You and Me and All Our Friends, Such a Happy Human Race

Back in April, the Dave Matthews Band celebrated the twentieth anniversary of their very first performance together. Ironically to commemorate the occasion, the group decided to take the summer off for the first since that very first show in the band’s hometown of Charlottesville. Dave and the boys are playing four festival shows in Atlantic City (June 24-26), Chicago (July 8-10), New York), August 26-28), and their annual Labor Day weekend at The Gorge in Washington (September 2-4). Head over to DMBCaravan for more details for full lineups (act ranging from Ray LaMontange to The Roots to The Flaming Lips performing Dark Side of the Moon at different sites) and tickets.

If you cannot make it to one of the show but still need your Dave Matthews Band fix aside from all the Live Trax concerts you own, writer and DMB enthusiast Nikki Van Noy is celebrating the band’s vigintennial with her book So Much to Say: Dave Matthews Band – 20 Years on the Road. And if you are going to one (or more) of the festivals, the book makes for a great read in between sets as you brush up on your DMB history before the band writes its next chapter.

After starting off the book with her own history with the band (An Evening Spent Dancing) where she went from a reluctant concert goer to an instant fan, Nikki goes into a chronological history of the band starting with their formation (Getting Started) to the start of heavy touring schedule (The Little Red Van). The book then veers into the studio with their best known music (The Big Three), then the Lillywhite Sessions and the two albums born directly out of it (The Album That Wasn’t), and the following album Stand Up (Searching for the Sound). Then there is the tragic death of the band’s saxophonist (LeRoi Holloway Moore) and the album that was born from his death (LeRoi’s Legacy).

Yes the band’s history is the core of the book, but So Much to Say is as much about the band is it is about the fans of the Dave Matthews Band. Van Noy included personal accounts from every stage of the band’s careers from those that were there at the launch and talk about the shows from their weekly engagement as the now defunct Trax to fans as far flung as Australia where the band has only visited twice in the band’s career. The book even includes more than thirty-five original fan photos.

What really becomes clear throughout So Much to Say is there is no band out there that harnessed the internet better than the Dave Matthews Band and their fans. In the early years, word of mouth traveled easy from the early users of the new electronic-mail: college student. Then came mailing lists, message boards, blogs to today (seriously, type “Dave Matthews Band” in YouTube and see just how many performances have been uploaded); Nikki pulls quotes and talks to users and the people behind the sites frequently in the book. She even makes an apt comparison that the stat heavy national pastime is similar to DMB fans, just go to sites like DMBAlmanac to see just how true it is. Really the final two chapters in the books are pretty much just about the fans.

Some great tidbits throughout the book include a section on how some of the song titles came about (like how Dave liked to number the songs he wrote in order yet #27 was actually the 133rd song he wrote) to a part on wrong names that were dubbed by soundman Jeff “Bagby” Thomas (I’ll Back You Up labeled Let’s Get a Beer and rarity Heathcliff’s Haiku Warriors actually keeping its wrong name). There is also plenty of mythology sprinkled by fans during the book (a couple pages get devoted to the holy grail of DMB songs: Machead) which reminds me of the time my college roommate told me a tale of how his sister who went to Virginia saw Dave Matthews Band and Hootie & The Blowfish at the same frat house on the same night. And of course a good portion of the book is devoted to the band’s taping culture, which may have as much to do with the band’s success than anything else, and how it evolved over the years.

It’s hard to recommend So Much to Say to anyone not already a fan of Dave Matthews Band because there is no deep introspective passages of the band or even any new interviews with band members themselves. So Much to Say is a book written by a fan for fans and about fans. A newbie can read the book and have a deeper appreciation for the band and the fandom while longtime fans will enjoy the trip down memory lane even if they know all of the stories behind the band. Here’s hoping after this summer off we will get another twenty summers worth of shows where we can eat, drink, and be merry.



Full Disclosure Notice: This book was given to me by Simon and Schusters for the purpose of reviewing it.

I Want My Music Television - 6/6/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Walk – Foo Fighters



Falling Down is one of the great forgotten, only in the nineties, movies and maybe it is the right time for us to revisit it as we inch closer to an American without a WASP majority. But I was a little disappointed that the Foo Fighters did not give a shout out to the also from the nineties highway parking lot, Everybody Hurts - R.E.M. by R.E.M., by adding some subtitles to the other drivers.


Man Down – Rihanna



In other violent video news, Man Down has gotten a lot of flack for her new video. So for those keeping track at home, man on man violence: funny; chick on dude violence: inappropriate. But if Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix’s friend Joe can shoot trifling partners down, why not Rihanna. I just do not understand what is with the Drummer Boy chorus.


Back Down South – Kings of Leon



But speaking of nineties influence, I get a strong southern version of Smashing Pumpkin’s 1979 music video from the new Kings of Leon offering.


Home Is a Fire – Death Cab for Cutie



Not to knock Death Cab for Cutie, but didn’t Selena Gomez and the Scene make this exact video not too long ago. (Yes, yes they did.)

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 6/8/11

Quote of the Week: She kinda looked like Alanis Morrissette when she was better looking. That’s why she stood out. (Cabbie, The Killing)

Song of the Week: I'm Not In Love – 10cc (as sung by Zach Morris, Franklin and Bash)

Big News of the Week: Start of the Summer Television: The spring television season just ended but summer is almost already in full swing. Here is the shows that will keep me inside when the sun is shining and when they premiere.

Sundays
9:00 – Leverage (6/26 on TNT)
10:00 – Falling Skies (6/19 on TNT; premieres at 9:00 before moving to 10 the next week)

Tuesdays
8:00 - Pretty Little Liars (6/14 on ABC Family)
9:00 – The Nine Lives of Chloe King (6/14 on ABC Family)
10:00 - Covert Affairs (6/7 on USA)

Wednesdays
10:00 – Rescue Me (10:00 on FX)

Thursdays
10:00 – Wilfred (6/23 on FX)
10:30 – Louis (6/23 on FX)


The Killing: It seemed like the assistant guy had a complete personality adjustment in between episodes. It was as if the writers went up to the actor before the episode and say, “oh yeah, we are going to make you a suspect now so we want you to act emotionally stunted so it fits with the story we now want to tell.” Would it been to hard to tell the actor to act a little creepy from the beginning? You can download The Killing on iTunes.

Friday Night Lights: Holy Matt Saresen sighting! I did not see that coming, at least she did not make a u-turn to Tennessee. But I am beginning to fear for Coach Taylor because he has lost his cool multiple times over the past two episodes. He should not even threaten to bench Vince he should have done it after the stunt he pulled at the end of the game with the Panthers and the Oklahoma Tech visit should have put it over the edge. Hopefully Coach can get QB1 under control and quick. You can stream recent episodes on Hulu.




Free Download of the Week: Tripping Billies (Live At Wrigley Field) - Dave Matthews Band (Amazon MP3)

Deal of the Week: 100 Albums for $5 Each: It is not the 1000 plus albums that Amazon had on sale last month, but during the month of June you can get the new album from Death Cab for Cutie, Kanye West, Alicia Keys and the Shaft Soundtrack, which I hear is a bad mother… maybe I should just shut my mouth and let you listen for yourself.



New Album Release of the Week: The Book of Mormon - The Original Broadway Cast

New DVD Release of the Week: Just Go With It

Video of the Week: I hope you have a half an hour of free time today because there is a new Gathering of The Juggalos infomercial for 2011 has just dropped (of course they waited the week after Saturday Night Live wrapped up their season to release it). This should go without saying, but this video is not safe for work, children, pregnant woman, the elderly, Ass Dan or just about anyone.

2011 Gathering of the Juggalos Infomercial


Next Week Pick of the Week: Covert Affairs, Tuesday at 10:00 on USA: The first season was decent summer fluff (or so I think, I do not remember much of what happened during the first season) so hopefully the second season is as enjoyable (and maybe more memorable).

Around the Tubes - 6/3/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on Game of Thrones, Rescue Me, The Voice, Ice Road Truckers, HBO Summer Series, Mancations, concert apps, City and Colour, British television DVD's, The Good Wife, and Mitt Romney.

The eight episode of Game of Thrones airs this Sunday and here is a description of The Pointy End: "The Lannisters press their advantage over the Starks; Robb (Richard Madden) rallies his father’s northern allies and heads south to war." If that is not enough for you, here is a clip from the episode:



- Update your calendars, the seventh and final season of Rescue Me will now premiere on Wednesday, July 13 at 10:00 and will run Wednesday nights.

- In other programming news, in addition to the start of the live episodes of The Voice next Tuesday at 9:00, there will be a bonus episode Wednesday June, 22 starting at 8:00. NBC has also scheduled the season finale for Wednesday June 29.

- The new season of Ice Road Truckers returns this Sunday at 9:00 on History and to celebrate the premiere, there will be a special online chat with trucker Alex Debogorski immediately after the episode airs at 11:00. Head over to Facebook to RSVP.

- Ever Monday this summer starting June 6 HBO will be airing a new documentary at 9:00 for an eleven week run ranging from Bobby Fisher (which is the first documentary) to an undercover sex crime unit in Manhattan. Check out a promo below:



- Just a reminder that this Sunday is the premiere of Mancations on the Travel Channel.

- The summer season has just begun so that means it is time to go out to your local concert hall to see a show. And Appitalism.com making it easier including top apps like Concert Finder (free for Android) where you can find specific artists or browse what concerts are going on in a particular city or Concert Rat (free for iPhone) which lets you live blog text and photos from your music event.

- Fans of City and Colour should head over to Grooveshack where they can stream the band’ s new album Little Hell before it is released June 7. Look out for the band this summer at Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits.

- Acorn Media has a new batch of British television show set to hit American shelves this month including New Tricks Season 4, Robin of Sherwood, Set 1, Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Pale Horse, Wired, Under the Hammer, Weapons Races, George Gently Series 3, and The Far Pavilions.

- Is The Good Wife’s Alan Cumming the first post-Jewish Jewish politician on television? In Tablet magazine, Rachel Shteir examines the subject.

- In this week’s random political press release of the week, the Tea Party has launched a Stop Romney campaign because, “On issues like gun rights, gay rights, abortion, immigration, and health care, Romney has flipped more than John Kerry flopped.” This message has been brought to you by the good people of WesternPAC.org. But my favorite part of the press release is how they patted themselves on the back for supporting candidates that had “impressive primary victories” all of which lost in the general election. So enjoy another four years of Obama because you would rather nominate nutjobs like Michelle Bachman then someone who could actually beat Obama.