Jim McGuinn Knows Which Way the Wind Blows

In compiling some e-clippings, I ran across this video of WXPN, Philadelphia's Jim McGuinn promoting their event, 885 Essential XPN songs.



Jim is host of XPN's YRock, XPN's nighttime programming that is a bit younger and cutting edge. Y100 was Philadelphia's alternative rock station up until a year or two ago when it went Reggaeton. It's a similar idea to when they started playing classic/adult rock about 15 years ago -- play songs that have been retired by other stations as they are still hits in that city.

I love seeing Bruce Warren in the background reprising Allen Ginsburg's role in the original video.

Enjoy a visit to xpn.org if you haven't already. These guys do a great job.

mike watt + the secondmen benefit Friday 10/17

watt hit me off with his flow today, including the sweet picture you see of "sunrise in pedro - october 15, 2008" and a mention of a few gigs coming up. tomorrow, friday 10/15, watt + the secondmen (the ORIGINAL secondmen, pete mazich and jerry trebotic) in a benefit for the san pedro skate park. the show is at the old news pilot building, 356 w. seventh in pedro, $5, all ages.

what could be cooler than watt being asked to pitch in to help the kids of pedro to have a place to do their thing? i told watt to think of all the bones that will break there in the future as he plays tomorrow night.

http://www.sanpedroskateparkassociation.org
http://twfps.com

Sonic Youth live in Bolzano Italy

Adding a new feature to the earbender blog, the follow-up story with video. Here is a nice clip from the show celebrating the opening of the multi-disciplinary exhibition "Sensational Fix."



Can anybody suggest a good cheap camera for web video and pics?

Philadelphia Phantoms and Linda Creed Night

The big game in Philly tonight is not the Dodgers against the Phillies. It will be just across the street as The Philadelphia Phantoms minor league hockey team opens their season, the last to be played in the legendary Spectrum.

While there is NO mention of it on the Phantoms page and no one responded to an inquiry to their Facebook page, The Linda Creed Breast Cancer Foundation has arranged so that any tickets sold through their site would result in a $5 donation to the charity. Click here for more info.

Linda Creed was a great artist who died VERY young at 37 after a ten year battle w/breast cancer. Some of her compositions include: "You Are Everything," "Betcha By Golly Wow," "I'm Stone in Love with You," "People Make the World Go Round," "Break Up to Make Up" and "The Greatest Love of All." Linda Creed is in the Songwriting Hall of Fame.

As mentioned earlier on this site with stories about the Def Leppard and Ray Castoldi events and the recent Bobby Orr commercial, I'm keeping an eye on the marketing/promo/entertainment activities that connect sports, music and various demographics for fun and profit.

I stopped by the NHL Store where they held an opening week Fan Fest on the corner of 46th St. and 6th Avenue in Manhattan today. The Zambonis played in nice new sweaters and toques, Dave Schultz appeared, a beautiful new Honda was being given away, and it seemed like just a few hundred people over the course of the afternoon participated. THOUSANDS must have walked by, totally uninterested. They must improve their creative and execution, it was a bit embarrassing. Of course, there is a skating rink just a few blocks away that they ignore.

Incidentally, the Flyers have really disappointed me by jumping on the Sarah Palin bandwagon by allowing her to drop the puck for their home opener tomorrow against the Rangers. Not because it's bad marketing but because they are in a swing state and I'm rooting for Obama.

Sonic Youth "Sensational Fix" Exhibit Opens in Italy

Sonic Youth are the subject of "Sensational Fix," a new "multidisciplinary" exhibit featuring the band's work with various visual artists, designers and musicians curated by Roland Groenenboon and the band that opens tomorrow in Bolzano, Italy. Sonic Youth will play a show there to mark the event as well.

The exhibit will also go to Dusseldorf, Germany (1/31-4/26/09), Malm, Sweden (5/29-9/20/09).

According to the catalog:

"Through the multidisciplinary output of Sonic Youth and related works by other artists in the exhibition, an alternative history of contemporary culture is being uncovered in which the division between 'high art' and 'low art' is being called into question, while issues are explored such as teenage rebellion, adolescent wanderlust, gender, fame, fashion, sexuality, and religion. In the exhibition, those different themes related to the band are presented in several chapters based on Sonic Youth song titles, which form satellites around a central space that focuses on Sonic Youth paraphernalia."

Saucer-like is one of the best pages about the band.
Smells like... Records is a good place to visit if you want to score some Sonic Youth "paraphernalia"as well as their self-released SYR series and artists such as Chris Lee, Tony Scherr and Two Dollar Guitar.

Is this Sonic Youth's response to the Rock Hall of Fame? If their heroes the Stooges just got in, maybe they don't mind waiting. I expect Sonic Youth to be inducted in the next year or two, hopefully they won't have to wait like the Goose. Either way, they are museum-quality.

Besides, how credible is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame without the inclusion of Yes? (and how credible is Yes without the inclusion of Jon Anderson?)