This is a list of music I LOVE and am very familiar with, but don't actually own a copy of. Instead, when I go to record stores, I visit with them. Find them alphabetically in the stacks and grin like a fool as I remove them each from their beds, say 'hi' to my dear friends and think about an extraordinary encounter I've had with something to do with the record, before returning them to their respective homes. I like it that way. Makes it feel more...honest. This is rock n roll. You can never really hold on to any of it.
(Click on the box on the top right corner of the page for music samples for these albums, and more!)
Them Crooked Vultures
"Well if sex is a weapon then SMASH! BOOM! POW! How do ya like me now?"
Here's the story. February of last year saw this supergroupie's dream band at Roseland Ballroom, and at the forefront of my musical agenda. Tickets were general admish and astronomical (in the hundreds) and I haven't had a spare dollar on me since the 90's when I was a kid and we still told ourselves it was worth something. So we circled the block a few times with a smoke we had bummed from the guy at the stage door, who was in a full snowsuit. Oh yeah it was FREEZING and we stood outside and danced around that door for HOURS before the show. And we looked cute. I mention this because women know that 'cute' and 'warm' is a choice you must make. At one point, around 7pm, the door swung open and Josh Homme appeared hanging out of it with a Corona in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other (looking sexier than I was prepared for... after all, we were there for Grohl) to welcome Fred Armisen from SNL where they had musical guested the night before. We made eye contact. It was awesome. Also, John McEnroe sauntered up to the door and gave his name to the guard who found it on a list and allowed him into the sold out show. "Who the hell does McEnroe know?" It's still a mystery. And then there was us. Giddy and goofy and literally dancing on the street to the music of the opening band that we could hear through the wall to keep warm. Excited for the show we didn't have tickets for, as usual. A crew guy wanted us inside. He did the best he could to come up with some tickets. No avail. The show is about to begin when the snowsuit clad door dude we had bummed a smoke from earlier appeared (I'd be a dirrrrrty liar if I said this wasn't our plan from the start) asking 'Do you ladies have tickets?' 'Nope!' He goes inside and several minutes pass. He walks back out the door, crosses over to us and, like a spy, says, "Alright ladies here's what's gonna happen. In 2 minutes when he's done with his cigarette, you're gonna follow this guy inside, you're gonna walk fast, he's gonna dump you in the crowd, you're gonna have a good show. Sound good?" And we're IN. We followed instructions perfectly (you must ALWAYS) and landed at the bar, got us a beer and maneuvered ourselves up against the right side of the stage, 15 ft from JPJ with a clear shot of the Grohl, in a tank top, dumping the water from his bottle over his head and shaking out his long dark hair. Oh and drumming like the best alternative animal ever. It was rock and roll pornography, for free. Thank you life! You know why? Cause we were supposed to be in there. Cause we REALLY appreciated it. If you're meant to be somewhere, you know it, and you get in. Money can have absolutely no bearing on the scenario. The love is strong, you get in.
All Rebel Rockers
"I Say Hey I'll be gone today but I'll be back comin' around the way. It seems like everywhere I go, the more I see, the less I know but I know one thing, that I love you"
Say Hey (I Love You) was instantly my favorite song and turned out to be the band's first top 40 Billboard hit, featured on this record. I learned the words to this song while I was on the road with the band in the summer of '08, when Michael would teach it to each new audience. "This is a new song. I wanna teach it to you. It goes like this. 'I say Heyyyyy..." (and the audience would sing it back to him, 'I say Heyyyyy'...) And he would go through each line of the chorus, with the audience echo, and then start the song, so everyone could sing along.
Then the album came out. And it hit the airwaves. And the next year when Michael would introduce the song to a new audience in a new venue, he started off just like the year before, "This is a new song. I wanna teach it to you. It goes like this. 'I say Heyyyyy... But now, everyone was already singing along.
Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
"He'll never catch her, but he can't stop trying"
Yes. It's true. It's like, too precious to touch.
Roi. I got to see Roi's 2nd and 3rd to last performances. Blessed. He walked into a crew party in Camden in '07, stood right next to me for seconds while he surveyed the room, then quickly decided it was too much, and walked out again. I'll never forget it.
I got a big ol' sweaty hug from Boyd at that party. A real hug. His huge joyous grin inches from my face as he listened to me babble about his musical genius, and his tee-shirts.
I want it on vinyl.
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