Weekly FeaturesMay 14-20Issue 2.01by The Editors • Read shared stories from Paul and other writers and editors who worked on the original Crawdaddy! (plus our own Denise Sullivan who writes quite eloquently on the Crawdaddy! spirit). As we take time this issue to pay homage to the original, as our own one-year anniversary wouldn’t even be remotely possible without it, we hope you enjoy them as they recount their insightful tales. …read more by Paul Williams • The first issue of the first American rock music magazine was printed on Sunday, January 30, 1966, in a basement in Brooklyn, New York, on the Qwertyuiop Press mimeograph belonging to and operated by Ted White, a science fiction fan (and writer and editor). The date on the masthead was February 7, because the 17-year-old founder unreasonably intended it to be a weekly magazine…read more by Lavinia Jones Wright • Enter Oasis and Dr. Dog—an English, stadium-filling, anthemic rock band with terrifying egos, and a rootsy Philadelphia gaggle of hippies—bands that have almost nothing in common except that they wear their Beatles influences on their sleeves. When the music industry’s gaze started to shift away from the singles system and toward album-oriented rock…read more Recently in Feature Stories Recently in Classic Vantage Recently in The Switchback
by Eric Weisbard • Use Your Illusion, then, arguably marked the end of rock in the weird shape it had taken when the sixties ended: Mass culture masquerading as oppositional culture ...read more by Matt Gewolb • The Nashville-based Kimbrough has always been outspoken, but his latest record, Americanitis, took the political discourse to another level. ...read moreby C! Team • We work really hard just for you. Sometimes that means going to really cool shows all over town. This time around entailed Kim Deal singing sweetly to us. Woe is us. ...read moreby Sarah Flynn • While 2008’s breed of female singer-songwriters are familiar with framing relationships in witty, biting lyrics, Tegan & Sara were creating their own field of view in 2002. ...read more
It's our one-year anniversary and the start of Volume Two... hooray! The first year is always a huge milestone for a publication, and with this one we have great things in store for you to celebrate along with us. Check out the feature story this week for a look back with original contributers recounting old tales of the magazine's salad days. They're nothing short of amazing. Also, original fans and new readers curious about those first years can now peruse the first original 19 issues of Crawdaddy! here. Yours truly, C!
Even a committed fan could be forgiven for fearing some unpleasant fate had befallen the Old 97’s. Besides an unremarkable live disc, we’ve heard nary a power chord from the countrified Dallas rockers since 2004’s Drag It Up. Frontman Rhett Miller's foursome is still very much intact, and Blame It on Gravity marks the band’s seventh studio LP over a 15-year career. But a four-year absence from the public eye is enough to produce some rust ...read more by Steve Matteo"there isn’t a bad song in the lot and the production strikes a perfect balance"...read more by Angela Zimmerman"The songs explore intricacies of the human condition and politics"...read more by j. poet"they know how to lock into a solid groove and ride it like a bucking bronco"...read more by David MacFadden-Elliott"coastal pastiche soaking in the reverb with a rip-current of gloom and nostalgia"...read more by Jocelyn Hoppa"this covers album is full of revered yet obscured singer-songwriters"...read more Pete Townshend, Day on the Green
October 9, 1976, Oakland Coliseum Stadium
Photography by Michael Zagaris Prior to taking the stage before 50,000 people, photographer Michael Zagaris captures the Who’s principal songwriter in a private moment. Perhaps he sensed this would be their last US show with Keith Moon? This Day on the Green was one of a series of massive day festivals that Bill Graham presented for the Bay Area, and he always secured massive headliners, the Who being no exception. This snapshot of Pete Townshend is a rare moment of quiet before the band exploded onstage. Of this performance, Michael Zagaris says, “On this day they were incredibly dynamic.” |
Daily UpdatesMay 14 Jandek is, without a doubt, one of the most intriguing musicians out there. He's incredibly obscure (he doesn't even use his own name), and he's released 45 since 1978 albums. Uh, that's a lot. Despite, or perhaps because of, this total enigma, in 2005 a tribute album called Down in a Mirror: A Second Tribute to Jandek was released with contributions by Jeff Tweedy, Mountain Goats, Okkervil River, Eric Gaffney, and lots more. It's an incredible testament to the durability of Jandek's songwriting.
Ozzfest has been reduced to a one-day festival in Dallas, with Ozzy (duh), Metallica, and Serj Tankian among the performers. (Billboard) Everyone's favorite corporation, Clear Channel, is about to be bought by two private equity firms after a year of negotiations. (NY Times) I know more than one person who'd appreciate this. The first interactive hard rock and metal site, BITPOM, has been launched. (CMJ) The Grateful Dead didn't want their music on a mix by Sleater Kinney's Carrie Brownstein to be played on NPR unless they got an All Things Considered segment. Why so greedy?! (Idolator) Michael Jackon's Neverland Ranch was bought by an investment company, thereby saving the place from foreclosure. (NME) Equally creepy and cool, Neil Young has a new species of the trapdoor spider named after him: Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. (Reuters) Sir Paul's lengthy, much publicized divorce from Heather Mills is set to be finalized. (Gigwise) TapeDeck lets you record whatever you want and the "tapes" can be sent to you iPod or AppleTV via iTunes, or family and friends via email. (Wired) Steve Nowack, founder of free music label SOS, said "Steve Jobs... does not give a shit about music." Oh, snap. (Hypebot) "Dancing days are here again
As the summer evenings grow
I got my flower, I got my power
I got a woman who knows
I said its alright
You know its alright
I guess its all in my heart" - Led Zeppelin, "Dancing Days" On this day in 1976
Keith Relf, lead singer and harmonica player for the Yardbirds, was fatally electrocuted at 33-years-old while trying to tune an electric guitar. 1928: Will “Dub” Jones, The Coasters
1936: Bobby Darin
1943: Jack Bruce, Cream
1952: David Byrne, Talking Heads
1962: Ian Astbury, The Cult
1962: CC DeVille, Poison
1966: Mike Inez, Alice in Chains
1978: Henry Garza, Los Lonely Boys While the original clip for Flight of the Conchords' "Ladies of the World was inspired by a world music club night, the official video has more to do with rollerskating. (And it looks like Jemaine's got some new facial hair!)
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