A while back, while perusing the Bruce Springsteen website… I came across a page that was devoted to other bands playing Springsteen songs. Some of the bands also had brief interviews about their experience(s) with the music. Artists include: The Avett Brothers, Against Me!, Pete Yorn, Josh Ritter, Tegan and Sara, and a few others. Pretty cool stuff.

It seems like they’re continuing to add to the site, but I’ve posted a couple videos here to get you started. The Avett Brothers bring a bluegrass vibe to “Glory Days” and Tegan and Sara go a different direction on “Dancing on the Dark.” Spend a little time listening to this stuff… well worth your time.

I started sharing music/bands that I am listening to back in the myspace blog days… but wanted to continue the tradition. I usually sent the recommendations out in 3’s, so therefore named the posts “Three on the Tree.” Three on the tree is a slang term for a manual transmission shifting system that had the lever on the steering column (”tree”) vs. on the floor. A friend of mine had an old Dodge pickup that had this “feature” and it has stuck with me.

Today’s (3/25/09) Three on the Tree

1) Muzzle of Bees posted a new Felice Brothers song “Run Chicken Run” It’s very good to hear new stuff coming from this band!

2) Captain Obvious shared a couple of new tracks from Great Lake Swimmers. They’ve become a down-time favorite over the past couple years.

3) A while back (Dec. 08) IndieMuse introduced me to The Welcome Wagon. Definitely check out Sold! To the Nice Rich Man

Let me know what you think… or if you have any recommendations!

So while I am striving to get better at blogging here… this isn’t my first rodeo.  I, like many people, got started blogging on Myspace. I haven’t updated that blog in quite some time, besides to promote my new blog anyway, but thought I’d share a couple of “gems.”

Gem #1:

June 21, 2007 • Thursday

Trip recap Category: Travel and Places So I posted this last night, but it doesn’t show up now… not sure what happened there. Got into Long Beach about 4pm local time yesterday.  Got in early to be the rush hour, and it worked out pretty well. Basically the drive yesterday was through the scrub-lands of Utah and the deserts of California.  Not exactly enthralling scenery, but watching the thermometer climb to around 106 was “fun”. As promised, a few photos from the trip… the better ones are posted in my photo album though. I-90 on the way to the Black Hills: Badlands National Park: -The park is located on a loop off of I-90 from the Interior exit to the Wall exit.  There are a few places where you can get out and walk onto the rock formations. It is definitely a must-see on a trip to the Black Hills. Custer State Park: -This park is home of the Needles Highway and a buffalo that was interested in getting an upclose look at my car. Crazy Horse Memorial: -I’ve been to the Black Hills twice before, but had yet to make it to this place. You can’t get too close (without paying a lot more anyway), but there is a nice viewing deck. They also have a museum, theater, gift shop, and restaurant located on the premises. Tuesday’s Drive (Wyoming/Utah) : Arizona Interstate (Wednesday): -Probably about the most exciting part of the day yesterday… So it looks like I’ll have access to the ol’ interweb/tubes here at the house… so I might be adding more later. Hopefully this one will show up this time. In the mean time, check out the other photos I’ve posted.

Hard to believe it was almost 2 years ago! I still think about that drive at least twice a week. The feeling of freedom, being out on the open road and not having a set itinerary was incredible. Knowing this, it also makes sense why I liked the movie “Into the Wild” so much too.

Gem#2:

I reviewed each of Rolling Stone’s top 100 songs of 2006 (seems absurd now)

#1-25 here #26-50 here #51-75 here #76-100 here

Hopefully my blog will continue to improve and eventually get more than 4 people to read it… but in the meantime, feel free to peruse the older selections.

As you may or may not know, sigur ros is one of my favorite bands. They’re Icelandic, play beautiful music and sing words that I can’t understand… but I wouldn’t change a thing.  La Blogotheque released a video of the band playing a French cafe last year. The song is: Við spilum endalaust

Enjoy!

Sigur Ros – Við spilum endalaust – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I apologize about not being able to embed the video… something isn’t working right here…