Compiled by Blurt Staff

 

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin’ on?
Not likely. Here are BLURT’s top music television picks of the day. The time is
followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program
and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour
listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site.
Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or
subsequent days.

 

 

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL
/ PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

 

 

 

MONDAY, SEPT. 1:

 

 

7:00 AM NBC: Today: New Kids on the Block , Ne-Yo

 

11:00 AM ABC: The View: Toby Keith , Pamela Anderson

 

11:00 AM BBCA: Backstage Pass: Beatles Biggest Secrets

 

12:30 PM GAC: Superstar Sessions:  Taylor Swift

 

 

2:00 PM MOJO: London
Live!: Duffy , KT Tunstall , Foals , We Are Scientists

 

4:00 PM CMT: 20 Greatest Redneck Moments: Jerry Lee Lewis ,
George Jones , Porter  Wagoner , Jeff
Foxworthy , Faith Hill , Bill Monroe

 

6:00 PM RAVE HD: Later With Jools Holland: Paul Weller ,
Carlos Santana , Anthony Hamilton , Bettye Lavette , John Cale , Sheryl Crow

 

6:20 PM FLIX: Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (1984)

 

9:00 PM PLD HD: Glastonbury 2008: KT Tunstall , The Ting
Tings , The Feeling , Candi Staton , Editors , Lupe Fiasco

 

10:00 PM PLD HD: Glastonbury 2008: Crowded House , Duffy ,
James Blunt , Vampire Weekend , Raconteurs , Elbow

 

10:00 PM TMC: Movie: Prey for Rock & Roll (2003) w/Gina
Gershon

 

 

11:00 PM PLD HD: Glastonbury 2008: Mark Ronson , Tawiah , Newton Faulkner , Crystal
Castles , Goldfrapp , The Pigeon Detectives

 

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Randy
Newman

 

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Conor Oberst ,
Jack Black

 

 

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Game

 

12:37 AM CBS: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson:
Priscilla Ahn

 

1:35 AM NBC: Last Call with Carson Daly: Your Vegas

 

 

 

TUESDAY, SEPT. 2:

 

 

 

7:00 AM ABC: Good Morning America: Leona Lewis

 

 

7:00 AM NBC: Today: Terrence Howard

 

 

11:00 AM ABC: The View: New Kids on the Block

 

11:00 AM RAVE HD: Beautiful Noise: Feist

 

1:00 PM PLD HD: Glastonbury 2008

 

3:20 PM Starz Black: Wyclef Jean All Star Jam at Carnegie
Hall w/Wyclef Jean , Eric Clapton , Stevie Wonder , Charlotte Church ,
Destiny’s Child , Marc Anthony

 

6:00 PM Sundance: Live from Abbey Road: Bryan Adams, Ben Harper,
Justin Currie

 

7:00 PM Ovation: Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads

 

8:00 PM Ovation: 
Grateful Dawg (2000) w/The Grateful Dead , Jerry Garcia , Bela Fleck

 

 

 

David Grisman , Ronnie McCoury , Peter Rowan

 

8:00 & 10:30 PM VH1C: Brian Wilson: That Lucky Old Sun

 

 

 

9:00 PM FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Airborne Toxic Event

 

9:00 PM VH1C: Storytellers: Billy Idol

 

10:00 PM RAVE HD: The Dave Fanning Interview: R.E.M.

 

11:15 PM HBOS: Once (2006)w/Glen Hansard , Markéta Irglová

 

11:35 PM CBS: The Late Show With David Letterman: Terrence Howard

 

 

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Ingrid
Michaelson

 

12:05 AM ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Judas Priest

 

 

12:35 AM NBC: Late Night with Conan O’Brien: Ra Ra Riot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But seriously, folks:
Fleetwood Macbeth? Much ADoobie Brothers About Nothing?!?

By Fred Mills

 

It’s a dubious proposition, at best: the music of U2
incorporated into the works of Shakespeare. But hey, pompous bluster is
timeless, nobody does pompous OR bluster better than Bono and Ol’ Bill, right?

 

Ergo, As U2 Like It,
which as you probably have heard hit the U.S.
last week at the Falcoln Theatre in L.A. (Burbank, technically).
Put on by the Troubadour Theater Company and directed by Matt Walker, the
two-act, two-hour play started August 13 and runs through October 12. And it’s
not that novel an idea, to shoehorn
U2 songs into As You Like It; the TTC
has previously combined Shakespeare with popular music, with productions
like  Fleetwood Macbeth and Much ADoobie Brothers About Nothing.

 

Whew – that smell? Pure cheese!

 

 

At any rate, Variety reviewed
the production a few days ago favorably, saying it continues the TTC’s “artistic
winning streak, succeeding in conveying the gist of the Shakespeare source
material amid a constant flurry of songs, quips and physical comedy in a highly
entertaining show.”

 

You can judge for yourself in this video clip from the play.
Just hearing “Vertigo” in this kind of setting makes me feel all tingly, and…
woops, that’s my skin crawling. Okay, everybody shout out loud: “This is not a
rebel sonnet! This is Hamlet Bloody Hamlet!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooks & Dunn’s
“Only In America”
previously used by the Republicans in 2004.

By Fred Mills

 

In the 1996 film Jerry
Maguire, Renee Zellweger’s character tearfully tells Tom Cruise’s
character, “You had me at hello.” Last night, at the conclusion of Barack
Obama’s sometimes-inspiring/frequently wonky acceptance speech for the
Democratic nomination for President, perhaps the operative phrase might be,
“You lost me at goodbye.”

 

In a move that could either be viewed as shameless pandering
to the so-called skeptical middle class that the Obama campaign knows it
desperately needs to defeat professional tool John McCain or an astonishing
aural gaffe that could potentially alienate millions of current supporters
(such as yours truly), or both, the music that played over the Denver stadium’s
soundsystem as Obama left the podium was a redneck anthem by country superstars
Brooks & Dunn.

 

Admittedly, the lyrics to “Only In America” (copied below)
are pertinent and wholly relevant to both Obama’s personal backstory and his
historic campaign. “One kid… just might be president,” goes a key passage,
“only in America
where we dream as big as we want to we all get a chance.” And the
chest-thumping, testosterone-pumping tune is tailor made for a big stadium
event such as last night’s: the Obama folks were clearly wanting a number that
would help stoke the final adrenalin rush of 80,000-plus people cheering, not
to mention something that unequivocally conveyed patriotic manliness.

 

But c’mon, Barack: Brooks and fucking Dunn?!?

 

Obama had previously taken the stage as a portion of U2’s
“City Of Blinding Lights,”
another soaring/anthemic number that was both rousing and metaphorically
appropriate. And throughout the campaign he’s tapped songs keyed to the place
and the moment – at a Los Angeles
fundraiser in June, for example, Springsteen’s “The Rising” played at the
conclusion of his speech. Surely some other number could have been found with
lyrics equally as pertinent as “Only In America” that contained the necessary
pump-the-crowd-up sonic qualities.

 

The fact that Brooks & Dunn are such staunch Republicans
that they performed at the Republican National Convention in NYC four years ago
and actively supported Bush both during his initial run for office in 2000 and
during his reelection campaign in 2004. They also allowed two of their songs to
be co-opted by Bush as his official campaign songs those years, respectively
“Hard Workin’ Man” and – get this – “Only in America.”

 

 

With that in mind, one might suspect that the Obama campaign
was pulling a fast one on Brooks & Dunn and sending a pointed message
(like, uh, a sharp stick in the eye…) to Bush and the rest of the Republicans,
something like, “Yeah, motherfucker, we’ll show you some of the good ol’ red
white and blue, right up your pinched ass!”

 

So maybe the gloves are off – although normally the artist
would be consulted to give or deny his permission for one of his songs to be
used in such a high-profile fashion. And if 
those redneck yahoos Brooks & Dunn have somehow come to their senses
finally after 8 years of foggy notions and are going to support Obama’s
candidacy,  more power to everyone
involved. It will be interesting to see what, if any, comments the Obama camp issues
today about the song’s use.

 

But for the moment – please, Barack, fire the numbskull who
talked you into using that music. It shocked me out of my seat when I heard it,
and not in a good way. Whatever statement you were trying to make using it was
lost. You’ve still got my vote, but it diminished you as a candidate.

 

UPDATE, 8-30-08: Yesterday Kix Brooks said in a statement, ”Seems ironic that the same song Bush used at the Republican
Convention last election would be used by Obama and the Democrats
now. Very flattering to
know our song crossed parties and potentially inspires all Americans.” Clearly the band was not notified in advance, making all this even more intriguing.

 

***

 

“Only In America” by
Brooks & Dunn:

 

 

Sun coming up over New York City
School bus driver in a traffic jam
Starin’ at the faces in her rearview mirror
Looking at the promise of the Promised Land
One kid dreams of fame and fortune
One kid helps pay the rent
One could end up going to prison
One just might be president

Only in America
Dreaming in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Sun going down on an La. freeway
Newlyweds in the back of a limousine
A welder’s son and a banker’s daughter
All they want is everything
She came out here to be an actress
He was the singer in a band
They just might go back to Oklahoma
And talk about the stars they could have been

Only in America
Where we dream in red, white and blue
Only in America
Where we dream as big as we want to
We all get a chance
Everybody gets to dance
Only in America

Yeah only in America
Where we dream in red, white and blue
Yeah we dream as big as we want

 

 

At this rate we’ll
simply just clamor to sign up for a Westerberg singles club…

By Fred Mills

 

 

Holy prolific, Batman. We’d barely finished absorbing Paul
Westerberg’s recent 49-cent priced album 49:00 – you can read our review HERE – when word arrived that the erstwhile
Replacements mainman has released yet another digital record, this one a
mini-album. Titled 3oclockreep, it
comprises just two tracks, the 20-minute title song and the 3 ½ minute “Finally
Here Once” and it’s available for the very reasonable price of $3.99 via the
Tunecore.com store.

 

It does not include, incidentally, the one-song single, “5:05,”
that turned up a couple of weeks ago (still available at Tunecore).

 

Several media portals are floating the rumor that Tom Waits
is on the “3oclockreep” track: the collage of song fragments and overlapping
vocals and effects, is reportedly an outtake from the ‘Mats’ Don’t Tell A Soul era (taken from the
same sessions that yielded “Date to Church,” initially released in ’89 on a
Sire sampler and now slated for the expanded reissue of DTAS).

 

 

 

 

 

Much-anticipated
record drops in October via Nacional.

By Fred Mills

 

Colombian electronic duo Monareta sees
their new album Picotero issued by alternative Latin music specialists Nacioinal on October 7th. The
group has previously released two digital albums, ‘La Bonanza’ and a self-titled release, via Nacional’s digital
label but this one will get the full physical and digital rollout.

 

 

Fusing traditional cumbia and champeta (the Afro-Colombian
genre native to the streets of the country’s Caribbean coast) with contemporary
reggae, dub, calypso and even breakbeat stylings, Monareta’s been steadily
rising in public stature via its work in the soundtrack field (movies include
“La Mujer de Mi Hermano” and TV shows like mun2’s “Chicas
Project“), and it also has a new song on the soundtrack for the
upcoming Warner Pictures film “Pride
& Glory“.

 

 

Origins-wise, composer, producer and vocalist Andres
Martinez initially started mixing break beats and hip hop flows several years
ago with keyboardist Camilo Sanabria in clubs and electronic music festivals
throughout their hometown of Bogota.
Talking about his group’s roots and the originals of its name, Martinez said in a statement issued by
Nacional, “Growing up, even as young as 11, I was really involved in the
local freestyle streetbike scene. It was the 80s and all the streetbikers in Colombia were heavily influenced by the
break-dance and electric boogaloo music styles arriving from the U.S. We heard
groups like the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy and they completely changed our
lives. The brands of our bikes were not Mongoose or GT. We had Monaretas. And
so that’s how we got the name for our group–it’s a homage to the ’80s
break-dance, hip hop, BMX and fashion scene sounds that came from abroad to
influence us in South America.”

 

 

Even as Monareta was coming together, Martinez
got the opportunity to study composition and film scoring at New York University
as a Fulbright scholar, duly relocating from Bogata to NYC. There Monareta was
able to grow an American fanbase in the progressive club atmosphere of Brooklyn. More recently, the group has split time living
in Colombia and Brooklyn,
while performing across the U.S.

 

 

 

Commenting on how he integrated his schooling with his
sound, Martinez
said, “It’s the whole idea of telling a story without showing images. In
our case, we don’t use many lyrics either. Instead, we use sound textures to
build atmospheres and allegories to certain images and ideas.”

 

 

 

The group will be touring heavily behind the new album.
Details tba.

 

 

In America
lately, the new wave of Latin music has been gaining increased acceptance
(thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of Nacional) – including among
non-Latino, English-speaking audiences. For a good overview of the scene and
the free-wheeling, broad-based genre, go to this Harp magazine article. It’s a piece we’re still pretty proud of, if
we do say so ourselves.

 

 

 

Track Listing:

1. La Batalla de Boyaca
2. El General Midi
3. Me Voy Pal Mar
4. Llama
5. Domingo Loving Style
6. Girlfriend in Providence
7. Todo El Voltaje
8. Break Tocaima
9. Matanza Funk
10. Alamamazonica
11. Gaitana
12. Esmeraldena
13. Raimundo Lllevate Al Mundo
14. Get The Rec

 

 

 

Love that hat…

By Blurt Staff

 

The ever-luscious Basia Bulat will be supporting her debut
album Oh, My Darling (Rough Trade Records) with a short US tour this
September.   The first date is in Louisville,
KY on September 11 and the tour winds up on
the 20th of the month in Cambridge,
MA.    She will be
headlining The Highline Ballroom in New
York City on September 19.

 

Since the release of Oh, My Darling, Bulat and her
band have been crisscrossing the US
touring on their own and with the likes of DeVotchKa and St.
Vincent. Meanwhile, she was recently nominated in her home country
of   Canada
for this year’s Polaris Prize (the winner will be announced on September 29).

 

Don’t know much about Bulat? Here’s the scoop from the
label:

 

  

 

Since
the age of three, Basia has been sitting on piano stools and trying to hammer
things out. It started with her piano-teacher mum, but along the way Basia’s
picked up guitar, autoharp, banjo, ukulele, sax and flute. In high school her
instrument was the upright bass – a lone girl among “eight-foot-tall guys in
the back of the orchestra, goofing off with the tubas”. There’s a sense of play
that still suffuses her music, jostling under the songs of regret and love,
want and joy. 

 

 

In
the summer of 2006, Basia went to live in Montreal.
Through friends she met Howard Bilerman, an engineer and co-owner of the famed
Hotel 2 Tango studio. Basia cashed some student loans to record with Bilerman.
 It was ultimately these rough early takes, hoarse with excitement that
formed the bulk of Oh, My Darling. Despite the original intention, these
tracks are breathless, thirsty, dislodged from dreary nostalgia. There are
strings, yes, and acoustic guitar, but also a frantic drum-kit gallop; the
influence of the spirits of wild Jeff Magnum, big-voiced Odetta, Emily Dickinson
and all those boisterous soul-music singles. It’s this spark that sets Basia
Bulat apart from the raft of typical singer-songwriters.

 

 

 

 

Basia Bulat Tour
Dates:

 

 

Thu 9/11 Louisville KY
The 9:30 Listening Room

Fri 9/12 Chattanooga, TN
Nightfall Concert Series 

Sat 9/13 Decatur, GA
Eddie’s Attic 

Sun 9/14 Asheville,
NC Grey Eagle

Tue 9/16 Charlottesville, VA
(HOLD)

Wed 9/17 Washington, DC
DC9

Thu 9/18 Philadelphia, PA The Angel

Fri 9/19 New York, NY
Highline Ballroom 

Sat 9/20 Cambridge,
MA Middle East Upstairs

 

 

 

 

 

Still rockin’ the
Fres…

By Fred Mills

Back when we were just little BLURT-lings going by the name
of Harp magazine we profiled
delightful Fresno
band Rademacher.  “Clever narratives and
jittery, pulsing songs,” we claimed (and not without reason) the band wielded
with aplomb. Now comes word that our Harp heroes have a new EP they’re about to serve up, their fourth. Titled the ERA EP, it’s due digitally from Jaxart
Records via all the usual suspects starting Sept. 30 and was recorded by Matt
Orme at Gardenside Studios in Fresno.

 

Some background and obligatory label hype:

 

 

 

Due to their
geographic location and their seeming nonchalance, these kids have garnered
many comparisons to Pavement.  And there is something to that.  They
write good songs.  They are a bit discordant.  But the important
thing to know about Rademacher is this : they work really hard.  They tour
constantly, produce recordings at a breakneck pace (4 eps and 1 full length in
3 years) , and take their music (if not themselves) very seriously.

Consisting of frontman Malcolm Sosa, bassist Greer McGettrick, and a rotating
cast of musicians, they have recorded three EPs with their off-and-on -again
drummer/utility infielder, Matt Orme. In 2007, Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart
decided to lend his nimble fingers to engineer Stunts, resulting in a more epic and commercially viable sound for the group.

“I would like to be one of the best songwriters ever,” says Malcolm Sosa. “Not
just good.  Not just good ‘for Fresno’,
but kick-ass in your face, blood coming out of the stereo speakers and refrains
running through your veins sort of good.  Is that too much?”

 

 

 

 

According to the band this EP will mark “a bit of a return,
as well as a folksy revamp” of their early lo-fi, slow-core sound. Works for
us! Full track listing below. Meanwhile, Rademacher will have a free residency
at Los Angeles’
The Echo club each Monday night of October.

 

 

RADEMACHER – ERA EP

1. If U Know
2. Believer
3. Need Nobody
4. MAGIC MOUNTAIN PKWY

 

 

 

Compiled by Blurt Staff

 

206 digital, satellite and hi-def channels and nothin’ on?
Not likely. Here are BLURT’s top music television picks of the day. The time is
followed by the network/cable/satellite channel, then the name of the program
and/or featured artist(s). All times are EST. For a comprehensive hour-by-hour
listing, go to the VH1 Rock On TV site.
Note that for certain channels, shows frequently repeat during the day on or
subsequent days.

 

 

TIME (EST) / CHANNEL
/ PROGRAM / ARTIST(S)

 

 

7:00 AM NBC:  Today:
Katy Perry , Jesse McCartney , Pussycat Dolls

 

9:30 AM MHD Concerts: 
Gorillaz: Live in Harlem

 

1:30 PM Showtime Next: 
End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones

 

2:00 PM Biography: 
Hank Williams, Jr.

 

2:20 PM IFC: Roadside Prophets (1992) w/John Doe , Arlo
Guthrie , Beastie Boys

 

6:00 PM RAVE HD: Later With Jools Holland: Pearl
Jam , Corinne Bailey Rae , Jamie Foxx , The Zutons , Jenny Lewis , Spinto Band

 

8:00 PM BET Jazz: 
Club J Concerts: Rick James: Live at Rockpalast

 

9:00 PM MTV2: Celebrity Deathmatch: Mick Jagger , Steven
Tyler

 

9:00 PM NBC: Dateline NBC: Charles Manson

 

9:00 PM Sundance: Live from Abbey Road: Bryan Adams, Ben Harper,
Justin Currie

 

10:00 PM Sundance: Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man

 

11:35 PM NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Chuck Berry

 

12:05 AM ABC:  Jimmy
Kimmel Live: Glen Campbell

 

1:35 AM NBC:  Last
Call with Carson
Daly: Moby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First album in five years by Brother JT’s power trio comin’ atcha Oct. 21.

By Randy Harward

 

Brother JT is the blob! Of jelly, that is. The far-out genius of quote-unquote outsider music has once again assembled the Brother JT3 (with bass player Art DiFuria and drummer Jamie Knerr) to record a new joint called Jelly Roll Gospel. The record–the first by JT’s power trio in five long years–was recorded at Dan’s House Studio and JT’s place in Bethlehem, PA, and Drag City’s putting it out on Oct. 21.

 

 

 

As usual, Brother JT’s preaching his palatable version of the gospel–more uplift mofo party plan than Jeebus-or-Die. Here’s the official word from Drag City:

 

The constant for Brother JT3 over the years is a desire to lift you the listener up; to share reflections from a secret life that, for some, constitutes religion (we prefer the term ‘spirituality’ – but we’re not here to judge – not!) and to deliver the message in rhythmic but exotic rock n roll that has the basic necessities to move us – spiritually, of course, but more to the point – physically, dance-floor style. JELLY ROLL GOSPEL is no exception to the rule.

 

Although Blurt remains non-denominational, some of us adhere to the Bavarian Creme Gospel. But we’ll take Brother JT3 jams any way we can get ’em.

 

Track listing:

 

LIFT YOU UP

ACCIDENT WAITING

RIBBON DRIVER

WAY OUT

BAD VIBRATION

WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT

BELLYFAT (BONUS SONG)

DO YA GOOD

THANK YOU FOR BEING ME

EVERYTHING’S ALIVE