POSTED // Nov 12,2008 - Portugal. The Man is from the wilds of Alaska. Wasilla, to be precise. To paraphrase the sage Sean “Diddy” Combs’ infamous Diddy Blog No. 16 (the original version that he’s since tried to cover up): I didn’t even know they had music up there. Secessionist fanatics, sure—but a unique, socially conscious rock band? Especially after all the crazy Alaskans we’...

POSTED // Oct 1,2008 - Considering the lush Bowie/T. Rex glam of David Vandervelde’s debut LP The Moonstation House Band, his follow-up is a surprise. The cover photo, showing the 20-something musician in a bedroom with James Taylor hair in the soft morning light—and...

POSTED // Sep 24,2008 - The way Pete Townshend got tinnitus was not from his loud amps at his gigs,” says Bart Davenport. Tinnitus—“this fucking ringing in my ear that happens to me 24 hours a day,” he said about it—is the last thing the San Francisco...

POSTED // Sep 17,2008 - Andy Andrist is known for cringe humor—that which offends in order to further ideas, like whether there should be limits to political correctness. Others whose humor is rooted in this concept include Lenny Bruce’s battle against what constitutes...

POSTED // Sep 3,2008 - Last I spoke with John Hiatt, the last question I asked was, “If you had to write your last song right this minute, you’ve bagged your limit, what would you write about?” With scant reflection, he said, “I’d write about my...

POSTED // Aug 27,2008 - “Liquid Swords changed my life.” This interview, from September 2007, was originally intended for the now-defunct Harp magazine’s back-page feature, “Reflections,” but never made it to print. Artists were asked to discuss...

POSTED // Aug 13,2008 - Like four-leaf clovers, you can miss the Avett Brothers if you’re not looking closely. At first blush, they’re just another band mixing folk and indie pop—and there’s lots of those. But the Avetts are special, it’s just taken...

POSTED // Aug 6,2008 - Talk about Lucky—Nada Surf once got to back up Joey Ramone. The NYC trio, whom you know either as authors of a summer hit from 1998 or one of indie rock’s most clever and substantial bands, was covering “I’m Sick of You”...

POSTED // Jul 30,2008 - Paul Thorn comes on the phone line not after a soundcheck or working in the studio or driving to the next town—he’s spent this fine Friday afternoon raking his yard. Yup, he laughs. “I’m home.” Home, for Thorn, is Tupelo,...

POSTED // Jul 23,2008 - In the Beginning, Mötley Crüe just ruled. But why? City Weekly thinks we have it all figured out. Fïngër ön thë Pülsë öf thë Möral Mäjörïty Everybody knew that Satan was the moral majority’s...