Life in Minneapolis

Wonder what Willie Nelson has been up to?

Willie Nelson will release his first reggae album, Countryman, this summer. Update on the release date from Matt @ Holy Chao of 8/2/05. The album will feature country classics and reggae standards that include ”The Harder They Come”, ”Sitting In Limbo” and the rare Johnny Cash/Toots Hibbert track “I’m A Worried Man”. Nelson will be heading to Jamaica next week to film two new videos for the album.

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In other news, I'm really digging a couple new albums...

1) Sufjan Stevens - Illinois An Amazing follow-up to his school-band-styles of Michigan.
2) Spoon - Gimmie Friction - Deceptivly simple melodies paired with stripped down guitars, keys and production. This is a classic...it's what John Lennon would sound like if he came up in the 90s.
3) Crystal Skulls We played with them last night at 7th St Entry in Minneapolis and they kicked some serious ass! Check them out if they come to your town with Pedro the Lion's Alter-ego: The Headphones.

Both Barrels!

"Senator, in everything I said about Iraq, I turned out to be right and you turned out to be wrong, and 100,000 people have paid with their lives. Sixteen-hundred of them American soldiers, sent to their deaths on a pack of lies. Fifteen-thousand of them wounded, many of them disabled forever on a pack of lies. If the world had listened to Kofi Annan, whose dismissal you demanded, if the world had listened to President Chirac, who you want to paint as some kind of corrupt traitor, if the world had listened to me and the anti-war movement in Britain, we would not be in the disaster we are in today. Senator, this is the mother of all smokescreens. You are trying to divert attention from the crimes that you supported."
-- British parliament member George Galloway, unloading with both barrels on Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)

A History: My Favorite Club

So I was surfing a friend's band's site...Lifestyle of Wigs and I noticed a cool link he had on his site for my favorite Minneapolis club, First-Ave.

The link is to the Minnesota Historical Society and it details every performer and performance at First-Ave and 7th-Street. Good Stuff...Have fun perusing the memories: HERE

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In other news...One of my bands: Duplomacy has a couple gigs coming up...
May 20th = Turf Club w/The Beatifics, The Get Up Johns and LifeStyle of Wigs
May 23 = 7th St. Entry w/Headphones (Pedro the Lion Side Project) and Crystal Skulls

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PLUS: We just found out we'll be playing Orchestra Hall on July 15th, 2005! I can't wait to hear Duplomacy's sound in that awesome venue!

torrent take down

Blasted MPAA showed its ugly head this last week. By shutting down several tv.torrent sites, with the thought that they'll make a dent in the issue by restricting access. I think they need to look at our historical policy of "restriction" and how it's failed numerous times. Prohibition is the obvious parallel, and it shows that if you restrict access, people will find alternative avenues for creating, distribution and consumption.
I watch as they shut down 5 or 10 torrent sites and 20 fill in the tight market. People are sharing everything imaginable. But shutting down the 5-10 sites, does not stop the pandemic birth of myriad torrent sites. They are taking the approach of restriction and it seems to me that that policy fails. Check out the article: Zdnet.com