Does Jim DeRogatis Have a Point?

Jim DeRogatis, rock critic for the Chicago Sun-Times for 15 of the last 18 years, pulled the plug on that relationship last week, announcing he was going to become a full-time instructor at Columbia College and a blogger for Chicago Public Radio's Vocalo.org website.

One of Chicago's two high-profile rock critics (the other being The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot), DeRogatis has a real knack for raising the hackles of many a music fan for what many believe is unreasonable, unfair, or pointedly unrealistic reviews of music -- both live and recorded -- of fans' favorite bands. A long-standing devotee of the Lester Bangs' School of Rock Writing (Bangs' bloodletting is available in the aptly titled "Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung" book, edited by Greil Marcus), DeRogatis can annoy by constantly harkening back to the Golden Age of many (most? all?) artists he reviews. He is disappointed in Van Morrison recordings and performances because they aren't Astral Weeks. He laments that R.E.M. of today isn't R.E.M. of Murmer or even Automatic for the People. He wants the 60-year-old Bruce Springsteen to be writing young man's records Born to Run, and Darkness on the Edge of Town. His Neil Young peak was reached in the late 1970s and rare is the recording that can be held up against Tonight's the Night. He rails against U2 for becoming the megastars they are, leaving behind the adventurous and risk-taking foursome that produced War and Achtung Baby! And don't even get him started on the Rolling Stones.

But he does have a point.

Music, particularly rock music, used to represent -- used to be -- a way of life. Artists, the best ones, would share their soul, let loose their emotions, let you in on their secrets, present almost carthartic live shows that would leave concertgoers raving, spent, enthused, enraged, shocked.. something... by the end of the night. But when was the last time you left a concert feeling like that? When was the last time you put a record on the turntable (OK, CD in the player or download on the Ipod) and weren't able to turn it off, instead hitting replay and sitting and listening to it again, whether in joy or disbelief? Not that in never happens but that it rarely happens and DeRogatis thinks that it should happen all the time.

It's clear that it doesn't happen all that often, and that's what DeRogatis is railing against (and probably what he will continue to rail against in his new gig).

Like Bangs, DeRogatis is demanding and unforgiving. He holds new artists to the standards set by those who came before them, connecting dots from doo-wop to R&B to Hendrix and hip-hop, and he thinks if a band connects among those dots it has a lot to live up to. But all new artists aren't going to be The Clash.

And he holds all bands accountable to their own history and own back catalog. In many cases those are pretty tough mountains to reclimb. The Rolling Stones have never surpassed Exile on Main Street and Sticky Fingers -- it's likely they never will. Van Morrison won't write another Astral Weeks. U2 won't be recording another The Joshua Tree. But that's not an indictment of those bands; those records and the tours that supported (or introduced) them are the results of events and people and politics in specific times and specific places. Unless those moments can be repeated, unless we can all become young again, those times and the energy that created that music are gone.

DeRogatis should know that. He can hold a band's 5-star record as a beacon or a tremendous past concert as an event to be cherished and one day hopefully surpassed, but he also needs to recognize those heights are scaled rarely and it's unfair to expect artists to constantly re-reach their peak.

DeRogatis wants records and concerts that are statements -- about the world, the songwriter, the country, the band -- music that says something. He wants to hear risk, adventure, fearlessness (or even fear), and he doesn't want to hear new for new sake and he certainly doesn't want to hear slick. DeRogatis doesn't believe in rock 'n' roll as entertainment. It's not a night in front of the TV and it's not a night out at the movies -- or at least it shouldn't be.

"I believe it should be held up to the status of 'Going out to the show tonight should change your life'," DeRogatis told the Tribune. "It should not just be 'I paid $250 to see Us at Soldier Field and they had a lot of fancy lights.' I hate that. I can't relate to that."

Yes, he does have a point.

Video Of The Week: Nirvana Live At Reading

To keep with the theme of Nirvana and appreciating the past, the video of the week this week takes us to the legendary Reading concert in 1992. In this clip, the band blasts through In Bloom for your enjoyment. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!

Nirvana Shapes The Future From The Past

Normally, album reviews typically are saved for current bands and current records. However, occasionally a band from the past rears its head back into the mainstream spotlight with a release that leaves listeners wishing there could be more. Such is the case with Nirvana.

Nirvana has seen its fair share of ups and downs since front-man, Kurt Cobain, passed away in 1994. Between the legal battles and infighting throughout years, the remaining band members have been able to provide countless new Nirvana releases for their millions of fans. Through those releases, whether it be the Unplugged album, the live Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah release, the greatest hits record, or the three disc demo box set, Nirvana has been able to remain relevant in the years since Cobain’s death and the disbandment of the group.

Their most recent release “Live At Reading,” accomplishes that and much, much more. “Reading,” recorded at the Reading Festival in 1992, was the stage for one of Nirvana’s most legendary performances that many Nirvana fans had heard about and had been waiting for, for years. It was 100% worth the wait.
The sound on the album is as pristine as ever. On live releases from loud rock bands, it can be difficult to detect the crispness and depth of the group on stage, but this recording maintains that element perfectly. Cobain’s voice is clear as can be, when he wants it to, all the other times it’s loud and destructive, fitting each song like a glove.

The show was deemed legendary for a reason. The set-list encompasses all of the band’s records (Bleach, Incesticide, and Nevermind) up until that point in their history. The album opens with Breed and proceeds through Aneurysm, Sliver, Come As You Are, Lithium, Polly, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Been A Son, Dumb, All Apologizes, and Territorial Pissings. Each of those songs are rocked with a passion and confidence regularly unseen and unheard of in the alternative rock world today. The highlight of the show is a blistering version of Nevermind’s In Bloom. Dave Grohl’s heavy and intense drumming lead the song along with Cobain’s raspy, loud yelling voice and scorching guitar playing. While it is a long-time fan favorite, this version of In Bloom perfectly displays why Nirvana was who they were and why they were so important to the history of music.

Grunge lovers on down to emo-punk fanatics and beyond will appreciate this record by recognizing that without a performance like the one displayed on the “Reading” album, it is possible that the style of music they know and love may have never come to be. There is so much great music out there today and with all of it, it’s hard to find the desire to look back to the past at bands that shaped the present and the future. This album will create that desire in you. It is a true testament to what Nirvana was as a group and how they created a genre of music and defined a generation.

Dead Weather to Release Sea of Cowards

Just like in the 1960s when bands would release two or even three albums a year, The Dead Weather will release their second record May 11. Titled Sea of Cowards, the 11-song record is the latest from one of Jack White's music adventures featuring lead singer Alison Mosshart (of The Kills), guitarist Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), bassist Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs), and White (White Stripes, The Raconteurs) on drums and vocals.

White produced Cowards and also produced The Dead Weather's first release, Horehound (check out our review ), both recorded at his new Nashville studio.

You can pre-order an audiophile vinyl copy from Music Direct, (800-449-8333) or just wait 'till the CD and downloads are available.

Sea of Cowards track list:

1. Blue Blood Blues
2. Hustle And Cuss
3. The Difference Between Us
4. I'm Mad
5. Die By The Drop
6. I Can't Hear You
7. Gasoline
8. No Horse
9. Looking At The Invisible Man
10. Jawbreaker
11. Old Mary

Song Of The Week: The Gaslight Anthem Introduces New Slang

After a year long tour in 2009, New Jersey rockers, The Gaslight Anthem, checked into the studio to ring in 2010, and we finally get to hear what they've been working on. Your song of the week this week is American Slang, the first single from Gaslight's upcoming album "American Slang," which will hit stores on June 18th of this year. Frequently, Gaslight lead singer Brian Fallon has compared some of the new stuff to Social Distortion, do you agree? Let us know what you think. Enjoy!

The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang.mp3

Chicago Weekend Concert Info 4/23-4/25

Here is this weekend's Chicago concert info!

Bottom Lounge
4/23 - The Whigs, Empires, Old Fake
4/24 - Milano, The Atomica Project, Ayanami, Ode, Mosquitos Fleet

Schubas
4/23 - Marie Digby, Elmwood, Daphne Willis
4/24 - Camera, Makeshiftprodigy, The Mary Onettes

Lincoln Hall
4/23 - Carbon Leaf, Alex Band
4/24 - Umphrey's McGee
4/25 - The Album Leaf, Sea Wolf

Cubby Bear
4/23 - Blackened, Black Angus
4/24 - Model Stranger, Verona Red, The Flavor Savors, Cavalry

Video Of The Week: Paramore Covers Kings Of Leon

In a pseudo rare clip, the Straight Lines Music video of the week comes to us from Paramore and Kings Of Leon. Not in a duet fashion, though that would be cool, but in the form of the cover. In the clip, Paramore tries their hand at Use Somebody, the grammy award winning smash hit from 2009. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!

Green Day Crosses Over on Broadway

Green Day's efforts at creating a Broadway musical based on its American Idiot record appear to have been successful, if Chris Jones' review in today's Chicago Tribune are on the money. The musical did show signs of life when first previewed at the 2010 Grammy Awards, but Green Day supported that effort by playing live. Jones says the music and singing do a great job of selling the story - even if the story itself is a little weak.

Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune

According to a recent article in Rolling Stone, the just-released Valleys of Neptune album is the first in what will likely be years and years of releases of studio recordings, concert recordings, films, and DVD's because there are apparently closets stacked full of tapes that the Experience Hendrix caretakers (headed by Hendrix's stepsister) have only begun to investigate.

That's because Hendrix recorded just about everything he ever did in a studio or on a stage and because he controlled all the rights to all his music -- rare for a musician in the 1960s.

If Valleys is a hint of what's to come, bring it on. Experience Hendrix says the 12 cuts on the record are "fully realized studio recordings," and while that's probably not the case -- they sound great but most Hendrix experts think he was just working out in the studio, trying to refine his next direction after the huge success of Electric Ladyland -- they are a great listen anyway. Most of the cuts are with the original Experience, Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums, but by the time of these sessions the Experience was, for all practical purposes, over and Hendrix was looking elsewhere for ideas and inspiration.

He tapped ex-Army buddy bassist Billy Cox to lend a new and open feel to the familiar "Stone Free," drive "Bleeding Heart," and lay a deep bottom on "Valleys," and he brought in a variety of percussionists to affect the spirit of a handful of cuts.

Three of the songs ("Ships Passing Through the Night," "Crying Blue Rain," and "Valleys of Neptune") are unreleased Hendrix originals, and the others are reworkings of songs Hendrix had recorded or played live for years, including Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" and Elmore James' "Bleeding Heart." At least one, "Lullaby for the Summer," eventually morphed into "Ezy Ryder" but is here in a very satisfying complete take.

And though the Experience was on its last legs from a personnel standpoint, this music is right up there with some of their best stuff. A languid "Red House" almost stops dead it's taken so slow before grinding guitar cranks it back up. "Hear My Train A Comin," originally stripped and rebuilt with session players on the posthumous terrible, Crash Landing, is given a great new life with all original elements intact. "Fire" is taken at an almost breakneck speed for this tune, and the newly released "Ships Passing Through the Night" finds Hendrix playing a watery-sounding guitar that sloshes more than slices over Redding's bass and Chandler's steady if sometimes frilly drumming. "Sunshine," which Hendrix respected, is given a vocal-less treatment (one indication he's playing and searching for something) and a chunky, chugging guitar interlude in the middle leads the song into a direction altogether different from where Cream would have take it.

For those familiar with the Hendrix catalog Valleys of Neptune is a great addition, offering insights into what the Jimi Hendrix Experience was still capable of and where Hendrix was heading shortly before he died in 1970, and the addition of Cox hints at the soon-to-come Band of Gypsys sound.

But for those new to Hendrix start with the more accessible Smash Hits (avoid Midnight Lightning and Crash Landing which are now available only used because they've been discontinued) and then move to any of the studio albums before tackling Valleys of Neptune. Not that there's anything wrong with this, but Hendrix put his stamp of approval on only four records before he died so those are the places to start.

Soundgarden Plays Reunion Show In Seattle

Soundgarden played their first show in over 13 years this past Friday, taking the stage under the name Nudedragons, an anagram of Soundgarden. The show took place at a small venue in Seattle known as Seattle's Showbox At The Market. The band kicked off their two hour set with Spoonman and followed that up with hits like Rusty Cage, Fell On Black Days, and Pretty Noose. They closed the set with a cover of The Doors' Waiting For The Sun.

Soundgarden announced their return to the music world earlier this year. No word yet on whether or not they will head to the studio and cut a new record. Soundgarden's only other confirmed performance will be at this year's Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.

Art and Art: Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground

Isn't it amazing how one form of art leads to -- or runs smack into -- another? And how the two forms can amplify each other to the point where their influence is compounded? That's exactly what happened when successful Pop artist Andy Warhol turned the Velvet Underground into one of the greatest house bands the world has ever known.

In "Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol," Tony Scherman and David Dalton set out to peel back the layers of Warhol, The Factory artist loft and NYC 1960s hot spot, its "superstars," and dispel myths and correct rumors along the way. Nice job, too. Warhol was a leading force in the Pop Art movement, and there has always been the question: Did he know what he was doing or was it all just a put on? There's no question where Scherman and Dalton stand: Genius, with a little luck, hard work, and good timing. Warhol had visions of what he wanted to challenge and change, and when he succeeded with one idea he got bored and moved on to another (before he became enthralled with his own celebrity.

Warhol started with painting (really silk screening) and soon moved on to making films with unintelligible dialogue -- conversation was either recorded too quiet or overlapped with other conversations. It became as much texture as real conversation, almost like a rhythm track or music overlayed onto the film (and it was unimportant anyway because the movies had little to no plot to develop) and that overlapped conversation opened the door for the Velvet Underground.



Eventually Warhol moved on from movies to "live" events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (EPI) and that's where the Velvet Underground comes in. The band, known originally as the Warlocks, was playing around the Lower East Side of New York City and were brought into Warhol's circle. There couldn't have been a better match.

Warhol added Christa Paffgen, a German chanteuse he rechristened Nico, and the EPI had its band. And just like his movies the EPI was directionless, without focus, but with activity ongoing beneath strobe lights and blacklights and in the shadows...and The Velvets played under and over the top of everything. They played noisy electric music (check out the rare video below of a performance of "Venus in Furs" at the factory with Edie Sedgwick dancing and Gerard Malanga with the whip), soft melodic acoustic pop, and hard driving rock (listen to and watch a Warhol video of the band performing "Waiting for the Man") -- all in the dark and all with little guidance or direction -- Warhol let them create on their own.



Eventually he helped get them a record contract and designed one of the most recognized LP covers in rock history -- the banana cover, which in its original version could be peeled. Eventually Lou Reed, leader of the Velvets, and Warhol had a falling out. But at this point in their artistic lives their working together was a perfect storm for both artists. And what Warhol offered the Velvets -- opportunity -- and what they offered him -- loud, barely controlled, edgy, sometimes melodic sound -- was exactly what each needed.

Spoon Creates Big Noise With Inventive Indie Sound

It seems that the longer and longer and indie band stays around, the closer and closer they become to the mainstream. In the midst of trying incredibly hard to be and stay different, it can be hard for bands to reinvent themselves enough times to make them relevantly irrelevant. Relevantly irrelevant. If it sounds like a made up concept, it is. But, though it is made up, it seems like the perfect way to describe Spoon’s newest record, “Transference.” With Transference, Spoon writes the book every indie band should study on how to stay different with a new invention of sound and lyrics, while at the same time forcibly becoming relevant enough to succeed and call that new sound their own.

I know it is not surprising considering the band has been putting out albums since 1996, but the crispness of each instrument played on this album is astounding. Each guitar note resonates clearly on each song as do the drum beats and the occasional piano that is featured on a few tracks. In addition to the lyrics holding the record together, the untraditional musicality of the album helps string it together as well. Untraditional, not in a negative way, but in a different way, a way in which Spoon makes that separation from regular indie band trying too hard, to indie band with something new and interesting to share. Instead of the music smoothly holding the album together, Spoon chops it up, leaving the album held together by jumpy, beat driven tunes with abrupt endings. Upon the first listen it sounds a bit strange, but keeps you attentive and craving more.

On Mystery Zone, that beat driven spaciness is more prevalent than ever. Throughout the tune, the beats and musicality gets branded into you until you feel as if you are in your own Mystery Zone and therefore unaware of the fact that you have been listening to the same beats and music for five minutes. It’s an uncommon feeling to have, especially for a radio single, but it is a refreshing feeling that keeps you listening.

Other notable tracks on the record are Who Makes Your Money, another oddly beat filled song with an accompanying guitar, I Saw The Light, which includes a riveting closing jam, and Before Destruction, the song that opens the record and sets the groundwork for what’s to come as the album progresses.

Relevantly irrelevant. Spoon becomes that with this record. Between the odd beats, crisp guitar, and quirky lyrics, Spoon has created an indie masterpiece that sets them in a league of their own. Relevant enough to be talked about and irrelevant enough to maintain their outsider status and the unwritten OK to try whatever it is they want to try. Every indie bands dream, right? We can only hope.

It is one thing to make an album that sounds different just for the sake of being different. It would seem as if anyone could try and do that. The trick is creating an album with that element of different that enhances the listening experience and that truly makes the jump off track worthwhile. Spoon does that with Transference and hopefully will continue to do it on many albums to come.

Kurt Cobain Prepped Early For Rock Superstardom

In a potential historic discovery, it is being reported that a batch of old recordings from grunge legend and Nirvana front-man, Kurt Cobain, have been retrieved from a garage sale in Aberdeen, Washington.

Who would put that kind of thing in a junk sale, we have no idea.

Producers Butch Vig and Jack Endino have both verified that the tapes are self-recordings of Cobain at the age of eight or nine. On the tapes, Cobain is heard playing the acoustic guitar and ukulele while singing about Richard Nixon.

Not too many ukuleles featured on Nirvana albums. He must have weeded that from his system at an early age.

"The Wall" To Be Rebuilt

Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is being rebuilt by Roger Waters. After months of speculation Waters announced that he will be taking the historic album on the road for a 36 show tour starting in September. Waters embarked on a similar tour in 2007 with "Dark Side Of The Moon."

According to billboard.com, The Wall tour will be a state of the art affair featuring a 35 foot high wall designed to be torn down. Billboard is reporting that other special effects are to be included in the show as well.

Roger Waters and The Wall tour will roll into Chicago for two shows at the United Center on September 20th and 21st. The on-sale dates for tickets are not available at this time. Be sure to check back as we will have all that information as it becomes available.

Lollapalooza Palooza!

Here it is. The much awaited lineup for Lollapalooza 2010. Our initial reaction: Awesome. The bands are all over the board in terms of genre and style; a great thing when assembling a weekend of music. The headliners of Soundgarden, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, The Strokes, and Phoenix provide something for everyone. Lump in bands like MGMT, Spoon, The Black Keys, and a reuniting Social Distortion, and what a 10 band schedule you have already. Take a further look down the lineup and you'll see bands like The National, Cypress Hill, Cut Copy, The New Pornographers, Wolfmother, Chromeo, Drive By Truckers, AFI, and Mutemath. All fantastic supporting bands for the headliners. Can these 19 bands all play at different times please? Check out the full lineup below.

* Soundgarden
* Green Day
* Lady Gaga
* Arcade Fire
* The Strokes
* Phoenix
* Social Distortion
* MGMT
* Jimmy Cliff
* Hot Chip
* The Black Keys

* The National
* Spoon
* Devo
* Cypress Hill
* Cut Copy
* The New Pornographers
* Erykah Badu
* Slightly Stoopid
* Grizzly Bear
* Gogol Bordello
* Chromeo
* Wolfmother
* Yeasayer
* X Japan
* MUTEMATH
* Metric
* Dirty Projectors
* AFI
* Mavis Staples
* Matt & Kim
* The xx
* Drive-By Truckers
* Blues Traveler
* Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
* The Temper Trap
* Jamie Lidell
* Frightened Rabbit
* F**k Buttons
* Deer Tick
* Blitzen Trapper
* Stars
* Raphael Saadiq
* The Cribs
* Minus the Bear
* Switchfoot
* The Walkmen
* Mumford & Sons
* Wild Beasts
* Rogue Wave
* Los Amigos Invisibles
* The Big Pink
* The Dodos
* Hockey
* Cymbals Eat Guitars
* B.o.B
* Dawes
* Warpaint
* The Antlers
* The Soft Pack
* Rebelution
* Balkan Beat Box
* Wavves
* American Bang
* The Ike Reilly Assassination
* Company of Thieves
* Nneka
* Harlem
* The Constellations
* Miniature Tigers
* Mimicking Birds
* The Kissaway Trail
* HEALTH
* Javelin
* The Morning Benders
* Foxy Shazam
* Violent Soho
* Royal Bangs
* Freelance Whales
* Semi Precious Weapons
* Dan Black
* The Band of Heathens
* Dragonette
* My Dear Disco
* Shawn Fisher
* Neon Hitch
* Skybox
* The Ettes
* Jukebox the Ghost
* These United States
* MyNameIsJohnMichael

Admittedly, Lady Gaga as a headliner is a bit of a head scratcher. That is until you remember what she has done to and for the music industry in the last year. As it should, Lollapalooza tries to represent all of what is going on in the music industry. To do that efficiently, acts like Lady Gaga need to be included.

What does everyone think? Who are you most excited for? Anybody you dislike in this years lineup? Leave a comment and let us know. The set times for the weekend have not been announced as of yet. We will post that very important Lollapalooza information when it becomes available.

Video Of The Week: Last Of The American Girl

Sticking with the spirit of Lollapalooza, this week's video comes from one of this year's festival headliners, Green Day. The band's most recent album, 21st Century Breakdown, is almost one year old now and still cranking out hit singles. The most recent is Last Of The American Girl, the third off the album. The band released the video for the song last week and we have it below for your enjoyment. Let us know what you think.

Booker T, DBTs, and Neil Young Fall Into the Potato Hole

When essential Sixties' musicians decide it's time for a comeback record there's the tendency to dismiss their effort even before the first light of the laser hits it on the CD player. Certainly not fair, but the questions that immediately come to mind are, "Why? What made you want to put a record out now?"

Well, as far as Booker T. Jones is concerned maybe the answer is he just felt it.

On his new all-instrumental CD Potato Hole Jones plays organ on every cut -- just as he did as leader of the Stax Records house band Booker T and the MGs -- and is supported by Drive By Truckers and Neil Young throughout (they sent Young the tapes and he added the guitar after the rest was done). It's a nice mix and here's why: Whether Jones sought them out or DBT had an idea and brought it to him, the Truckers form a solid base for Jones to build on. The Truckers know their role, Jones can play rhythm chords or organ leads, and both make room for Young, who shows once again how adaptable his guitar playing is. Young has played with Jones before, when Booker T and the MGs backed him on late 1980s international tour (where he covered Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay," which featured Booker T and MGs). This is Booker T Jones' new R&B record and Young and the DBTs want to funk it up, just like Jones does. And whether on Jones' own "Pound It Out," Tom Waits' "Get Behind the Mule," Outkast's "Hey Ya," or DBT's "Space City" this is one funky record -- and it won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

Booker T kicks off "Pound It Out" with a series of head-bopping single solo organ notes that lead to a crunchy DBT rhythm that Young slides into, slashing his guitar lines in the narrow spaces provided. Booker T is used to playing rhythm and he steps aside giving Young room to move, and Young takes full advantage. In fact throughout the CD Young finds and fills the tight spaces with crisp guitar leads and the wider open spaces with nicely constructed solos that suit the moment.

Booker T's chording leads take "She Breaks" along an easy stroll, then step aside for Young while the Truckers play in the back seat. "Get Behind the Mule" is the moodiest cut on the CD (it's Tom Waits, remember?) propelled by a steady bass while Booker T plays lead organ on top. He plays lead again on "Reunion Time" and Young stays out of the way, adding guitar meanderings here and there while Jones drives the song forward. "Potato Hole" has a rock sensibility with big DBT guitar chords and chopping Young rhythm guitar that becomes lead guitar that he trades with Jones. And "Space City" features Jones' lyrical melody over a gospel organ drone with the DBTs -- almost a religious experience, and certainly an uplifting one.

Happy Lollapalooza Lineup Eve

Happy Lollapalooza Lineup Eve! Tomorrow is the day we've all been waiting for. Throughout the past week, the folks at Lollapalooza have given us a taste of what the lineup will look like by releasing band information in a "wheel of fortune" like manner. One day at a time, one letter at a time.

While the letters S, I, O, and R have allowed for even more debate as to who will be at this year's fest, the time for speculation is over. Tomorrow morning, Lollapalooza will release the lineup for the entire 2010 weekend.

Stick right here for the full lineup and a more in-depth look at some of the bands performing.

Lollapalooza runs this year from August 6th through August 8th. 3 day passes are on-sale now at Lollapalooza.com.

Arc Day Celebrates Weird Neil Young

In one of the more unusual tributes to an artist, folks in the Neil Young community have declared April 1 "Arc Day" in tribute to one of Young's more bizarre releases, a single CD originally part of a 3 CD live package originally called ArcWeld. The set does a great job of documenting Young's feedback-laden 1990 tour with Crazy Horse in support of the Ragged Glory studio effort and includes blistering versions of "Cortez The Killer," "Powderfinger," "Crime in the City," "Rockin' in the Free World," and even a comment on the recently begun Gulf War with an electric "Blowin' in the Wind" (played while roadies tied a yellow ribbon to a 10-ft. mic stand).



All the Weld cuts include heavy feedback and guitar reverb, often in the midst of solos but certainly at the end of every cut where Young wrestles with his guitar, generating more and louder feedback and then playing with the result, tapping foot pedals to encourage the sound to repeat itself, double tracking it, and just seeing what noise he can create before allowing it to dissipate very, very slowly.

But that wasn't enough for him. During the tour he reportedly set a video camera on one of the amps to record the band and whatever came within view (he's yet to release any video). He then edited the music down, using only the feedback, to a 23-minute feedback-only jam that is not for the faint of heart. Only Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music surpasses this intense wall of sound. Arc is still available as a single CD -- but as this clip shows it's not for everyone, Young fans or not.