Three things for a Friday — Most importantly how I’m not Paul Westerberg
By Jodi | Filed under Books, Concert you can download, Record Review | Comments (12)
Hey Gang, first of all remember how I was telling you the other day to go read David Carr’s The Night of the Gun? Well, I am going to up that another notch and encourage you to go see him read if at all possible. His appearance schedule is here (VT, NH, Seattle, LA, DC, etc, oh and St. Paul on Monday August 18th).
I went to go hear him read last night (and got a bonus Q&A with Jim Walsh to boot). It was fabulous.He is a kind, gracious, charming, and entertaining man. I was amazed how he got up and shook the hand of every single person waiting in line. It was a great time.
Oh and then when I got my book signed I got to crush David Carr’s dreams about how Paul Westerberg mentioned his book on the blog. Westernerds, he was so excited. The look in his eye was five-year-old getting a bike for Christmas excited. And then I was like, “Uh, that was me.”
We can add this to the list of phrases I never expected to utter in actual real life with my own voice: “I’m not Paul Westerberg.”
Second of all, Imemat has done all the heavy lifting with regard to that 1982 show and converting the files to MP3. Go download than and while you’re there check out the response he got to the only fan letter he’s ever gotten.
Third of all, Aquarium Drunkard has a great, great write up on 5:05.
Tags: 5:05, david carr
In the Blogs: More on 49:00, 5:05 & a 1982 solo concert you can download
By Jodi | Filed under In the Blogs | Comments (41)
Andrea Myers at City Pages shares the thoughts that flitted through her head the first time she listened to 49:00.
There seems to be a bit of confusion in blogland about what exactly happened to 49:00 and what 5:05 is (er, make that a lot of confusion). Heather at I am Fuel, You are Friends explains it all clearly and succinctly.
I think someone linked the B+ AV Club reviews in the comments. If you missed it, well, here it is again.
Owl & Bear has a solo acoustic Paul Westerberg set from 1982 available for you to download. Anyone know anything about this show? Or where this might have come from?
The Rocky Mountain News gives a good run-down of alternate means of distribution for musicians and includes a good bit about Our Man Paul’s 49:00 kerfuffle.
Video Tuesday — Static Taxi, My Baby Left Me
By Jodi | Filed under Seen Your Video | Comments (0)
Tags: static taxi
The Paul Westerberg Bookclub - The Night of the Gun
By Jodi | Filed under Books | Comments (11)
I like to pretend that y’all love books as much as I do and that when I suggest ‘mats-esque books you kind of dig that, even if you don’t read them. Please do not disabuse me of this delusion, okay?
Anyway, I am here to tell you about David Carr’s memoir The Night of the Gun. Some of you might remember Carr from his NY Times piece about The ‘Mats a few years back. Some of you local old-timers might remember him from his stint at the now-defunct Twin Cities Reader. A lot of you probably have no idea who the fuck I’m talking about.
You should read this book anyway. It’s a thrilling, fascinating, can’t-lookaway-like-a-trainwreck book. See, before becoming Mr. Successful NY Times Writer, Carr was a skeevy crackhead trolling the streets of the Twin Cities. We’re talking dirtbag of epic proportions — a woman-beating, child neglecting, drug dealing, kind of dirtbag. Reading about his depths and how he slowly dug himself out makes for a good time. This isn’t one of those glory be to God on the highest, let your little light shine kind of bullshit recovery memoir. So don’t worry about that.
Seriously, it is jaw-droppingly fascinating. I don’t throw that word around lightly, and I’m generally the snobbiest of the book snobs, but this book is worth your time.
Also there are a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it ‘Mats references, which is totally my justification for writing about this book here. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We should always support authors who have the good sense to like the ‘Mats. Right?
Missed my other Paul Westerberg Bookclub Recommendations?
Joshua Furst’s Sabotage Cafe
Er, I guess that’s it though I could have sworn I talked about Brock Clarke’s An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England. I should have. Ha! I did. I’m so smart.
Tags: Books, david carr, westerberg bookclub
Missing 5:05 Found — Mystery Behind Vanished 49:00 Solved
By Jodi | Filed under In the News | Comments (27)
You can buy the missing 5:05 missing from 49:00 on Tunecore for either a buck or $5.05.
From what I can gather, 49:00 was suddenly and mysteriously pulled off the web for copyright problems. That damn medley.
So what do you think, five more minutes for a buck?
Video Tuesday — I listened to some really awful covers and then this one which was good
By Jodi | Filed under Seen Your Video | Comments (1)
I’m still working on the short story that was so shitty God might smite the author for committing such a crime against humanity. Wish me luck.
Tags: Cover Songs, Valentine
Three 49:00 reviews for you to read because I got a short story to write
By Jodi | Filed under Record Review | Comments (3)
The always delightful Aquarium Drunkard weighs in on 49:00 with a thoughtful review that includes this wonderful summation:
As surprising and unexpected as the delivery method is, just as surprising and unexpected is how good Westerberg sounds across all nearly forty-four minutes. Replacements fans who had given up on Paul, Paul fans who had given up on Paul, rock and roll fans who had given up on rock and roll
Eye Weekly.com gives 49:00 four out of five stars.
The San Antonio Current does a bit of math and figures how 49:00 might just be Our Man Paul’s most profitable record ever.
Tags: 49:00, paul westerberg
In the Blogs: Gotta keep it quick because I’m babysitting edition
By Jodi | Filed under In the Blogs | Comments (4)
CNET’s Digital Noise blog is frustrated with Amazon’s download process but not with Westerberg’s 49:00. I think this is interesting because 49:00 got him to try out the Amazon MP3 delivery service for the first time. Awesome. [via]
The Boston Phoenix is suspicious of the odd price point of 49:00 saying, I dig some of his music, and I could probably scare up the money, but something about that price point seems incredibly fishy and uncouth, like a crazy hobo trying to sell me a dollar bill for 99 cents. Sucks to miss out on something so cool because of paranoia, don’t you think?
As of right this minute (8:10 a.m. on Wednesday), 49:00 is still #1 on the Amazon charts and featured in their New & Notable section. I wonder what this means in the greater music charts? Just how much music is Amazon selling?
Exploding now compiles a list of great songs to listen to on a jukebox in a dive-bar.
Here’s two I like because they are the kind of blogs you’d never expect to see Paul Westserberg on:
1. Apex Exposure, new media, marketing solutions (which made the unfortunate mistake of confusing loose/lose — probably my biggest pet peeve ever)
2. The Drug Law blog, which is a fan of the album
(p.s. I taught my 3-year-old nephew Liam how to do the Batdance, and I am not sure if that’s the coolest thing ever of it it’s a crime against humanity)
Tags: 49:00, paul westerberg
Video Tuesday — Who isn’t a sucker for a woman covering the ‘Mats?
By Jodi | Filed under Seen Your Video | Comments (10)
When I form a band some day, it will be all girls and we’ll only play ‘Mats covers and we’ll be called Sweet Georgia Breezes.
Tags: 'Mats, I'm in Trouble, the replacements
49:00 garners a 7.1 from Pitchfork
By Jodi | Filed under Record Review | Comments (16)
Is anyone as surprised as I am by the 7.1 Pitchfork gave 49:00? I’m having a tough time with this record. I enjoy it, especially the utter rawness. However, I am still wondering if it would have generated so much buzz had it not been a 49-cent downloadable album.
Is the marketing overpowering the music? What do you think? How do you Westernerds feel about this being Our Man Paul’s most popular record?
Tags: 49:00, paul westerberg, Pitchfork
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