Children by the million mourn for Alex Chilton
By Jodi | Filed under Related News | Comments (10)
Alex Chilton has died. Wow. that one punched me right in the gut. There’s a great story of meeting Alex in the comments, you should go read that.
- Props for Alex Chilton from the floor of the House by Memphis Democratic Rep Steve Cohen check it on CSPAN.
- The Chicago Reader.
- Dave Lifton of Wings for Wheels.
- CNN’s The Marquee Blog.
- USA Today’s Pop Candy.
- Huffington Post.
- The Guardian UK.
- MTV.
- Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone.
- NPR.
- Greg Kot in the Chicago Tribune.
- The Washington Post.
- The Onion’s A.V. Club.
- The Wall Street Journal.
- Entertainment Weekly.
- Rolling Stone.
- Tommy Stinson tweets about Alex’s death.
- Jim DeRogatis on Chilton’s death.
- NY Times Art’s Beat Blog on his death.
- Pitchfork.
Tags: Alex Chilton, RIP
Making the Scene: An Oral History of Twin Cities Rock
By Jodi | Filed under 'Mats Memories, Related News | Comments (2)
In honor of Minnesota’s 150th Anniversary, Chris Roberts dedicated his weekly Local Show on 89.3 The Current on the History of Twin Cities Rock (it’s the May 11th episode). It’s pretty entertaining and educational. The show starts with TC music in the mid-sixties and goes on up through the 90s.
Tags: 'Mats, 89.3 the current, chris roberts, rock and roll history, the replacements, twin cities music
Kicking Our Own Asses Assembles Zuzu Petals’ Best for a Limited-Edition Collection
By blasty | Filed under In the News, Related News | Comments (1)
http://tinyurl.com/22phb6
RHINO HANDMADE PLUCKS ZUZU’S PETALS BEST
Category: Music
Kicking Our Own Asses Assembles the Band’s Best for a Limited-Edition Collection
Laurie Lindeen Will Appear as a Panelist at SXSW on March 14;
Her Acclaimed Memoir, Petal Pusher, Will Make Its Paperback Debut This Fall
Available For Pre-order March 13 Exclusively From Rhino Handmade
LOS ANGELES—Formed at the dawn of the ’90s in Minneapolis, Zuzu’s Petals were scrappy rock ‘n’ roll dreamers who laced their melancholy but hopeful pop with a dry, biting wit, crunchy guitars and jagged rhythms. The all-girl trio – Coleen Elwood (bass, vocals), Linda Pitmon (drums) and Laurie Lindeen (guitar, vocals) – took the band’s name from the ultimate life-affirming film It’s A Wonderful Life. The band recorded two albums for Twin/Tone as they struggled with inspiring determination and trademark ZuZu’s humor to make it in a man’s world. Listening to these songs today, it becomes clear that these women were truly ahead of their time. Rhino Handmade gathers their most memorable musical moments for a limited-edition single-disc collection. KICKING OUR OWN ASSES: THE BEST OF ZUZU’S PETALS will be available for pre-order March 13 exclusively from www.rhinohandmade.com for a price of $19.98 and will ship in mid-April. Only 5,000 individually numbered copies of this compilation will be produced.
Recorded between 1990 and 1994 and arranged chronologically, KICKING OUR OWN ASSES opens with “Babblin’ Mules,” a single the trio recorded for Susstones with producer Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum. The track is followed by “Poor Little Rich Girl,” a previously unreleased song recorded in Minneapolis just prior to their breakthrough on the international indie rock scene. Zuzu’s Petals recorded its Twin/Tone debut, When No One’s Looking, to much critical acclaim in 1992 with producer Lou Giordano. The collection offers eight songs from that album, including “God Cries,” “White Trash Love” and “Dork Magnet.”
Before releasing its second album, the band recorded covers of the classic Melanie song “Brand New Key” and a searingly beautiful version of Hüsker Dü’s “Standing By the Sea,” which are included here. The follow-up, The Music Of Your Life, was produced by the legendary Albhy Galuten (The Bee Gees, Barbra Streisand, Cher) and released in 1994. KICKING OUR OWN ASSES presents six songs from that album, including “Love Bullet,” “Chatty Catty” and “Come True.”
Lindeen, the band’s founder, went on to write a memoir about her experience, titled Petal Pusher: A Rock And Roll Cinderella Story. The book is a poignant and funny behind-the-scenes look at music on the front lines that provides an awe-inspiring account of one woman’s fight against a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and her disillusionment with life in the rock underground. The memoir has received rave reviews from authors, musicians and press alike. Cameron Crowe raved that Lindeen “knows how to put her musical soul on every page of this wonderful book.” This fall, the book will be released in paperback for the first time. Prior to that, on Friday, March 14, Lindeen will appear at SXSW as part of a music panel discussing rock memoirs.
KICKING OUR OWN ASSES: THE BEST OF ZUZU’S PETALS
Track Listing
1. “Babblin’ Mules”
2. “Poor Little Rich Girl” *
3. “Categories”
4. “Cinderella’s Daydream”
5. “God Cries”
6. “White Trash Love”
7. “Psycho Tavern”
8. “Dork Magnet”
9. “Johanne”
10. “Jackals”
11. “Madrid”
12. “Brand New Key”
13. “Standing By The Sea”
14. “Do Not”
15. “Love Bullet”
16. “Remembering Why”
17. “Chatty Catty”
18. “Come True”
19. “Happy”
20. “Star Baby”
* Previously unreleased
Reveille interviews Lindeen who is reading tomorrow (12/14) at 7th Street Entry
By Jodi | Filed under Books, Related News | Comments (3)
Blasty posted this info about the 7th Street Entry appearance in the comments yesterday, but when I saw this interesting Lindeen interview at Reveille I thought I’d give it front page attention. I’m dorky like that.
Friday, December 14 • Doors 8PM
9PM – 12AM
7th Street Entry
Minneapolis, MN 55455
“Laurie reads from PETAL PUSHER while Retrofit, the world’s most dangerous cover band, featuring the incomparable talents of John Eller and Randy Casey, will attempt to nail the soundtrack to the book… so bring your ’70’s crocheted beer can hat, your new wave elf boots, your a.m. radio heart, and your too cool for words indie rock soul and join the fun”!
If I’m not mistaken, this is the band that played Laurie’s graduation party, and PW joined them on stage.
Tags: Laurie Lindeen, petal pusher
Ryan Adams and Minneapolis mojo, a theory for you to disregard
By Jodi | Filed under Related News, Westbergesque | Comments (5)
Okay, you have to live under a rock to have not heard about the latest Ryan Adams meltdown in Minneapolis. The poor little guy has a rough time when he comes to play here.
Though, when I saw him 100 years ago with Leona Naess opening for him at The State he did fine.
Anyway, here’s my theory — I think Adams has such a tough time in Minneapolis because he’s surrounded by the Paul Westerberg vibe. It cannot be denied that The Replacements and Westerberg were a huge influence on Adams and his music — no matter how much Adams like to piss on those who came before him.
So whenever Adams plays here he buckles under the stress of trying to get out from under Westerberg’s shadow.
What do you think?
First Avenue Hay Day: 1985-1992
By Wolfdog | Filed under Media, Related News, Seen Your Video | Comments (5)
Rick Fuller’s film, First Avenue Hay Day: 1985-1992 will be screened at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Mpls. on August 15th. Featuring live clips of The Replacements, Husker Du, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, and many more great Twin Cities bands. The screening is sponsored by DEMO: Diverse Emerging Music Organization of Minnesota.
Here’s the trailer for the film, with a few quick shots of the Mats Bastards Of Young.
Thanks For the Book…
By Color Me Impressed | Filed under In the News, Related News | Comments (3)
Being the music geek that I am, I spent two hours or so in Borders last night reading music interviews and whatnot. I apologize for being too damn cheap to buy the magazines, so I’ll try to summarize the best I can.
The newest issues of Big Takeover Magazine had an interview with The Shins’ frontman James Mercer. In the interview, he discusses the ‘Mats a bit. Mercer asks how famous the band actually got, and the interviewer replies by saying that they played only one big show at Beacon Theater in 1991 in which only two of the original members were there. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the ‘Mats played Beacon in ’87 with Chris still in the lineup) They also briefly discussed the influence the ‘Mats had on the Decemberists.
Q Magazine also made mention of the ‘Mats, placing them at #29 on their list of The Great Contenders – Music’s Greatest Lost Treasures. I personally think they should’ve been placed much higher on the list, but then again, I’m just a slight bit obsessed.
Anyways, it’s so great to hear about the ‘Mats in magazines and elsewhere. It makes me absolutely ecstatic, especially since (from what I can tell) Q is a rather big magazine in the UK.
It’s the road that runs past Buck Hill
By Jodi | Filed under In the News, Related News | Comments (3)
As many of you know by now the 35W Bridge in Minneapolis collapsed. My sincere hope is that all who read this and all the people in their lives are safe and sound. For those who aren’t from around here, not only is 35W a main traffic artery here in the Twin Cities, but it’s also the road that takes you to Buck Hill (Buck Hill!)
Last night while I sat glued to the KARE 11, running a weird sort of command post receiving and sending updates to friends and family, I got a comment on iwilldare.com wondering about Paul and Chris Mars’ safety.
At first, I kind of shook my head and wondered about people. But then I remembered hearing reports from the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe that Alex Chilton was missing and being hella concerned.
For many, the moment they hear Minneapolis they think The Replacements/Paul Westerberg immediately. I guess when you live here, it’s not the first thing that comes to mind.
As far as I know (and as far as the Man Without Ties Message Board knows) he’s fine. As I said on iwilldare.com I haven’t heard anything about an injured or missing rock star.
No news is good news, I guess.