Brad Paisley is much beloved in Nashville. He can write a party song and a ballad with the best of them, and fans and radio love them all. His new album American Saturday Night, came out of a songwriting boot camp and its his most reflective album yet.
Paisley is a Nashville renaissance man. He’s a triple threat: a respected singer, songwriter and guitarist. He designed his last five album covers and creates the animation that’s used on the video screens at his concerts. He’s a great songwriter and able to set his intelligent wit to music with songs like “Celebrity”. He’s got a full head of hair under his cowboy hat. And, he can out prank just about anybody in the business.
Ameican Saturday Night includes the first single, “Then,” which made Paisley one of only five acts in the 65-year history of the Hot Country Songs chart to collect 10 consecutive No. 1s. Another highlight is ”Welcome to the Future” — co-written by Paisley and Chris DuBois — which Paisley says without hesitation, is his favorite among all the songs he’s ever written.
View his official website here. Enjoy this video of Brad with John Mayer doing “Celebrity” from their Crossroads special a few years back.
Wilco’s new album is all about moving forward and its as straight ahead a rock album as Wilco’s had in recent years. SPIN magazine gave Wilco (the album) four stars and wrote, “The band’s seventh studio effort treats verse-chorus-verse basics like holy truths. The result is the rare rock album about acceptance. And it’s fantastic.” They also had one of the best reviewed sets at Bonnaroo (if Bruce Springsteen hadn’t shown up, they might have had the best reviewed set. Curse you Bruce Springsteen!) And, the set contained tons of new songs that people were already singing along to. A particular fav was “Wilco (The Song)”. Largeheartedboy has downloads of the Wilco Bonnaroo set. Also, the Wilco iphone app is free, top rated and just pretty great. Click here to check it out. (That’s our view of the stage at Bonnaroo, waiting for Wilco to appear).
We were crying 30 seconds into the trailer, but in a good way. The Way We Get By is a deeply moving film about life and how to live it. Beginning as a seemingly quirky story about troop greeters – a group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from Iraq, the film quickly turns into a moving, unsettling and compassionate story about aging, loneliness, war and mortality. The film reminds us how our culture casts our elders, and too often our soldiers, aside. More important, regardless of your politics, The Way We Get By celebrates three unsung heroes who share their love with strangers who need and deserve it. The Way We Get By opens in New York on July 17th. Enjoy the trailer below.
Here’s a few tips on what to see and do this weekend.
The highly recommended Hurt Locker opens today in New York and Los Angeles. It’s a gritty story about a bomb diffusing unit in in Iraq. This is the first Iraq war film that was filmed in Iraq. Heady stuff. See the trailer here.
All of the festival tickets will be given away with the public onsale kicking off here at 10 a.m. east on Saturday. If you’re a previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyer and/or a Virgin Mobile customer, you’ll have first dibs on the tickets with an invitation to a “free-sale” (like a pre-sale but it’s free) today.
Virgin Mobile is encouraging people to text “FREEFEST” to 20222 (regardless of wireless carrier) to donate $5 to select U.S. youth homeless centers, via The RE*Generation, Virgin Mobile’s charitable arm.
And, in the ongoing spirit of doing something good and being kind to others, here’s one of our fav Michael Jackson songs below.
We first talked about The Hurt Locker here, when it got amazing buzz at SXSW. Now, the film will open in NYC and LA on Friday and we really think you should see it. Granted, it’s not for everyone, but if you like intelligent, well made, well acted (with a breakout performance from Jeremy Renner) films, this will astound you. The subject matter is a downer, but the film is so good, that you’ll be glad you took a chance and saw it anyway. Here’s the link to the official website and trailer.
Styx made a surprise appearance yesterday at the White House and a bunch of uptight middle aged dudes suddenly remembered that they used to play air guitar, drink Miller Nips and cruise around all night listening to “Paradise Theater” on their eight tracks. Sweet! Click here for more on the story and enjoy “Renegade” Live! below.
Two different sites this week ranked Regina Spektor on the quirkiness scale, but this one’s our favorite: “On the quirkiness scale, Regina Spektor ranks just above rainbow suspenders.”(ew.com) Regina is a talent that refuses to fall into a category or be labeled. She just continues to fulfill her artistic soul and share it with the rest of us. And, with Far, you’ll be glad she did. Jaunty piano rags, dolphin singing and a beautiful elegant ballad that showcases her singing and songwriting talent all combine to make an album that is garnering praise from critics and fans. Check out our previous post with Regina singing “Blue Lips” here. Enjoy the video of Regina singing “The Wallet” from “Far” below.
Is your soul weighing you down? Paul Giamatti has found a solution! In the surreal comedy Cold Souls, Paul Giamatti plays an actor named… Paul Giamatti. Stumbling upon an article in The New Yorker about a high-tech company that extracts, deep-freezes and stores people’s souls, Paul very well might have found the key to happiness for which he’s been searching. But, complications arise when he is the unfortunate victim of “soul-trafficking.” Giamatti’s journey takes him all the way to Russia in hopes of retrieving his stolen soul from an ambitious but talentless soap-opera actress. Balancing a tightrope between deadpan humor & pathos, and reality & fantasy, Cold Souls is a true soul searching comedy. Also starring David Strathairn (G0od Night and Good Luck), Dina Korzun and Emily Watson (Breaking The Waves), the film opens August 7th. Visit the website here. Enjoy the trailer below.
Spread stars Ashton Kutcher in a fresh, funny, and racy look at the trials and tribulations of sleeping your way to a life of privilege in Los Angeles. Comic and karmic, the film is an “immorality tale” about a gorgeous guy who gives women what they want in order to live exactly as he likes. Click here to check out the website. Spread opens August 14th. Follow Spread on twitter here and follow us here.
Mars Volta are at the forefront of a new progressive rock movement. In fact, let’s just call them ” new prog innovators”. The new album, “Octahedron,” is chock full of jams—some are very long extended jams. But, the people seem to love ‘em and the band is highly respected by their fans and other musicicans alike.
Enjoy “Teflon” from the new album below.
Pete Yorn is a great live performer, talented singer songwriter and all-around good guy. To our ears,”Back and Forth” is one of his best records. Plus, Pete just got off the Coldplay tour and is about to embark on his own solo tour. Catch him live, and you’ll be a fan forever. Click here for more Pete and tour dates.
Enjoy Pete performing the first single from the record “Don’t Want To Cry For You” below
The Lemonheads are back! The new album, “Varshons.” is full of covers including songs by Leonard Cohen, Gram Parsons and Miss Christina Aguilera. Spin magazine gave the album three stars. It’s worth a listen.
Enjoy the Lemonheads doing Gram Parsons “i Just Can’t Take It Anymore’ below.
The highly recommended Hurt Locker opens today in New York and Los Angeles. It’s a gritty story about a bomb diffusing unit in in Iraq. This is the first Iraq war film that was filmed in Iraq. Heady stuff. See the trailer 
