Wednesday, May 02, 2007

May Day, Part II

And so it goes in the world of local places to see live music. After Friday's Black 47 show at Toad's Place, the venue will close for 90 days. Oh, if there was only a better way to check IDs and not let those pesky, underage college kids into the dance parties.

According to my sources, all the rumors of Toad's permanently closing its doors after Friday are untrue. Shows have already been booked for Aug. 4, the day the suspension ends. We'll see.

We did get word of the lineup for this summer's free shows on the Green. Here's my article on the roster. I'm pretty excited about Soul Asylum (pictured above). I caught the band at Mohegan Sun about a year ago, right after the quartet's recent disc hit stores, and the show was fiery and entertaining, with Dave Pirner, Dan Murphy and company performing a decent batch of old tunes. For some reason, my story got changed a bit and the new name of the series was left out: The concerts are no longer The New Haven Jazz Festival or the Free Concerts on the Green. The series is now called Music on the Green.

So what else is going down? In Ticket News in Weekend Friday, you'll learn that Bob Dylan, the White Stripes, Diana Krall, Meat Loaf, Poison and O.A.R. are all coming to the Nutmeg State this summer.

I just learned that Ashlee Simpson is 'confident' with her appearance. I'm glad, too, because that would mean she wasted a lot of money on all that plastic surgery, otherwise. I do think, though, that good ol' Ashlee gets a bad rap. Her most recent disc is so far and away better than Joan Jett or something.

Wilco is streaming its upcoming record, "Sky Blue Sky," from now until its release date of May 15. I've been listening to this album on and off for about the last two months. And as a huge Wilco fan, I've got to say I'm disappointed. I just am. It's way too jammy. I really wish I could say otherwise, but this disc gets boring about mid-way through. Look for a full review the week of release.

This happened last week, but, you know, I'm a busy guy. Anyway, the nominees for this year's Shortlist Music Prize have been announced. The list of 10 finalists includes Joanna Newsom, Cat Power and Tom Waits. Unfortunately, our own Mates of State, which made the long list of semifinalists, did not make the cut. Lester Bangs' death. I won't write anything about that, because, well, I'm not a fan at all. But Bangs did make a lot of people music fans, and he influenced a lot of folks, good or bad, who do a job like mine. The Chicago Sun-Times' very vocal Jim DeRogatis, who adores Bangs, wrote this. The funny thing is that Dero is really good, and writes nothing like Bangs, thankfully.

With that, I'll leave you for the day. But have you ever wondered what "Star Wars" character you're most like? If so, check this out. I'm Emperor Palpatine, whoever that might be.

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