Juan Apagado is too strong

For some reason the MySpace profile of Juan Apagado was deleted in the last couple days. I have no idea why, I didn't recieve any emails notifying me of any issues with my account. Weird. I sent a message to the MySpace folks to find out why Juan was deleted. So I wait. Obviously, jealousy of my immense talent played a part in all of this.

Edit: Juan Apagado has reappeared. Strange.

Top5 - Giggin' edition

A very simple and plain Top5 this week. I’ve picked a song from all the people playing the Acadia on Saturday. Since this is my blog and I am narcissistic, I have chosen two of my songs. One from my old band, Bubba Loo Hugby and one from my alter-ego, Juan Apagado.

Don’t forget about the Acadia Saturday night.

1. On That Day – Jim Soule
2. 1995 – High on Stress (Nick Leet)
3. Heaven and Children – Brian Just
4. Hank – Bubba Loo Hugby
5. She Said – Juan Apagado

My Life with Radio

Driving home the other day I was listening to The Current as I often do. A song came on with what sounded like a 15-year-old girl singing, and I was like, "Man I know that voice from somewhere. What is it?"

Then came the chorus, "mmm-bop, badoodybop, mmmbop, fjaposidcho..." or something like that. Was I a)terrified, b)amused, c)suicidal, because for a moment I though I might like this song, d) all of the above.

answer: d

Thank you Mary Lucia.

Top 5

1. Coppertone – Duplomacy

All These Long Drives is an amazing album. I saw them live last weekend and this song stuck with me. Andy Flynn and Adam Egerdahl perform some devastating vocal nuances.

2. Forest Whitiker – Brother Ali

I’ve heard of Brother Ali for a few years now, but I haven’t really checked him out. I saw him once at First Avenue, but I was not impressed. I’ve changed my mind though. I don’t remember how I got the mp3 into my iPod, but it is there now and one day it jumped out and bit me.
To everyone out there who’s a little different
I say, “damn a magazine these is God’s fingerprints
You can call me ugly, but can’t take nothing from me
I am what I am Doctor, you aint gotta’ love me”

3. Dress Blues - Drive by Truckers
   

Mary Lucia has been playing this song on her show for a few weeks now. When DBT were last here, guitarist and singer Jason Isbell played this song live at the Current studios. This is a killer song about a young man dying at war and leaving his family behind. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself.

4. New Resolution – Heartless Bastards

I am really digging this band. Singer Erika Wennerstrom has a voice as big as Dallas. I am usually into mopey depressing lyrics, but this is as hopeful as you can get. I guess, in addition to despair, I also appreciate people who can say Fuck You so eloquently.
My new resolution is to be
Someone who does not care what anyone thinks of me
‘Cause I don’t even like myself half of the time
And what’s the use in worrying what’s on other people’s minds

5. I Saw Her at The Anti-war Demonstration – Jens Lekman

I just saw that Jens is playing the Triple Rock in a few weeks. If I am around, I would like to check him out. He reminds me of local band The Deaths, in that he seems to revel in 60s psychedelic rock. Like The Deaths, he pulls it off sincerely.

Juan Apagado at the Acadia

My yearly attempt at rock stardom is coming up on July 22.
Thanks to Nick Leet for hooking up a kid.

Top 5 - New (to me)

What I have been listening to this week:

1. Catholic Boys – The Mad Ripple

Yes I have a man-crush on Jim Walsh. I don’t think I am the only one. Walsh’s songs are filled with as much heart as his articles have been for as long as I’ve been reading him. This is one of those songs where it is so simple, yet so beautiful, that you just find yourself nodding along thinking, “Man. I wish I had written that.”

2. Ghostly Feeling – Beight

I finally bought this album after downloading and falling in love with the song “Junior High Smiles” months ago. Brad Senne, the voice and soul of Beight, created a wonderful mix of introspective acoustic and powerful pop songs. “Ghostly Feeling,” I think, combines these two extremes skillfully.

3. Where the River Bends – Tim O’Reagan

This buzzed about album was finally released and rightfully received a fair amount of press. There is nothing mind-blowing on the album, but it is good. Big Beatles hooks highlight the songs, not to mention quite a bit of the Jayhawks’ sound as well.

4. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple

I heard this song on Mary Lucia’s show last week and had to go and buy the album. This is an orchestral big band swing song. The rest of the album sounds like, well, Fiona Apple. I wish it sounded more like this title track.

5. Out of Sleep – Bubba Loo Hugby

Narcissistic? Probably, I am a musician turned writer I think it is part of the job description. Really, I am getting ready for my gig as my nom de guerre, Juan Apagado, July 22 at the Acadia. I was listening to this song that I haven’t played in at least five years and trying to figure it out. It should be a good time. It’s fun to go back and revisit songs that I haven’t thought about in a while. I played once last summer and before that it had been about 4 years.

Duluth

In writing my review of Wilco at the DECC Auditorium this past Sunday, I left out the opener, Black-Eyed Snakes. They were deserving of a write up, but there was so much Wilco to write that I just didn't have room

Black-Eyed Snakes were quite fantastic however. I could see the veins on Alan Sparhawks neck and forehead as big as extension cord wires from my seat in row L. That guy sings from his soul and his gut for sure. It was like he was posessed. My wife turned to me a few songs in to instruct me to buy this CD for her. Will do.

Duluth was OK. I knew we shouldn't have gone to Grandma's to eat, but we did and it sucked.

The toilet in my hotel room didn't flush.

The alarm clock in my room was set an hour fast, only me nor my wife did not notice. We got up an hour earlier than we thought we were getting up. We didn't realize it until we had already checked out and were waiting in the lobby for our friends with whom we drove up. So we had to kill an hour on a Monday morning in Duluth. It was all fun though.