Teddy Thompson (pictured above with the patron saint of alt-country) is coming to the Triple Door on March 25. He is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated soloists currently walking the earth, which is strange, considering he's Richard and Linda's kid. Rosie Thomas is opening. What a spectacular singer-songwriter showcase this'll be.

Is it just me, or is Cameron Diaz a couple wrinkles shy of Ellen Barkin? Anyhoo, this vid's a "We Are the World" for the Daily Show generation.

Tullycraft
Where: Easy Street Records, 20 Mercer Street, Lower Queen Anne
When: 8 p.m.
Not Familiar? They have a TON OF MP3s and VIDEOS on their site.

It's shameful that I overlooked the Fu Manchu show at El Corazon on Saturday. May the stoner rock gods have mercy on me. Now, please enjoy "King of the Road":

How many of you out there read the Rolling Stone cover story on Britney Spears? I'm not talking about this one...

or this one...

I'm talking about this one...

Anyway, this issue came out when I was visiting my folks back in frigid Pennsylvania. I flipped through it while my old man was fillin' up the truck at the Sheetz mini-mart.
I read the first two sentences of this piece ("The Tragedy of Britney Spears" by Vanessa Grigoriadis) and found myself completely roped in. I didn't buy it to read the rest, however, because I couldn't quite figure out whether I was roped in because it was good writing, or because I was expecting a brainless E! True Hollywood treatment of the train-wreck.
Well, I got back to Seattle and discovered that a co-worker of mine (whom I respect and assume would like to remain nameless) was also completely enraptured by the piece. I printed it off from Rolling Stone's website and finally finished it yesterday. I gotta say, it is one great piece of writing...as smooth and effortless as an exhale, but ripe with insightful passages, like this one:

"If there is one thing that has become clear in the past year of Britney's collapse — the most public downfall of any star in history — it's that she doesn't want anything to do with the person the world thought she was. She is not a good girl. She is not America's sweetheart. She is an inbred swamp thing who chain-smokes, doesn't do her nails, tells reporters to "eat it, snort it, lick it, fuck it" and screams at people who want pictures for their little sisters. She is not someone who can live by the most basic social rules — she is someone who, when she has had her one- and two-year-old sons taken completely out of her care, with zero visitation rights, appeared at Los Angeles' Superior Court to convince the judge to give her kids back, but then decided not to go inside, and she's someone who did this twice. She's the perfect celebrity for America in decline: Like President Bush, she just doesn't give a fuck, but at least we won't have to clean up after her mess for the rest of our lives."

If you haven't read it yet, Rolling Stone has the whole thing available for free!

I've recently read an interesting book called This Is Your Brain On Music, written by cognitive neuroscientist (and former sound engineer/record producer) Daniel J. Levitin. The book was loaded with tons of scientific mumbo jumbo and music geek speak, and was written in a way that anyone with an interest in either subject could understand. It provided a very thorough and insightful look into the what's, why's and how the brain processes, stores, and produces music.

One thing that Levitin didn't touch in the book was Holophonic Sound, which I heard for the first time last night. Holophonic is essentially a three-dimensional sound recording, one that doesn't just cross from left to right channels and back again, but sounds that arch, spiral, ascend and descend around you. You and your brain are at the center of the sound, as it moves around you - in short, it's the most realistic sound you'll ever experience on a recording, as though it's right there in the room with you. I wonder what parts of the brain the sound travels to, and why it's so sensational to hear? Levitin, where are you?

Try listening to a Holophonic Sound recording on stereo speakers, and the trick is lost. To really hear how holophony works, it must be listened to with headphones. Mind you, the following mp3 I have provided is not music (it's the sound of an ignited match and the shaking of a box of matches), but both Pink Floyd and Psychic TV have utilized Holophonic Sound in the past.

Coincidentally, Holophonic Sound was born in 1983, which makes this year the 25th Anniversary. We've got the matches - anyone have some candles?

Listen: Hugo Zuccarelli - Holophonics (The Matchbox Shaker) mp3

Holy wow! I don't know why, but I didn't expect this to happen so fast. Fleet Foxes' new Sun Giant EP, available on tour and digitally via Sub Pop's website, made "Best New Music" on Pitchfork today. We already knew they were a great band long ago (actually, I remember assigning Michael Alan Goldberg to write about them when I first started here back in Spring of '06), but it's still nice to see the national (and international) validation.
Congrats, guys!
(And because we have to clear the air of this conflict-of-interest stuff, yes Fleet Foxes' frontman is Robin Pecknold. His sister Aja works here. I talk to her almost every day. From my office, all I have to do is turn my head to look at her).

The following occurred 15 minutes ago at my desk:

Colleague: Hey, Korny, you want to listen to this? I can't stand Colin Meloy.
Me: I'll listen to it.
Colleague: It's yours if you want it.

My computer, a MacBook, did not want it. In fact, it flat out rejected Mr. Meloy's album, "Colin Meloy Sings Live!" by spitting it out every time I put it in the disc drive. I'm gonna trust the ghost here.

Mclusky fans are a passionate bunch (myself included). To say their break-up in 2005 was premature is a massive understatement.

Luckily, frontman Andy Falkous continued on with a band he calls Future of the Left. It's no Mclusky, but it's still damn good and will satisfy fans who miss that band's exceptionally hilarious song titles (I was already a fan via Mcklusky Do Dallas but I would have bought The Difference Between You and Me Is I'm Not on Fire on principal), ornery vocals and brutish, angular guitar lines.

Their debut album, Curses, came out on Too Pure late last year, but sadly, the only tour dates they have scheduled currently are in the U.K.(in London with Les Savy Fav! Argh!) and Australia. However, his homespun video of people dancing to "The Fiber Provider" is particularly delightful. Enjoy:

Johnny Winter

From this week's Short List:

Ball of Wax #11 with Webelos, Beast Please Be Still, Corespondents, the Luna Moth, Snowman Plan, Seth Howard, Sweet Potatoes, Mike Dumovich and Virgin of Birds
9 p.m. $6, Sunset Tavern
Even though it sounds like an ancient, half-wrapped piece of butterscotch, Harry Candy is not what you find at the bottom of your grandma's purse. It's a musical game where musicians from several bands get together, form new bands, write, record, and mix down their love child of a track in a mere 24 hours. This melodious frolic (which I'm guessing gets mighty interesting around hour 17) produces some genre-bending results and serves as inspiration for the 11th Ball of Wax compilation, benefiting Hollow Earth Radio. Tonight's show features participating acts like Beast Please Be Still and Webelos among many others playing as themselves, but BOW mastermind Levi Fuller let me in on a secret, upcoming all-ages show (the location of which is disclosed at ballofwax.org) where the bands will be playing as their newly formed Harry Candy alter egos. With Webelos, Beast Please Be Still, Correspondents, the Luna Moth, Snowman Plan, Seth Howard, Sweet Potatoes, Mike Dumovich, and Virgin of Birds.