Todd is God

Todd is going to be the first person to play the Fillmore Philadelphia , the newly re-named and refubished city music venue, now owned and run by Live Nation.

The Hold Steady are coming back to the UK for some more dates this summer including a night at Shepherds Bush Empire on Monday 2nd July. I will be there.

I first discovered Mary Chapin Carpenter on a TV special featuring MCC, Nanci Griffith and Rosanne Cash just sat on stage armed only with their acoustic guitars [Can someone PLEASE put this on YouTube!] I saw it around the time Griffith's Little Love Affairs album came out I think. Up until this point I had no idea who MCC was. What I saw however was an artist with a sly smile, a great sense of humour and some great songs. The version of 'The Moon and Saint Christopher' on this show remains one of my all time favourite recordings (as whilst a great song, the original album version - Shooting Straight In The Dark - arrangement does not do the song justice) Anyway, from that point on, I was a fan. Great album after great album followed and then came 2004's Between Here and Gone . I just couldn't buy this record. It failed to grab me at all, and I had to face the fact that MMC may join the ranks of those artists I once loved but whose new material I may never buy ag...

New Cars announce new dates or the summer. Meanwhile the Asbury Park Press has a nice interview with Kaz. My favourite bit? But what does he do when he isn't touring? "Let's see. I like to relax on my yacht, race around Manhattan in my Ferrari, date supermodels and hang out with Paris and Nicole," Sulton jokes.

By the time this gig had come around on Thursday I would have to say I was really looking forward to things. A new album to start promoting, a great back catalogue, and a band that are meant to be excellent live. So why did I leave so underwhelmed??? Ok, first off, this wasn't a BAD gig. I need to say that. In fact, for me at least, the problem was that it was all just a bit too perfect and polished. From the opening bars of Somewhat Damaged to the thunderous end of Head Like a Hole it all just sounded like it would had I put a NIN CD on in my house. At times they could have been just performing to one huge backing track and miming frankly. This all resulted in there just being a lack of passion from where I am concerned. Only one new track - the single, Survivalism - got aired and surprisingly very little of the last album, White Teeth made it into the set. So, not bad, but I felt I didn't need to be there. The new album is however going to be bought on the strength of the...

A-Z of music videos on YouTube.

Thanks to JRM for email telling me of a great reference to Todd in the US sitcom "30 Rock" the other week. Apparently during the episode, the head writer hears one of her subordinates talking about her and he calls her a Cunt. When she tries to tell a couple of the other writers about what happened she has a hard time explaining it to them without actually saying the word. So she tells one of the guys that the word rhymes with the title of his favorite Todd Rundgren album. He looks at her and says "It rhymes with The Hermit of Mink Hollow?" Classic.

Art Alexakis of Everclear claims that the New Cars offered him the role as the band's frontman. "But I still wanted to do Everclear," he said. "It worked out well for them since they have Todd (Rundgren)."

From the opening notes of 'Stuck Between Stations' this was pub (Bar) band music at its best. A mostly receptive crowd (except for a bunch of people towards the back who seemed to have come for the club night afterwards rather than the gig) rocked along with lead singer Craig Finn and the rest of the band. Finn and his exuberance is one of the keys to what makes the band good. The man - and his cohorts - just seem to be enjoying themselves: this is not a job, this is what they love doing. The set was dominated by the new album. Highlights the sing-a-long Massive Nights, You Can Make Him Like You, Your Little Hoodrat Friend, Chips Ahoy , and of course, Stuck Between Stations It all ended with the band dragging as many people onto stage as possible for Killer Parties . A fun night. I hope the band become big, although not too big, as they really are built for smaller venues where they can connect with their audience.

The London Evening Standard reviews last nights Hoxton Bar gig, and says: "with the best will in the world, they are merely that least promising of propositions, a bar band; albeit one heavily influenced by their fellow men from Minneapolis, Husker DU and The Replacements. Yet to call them just a bar band is akin to calling a slice of Kobe beef just a piece of meat: technically correct, yet spectacularly wrong ... The Next Big Thing? Please"

Today's Independent review the Hold Steady's Mancester gig , and give them a 4 star review. "The group's only charisma comes from keyboardist Franz Nicolay, whose hooded eyes, curled moustache and gulps from a bottle of wine visually recall the dissolute rock critic Lester Bangs, who would surely have loved The Hold Steady. Not least because they keep laughing, as they seem to constantly recall just how great it is to play rock'n'roll. It is as if they are still fans, watching themselves... The Hold Steady stick around afterwards for a party to which everyone is invited, which just about sums them up"

The band are currently in the UK, and I'll be seeing them on Saturday at the first of their two Borderline gigs.

On one of my random click on any and every band exercises on Myspace a few weeks ago I came across Jag Star, and was impressed by a pleasant pop/rock sound, so I thought what the hell and ordered the album. Fronted by songwriter Sarah Lewis, the record is a pretty decent effort, not great, but I like Sarah's voice and when the record really works on tracks such as the rocky 'Missed out' and the wonderfully catchy 'Ridiculous' (click on the official site link to hear)- I dare you to hear this once and not be humming it/singing it. A band to watch Official Site MySpace

According to Harp Magazine , ROCKGRL magazine and Berklee College of Music will honor Fanny on the 20th April with their ROCKGRL Women of Valor Award. Formed in the late ‘60s, Fanny—guitarist June Millington, bassist Jean Millington, drummer Alice de Buhr, keyboardist Nickey Barclay—landed on Reprise Records in 1969 and released four albums for the label: Fanny, Charity Ball, Fanny Hill and the Todd Rundgren-produced Mother’s Pride

Today's Independent has a nice piece / interview with The Hold Steady. I really like the idea that a school used the band and theie lyrics as a teaching tool "Once we agreed to go, he changed his curriculum to fit around the band - maths would involve problems like: 'The Hold Steady has to get from Portland to Vancouver for their next show, a distance of x miles; if gasoline is $1.69 a gallon, how much will they spend?' My favourite part was, while we were on tour, each kid would be assigned a tour-date destination to research, and on that date they'd have to get up and explain: 'Today, The Hold Steady is in Seattle, Washington. Seattle is known for coffee...', or whatever was the case. So we went there and we did a little acoustic show for them, and it was really overwhelming." Very cool.

Kaz is on tour this week and he and Doug have an entertaining video diary of the journey on YouTube

My dedicated reader's favourite album of last year was Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady . The album gets its UK release next week and if there is any justice in this world it will be huge. 11 songs all about drugs - as far as I can make out - and sort of channelling early Springsteen and Southside Johnny into late 90s rock. And you know what, it works a treat. This is a wonderful album. Go buy it.

Kasim has told The Rock Radio that the New Cars may just make an album of original material in 2007. "We had always talked about, 'You know, we can't just go out just on the strength of the old material, because we wind up just being a cover band.' So that was always part of the plan, was to do a record with new material on it. And I think that now that we've done the two tours, and also that live record, maybe this year will see the band kind of working on a specifically new material record." Good news, if it happens. I think they owe it to themselves to at least create one album of original material.

I was pointed in the direction of Amie Street today. It's an indie music site that sells tracks from 0-98 cents depending on popularity, and it is rather cool. It covers the bad bedroom recordings (I wont name anyone but I feel like a musical genius suddenly) to some very very good stuff. Check it out, you wont be disappointed. Speaking of free music, i was doing my monthly 'let's pick random bands/artists sites' on myspace the other day and discovered The Bastard Fairies . Not sure how to describe the music, but when it's good on Guns and Dolls and Ode to the Prostitute for example it is mighty fine. What's more you can download the whole album complete with art work all for free. The band believe the future of music is free (with youtube/myspace style advertising) so they have decided to get the ball rolling, and want people to download and share. How can you refuse a band led by Yellow Thunder Woman. One last link on the music front a new site for new mus...

My Bloody Valentine are preparing to make a new album, according to guitarist According to Digital Spy Kevin Shields recently told Magnet magazine that there will be another My Bloody Valentine album ... at some point. "I do feel that I will make another great record," he admitted. "We are 100 per cent going to make another My Bloody Valentine record unless we die or something." It would be great to hear what Kevin and Belinda would sound like in 2007/2008 etc. Hard to believe that it was 1991 when Loveless came out. But what a fine record that still is, and 'when you sleep' remains one of my all time favourite tracks.