Check out the post over at Champaign Rock about local music acts JigGsaw, Shipwreck and others getting mentioned in the November 07 edition of Nylon magazine!

For all those who missed them last month at Cowboy Monkey…

JigGsaw will be performing with many other great artists this weekend as part of the IMC Fest’s musicial line up. The IMC Fest is an annual event that helps benefit the IMC, its associated groups, and WRFU 104.5 (Radio Free Urbana).

Not sure where the IMC is located? Well then take a look at this handy dandy interactive map:

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I wasn’t around for any of this, but I sure wish I had been. It would be awesome to take back some of the soulless campus bars in the name of rock n’ roll. R.I.P. Mable’s and Red Lion Inn for you are now the icons of a pre-Starbucks Green Street myth.

Note: It’s good to see the crappy IHOP is still around, as well as Garcia’s.

This next video features the Vertebrats who are probably one of the first big acts in the Champaign-Urbana rock scene. Why doesn’t WCIA do segments on the local bands anymore? So what if there is no larger “creative movement” taking place. The lulls should be documented, too.

Also, check out the shot of Assembly Hall complete with empty beer bottle. Always classy, Champaign.

This Tuesday, Cowboy Monkey will feature local face melters/rock awesomeness JigGsaw. (And don’t give me the, “But it’s a weeknight!” excuse.)

Check out JigGsaw on

A video from Saturday’s Backyard Shark practice.

So I’m sitting here on my couch trying to figure out a computer problem and I hear a sexy woman’s voice on the T.V. She’s talking about a car and she says, “When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?”. Suddenly the rockin’ guitar part from the Hum song Stars starts playing as they show the sexy woman push down on the accelerator. It was a commercial for Cadillac, so I’m sure you’ll all get to see it at some point this season. But wow…Hum…on a commercial…for a luxury the luxury American vehicle. Either there is a Hum fan working in the ad department, or finally everyone else has figured out just how sexy Hum’s music really is.

Champaign bands represent!

Update: I found the commercial on the Cadillac website. Apparently the sexy woman is Kate Walsh from a show called Grey’s Anatomy. It looks like they are using Stars in all of their commercials.

Click here to watch!

If you’ve never heard of Craig Finn nor either of his bands, then you are missing out.

Let’s begin with LFTR PLLR (or Lifter Puller). This is a track off of Soft Rock entitled Sublet It was really hard for me to pick just one of their songs…

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You may not find Mr. Finn’s vocals the most pleasant, but that is one of the reasons I became enamored with LFTR PLLR in the first place. The second reason being the lyrics. Throughout the many LFTR PLLR songs, Craig recounts the adventures of a fictitious group of co-eds and ravers, destitute nightclub owners and dealers. While these events may be fabricated, they also exude a sense of nostalgia making them seem not only historical but experiential at the same time. This brings me to consider the quality of a song in general. I think a band can sing about whatever they want, but unless they have something that will drive their fans to go “Wow, I went through that. I can relate to this music”, then you’ve got nothin’. Okay…enough of this. On to The Hold Steady.

The Hold Steady-Chillout Tent from the album Boys And Girls In America

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One of the main reasons for choosing this song is because of its similarity to the songs of LFTR PLLR. Anyway, not much to say here other than after reading over the liner notes for this album I noticed that the female vocals on this track were provided by Elizabeth Elmore of Sarge and The Reputation fame (there is also a girl on the back cover of the booklet that looks a lot like her…). A discussion of her coolness will require a post all its own someday.

I don’t really understand why The Hold Steady has become as popular as it has. I mean they played at Ground Zero this year for chrissake. One could say that they are America’s band. My logical brain tells me to look at the variables. Has the lyrical content changed? No. Have the sounds changed? No, but it’s debatable since there is now a keyboard. Has the time changed? Yes. LFTR PLLR was active from 1994-2000, while the Hold Steady has been around since 2004. Something happened during those four years that prepared America to receive The Hold Steady. Maybe their concert at Ground Zero was actually a private salute to the events of a certain September that contributed to their acceptance. What took place exactly, I just don’t know; but I can conclude that LFTR PLLR was ahead of its time.

If this doesn’t show up for you, go here:
Hey Mercedes on You Tube

I’ve been back in my hometown for a few days; staying in my old room. While poking around, I found a lot of my old mix CDs that I had made back in high school. I remember when I first got my Apple “Quicksilver”. I was so excited to have a CD burner. A mix for every state of mind, every major event, holiday and new semester.

This particular mix was for an event that was held towards the end of my junior year of high school. A few of my friends had put together a faux elite society, much like a college sorority or fraternity. Unlike a true Greek organization where tradition precedes all actions, nothing was ever taken seriously. There were no meetings and no roster. Come to think of it, I don’t even think it was a legitimately registered extracurricular club. All that aside, somehow we convinced the cafeteria staff to let us use two of their tapped water coolers for a “club event”. We brought the coolers (filled with lemonade and fruit juice) out to the main yard of the campus along with plenty of Solo cups. We then convinced an upperclassman to let us use his guitar amps in order to get our playlist heard all across the school property. Three extension cords later and a little bit of sweet talking to the maintenance staff, we were in business. With the first note of the first song, excitement rose among us and soon more and more students came out of their dorm rooms to join the “Kegger”. A few of the seniors looked on in disgust as we ran around the yard with our lemonade, blowing off the steam that had been building all school year. The anticipation of finally becoming a senior along with each of our own personal frustrations were all manifest in our feral response to the music. Looking back on the situation, I don’t even know how we escaped the reach of formal discipline.

So in honor of the rediscovery of old favorites, I present to you this mix. One of the great things about this playlist is that it represents not just me, but all of my closest friends at the time. We all contributed our tastes and styles to this list. I can still remember the arguments about adding yet another Desaparecidos track. While we may have broken the rules of mix tape composition, it still sounded good…well, to us at least.

Kegger! – circa Spring 2003
1. Possum Kingdom | The Toadies
2. Pattern Against User | At The Drive-In
3. High Seas | The Detachment Kit
4. Mañana | Desaparecidos
5. Paper Thin Walls | Modest Mouse
6. Here Comes Your Man | Pixies
7. Greater Omaha | Desaparecidos
8. My Other Car Is a Spaceship | Commander Venus
9. Today | Smashing Pumpkins
10. …1988 | Ozma
11. Last Dance With Mary-Jane | Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers
12. The Great Decay | Cursive
13. G Turns to D | Sloan
14. All Night Diner | Modest Mouse
15. Myxamatosis | Radiohead
16. One Too Many Blows To the Head | Dismemberment Plan
17. Ego Tripping At the Gates of Hell | Flaming Lips
18. Fuck You Aurora | Alkaline Trio