JASON JACK MILLER

From the Authors Guild: Publishing's Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory

2012-01-31T20:26:00.000-05:00

Not sure how much of this I agree with. Publishing decrying Amazon's monopoly is a little like calling the kettle black, in my opinion.

Publishing's Ecosystem on the Brink: The Backstory

Subtlety is out. Bloomberg Businessweek’s January 25th cover shows a book engulfed in flames. The book’s title? “Amazon Wants to Burn the Book Business.” A towering pile of books dominates the front page of Sunday’s NYT Business Section. The pile starts well below the fold (print edition), breaks through the section header at the top of the page, and leans precariously. Books are starting to tumble off. “The Bookstore’s Last Stand,” reads the headline.

These stories capture pretty well the state of book publishing: this appears to be no ordinary, cyclical crisis that future authors and publishers will shrug off. To understand how the book industry got into this predicament, however, a broader perspective may be needed. The cover story of February’s Harper’s Magazine provides that, discussing a fundamental shift in the federal approach to antitrust law that’s affected bookselling and countless other industries. It’s a story that hasn’t previously been told in a major periodical, to our knowledge.

We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s set the stage with the other two stories.

Burning Down the Houses

Brad Stone’s Businessweek story discusses Amazon’s campaign to prevent other booksellers from securing a foothold in the booming e-book market and the company’s furious reaction to Random House’s decision last March to adopt agency pricing for e-books, just as five of the other “Big Six” trade publishers had the previous year. (Before agency pricing, Amazon could sell e-books from Big Six publishers at deep discounts, taking losses at a rate that Barnes & Noble could never afford to match. See How Apple Saved Barnes & Noble, Probably for more.)

Mr. Stone writes that after Random House’s March 2011 agency-pricing announcement,

Amazon could no longer run the best play out of its playbook – slash prices and sustain losses in the short term to gain market share over the long term. … “For the first time, a level playing field was going to get forced on Amazon,” says James Gray [of UK bookseller John Smith & Son and formerly of Ingram Content Group]. Amazon execs “were basically spitting blood and nails.”

Amazon’s response to Random House’s move was stunning and swift:

The next month, an Amazon recruiter sent an e-mail to several editors at big publishing houses, looking for someone to launch a new New York-based publishing imprint. “The imprint will be supported with a large budget, and its success will directly impact the success of Amazon’s overall business,” read the e-mail, which was obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Even with a large budget, directly affecting the success of Amazon’s overall business is a tall order for a new publishing imprint. Amazon pulled in well north of $40 billion in revenue last year (final numbers aren’t yet in), dwarfing the combined revenues of the Big Six publishers.

Luring a substantial contingent of bestselling authors away from the Big Six seems the only plausible route for an imprint to affect Amazon’s overall business. Amazon needed someone with a substantial industry pedigree to pull this off. Amazon quickly – in time for last spring’s Book Expo America -- landed just the man for the job: Larry Kirshbaum, formerly of Warner Books.

Just three months after Random House’s announcement, Amazon had all but declared war on the six unruly members of its book supply chain. Jeff Bezos had $6 billion in cash, the patience to absorb losses for years, and a former Big Six chief to lead the fight. The long-running behind-the-scenes battle for control of the publishing industry had finally broken into full public view.

Barnes & Noble’s New Role: The Contender

While Amazon directly threatens traditional publishers with its new imprint, it continues to undermine the ecosystem on which book publishers, and most new authors, depend. Julie Bosman describes this well in her NYT article, focusing on the last remaining brick-and-mortar bookseller with nationwide clout:

Without Barnes & Noble, the publishers’ marketing proposition crumbles. The idea that publishers can spot, mold and publicize new talent, then get someone to buy books at prices that actually makes economic sense suddenly seems a reach. …

What publishers count on from bookstores is the browsing effect. Surveys indicate that only a third of the people who step into a bookstore and walk out with a book actually arrived with the specific desire to buy one.

“That display space they have in the store is really one of the most valuable places that exists in this country for communicating to the consumer that a book is a big deal,” said Madeline McIntosh, president of sales, operations and digital for Random House.

Established authors, for the most part, do fine selling through online bookstores. It’s new authors who lose out if browsing in bookstores becomes a thing of the past. Advances for unproven and non-bestselling authors have already plummeted, by all accounts. Literary diversity is at risk.

To understand just how precarious things are, realize that last year’s Borders’ bankruptcy represented an enormous reduction in browsing space, shuttering 650 stores. (B&N has about 700 stores.) One benefit of the loss of Borders should have been a short-term lift to B&N’s 700 stores and the 1,500 or so remaining independent bookstores. B&N’s sales were indeed up in the nine weeks before Christmas, Ms. Bosman reports. How much? Borders’ collapse led to a bounce of just four percent, compared to the prior Christmas. That’s what’s passing for good news in brick-and-mortar bookselling at the moment.

There is a bright spot, however. Barnes & Noble, led by William Lynch, has exceeded all expectations in the past two years with its launch of the Nook. B&N’s 300-member Silicon Valley office, after giving Amazon’s Kindle developers a two-year head start, beat Amazon to the tablet market by fully twelve months, and introduced what’s generally seen as the state-of-the-art e-ink reader, the Nook Simple Touch, eight months ago.

B&N, in other words, has been out-engineering Amazon, and Ms. Bosman’s story is the best account we’ve had of B&N’s efforts. In the process, B&N has seen its e-book market share climb from zero, two Christmases ago, to roughly 27% today.

B&N remains vulnerable, however. The engineering race against Amazon continues, and Amazon has leverage for acquiring content for its Kindle (see Contracts on Fire: Amazon’s Lending Library Mess) that B&N can’t match. And, critically, one tool that should help B&N, our antitrust laws, is instead poised to undo it.

This brings us to an unlikely tale of books, chickens, beer, and a Silicon Valley gentlemen’s agreement.

The Backstory: Amazon, Chicken Processors & Silicon Valley

Harper’s cover art rivals Businessweek’s: an enormous businessman wearing a gray pinstriped suit is preparing to literally eat the competition, a jumbo handful of gray-suited men and women. In the article, “Killing the Competition: How the New Monopolies Are Destroying Open Markets,” (key excerpts at link, full article by subscription) Barry Lynn views the state of book publishing through a different lens.

Mr. Lynn makes the case that Amazon’s dominance isn’t just a story of an industry disrupted by online commerce and digital upheaval, it’s about the abandoning of New Deal era protections of retailers in 1975 (promoted by backers as a means to fight inflation, says Mr. Lynn) and what he portrays as a shift in 1981 in the Justice Department’s interpretation of antitrust law based on “Chicago School” theories of efficiency and consumer welfare. The upshot appears to be that non-consumer markets (business-to-business markets and labor markets) are often insufficiently protected from monopolies.

To a chicken grower, for example, the relevant market isn’t restaurants or household consumers of chicken, it’s the market of chicken processors. Through a variety of machinations, including long-term contracts and the physical placement of processing plants (think baseball, before free agency), chicken growers now routinely have a market of only one processor to sell to.

Chicken growers own their land, buildings, and equipment, and all of the debt and risk that go with them, but these entrepreneurs have no real control over their economic lives. Growers buy their chicks and feed from their poultry processor, for example, and processors often require growers to make new investments in buildings and equipment. The processors, Mr. Lynn seems to suggest, have something much better than mere capital: the economic power to dictate how others use theirs.

It’s not just chicken growers who face constrained markets, Mr. Lynn writes. In free-wheeling Silicon Valley, computer engineers and digital animation workers employed by Apple, Google, Intel, and Pixar, among others, were subject to a secret agreement not to bid on each others’ employees, according to a Justice Department lawsuit filed, and settled, in 2010. (On Friday, former employees of some of the companies filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court in San Jose based on the Justice Department investigation.)

It’s even hit beer. The 1,750 U.S. microbrewers may appear to operate in a competitive environment, but they nearly all sell through two distributors: ABI and MillerCoors control 90% of the distribution market.

For book publishers, the relevant market isn’t readers (direct sales are few), but booksellers, and Amazon has firm control of bookselling’s online future as it works to undermine bookselling’s remaining brick-and-mortar infrastructure. Amazon controls every growing segment of the industry: online physical books, downloadable audio books, online used books, and e-books. Amazon commands about 75% of the online market for print books, and 60% of the e-book market (a percentage that decreased from Amazon’s reported 90% two years ago, as a result of agency pricing).

Mr. Lynn reports on a conversation with the head of one of the largest publishing houses in the U.S.:

He explained that Amazon was once a “wonderful customer with whom to do business.” As Jeff Bezos’s company became more powerful, however, it changed. “The question is, do you wear your power lightly? … Mr. Bezos has not. He is reckless. He is dangerous.”

The head of a small publishing house in Manhattan, Mr. Lynn reports, was even more blunt:

“Amazon is a bully,” he said, his voice rising, his cheeks flushing. “Anyone who gets that powerful can push people around, and Amazon pushes people around. They do not exercise their power responsibly.”

Neither man allowed me to use his name. Amazon, they made clear, had long since accumulated sufficient influence over their business to ensure that even these most dedicated defenders of the book – and of the First Amendment – dare not speak openly of the company’s predations.

Mr. Lynn then turns to Amazon’s blackout of Macmillan’s buy buttons, two years ago this week:

At the time, Amazon and Macmillan were scrapping over which firm would set the price for Macmillan’s e-books. Amazon wanted to price every Macmillan e-book, and indeed every e-book of every publisher, at $9.99 or less. This scorched-earth tactic, which guaranteed that Amazon lost money on many of the e-books it sold, was designed to cement the online retailer’s dominance in the nascent market. It also had the effect of persuading customers that this deeply discounted price, which publishers considered ruinously low, was the “natural” one for an e-book.

In January 2010, Macmillan at last claimed the right to set the price for each of its own products as it alone saw fit. Amazon resisted this arrangement, known in publishing as the “agency model.” When the two companies deadlocked, Amazon simply turned off the buttons that allowed customers to order Macmillan titles, in both their print and their e-book versions. The reasoning was obvious: the sudden loss of sales, which could amount to a sizable fraction of Macmillan’s total revenue, would soon bring the publisher to heel.

This was not the first time Amazon had used this stratagem. The retailer’s executives had previously cut off small firms such as Ten Speed Press and Melville House Publishing for bucking their will. But the fight with Macmillan was by far the most public of these showdowns.

In the late 1970s, when a single book retailer first captured a 10 percent share of the U.S. market, Congress and the regulatory agencies were swift to react. As the head of the Federal Trade Commission put it: “The First Amendment protects us from the chilling shadow of government interference with the media. But are there comparable dangers if other powerful economic or political institutions assume control...?”

***

Today, … a single private company has captured the ability to dictate terms to the people who publish our books, and hence to the people who write and read our books. It does so by employing the most blatant forms of predatory pricing to destroy its retail competitors. … [It] justifies its exercise of raw power in the same way our economic autocrats always do: it claims that the resulting “efficiencies” will serve the interests of the consumer.

The book industry is in play, and has been for a while. The good news is that people are finally starting to pay attention.

THE DEVIL AND PEPPER JACK: Black Bear Burritos Edition!

2012-01-12T11:44:00.000-05:00

Many thanks to Joe White and the gang at Black Bear Burritos for such an awesome week! (And special thanks to Amandarin Riviera for getting this ball rolling.) Yinz guys are awesome, and I hope my love for you and what you do came through in the book. If not, wait for the print version.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: Bruce Springsteen and Friends, Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ, December 17, 2000

2011-12-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK: There’s no place where loneliness feels worse than in bed. Waking up with her made me want to erase those last few lonely months, pretend like Dani and I’d been together forever. I wanted to forget about New Year’s Eve by myself. At midnight, when everybody was exchanging kisses, me and Paulie and Stu exchanged sympathies. And I wanted to forget about Christmas morning. Paulie and me in this apartment exchanging unwrapped boxes after eating leftover Kung Pao chicken and eggrolls. I got him a few bass pedals and a bottle of Jack and he got me a nice hand-tooled leather guitar strap. I outspent him, but that was beside the point.

A nice Friday download for yinz. OR, a really cheap Christmas gift for that special someone.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Bruce Springsteen and Friends 2000-12-17 - CONVENTION HALL, ASBURY PARK, NJ

Disc One:
01 Jingle Bells Intro (Max Weinberg 7)
02 For You
03 Blue Christmas
04 Powerhouse (Max Weinberg 7)
05 Run Run Rudolph
06 Luckytown
07 E-Street Shuffle
08 Kitty's Back
09 Rose (Patti Scialfa)
10 As Long As I Can Be With You (Patti Scialfa)
11 This Time It's For Real (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
12 Good Is Gone (Little Steven)
13 All I Needed Was You (SSJ, Little Steven, Bruce)

Disc Two
01 Shine Silently (Nils Lofgren)
02 Merry Christmas Baby
03 So Young and In Love
04 Roll of the Dice
05 Bobby Jean
06 Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
07 My City Of Ruins
08 I Don't Want To Go Home (SSJ, Little Steven & Bruce)
09 Rosalita
10 Santa Claus is Coming to Town

TheBoots.net synopsis:
The material from the second album all sounded great with the addition of the horns from the Max Weinberg 7. "Blue Christmas" was done in a basically bluegrass arrangement. "Lucky Town" featured Bruce and Jimmy Vivino trading off guitar solos and the horns added some great punch to it. The Southside songs also benefitted from the horns, as did "So Young and in Love." Patti's new song, "Rose," was about her experiences working in a New York City diner, where she said she was the world's worst waitress.
Bruce's new song, "My City of Ruins," is very powerful and very gospel-esque, sounding very similar to Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." Bruce dedicated the song to the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce and mentioned all the charities that each night was benefitting.

Montani Semper Liberi: More West Virginia Pictures!

2011-12-15T13:44:00.001-05:00

From HELLBENDER: The gray came from a full moon. The silver light, so bright it cast shadows, fell upon trees as massive as Acropolis columns. It reflected off empty glass bottles, off the metal barrels of shotguns and rifles. In the forest all around me a chorus of crickets and cicadas kept me company. Time stopped moving forward in a straight line. It felt like a web, where one strand left diagonally, and always returned to the center via another strand, so I experienced the same patterns of pain and dreaming over and over again with only slight variations.

From HELLBENDER: We fled the Shavers Fork watershed and returned to the Blackwater via Otter Creek. When the old green path hit the ridge top, pine gave way to spruce that blocked out nearly all of the morning sunlight. The faint glow of headlights did little to pierce the darkness.

From HELLBENDER: My eyes strained to pierce the fog that prevented me from seeing this wilderness as a whole. Waterfalls streamed down the steep walls in stony chutes that acted more like downspouts than streambeds. White threads intertwined to make strands of lace that plunged a thousand feet from the rocky ledges near the rim. I got drunk on the cool breezes that drifted up from the river below. The speed had a narcotic effect, which when combined with the rhythm of the rails made me want to pull out my fiddle and play along to the song it was singing.

From HELLBENDER: Katy whooshed in with her boyfriend in a scream of car stereo and everybody dropped what they were doing to run over and see them. They pulled the new silver VW onto the grass in-between the fire and Jamie's house. Katy looked more polished than I'd ever seen her. Like, she went from a fern to a Pink Lady's Slipper in just a season. Her hair was colored and styled and she wasn't dressed like a thirteen-year-old girl. Her little floral patterned dress, unbuttoned way too low, made her look like some kind of revivalist rebel. She walked proud and smiled like she was posing for Vogue. Alex stood next to me, holding a kitten, and asked, "Who's that?"

Time for a year in review post? Probably not quite yet...

2011-12-13T12:47:00.001-05:00

2011, there really wasn't anything special about you, was there? Maya apocalypse is next year, as are the Summer Olympics. AND a presidential election. 2010 was the end of a decade (and just as equally, the beginning of a decade, I suppose.) 2011 was just supposed to hang out, like Justine Bateman in FAMILY TIES.

But I liked Justine Bateman. I could never understand why she wasn't more famous than Molly Ringwald. Molly Ringwald wasn't even funny (By extension, if humor was a legit reason to be attracted to somebody, I would've been all over Anthony Michael Hall.) Whatever happened to Long Duk Dong, BTDubs?

So 2011 is another year to be filed away and forgotten. Just like 2003. Some things happened back in 03. This year is no different. Some things happened. I got on my mountain bike a lot more than I did last year, and didn't break any bones. Wrote a few songs for the book. Went to Florida and to the beach. I wrote A LOT.

So, maybe it's the writing that'll make 2011 different than the rest. Putting THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK out there was simultaneously the most gratifying and terrifying thing I'd ever done. And it opened more doors than I ever could've on my own. I've met more awesome people and made more friends than I have at any other time since Seton Hill. And now, almost 9 months later, the book has a life of its own. It's out there in the world, and there's no stopping it.

But I wouldn't say that the biggest thing to happen to me was self-publishing, and then ultimately finding a publisher for, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK. And this is what I want to make clear as the year winds down, especially with a new flurry of self-publishing-related news (Kindle Fire. KDP Select, etc.)in the air. The stigma of self-publishing will remain as long as folks release books that aren't quite fit for human consumption.

'Published' and 'self-published' are temporary states. And the biggest thing to happen to me in 2011 was I realizing my novel was good enough to be read without waiting for an agent's approval. Stepping out of the queue and taking action--a trait I respect in my fellow self-publishers regardless of their writing ability. The capacity to take action is a permanent state, much unlike the states of 'published' and 'self-published.'

Raw Dog Screaming Press is releasing THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK next fall, so I can now check the 'published' box. Working with them has been an absolutely amazing experience, even if it did make me question my southwestern Pennsylvanian dialect. (Question--what's wrong with the following sentence: This car needs washed. Answer: Not a damn thing, jagoff.) The education I received by doing it myself taught me one thing--I learned that if you wait until AFTER you're published to figure out your marketing plan and who your readers are, and how to interact with them and on and on, it's already too late. A lot of writers talk a good game. But if they're focused on agents instead of readers, they aren't in the game.

Heidi told me I have to make sure I don't diss anybody in these little posts, so I'm not really sure how to end this. Had I been allowed to diss, you can bet there would've been some hardcore dissing right about here. Instead, I'll leave you with a Bateman family fun fact:

Because of TEEN WOLF TOO my brother, Mike Miller, hates Jason Bateman so much he refuses to watch ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: The Clash, The Lyceum, London, UK, December 28, 1978

2011-12-12T11:56:00.001-05:00

Posted this show in honor of my guest post over at Tennessee Hicks' blog.

From my post:

And anybody who’s going to spend thousands of hours embarrassing themselves, losing respect and credibility learns one thing by doing it themselves. They learn whether or not they love it, and if they’re willing to fight for it, even if it means going against the grain and being the unpopular kid.

And THAT’S how I got my deal. By bleeding for it. By hustling. By losing sleep and popping ibuprofen and swallowing a little pride. By taking a risk even though it meant career suicide. In other words, I got my deal by being a little stupid.

Read the rest here: http://www.tennesseehicks.com

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

The Clash
Flash Bastards Remastered
The Lyceum, London, UK, December 28th, 1978

Setlist:
01. Safe European Home
02. I Fought the Law
03. Jail Guitar Door
04. Drug Stabbing Time
05. City Of the Dead
06. Clash City Rockers
07. Tommy Gun
08. (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
09. English Civil War
10. Stay Free
11. Cheapskates
12. Julie's In the Drug Squad
13. Police and Thieves
14. Capital Radio
15. Janie Jones
16. Garageland
17. Complete Control
18. London's Burning
19. White Riot

The Tweets 2 Lennon Project

2011-12-06T19:09:00.004-05:00

31 years ago this week.

Think of all the stuff he would've loved. iPads and Pixar. eBooks. Just a few guesses.

In my book, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK, John Lennon becomes a father figure for a character who had none of his own. Ironic that Preston would choose John Lennon, who spent a childhood pining for parents who were never there. Maybe that's why John Lennon chose to contact Preston via text:

     I got another text. This game had lost a lot of its intrigue. I just wanted to know who'd been messing with me. The message sounded like something John Lennon would say. everything's proven until it's disproven, isn't it? who's to say your dreams aren't real?
     I deleted it.
(from THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK)

And again:

     My phone buzzed, and since Dani was busy primping in the other room, I figured it had to be Pauly. The text said music belongs to everybody. It doesn't always have to be a suit who decides how much it should cost. Remember what we talked about last night.
     I stared at the text. I knew who it was from, and it wasn't Father James.
     I hit REPLY and thought of a way to ask without coming across as crazy. When I realized there was no easy way to do that, I typed 'JOHN?' and hit send.
(from THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK)

--

When I wrote the novel I liked the idea that technology possessed magical qualities. That the chips and circuits were no different than a shaman's beads and bones. The idea that I could have a conversation with somebody who was long gone intrigued me. In a way, it kept them alive.

So what I'm proposing is that we all send our messages to John Lennon over the next week. Well wishes, favorite bits of lyrics, questions. Something tells me he already knows, but is going to be just as happy to get them.

Leave them in comments below, or Tweet them, using the hash tag #tweets2lennon

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: Joe Strummer, Filmore, San Francisco, July 6, 1999

2011-12-05T14:18:00.001-05:00

"When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there."
-Joe Strummer

I owe a lot of what I got going on this year to thinking like Joe thinks. Thanks, man.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Disc 1
Intro
Diggin' The New
London Calling
X-Ray Style
White Man In Hammersmith Palais
Tony Adams
Straight To Hell
Rock The Casbah
Yalla Yalla
Brand New Cadillac
I Fought The Law

Disc 2
Techno D-Day
Tommy Gun
Junco Partner
Forbidden City
Bankrobber

A little something for John Lennon after a lot of bourbon and whiskey.

2011-11-27T00:21:00.002-05:00

John says it's time to come together and he's holding down that same old chord. I kind of want to go with him, but I know it's not possible. He's already gotten to where he's going. I'll always be wondeing how to get there.

"We all shine on," is just something he says to make me feel better. Like, those words make it okay that he's not here. Like, I'm supposed to forget that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and he isn't. John also said, "I know what it's like to be dead," something I know nothing about.

And maybe that's what all the records or for.

For the benefit of...

Don't let me down...

Living is easy...

She said...

Across the universe...

All you need...

More Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

2011-11-23T18:12:00.001-05:00

      Even though sun fell at my back, the sky ahead was still thick with rain. Through the scent of wet concrete and stinky neoprene I could smell my mountains.
      My Appalachians.
      For better or worse, like how a dog belonged to its fleas.

All this happened as the sun slid across the sky and dipped toward Canaan Mountain on the other side of the valley, four or five miles away. It was a circus of pink and gold that lingered the way that only a summer-bound sunset can.

     "That’s why I’m here." He took an old pistol and a box of rounds out of a shoebox and threw them into the pack.
     I had to look away. "Ben...."
     "For snakes. Let’s go." He tossed the old pack over his shoulder.

By the time we hit Seneca Rocks the sun was halfway into its trip to noon. Shadows stretched out from the mountains, hiding coolness in their breeches. At the climbing school guides sipped coffee and stretched their ropes. Ben pulled right up to the porch. Tourists lingered by their cars, as far from the guides as was proper. The stoners were slack-lining, their gear littered picnic tables. One had dreadlocks and a shaggy beard. I could smell weed as soon as I got out of the Jeep. Say what you will about raft guides, but at least they got wet once a day.

We strode over the gashed earth where skidders and bulldozers had torn through the soil. Past smoldering piles of ash that used to be tsuga canadensis, kalmia latifolia. Indian pipes, whorled loosestrife, and flowering raspberry were little more than smoke signals now. A first-hand account of the destruction.

Download Hellbender for you Kindle at Amazon.com or for other devices at Smashwords.com.

HELLBENDER is here!

2011-11-21T06:31:00.000-05:00

Here it is in the Kindle store http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006AHKFRU

For other eFormats try Smashwords at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/106486

I've also made Hellbender part of a bundle with The Devil and Preston Black for a special price on Amazon and Smashwords.

My Wild and Wonderful West Virginia!

2011-11-20T21:09:00.001-05:00

The hair on my neck and arms stood when she kissed me. Her breath was cool, like the wind that twisted the spruce on the huckleberry plains above. When she said my name I couldn’t tell if I was hearing words or the arrival of summer.

Alex didn’t say anything until I pulled up to the old Jenkinsburg Bridge. This was much higher than the bridge over the Big Sandy. The old steel trestle spanned the V-shaped Cheat Canyon quite dramatically. Big pines buttressed each end and a rocky rapid flowed below. Occasional rock outcroppings punctuated the steep, green slopes.

I slowed as we came through the village of Thomas. Old company stores hemmed us in on one side, the Blackwater River on the other. The Miners and Merchants Bank was the only non-tourism related business left on the whole street. Exiting town took us up still higher, through white pines and past the ball field where I played Little League. Canaan Mountain loomed high in the background; the spruce along the top was visible even from here. We passed the entrance to Blackwater Falls State Park and a chill fell upon us. It was so cold Alex dug for my fleece in the back of the Jeep.

Girls loved raft guides like rabbits love clover...

The ground twisted and slithered. A sea of snakes pulled themselves from chilly crevasses to seek the warmth of the heavy, dark ties. Timber rattlers, too sleepy to be excitable, kept their distance from the heavy wheels. Feisty copperheads coiled and feigned aggression.

The power of the ancient forest was apparent from the moment the sun passed overhead.

The quiet meadows along the road were about to erupt with the greens of wild bleeding hearts and tiger lilies. Some dark pocket on the backside of the ridge probably hid the last painted trillium of the year.

All around the green walls of Mozark Mountain, Otter Creek, and Blackwater Canyon muffled any shouts of assistance to the outside world.

"Hungry?" I asked. But her reply didn't matter. I was starving, and drifted to a stop in front of Sirianni's. Almost like I'd followed the smell of garlic right to the front door.

North Fork Mountain kept people out of this part of the world; it was the first ridge in a series that ended at the Shenandoah in Virginia. Where Spruce Knob was capped with its namesake vegetation, North Fork Mountain had rocky fins of Tuscarora Sandstone crenellating its long, narrow expanse. Wanderers and outcasts gave in to the pull of West Virginia's secret border, a place the rest of the country ignored. But the exposed rock nestled in a bed of white pine finally broke my silence. It made me smile.

HELLBENDER Less than 24 hours until the brood hatches!

2011-11-20T13:33:00.001-05:00

Get your Kindles ready, because they ain't going to be the same after this. Are your Nooks waterproofed?

The eVersion and a bundle are ready to go live first thing tomorrow morning, so you'll be able to jump right into HELLBENDER, or start at the very beginning with my man Preston Black in a specially priced bundle. All I can say is you're going to get dirty.

Hellbender Scrapbook.

2011-11-19T23:01:00.001-05:00

The smell of the spruce had ignited crazy dreams all night long. They weren’t memories though. I knew because the dream-forest was more climactic than any I’d ever seen. Spruce trees, three hundred feet tall and ten feet across at the base, rested on a bed of humus so thick I nearly sank. Laurels dense enough to confound a team of trackers kept intruders at arm’s length. The laurel hell went off in all directions, like a green quilt. When I opened my eyes, I expected to be in the center of a large, primeval forest, the kind of place that died long before I was born, but the old green was gone.
Killed by axes and steam trains.

"Belsnicklers came to our farm every Christmas, dressed in sackcloth with coal dust all over their faces. Scary sons of bitches. Us kids had to just stand there while they threw candy on the floor. If we fidgeted they whipped us with switches. I've even seen elder spring from the frozen ground on Old Christmas Eve—"

The remains of an old brick pump house sat between us and the mine. The old machine house looked rough, but it still had four walls and most of its roof. Red dog and ash from old coke ovens paved the yard all around it.

HELLBENDER Creepin' up on ya.

2011-11-19T20:49:00.000-05:00

Today I locked down the formatting for the Smashwords Edition eBooks. Kindle's next. Witches, whiskey and revenge--you ready?

HELLBENDER Coming Monday, November 21!

2011-11-18T11:31:00.000-05:00

"And this was how shit like this always went down. Late at night. Middle of nowhere. Not a credible witness in the bunch."

Henry Collins HELLBENDER

New Writer's Social Media Toolkit

2011-11-17T19:06:00.002-05:00

This is brief list of the ideas and tech discussed Thursday, November 17 with the Scottdale Writers.

Blogging at www.blogger.com--your hub. Your online business card. This is what people see, and remember, when they 'meet' you online. Blogs are free, easy to update and design, you can experiment without any expense. Feedjit is a way to monitor traffic to your blog.

Twitter.com and Facebook to drive traffic to your blog. These are you 'handshakes.' Facebook will be mostly people you know, Twitter will be people you haven't met yet.

To manage your Twitter followers--Twitter Karma and Twit Cleaner. If the goal is to foster and maintain real relationships, then these two services help separate out spammers and bots.

Goodreads targets readers. It's a more specific approach to making friends. Amanda Hocking, anyone?

Klout, to measure the effectiveness of your social network.

HELLBENDER IN 5 DAYS! And a new excerpt.

2011-11-16T18:13:00.001-05:00

Nov Excerpt

Hellbender in 6 days!

2011-11-15T21:48:00.002-05:00

Appalachian Fantasy? ROMEO AND JULIET with witches? And what's a SATOR Square?

Find out Monday, November 21.

Raw Dog Screaming Press signs Jason Jack Miller

2011-11-13T12:02:00.000-05:00

Here's the announcement from Raw Dog Screaming Press's journal:

RDSP is pleased to announce a multi-book deal with author Jason Jack Miller for his Murder Ballads & Whiskey series. The first book to be released, Hellbender, will come out in March 2012 with The Devil and Preston Black to follow at the end of the year. "We're particularly excited about this deal because it represents the next step in the evolution of publishing," says editor John Lawson. With the rise of self-publishing and spread of ebooks traditional publishing models are obsolete. "We see the role of publisher in the future as an information hub and support network driven by the author's vision and enthusiasm. Jason Jack Miller is the perfect candidate because he's got plenty of both."

RDSP, like many other small publishers, has always had a more collaborative approach to dealing with authors. The hope is to forge a working model where the author has unprecedented input into both the product and the way it's marketed while also sharing much more of the promotional workload. "Raw Dog represents what’s best about the new face of publishing. They adhere to the Gen X ethos of pursuing passion and individualism over corporate culture, meaning they release books they love. They’re risk-takers, which, in my opinion, are rare in publishing."

Jason Jack Miller hails from Fayette County, Pennsylvania, as in, "Circus freaks, temptation and the Fayette County Fair," made famous by The Clarks in the song, "Cigarette." He is a writer, photographer and musician who has been hassled by cops in Canada, Mexico and the Czech Republic. An outdoor travel guide he co-authored with his wife in 2006 jumpstarted his freelancing career; his work has since appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, online, and as part of a travel guide app for mobile phones. He is currently writing and recording the soundtrack to his novel, The Devil and Preston Black. Find him at http://jasonjackmiller.blogspot.com. Tweet him @jasonjackmiller.

Preston Black's Top 9: Yellow Submarine

2011-11-13T11:08:00.000-05:00

In honor of YELLOW SUBMARINE'S 1968 New York City premier.

YELLOW SUBMARINE'S Trailer.

9. YELLOW SUBMARINE

8. NOWHERE MAN

7. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE

6. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

5. ONLY A NORTHERN SONG

4. ELEANOR RIGBY

3. SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

2. IT'S ALL TOO MUCH

1. HEY BULLDOG

5 Rules for Indie Publishing

2011-11-12T06:58:00.002-05:00

Back in September or October, Heidi and I really started kicking around the idea of flipping the Big 6 the bird (more my idea, I don't think Heidi approves of flipping of said bird) and following the course Joe Konrath, David Morrell and others are plotting.

We spent a week or two trying to figure out what criteria we'd use to ultimately make the decision to publish on our own, and came up with 5 rules or guideline we'd use to aid in our decision-making.

Here they are (count 'em, kids) for your perusing pleasure:

1. Know why you're publishing independently

This is a no-brainer. Independent publishing can not be a last resort after years spent collecting rejections from agents, big publishers, small publishers, ePublishers, etc.. The decision has to be--HAS TO BE--the writer's first choice.

Why?

If you are not going to treat your book the way a publisher--who'd spend thousands of dollars to print, market and distribute--is going to treat it, then independent publishing probably isn't going to be for you. You have to love it enough to make sure it receives the attention it deserves and have to be 100% committed to selling the crap out of it and believing in it. You have to believe you know what's best for your book.

It's your baby. Don't leave it locked up in a hot car while you drink beer.

2. Know risk to gain ratio

Our experience with a major travel publisher taught us a few things. It taught us that a publisher isn't always going to do the things it says it's going to do. Our publicist's campaign for our book consisted of sending .jpgs of our cover to bookstores prior to signings that we'd set up ourselves. Our publicist contacted no local media and couldn't even get us postcards or promotional material to take to conferences and conventions we'd attended on our own dime. We didn't expect subway posters and bus stops, but c'mon. Don't pee on my leg and tell me that's what I paid for.

Then the publisher printed a second edition of our book while continuing to call it a first edition and we haven't seen a royalty statement in months.

I know that some people have great experience with publishers. We haven't.

I'll gladly collect 70% instead of 12% to do the work my wife and I have been doing since our book was released--to promote a book that I've sweated and lost more sleep over than a publisher ever would. And I know that if I fail, the failure is my own.

But I'd rather fail on my own than fail because my query wasn't good enough, because a publisher cut my print run, because I got a contract for a print run I could never sell out, because marketing decided my book was urban fantasy instead of supernatural suspense, because the release date coincided with a release by Snooki or Nicole Richie.

And I'd rather take 70% of $2.99 for a book I spent 10,000 hours on than take 10% of $19.99 for a book a publisher spent a week on.

3. Know what you're compromising

->I'm losing the valuable experience of thousands of cumulative hours shared by the agents, editors and marketing departments who'd have a hand in publishing my book.

But I trust my associates from Seton Hill and the friends I've made at conferences and conventions to give me the same type of support. I know the relationships wouldn't be the same--some would be less personal, some more--but it's a price I pay. (And I wouldn't trust some of the professionals I've met at conferences and conventions with a laundry list or a recipe, let alone a manuscript. I'm looking at you, ------ -----------!)

->I'm losing national distribution.

We know that's not true anymore.

->I'm losing credibility.

I'm not sure that a Big 6 contract guarantees credibility either. I have a master's degree, am adjunct faculty at a distinguished university and am a member of The Authors Guild. I've worked with a major publisher on a big non-fiction project. I'm not Stephen King. But neither is Snooki.

4. Know that you are the company

You pick your release date. You choose a cover. You market it. You go to conferences and signings to represent yourself and the book. You are responsible for your own finances. You deal with complaints from readers. You contact local media. You set up signings and purchase all of your own promotional material. You pay somebody to format the book or you format it yourself. You get the pat on the back. You hang your head when readers point out typos and plot holes that you've missed.

5. Know if you have the time and energy

In addition to writing the book, you do all of the things mentioned above. And then you have to write another book. There's a lot of discussion on Konrath's blog about authors with multiple books doing better than authors with only one. Check out http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ to read what people who have a hell of a lot more experience in independent publishing (and 'real' publishing) than me have to say about it.

I don't know if independent publishing is for the faint of heart. But seeing that I'd have the freedom to write what I want instead of writing what I hope an agent would want is a very liberating experience. And if it bombs it bombs. I change my name and write something else. Or not. I can do whatever I want.

As the writer I should've always had that power--not the marketing department or a CFO. Sometime I get the impression that a lot of editors and agents and publishers put writers at the bottom of a very tall ladder. I think independent publishing puts writers at the top.

And look, I wrote this whole post barely mentioning the way the publishing industry has eaten itself into a very awkward and ugly corner. Let the agents have Snooki. I think the readers are smart enough to follow the writing.

2011 Writing Perspective

2011-11-12T06:57:00.002-05:00

From JOE STRUMMER and the legend of THE CLASH by Kris Needs--“We started the 101’ers with one amplifier and one speaker’, remembered Joe. ‘We built our own equipment… We got some drawers out of a skip and we used to buy cheap speakers down the Edgeware Road and we’d drop them into these drawers and put a facing board on them and turn them up. That would be a cabinet… I used to go to gigs with two bricks in a shoulder bag and these bricks were to sit in the deck of a record player upturned with a broom handle screwed in it, which was the microphone stand. The microphone was taped on the top and the bricks were there to drop in the record player and keep the things steady so the mic didn’t fall over.’

I started writing in October 1998 with one goal--to get a book in print with one of the Big 6. Every writing-related action I’ve engaged in since has been to help me achieve the publication of a novel. I went to conferences to meet agents, went to book signings to meet authors to find out how they did it, I’ve taken query writing workshops, completed a Masters degree, bought writing how-to books, read agent blogs and subscribed to feeds from publishers.

And you know what? It was starting to work. My rejection letters really started getting better and people started telling me that was a good thing. Instead of ‘this isn’t right for us’, I started getting ‘the writing’s great, but we don’t know how to market it’. Some great victory, huh?

And that’s exactly why I’m pulling out now. I have the confidence to realize that my work is better than the form-rejection letter an agent’s intern sends me. Some would call it ignorance, or even hubris, but spending so many years on the outside looking gave me a new perspective on the industry I wanted more than anything to break into. And when I read that little passage from Joe Strummer it hit me…
I’m not waiting anymore.

Musicians don’t wait until they get paid to start delivering songs to an audience. An artist doesn’t paint with thoughts of ‘is this right for the market’ hanging over his head. It’s writing, with its archaic hierarchy of agents, editors and marketing departments that complicates the artist’s relationship with consumers. And with Amazon’s way of e-distributing directly to readers, writers finally have an alternative route to publication. Look at some recent Tweets from Publishers Lunch—“Harvard Square’s Globe Corner Bookstore up for sale”, “Random House closes operations at Tricycle Press Imprint”, “Latest BISG eBook Survey Finds 40% of Respondents Spending Less on Printed Books”, “Aletheia Continues to Trim their Barnes & Noble Holdings”, “New Book Sales Fall 9.3% At Hastings, Which Has No eBooks”, “Borders Announces Yet Another Web Site Redesign”, “Joseph-Beth Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy; Will Close Another Two Stores”.

Whose fault is it the industry’s going to shit? It’s not mine. I’m not the guy who chooses to represent or publish Hilary Duff or Lauren Conrad or Snooki over writers who’ve been practicing and polishing their work for a lot longer than I have. St. Martin’s Press published J-Wow and Ronnie’s book, NEVER FALL IN LOVE AT THE JERSEY SHORE. Celebrity culture is not literary culture and massive media campaigns will never create the kinds of long-term relationships word of mouth readers and booksellers and good stories can.

If somebody from one of the Big 6 houses would’ve asked me, I would’ve said it was dumb to print hardcovers in such massive quantities that they’d only end up reduced 80-90% on a bargain table three months later. And that it’s a bad idea to rely on a book like THE DA VINCI CODE (or a DA VINCI CODE clone) to support the rest of the house. And that advances, like the $1.2 million paid for Andrew Davidson’s THE GARGOYLE, or Tina Fey’s $6.8 million advance or Tom Friedman’s $5 million advance leaves little or no money for new, developing authors. The kind of authors that turn out the mid-list books that support a house in the long run.

Until Amazon made it easy for writers to produce and distribute work on their own terms, we had no choice but to abide by the Kafkaesque system create by the Big 6 and literary agents. Agents are terrified (assumption is based proportionally on how often I see agents blogging about how un-scared they are) of e-publishing because it exposes them for what they really are. Agents don’t create anything, and they don’t produce anything. The idea of agents as gatekeepers is insulting to writers and to readers. I once heard an agent say at a conference, quite boastfully, he still would’ve passed on the Harry Potter series despite its success because he wasn’t interested in Rowling’s writing.

Jessica Faust of BookEnds,LLC doesn’t even think a writer can stand without agents and editors. She said, “You can’t say enough about how good she (an editor) makes you look, but obviously if you’re self-publishing she won’t be involved with this book. And it shows. Of course readers snatch up your books because they love you, but they’re disappointed. The books aren’t what they’ve come to expect from you, and now they feel like they’ve wasted their hard-earned money and time reading books they found unsatisfying.” http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/11/building-your-career-on-kindle.html

So writers are little more than monkeys at typewriters? Interesting.

Here’s what she said about JA Konrath’s success--“In my opinion, he’s an exception to what’s happening, not the rule. Trust me, Joe has a lot of great points, and the biggest is the amount of money one can make going directly to places like Kindle rather than through a traditional publisher. That being said, can you make the money if no one buys your books? Joe was selling books to readers well before he entered the self-epublishing world, he had a fan base, and people were hungry to read more of what he had written. Let me put it this way: For every success story like J. A. Konrath, there are hundreds of authors who put a book out on their own, only to see a hundred or so sales to friends and family and then nothing.” http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2010/11/launching-your-career-via-kindle.html

My favorite is when she says, ‘…can you make money if no one buys your books?’ I don’t know, but I’d try asking Borders first?

Scott Eagan does her one better--“Many of the editors I talk to openly tell me they want to see some great new projects. They are desperately searching for that golden gem. They want that great author. Agents are doing the same thing. The problem is that the stories just aren't there.

I said this a couple of weeks ago, but you can't blame the editors for not buying. The real issue is that the stories just aren't coming in.” http://scotteagan.blogspot.com/2010/10/just-some-observations-e-publishing.html

There you have it--it's the writers fault the industry is failing. Brilliant.

You know, I may or may not be Joe Strummer, but I sure as hell ain’t Snooki. Relying on my writing ability and my ability to sell myself sits with me a hell of a lot better than relying on agents and publishers. I know that the road to legitimacy is a lot steeper going this route, but it’s been virtually impassable querying agents and trying to attain my goals ‘legitimately’. If I stick with the Big 6 plan I won’t have readers until 2015, if ever. By going Amazon’s route I can have readers--for better or worse--tomorrow.

I know a publisher is going to market me and make sure my book sells, right? I know this because it was what our Avalon Travel publicist was supposed to do. And we still set up our own signings and still contacted the media ourselves. We set up all of our own speaking engagements and presentations. The publicist contacted us the month before the release and never again, forcing my tenacious wife to learn more about publicity and marketing than she ever would’ve on her own. So I know even if would ever end up with a book deal, I’d still be promoting it myself. (But if our Avalon publicist is reading this, thanks a million! Because of you we learned to do it ourselves.)

Going through Amazon lets me keep my rights. The loss of eRights and future rights scares the heck out of me. Many authors weren’t so lucky. Joe Konrath has talked about this extensively at http://jakonrath.blogspot.com so I won’t get into it here. He describes the process and his experiences more succinctly than I ever could, and he has the figures and legitimacy to back it up. I personally find the royalty rates given to writers by publishers for ePubbed books absurd.

For me it comes down to what I’d rather be doing--writing. I’d really rather be writing than dealing with industry types. And more than anything, I’d rather fail for something I’d written, rather than for not being able to ever get a foot in the door. If I have to start carrying around a couple of bricks in a shoulder bag, that's exactly what I'll do.

Preston Black's Top 9: Veteran's Day Songs

2011-11-11T09:19:00.000-05:00

Remember the men and women who came home, the ones who didn't, the ones still waiting to come home and the ones who never will. 11/11/11

9. THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER The Doors

8. SEAN FLYNN The Clash

7. TRAVELIN' SOLDIER The Dixie Chicks

6. BELLEAU WOOD Garth Brooks

5. RUBY, DON'T TAKE YOUR LOVE TO TOWN Kenny Rogers

4. THE BALLAD OF IRA HAYES Johnny Cash

3. WAKE ME UP WHEN SEPTEMBER ENDS Green Day

2. ONE Metallica

1. HERO OF WAR Rise Against

Preston Black's Top 9: Guitar Solos

2011-11-10T19:59:00.000-05:00

Who does a Top 9? Preston Black, that's who.

Why a Top 9? It's a magic number (Sorry 3.) In numerology any number multiplied by 9 results in a 9 (2x9=18(1+8=9) 3x9=27(2+7=9)) and any number added to 9 results in the number added (1+9=10(1+0=1) 2+9=11(1+1=2)). On top of that, 9 is a root of 27, which holds special significance for my man, Preston.

Feel free to argue below.

9. PARANOID ANDROID Johnny Greenwood

8. COMFORTABLY NUMB David Gilmour

7. BLACK Mike McCready

6. SOMETHING George Harrison

5. LITTLE WING Stevie Ray Vaughan

4. SINCE I'VE BEEN LOVING YOU Jimmy Page

3. DAMAGE INC. Kirk Hammett

2. VOODOO CHILE (Slight Return) Jimi Hendrix

1. OVER THE MOUNTAIN Randy Rhoads

And here's where I announce my deal with Raw Dog Screaming Press!

2011-11-09T15:37:00.003-05:00

It gives me great pleasure to announce the beginning of a beautiful collaboration between Raw Dog Screaming Press and myself.

This partnership promises to be different than many of the hook-ups between writers and publishers you are familiar with. It is an attempt to move away from some of the mistakes made by the bigger houses, and toward a concept that benefits publishers, writers and readers in a variety of ways. During my meeting with Jennifer and John from Raw Dog I got the impression that my independence was as important to them as my prose, and it’s because they are publishers who earned a long string of successes by doing things their way and nurturing the kind of authors they love to read. (Mike Arnzen, Jeff VanderMeer, Elizabeth Massie—the list goes on.)

Raw Dog represents what’s best about the new face of publishing. They adhere to the Gen X ethos of pursing passion and individualism over corporate culture, which means they believe in what they’re doing. They’re risk-takers in a time when big publishers are playing it safe. Raw Dog reminds me of record labels like Sub Pop (which began as an extension of a fanzine) who chased music rather than receipts. Nirvana didn’t stand a flipping chance against Poison for a record deal with a major label in 1989. Yet Sub Pop helped kill corporate hair-metal pop because they didn’t try to change Nirvana, or tell Kurt, “You need more songs about deodorant.” And if you don’t get why that matters in today’s publishing culture, you probably don’t understand why Raw Dog’s so important to writers like me. (Or maybe you just liked Poison a whole lot better than you ever liked Nirvana. Every rose has its thorn, right?)

Amazon fueled the rise of independent authors the way MySpace gave unknown--but awesome--bands a level playing field. Music hasn’t been the same since. And now it’s publishing’s turn.

Jeff Gordinier, author of X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything From Sucking, believes Gen Xers became a real force for meaningful change when we started to hit our 40s. Perhaps the changes we are now seeing in publishing reflects that. I mean, Gen X is already fixing a political landscape fashioned by the Boomer reaction to September 11th. Gen X is tackling an environment mired by oil spills and melting ice. (Thanks, again, Boomers.) Why shouldn’t we go after publishing the same way?

Gen X grew up with Reagan and the Cold War, but Stephen King and RED DAWN more than made up for it. We had to deal with Menudo and The New Kids on the Block but ended up with Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine. We’re used to waiting--we had to watch the Boomers grow up before we could. (I like Springsteen, too.) But while waiting, we learned how to snatch opportunity out of the hands of those who’d misplace or undervalue it. Many writers are missing some of those opportunities today. Look at who's doing promotion in social media, for instance.

Raw Dog and I share the sense that promoting is just as important as writing, and can be just as rewarding when you foster real relationships both online and face-to-face. The Big Six Houses tend to go after sure things. Raw Dog and I tend to prefer ‘the alternative,’ and our tastes have forced us to innovate.

They’ve asked me for five books—The Devil and Preston Black, which many of you may already be familiar with; Hellbender and All Saints, which I finished at Seton Hill; The Gospel of Preston Black which I will begin writing in 2012; and an unnamed fifth book. I met with them over the weekend and they inspired me the way a good general does his troops—I’d give blood for them because they believe in what they are doing. And I believe they have the same faith in me, which was all I could hope for when I put Preston out there for the world to see.

And here’s what I want my fellow writers to understand—I didn’t self-publish because I was afraid of the industry, or weak-willed, or an impatient writer. I did it because I knew my stuff kicked ass. And I knew, by putting it out there, it would find a home. So if you are thinking about doing it—do it. Don’t wait for an agent to give you permission to publish. You may wait forever.

Hellbender Excerpt!

2011-11-08T14:20:00.001-05:00

I originally posted this for Jeremy Bates' Halloween Hop and wanted to have it on a standalone page.

This is one of my favorite parts of the book, and it shows Henry, and his world, in transition. To me, this excerpt embodies the spirit of HELLBENDER.

Hellbender Excerpt

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: HELLBENDER EDITION! Yonder Mountain String Band, Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, OK 01/29/05

2011-11-08T08:31:00.001-05:00

     I reached into my pocket.
     "What’re you looking for?" Katy said.
     I showed her the long set of rattles I found in my dad’s closet. Jamie watched with keen interest, then said, "To keep the devil away, huh?"
     "Think I need it?" I gave him a half smile which he didn’t reciprocate. I dropped the rattles into an f-hole, then gave it a shake.
     Preston said, "Those don't always work, you know."
     "You hush up now, Preston." Jamie looked at me, "Hell Up Coal Holler, on three?"
     Jamie, Katy and I drew my bows like archers about to fire. When we released, sad triads floated into the valley. The syrupy notes that sprang from my f-hole stunned even my own ears. That unmistakable sound couldn’t be produced where Kentucky’s bluegrass sprouted. They were too busy with horses and basketball. And that sound couldn’t be produced in Tennessee’s Smoky hollows; they were too worried about Country and Western. That sad squeal was pure West Virginia. As I played I could feel the devil riding my bow.
     I had a real hard time keeping up with Jamie and Katy, who played these notes with well-practiced flourishes. These twelve notes, which journeyed with my pap’s grandfather over the gray North Atlantic when famine forced him from Ireland’s stony-green shore. These twelve notes, which sustained my grandmother’s grandmother when food couldn’t, when her trail led over frosty ridges into territory still haunted by ghosts of the first people. These few measures, which I played to announce my gratitude, to announce that my blood flowed for those who made me what I was, and for those who would speak of me when I was dead.

From the novel, HELLBENDER.

Banjos and Beatles. They said it would never work.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Yonder Mountain String Band
01/29/05
Cain's Ballroom
Tulsa, OK

Source: SBD (xlr out) > UA-5 (Oade warm mod) > Nomad JB3 @ 44.1 khz
Transfer: Nomad JB3 > PC (via USB) > CD Wave > FLAC16
Taped, transferred, and converted by Phil Rollins (philrollins@hotmail.com)

*******Do not encode to MP3 or sell this recording*******
*******Please contact me if you are going to do any remastering of this
recording*******

Set I
Disc 1

1. Intro
2. Bloody Mary Morning
3. Half Moon Rising
4. Easy As Pie
5. Near Me
6. Old Plank Road
7. New Horizons>
8. Finally Saw The Light>
9. New Horizons
10. Rag Mama
11. Idaho>
12. Come Together>
13. Traffic Jam

Set II

Disc 2
1. Intro #
2. Ruby
3. What's Going On In The Head Of That Woman
4. Night Is Left Behind
5. Hit Parade Of Love
6. Sharecropper's Son
7. Train Bound For Gloryland> *
8. Little Rabbit> *
9. Granny Woncha Smoke Some *

Disc 3
1. Sometimes I've Won
2. You're No Good
3. Only A Northern Song>
4. Snow on the Pines>
5. Mother's Only Son
Encore:
6. Crowd
7. Reuben & Cherise

Goodnight, but not goodbye...

2011-11-06T21:33:00.002-05:00

The PRINT version of THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK is going away for a while. When it comes back, it comes back in a big way. Watch this space for more information.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: The Beatles, Shea Stadium, New York, New York, August 15, 1965

2011-11-03T09:22:00.002-04:00

     “And at least once a day I ask myself what if I hadn’t given up. You know, what if I’d have kept at it for another year more.” Mick waved me aside. Once his line of sight cleared he relaxed.
      “So you think I should keep going?”
      “Is failing something you can live with?”
      “Why would I have to fail?”
      “You’re going to fail a lot before you ever get it right, son. Your skin’s thick enough and your head’s hard enough that in ten or fifteen years you’ll know.”
      “Know what?”
      “Whether or not it’s time to give it up. Giving up too early leaves a pretty sour feeling. Might be the only thing worse than hanging on too long.”

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK

When I was a kid I didn't have many heroes. I can't remember if it was some sort of discontentment, or just plain ignorance. I mean, I liked Han Solo and all, but I knew I'd never pilot my very own Millennium Falcon. So I think, in retrospect, this was why I wasn't very ambitious.

Blame grunge and Eddie Vedder, but my musical heroes were not, to my teen-aged mind, hard workers. Pink Floyd, Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden gave the appearance of rolling out of bed and playing shows in what ever they happened to be wearing. Magazine articles focused on lifestyle and 'shredding' which was why I focused on ~~weed~~ and 'shredding.' Not sure how I missed all the stuff about hard work.

And that's what I like about Lennon and The Beatles. Enough has been written about the band to provide a blueprint for guys like me who otherwise would have no idea how to pursue success. They were perfectionists, tenacious and they weren't afraid to have a laugh. Reading Lennon's bio by Philip Norman right now, and in some ways, the book is magic. I mean, IT'S ALL THERE. Laid out. Everything a boy needs to dominate the world.

But I'm not a boy. And I'm not John Lennon. Doesn't matter though. World domination... It's coming.

"To the toppermost of the poppermost!"

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Artist: The Beatles

Album: The Beatles And The Great Concert at Shea!

Label: Yellow Dog Masters Choice

Source: Silver CD > EAC > Flac Frontend > You

CD 1

Line Recording (part 1)

1. Introduction
2. Twist And Shout
3. She's A Woman
4. I Feel Fine
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
6. Ticket To Ride
7. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
8. Can't Buy Me Love
9. Baby's In Black
10. Act Naturally
11. A Hard Day's Night
12. Help!
13. I'm Down

--A few other acts round out the first disc, but I've edited them out of the track list for the sake of space.

CD 2

Original 1966 BBC Soundtrack

6. Introduction
7. Twist And Shout
8. I Feel Fine
9. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
10. Ticket To Ride
11. Act Naturally
12. Can't Buy Me Love
13. Baby's In Black
14. A Hard Day's Night
15. Help!
16. I'm Down

The entire Shea Stadium Concert 1965 plus the BBC TV special and a reproduction
of the vinyl album THE BEATLES LIVE AT SHEA as described by Erupting fans [???].
For the first time ever the complete unedited version of the famous Shea Stadium concert.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT The Film

2011-11-02T22:19:00.001-04:00

Required viewing for anybody who's ever heard a note of music. Thanks to Hulu.com for the free stream.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: Arcade Fire, 25th Bridge School Benefit, Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA, October 23rd 2011

2011-11-02T08:53:00.000-04:00

"And the last thing, I think, is that somehow I'd like to be a part of music forever. Real music, the kind people never forget. I'm afraid life--real life--like jobs and taxes will tear me away from what I love. I'm afraid if I lose music I'll be just like everybody else. And that scares me." I forced a laugh. "Is that too much to ask?"

-Preston Black, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK

Download the show at Sugarmegs.com.

Arcade Fire
25th Bridge School Benefit
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
October 23rd 2011

Lineage: Sony ECM-121 => iRiver H340 (ROCKboxed) => USB => SoundBlaster X-Fi => Adobe Audition 2.0 => FlacFrontend (level 6 - Align on sector boundaries)

Recording position: Section 203 - the rustrows

Setlist:
01. Intervention
02. Half Light II (No Celebration)
03. We Used to Wait
04. Empty Room
05. Helpless (Neil Young cover) (with Neil Young)
06. Rebellion (Lies)
07. Wake Up
-------------------
Total time: 38:28

I recorded all acts, both days. Some are NAB and some songs might be available through official channels. I'll do my best to check and not upload any official stuff, but else I plan to share all the recordings here through the next days.

PLEASE SUPPORT THE BRIDGE SCHOOL and donate 10$:
Text BRIDGE to 80888 or
Text BRIDGE and YOURNAME to 80888
You will receive a text message on your phone, you must text YES to confirm the charges.
http://www.bridgeschool.org

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK: Mumford and Sons, 25th Bridge School Benefit Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA, October 23rd 2011

2011-10-31T22:07:00.001-04:00

Music lets you write your own checks. Don't ever forget that.
-Preston Black

Mumford & Sons
25th Bridge School Benefit
Shoreline Amphitheater, Mountain View, CA
October 23rd 2011
Download at Sugarmegs.com.

Lineage: Sony ECM-121 => iRiver H340 (ROCKboxed) => USB => SoundBlaster X-Fi => Adobe Audition 2.0 => FlacFrontend (level 6 - Align on sector boundaries)

Recording position: Section 203 - the rustrows

Setlist:
01. Sigh No More
02. Roll Away Your Stone
03. Lover's Eyes
04. Sister
05. Dance, Dance, Dance (Neil Young cover) (with Neil Young)
06. Awake My Soul (With Sarah Neufeld and Marika Shaw from Arcade Fire on violin)
07. The Cave
-------------------
Total time: 32:19

BEATLES COVER PROJECT: A Hard Day's Night

2011-10-31T20:36:00.000-04:00

This is my favorite 'old' album. I guess because it's the first album that consists mostly originals. I wonder if that's why the quality of covers is better?

Anyway, the quality of covers is much better, even if you disregard all the Beach Boys stuff. Many standouts on here for me, including the Maroon 5 and Sugarcult covers. I'm a little lukewarm on the She and Him cover, although I like the intent. Please leave a comment with your favorite cover and why.

A HARD DAY'S NIGHT: Sugarcult

I SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER: She and Him

I SHOULD'VE KNOWN BETTER: The Beach Boys

IF I FELL: Maroon 5

IF I FELL: Weezer

I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU: The Cyrkle

AND I LOVE HER: Pat Metheny

AND I LOVE HER: The Wailers

TELL ME WHY: April Wine

TELL ME WHY: The Beach Boys

CAN'T BUY ME LOVE: Chet Atkins

ANY TIME AT ALL: Nils Lofgren

I'LL CRY INSTEAD: Joe Cocker

THINGS WE SAID TODAY: Dwight Yoakam

WHEN I GET HOME: The Hassles

YOU CAN'T DO THAT: Vanilla Fudge

I'LL BE BACK: UB40

BLOG HOP: Jeremy Bates' Halloween Hop and HELLBENDER Excerpt!

2011-10-27T22:02:00.001-04:00

Blog Hops
Join me and other bloggers this Halloween weekend for Jeremy Bates' Halloween Hop!

I'll be giving away three THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK eBooks.

Just leave a comment here and Tweet:

Check out #THEDEVILANDPRESTONBLACK by @jasonjackmiller - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SURM0O

Or post to your Facebook page, but provide the link in your comment here so I can find you!

Hellbender Excerpt

Beatles Cover Project: WITH THE BEATLES

2011-10-24T20:54:00.001-04:00

While a little easier than PLEASE, PLEASE ME, WITH THE BEATLES still proved to be a bit of a challenge. Sorry about "All I've Got to Do." Redemption comes from Franz Ferdinand, Robert Palmer, and, as much as I hate to say it, Amy Winehouse.

It Won't Be Long FRANZ FERDINAND

All I've Got to Do LINDA RONSTADT and PETER ASHER

All My Lovin' AMY WINEHOUSE

Don't Bother Me DELAVERDE

Little Child THE INMATES

'Til There was You PEGGY LEE (This was the version that inspired Paul.)

Please Mr. Postman THE MARVELETTES (original recording artist)

Roll Over Beethoven CHUCK BERRY (original recording artist)

Hold Me Tight THE TREASURES

You Really Got A Hold On Me SMOKEY ROBINSON (original recording artist)

I Wanna Be Your Man THE ROLLING STONES

Devil In His Heart THE DONAYS (original recording artist)

Not A Second Time ROBERT PALMER

Money (That's What I Want) BARRETT STRONG

Beatles Cover Project: PLEASE PLEASE ME

2011-10-16T23:20:00.005-04:00

First in a series of cover versions, by album, in order. I hope it gets easier. I hope the covers get better.

I Saw Her Standing There THE TUBES

Misery KENNY LYNCH

Anna (Go to Him) Arthur Alexander (original recording artist)

Chains THE COOKIES (original recording artist)

Boys THE SHIRELLES (Original recording artist)

Ask Me Why LES LIONCEAUX (Je Suis Fou)

Please Please Me MATT DUSK

Love Me Do DAVID BOWIE

P.S. I Love You

Baby It's You THE SHIRELLES (original recording artist)

Do You Want to Know a Secret BILLY J. KRAMER & THE DAKOTAS

A Taste of Honey HERB ALPERT AND THE TIJUANA BRASS BAND

There's a Place THE SMITHEREENS

Twist and Shout TOP NOTES (original recording artist)

Wilco-The Whole Love live stream

2011-10-14T18:44:00.003-04:00

Happy birthday, John Lennon! To celebrate, I give you my Lennon top 5.

2011-10-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

#5 I Feel Fine. The opening riff is amazing, the energy, especially in the Shea video represents the touring Beatles at their best.

#4 Don't Let Me Down. Sometime I watch this and wonder if they could've ever had any idea that this would be the last set they played together? To see them smiling and interacting makes me think they didn't. Triumphant and tragic.

#3 Help! To me, the melody starts to mature, a sign that John was growing up. The long hair reminds us that RUBBER SOUL arrived just 4 months after HELP! was released.

#2 Instant Karma! This video hints at the great things he was capable of on his own. Too bad the primal scream therapy hadn't kicked in. Love this video, from BBC's TOP OF THE POPS.

#1 Strawberry Fields Forever. Even without lyrics, the song would remind us that 'nothing is real.' But when Lennon's poetry is applied to the Beatles music on the verge of their SERGEANT PEPPER breakthrough, it's magic on magnetic tape.

Honorable mentions: (Started off as two songs, but the list kept growing. Sorry.)
Hey Bulldog

Dear Prudence

In My Life

Happy Xmas!(War is Over)

A Day in the Life

Whatever Gets You thru the Night

Across the Universe

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, Nirvana, Music Source Studios, Seattle, WA 1991-01-01

2011-10-03T20:43:00.004-04:00

NEVERMIND at 20.
Me at 37.
I was a senior in high school.
Already owned a bunch of flannel, for some reason.
Good-bye, Poison, Skid Row, Warrant...
In love.
In a band.
Still waiting for the next big thing.

Download the show at Sugarmegs. www.archive.org/serve/Nirvana1991-01-01/Nirvana1991-01-01.wma Vocals are real low in the mix, but overall sound quality is good.

Nirvana
1991-01-01
Music Source Studios
Seattle, WA, US
01. Aneurysm
02. Oh, The Guilt
03. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
04. On A Plain
05. All Apologies
06. Even In His Youth
07. Token Eastern Song

Generation: DAT(x) > WAV > FLAC > Your Copy CDR(1)

Lenght: 27 minutes 20 seconds

Comment: This has some digital noise in a few songs from the DAT.
DAT generation is most likely a DAT(3) or a DAT(4).
This is a vast sound improvement from the existing ANA(1),
but it suffers from the same cuts so it's virtually the same edit.
The biggest difference other than sound that's noteworthy is a complete "Even In His Youth."

Encoded by BS
Do not sell or encode to MP3!

HELLBENDER excerpt!

2011-10-01T13:24:00.004-04:00

Working my way through revisions on HELLBENDER, the follow-up to THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK and came across one of my favorite passages. To me, this passage embodies the spirit of the book, which is to West Virginia and wilderness as THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK is to music. I'm very excited to be posting it here.

And what're the thistles for?

You'll see. Trust me.

Hellbender Excerpt

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, Weird Saturday Edition, UNCLE TUPELO, WMBR, Boston, MA, February 24, 1991

2011-10-01T12:22:00.001-04:00

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Uncle Tupelo
WMBR, Boston, MA
February 24, 1991
Acoustic in-studio appearance

Lineage: FM>Cassette Master>Cassette>DAT (obtained in trade August, 1996)
DAT-> PC (vi Lynx One digital I/O) -> SHN (transfer in 2004)

Size of SHN: 196MB

Total Length: 34:30

1. True To Life
2. D. Boon
3. Whiskey Bottle
4. Screen Door
5. Punch Drunk
6. Watch Me Fall
7. Looking For A Way Out
8. Graveyard Shift
9. Flatness
10. I Wanna Be Your Dog

Note: I just finished reading Greg Kots new book "Wilco: Learning How
to Die". Quite a lot of fun and interesting reading too. In the book,
the band's (to become) manager Toni Margherita is desribed as saying
he didn't think all that much of Uncle Tupelo at first. They were
"OK", for a local band. Tweedy begged him to come see them, but even
after seeing them, he wasn't all that impressed. But, an acoustic
performance in 1988 was different. Margherita is quoted as saying: "Up
till then it had just been a bunch of kids playing with a lot of
energy and volume. But I walked out of there that night thinking that
I should do everything I could to help these guys. I could finally
hear the songs."

That comment resonated with me in that this recording was what first
really got me hooked on UT. Although short, it's wonderful and the
magic is there.

Enjoy!!!

Notification from: Uniontown Area Education Association

2011-09-29T21:03:00.002-04:00

Notification from: Uniontown Area Education Association

This is the email I received yesterday...

Please call your State House Representative immediately and ask them to oppose the Boyd amendment to Senate Bill 389. This amendment would allow school districts to furlough employees without any regard for seniority. Rather, the school boards would be permitted to furlough employees on the basis of test scores or other factors they deem relevant. Further, the legislation would prohibit bargaining over the issue of seniority in future years.

PSEA strongly opposes this language. PSEA, in good faith, negotiated with House and Senate leaders to find compromise language that permitted economic furloughs but maintained seniority rights for professional employees. The Boyd amendment walks is a significant departure from this agreement.

Allowing furloughs to be based on factors other than seniority creates a subjective and arbitrary process that could open the door to abusive employer practices that undermine educational quality. While furloughing the most experienced and educated school employees could result in the greatest cost savings, it also hurts the educational environment. Research tells us educator experience matters for student achievement. Please urge your State House Representative to vote no on the Boyd amendment to Senate Bill 389

The amendment could be voted on as soon as tomorrow, September 28th, so your prompt action to make the call is essential.

Once you’ve made contact with your State Representative, don’t forget to email me or fill out the ACE feedback form at
https://www.psea.org/generalfrm.aspx?ekfrm=1810

Thank you, again, for all you do.

WHAT NOT TO WEAR (to a Social D concert) Guest Commentary by Mikey Rega

2011-09-27T19:48:00.000-04:00

Since Jeremy Piven didn't really get into great detail, I had to bring in an expert to sort this concert t-shirt mess out. Mike Rega's statement stands as the final rule regarding all future concert t-shirt disputes.

Here's the question that got the ball rolling:

Heidi wants to know the rule on wearing t-shirts to concerts within genres--specifically, wearing a Dropkick Murphys shirt to a Flogging Molly concert. Both Irish--what's the rule?

Sam and I had an argument over if it was okay to wear a Beatles shirt to the Beatles fest. . . I went with 'yes' because you weren't seeing the Beatles and it was an overall celebration of the Beatles. However, a solo Beatle shirt would be preferred. Also, you couldn't wear any of the Beatles' tribute band's t-shirts if they did indeed have a shirt. You could however wear a shirt of a Beatles tribute band that had appeared at a previous years festival, or a non-festival participating tribute band such as Rain.

There are of course caveats and exceptions to the "don't wear the shirt of the band you are going to see" rule. I believe it is acceptable to wear the shirt of the band you came to support if the band is one of many in a festival lineup. Example, a Rage shirt at Coachella, a Blues Traveler shirt at HOARD, or a Jane's Addiction shirt at Lollapalooza.

I think wearing a DKM shirt to Molly would be acceptable, unless the bands have some sort of rivalry that I'm not aware of (WILCO shirt at a Son Volt show). Might be a little obvious though. I think a Pogues shirt, a 101ers shirt, or a Street Dogs would impress more. Kind of like wearing a Styx shirt to a Kansas concert but overall same musical families.

My whole logic about bands and T-shirts comes from a scene in the movie PCU. My friend Tony violated the rule and we let him have it for like 10 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgFcl3BrJpU

Also, I found this:

http://www.eachnotesecure.com/the-concert-t-shirt-etiquette-guide/

The comments are pretty funny.

Q: When, besides festivals, is it okay to wear a band's shirt to their concert? What if it's a vintage T? what if it is a tour shirt purchased on an older tour?

A: I believe wearing a vintage T of the band or an older tour shirt is still being "that guy" . . . It's being "that guy" to a lesser degree, but still counts. There are plenty of other T-shirt options out there and no matter how tattered with credibility your original appears, you would still be a form of "that guy".
At festivals I would have to say 5 bands or more have to be in the lineup. If you went to see Mastodon, Alice N Chains, and the Deftones (who toured together last year), it’s not appropriate to wear any of their shirts. You would wear a related Tee of the band you were there to see. If 5 or more bands with multiple/rotational headliners (outdoor venues only) are in place, go ahead and rock your Tee.

Q: Also, are there any bands that are the exception to this rule (thinking Grateful Dead for some reason) and, if yes, why?

A: I think the exceptions to this rule would be on the small scale show circuit. If you bought a shirt at a concert from a member of the band, an obvious gf or wife of a band member, or a member of the crew who has additional duties within the show, it would be appropriate to wear that t shirt to a show at a later date (you can NEVER put on the shirt you just bought . . . that’s why there are cargo pockets).

EXAMPLE: I saw the Buzz Poets at Pitt-Johnstown in the late 90’s and I bought a shirt before the show. The guy who was selling the shirts was also running sound (from the same location). It would be a judgment call to wear that shirt if you ever saw the Buzz Poets again.

Also, Back In Time Band is a perfect example. Their shirts are made in such a limited number that wearing one is showing membership to an exclusive inner circle.

Q: Also, and this the last one, what about movies or TV shows associated with a band--YELLOW SUBMARINE(supposing the Beatles were still around), THE WALL, etc? Is this a loophole?

A: I think THE WALL is too obvious, YELLOW SUBMARINE is a non-applicable perfect world scenario that would mean the Beatles are still together, and movie shirts in general are hard to find. A proper band related film could be acceptable though. If the film Tee is a concert DVD, such as PJ’s IMMAGINE IN CORNICE or Dave’s LISTENER SUPPORTED, then I’d have to go with no. If you were to wear a SINGLES shirt to PJ, or a BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE shirt to Dave, you would get mad props from the crowd for your amazingly obscure Tee. John Howard has a Citizen Dick shirt he has worn to see PJ and he always gets big ups and fist bumps from strangers.
A related record label or a geographically relevant to the band record store or bar would be a better choice of attire. One of my old neighbors in Pittsburgh was able to meet Mike McCready because he was wearing an Easy Street Records t-shirt.

Some random thoughts and specific examples:

-The T shirt rule does not apply to opening acts. It’s acceptable to wear the T shirt of the opening act if the opening act is considered obscure. You can wear a Band of Horses Tee if they are opening up for someone much larger, but not a Band of Horses Tee if they are the main act.

-It is completely acceptable to wear a Joe Grushecky shirt to see the Boss, but would be considered a slap in the face if you wore a Boss shirt to go see Grushecky.

-It is also considered acceptable to wear a Donnie Iris shirt at anytime including a Donnie Iris show; bonus points if you pull it off on the Gateway Clipper.

-I think Jay Farrar would get mad at you if you wore a WILCO shirt to see him, but Tweedy would think it’s funny if you wore a Son Volt shirt to see him. He might even rant about it.

After some research, I may have 2 exceptions to concerts where you are supposed to wear the T shirt of the band. Kiss and Iron Maiden see to be the exceptions. Unwritten rule is you are supposed to wear your oldest, most obscure, vintage band shirt to see Kiss or Maiden. Old tour shirts will gain you crowd cred while a shirt you got a Hot Topic last week will have people calling you a fag in no time.

I guess you do wear you Steeler jersey to Heinz Field . . .

Why Indies (and WILCO) Rule!

2011-09-27T19:16:00.001-04:00

Tony Margherita, Manager of Wilco & dBpm Records sent this to Wilco's mailing list regarding the release of the band's new album, THE WHOLE LOVE. One of the coolest things about the record, to me, at least, is they they released it themselves on their own label. I love what this world's coming to.

Greetings everyone,

Well, we made it. Wilco's The Whole Love is officially out and available in the U.S., Canada, Europe & U.K., Australia, NZ and beyond. Soon we'll be popping a cork here at HQ because that alone feels like a hell of an accomplishment.

That celebratory feeling brings with it a moment of introspection, because really, what would accomplishment be without it? We were talking this morning and thinking back a few years to the first discussions of starting our own label. It took a while for circumstances to line up in a way that let us pull it off, but today, as we release our first full-length recording on dBpm, I remembered a list of reasons, both pro and con, that I'd written in a notebook when we were debating it. There were a lot of obvious pros and some pretty heavy cons, but the one "pro" that was in big BOLD letters at the top of my list was our confidence in you, the band's fans or the "community," as they call it now. Just like when all that stuff went down way back when (you've probably seen the movie) -- the reason we felt confident that we could persevere, stream YHF, and keep on touring was because we had faith in you. We believed that you'd understand that we needed you to participate when the record finally did come out, and vote with your feet and, yeah, with your dollars. We needed you to buy that record despite the fact that it had been kicking around for a while and to support the band, regardless of what label appeared on the back of the album cover. And of course, you did, in droves.

Things are obviously a lot different now, but it's still because of your support (yeah, we're blaming you) that we felt confident enough to go out and try to prove something yet again (as much to ourselves as to the world outside) -- that we can pull this off on our own terms. In an era where the corporate giant seems to reign supreme pretty much across the board, thanks for enabling us to give this a shot.

So, to summarize: we need you to get out there today, tomorrow or soon and support Wilco, support the new label venture, and support music retail. You can do it all in one fell swoop, here. We promise we'll be pretty much back to normal correspondence -- gig announcements, free streams, etc. very soon.

In the meantime, thanks to all of you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting the band for the 15-plus years you have. Here's to many more.

Cheers & happy Wilco release day.

Sincerely,

Tony Margherita, Manager
Wilco & dBpm Records

Check out Wilco at wilcoworld.net.

THE WHOLE LOVE on CD or VINYL.

WILCO Via Chicago, Austin City Limits, September 15, 2007

2011-09-17T21:58:00.003-04:00

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Nickel Creek, Merlefest Watson Stage, Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro, NC, April 27th, 2002

2011-09-14T11:05:00.000-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     "Where can I drop you off?"
     "Mountaineer Doughnuts is fine."
     "Okay. I made a mixtape for you."
     "You serious? It'd been years since anybody made me a mixtape, and this weekend I get two."
     "Well, a CD. Just some stuff you may have never heard. Sara Watkins, Yonder Mountain String Band, Uncle Earl." She handed it to me with an apologetic smile.
     "Thanks a lot. I'll listen to it today." I got my stuff from the back seat.
     "Yeah, right." Katy tooted as she drove away.
I stood on the corner waiting for whatever would happen next. Walnut Street looked a lot different today than it did Friday night on my drunken stroll up High. The sidewalk felt a little slippy, so I shuffled my feet, my Tele acting like a counterweight to all of the material Jamie had loaded me down with.
     I thought about heading straight to Dani's, but remembered she said she'd be up at the library. Pauly's message that he'd be on the road for a few days reminded me I had the apartment to myself. My stomach growled.      The easiest thing would be to take it into the diner to see mom. But she'd know I hadn't been talking to Pauly and ask a lot of questions and tell me how sin makes us a prisoner of Satan and all that. Seemed like a lot of trouble for a cheeseburger.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Nickel Creek got so close to bridging that gap between traditional and pop. So close to being the band that delivered bluegrass into the 21st century. So close to being a Radiohead for the folks who preferred to get their music from Nashville rather than LA.

Still an amazing band, even if only in recording. Amazing melodies. Prodigious musicians.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Nickel Creek
Saturday April 27th, 2002
Merlefest Watson Stage 11:00p.m.-11:55p.m.
Wilkes Community College
Wilkesboro, NC

XM Broadcast>Fostex D5 analog in>SPDIF>Sony DTC-75ES DAT master
DAT master on Fostex D5>Marantz CDR-630 CD-RW>EAC>Cool Edit Pro>
CDWAV>mkwACT>SHN

1. ?
2. Reasons Why
3. The Lighthouse's Tale
4. Ferdinand the Bull
5. "Introductions"
6. Locking Doors
7. Seven Wonders
8. In the House of Tom Bombadil
9. Goodnight, the Lord's Coming
10. "She rips, he rips, they all rip"
11. This Side
12. You Don't Have to Move That Mountain
13. Ode to a Butterfly (w/Lithium)
14. The Fox (w/Subterranean Homesick Blues)

THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK Spotify Soundtrack

2011-09-12T12:26:00.001-04:00

Spotify never ceases to blow my mind. In an effort to experiment and make it more social, I spent the morning going through THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK to compile (curate, in hipster-speak)a soundtrack for the book. These are not the original songs for the book, which i hope to finish up in October. These are the songs that I mention either directly, or the song I had in mind while writing a particular scene. There's the link, and the list, so load it up and enjoy!

For the most part they are in order as they appear in the book. I was in the process of putting them all in exact order, and must've accidentally published the list, which wouldn't let me rearrange the track order. But this probably matters only to me...

Buy the book on Amazon.

http://open.spotify.com/user/jasonjackmiller/playlist/4jp9mLdJH2E7Sqxgtv0xrR

Weezer – Tired Of Sex
The Grateful Dead – Friend Of The Devil
Black Flag – Black Coffee
Pixies – The Holiday Song
Ozzy Osbourne – Over The Mountain
Ralph Stanley – Pretty Polly
Nick Pynn – The Hangman's Reel
The Allman Brothers Band – Statesboro Blues
Derek & The Dominos – Layla
David Grisman – Nine Pound Hammer
Paul McCartney – Eleanor Rigby - Live
Letz Zep – Bron Y Aur Stomp
Pickin' On Series – Trampled Under Foot
Ringo Starr – Octopus's Garden
The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses
Jim Sturgess – Strawberry Fields Forever
Rise Against – Hero Of War
Vasa Prihoda – Sarasate: Zigeunerweisen, Op.20 - Zigeunerweisen op. 20
Aloys Kontarsky – Dvorák: 8 Slavonic Dances, Op.46 - For Piano Duet - 7. No.7 in C minor (Allegro assai)
Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros – Minstrel Boy
Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros – (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais
The Clash – Career Opportunities
The Clash – Spanish Bombs
The Clash – Know Your Rights
The Clash – Straight To Hell
The Clash – (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais - Live
Johnny Cash;June Carter Cash – Jackson
Johnny Cash – Sunday Morning Coming Down
Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Stockholm, Sweden, September 5, 1967)
Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble – Little Wing
Roger Waters – Dogs - Live
David Grisman – Dreadful Wind And Rain
Gandydancer – Boozefighters
The Carter Family – Wildwood Flower
David Grisman – Wildwood Flower Instrumental
Nickel Creek – Cuckoo's Nest
Nickel Creek – Ode To A Butterfly
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – John Henry
Emmylou Harris – Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia
Williamson Brothers And Curry – Cumberland Gap
Williamson Brothers And Curry – Lonesome Road Blues
The Old 78's – Indian War Whoop
The Old 78's – Devilish Mary
Tony Elman – Shakin' Down The Acorns / Over The Waterfall
Wilco – I am trying to break your heart
Social Distortion – Story Of My Life
Miles Davis – Blue In Green
Yonder Mountain String Band – Looking Back Over My Shoulder
Yonder Mountain String Band – Hill Country Girl
Uncle Earl – Black-Eyed Susie
Uncle Earl – The Last Goodbye
The Clarks – Cigarette (Live)
U2 – Instant Karma
The Sounds Of John Lennon – Whatever Gets You Thru The Night
Stereophonics – Don't Let Me Down (Beatles Cover)
Mudhoney – Touch Me I'm Sick
Queen – These Are The Days Of Our Lives
Queen – Under Pressure - Live
Soundgarden – Slaves & Bulldozers
Kurdt Vanderhoof (Metal Church) – The Thing That Should Not Be
Elvis Costello – (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, & Understanding
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Radio, Radio
Radiohead – (Nice Dream)
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Weezer – Buddy Holly
Weezer – Island In The Sun
Bono – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You into the Dark
The Replacements – Alex Chilton
Ralph Stanley – Clinch Mountain Backstep
Robert Johnson – Hellhound On My Trail
Robert Johnson – Cross Road Blues
Robert Johnson – Me And The Devil Blues
Norman Blake – Forked Deer
Tim O'Brien – Yew Piney Mountain
Chance McCoy & The Appalachian String Band – Dance All Night With A Bottle In Your Hand
Chance McCoy & The Appalachian String Band – Greasy Coat
Darol Anger – Black Mountain Rag
Dave Matthews Band – Grace Is Gone
Led Zepagain – Rain Song
John Denver – Mother Nature's Son - Live
Zepparella – Since I've Been Lovin' You
The Who – Baba O'Riley - Live Sheperton Film Studios
Willie Nelson – Crazy
The Band – The Weight
Wilco – Jesus, Etc.
The Allman Brothers Band – Melissa - Live
Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Blinded By The Light
Mötley Crüe – Home Sweet Home
Foo Fighters – Everlong - Acoustic Version

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA, December 31, 1991

2011-09-09T09:40:00.001-04:00

Buy the book on Amazon.

From Rolling Stone 2/20/92

Performance -- Red Hot Chili Peppers / Pearl Jam / Nirvana
San Francisco, CA, The Cow Palace, December 31, 1991
by Gina Arnold

Every year for the past twenty years on December 31st, San Francisco's famed Haight Street has been overrun by a fluorescence of Deadheads, in town for the annual Grateful Dead show at the Oakland Coliseum. Their inescapable presence on that particular day has long been a frustrating symbol that for much of America, culturally speaking, time has continued to stand stock-still.

On the afternoon of December 31st, 1991, however, the Deadheads finally met their match. They were greeted on the streets by a healthy host of obsteperous young longhairs clad in cutoffs and combat boots, their thighs all bulging from a lifetime spent on skateboards. This new contingent of rock fans had invaded the city not for the Dead, but for the concert featuring Pearl Jam, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and even the most casual observer would have had no trouble deciding which side of youth culture would be more fun to belong to.

An atmosphere of jubilation pervaded the Cow Palace as the 16,000 fans who crowded the sold-out arena celebrated a mass victory for a new popular-rock aesthetic. The victory was articulated by all three bands, each of which dissed their cross-Bay rivals in very specific terms, beginning with opening act Pearl Jam, whose singer, Eddie Vedder, greeted the roaring throng with "Want to hear some songs by the Dead?" The audience booed with gleeful derision, as Vedder burst into an a cappella rendition of Fugazi's antirape song "Suggestion." "Don't go partying on other people's pussies unless they want you to," he said (referring to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' anthem "Party on Your Pussy").

The point was well taken, for despite the rampant Seventies-isms of much of the evening's music -- Nirvana's work is often compared to Blue Oyster Cult's, the Chili Peppers draw heavily on Seventies funksters like George Clinton, and Pearl Jam is equally rooted in other, more staid classic-rock-radio conventions -- there is clearly an entirely different sensibility at work here. One of the most visible differences is a reliance on athleticism to carry each show, and the ingenuity of each band is quite amusing, from Nirvana's impromptu baseball game -- which utilized guitars as bats and amplifiers as balls -- to Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis's long handstand during one of Flea's impressive bass solos. Pearl Jam's opening set was particularly energetic. Singer Vedder climbed up the lighting ladder and, at the set's close, leapt courageously into the audience's maw.

The crowd was impressed, but the night clearly belonged to the next band up, Nirvana, whose new album, Nevermind, hit number one on the Billboard charts that very week. In fact, the record sold so unexpectedly well in the months since the show was booked that its popularity had well outstripped the headlining Chili Peppers by a factor of four to one.

Thus, after the briefest of set changes, Nirvana played a taut forty-five minute set that completely wrecked what was left of the audience's composure. Members of the mosh pit, which stretched from the stage to the back of the arena, were being thrown in the air like clods of dirt caught up in a live minefield. By the time Nirvana threw in its hit "Smells like Teen Spirit" in midset, the crowd had risen up, rolling forward in a relentless wave of motion. The atmosphere was so infectious that even members of the band's own entourage, standing in the comparative safety of the stage wings, periodically lost their heads and leapt off the rim into the boiling crowd below.

Nirvana's set drew largely from its first album, Bleach, but the audience was as familiar with those songs -- "School," "Floyd the Barber," "About a Girl" -- as it was with the selections from Nevermind which included "Lithium," "Breed," and "Drain You." Singer Kurt Cobain, his hair dyed purple for the occasion, vacillated onstage between nearly cataleptic detachment and unnerving inner intensity. The instant the set finished, he and his band mates destroyed their instruments in a cheery display of wanton violence. They didn't just throw them around, either -- they lovingly unscrewed each piece, the better to batter them into little tiny shards, while the audience howled with glee. There was no encore.

When the lights came up, the exhausted audience attempted to marshal its resources to match the Chili Peppers' legendary live force. But when the Peppers appeared -- bassist Flea upside down, lowered to the stage by ropes tied to his ankles -- they seemed to have trouble finding their much-vaunted groove. Despite the two fire-eaters, numerous naked dancers painted in Day-Glo and huge sonic booms that were set off at midnight, the final twenty minutes of the set -- which included bits of Clinton's "Atomic Dog" and all of Hendrix's "Crosstown Traffic" -- were by far the best. Once again, the audience roiled. The final stage diver, Eddie Vedder, took the plunge during an encore version of "Yertle the Turtle."

The Chili Peppers ended up ruling the night out of sheer noisiness and force of character. But it was Nirvana that had already had the last word -- when bassist Chris Novoselic butchered the Youngbloods' "Get Together" as the band ended its set with the song "Territorial Pissings." "Gotta find a way, a better way," goes the manic chorus -- but it was an injunction that had just rendered itself entirely needless. Well before midnight the crowd already had.

Pearl Jam
Nirvana
Red Hot Chili Peppers
SV059 - "JAM LIKE HELL (Platinum Edition)"
December 31, 1991
Cow Palace: San Francisco, CA (Daly City, CA)

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Source: Nakamichi CM-300s > Sony WM-D6 > analog (master) > cdr > dEdit > dEQ > flac

Taper: M.P.
Editing and Remastering: Allen Robertson
Artwork: Allen Robertson

============================
DO NOT SELL - TRADE ONLY
============================

========
DISC ONE
========
**Pearl Jam Set**
01 Once
02 (Waiting Room)/Even Flow
03 (Suggestion)
04 Why Go
05 Jeremy
06 Alive
07 Leash
08 (Smells Like Teen Spirit)
09 Porch

**Nirvana Set**
10 intro
11 Drain You
12 Aneurysm
13 School
14 Floyd the Barber
15 Smells Like Teen Spirit
16 About a Girl
17 Sliver
18 Polly
19 Breed
20 Come as You Are
21 Lithium
22 Dumb
23 Territorial Pissings

========
DISC TWO
========
**RHCP Set (part 1)**
01 Love Trilogy
02 The Organic Anti-Beat Box Band
03 (No Head No Backstage Pass)
04 Suck My Kiss
05 Subterranean Homesick Blues
06 Funky Crime
07 Give It Away
08 Nobody Weird Like Me
09 If You Have to Ask
10 Stone Cold Bush

==========
DISC THREE
==========
**RHCP Set (part 2)**
01 (Superstar)/Blood Sugar Sex Magic/(Magic Johnson)
02 I Could Have Lied
03 Subway to Venus
04 (Sexy Mexican Maid)/(Fela's Cock) jam (^)
05 (Fopp)/Special Secret Song Inside (Party On Your Pussy)/(Red Hot Mama)/Me And My Friends
06 Yertle the Turtle/Freaky Styley Medley/(Cosmic Slop)/(Atomic Dog) jam
07 (After Hours)
08 Crosstown Traffic

============================
DO NOT SELL - TRADE ONLY
============================

(^) = includes the New Year's Eve countdown

Recording Notes:
All three sets are sourced directly from the master, including the elusive RHCP set which seems like it has never circulated very much, if at all. Edited to even out some volume adjustments the taper did at the beginning of the PJ and Nirvana sets, smoothed out where the taper paused after "Dumb" and "Me and My Friends", and removed a few pops. There is also an unfixable small cut @ 9:28 of disc 3, track 6.

The total time of the first disc is 80:33. Almost all modern cd burners can overburn to a little over 82 minutes using capable burning software. Check out the net for specifics on what your particular burner can handle, or you can of course separate the two sets onto two discs if you have any problems.

This release should not be confused with SV023, called "JAM LIKE HELL". Basically the differences between that earlier release and this one is SV023 does not include the RHCP set, and there are more cdr extractions in the source lineage.

Also very special thanks to Dominick Gruber in Germany who spent a good bit of time helping me identify all the teases in the RHCP set.

Artwork Notes:
The artwork is designed to fit a 3-cd fat "quad" cd style jewelcase. It could be surely modified to fit two separate traditional jewelcases if desired.

Show Notes (thanks to Five Horizons):
New Year's Eve and three great bands! Ed comments, "If I wasn't in this band, I would still make sure I was here tonight." Ed sings part of Fugazi's 'Waiting Room' as an intro to 'Even Flow.' A driven performance, with a particularly intense version of 'Alive.' Flea of RHCP assists with vocals during 'Leash.' The 'Teen Spirit' teaser (actually the longest teaser I've heard) is followed by Stone's quip, "Just remember, we played it first." Ed performs one of his finest stage dives, repeating it later during the 'Yurtle the Turtle' encore with the Chili Peppers.

This is being distributed by blackredyellow.com in tandem with pj.sidewalkcrusaders.com, and is part of a series of the best Pearl Jam shows in existence. If the artwork is not included, you can find it at blackredyellow.com.

Compiled on another late night by spacedvest on 8/2/04.

5 Rules for Indie Publishing (Updated)

2011-09-06T16:54:00.000-04:00

I originally updated these rules for a blog post for Cynthia Ravinski of Greater Portland Scribists. I'd wanted to see what, if anything, had changed since starting this process earlier this year. I'd be curious to hear how you all feel about the 'rules', should they be amended? Do they stand?

Here's the post:

This month I'll reach the one year anniversary of making my decision to ePublish. This is a momentous milestone for many reasons, the largest is that it commemorates a resolution to step away from publishing as I knew it. Twelve years writing, three novels, a Masters degree, a hundred writing conventions, conferences and workshops, five hundred queries.

I was not an amateur. A hack. A wannabe.

I'm an Authors Guild member who received a four figure advance from a major travel publisher. I'd written for newspapers, magazines, travel journals, literary journals. I'd won writing contests and had received awards for my writing.
I'd spent a thousand hours writing and rewriting queries, synopses and drafts on my three novels, one of which was scrutinized extensively by mentors and peers in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction Program. I'd travelled hundreds of miles and paid hundreds of dollars to pitch to a single agent at a writing conference.
The decision to ePublish did not come easy. My wife and I thought long and hard about why we wanted to go this route, and even took the OCD course of creating five rules we had to agree to before we'd even consider it.

Here's the list, the reason we felt the rule was important and what has changed since last September:

1. Know why you're publishing independently

Why the rule?

We knew that ePublishing couldn't be pursued as a last resort. We believed that before we could take the plunge, ePublishing had to be our FIRST choice. We knew if we weren't going to treat our book the way a publisher--who'd spend thousands of dollars to print, market and distribute--was going to treat it, then independent publishing probably wasn't going to work for us. We had to believe we knew what was best for our book.

What has changed?

Nothing. The process has been amazing. Since releasing my book in March I have worked with the amazing folks at Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee to create a fantastic cover, and I loved every second of it. I have interacted with readers, people I did not know until they mentioned they'd read my book. I loved every second of it. Is ePublishing still my first choice? 100% yes.

2. Know risk to gain ratio

Why the rule?

Before taking the plunge we had the fortunate experience of knowing exactly what a publisher was going to do for us, and what we'd be doing ourselves. The publisher-supplied publicist did little more than send .jpegs to a few newspapers. We knew that even small presses made promises they couldn't keep about marketing and distribution.

You also have to know how finances are going to break down for you. Many writers are tight-lipped about sales, and for good reason. So finding reliable information about what a new small press or mid-list writer earns will be difficult, if not impossible. Most are lucky to sell-out their advances, and fewer still ever see a royalty check.

What has changed?

Nothing. The reward has outweighed the risk a thousand times already. That may sound trite, but in a few short months I've had experiences that are beyond description or monetization.

3. Know what you're compromising

Why the rule?

When we devised these rules legitimacy was a huge deal for us. We worried about what other writers--specifically our peers from Seton Hill--would say about our choice to jump ship. I had a huge list of Big Six-published books in my arsenal, books from people like Snooki, Nicole Richie, Lauren Conrad, that I could whip out whenever Big Six publication as a path to true legitimacy was mentioned.

But we knew all this before we ePublished.

What has changed?

Everything. Readers legitimize you, not editors, agents, publishers or your peers.

4. Know that you are the company

Why the rule?

This rule let us make a list of all of the things we'd be doing ourselves, almost a checklist to let us know if we had the stomach for it. Editing, publicity, formatting, art, author photos and on and on.

What has changed?

I think we're going to need a bigger boat.

I've never worked so hard for anything, and I have never in thirty-seven years been so proud of an accomplishment.

5. Know if you have the time and energy

Why the rule?

We have jobs, lives, and friends. Stuff we didn't want writing to interfere with.

What has changed?

Writing is my life. Which was always what I wanted, why else would I drop $40,000 on a degree? For a hobby? This pursuit has moved writing from the backburner to the hotplate.

And I learned to love coffee.

These rules were written pre-Borders collapse, and I think they've stood up pretty well. Something else that's stood the test of eleven months' time--the conclusion to my original post, presented her unaltered:

I don't know if independent publishing is for the faint of heart. But seeing that I'd have the freedom to write what I want, instead of writing what I hope an agent would want, is a very liberating experience. And if it bombs it bombs. I change my name and write something else. Or not. I can do whatever I want.

As the writer I should've always had that power--not marketing department or CFOs. Sometime I get the impression that a lot of editors and agents and publishers put writers at the bottom of a very tall ladder. I think independent publishing puts writers at the top.

And look, I wrote this whole post barely mentioning the way the publishing industry has eaten itself into a very awkward and ugly corner. Let the agents have Snooki. I think the readers are smart enough to follow the writing.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation by Jason Jack Miller

2011-09-03T11:43:00.007-04:00

This year has been pretty cool so far, but my favorite part so far has to be summer vacation. Between getting life lessons on carbon monoxide inhalation and learning all I could about asbestosis, the school year could not end fast enough.

Contrary to popular belief, I did not participate in the raid on Bin Laden's compound in Afghanistan. (I was growing my hair and beard for a totally different reason.) I went to Walt Disney World instead, which is a lot like Afghanistan except the dollar is even more worthless than it is in Kandahar. And the giant animals, princesses and castles you see aren't because of the poppies--everybody sees them.

Ate at Le Cellier, an experience I can only describe as Star Wars in my mouth. (Original, unaltered version.) I had the Le Cellier Mushroom Filet Mignon--an 8 oz. Canadian AAA Beef Tenderloin with wild mushroom risotto, white truffle butter sauce and micro chervil--for the second year in a row. I convinced Heidi to do the same, and with each bite I could see that she remembered why she married me. The rest of her family DID NOT take my advice, and ordered chicken or some other shit.

Before and after the Disney trip I got to do a lot of mountain biking. And, as is always the case, the biking waned as the summer wore on. In June we rode like gangbusters--two or three times a week. But before we went to the beach I broke my cassette on a gnarly downhill (bystanders were like, 'He's f-ing crazy, they don't call it the Widowmaker for nothin'')and used that as an excuse to sleep until ten for the last three weeks. Coincidentally, the lack of riding corresponds directly with the five pounds I gained since Florida.

This summer, despite all of the leisurely pursuits, was actually quite productive. The book Heidi co-edited, MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT, was released in June to much fanfare. It was such a big deal the story was spread across three sections of the Herald Standard. Thank goodness nobody stabbed anybody with a sword, or the article would've been much smaller, I'm sure. A lot of the older folks in town saw the article and made sure they stopped us in the grocery store or Panera with the same joke, "I can say 'I knew them before they were famous'" to which I always replied, "I am famous, Betty White!" and now we can't go back to Uniontown Giant Eagle ever again.

Of course, the reason for my inflated ego was the release of my own novel, THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK (eBook $2.99, paperback $14.99). In fact, if nobody else is going to claim it, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK has been selling so well that IT caused the Virginia earthquake. (We were in the area just a week prior.) (I'm just saying, prove it DIDN'T cause the quake.)

Having Hatch Show Print do the cover was also a pretty exceptional experience. Jim Sherraden of Hatch gave me some great advice for the book's ending. I'm not going to give it away here (a magician doesn't have to reveal his secrets, why should a writer?) but it had nothing to do with making a deal with the devil. He did say the cover alone was good for a hundred thousand copies. If it was good enough for Elvis...

Right before school we went to the Outer Banks. It's my way of dealing with the nightmares and anxiety that manifest every August. I didn't get sunburned, read the GQ with Mila Kunis on the cover and finished HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE by Geoff Emerick and started JOHN LENNON:THE LIFE by Philip Norman which is the fattest book I ever read (WAR AND PEACE for folks like me). We saw a bunch of porpoises, some jellyfish, a blue crab (I kept doing the Chief Brody line from JAWS 2 over and over, "It's just blue crab! Just blue crab.) and a dead puffer fish. Then I yelled at a bad dog-owner for not being able to control his Bichon. Mama Kwan's became my new #1 OBX place to eat, followed by a new #2, Mexicali Brews. (Sorry Kill Devil Grill, you just don't do it for me anymore. Maybe I was blinded by the hype, I don't know.)

What else... tried rye whiskey, went to see U2, which was pretty much in my top ~~five~~ three greatest concert experiences ever (Thanks Becky, for the extras), gave the cat two flea treatments, saw PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN (F*** the haterz, I liked it), SUPER 8 (F*** the haterz, I liked it), DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (F*** the haterz--oh, wait, that's me) and a bunch of other stuff. Got rid of cable TV. Went to see Rain with Mike and Sam in at Wolftrap in D.C. (which was AMAZING!!) where we encountered a real, live assbag (also AMAZING!!!). Went to State College to catch up and eat ice cream. Ate at Black Bear a bunch of times. Finished a draft of HELLBENDER.

(Mike and Sam, pre-assbag.)

To conclude, it was an amazing summer. Probably the best since the my YEAR WITHOUT A SUMMER (1988--dad went to rehab, broke my arm in 5 places requiring extensive bone manipulation, mom and dad got divorced. You asked. You think I like talking about this stuff?)

But guess what--it's over. Time to put the white pants and straw hats away. The skies are darkening. A stiff breeze blows through Panera Bread as I write this, foretelling a time when Steeler jerseys and 19 hours of darkness become normal, a time when I will vow to not let a single second of summer slip by unacknowledged or unappreciated.

That's what I like about living in the north--seasons mean something. Even if it it's only making vows that aren't meant to be kept. Bring on the pumpkin pie!

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Pink Floyd, Earl's Court, London, England August 6th 1980

2011-09-02T23:09:00.002-04:00

Maybe I bit off more than I could chew? Got big in my britches? Forgot what the thin line between the planet earth and the rest of the universe looked like? Maybe that's how I didn't notice when I stepped right over it.

First one through the wall gets bloodiest, but he gets to sit out the rest of the war. It's hard to talk about scars when kids are still bleeding. You can't see what you won when shit's still blowing up.

Buy the book on Amazon.

So ya
Thought ya
Might like to go to the show.
To feel the warm thrill of confusion
That space cadet glow.
Tell me is something eluding you, sunshine?
Is this not what you expected to see?
If you wanna find out what's behind these cold eyes
You'll just have to claw your way through this disguise.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Pink Floyd BARS IN THE WINDOW
FA005
Earl's Court, London, England
August 6th 1980

Source: Analog Audience recording
Lineage: cass[M] > WAV > Remaster > CDR(1) > EAC > SoundForge 7 (just for indexing) > FLAC (level 8, align on sector bound.)
Sound Quality: EX+

Disc 1 (54:05m)
1. MC:Atmos (2:04m)
2. In The Flesh? (2:58m)
3. The Thin Ice (2:45m)
4. Another Brick In The Wall (part I) (3:54m)
5. The Happiest Days of our Lives (1:47m)
6. Another Brick In The Wall (part II) (6:09m)
7. Mother (7:42m)
8. Goodbye Blue Sky (2:36m)
9. Empty Spaces / What Shall We Do Now? (5:22m)
10. Young Lust (4:37m)
11. One Of My Turns (3:30m)
12. Don't Leave Me Now (4:03m)
13. Another Brick In The Wall (part III) (1:15m)
14. The Last Few Bricks (3:56m)
15. Goodbye Cruel World (1:27m)

Disc 2 (51:27m)
1. Hey You (4:21m)
2. Is There Anybody Out There?
3. Nobody Home (3:08m)
4. Vera (1:33m)
5. Bring The Boys Back Home! (1:18m)
6. Comfortably Numb (7:31m)
7. The Show Must Go On (2:37m)
8. MC:Atmos (2:34m)
9. In The Flesh (4:59m)
10. Run Like Hell (6:48m)
11. Waiting For The Worms (4:17m)
12. Stop! (0:29m)
13. The Trial (6:02m)
14. Outside The Wall

This beauty comes directly from the master tapes, while the MoLM release is an FM Broadcast of a 1st gen.
This was obtained directly from the taper, and it's a remaster of his master tapes (made by himself), but whatever he did,
it sounds wonderful. Amazing show, you are not to miss this one.

Furry_Animal &
The Greedy :)

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Pearl Jam, MTv Unplugged, Kaufman Astoria, New York, NY March 16, 1992

2011-08-29T14:08:00.002-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     "You're looking and talking more like a soldier and less like my drummer."
     "I'm not your drummer. You're my guitar player." He laughed. "And I got to get back in the right frame of mind. That's all."
     "Sometimes I forget I don't know you as a soldier. You keep that part hidden from me and Pauly. But I see it when you're with the guys from your unit. I feel like the stories we have can't compete with your army stories—"
     Stu cut me off. "That's bullshit and you know it, man. You think I tell army stories when we're in the shit waiting for a patrol to come back, or waiting for air support? Fuck no. I tell them about the road trip to Huntington when we told Pauly we were going to Seattle and how he didn't know the difference because he'd never been out of Morgantown. Shit like that."
     He put his hand on my shoulder. "Listen, I tell band stories over there to remind myself what I'm fighting for. I tell army stories back here so I don't forget what it took to win it."

Buy the book on Amazon.

Seattle was my New York or Hollywood, the place I figured I'd have to make it to if I was going to make it. To me it was a happy land where people dressed like I did and drank java, whatever that was. I guess I scanned ROLLING STONE and GUITAR FOR THE PRACTICING MUSICIAN for bits of info about Eddie Vedder and Stone Gossard.

And I guess that would've been about 20 years ago. Can't believe it. Candlebox, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, The Melvins. May as well be Badfinger, The Faces and Sly and the Family Stone.

Pearl Jam MTv UnPlugged represents an epic part of the soundtrack of that time period. Download it at Sugarmegs.

Buy THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK here.

Pearl Jam
Kaufman Astoria (MTV Unplugged)
New York, NY
03/16/92

Source: dSBD > DAT > dEDIT (level adjustment only) > mkwACT > .shn

Disc 1: (soundcheck)

Oceans
Tuning Up
State of Love & Trust
Alive
Black
More Tuning
Jeremy
Still More Tuning
Porch
Finishing Up

Disc 2: (show)

Intro
Oceans
State of Love & Trust
Alive
Black
Angie (Rolling Stones) / Improv
Jeremy
Porch
Even Flow
Rockin' in the Free World

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, THE BEATLES, Empire Stadium, Vancouver, August 22, 1964

2011-08-23T18:57:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     Katy got a cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake. I got a double with extra pickles and a Coke. We split an order of fries. They were cut real big and came in a red plastic basket lined with paper, like French fries used to be when you were little. Drenched in Heinz, the taste reminded me of when there used to be lunch counters at the drug stores on High. I ate like I'd never eaten before.
     A couple of old guys kept playing Willie Nelson and Patsy Cline songs. Katy sang in a really deep voice, "Crazy..." I laughed. The lights came on in the parking lot, and Katy asked if I was ready to head back. I wasn't, but I knew she had things to do and felt guilty for keeping her all day.
     When she went to the bathroom to freshen up my phone buzzed. I read Lennon's text and smiled.

Download the book on Amazon.com.

Download the show on Sugarmegs.

From SUGARMEGS:

I didn't see this show on Dimeadozen, either in active or dead torrents, so I thought I'd share.

This is the Beatles playing at the Empire Stadium in Vancouver, BC, Canada, on August 22, 1964, during their first full-length North American tour.

The recording comes from a radio broadcast at the time. The tape eventually found its way into collectors' circles, and now it comes to you.

This is from the Purple Chick release of "Seattle Down Now". I didn't share that full disc because there's some officially-released stuff on it, and the rest (particularly the Seattle show) is of unlistenable sound quality.

The presumed lineage would be:
FM broadcast >> 1st Gen tape >> Silver Disc >> FLAC.

But I don't know Purple Chick's lineage--there may be more generations between the tape and their disc (and I don't know if the tape was reel-to-reel or cassette or what). Either way, it sounds as good as it ever will. I'd give it about an 8.5 out of 10 on sound quality.

The show itself is probably my favorite Beatles concert from 1964. The crowd gets really rowdy, and the emcee has to come on stage to scold them to stand back, otherwise, "kids are gonna get crushed". The Beatles' press officer Derek Taylor joins in at one point as well, pleading with the crowd to stand back. And then the Beatles have to go right back to their set! (And even encourage them to "clap your hands and stomp your feet"!)

None of this has ever been released officially in any form--PM me if you have questions. Enjoy! Here's the tracklist:

01 - Intro
02 - Twist and Shout
03 - You Can't Do That
04 - All My Loving
05 - She Loves You
06 - Things We Said Today
07 - Roll Over Beethoven
08 - Can't Buy Me Love
09 - If I Fell
10 - Boys
11 - A Hard Day's Night
12 - Long Tall Sally

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Pink Floyd, Deutschlandhalle, West Berlin, West Germany, January 29, 1977

2011-08-21T21:20:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

Jesse came in, singing something else to himself, and helped Ernie at the stove. Jamie and I went back and forth, playing songs I hadn't thought about in years. Jamie was happier than a tick on a fat dog and he laughed easily. "The Rain Song." "Goodbye Blue Sky" and "Dogs." Israel Kamakawiwi Ole's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World" medley. Old Jimmy Buffett. Some Beatles B stuff, whatever that means. "Mother Nature's Son" and some other White Album stuff. I didn't know as much Dylan as Jamie thought I should. I told him I'd work on it if he listened to more Wilco and Black Keys. Whenever either of us forgot chords or words we helped each other out.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Pink Floyd
"Desk Pigs In Berlin"
January 29, 1977
Deutschlandhalle, West Berlin, West Germany
Discs: 2
Recording: soundboard + audience
Release: Happy Pig
Roio Rating:[B-/1]

Disc 1:
1. Sheep
2. Pigs On The Wing Pt. 1
3. Dogs
4. Pigs On The Wing Pt. 2
5. Pigs (Three Different Kinds)

Disc 2:
1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (1-5)
2. Welcome To The Machine
3. Have A Cigar
4. Wish You Were Here
5. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (6-9)
6. Money

Roger shouts '5' during Pigs (Three Different Ones) -3rd verse

Comments: soundboard + Audience sheep and dogs are from "darkside of the pig". potwpt1&2 and pigs are from "desktape". potw pt1 had to have the left chanel removed and was replaced with the right channel. this created less hiss and better clarity."berlin day 1" was used to fill the gap in the beginning of Pigs. Disc2 is completely from "berlin day 1" except the little repeating part in shine on was fixed. both discs were normalized. UPDATED: sheep,dogs,potwpt1&2,and pigs all ran too slow. they were speed corrected. Enjoy. --Do Not Encode To mp3-- --A Happy Pig Production-- ////// Sound quality is VG+, the animals set sounds ok let's say.... and the audience source is very hissy...

5 Rules for Indie Publishing (Updated)

2011-08-16T21:00:00.000-04:00

Cynthia Ravinski of Greater Portland Scribists let me do a guest post about independent publishing. Please stop by and take a look.

http://scribists.blogspot.com/2011/08/letting-jason-jack-miller-do-talking.html

HELLBENDER draft finished!

2011-08-10T12:22:00.000-04:00

From HELLBENDER:

     My words were rooted in these hills, carried on the backs of the Irish farmers who followed the Potomac southwest instead of crossing the spruce-covered ridges of the Allegheny Front. My muscles formed from climbing white oaks and boulders, from hauling firewood. The mountain rivers that flashed through narrow canyon walls, over boulders and under high railroad bridges, flowed through my veins. Laurel brakes nestled beneath Pottsville sandstone ledges were my nursery. Sad fiddle tunes, played by old-timers beside a dying fire were my genetic code.
     In these mountains I’d seen things that Alex would never believe: floods, rockslides, forest fires and blizzards. One time I saw a bear defend her cubs from hunting dogs while I hid in the upper branches of an old oak. Later, on that same trip I saw a blacksnake swallow her young when a hawk flew over. One time, near Smoke Hole I found a cave where thousands of bats roosted, then came back a year later to see that the Forest Service had barricaded its entrance to protect them. When I was really little I saw West Virginia’s last confirmed cougar trapped and beaten on the plains above Red Creek. The musky smell of its urine as it pissed itself had made me cry.
     From a clearing on Spruce Knob I spent weeks watching two comets, Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake, as they streaked sunward in a cycle of rebirth as old as the solar system. Then on a backpacking trip to Roaring Plains I saw the sky strangely empty of planes and contrails for three whole days, only to return to a world much different than the one I had left.
     In my short life dead rivers had struggled back to life, the orange-stained rocks are the only reminders of a time when nothing would live there. In my short life mountaintops disappeared, bulldozed into tender streams. None of this could I have seen from anywhere other than here.
     And I couldn’t prove most of it.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia, August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995

2011-08-09T11:17:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     Jerry was the most fatherly of all my fathers. Like, I could see him coming to pick me up from school in that old black t-shirt, maybe even driving a shitty old Jeep like the one me and Pauly drove. Jerry as my father never said anything harsh, and when I fucked up he disciplined me firmly, but never harshly.
     In my wishes he taught me to play the guitar. He'd watch patiently as I fumbled through scales, my mind fighting for control over my fingers.
     Jerry sang a few lines over and over, looping like a digital delay. He sang, "I went to the levee but the devil got there first, said you can run all night but you can't outrun a curse."
     I thought he was talking about my dad. I asked him what I should do.
     "The accuser of brethren doesn't want us livin' Godly lives," he said, wiping his hands on his black t-shirt. For a second it felt sunny and cool. I assumed it was Marin County because the light looked like the light in all those old Grateful Dead family pictures. May as well have been heaven. He pulled his beard and said, "He don't want us living patient and lovely lives."
     He was talking about my dad, so I listened, waiting for him to get to the good part. But after waiting a long time, knowing morning would be here soon, I got direct. "Is the song true? Should I be worried?"
     Jerry strummed a banjo. As he plucked he said, "Satan's already been defeated, he just don't know it yet. He'll soon get all he has coming to him. Woe to my children for the devil's coming down on you with great wrath, because he knows that he ain't got but a short time."
     In the hospital room the air kicked on, chilling the sweat that had formed on my skin. I folded my arms over my t-shirt, a shirt I had when I was little. Optimus Prime held up a laser pistol with one hand. With the other he waved with a half pointed finger, like Bumblebee, Jazz and Bluestreak would appear on the horizon any second to kick Megatron's whiny ass. The red shirt, worn thin and soft by thousands of washings had been my favorite.
     I asked, "What do I have to do? To save myself?"
Nurses and attendants came and went, but they all ignored me. I figured Jerry didn't want to give me my answer while they were in the room. Then the sun went down. The room got colder. Light came from the hall through a tiny sliver beneath the door. Steady blue light from his heart monitor illuminated his silhouette on the bed. I got really tired just sitting in the chair waiting. I stopped paying attention to what went on in the room and my mind drifted other places. By the time I realized his heart monitor had stopped making noise it was too late to do anything.

Buy the book on Amazon.

August 9, 1995, my brother and I were patching rafts in the big red building behind Laurel Highlands River Tours. Must've been listening to DVE to have heard the news. I popped AMERICAN BEAUTY into the cassette player. Then WORKINGMAN'S DEAD. Then AMERICAN BEAUTY. As the other guides trickled back in from their trips they'd say "Black Peter" or "Box of Rain" and I'd tell them what'd happened. The rest of the day went by like that--guys hanging out until the tape flip, taking turns breaking the news to guys coming in from later trips.

Here's a show from April 23, 1977. The day my brother was born. I thought it was kind of cosmic. And they open with "Sugaree", which I was really in the mood to hear.

Stream it at Archive.org.

Grateful Dead, April 23, 1977
Springfield Civic Center, Springfield, MA

Source: Soundboard with audience patches
Lineage: SBD-> MR-> DAT-> CD, with AUD patch on reel splice (FOB Sony ECM99A mics-> Sony TC152-> DAT-> CD via Darrin Sacks)

Sugaree
Cassidy
Loser
Minglewood Blues
Ramble On Rose
Me & My Uncle
Row Jimmy
It's All Over Now
Scarlet Begonias->Fire On The Mountain
Estimated Prophet
Bertha
The Music Never Stopped
Help on the Way->Slipknot->Franklin's Tower->Around & Around->GDTRFB->Not Fade Away E: One More Saturday Night

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK, Elvis Costello And The Imposters, Gathering Of The Vibes Seaside Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut 7/23/2011

2011-08-07T22:27:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

     "Preston Black. Pleased to meet you."
     He put his hand on my shoulder. "You should be famous with a name like that."
     Mick pinched my cheek. "He's trying, Lou. He's trying."
     Lou asked, "Elvis Presley or Elvis Costello?"
     "Costello. Please."
     Lou said, "That's what's wrong with this world," and made his way to the front of the store, squeezing between Mick and me.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Elvis Costello is music most well-known enigma. Everybody knows him, nobody buys his records. He sounds like a lot of stuff you've heard, and like nobody else.

Not sure if it's because of the hat or not, but I look at him as the last of the songwriters. The ones who mattered. Would "Pump It Up" or "Radio, Radio" stand a chance today? I'd like to think they're good enough that they would.

Here's an amazing show to get your little Elvis Costello toes wet. Download it at Sugarmegs.

Elvis Costello And The Imposters
Gathering Of The Vibes, Seaside Park, Bridgeport, Connecticut 7/23/2011

Source: Schoeps CCM4V'S(din)>Lunatec V2>Benchmark AD2K>
Sound Devices 722 (24/48)
OTS/FOB/DLFC/KFC/ZFC/AARP 7' High
DSP: Sound Devices 722>Sound Forge 9.0>CD Wave>flac(16)
Recorded By: Z-Man
Seeded By: Z-Man

Disc I

01 Introduction By Wavy Gravy
02 ? >
03 Heart Of The City >
04 Lizard's Dance >
05 ? >
06 Shotgun >
07 Radio, Radio >
08 Everyday I Write The Book >
09 ? >
10 Watchin' The Detectives

Disc II

01 This Wheel's On Fire >
02 On Your Way Down >
03 This Wheel's On Fire >
04 I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea
05 *Slow Drag With Josephine
06 *It Must Have Been The Roses
07 ?
Encore:
08 Thanks
09 Sulphur To Sugar Cane >
10 Pump It Up >
11 What's So Funny About Peace, Love, And Understanding

* Elvis Acoustic Solo

John Lennon with Elton John, Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA November 28, 1974

2011-08-04T11:36:00.001-04:00

When I pulled up the DOUBLE FANTASY WORKING VERSION and heard John directing the band through the studio mic a tremor ran through me. Not sure how you all feel about magic and positive energy and all that, but I felt some of the magic from that afternoon had been captured on tape, digitized and stored if only to be released into the universe over and over again. I felt like John's voice poured into the mic and hit my ears same as it did the ears of the musicians in the studio that day. Like the digital filter that existed chronologically and geographically was no different than a crystal ball of divining mirror.

So instead of writing I searched for a few more fragments of magic and found them on Youtube. Elton John wanted John Lennon to appear on stage with him in New York City. The thought of it scared the pants off of Lennon, who agreed to do it only if "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" hit number one, which he was sure it wouldn't. John Lennon lost the bet, and these three performances mark the last time he ever appeared on stage. Here they are in the order they appeared on the setlist.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy Working Version

2011-08-04T10:53:00.001-04:00

Buy the book on Amazon.

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

Mick watched from his stool, arms crossed. After a moment to let me calm down he replied with sudden earnestness, "I suppose you have to ask yourself if it's worth it. You think I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and went to bed that night dreaming about running a music shop? My band gigged five or six nights a week anywhere we could—roller rinks, amusement parks. But you know what? I met a girl and had some kids. Now I have grandkids. I figure my life's okay. Not what I'd hoped, but okay." Mick stiffened as a pair of high school students came in. They headed straight back to Stu's drum kit.
"And at least once a day I ask myself, what if I'd have kept at it for another year more?" Mick waved me aside. Once his line of sight cleared he relaxed. "What if I'd have given it another year?"

Had a John Lennon dream this morning. First one ever, despite having written one into my book. It's a weird one, so hang on: Heidi and I were locked in the Uniontown Burger King after hours. There was a music festival across the street at Mt. St. Macrina, and we were hanging out with some type of R&B band before they went on, singing and playing guitar and fooling around. At first it was just the seven of us, but then the place got more crowded. John was sitting in a corner with Sean. John was wearing that silver puffy jacket from the late Seventies.

He showed me a few videos of Sean fooling around in the studio--the only thing I really remember was Sean holding a guitar and singing "Two of Us", except he changed the lyrics to "Three of us," a reference to him and John and Yoko. We sat there awkwardly for a moment, then I started telling him about my situation with my dad--how after not speaking to him for most of my adult life we finally reconciled. Then how just a year after that he had a stroke that would mean I'd never get him back the way I hoped.

The last bit we discussed was his new stuff, especially DOUBLE FANTASY. I asked how working with Yoko differed from working with Paul, or even just competing with Paul. John didn't acknowledge the comment except to say he felt the Seventies were a really creative time for him, and that being in the studio recently was a lot of fun.

That's all I can remember, try as I might to get a little more of the dream back.

Download the DOUBLE FANTASY WORKING VERSION at Sugarmegs.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Double Fantasy Working Version
MBE CD
69 Minutes
CD/EAC/WAV/FLAC

1. Starting Over (Intro Session)
2. Starting Over
3. I'm Your Angel
4. Beautiful Boy (With Sean's "oyasuminasai" ("good night")
5. Don't Be Scared
6. Watching the Wheels
7. Everyman Has A Woman
8. I'm Losing You ***
9. Walking On Thin Ice
10 Dear Yoko
11 Woman
12 I'm Moving On (Cheap Trick Version)
13 Clean Up Time
14 Hard Times Are Over
15 I'm Stepping Out
16 I Don't Wanna Face It
17 Nobody Told Me
18 Borrowed Time
19 (Forgive Me) My Little Flower Princess
20 Nobody Sees Me Like You Do

All Unreleased Nothing Official
***I'm Losing You was the Cheap Trick Version released on "John Lennon Anthology" so I replaced it with a unreleased version.

Happy birthday, MTv!

2011-07-31T11:11:00.000-04:00

Happy birthday, MTv! Here are ten from 1981 to remind you that you got to ditch Snooki and get back to the music!

Kim Wilde KIDS IN AMERICA

Men at Work DOWN UNDER

Soft Cell TAINTED LOVE

Elvis Costello OLIVER'S ARMY

Phil Collins IN THE AIR TONIGHT

The Go-Go's WE GOT THE BEAT

Queen UNDER PRESSURE

The Vapors TURNING JAPANESE

The Human League DON'T YOU WANT ME

Blondie THE TIDE IS HIGH

U2, Heinz Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 26, 2011

2011-07-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Mumford and Sons, June 19, 2011, Telluride Bluegrass Festival

2011-07-25T13:06:00.001-04:00

Buy the book on Amazon.

Great show, even with part missing.

Download it at Sugarmegs.

MUMFORD & SONS

6/19/11
Town Park
Telluride, CO

koto.org live stream > CDWAV 44.1/16 > FLAC

setlist tbd

started recording late, missing about 7-10 minutes
after track 3, i lost feed for 5 mins or so....?

THE SIXTH SEED by Lee Allen Howard

2011-07-25T08:30:00.002-04:00

The Sixth Seed by Lee Allen Howard

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reading Lee Howard's THE SIXTH SEED is like watching a particularly (for men, especially) painful episode of THE X-FILES. Howard toyed with some of my worst fears in this story, and they had nothing to do with alien embryo implantation.

I'm a fan of stories set in the real world. Stories where the horror is domestic, as much as it is supernatural or extra-terrestrial. This is where Howard excels--making you squrim in situations that are familiar. I suppose I can handle the absurd--it's horror in the mundane that sticks with me. The job, the kids... X FILES creator Chris Carter never dealt with these topics because they make government conspiracy seem a lot less scary. I believe THE SHINING would've been just as terrifying without the supernatural elements. The domestic scares us because it is what we see every day. The domestic reminds us that we've failed as employees, family members... So Howard's decison to combine extra-terrestrial situations with familiar ones was a potent one.

View all my reviews

THE MUSIC AND JASON JACK MILLER U2, Soldier Field Chicago, Illinois, July 5, 2011

2011-07-24T12:00:00.001-04:00

In honor of Tuesday's how at Heinz Field...

Download the show at Sugarmegs. It's a decent-sounding show. I'm sure it'll sound better on Tuesday.

U2
Soldier Field
Chicago, Illinois
July 5, 2011

Source: Church Audio CA-11 cards => UGLY pre-amp => Tascam DR-2D (24/48)
Transfer: DR-2D => WAV => Audition 1.5 (dither to 16-bit) => WAV => Magix Audio Cleaning Lab => WAV => FLAC (level 8)

Location: Field, slightly in front of soundboard, in line with right speaker stack

Disc one (67:36):
(1) Even Better Than The Real Thing (4:39)
(2) The Fly (5:07)
(3) Mysterious Ways(/Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World/Independent Woman) (4:42)
(4) Until The End of the World (6:12)
(5) Out of Control (4:58)
(6) Get On Your Boots (4:02)
(7) Banter (3:37)
(8) I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For(/The Promised Land) (4:20)
(9) Banter (0:57)
(10) Stay (Faraway, So Close) (4:58)
(11) Intro (1:42)
(12) Beautiful Day(/Space Oddity) (5:11)
(13) Elevation (4:20)
(14) Pride (In The Name Of Love) (4:27)
(15) Miss Sarajevo (4:24)
(16) Zooropa (3:52)

Disc two (73:49):
(1) City of Blinding Lights(/My Kind of Town) (5:34)
(2) Vertigo(/Miss You) (4:11)
(3) I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight (remix) => Discotheque(/Life During Wartime) (6:27)
(4) Sunday Bloody Sunday (4:15)
(5) Scarlet (2:18)
(6) Walk On(/The Battle Hymn of the Republic) (6:31)
(7) Encore break (1:49)
(8) One (5:48)
(9) Where The Streets Have No Name (5:34)
(10) Encore break (3:12)
(11) Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me(/My Kind of Town) (5:11)
(12) With or Without You (5:37)
(13) Bono Banter (3:25)
(14) Moment of Surrender(/One Tree Hill) (8:03)
(15) One Tree Hill (5:47) *

* patch from alternate source (DPA 4060 => Edirol R-09 HR (24/44.1)

Md5 signature file is included. Sorry, no artwork (feel free to make some)

Comments:

Good performance by U2 at Soldier Field near the close of their 360 tour, 364 days after the originally scheduled date. Many changes have been made to the setlist since the North American tour opened in Chicago nearly two years ago -- all but three of the new songs have been dropped from the set, and the opening sequence showcases the nearly 20-year-old "Achtung Baby," which is a big improvement in my opinion. Overall, I thought the performance and song selection was a lot more compelling than the first leg of the tour. The band gave a high-energy performance all the way through, fueled by a vocal sellout crowd of 60,000 -- there was not an empty seat to be seen all the way to the top of the stadium.

The emotional highlight, of course, was "One Tree Hill," performed in honor of the 25th anniversary of Greg Carroll's death. This was clearly tentative and under-rehearsed, but it didn't matter. One of the coolest moments I've seen at any U2 show over the years.

The recording is pretty good, although I have no doubt that there are better recordings out there. I was in line with the right speaker stack about halfway back on the floor, and the sound was great. Vocals are prominent in the mix, and there isn't too much crowd interference near the microphones. As luck would have it, my flash card errored out and the deck shut off about 30 seconds into OTH, so the last track is patched from the source recorded by my friend standing next to me. The cutover is pretty seamless, though you might notice that the last track has more clarity on the upper ranges and a little more crowd noise due to the audience members to his right.

Many thanks to u2setlists.com to help me fill out all of the tags. Mp3 samples are included in the comments.

eBook Marketing Models: If it's good enough for Jerry Garcia, it's good enough for me. (And Jerry only had 9 fingers.)

2011-07-21T12:09:00.002-04:00

I saw a Tweet this morning that got me all fired up, something along the lines of '...a professional is somebody who doesn't give his work away.' (I suppose I could find the offending Tweet and just paste it here, but I gots points to make.)

It probably wasn't directed at me (paranoia forced me to type probably) but I took it personally because that's kind of my game right now--getting books to readers. From personal experience I know that thousands of published writers die on the shelf without ever seeing a royalty check. They jumped through the publication hurdles like they were Carl Lewis, but never built a fan base. Second or third books in their series never got published because the first book didn't sell like Snuggies. Maybe some of these guys were pubbed through a small/medium press without publicists or marketers telling them what to do at every turn, and maybe some of these were writers who just didn't have the foresight or confidence to grow a fan base ("I'm a writer, not a salesman.")

This last part is kind of where I'm at (minus the small/medium press.) I don't have anybody holding my hand, telling me what works and what doesn't. And a lot of indie writers are in the same boat. That's why we hang out on forums and read blogs. ePubbing is a fairly new enterprise, and the rules are still being made.

That's why I resorted to a model from another field. A model that worked.

I decided to give a thousand books away. Or more. Whatever it takes. This is what the Grateful Dead did with recordings of their shows. They figured after they played a show it wasn't theirs anymore--it belonged to the fans.

In building support for my model I stumbled upon The Grateful Dead and the Tapers: A Distribution Lesson for the Arts where blogger Louise K. Stevens writes, "Face to face interaction with content is what builds audiences far more than all the PR and marketing in the world. Face to face interaction – sure, including via digitized media – that is facilitated by people just like you and me, who think enough of the content to pass it along, is even more likely to build audiences. Too bad that 99.9% of the artists out there have contracts forbidding the very thing that, as Kowasaki puts it, is totally enchanting in the simplicity of methods to build and keep thousands of happy fans. Think of it – a taper section at the concert hall. A taper section at the theatre, the opera. YouTube content that never stops, that is fundamental to audience growth. Encourage distribution, facilitate it, champion it. And watch the line at the box office grow and grow, just as it did for the Dead."

Think she's full of BS too? Then check out Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn from the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan. They talk about specific concepts that have made the Dead who they are.

Here's what the Dead have taught me:

The Dead have taught me stay away from the flock. Otherwise I'd still be querying agents. Of course, it can be argued that the Amazon thing is just another type of flock, which I suppose it is. But since it's a flock of independents, it's more like a flock of mountain lions than a flock of ducks.

The Dead were prolific experimenters (both legal and illegally.) Experimentation yields innovation and keeps the flock on their toes. Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling were both genre outsiders. Maybe that's why Stephen King hates Stephenie Meyer so much? She didn't follow genre rules and play the games that you're supposed to play ("Publish a thousand short stories before you even think about querying...")

The Dead realized that the fans defined them, and didn't have a problem with trying to keep tight control over their music, imagery, iconography. They rewarded loyalty and innovation within the community, especially when it came to merchandise.

The Dead taught me that content belonged to the fans. This is a tough one for some writers to grasp. You can complete the best novel ever written and keep it in a drawer and charge one person a million dollars to read it. Or you can rely on hundreds (then thousands) of people to fall in love with what you do and hope that (and encourage) them to get a few friends to buy the book. This is Marketing 101. Word of mouth, and all that? (Some of yinz who haven't attempted marketing yet need to keep an eye on what you're posting, lest those words come back to bite you square in the ass.)

Most of all the Dead have taught me to do what I love. Don't write to market. Don't follow trends. Don't play it safe. One of the first things I heard as a writer was "..write the book YOU want to read." I took it as the writer saying my stuff would never get read, so I have to write for personal enjoyment only. And now that my stuff is being read I know he meant that you STILL have to write for yourself, first and foremost. Since I've put my stuff out there for the world to read I have not had one miserable minute writing. I do not have to be reminded to 'get my ass in the chair' and do not have to be coaxed to keep up word counts. This is fun. Would I do it for free, as a hobby, the way I'm doing it now? Yes. I honestly would. But the little checks I get from Amazon make it all sweeter.

A friend from Seton Hill posted a link to Seth Godin's blog this morning. It was a short post if you want to check it out for yourself:

Building a job vs. building a business

He talks about the mentality of workers vs. entrepreneurs and it totally validated the way I felt this morning. And I guess what I would've said, if I would've replied to the Tweet was, "I'm not trying to sell books for a 12% royalty. I'm trying to build something that's going to exist beyond this book, and the next, and the book after that."

And I guess I just did that here.

Get the book for free here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/48037

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Clash, Lochem Festival, Holland 1982-05-20

2011-07-20T15:04:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    As I made my way up High I pulled out my phone and started to compose a text.
    I kept my phone in my hand while I walked.
    The apartment was dark and cold. I could see my breath. My bed remained unmade. I laid down and tried to call Katy. She didn't answer. I got undressed and tossed all of my clothes into a pile on the floor. I went into the bathroom and started the hot water for a shower. Steam rushed into the hallway, into the kitchen.
    Water scalded me. I turned the cold water up a hair. I hung my head and waited. No music remained in me. "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black" had taken it out of me. In two weeks I'd lived a whole other life. Maybe I should've enlisted back when Stu did. Maybe it should've been me instead of him. I wished it was. Then I could've proven to everybody I was decent. I'd tried for so long to just be decent. Maybe I should've set my goals a little higher than just decent.

Buy the book on Amazon.

If you are not, or have never listened to The Clash, now's the time to fix this. Beside influencing bands like Blink-182, The Offspring, Green Day, U2, The Cure, R.E.M. and Rancid directly, they have influenced hundreds of other bands indirectly by bringing together reggae, ska, hip hop and other forms of electric music. There's a reason they've been called 'the only band that matters.' Seriously. Google it. I'll wait.

The Clash didn't invent passion and weren't the first to turn their guitars up to 11. They were sincere and real and always gave 110%. You can hear that in the show below. They never phoned it in. That's why I love them, I think. I can listen knowing they never played a 'B' show.

Also, been loving THE ULTIMATE BOOTLEG EXPERIENCE and have been getting all my new stuff from them. They do an amazing job of providing high quality shows. If you stop by drop them a quick note of thanks.

The Clash - 1982-05-20 - Lochem, Holland

(Soundboard)

01. London Calling
02. Safe European Home
03. The Guns of Brixton
04. Train In Vain
05. Clash City Rockers
06. Know Your Rights
07. The Magnificent Seven
08. Ghetto Defendent
09. Should I Stay or Should I Go?
10. Police and Thieves
11. Brand New Cadillac
12. Bankrobber
13. Complete Control
14. Career Opportunities
15. Clampdown

Link for download is here below the setlist.

Need more Pixies?

2011-07-19T11:50:00.003-04:00

Their reunion documentary loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies is up at http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/loudquietloud_a_film_about_the_pixies/

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Pixies, Alexandra Palace, London, Aug 31st 2005

2011-07-19T11:43:00.002-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    Besides, the douche bags who worked at Isaac's treated me like I had the musical tastes of a ten-year-old boy. I couldn't help it I never heard of Black Flag or The Pixies growing up. My brother and me were pretty much forced to listen to whatever mom played in the car. Mostly country. Kenny and Dolly singing "Islands in the Stream." Garth Brooks, if we were lucky. Most people didn't have to dig as deep as me to find something they recognized in an old record or song.
    And digging deeper was pretty much what I was doing the day I found my LP misplaced behind Blizzard of Oz. On my way to return it to the BLUEGRASS section the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen stepped out of the stacks. She smiled. I smiled back. She asked what I had in my hand. On the album cover a bunch of anonymous pickers sat in front of an old log cabin. The back of the record said Uncle Mason's Front Porch: Best of the Blackwater Sessions.
    And on the track list, between "Pretty Polly" and "Hangman's Reel" was a song called "The Sad Ballad of Preston Black," written by E. Black.
    I knew right then and there that if I could ever find the man who'd written that song, I'd have found my dad.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Back from the Sunshine State with a vengeance! In between readjusting to Pennsylvania time and keeping a groundhog out of my ten square feet of tomatoes, I found this AMAZING Pixies sbd. If you ain't familiar with The Pixies this is the place to start. (And you should be!) Radiohead's Thom Yorke said The Pixies changed his life, Bono said The Pixies are "one of America's greatest bands ever" and Kurt Cobain said "Smells Like Teen Spirit", "I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it."

You have to download the .txt file to get the links to the show. Kind of a pain compared to Sugarmegs, but there's too much good stuff out there to ignore. Get the .txt file with the links here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MPP63AZC Many thanks to http://vivalesbootlegs.blogspot.com for the amazing boots!

The Pixies: Alexandra Palace, London.
Aug 31st 2005
Soundboard 192 kbps

1 - Wave Of Mutilation (Uk Surf)
2 - In Heaven
3 - Where Is My Mind
4 - La La Love You
5 - Here Comes Your Man
6 - Blown Away
7 - Holiday Song
8 - Vamos
9 - Winterlong
10 - Into The White
11 - Subbacultcha
12 - Is She Weird
13 - Ed Is Dead
14 - Planet Of Sound
15 - Cactus
16 - Tame
17 - Hey
18 - Caribou
19 - Stormy Weather
20 - Isla De Encanta - Something Against You
21 - Monkey Gone To Heaven
22 - Gouge Away
23 - Bone Machine
24 - Debaser
25 - Wave Of Mutilation
26 - Gigantic

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Alison Krauss and Union Station, BBC Radio2 In Concert, Mermaid Theatre, London, May 12, 2011

2011-07-04T09:55:00.001-04:00

Since today's a day when we think about what it means to be American, I found it appropriate to commemorate the holiday with some Americana. Maybe a hundred years ago, music like this would've been on the nation's collective setlist for an evening of fireworks and pie. Today you'd still hear it, and music descended from the same seeds as bands like Union Station. But, depending on where you live, you'd also hear cumbia, salsa, hip-hop, jazz...

Everybody has their idea of what it means to be American. With political season coming up, we're going to hear over and over what our Founding Fathers had in mind. But I'm certain Thomas Jefferson had no idea what the United States would look like over 200 years after he wrote The Declaration of Independence. (Saw an article in Newsweek that suggested he wouldn't even receive a party nomination, let alone win a presidential election if he were alive today.)

That's why summer vacations go so well with Independence Day. Get the hell out there and see what we have, that people in other countries are still dying for. Step into a national park--YOUR park and breath deep the air your taxes help to maintain. Step onto a national battlefield and be grateful for the fight to shape the country and hold it together. Rub elbows with your new brothers and sisters, people our great-grandparents wouldn't have recognized as American. No matter what you do, pursue happiness like only we can.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

ALISON KRAUSS & UNION STATION
BBC Radio 2 In Concert
Mermaid Theatre
London
Thursday 12th May 2011

FM radio broadcast > DR07> WAV > audio cleaning lab, edits, volume > TLH > flac 8

1. Paper Airplane
2. Dust Bowl Children
3. Instrumental
4. Lay My Burden Down
5. Sinking Stone (?) (Dan Tyminski)
6. Every Time You Say Goodbye
7. Baby, Now That I've Found You
8. Ghost in This House
9. Dobro instrumental (Jerry Douglas)
10. Hold Corn (Jerry Douglas)
11. Jacob's Dream
12. Rain Please Go Away (Dan Tyminski)
13. Sawing on the Strings

Alison Krauss - vocal, fiddle
Jerry Douglas - Dobro, Lap Steel, vocals
Dan Tyminski - Guitar, Mandolin, Lead Vocal
Ron Block - banjo, guitar
Barry Bales - bass, vocals

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Band, Complete King Biscuit Flower Hour, Carter Baron Amphitheatre, Washington DC, July 17, 1976

2011-07-02T01:36:00.002-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    Jamie hemmed and hawed with his gear, speaking without looking at the old lady like he didn't want to call attention to her error, "I'm sorry. May, this is a friend of mine. I'm not sure you do know him." He unloaded jars of jam and a few books from his bag and laid them across the table.
    May said, "I feel like I should." She stood behind me with her hands on my shoulders, holding me into the chair.
    "Well then, this is Preston Black, he's from town."
    She pulled her hands from my shoulders and took a step back. She wiped her hands in her apron. "Well, I recon I don't know him then."
    I stood up to shake her hand, but she responded weakly, like I owed her money. "You know the song?" I asked.
    "I heard it but I don't know it." She drowned a battered teapot in the stream of spring water that dripped from the spigot. "But that song ain't of no account and you can honor my hospitality by not asking no more about it."

Buy the book on Amazon.

Who doesn't love a good devil song?

I picked up my bag, I went looking for a place to hide;
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walking side by side.
I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on, let's go downtown."
She said, "I gotta go, but my friend can stick around."

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

The Band
Complete King Biscuit Flower Hour
Washington DC
July 17, 1976
Carter Baron Amphitheatre, Washington DC
Broadcast August 29, 1976
SBD Pre FM King Biscuit discs and reels
Length 71:13 mins

01 Don't Do It 5:10
02 The Shape I'm In 4:08
03 It Makes No Difference 7:23
04 The Weight 4:44
05 King Harvest 3:45
06 Twilight 3:29
07 Ophelia 3:36
08 Tears Of Rage 5:58
09 Forbidden Fruit 6:11
10 This Wheel's On Fire 3:51
11 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down 4:04
12 The Genetic Method 3:57
13 Chest Fever 4:23
14 Up On Cripple Creek 5:59
15 W.S. Walcott Medicine Show 4:03

Comments:
William Keats wrote:
The new Last Waltz booklet indicates the DC show date was actually 16 August 1976 (see page 1 of the booklet). The PreFM copy that I have has this setlist, which is not the entire show, but everything that King Biscuit broadcast (from PreFM sources including reels, which is how the Biscuit used to get sent out)
I write:
However this date is known to be incorrect, the recording was most likely made on 17 July 1976

Personnel:
Robbie Robertson Guitars, Vocals
Rick Danko Bass, Vocals, Violin
Richard Manuel Drums, Keyboards, Vocals
Levon Helm Vocals, Guitars
Garth Hudson Keyboards, Sax

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Dr. Ralph Stanley And The Clinch Mountain Boys, Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa, FL 2009-12-06

2011-06-30T23:31:00.003-04:00

Appalachia. Bluegrass. Copperhead. Dogwood. Elderberry. Fiddleheads. Ginseng. Hellbender. Indian pipes. Junco. Kingsnake. Laurel. Mountain lion. Newt. Opossum. Peeper. Queen Anne's Lace. Rattlesnake. Sharp-shinned Hawk. Tulip poplar. Upland Chorus Frog. Vole. White lightning. Yew pine.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download some good bluegrass at Sugarmegs.

Dr. Ralph Stanley And The Clinch Mountain Boys
The Skipperdome
Skipper's Smokehouse
Tampa, FL
2009-12-06 Sunday

Taped and transferred by capnhook hooknshark@yahoo.com

d1t01 -intro-
d1t02 Hard Times
d1t03 -band introductions-
d1t04 Room At The Top Of The Stairs
d1t05 O Death
d1t06 I'll Answer The Call
d1t07 If I Lose
d1t08 Big Tilda
d1t09 How Mountain Gals Can Love
d1t10 Little Rosewood Casket
d1t11 The Soldier's Grave
d1t12 Little Maggie
d1t13 Pretty Polly
d1t14 Mountain Dew
d1t15 Stone Walls And Steel Bars
d1t16 White Dove
d1t17 Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
d1t18 I'll Fly Away
d1t19 -it's time for a commercial-
d1t20 Rocky Island
d1t21 Man of Constant Sorrow
d1t22 John The Revelator
d1t23 Clinch Mountain Backstep
d1t24 John Henry
d1t25 Orange Blossom Special

encore:
d1t26 Think Of What You've Done
d1t27 -outro-

Never For Sale.
Please support artists that allow taping by buying merchandise & attending shows.

Dr. Ralph Stanley - Vocals, Banjo
Ralph Stanley II - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Nathan Stanley - Mandolin
Dewey Brown - Fiddle, Harmony Vocals
James Shelton - Lead Guitar
Steve Sparkman - Banjo
Jimmy Cameron - Bass

http://www.drralphstanley.com

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Civil Wars, Live In Session On KCRW FM 2011-06-15

2011-06-27T18:23:00.001-04:00

Not a new favorite, but I'm loving this show. Real singer/songwriters, and Joy Williams has an amazing voice. The show is crystal-clear, straight from the KCRW broadcast. Sounds like they're playing in your living room. And a Jackson 5 cover!

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

The Civil Wars - Live In Session On MBE KCRW FM 2011-06-15

KCRW Radio FM Broadcast
Santa Monica, California.
Source: FM Broadcast

AIRED: Wednesday June 15th, 2011

STEREO CAPTURE

**** NOT FOR SALE **** PLEASE DO NOT DISTRIBUTE THESE FILES IN LOSSY FORMATS ****

Lineage: FM > Onkyo HT-R520 > Analog Out (2 - RCA Mono Out) > 2 - 1/4 Inch Mono Phone Jacks In > Zoom H4n 24bit-96KHz > USB2 > r8Brain dithering 16bit-44KHz > CD WAVE Tracking > Audacity fade last trk only > TLH Checksums Flac.8)->

Indie folk rock duo The Civil Wars are one of this year's biggest indie success stories. When you hear their gorgeous harmonies and see their onstage chemistry, it's hard to believe they're not a couple!

01.(=Intro=)
02.Poison & Wine
03.(-talking-)
04.20 Years
05.(-songintro-)
06.I've Got This Friend
07.(-talk-)
08.From This Valley
09.(=Interview=)
10.Barton Hollow
11.(-talking-)
12.Falling
13.(-talking-)
14.I Want You Back (Jackson 5 Cover)
15.(=Outro=)
16.(-songintro-)
17.Birds Of A Feather (incomplete)

Note:

The DJ stepped on the last track again, with mere seconds until they completed, Booo!

The Band:

Joy Williams - Vox, Piano,

John Paul White - Vox, Guitar, Dobro

Links:

Stream/Audition This Show @

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/mb110615the_civil_wars

Remember, The Streams Can Sound Very Lossy.

Setlist And Info Copied From KCRW's Website

They're Often Incorrect @

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb

Other Related Links:

http://www.thecivilwars.com/

http://www.myspace.com/thecivilwars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_Wars

WIKI:

The Civil Wars is an indie folk duo composed of singer-songwriters Joy Williams and John Paul White. The duo met during a Nashville, Tennesee songwriting session and formed The Civil Wars. They gained national exposure when their song "Poison and Wine" was played on an episode of Grey's Anatomy in late 2009. The band got a boost when Taylor Swift tweeted about them in late 2010. During that period, their music video for Barton Hollow was added to the rotation at VH1 and CMT. The Civil Wars catalog includes a download-only album called Live at Eddie's Attic, an EP called Poison & Wine and a studio album titled Barton Hollow.

Background information:

Origin:
Nashville, Tennessee

Years active:
2009–present

Labels:
Sensibility Music

Genres:
Indie folk,
folk rock,
alternative country,
progressive bluegrass

Enjoy,
Nibbler

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Mumford and Sons, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Which Stage, Manchester, Tennessee, June 11, 2011

2011-06-27T11:03:00.002-04:00

Sounds great! New songs and a big encore. Turn of the AC and it's just like Bonnaroo without the head lice.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Mumford and Sons
2011-06-11
Which Stage
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
Manchester, Tenn.

Avantone CK-1 (cardoid) > Fostex FR-2LE (24/48)
FOB/DFC; mics at ~ 10' high
CF > HDD > Wavelab 6 > CD WAVE > FLAC > Traders' Little Helper

Taped by: willsfc
Transferred and Seeded by: MSTaper
*** A Team Dirty South Recording ***

Set List:

01 intro
02 Sigh No More
03 Roll Away Your Stone
04 Winter Winds
05 Below my Feet
06 White Blank Page
07 Timshel
08 Hopeless Wanderer
09 Little Lion Man
10 Lover of the Night
11 Thistle and Weeds
12 Lover's Eyes
13 The Cave
14 Awake My Soul*
15 Dustbowl Dance
16 encore break
17 Amazing Grace *^

Running Time: 1:24

* With Jerry Douglas
^ with members of Old Crow Medicine Show, Cadillac Sky and Apache Relay.

I watched this set and was very impressed with Mumford and Sons. They're one of those bands you have to see live to appreciate. I'm so glad willsfc taped this one, especially after seeing the "Amazing Grace" encore. I hear there were 19 musicians on stage. I was excited about seeing Apache Relay up there because they just played our town about two weeks ago.

enjoy!

MSTaper

Tape > Share > Support!

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK The Clash, Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL 14 September 1979

2011-06-21T12:53:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

I threw on an old Clash t-shirt, faded and thin like shirts from when you were a kid, worn to translucence because they had Darth Vader or Snake Eyes on them. Thinking about the cold made me add a layer. As I buttoned up the old flannel I looked for a hoodie and scrounged around my closet floor. In the pocket of an old gray sweatshirt I found a thin navy toboggan which I pulled over my ears. I threw the hoodie onto my guitar case and looked for gloves. But I couldn't remember owning any. I grabbed the record to show Jamie. As I tied my scarf I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. An ex-con if I ever saw one.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

The Clash
Aragon Ballroom
Chicago, IL
14 September 1979
WXRT FM Broadcast

01. Jimmy Jazz.
02. I'm so bored with the USA
03. Complete Control
04. London Calling
05. Clampdown
06. White Man in Hammersmith
07. Koka Kola
08. I fought the Law
09. Jail Guitar Doors
10. Police and Thieves
11. Stay Free
12. Clash City Rockers
13. Safe European Home
14. Capital Radio
15. Janie Jones
16. Garageland
17. Armagideon Time
18. Career Opportunities
19. White Riot

Lineage

Trade CDR `The Clash Chicago 1979’ (spacerabbit 2002) FM Broadcast (WXRT 93.1 Chicago) >
EAC > Soundforge 8 > CDWave 1.95 > FLAC 8

Notes
Removed WXRT Station tag after Trk 8 and minor edit between Trks 12-13.
Ran show through Soundforge Click & Crackle filter to remove some static and slight EQ to sound

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Gillian Welch and David Rawlings 1996-05-18 Prism Coffeehouse, Charlottesville, Virginia (a.k.a. DIE, HIPSTER, DIE)

2011-06-20T21:37:00.001-04:00

So, I'm kind of mixing it up a little here today. This post is about Americana, which SPIN magazine thinks was invented in Red Hook, New York last week. And it's not so much about my book, despite the title above.

I'd like to think I know a little about Americana. Not as much as many folks, but surely more than the dipshit who wrote this article. My understanding, as passed down from West Virginia cultural curator, Gerald Milnes, is that Americana and folk is music of the people. Music that has been passed down from father to daughter all the way back to Ireland and Germany. Folk, and Americana, tell a story, an event that should never be forgotten, like a murder, flood or famine and it's more meaningful than DNA for some. It's music of the people, as a reflection of their lifestyle which is why I'll stop with the defining right about here.

So, what's with the bee in my bonnet? This article, mostly, part of which I've excerpted below. Saw it a few weeks ago in the bookstore and just couldn't let it die. Maybe you'll see why I'm so upset, but I'd be totally okay if you thought I was overreacting.

Meet the New Stars of Americana
May 18, 2011 | 1:02pm

Call it chillbilly, bootgaze, artisanal rock, outhouse, tin can alley, or hobohemian. But dismiss it at your own peril. The homegrown retro scene is here.

Red Hook, Brooklyn, is isolated from the rest of New York City by New York Harbor, which sits to its south and west, and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which slices through its eastern half. The neigh-borhood's gentrification has been slow and spotty -- there's no subway stop nearby, and bus service is notoriously sporadic. Red Hook is salty and wild: a vestige.

On a bright Sunday afternoon, I make my way to Jalopy Theatre, a small performance space on Columbia Street, near the glowing entrance to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. A scrum of aspiring performers -- almost all under 30 and most sporting vintage eyeglasses and nose rings -- has gathered near the door. One by one, we check in with a woman behind the counter and watch as a few hopefuls are politely shooed away. Jessy Carolina, wearing a red flannel shirt, aviators, and a black knit cap, introduces herself; we fork over $20 each and follow a massive dog named Pirate to a smaller room upstairs.

There, Carolina, broadcasting old blues and zydeco songs from her MacBook, teaches the fundamentals of washboard playing: "There are no notes, you just have to feel it," she insists, handing out thimbles and bottle caps. If you've never been in a ten-by-four room crammed with eight amateur washboard players simultaneously attempting to discover their style, you have not experienced actual cacophony. The class taps and scratches along to Uncle Dave Macon, a banjo player and vaudevillian who died in 1952. "It's boom-chk, boom-chk, uh-uh-uh," Carolina instructs, moving around the room, sipping her Yuengling.

A decade ago, few would have predicted that a washboard workshop -- in a marginal neighborhood in a big northern city -- could ever be so popular that people would be getting turned away at the door. But here we are.

"Americana" suggests a million different things: a Norman Rockwell painting, a pickup truck, an oven-hot apple pie served on a picnic table with perfect scoops of vanilla ice cream. In music, it's a catch-all term for songs that are influenced, in part, by the indigent, rural, acoustic traditions (namely blues, bluegrass, country, and old-time) of the American South. It's populist, minimally produced, rowdy, and sincere. It's also enjoying an unexpected commercial and cultural renaissance, particularly among the indie-rock set.

Read the rest here.

I could almost hear Jessy Carolina's fake Southern drawl. Made me sicker than a dog on a gutwagon. (Look it up, Jessy.)

The writer goes on to talk about Dylan and Woody Guthrie and Wilco, but kind of misses the point, at least as I understand it. And I suppose, that's the crux of the problem I have with the writer and the kind of people mentioned in the article. The kind of people who'd drop a twenty on washboard lessons. The kind of writer who thinks Red Hook, New York, as salty and wild as it is, has anything to do with Americana.

Why doesn't the writer mention Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, the Carter Family or Loretta Lynn? Because this is white-trash Americana. NASCAR Americana. Never mind that Loretta Lynn was really a coal miner's daughter, not the privileged Penn dropout who's papa lost his ass when Bear Sterns went down. Never mind that Dolly Parton really did grow up in a one-room shack, not a Soho loft. Never mind that none of the above ever heard tell of a six dollar bottle of beer let alone washboard lessons. I think this is the writer, and by extension, his magazine's attempt to submit themselves as early adopters of the 'new' Americana. And really, all the writer had to do was drive a few hours south of Red Hook to see this wave isn't new. It's a river that's been crashing through rocky mountain hollows for a hundred years. All he had to do was ask anybody from Boone, North Carolina or Elkins, West Virginia or Nashville, Tennessee and he would've gotten an earful. Outside of the 'big city' it's always been here.

I know the writer, and the folks in Jessy's loft would have a hard time believing this, but New York is to Americana as Nashville is to pastrami. New York is a lot of things, but it isn't the center of the Americana universe, new wave or otherwise.

Here's an amazing show from Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. It's crystal clear, real Americana and not some hipster doosh taking washboard lessons. I swear. Download it at Sugarmegs.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
1996-05-18
Prism Coffeehouse, Charlottesville, Virginia
WJGU 91.1 FM Folk and Roots Music Marathon

Pre FM Soundboard=>??=>CDR=>(Retracked Sony CDR-W33)
Imported to iTunes 48kHz 16 bit stereo. Encoded with xACT

(2005-08-17)
WAV > AUDITION 1.5 > DOWNSAMPLE/DITHER > 16BIT/44.1KHZ > SHNTOOL-FIXED SBE's > FLAC-8

Disc One (56:30)
01. Radio Intro
02. Tear My Stillhouse Down
03. One More Dollar
04. Pass You By
05. Acony Bell
06. Long Black Veil
07. Wichita
08. Barroom Girls
09. By The Mark
10. Diamond Joe
11. Caleb Meyer
12. Snowin' On Raton
13. Orphan Girl/ Radio Outro

Disc Two (49:54)
01. Fade In/ Annabelle
02. Paper Wings
03. Silver Dagger
04. Johnny Cash Story
05. Dry Town
06. I'll Go On Downtown
07. Dark As A Dungeon
08. Red Clay Halo
09. Only One And Only
10. Dusty Boxcar Wall

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Dave Matthews Band, October 08, 1994, The Avalon Ballroom, Boston, MA

2011-06-17T15:05:00.002-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    Jamie shrugged his shoulders. "Your turn." He rubbed his eyes and set his fiddle in his case on the table. He shut his recorder off.
    "I'd just as soon turn in to bed hungry and get going as early as possible." I said it loud enough for Ernie to hear, but not loud enough that Jamie'd figure out I'd said it loud enough for Ernie to hear.
    Jamie poured us each another finger or two of whiskey.
    I saluted him and threw it down. I whooped, and Ernie came over and said he didn't want us getting too far ahead of him, so we all drank another.
    "Requests?" I asked Jamie.
    "Play what you feel, son," he said.
    "What I feel? That's a tough one. Let me try this on for size." I strummed a slow D and played the opening to "Grace is Gone."
    Jamie nodded, eyes closed. After I finished the first chorus he accompanied me with his fiddle, playing just like Boyd Tinsley. When we finished he said, "That's a very nice song."
    "Dave Matthews Band. Haven't played that in a long time."
    "Give us another, maybe something I can sing along with."

Buy the book on Amazon.

This show is a crystal-clear soundboard from an early (pre-Crash) Dave Matthews Band show. I know there are a lot of Dave haters out there, and you know what I say? F*ck them. Dave is awesome. Check out the teases in Recently, or stick around for the Halloween at the end. Dave can do it all--melody, heavy, jibberish. That's why he's huge. Because he can write songs.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.

Dave Matthews Band
October 08, 1994
The Avalon Ballroom
Boston, MA

Taper: Unknown
Source: DSBD

DAT>CD: Jon Ice (jond_ice@hotmail.com)
Equip: Tascam DA-30 > Digi Coax > Midiman DIO2448

Resamp: 48kHz > 44.1kHz via Samplitude
SHN: MKW Audio Compression Tool

Disc 1
1: Intro 00:58
2: Seek Up 12:50
3: Dancing Nancies 08:23
4: Best of What's Around 06:55
5: Song That Jane Likes 04:43
6: Satellite 05:25
7: Jimi Thing 10:57
8: Dave Speak 01:15
9: Say Goodbye 07:10
10: Get In Line* 07:31
Total 66:07

Disc 2
1: Tripping Billies 05:02
2: Rhyme and Reason 05:27
3: What Would You Say 05:00
4: Recently$ 11:04
5: Encore Break 01:00
-Encore-
6: Drums-> 01:29
7: Halloween 04:55
Total 33:57

* First time played
$ Pretty, Pretty Girl, Take Me to the River, On Broadway
compiled by Jon Ice (1.26.01)

READERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN SALES.

2011-06-15T10:01:00.002-04:00

Amazing deduction, right? So why did it take me 3 months to arrive at this conclusion.

Fear, probably, is the biggest reason. ePub is all ready looked at as being less legit than 'legacy publishing' so why devalue my writing even more? $2.99 isn't $17.99, but it sure as heck isn't a giveaway. $2.99 is J.A. Konrath's magic number, and if that's good enough for him it's good enough for me.

At some point between Monday morning and last night it occurred to me that I wasn't writing to make money. Maybe it had something to do with summer idealism and the ability to write in a stress-free environment for the next few months. Most likely the angle of the sun and the smell of honeysuckle in the evening reminded me of all the good things that come with summer. Playing my guitar in our porch swing. Fireflys. Getting muddy on some of West Virginia's finest singletrack.

Dave Matthews Band.

What?

Yup. Going back to 1994 or 1995, Dave Matthews Band had been my official summer soundtrack, and even if I don't listen to them nearly as much as I used to, something about this time of year makes me want to hear stuff from the first 2 or 3 CDs again.

I didn't get into Dave until CRASH came out, and by then he was certainly mainstream. But I knew that tapes of his early live shows existed, and tried to get my hands on some of the more legendary ones. DMB's early manager, Coran Capshaw, had toured extensively with the Grateful Dead and knew the importance letting tapers record and distribute, through one-to-one trades, Dave Matthews Band's early shows. Students from Charlottesville and Richmond came to their first concerts knowing the words to most or all of Dave's songs. Students from Richmond and UVA would pass out tapes to friends at other universities so when the band showed up for the first time at a city they'd never played in, they played to full houses of fans who knew all the words.

DMB gave their music away, because they knew the importance of building those relationships, something I'd forgotten until the sounds of the summer city waking up through an open window shook me back into reason.

So I'm dropping the price of THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK to $0.99 on Amazon and Smashwords (because Amazon won't let you give the book away, and Heidi says it should have some value) for the next few weeks. All I ask is that, if you like the book, tell somebody about it by leaving a review or sharing it with somebody who'll read it. If you're on Goodreads write a brief review or talk about it on a message board. If you bought it on Amazon leave a few words saying what you liked, or didn't. Doesn't have to be a doctoral dissertation. Just a few lines.

As a thank you I'm going to start posting my next book, HELLBENDER, chapter by chapter here on the blog. Look for the tab at the top of the page by the end of the day.

And to everybody who has read the book and has said kind things to me or to others about the book-thank you! These interactions are the reason I'm dropping the price. Down the road these will have more value than any money I would've gotten from sales.

THE MUSIC AND PRESTON BLACK Pink Floyd, Boston Gardens, Boston,Massachusetts June 27th 1977

2011-06-11T21:15:00.001-04:00

From THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK:

    It was either July or August. One of those nights when an open window and a box fan only made things worse. I sat on my roof, crying or something. Probably crying. I had Pink Floyd Animals playing over and over. A full moon crept up over the mountains, shining a dense blue light bright enough to make nighttime shadows appear. Without wind I could hear every cricket for a thousand miles. A couple of hound dogs had a raccoon treed down by Deckers Creek.     And, for a moment, I felt like the only person on earth. Like all the loneliness manifested itself in the sudden disappearance of everything I'd ever known. The world, with just me in it, suddenly had felt like a very cold place.
    At some point the tape had flipped back to side one. "Dogs" came on, even if I didn't really notice it. And the humid air, an amplifier for all those non-human sounds, brought the crickets and the hound dogs right up to my roof. The moon came over the treetops, washing out the city lights below me. And the dogs—either the ones from the tape or real ones—got closer. The dogs were like a bridge between the tape and real life, and it became hard to tell which was which. Suddenly being alone really scared me. I don't really remember what happened after that.
    Even though that phase of my life ended that night, the details will always stick with me. The way the moon and the city looked. Individual trees, and the leaves just scattering the moonlight like a chrome bumper scatters brake lights. The feel of the shingles and the slope of the roof on my bare feet. I didn't know if it was the most dream-like experience I'd ever had, or the most life-like dream, but last night, up in Dani's apartment, felt just like that night on my roof.

Buy the book on Amazon.

Here's a show that captures a little of that feeling. It's hot here in Uniontown. But no moon. Otherwise, tonight is a lot like the night I described in my book.

Download the show at Sugarmegs.com

"Have A Cigar"
CA-2004015/16 Cannonball
Matrix Disc 1: CA - 2004015
Matrix Disc 2: CA - 2004016
(P) 2004 Made in Japan
Promotional Use Only - Not For Sale

SQ Scale (G+ VG- VG VG+ EX- EX EX+ SUP- SUP)
SQ Rating: EX+/SUP-

Pink Floyd
Boston Gardens
Boston,Massachusetts
June 27th 1977

Lineage: "Have A Cigar" My Silver > CDWave > Flac5

Disc 1: 50:38
1. Sheep 10:57
2. Pigs On The Wing Pt1 1:21
3. Dogs 17:47
4. Pigs On The Wing Pt2 2:20
5. Pigs 19:11

Disc 2: 70:29
1. Shine On Your Crazy Diamond Pt1-5 13:13
2. Welcome To The Machine 8:08
3. Have A Cigar 5:02
4. Wish You Where Here 6:49
5. Shine On Your Crazy Diamond Pt6-9 17:11
6. Money 12:09
7. Us And Them 7:53

Total Time: 121:07

http://www.boot-review.com/

Have A Cigar (Cannonball CA-240015/16)

Boston Garden, Boston, MA - June 27th, 1977

Disc 1: Sheep, Pigs On The Wing (part 1), Dogs, Pigs On The Wing (part 2), Pigs (three different ones)

Disc 2: Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 1-5), Welcome To The Machine, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (parts 6-9), Money, Us & Them

There have been many releases coming out of the east documenting tapes from Pink Floyd's In The Flesh tour, this being the fourth release in the past month (Pigs Fly Over America, Welcome To The Machine and Racial Violence being the other three). It is indeed a classic tour and the last time that the band truly toured the United States and Have A Cigar represents the final Boston concert with Roger Waters in the band. This is a superb sounding stereo audience recording made by the same one who made the second tape source of the 1975 show at the same venue.

Previous releases of this show include The Perfect Day on Ayanami, but this comes from the complete and unprocessed master that has recently been circulating. It is better sounding and longer than any other and is the definitive version of a spectacular show that is definitely worth having. This is Pink Floyd after touring for several months, so they are extremely tight, but before their frustrations began to surface in the New York concerts the following week. Waters shouts out "48" during "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" and comments at the end "The perfect end to a perfect day".