...Wanna do something useful and rock at the same time? Join The Star Spangles at The Mills @ East Falls, 3502 Scotts Lane, Philadelphia, 8pm, June 25th for part of Scooter Week, a series of events benefiting The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. It's an all ages show on a Saturday evening, the Walkmen are headlining and your $20 goes to a very good cause, so now you have no excuse... Click here for further info

The new AMY RIGBY album LITTLE FUGITIVE is out on Signature Sounds this August 23rd. Mixed by Don Dixon, it contains the "if there's any justice" smash "Dancing With Joey Ramone" and 11 other top compositions delivered in customary splendor (note - US spelling). Amy also has a songbook, with lyrics and illustrations available now.

The one and the only Karen McB sent me this link to a D-GENERATION clip today. In 1994 even, everything seemed possible and the performance is great. They were the missing link between Aerosmith and The Dead Boys that got away. The albums aren't wall to wall great but they have their moments and you can probably score them for a buck off Ebay. Anyway, they knew how to use a stage and this wee snapshot proves that conclusively.

Received quite a few messages today about the "too much stuff" malaise. Seems like it's a pretty common ailment. It also reminded me of the 100 records concept. Essentially you can have 100 records, that's total. In order to get a new one you have to let an old one go. I've heard stories about people who could live with such a discipline but I never met anyone who actually practices this dark art. Could such control really be possible?

There's a piece in the latest issue of WORD magazine that really hit home with me. David Hepworth is writing about there being too much stuff out there and very candidly states some names that he hasn't ever heard. Some of these names are very obvious but he's managed to distance himself from the feeding frenzy where on top of hearing stuff there's room to appreciate it more because there's room to breathe.
Just lately I've become a binge listener, because somehow I've been robbed of all the time I seemed to have had. I gorge myself on album after album. Sometimes something comes along like Angel CC and that occupies heavy rotation but then I get back on the treadmill. Hepworth has pointed out the error of my ways but it remains to be seen if I can discipline myself out of this habit. I like his message about not having to hear EVERYTHING. It's simple and it's obvious but is it workable?

Mr Vahlberg tells me that SATOR will be playing at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden this coming weekend. Chips K will also be conducting an ensemble of rolling vocalists throughout a set to mark 20 years of the event and Nick Nomad is one of these. I hope they get the weather.