses, and Travis Newman, TFB craft a new breed of danceable indie-pop inspired by artists ranging from David Bowie and ELO to Wilco and Arcade Fire. However you describe them, The Frontier Brothers are simply out of this world. The trio is currently on tour recruiting more terrestrial visionaries for their intergalactic exchange program.

The Frontier Brothers - Everyones A Neutron Bomb (Mp3)
The Frontier Brothers - Space Punk Starlet (Mp3)
The Frontier Brothers - Take It For Love (Mp3)



Update: We have a winner. Thanks to everyone who wrote in.

TVD's Daily Wax | Spacehog "The Chinese Album"

Oh, that Ira Robbins over at Trouser Press: " Pointedly copping melodies, guitar sound, vocals and a stylistic posture from glam-era David Bowie may be an odd choice two decades on, but it isn't intrinsically any more despicable than the usual pilferage that goes on in the rock world. If Spacehog — two brothers and two others from Leeds who emigrated to New York City before launching their miserable career — had a second idea of any merit, the group might be excused for such lightfingered designs...unmitigated rubbish, stupid and obvious."

...enjoy!

Spacehog - Lucy's Shoe (Mp3)
Spacehog - Sand In Your Eyes (Mp3)
Spacehog - Carry On (Mp3)
Spacehog - Captain Freeman (Mp3)
Spacehog - Beautiful Girl (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | Danny Wilson "Be Bop Moptop"

Owing a heavy stylistic debt to yesterday's duo, Danny Wilson followed up the stellar "Meet Danny Wilson" with the wonderfully flawed release, "Be Bop Moptop". Wonderful because the song writing is top-notch, as are the arrangements, Gary Clark's vocals, and the subtle atmospherics and sonic touches. (Love those rainstorms.) Flawed because of the timing...not in a career sense but in a production-value sense. These songs SCREAM full band to me...not tinny keys and often abused drum machines. (Hell, it WAS '89 after all.) But strip those away (as Danny Wilson did in a live setting--which is how I KNOW I'm right) and you've got a little gem that just needs...a wee bit of burnishing.

Danny Wilson - Imaginary Girl (Mp3)
Danny Wilson - Charlie Boy (Mp3)
Danny Wilson - If You Really Love Me (Let Me Go) (Mp3)
Danny Wilson - Loneliness (Mp3)
Danny Wilson - The Ballad Of Me And Shirley Maclaine (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | Steely Dan "Aja"

I read once that, in general, a child's first sense of inebriation happens on the playground in the form of the merry-go-round, the swings, the slide, etc. And that we, as adults, attempt to recreate 'baby's first buzz' via all sorts of intoxicants. It's the singular pursuit of 'that buzz' in it first and finest form that seems to become the prime motivator. Well, today there are flowers in the courtyard. The trees have turned from merely budding to a noticeable green. It's warming. And somewhere in some sleepy town, a yellow bus pulls up to the bus stop with a crackly FM radio tuned into the crusty classic rock station and 'Aja' comes sputtering out. And nostrils flair to the soundtrack of baby's first Springtime buzz. Exactly the way it happened for me.

Steely Dan - Aja (Mp3)
Steely Dan - Black Cow (Mp3)
Steely Dan - Deacon Blues (Mp3)
Steely Dan - Home At Last (Mp3)
Steely Dan - Peg (Mp3)

TVD's Weekend Shots

An oh-so-anonymous reader writes…

I’ve come up with so many different lists from so many different starting points here – songs from a year / songs from a particular compilation tape / songs with a theme /songs… ach, eventually we just need to play what we need to play. Always remember the ‘gremlins’ rule (don’t make a playlist after midnight and expect it to behave itself – not much of that one is left here) but that aside, this is a mixture of some old and some newish, some things well known and some maybe unknown, some brightness and some bleakness, a bit of anger and a bit of hope. Can’t fault that. You have a good weekend.

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Tell Me When My Light Turns Green (Mp3)
Maximo Park - Distance Makes (Mp3)
Callaghan - No Way Out (Mp3)
The Open - Close My Eyes (Mp3)
*Teevo - Mexico (Mp3)
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. - Call Me Ishmael (Mp3)
Belle and Sebastian - The Boy Done Wrong Again (Mp3)
OMD - Souvenir (Mp3)
Battle - Tendency (Mp3)
Wah! - The Story of the Blues (Mp3)
(It's all about Part 2 x+x)

TVD Shuffle Bored | April 11, 2008

The random Friday, post exceptional Joe show, five:
Ike and Tina Turner - Our Lord Will Make A Way (Mp3)
Van Halen - Dance The Night Away (Mp3)
The Charlatans - Time For Livin' (Mp3)
Any Trouble - Baby Now That I've Found You (Mp3)
China Crisis - Seven Sports For All (Live) (Mp3)
(Thanks Mick!)

One from the New LP 'Rain'

We'll be up front...
Joe Jackson - King Pleasure Time (Mp3)

We should take a walk...

The AntiDC finds herself rather ProDC today (well, for the time being anyway) with a TVD-penned guest blog! And we're hitting the streets and taking a tour of five of DC's record stores. Come along, won't cha?

TVD's Daily Wax | Joe Jackson "Live in New York"

Joe Jackson's at the 9:30 tonight with a similar live line-up to this 2000 release, "Live in New York." It's Joe on keys, Graham Maby on bass, and on this tour it was Gary Burke behind the drum kit. Tonight, original Joe Jackson Band drummer Dave Houghton is your time keeper.

And that's right -- no guitarist. Skeptical? Don't be:
Joe Jackson - Summer in the City (Mp3)
Joe Jackson - Fools In Love (Mp3)
Joe Jackson - Home Town (Mp3)
Joe Jackson - It's Different for Girls (Mp3)
Joe Jackson - One More Time (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | INXS "Shabooh Shoobah"

There's a photo I should have located to accompany this post of Mike Hutchence holding an INXS fan club newsletter whose cover was illustrated by yours truly, age 15. Scanning this cover today and uploading these songs...I get the sense that some things will just keep repeating themselves over and over. Over and over.

INXS - The One Thing (Mp3)
INXS - To Look At You (Mp3)
INXS - Soul Mistake (Mp3)
INXS - Jan's Song (Mp3)
INXS - Don't Change (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | Echo and the Bunnymen "Songs To Learn & Sing"

Despite the absence of a traditional TVD theme...this week and for the foreseeable future (although I have a roots reggae week in the works as the weather warms...) I am sensing a theme I think. If Freddie were here, he'd be singing, " Those were the days of our lives/The bad things in life were so few..."

Echo and the Bunnymen - Do It Clean (Mp3)
Echo and the Bunnymen - Never Stop (Mp3)
Echo and the Bunnymen - Silver (Mp3)
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Back Of Love (Mp3)
Echo and the Bunnymen - The Cutter (Mp3)

Local record store owners take a spin behind the decks at Beyond in April

Beyond, the weekly downtempo happy hour in Dupont Circle, is celebrating its first anniversary by hosting some of DC’s favorite record store managers. Som Records’ Neal Becton, Red Onion’s Joshua Harkavy, and Crooked Beat’s Holly Tegeler will be taking over Beyond in the month of April. During the month of April, each of these esteemed DJs will have an evening in which to showcase their skills and personal vinyl collections.

Beyond, the Dupont Circle weekly Extended Happy Hour event takes place every Wednesday from 6PM to 11PM in the Upstairs lounge above Skewers and Café Luna restaurants at 1633 P St NW (at the corner of 17th St and P St). More info here. (Via freeformdj.com)
Image courtesy LP Cover Lover!

TVD's Daily Wax | The English Beat "What Is Beat?"

Feel that? It's the reins of a 'theme week' coming loose, lightening the blog load in favor of some old skool freestylin'. And what better way to inaugurate this non-theme theme then a handful from the always appreciated English Beat. I hear quite a few toes tapping in office cubes this morning...

The English Beat - I Confess (Mp3)
The English Beat - Doors Of Your Heart (Mp3)
The English Beat - Save It For Later (Mp3)
The English Beat - Too Nice To Talk To (Mp3)
The English Beat - Can't Get Used To Losing You (Mp3)

(BTW - 300th post. My.)

TVD's Weekend Shots

To wind up Beatles Bootleg week here at TVD, your weekend round o' shots is the entire, complete session from the rooftop at 3 Savile Row on January 30, 1969.

The Beatles - Get Back (Mp3)
The Beatles - Get Back (Take 2) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down (Mp3)
The Beatles - I've Got A Feeling (Mp3)
The Beatles - One After 909 (Mp3)
The Beatles - Dig A Pony (Mp3)
The Beatles - I've Got A Feeling (Take 2) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Don't Let Me Down (Take 2) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Get Back (Take 3) (Mp3)

The Weekend Shots is where you--yes, you-- the TVD reader get to participate. What are ya waiting for? Got ten tracks and a theme?

TVD Shuffle Bored | April 4, 2008

Five for Friday:
Beirut - Elephant Gun (Mp3)
Small Amp - Sisters and Brothers (Mp3)
Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen (Mp3)
The Grays - Same Thing (Mp3)
Rickie Lee Jones - Chuck E's In Love (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | The Beatle Bootlegs

Despite the odd compilation or two or the recent 'Anthology' releases, I wasn't a member of the buying public when there actually was a NEW Beatles record. It was all out there by the time I got to it. And I chipped away...one LP at a time and largely out of sequence which gives me a broad appreciation for their career--from the Cavern to the Rooftop. The latter era informs today's bootleg 'The Auction Tapes' which are 'Let it Be' and subsequently 'Abby Road' rehearsals. And actually, when I listen to these...I'm truly hearing a few things that really are, well...new.

The Beatles - All Things Must Pass/Mean Mr. Mustard/Don't Let Me Down/All Things Must Pass/Fools Like Me/You Can Win Again (Mp3)
The Beatles - Don't Be Cruel/Costa Del Sol/My One And Only Prayer/My Baby Left Me (Mp3)
The Beatles - Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying/Sexy Sadie/Blue Suede Shoes (Mp3)
The Beatles - If Tomorrow Ever Comes/What Do You Wanna Make Those Eyes At Me For (Mp3)
The Beatles - She Came Into The Bathroom Window/Sausages and French Fries/Hi Ho Silver/Stand By Me (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | The Beatle Bootlegs

Aside from the ticks in my head when these tracks deviate from the versions burned in all of our brains, I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to add to these -- which makes for some easy blogging. Classics in progress:

The Beatles - I Am The Walrus (Basic Tracks) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Penny Lane (Unedited Rough Mix) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (Overdub Session) (Mp3)
The Beatles - The Fool On The Hill (Demo Take 1) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Aerial Tour Instrumental (Take 8 RM 4) (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | The Beatle Bootlegs

A first few takes at genius:
The Beatles - Day Tripper (Take 3) (Mp3)
The Beatles - I'm Looking Through You (Take 1) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Norwegian Wood (Take 4) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Paperback Writer (Take 2) (Mp3)
The Beatles - We Can Work It Out (Rough Mix) (Mp3)

TVD's Daily Wax | The Beatle Bootlegs

All in all, a pretty interesting vinyl-related weekend at ol' TVD HQ. For starters, in regard to the aforementioned trip to Orpheus records on Saturday, it turns out that Ms. TVD actually purchased more LP's than yours truly. (What th'?) And, after staring down the task for QUITE some time now, TVD HQ today sports a fully alphabetized LP collection--which is far easier typed than done, I assure you. And as such, I realized I had quite a few Beatle Bootlegs among the newly organized archives--and thus, an informal theme week was born...

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (Take 3) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love (Take 2) (Mp3)
The Beatles - If You've Got Trouble (Take 1) (Mp3)
The Beatles - Leave My Kitten Alone (Mp3)
The Beatles - One After 909 (Take 2) (Mp3)

The reports of Orpheus Records' demise have been exaggerated.

Rick Carlisle at Orpheus Records in Clarendon. (Photo by John Mcdonnell)

Well, by a month.
Owner Rick Carlisle tells TVD that the lease on the Clarendon location has been extended a month and that they will remain open until the end of April--while the used vinyl is STILL 50% off. We were by yesterday and got our hands on this 30-year Yep Rock reissue...and while this spanking new, 180-gram, 2LP set itself wasn't 50% off, the $20 was well spent for this gem. See ya on April 19th?

TVD's Weekend Shots

A TVD Ten from 1980:
Wah! - Seven Minutes to Midnight (Mp3)
Nightmares in Wax - Birth of a Nation (Mp3)
Woodhead Munro - Mumbo Jumbo (Mp3)
Spizz Energi - Where's Captain Kirk? (Mp3)
Associates - The Affectionate Punch (Mp3)
Frantic Elevators - You Know What You Told Me (Mp3)
Fad Gadget - Ricky's Hand (Mp3)
The Tea Set - Parry Thomas (Mp3)
Swell Maps - Let's Build a Car (Mp3)
The Normil Hawaiians - The Beat Goes On (Mp3)

TVD invites you--the informed TVD reader--to participate and DJ the Weekend Shots each week. What should we be listenin' to?

TVD's Daily Wax | Meat Loaf "Bat Out of Hell"

Well, sure - I grew up on the Jersey Shore...but I was nothing close to a Springsteen fan. It took me until my thirties to actually get The Boss, and much of that is purely nostalgia. (I'm on board now, but still...) This Meat Loaf record...with all of its bluster and blather filled the gap just fine, thank you. Motorcycles belching out from the grave, tenuous moments in the back seats of cars, hot summer nights on the beach...this was the soundtrack to that road map. Smell the ocean? I do.

Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell LP (Mp3)
This is the whole LP...reordered for maximum effect. And the last of the guilty pleasures for now. (Until I can find my Culture Club LP...it's here SOMEplace....)