Come hear Uncle Mike's Band...

Imperial Teen – I liked the more reserved tracks like “Imperial Teen” and “Butch” a lot more than the noisier ones (“Water Boy”). Several tracks reminded me of Nirvana and/or the Breeders. Overall, a mixed bag, about half of it worked, and the rest left me uninterested. Seemed like the type of disc that would appeal to the trench coat crowd and other high school misfits. 2.5 stars

Little Steven – At the time this was released, I was a freshman in college. Played it non-stop and was convinced it was a top 10 of all time album. 25 years have tempered my enthusiasm a little, but this still is an exceptional record. Love the big horn section, the songs are well written, and Silvio’s very capable guitar work is more pronounced than on any E-Street Band recording. With his soiree into politics, he never made an album this good again. 4.5 stars

Maps & Atlases – I went to Rhapsody because I thought I needed a new copy since the first track on the disc was skipping. A little surprised to find out its supposed to sound like that. Tried listening to this one on 3 occasions, and it gave me a damn splitting headache each time. The whole Phish meets Zappa thing just grates on me. Vocals sucked. I’m sure they’re great musicians, but I’d just as soon take their word for it next time. 1 star .

Amy Winehouse – The tattoos, those eyebrows, the public displays of drunkenness, and a stint in rehab? Jeesh. In my opinion, Amy Winehouse is a slutty little trash mouth (Hi Ken!) who needs a good spanking. Oh, the music? Fantastic. Yes, its derivative. Yes Ronnie Spector did it all 30+ years ago, and yes it has all the makings of a one hit wonder. So what? The sound is just right, the vocals are yummy and the songwriting is more than competent. Might have been my most played disc of the summer. I know that she’s no good, but damn, is she fine. 4 stars

Poster Children – This one would just not register with me, despite several earnest efforts to “get it”. Sounds like a combo of early Talking Heads and Sonic Youth. The songs I liked didn’t knock me out, but there wasn’t anything I hated. I guess I’ll file it under spectacularly mediocre.

Discussion Question

Part 1: Lead guitarist in a Grateful Dead cover band.

Part 2: First and foremost, Dead cover band = hippie chicks. Hippie chicks + mind-altering substances = lots of free lovin’ for musicians. Cha-Ching. Second, job security. Dead fans are like mosquitoes, every year there’s another new batch and as hard as you try, you just can’t kill them all. C) Money saved on soap, laundry, toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant compounded over a 10-20 year period makes this a financially lucrative gig. Finally, it’s an easy job. All Dead fans acknowledge that there were nights when the band sucked. Hence, if I’m too tired (say, from scoring hippie chicks) to put on a decent show, I could say, “Hey, remember Indianapolis 8/7/73?? That’s what I was going for tonight”. Most Dead fans will be either A) be too embarrassed to admit they don’t remember it, or b) too young or too brain dead to actually remember anything from 1973.

Part 3: Playing in a Dead tribute band renders this question moot. You can’t play it to perfection, because the band themselves couldn’t play it to perfection. Ingenious, no?

Part 4: Undecided. Possibilities are:
- Bring out your Dead
- Not Quite Dead
- Mimmie Some Dead
- Night of the living Dead
- John Cougar Mellendead
- Jerry’s Kids

Part 5: “I Wanna Be Sedated” (just to fuck with those damn hippies)