There is a line

I was out of town at a trade show recently and Al and I were having drinks with Rodney. We sat at the corner of the bar with Rodney playing the corner man. As is with most our conversations, it wandered all over the map, from industry stuff to music. If you know Al, you know that he loves music. He knows music and he appreciates it. And if you know me, you know that I suck at music.

As we were discussing music, I shared with Rodney that Al has his love of music and I have the music that you hear at Skully’s on Thursdays. Somewhere in between all of the music that Al loves and the music I love is a line. And I said the goal is to find what music lives on that line. The music we both appreciate. I said, I can’t think of any music that lives on that line.

And Allen said, “What about David Byrne?”

I said, Hey! David Byrne is on the line!

And Allen said, “What about Yo La Tengo?”

And I said, Yo La Tengo is on the line!

And given that we were two for two I said, what about Ben Folds?

Allen said, Ben Folds is not on the line.

Well, at least we still have David Byrne.

My Dirty Little Music Secret

The Hot Damn - CD Release Concert

I went to The Hot Damn release concert/party at The House of Crave this past Friday. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot seeing as I’ve got a mean case of Columbus-Doubt when it comes to music.


What a great show!! (I’d drop in a descriptive expletive, but my nephew has been reading the site and saying that the show fucking rocked would really put his mom off.)

I love Matt’s vocals and his guitar is achingly fluid. Ash sounded great once her vocals were turned up. She’s got a matter of fact sound that I dig and her back-ups echo around my brainstem. Casey is on the peripheral, but hovers into the center of the stage quite nicely. Bobby plays the drums with the savage accuracy of a lucid, pubescent gorilla.


Acton ponied up five bucks to buy me a CD cause I spent all my cash on beer and a picture at the YO! Photo $10.00.


We’ve been spending the past two days talking about the album. No album is perfect, but this CD does a pretty good job of knocking out five really great songs with a side of decent tunes. Here’s my take on the songs I really found awesome (in order from the CD):

We Call This a Cycle – Best song on the album. Catchy, like Swedish fish dipped in honey and thrown against a frozen sheet of raspberry sorbet.

Left Hand, Right Hand – I’m a sucker for any song where there is a form of “La la” in the lyrics.

Arm’s Length – I’ve been dumped before. This song is my “F-you” to you ex-girlfriend. Great lyrics and guitar.

Birds & Bees – Very Breeders-esque. Ash does a really nice job here.

The Battle of You vs. Me – Reminds me of the Lightning Seeds without the whiny, caramel corn lyrics.

I had to shake some of the crappy songs off my iPod, but I made room for this album.


Someday when I am a real critic, I’ll come back and give these guys the review they deserve. Until then, check out the streaming album with optional option to purchase at Merit Badge Records.

The Hot Damn
Ashleigh Wells- Guitar, Keys, vocals
Matt Smith- Guitar, Keys, vocals
Casey Warner- Bass, vocals
Bobby Heigel- Drums, no vocals

Dave Amadio - Saving Rome

Dave Amadio has just released his newest album "Saving Rome." You can check out his MySpace page, listen to some of the tracks off the new album and see all the hot chicks that worship him.

Here's the video to "Holiday" from YouTube.



I'm not usually one to swoon, but Dave is very hot and I am dumping Miss Sally to follow him on tour. At worst, I'll get the leftovers from the trail of broken hearts he leaves around the country. At best, maybe he'll let me iron his t-shirts and allow me pick out my favorite pair of jeans that he will wear on stage and sweat into.