Good things a' happening

Earlier this week I read about Bourbon Crow, a band that is led by ex-Murderdolls singer Wednesday13. He apparently plays under a fake name (Buck Bourbon) and while his typical musical style can be described as Alice Cooper meets Marilyn Manson, Bourbon Crow has been described as "outlaw country" and comparisons have been made to folks like Johnny Cash, David Allen Coe and Waylon Jennings.

I was on a mission to find Bourbon Crow's Highway to Hangovers which was put out by Horror High Records but was coming up empty. On Thursday evening I was in Cleveland and stopped by my favorite Half-Price Books in Rocky River and, lo and behold, what CD did I find under the "B" tab? Bourbon Crow. $4.98.

So last night I picked up a few last minute gifts at Meijer and on my way out I thought I'd buy a couple "Holiday Cash" lottery tickets. The payout isn't huge (the biggest payout is $500) but the tickets were only $1 and I had $2 in my pocket. I shoved the tickets in my pocket as I was walking out and forgot about them until this morning. The ticket I scratched off was a $25 winner!

I kind of feel like I'm on a roll this week. Hmm ... I wonder if there is anything else in store coming up?

Buckcherry Interview

Just saw that the new issue of MELT is out featuring my Buckcherry interview. It's my second cover story in a row (last month's was The Who though I didn't get to interview them). Sweet. I *might* be going for a hat trick, you'll have to wait and see.

Kevy Kev hit me up two weeks ago to see if I'd be interested in interviewing Josh Todd of Buckcherry but the catch was it was a really quick turnaround time. He asked me on a Friday, I had to set the interview up on Monday, did the actually interview on Tuesday, transcribed the tape and turned in the story Wednesday night just in time to meet my Thursday deadline.

As usual, Kevin (or whoever designed the page) did such a great job of making my words look good. That's why I LOVE writing for MELT and will do so for as long as they'll have me.

Whoa! Guster? For real?

I thought Guster was one of those pseudo hippie bands. You know, the kind that frat boys in their A&F wear eat up while drinking keg beer and hitting on sorority chicks. And, I think Guster WAS one of those bands a few years ago. Hell, maybe they still are, but the other day I was driving to work when I heard this song on the radio. I had never heard it before so I played the game of, "Come on Chip, figure out who it is before the DJ tells you." I'm usually pretty good at this game because I read so many magazines and websites that I think that I know what a band sounds like before I even hear them.

Anyway, my first thought when I heard this song "Satellite" was that it was Death Cab for Cutie ... but it didn't sound like Ben singing. Then I thought, "Oh, it must be Band of Horses" cuz all the blogger kids are putting that CD in their top 5 of 2006 and this song certainly had that "sound" to it (at least to me). Somebody on the Donewaiting.com message board said that Band of Horses is nothing more than Air Supply of 2006 and when I heard the mild mannered vocals in "Satellite" I could see how somebody might say that this song was a modern version of an Air Supply song.

So when the DJ said "That was Guster" I was shocked. Were all my ideas about this band dead wrong? I did a quick search for an MP3 of this song when I got to work and I found a live version of it somewhere. The blogger who posted it said something like "These guys have always sounded like Rusted Root and Ben Folds Five to me" and ... bam ... there is was. I wasn't crazy. These guys DO have that "sound" that drives me crazy and makes me think that some people have no taste in music. And yet I couldn't get "Satellite" out of my head. I really, really like it so I'm conflicted. What exactly does the 2006 version of Guster sound like? Are they a faux hippie/frat band or have they gone off in a different direction? I'm inclined to believe that they've graduated from the college rock sound because I noticed that in the last year they've had people like Rogue Wave and Mason Jennings open for them - two very respected artists that I'm not ashamed to admit liking.

I'm planning on checking out the latest Guster CD in it's entirety and I'm hoping that the rest of the songs follow the lead of "Satellite".

Anybody have any thoughts about Guster? Leave me a comment.

Jill Cunniff

I'll be honest, I didn't shed any tears upon learning of Luscious Jackson's breakup earlier this decade. I thought they had a good thing going for a while but towards the end I felt like they were trying too hard to write radio-friendly disco hits. But I was very intrigued to learn that the Militia Group - home to post-emo bands like The Appleseed Cast and Brandtson - had worked out a deal to put out Jill Cunniff's solo album, City Beach, in early 2007.

My advance copy of the CD arrived in the mail today and I really had high hopes for it. I just know that Jill is capable of writing really good music and I was thinking that as long as she doesn't try to get too '70s retro, there would be a good chance that her solo CD might be nothing short of fantastic.

Now, granted, I've only given it one full spin but it's every bit as delicious as I was hoping it would be. I kind of hate when I hear new music so early in the year (or, in this case, 2 months before it comes out) because I know that at this point next year, there is a good chance I won't even remember City Beach when compiling my Best of 2007 list even though I think that it's deserving of at least consideration. And, hey, it doesn't hurt that Jill and I both have a daughter named Piper.

I'm not going to rip MP3s at this point and post them here but I will point you to Jill's MySpace site where you can listen to 3 songs ("Happy Warriors", "Lazy Girls", and "NYC Boy") from the album due in stores on February 6, 2007.

Don't you just feel like saying this some days?

Wednesday13's brand of schlock rock might not be your thing but you have to had at least one occasion where these lyrics ring true.

Warrant live (Dec.7)

Not sold-out like the last time they were here but still a really good turnout. I'd say the place was 75% full which means there were easily a couple hundred people on a cold Thursday night.

This is my third time seeing the Warrant lineup with The Saint (Jamie St. James) on lead vocals and I'm finally starting to get used to seeing him front Warrant. I'd KILL to see Jani Lane back in the band but that ain't gonna happen anytime soon so I'll take what I can get.



A good set list, all my favorites were present and accounted for ("Down Boys" "Mr.Rainmaker" "Hole in My Wall" "Bourbon County Line"). All the "hits" were played ("Heaven" "Uncle Tom's Cabin" "Cherry Pie). Boobs were flashed, heads were banged, all-in-all a fine evening of entertainment though I didn't get the chance to hang with Joey Allen this time like I did last time.



There was some obnoxious asshole standing in front of me for a good portion of the show who kept waving a t-shirt in Erik Turner's face. At one point he got mad - not sure what set him off - and threw his shirt on the stage and took off. His girlfriend/wife was able to coax him back but he still acted like a complete ass much to the dismay of everybody standing around him.



Also saw the aftermath of one of the older gentlemen who works at the club get knocked over the head with something. I saw these female bartenders pushing these guys out the door and the guy who got his head cracked was PISSED. And, a little later on, I saw this totally hammered dude stumbling around the place. He could barely stand up. I hope somebody called him a cab.

Family Values

I've got family values, yes I do. I've got family values, how about you?

Cover This

Out of the newsstands (in Columbus) is the December issue of MELT Magazine. 40,000 copies of this magazine are out there so go pick up one if you've got a chance.

It's a little hard to read, but you can check out The Who feature I wrote here. I'll be writing a SLAYER feature for the next issue and should be interviewing Tom or Kerry in the next week or two. I suspect it's going to be a lot like the old SNL skit where Chris Farley is riding on the elevator with Sting. "Remember when you guys put out Seasons in the Abyss? Yeah, that was AWESOME."

High Blood Pressure

So my posts here won't always be about music. Yesterday I had a doctor appointment - a mole on my stomach changed color which is sometimes a warning sign. Better be safe than sorry, right? My appointment was at 4pm though as we all know, that means that you'll have to sit in the waiting room for an extended period of time. Sure enough, I checked in at 4:08 and wound up sitting in the waiting room for a good 40 minutes before I was called back. There is a TV in the waiting room and it was tuned into CNN Headline News. Not a terrible thing, it gave me the chance to get caught up on things that had taken place while I was at work but at some point one of the receptionists changed the channel to that new combo network (UPN and WB). I was forced to sit through an episode and a half of Reba. I know that probably 75% of sitcoms aren't funny but, man, it was PAINFUL to sit through this show. I didn't even so much as chuckle. Bad, bad, bad. Who lets shows like this get on the air?

Finally, about 10 til 5 I was called back to the waiting room where I preceeded to sit for 20 minutes until the doctor came in. His examination of my mole took all of 30 seconds and he declared that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. He looked at my chart and noticed that my blood pressure was just a tad bit high but he said, "I'm sure it's because you were nervous about coming in." Um, maybe it's because I had to sit through an episode and a half of Reba. Ever think about that? Yeah, that might throw my blood pressure a bit out of whack!