Jason Crowther’s Blog

I always said I’d buy a lot more music if it were priced more reasonably.  Well, I just put my money where my mouth is.  Recently I stumbled on the fact that Amazon MP3 announces super duper deals on their Twitter feed.

I’ve been meaning to try them out for a while, but today’s $1.99 deal was a 22 track Patsy Cline collection that I just couldn’t resist.  Everything was a go until I noticed that you need the Amazon MP3 Downloader to buy an album at a time (I think you can only buy a track at a time without it.)  Sitting at my work desk, I said geez, gonna have to wait until later ’cause there’s no way they have a Linux version.  But, hey now!  They do!

A quick deb package download later and I was ready to click the One-Click Checkout button.  Well, it was a few more clicks for me (because my credit card on file was expired), but it wasn’t anything too mind bending.  Pretty smooth.

I’ll be keeping my eye out for more good deals on the Twitter feed.

Leroi Moore, saxophonist and founding Dave Mathews Band member, has succumbed to injuries from an ATV accident earlier this year.  CNN story.  Rest in peace, brother;  you’ll be greatly missed.

I’m sure the band will carry on, but it won’t be the same.

A while back (years ago, in fact) I stumbled on Hayseed Dixie (probably via KPIG, the home of all things good.) They’re a bluegrass band that covers all sorts of rock music, including AC/DC (their namesake), KISS, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and many others. Good stuff!

The other day, I was messing around on the Live Music Archive (if you haven’t been over there lately, you can now stream most shows; no more downloading, woo-hoo!) and saw that they had a some shows up. Oh man, I was on ‘em like white on rice. As usual, the live stuff is way better than the album. Bonus! the front man shares some hilarious stories in between the songs.

At the moment, I’m listening to 2007-05-25. The story about someone parking in a handicapped parking space that opens in the show is a riot.

Update: the Hayseed Dixie profile page on Last.fm has some entertaining videos.

Recently, while digging through the Live Music Archive for something new to listen to, I stumbled on Umphrey’s McGee (excellent website too!). I had see the name a lot on both the Live Music Archive and etree; mainly when I scroll past them to find Dave Matthews Band stuff.

This particular time, I stopped on their 20070228 show. I saw Baba O’reilly (aka Teenage Wasteland) from the Who, in the set list. Hmm, don’t think I ever heard anyone cover that before. So I gave the show a spin. A huge shout out to the Live Music Archive for their awesome in page flash player. Hold the phone, we’re on to something here. These guys rock. Intrigued, I listened to the rest of the show.

Hmm, what else can these guys do? I scanned for some more shows. I was pretty intrigued when I saw 20070303. Oh yeah, baby, covers of Pink Floyd’s the Thin Ice and Another Brick in the Wall. Now we’re talking. Good stuff. They go traditional with just enough of their own stylings to keep it interesting. They also rock on with Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl. To wrap up that show, they also pulled off a great cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom.

So, for the last few weeks, I’ve been digesting a show or two per day. Its been a while since I was excited about a band, but these guys have been doing a pretty good job keeping me entertained. I came for the covers originally, but their originals are pretty spicy on their own. A little hard to describe; kinda like a jumble of Greatful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, phish (though I’m not enough of a fan to know for sure), Rusted Root, and some others I can’t put my finger on. My current UM originals are Party’n Peeps and Resolution.

Check ‘em out, I bet you’ll dig ‘em.

Keep listening and you’ll find more excellent covers:

• King Crimson (Thela Hun Ginjeet)
• Motley Crue (Dr. Feelgood)
• Beatles (Come Together)
• More Pink Floyd (Fearless) One of my all time favorite songs.
• Metallica (though, I can find which show, doh!)