Kathleen Edwards – Change The Sheets
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You can read more about her here.
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by TIMOTHY BRACY
Song: “All This Way for Nothing”
Artist: Tommy Stinson
CD: One Man Mutiny
Genre: Pop-Rock
Tommy Stinson’s weird and winding road through the music industry began in 1981, when he became the 14-year-old bassist for the brilliant and beloved slow-moving train wreck known as The Replacements. The ‘Mats were a less a rock band than a Russian novel, a story replete with toxic appetites, disastrous flirtations with stardom and even the firing of Stinson’s own brother Bob as lead guitarist. Tommy played it all straight down to the bitter end, ending up as The Replacements’ only other original member, along with frontman Paul Westerberg on the band’s miserable final tours.
When that gig mercifully concluded in the early ’90s, Tommy Stinson embarked on an underrated second act, first with the terrific bar-rock band Bash and Pop, which in 1992 issued the tremendous Faces-style classic Friday Night Is Killing Me. A couple of strong power-pop albums followed with his next band Perfect, but none of this work found the larger audience it deserved.
Then, in a twist worthy of Sunset Boulevard, Stinson eventually fell into the full-time employ of Axl Rose, early in the midst of the 15-year meltdown which culminated in Rose’s underwhelming Guns N’ Rosesboondoggle Chinese Democracy. Just as he had in his previous band, Stinson hung on for the duration, making the best of an inevitably terrible situation.
Ironically, Stinson has always deserved better than second-banana status. On One Man Mutiny, his wryly titled new solo record, Stinson’s amiable rasp and keen ear for melody underscores the notion that he should have been working on his own songs all along. “All This Way for Nothing” is a classic piece of ‘Mats-style fatalism, set to a shuffling beat and heart-tugging slide guitar. “You say you don’t need much / because they’ve taken all you had,” he sings, sounding every bit like the scarred veteran of one too many music-industry wars. But as always, the desultory sentiment is leavened by the evident joy in creating yet another moving pop gem. Stinson may be a bruised lifer, but he’s also a true believer. He came all this way for us.
From NPR. This band reminds of April Wine.
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by ANTHONY FANTANO
Song: “Are You Gonna Waste My Time”
Artist: Zeus
CD: Busting Visions
Genre: Rock
The Canadian rock band Zeus is about to release its second album, Busting Visions, and the first single couldn’t be more reminiscent of a hot summer in the 1970s. “Are You Gonna Waste My Time” doesn’t just relive that decade musically, though. The recoding has a round analog sound — it’s so warm and saturated that even hearing a digital stream of the track sounds like tuning into an AM radio station.
Zeus has nostalgia in its corner, but the band doesn’t slouch on songwriting. The words to “Are You Gonna Waste My Time” speak of love, but it’s with someone who can’t decide whether to love back. The hook sums the narrative up perfectly, facing the indecisiveness with muscular, Big Star-sized guitar riffs.
The song itself is catchy, but Zeus’ secret weapon lies in the detailed production. Faint acoustic-guitar strums, jubilantly layered guitar leads and a saloon-style piano all bring this music a lot of playful flavors, complete with cowbell. It’s a vintage sound, but “Are You Gonna Waste My Time” is miles away from sounding tired or worn out. There’s no dust in these grooves.
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by DAVID BROWNE
Song: “All Over Again”
Artist: Alexis P. Suter Band
CD: Two Sides
Genre: Blues-Rock
Alexis P. Suter generally gets lumped into the blues category, but little about the Brooklyn-born singer is easy to categorize. The song most often associated with her, “Slam Me Baby,” was a minor house-music hit in the ’90s. This year, the prestigious Blues Music Awards nominated her in the “Soul Blues Female Artist” category, a testament to the way her music merrily straddles genres. Even her voice, a modern-day field holler, is so deep and guttural that you may initially think you’re listening to a man.
“All Over Again,” from Suter’s fourth album Two Sides, may be the most exuberant example of the way she applies defibrillator paddles to vernacular music. Everything about the track feels alive, from the snarling rock guitars that announce its arrival to the hopped-up piano and backup singers that take it from there. Riding roughshod over it all is Suter, who’s had it with that feckless cad in her life and wants him, through the gale-force winds of her voice, to know she means it this time. (And isn’t it quaint to hear someone sing “crap” instead of something harsher?)
Both the song and performance transport you to that roadhouse juke joint you’ve always wanted to visit but never have. No wonder the likes of B.B. King and Levon Helm are Suter fans, with Suter playing at some of Helm’s Ramble shows up in Woodstock, N.Y. Naturally, “All Over Again” wraps up with a galloping touch of Southern-rock guitars — and why not? Given the twists Suter and her band bring to time-honored American music traditions, we should expect no less.
Update: A New York teen who was living at a homeless shelter when she was picked as a semifinalist in a prestigious national science competition has moved into her new home.
Samantha Garvey and her family were handed the keys to their house in Bay Shore, Long Island on Saturday.
Garvey says she was “overwhelmed” by the support and generosity she’s received since being named a semifinalist in the Intel Science contest last month. She wasn’t among the 40 finalists.
The Brentwood High School senior and her family had been living in a homeless shelter when her two years of research on a mussel population garnered her accolades.
Suffolk County officials helped find a three-bedroom home where the family could live.
Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
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This week (January 25, 2012), NASA released what it said is the “most amazing high definition image of Earth” ever. It’s part of NASA’s Blue Marble series. It’s composite image that uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012.
Most recent Blue Marble image, a composite made from multiple images acquired on January 4, 2012. Credit: NASA/NOAA/GSFC/Suomi NPP/VIIRS/Norman Kuring
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This image was assembled from images taken from NASA’s most recently launched Earth-observing satellite — Suomi NPP – which was officially named on January 24, 2012 for the late Verner E. Suomi, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin who is said to be “the father of satellite meteorology.”
Suomi NPP is NASA’s next Earth-observing research satellite. NASA says it is the first of a new generation of satellites that will observe many facets of our changing Earth.
Moon still between Venus and Jupiter on January 28
Read more about NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite.
Updated images of Eagle Nebula, aka Pillars of Creation
Original Blue Marble image, taken by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972. This image changed the way people in 1972 thought about the world. Image Credit: NASA
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For contrast, here is the original Apollo 17 Blue Marble image, taken by astronauts on their way to the moon. Here’s the original caption:
View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast.
The Apollo astronauts had the sun behind them when they took the image, so they are seeing all of Earth’s day side – a fully illuminated Earth – much as we sometimes see a full moon in our sky. To the astronauts, Earth had the appearance of a glass marble, hence the name.
Since 1972, NASA has produced a whole series of Blue Marble images. You can see and learn about them here.
Bottom line: On January 25, 2012, NASA released what it said is the “most amazing high definition image of Earth” ever. It’s part of NASA’s Blue Marble series. It’s composite image that uses a number of swaths of the Earth’s surface taken on January 4, 2012. The original Blue Marble image, taken by Apollo 17 astronauts on their way to the moon in 1972, is possibly one of the most viewed images in the world.
Shawn Rosvold is Stephen Fry proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache