I feel stupid writing this post to introduce people to a tv show that has been on the air for more than fifteen years (according to Wikipedia), but no one I’ve mentioned it to has known what I was talking about. Earlier this week I woke up to discover a marathon of a show called “Later… with Jools Holland” on a cable station I never even knew I had called Ovation TV. It’s channel 155 on my Comcast Digital Cable. Not that that information helps you necessarily. Halfway through the first episode of this program I became unbelievably jealous of British people who have been able to watch this show for almost two decades on BBC 2.

If you’ve never seen it, the stage of the show is a giant circle with about five bands set up around it and a camera in the middle. The studio audience is seated in between and behind the bands. The show opens with all of the bands playing a short jam together while the camera spins around showing off the set up and who will be performing that evening. From there, Jools Holland introduces the first band who typically performs their latest song.

Here’s a clip to show you what I’m trying to describe:

After the first band finishes, the next band immediately starts. For the next hour it’s just one song after another by all of the bands. Once in awhile Jools will interview one of the headliners, but that’s the only break from the music.

And the bands that I caught in the last few days are amazing and varied from headliners like Pearl Jam, Coldplay, Metallica, Snow Patrol and Tom Jones to bands I love like The Who and The Hold Steady. There were world music acts from Africa and folk artists and everyone is talented… oh plus former Catwoman Eartha Kitt and Jamie Foxx. Yeah it’s crazy and I loved it.

Here’s an awesome clip:

In case you didn’t know it, Jools Holland spent the eighties in the band Squeeze, which you know for the song “Tempted.”

Considering all of the stupid shows the U.S. has imported from Britain and remade (Coupling, any Simon Cowell production, the Office), it kills me that there doesn’t seem to be a market here for an American version of this show. It just shows how dead rock is in the United States right now.

Support Ovation TV and this show.

There are YouTube clips for basically every good successful band ever playing this show. Check them out if you get bored.

Several months ago, I embarked on a journey into sound.  In an attempt to clear the clutter from my life I came across a treasure trove of old Philadelphia punk rock cassettes. So I armed myself with the technology I needed to bring these things back to life, namely an old cassette deck, an RCA to 1/8″ adapter and Apple’s GarageBand software.  I have to say, while time consuming, this process has been incredibly fulfilling.  I can once again enjoy the sounds of Space Christ, Chinny Chin Chin, Old Feziwig, and even a few rare gems from Ubisunt.  Yes, the quality is terrible when compared to other items in my iTunes library, but the tape hiss and imperfections are part of the music at this point and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m also converting some old VHS tapes to digital video just to complete the cycle.  Look out Saturday Night’s Main Event 11/28/87, you’re next!

It’s no secret that record stores have disappeared and the ones that are left probably don’t have much time. While digital distribution and music downloading (legally of course) is something I’m a big proponent of, it’s just not always the right solution for me. If I want to buy a song, or preview an album, or even just get information on a band, iTunes is the only place I turn at this point. However, if I want to buy an album (the whole thing, not just one or two songs), I’m still buying the CD. I need to have something tangible if I’m going to commit to music on that level. I want to see the way the artwork and packaging are designed, I want to see what the CD actually looks like. Of course, it only comes out of the packaging once, goes into my computer and becomes a series of ethereal ones and zeroes like everything else, but that doesn’t mean I want to simply download it.

The disappearance of music stores creates another type of problem for me in that most of what I listen to seems to fall through the cracks. It’s primarily bands that are not big enough to be carried by a big chain store and not special enough for a speciality shop. The most recent example is the new Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine album. After calling half a dozen music stores in the city, I found one store that had it – Main Street Music in Manayunk. Upon going there to pick it up, I was told they had one copy – used. Meaning that someone bought it, ripped it, and sold it within 2 weeks of its release. This may happen a lot, but I don’t know that it helps stores stay in business. I’m fairly certain I don’t agree with it. Sure, there’s a chance that someone just didn’t like the album and had a chance to divest themselves of it, but I’ll never know.

All I do know is that I intend to keep supporting the CD format until the bitter end, in approximately 3 years 5 days and 11 minutes.

You’ve seen this movie before. Over and over again.

You know that movie where the kid finds that thing they really love but their parents won’t approve so they hide it from them and do the thing they love anyway even though it’s definitely going to end badly when their parents find out and someone inevitable gets arrested and then the kid runs away but something bad happens so they go home and the whole family makes nice with each other and the kid goes to do the thing they love again and the parents come along begrudgingly but in the end the parents are proud of the kid and in the middle there is some female bonding and almost a few laughs but not quite and the girl from death proof is in it but just a little.

Yeah. Whip It is like that sentence only longer. There’s some good music in it though. Oh and they gave me a free t-shirt when I went in… so that was nice I guess.

Also there were real roller derby girls at the screening I was at and they were handing out flyers for a roller derby event at the 23rd Street Armory in Philly on Saturday. Doors open at 5 and it’s $25 at the door though there are some sort of VIP tickets available for $30. End of free plug.

I enjoy live music and have certainly paid to see my fair share of shows.  Summer festivals, arena acts, small clubs, dive bars, it’s all pretty much fair game, but I have to say something about the way Ticketmaster is hurting everyone.  This is not a new story, and I’m sure it will come as no surprise to many readers.  Let me start with an example.

One of my all-time favorites, Skinny Puppy, is touring this Fall and I received an alert about the ticket on-sale date from Ticketmaster.  This is good.  I go to their site to buy tickets for the show, face value $24.  This is acceptable.  I request two tickets for Angie and I.  An $8.50 Convenience Charge along with a $1 Building Facility Charge  is assessed per ticket.  This, this is unacceptable.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this, and it is not the first time that I have made the choice to get my tickets at the box office, regardless of the inconvenience.  Everyone hates to pay more for things, but this goes beyond that.  My problem is with the way this continues to hurt artists and venues.  I urge you, don’t pay 40% more than the price set by the promoters and performers.  To try to combat this, other outlets are trying to offer more reasonable convenience charges, but a $5 fee per ticket isn’t much better.  Go to the box office, I’ll meet you there.