A Bottle of Beer found at the site of the Hindenburg Airship disaster will go to Auction this week.  According to the article, the bottle of Lowenbrau will get close to $8500.  Which is almost as much as you pay for a beer at The Comcast Center.  The auction house warned the beer was not drinkable and was probably, “quite putrid”.  I’d still put it up against Golden Anniversary anytime.  But what about back in 1937 when it was found?  What would be the effect of a giant Hydrogen fireball have on a Munich-Style German brew?  I know this is rather insensitive and morbid, but it’s the first thing I thought about when I read the article.  In the bottle, exposed to high heat and then buried for a few days.  I’m sure someone like those freaks at Dogfish Head would go to great lengths to recreate this process like they do with ancient recipes.  They would probably build a Hydrogen Airship, stock it with some cases, and then light it up….unmanned of course. 

What would beer from the Titanic be like.  Say, a fine Samuel Smith Ale sunk in icy Atlantic waters for months then retrieved.  How would that alter the chemistry of the brew.  This is starting to get creepy…never mind.

By the way, I had a bottle of Stone Brewery’s Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale.  It is a beautiful brew.  More of a Stout than an Ale in my opinion.  There is a hint of hops in it, but the roasted malty, chocolaty, smokiness dominates.  It was a great with my warm double chocolate brownies.

Another great pairing is The Lagunitas Hop-Stoopid with a roasted duck from The Hong Kong Eatery in Chinatown.  The pine and citrus flavors along with the aroma of hops cuts through the greasy Duck skin and creates a delicious contrast.  After polishing off a bottle and half a duck, I passed out for three days.

On this Veteran’s Day(2009) it’s important to remember the service and sacrifice of our men and women in the Armed Forces(that includes the Coast Guard, those guys don’t get the respect they deserve).  Let me throw out a few facts for you about our Veterans:

1/3 of the soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afgahnistan will suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

Over 300,000 veterans are homeless.

Nearly 2 million Veterans lack Health Insurance.

The Unemployment Rate among Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans is 11.2% higher than non-Veterans.

We can argue forever about who’s fault this is, but it still won’t help the people who help defend our right to argue and point fingers.  There are Organizations who are taking action now to help these men and women deal with these issues. 

The first one is Massachusetts Veterans Inc.  They provide counseling, treatment, training, and shelter for thousands of homeless veterans.  Their shelter is in the National Guard Armory Annex in Worcester.  It’s run by professionals who believe in their mission, to help our Vets and their families get back on their feet.  Please hit the link above to learn more and possibly donate time or money to help their cause.

The other is an organization that was brought to my attention by the band Drowning Pool.  These proud Texans have been heavily involved in providing entertainment and relief to our soldiers overseas through the USO and have helped spread the word about the Lane Evans Bill, which would provide support and counseling to soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  They also work closely with the Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans Of America(IAVA) campaign called “This Is For The Soldiers”.  They are trying to get a bill passed in congress that will expand Mental Health Care for Veteran’s returning from those wars.  Please hit the links above to learn more and possibly help with the campaign.

It’s another way to say Thanks on Veteran’s Day.

This article from NME set me off to thinking about admiration by projectile and how some handle being a target.  I’m sure it’s hard enough playing and performing in front of thousands of inebriated fans without having to dodge the occasional trucker bomb.  It does have the potential of causing serious injury.  Take a look at these pictures of David Bowie getting a lollipop in the eye.  I still shudder when looking at it.  But Bowie being the consummate pro, continued the show.  I’m sure he’s been hit with a few bits of detritus in his time on stage and this was just another asshole ticket holder trying to be part of the show.  Some bands are a little more sensitive. 

My first experience seeing show stopping debris was at a 1982Van Halen concert at The Centrum(DCU Center).  David Lee Roth stopped the show to announce someone had hit him with a penny.  But it was ok because he had seen who did it and after the show he was going to, “fuck his girlfriend”.  I later learned this was a planned part of the show, but it was hilarious!  Many years later i was at a DLR show at the Palladium in Worcester and right at the start, my drunk wife hurled a full whiskey and ginger on the rocks at the stage.  The cup fell way short of the mark but created a trail of pissed concert goers turning and looking at me and not my wife who immediately went back to the bar.  Am glad it didn’t make the stage or I would have had a date with Diamond Dave after the show.

I remember seeing the Smashing Pumpkins at William And Mary in Virginia in 1993.  Darcy Wretzky was hit in the face with a roll of toilet paper and immeditely walked off stage.  Luckily for us it was near the end of the show.

At the 94 Reading Festival, Jesus Lizard singer David Yau caught a Carlesberg tall-boy right side up and polished off the contents of the can before hurling it back into the unwashed masses.  He and the band played through.

At a Rollins Band show in Richmond, VA a boot hit the bass player in the face and knocked him on his ass.  An irate Henry Rollins invited the fucker on stage to take a beating.  Then instructed the crowd to find the guy with one boot on and pound his face in.  In the words of Austin Powers, “Who throws a shoe, I mean really?”

It was a sneaker that stopped a Blues Traveler show in Chapel Hill, NC.  It struck a hefty John Popper in the chest.  The band stopped on a dime and Mr. Popper politely explained how dangerous that was and asked nicely not to throw anything at the stage.  The band then started from  the precise point they stopped.

There have been numerous hardcore shows where projectiles of all sorts including human beings have failed to stop the band from plowing forward.  During a Red Hot Chili Peppers show at the late great Channel in Boston, there was so much phlegm being spit on stage that the band was slipping and falling and Anthony Keidis had it dripping off of his nose as he sang.  They never stopped.  Later on at Lollapalooza 92, while I was watching the Chilis, I was struck by an Evian bottle filled with what looked and smelled like urine.  I was already covered with Mud so I shrugged it off.

As someone who has been in a band and been hit with an array of projectiles(best ever was a full purse, which we rifled through on stage, good times), if the band can still play without injury, they should.  Aside from the few who need to contribute their unwanted gestures, the majority of people paid to get in and just want to have a good time.  The perpetrators should be apprehended and made part of the show.  A flailing on stage by the band would be a memorable experience.  But the show must go on.  I’ve also seen a few shows where the band couldn’t continue due to their own pre-show indulgences.(Hello Steven Tyler, Sean Morgan, Axl Rose, Black Crowes)  To me that’s worse.  That’s just these guys telling the fans they don’t give a shit about how much you payed to get in or how many albums you bought.   The footage of  My Chemical Romance in the NME article is a great example.  They may not be your favorite band, but they toughed it out during a hailstorm of rocks and shit and didn’t give the crowd the satisfaction. 

Please share any experiences you have had witnessing Rock Show target practice.  And in the future, please just try to sing along instead of launching a overpriced beverage at the stage.

The “Supergroup” of Dave Grohl(Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Josh Homme(Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss), and John Paul Jones(Led “Fuckin’ Zeppelin) will finally release their self titled debut, “Them Crooked Vultures” on November 17th.  I had previously raved about their performance at the House Of Blues in an earlier blog and am nerding out about this upcoming release.  You can hear the first single, “New Fang” below.  While the members themselves are reluctant to embrace the term “Supergroup”, to me they are just that.  All are current and former members of bands I love.  When I heard they were working together I peed a little.  All three innovators in their fields working together to, not regurgitate the past, but to create something new and challenging.  At the same time, I wouldn’t mind hearing this combo do a version of “The Rover” from Physical Graffiti.

Here’s some fan shot footage of Nine Inch Nails at Webster Hall in New York. As part of their Wave Goodbye Tour they played “The Downward Spiral” in it’s entirety at select shows. Trent Reznor allowed fans to video the show. This is some pretty cool footage. I am going to miss these guys.

This is the greatest thing since Tucker invented Anti-Matter Injectors.

Here is a excerpt from my conversation with Art Alexakis from Everclear, who are playing at Showcase Live at Patriot Place in Foxborough(10/21/09).  Everclear had some huge hits in the 90’s and despite line-up changes continue to tour and release albums.  Their latest, “In A Different Light” is a compilation of some old favorites done with the new band in a different style.  The feel is more acoustic and intimate.  There are also two new songs to get fans ready for a new release in 2010.  This is the first part which is mostly about the band and the music.  We also talked about his passion for politics and community service which will be covered in part two.  I started by asking Art if they re-recorded the old stuff in this style because: 1. They were not satisfied with the original recordings, 2. For their fans who are getting older and mellower, 3. He’s going deaf.

Art Alexakis from Everclear

My Father said it. I’m sure your Father said it too.  It’s been said by parents and old curmudgeons for Centuries.  “This isn’t music” or ”Are you really going out dressed like that?”  Now, like my father before me I have entered the grumpy old man phase.  I knew I was there when I brought my nieces and their friends to the Brokencyde show at the Palladium in Worcester.  Also on the bill, Kill Paradise, The Ready Set, Blood On The Dance Floor, and Watch Out There’s Ghosts.  Yeah, I’ve never heard of them either.  But I’m glad I know now so I can avoid them in the future.  It was all suburban boys with Jonas Brothers haircuts rap/singing/screaming over beats lifted from Jay-Z’s Blueprint albums.  The Dance Dance Revolution light show didn’t help.  My nieces were psyched beyond belief.  Squealing all the way there in the car and asking if they could crowd surf, then asking if I knew what crowd surfing was.  I wanted to whip out the old, “I was crowd surfing when your were not even an idea in your father’s loins because he was tripping balls at a Dead show.”  But I refrained from sounding even older than I am.  My second chance to sound like a mall walker came when we exited the car and these girls of 13-14 were wearing nothing but wife beaters and bras in 40 degree weather.  I caught myself from blurting out, “Where are your coats, it’s freezing and you’re going to get sick” My mother would have been proud. It was my last attempt at being the cool uncle, because when I entered the venue and one of these MySpace pseudo hip-hop mall shopper bands was on stage barely playing what instruments they had I finally broke with a, “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!”  Which brought the ire of my nieces and all the teenyboppers surrounding me.  It was a parade of all the worst parts of 80’s and 90’s fashion, Mullets, fanny packs, ironic Members Only Style jackets and first attempt mustaches.  Mixed with a current hip-hop style that was purchased at the local mall.  Lots of big fat baseball hats with busy faux Louis Viton patterns worn tilted to the side.  I felt like I was at a Junior High dance.  All of a sudden I was the creepy old guy.  My brother in-law and I crept up to the empty bar area and ordered what were probably the only two beers poured that night.  Some other parents were there, huddled into a corner at the back of the room with the same look of horror and confusion that we had.  It looked like a distorted Logan’s Run with the youth dancing and screaming the elderly into a corner before they were pounced on and cannibalized.  All with the music from some I-Carly show blaring in the background.

Am I getting old?  I mean, I know I’m getting old physically, but am I mentally entering that “it was all better back in the day” mode?  I used to hate it when people complained about the music being better and the drugs being stronger in the 70’s.  It’s a sign of losing the youthful spirit.  I’m not about to go out and get a white belt and fingerless gloves.  I’m not looking to connect with the youth of America.  I had a mullet and wore some pretty embarrassing stuff when I was 14.  I know when my daughter becomes a teenager it will be a constant battle( it already is and she’s only 5)  I just don’t want to be the guy to piss on kids being kids.  It took everything I had to not stand up on the bar in that room and scream, “Get off your fucking phones and wake up!  These bands suck!  You look like sheep in clown costumes and stop dressing like coked out club sluts from some reality show!”   Where the hell is Lemmy when you need him.   Thank the Maker for Beer.  The only positive thing was no line at the bar.

I found this hilarious video on Youtube as I was watching footage of the 2004 comeback for the Sox in the ALCS against the Yankees.  Yes the same Yankees who just clinched by sweeping the heroic Twins.  Son of a bitch.  Rumors of Jason Bay going to San Francisco almost sent me into a dreaded potato chip rage.  The burning pain of the shredded roof of my mouth made me realize the season is really over.  Now I have to watch A-Rod and his merry band of tool bags steam- roll the Angels and then the Phils in the World Series.

The Super Group.  It can be an amazing display of musical alchemy(Chickenfoot, Audioslave) or it can royally suck(Asia, Bad English)  In the case of Them Crooked Vultures it’s the former.  Sunday night(10/11/09)at The House Of Blues Josh Homme(Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss), Dave Grohl(Nirvana, Foo Fighters), John Paul Jones(Led Zeppelin) and Queens collaborator Alain Johannes invited us into there spastic spaceship and took everyone in the room on a trip that few may recover from.  The place was already primed by the hype of the musical fiber of each of it’s members.  I mean, LED Fuckin’ ZEPPELIN!  As soon as they walked on stage, the crowd went crazy with fanatical adulation.  Once the music started, it was clear that this was not a nostalgia trip or a pursuit of lucre.  It was four musicians enjoying the challenge of freaking each other out.  The music displayed the style of Messrs. Homme and Johannes’ band.  A schizophrenic, disjointed wall of sound that took many hairpin turns and mood swings.  At times it was like a hall of whirling knives, other times they brought it down to a spacey textural jam highlighted by Homme and Johnnes’ guitar wizardry. 

I love watching Dave Grohl play drums.  I’ve seen the Foo’s a few times and they always deliver with Grohl leading the way with his unabashed rock star antics.  He can pull it off because of his fervent love of what he does.  He injects his enthusiasm into the room and makes it feel like we are all sharing the “Luckiest Guy In The World” vibe.  But when Grohl is behind the drum kit he explodes like a manic octopus.  Mistress Carrie pointed out his resemblance to Animal from the Muppet Band.  All arms and hair flailing with the ever present giant smile.  His epic hammering brought many smiles to his band mates.  That’s what it’s all about:  Joy.  Loving the moment playing with people who push you to new standards. 

A musician of John Paul Jones’ calliber could easily get any gig he wants and go back to his pre-Zeppelin days as a studio mercenary.  Of all the surviving members of Led Zeppelin he has cashed in the least.  Rarely does he re-visit his old bands material, save for the reunion or two.  Last night he was obviously having a blast.  You could see in his face the expression of pleasure of creating something totally different from anything he has done before.  At times the Zeppelin groove worked it’s way into some of the set.  How could it not?  With one of the creators and three guys schooled by his creation.  But it only lasted for a verse or two then quickly changed direction.  There was a Spinal Tap, “Lick My Love Pump” moment when Jones ended a song with a weeping piano coda.  But that was the only instance of cliche.

They played all original material from a supposedly forthcoming album with Homme giving the titles in between.   I think it would be cool if they didn’t release an album and just played shows sporadically.  Keep it mysterious, like a 70’s style super group.  Not wearing out the novelty and excitement of the collaboration.  TCV also win the award for coolest display of weird guitars.  It was a parade of vintage oddities and in Jones’ case strange electric mandolins and a guitar(?) that looked like a piece of alien weaponry from ”Men In Black” complete with multicolored read- out screen on the body.  Very little is known of the future plans of this project.  With 4 talented multi-instrumentalists the possibilities are endless.  Also, with all of their respective bands and projects I would imagine it was next to impossible to make time for it.  I’m glad they did and I hope to hear and see more.