Out tomorrow, just ahead of a short series of UK dates, is the new Laura Cantrell album, “No Way There From Here”. Once again on the Spit & Polish/Cadiz imprint, it’s time for another birl the way only this lassie can serve it up. “No Way”... is the first full set of all-new material since her Matador release. Kicking in with “All The Girls Are Complicated”, she immediately transcends the pigeonhole labelled “Americana”. Or whatever sub-division of that you might consider her to reside in. This is American music though, through and through with all the twangs in all the right places.

Not sure who the musicians are this time out other than Mark Spencer but they serve up just the right backdrop for Laura’s tales. I think my favourite is “When It Comes To You”. This little nugget is set to become a classic like “Do You Ever Think Of Me?” or “Two Seconds”.

You may have heard “Can’t Wait” before. It made its debut on the Radio Free Song Club a wee while back and the recorded version here provides the connection with “Not The Trembling Kind”. Pop country perfection. As is the case with everything nowadays, you can just nip over to wherever and hear snippets and full tracks and decide for yourself. I hope to see some of you folks in Glasgow or that you’ll go to one of the shows and help the lady out by treating yourself to what can only be described as a proper album. Not a bunch of tracks that became so because there were enough “in the can”. “No Way There From Here” marks a time when a long player never outlived its welcome.

For a large part quiet and understated, just the thing for heavy rotation as the light fades earlier with every passing day.

Out on Monday... more about that over the weekend!

alan vega just a million dreams by tamarafilms

RIP - Mac Curtis

So we're just over halfway through September. Even although I haven't exactly been able to get much together in the way of gabbing, I have managed to post something each day.

One of these days I will get around to "reviews". Probably.

Meanwhile, I hope you've got your tickets for the big rock show on Saturday October 5th?

Thanks Line...

Forgot how great this was...

Sadly not in Amsterdam to catch these fine folks tomorrow...

Chrome Cranks at the Wurli tonight!

For some reason, I scribbled BC on the calendar just below next Wednesday, 18^th September. I have no idea why and it doesn’t look like the noggin is about to present the answer anytime soon. This is all symptomatic of the on-going memory fug. It’s embarrassing. Particularly when you can’t introduce someone to somebody else because you’ve forgotten the name. This happens more and more. Not just with people I maybe met briefly once. Oh no, this goes for folks that I know to some degree. Pffff...

 

And what's with this Post Office thing? After my tirade the other day, the public flotation is happening and I would imagine that further sounds a death knell from a once excellent service. It's quite likely that the UK will be owned outright by an overseas conglomerate sometime very soon. Irrespective of whether Scotland goes "indie" or not. We'll get unloaded as fixtures and fittings if that happens. The best we could hope for is to be a larger "Pimlico" cica the good old Ealing Comedy days. Oh how the world will larf.

 

 

Back from summer vacation?  Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co. is -- and back this week for its monthly residency at Rodeo Bar!
 
*WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th / RODEO BAR /
375 Third Avenue (at the corner of 27th Street) in Manhattan /
 We return to our second-Wednesday-of-the-month residency! /
Three back-to-school sets, from 9:00 sharp 'til midnight, with no cover.

And, speaking of residencies...

*THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26th / OTTO'S SHRUNKEN HEAD /
538 East 14th Street (just west of Avenue B) in Manhattan /
8:00 sharp 'til 10:00, with salty snacks and no cover!

Yours in all seasons, Michael
Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co.
"Ballads, Boogies & Blues"

Sir Wreckless Eric... solo US shows!

25.09  RICHMOND VA, Gallery 5 
26.09  KNOXVILLE TN, The Pilot Light 
28.09  MEMPHIS TN, Gonerfest 
30.09  SPRINGFIELD MI, Lindberghs
01.10  INDIANAPOLIS IN, tbc

The ordering and sending of stuff by mail is getting crazy. There used to be a rule of thumb with a care package. If the post cost more than the contents then that was a cool thing. Nowadays there’s almost no danger of it being anything else.

I no longer send anything like the amount of packages I used to and that’s probably a good thing because if I did, then I’d likely be bankrupt. I don’t mind shelling out to bring joy to others but what I really do get into a kerfuffle about is when ordering from these fulfilment places that the post and handling amounts to more than the band or artist will get.

It doesn’t cost $20 to mail a record from the USA to Europe. It might be $12. Maybe, but even worse is the cost PER item. “That’s the way the system works”, I’ve been told but that’s simply robbery. Tempered with laziness. Post at cost with a wee bit on top would be fine but lining the halls of the postage service is not in my remit.

It’s pretty rough sending things out too. Since they started going by bulk rather than weight sometimes the costs can be eye-watering when you get to the “window”. It’s at least twice the price that it used to be and there’s been no improvement in the service. Indeed postal workers across the planet are being squeezed by the system. I don’t mind shelling for something that appears to work. However, when it takes 4 weeks for something to reach its destination when it’s alleged to be a 5 (working) day delivery then I get a little pissed off. With the advent of budget flights, it might be worth considering personal delivery.

The reason I bring this up is that I’ve been considering selling up the archive. Maybe via e-bag, maybe not. I tend to actively dislike the type of individual they’ve come to attract. And I don’t like getting stuck behind one of the entrepreneurs they’ve encouraged in the post office.