THE NIGHTWATCHMAN'S NEW RELEASES

Last month, I wrote about The Nightwatchman's solo(ish) acoustic(ish) concert at City Winery in New York City.  I've been listening to his two latest releases (The Union Town EP and World Wide Rebel Songs), both before that show and since.  I think that Tom Morello is finally coming into his own as a solo artist.

Saying that Tom has "come into his own" does sound a bit weird.  He's one of the most innovative and influential electric guitarists of the past two decades, and Rage Against The Machine was one of the best bands to come out of the amazing '90s Lollapalooza era. He "came into his own" a long time ago. Audioslave may not have quite reached Rage's heights, but had lots of incredible songs over their three album run.  And Street Sweeper Social Club has a lot of potential, and already have a fistful of great jams.

But when he started performing and recording songs as The Nighwatchman, he did so to prevent people from coming to see a "Tom Morello" show. He's more in the lane of artists like Springsteen and Earle than of Rage's peers.

When Tom did his first Nightwatchman album, One Man Revolution, in 2007, lots of the songs were pretty dry.  It reminded me a bit of Springsteen's The Ghost Of Tom Joad, which I know was a big influence on Mr. Morello. Both guys were really influenced by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.  The first few performances I ever saw by any artist were by Pete, and the thing about him is that, as political as he is, he wants you to sing along, and maybe have a good time while thinking about the world. Tom had one great sing-along on his first album, "The Road I Must Travel," but the rest of album wasn't as engaging (although there were definitely some great songs).  I felt like the album would appeal mainly to Tom's existing loyal fans, but I don't think that was his intent.

I think World Wide Rebel Songs actually may help him find a different audience, and may not just have him preaching to the converted.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think a lot of Faux News loyalists will start listening to Tom and have their minds opened.  I'm saying that his two latest release makes him a more credible solo artist, regardless of his prior discography.

My favorite Nightwatchman song ever is probably "Save The Hammer For The Man," a duet and co-write with the great Ben Harper. I'd love to see these guys do more together.  "World Wide Rebel Songs" is a great sing-along.  He gets his Tom Waits on on "Facing Mount Kenya."  And, here is maybe the best compliment  I could give him: when I listen to "Stray Bullets," I can hear the late, great Joe Strummer singing it.

The bonus track on the album is the title track to the EP, released a few months earlier, "Union Town." It's another of his best songs, and the first time he's really combined his Nightwatchman persona with his electric guitar wizardry.  He's said that playing an electric version of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" on stage with Bruce Springsteen made him realize that he could combine the two.  But he's not always about the electric guitar on this EP: his rollicking version of "Solidarity Forever" is a piano and acoustic guitar driven tune. He takes out the electric for an incredible version of "Which Side Are You On?" and his "This Land Is Your Land" is the most rocking I've ever heard (and of course, includes the "banned" lyrics).    It closes with a solo live version of "Union Song" from One Man Revolution recorded at the Wisconsin protests earlier this year. The original version is pretty great, but this is the definitive one for me.

I imagine the next thing Tom will do will be a new Street Sweeper album, which I'm also looking forward to.  But I also think that The Nightwatchman will get more and more powerful in the years to come.  Given the state of the nation, I don't think Tom's running out of ideas, or great music, any time soon.

THE NIGHTWATCHMAN AT CITY WINERY: A (GLORIOUSLY) IRONY-FREE ZONE

I'd seen the great Tom Morello in concert a number of times - with Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave and Street Sweeper Social Club.  But this was my first real Nightwatchman show (other than a brief appearance at Pete Seeger's 90th birthday concert).  At that show, Tom and Bruce Springsteen did an acoustic duet of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad," a song that Rage surprised people with when they covered it in the '90s.  These days, it makes a lot more sense. Tom's dedication to sticking up for the less fortunate, and his outrage at the evils of society is similar to Bruce's (he's even more "left" than Bruce, I think).  But performing as The Nightwatchman, Tom makes a compelling case as a guy with two different and legit musical personas.  One - the guitar shredder from Rage and Street Sweeper, and, two, The Nightwatchman either solo or backed by a band. The Nightwatchman is something he can always do, whether or not he is with a band. Or whether or not he has electricity.

There's a bit of a misperception about Tom doing The Nightwatchman.  Because his debut album, 2007's One Man Revolution was a bit sparse and dry, people probably think his shows will be slow and boring.  I think on some level, even Tom realized that he could be playing to bigger audiences by, well, having a bit more fun.  If you listen to "The Iron Wheel" (a duet with Shooter Jennings) from his second album, 2008's The Fabled City, it's a great sing-along tune. Some of Woody Guthrie's songs were fun, I think Tom caught on to that.  I think his earlier tours were like Bruce's first solo acoustic tour for The Ghost Of Tom Joad. I saw that show twice: it was good, but demanding, and it felt like fun was not allowed. You can pull that off if you're, like Leonard Cohen or something. But Woody, Pete Seeger, even Steve Earle, they have fun at their shows.  I think Tom realized this. This tour was more like Bruce's Devils and Dust tour: he realized that it's ok to do serious solo acoustic shows and still have a good time. Everyone walked out of the show with a smile on their face, but also charged up.

So last night's show was a solo acoustic deal, but he was joined by Carl Restivo from his backing band (Carl is also in Street Sweeper Social Club).  It was an incredibly powerful show.  Like Bruce, Tom lets the audience know when to be quiet, and those moments provided some of the most powerful moments of the night. One was "Battle Hymns," which he dedicated to Iraq Veterans Against the War (learn more about them here). He also did a version of Pink Floyd's "When The Tigers Broke Free" from The Wall (about how the main character's father died in the war), updating the lyrics for 2011.  

But those songs had greater weight, because, as Tom put it, he brought the "heavy metal thunder" on many other songs.  "Save The Hammer For The Man" from his new album, World Wide Rebel Songs, was incredible (the original is a duet with the great Ben Harper, Carl did his best to sing Ben's part, and he did so ably).  "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" was mindblowing - Tom switching to an electric in the middle of the song to melt faces.  Maybe the most rockin song was "This Land Is Your Land." Tom added the "censored" lyrics, which make it much more radical (see the lyrics and a historic performance of that song by Seeger and Springsteen here). He had the whole room jumping - explaining that everyone HAD to jump, as his show was "an irony free zone" even though it was in New York City.  You can see a bootleggy video of the performance here.  It's obvious he has taken notes from Springsteen, but he's clearly doing his own thing.  He finished up by inviting the audience on stage for "World Wide Rebel Songs," instructing one woman in the audience to film the show for YouTube, and demanding that the rest of us stop tweeting and filming and live in the moment.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the after-party (and this is a good place to mention that I got complimentary tickets, in the interest of full disclosure).  I met some nice folks from Tom's management team, and even introduced my wife - who took these excellent photos, and who is a public school teacher and a proud union woman - to Tom.  She got to thank him for his support.  It was a great moment.

One moment that I wish he had was "The Iron Wheel," one of The Nightwatchman's greatest songs.  Shooter Jennings was there, I couldn't believe they didn't perform together! Maybe next time.

On a final note, I'll mention that I got to chat with Mr. Morello the day before - I filmed him for SiriusXM's E Street Radio.  We discussed a recent quote of his from Rolling Stone magazine, where he said that he's the last man in America who thinks Bob Dylan sold out by going electric. So, I'm here to say that Tom has at least one stance that I totally disagree with.  "Hurricane" is way better with a band than it would be without, and ditto for "Lovesick." That's just off the top of my head. But anyway, thank you Tom for a great show, hope to see you again soon. (Tom will be on E Street Radio on September 5 and 6, for listings and rebroadcast times, go here).

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: LOLLAPALOOZA TURNS 20

Longtime No Expiration readers know that once a week (usually on Wednesday morning at 9 am ET) I go on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM's OutQ channel. This week, we  moved my day to Friday. You can listen even if you aren't a subscriber: get a free online trial subscription here.

Last week, Perry Farrell announced this year's Lollapalooza festival, and it turns out that this year the franchise turns 20 (although it was dormant for a few of those years).  Some of my favorite bands ever have played the festival (check out a fun timeline here) and so I figured I'd talk about what a few of them are doing tomorrow.

Of course, I have to talk about Perry's group, Lollapalooza's first headliners, Jane's Addiction. When I last wrote about them, they'd released a live DVD from one of their last shows from their reunion tour, their only one to feature original bassist Eric Avery. By the time the DVD came out, Duff McKagan replaced him, and had already left the band. Dave Sitek from TV On The Radio played bass on the album, he also co-wrote songs and co-produced. But he's not in the band, and now it looks like they're back with Chris Chaney, who played with them in the early '00s.  Their next album, The Great Escape Artist, comes out in August, and the first song, "End To The Lies," is out now.  I don't know if I dig it yet.

I have yet to write about the great Pearl Jam box set, which includes remastered versions of Vs. and Vitalogy (both with bonus tracks), a live album recorded April 12, 1994 at the Orpheum in Boston and (on cassette!) a copy of the radio show they did when Vitalogy came out, which featured performances by them, as well as Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Mad Season and The Fastbacks.  I'll write more about that later.

Tres Mts, who I wrote about last night - that's the supergroup featuring Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament and Mike McCready, King's X frontman Doug Pinnick and Fastback Richard Stuverud.

Eddie Vedder, meanwhile, releases his second solo album, Ukelele Songs, later this month, and I have the first song, "Longing To Belong."

The Beastie Boys released Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 this week, I haven't gotten mine in the mail yet.  What up, Amazon? I will certainly write about it after I get it.  I know people want to know about it: a post I did in late 2009 is one of my most popular posts lately.

Green Day just released a live album, Awesome As Fuck. Check out my cousin Kyle's guest review.

The new live Soundgarden compilation, Live On I-5, which I just wrote about.

And Tom Morello's latest song as The Nightwatchman, "Union Town," which makes me proud to be a fan. Dig the video, and get the Union Town EP when it comes out digitally next week. The Nightwatchman's next full length, World Wide Rebel Songs, comes out later this summer.

HOW "BORN IN THE U.S.A." INFLUENCED "KILLING IN THE NAME"

Yes, it's true. In the above video, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello (who of course also records as The Nightwatchman, is a member of Street Sweeper Social Club and a former member of Audioslave) explains how Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The U.S.A." influenced Rage's "Killing In The Name" (yes, the "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" song). He's talking to Jay Weinberg, son of E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. This is part of an E Street Radio roundtable discussion that is airing on the channel this week: I was lucky enough to be in the SIRIUS XM studios in New York (Tom Morello was in the Los Angeles studio).

THIS WEEK ON OUTQ: FUNK AND SOUL

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET (ish) I am a guest contributor to the SIRIUS XM OutQ channel show The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick.  Every week I discuss music (surprise!) and this week I'll be talking about some new funky and soulful releases.

I have written about Brad before: the band features Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, along with the great singer Shawn Smith. Smith also sings for Satchel (who Stone has produced), and for the electro music project Pigeonhed (the Lo-Fidelity Allstars remix of their song "Battleflag" is probably Smith's biggest "hit"), and has done solo albums too (as well as some other projects). He is one of the best singers you haven't heard. The band's drummer is Regan Hagar (also of Satchel, he used to be in Malfunkshun with the late Andrew Wood, who went on to form Mother Love Bone with Stone). Jeremy Toback used to be the bass player (he's also done some cool solo albums) but now Mike Berg is the bassist (he's also in Satchel). Enough family tree stuff, Brad is a really soulful band. At first they both benefitted and suffered from the Pearl Jam association: they certainly got more press because of Stone, but they sound nothing like Pearl Jam, they have a much more funky and soul music-based sound. Smith is the star of the band. If you can find the first album, 1993's Shame, check it out. But Best Friends?, their forth album which just came out, is very good too, although it did take me a few listens.

Street Sweeper Social Club just put out their second release, The Ghetto Blaster EP. It rocks! It has a bunch of new songs, a remix of "Promenade" from their debut, a new version of Boots Riley's other group, The Coup's "Everythang," and covers of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out." Plus there's a few new songs. I think Boots is going to do a Coup album next, and I guess Tom Morello will do another Nightwatchman project (and maybe some Rage Against The Machine shows), before the next Street Sweeper full length.

Michael Franti has had such an interesting career. In the late '80s, he was in this angry industrial/hip-hop group The Beatnigs. After that, he had a very Public Enemy influenced hip-hop group called The Disposable Heroes of Hiphopricy (I saw them open for U2 at Shea Stadium, pretty bizarre). In 1994, he started Spearhead, which combined hip-hop with live music, soul, R&B and reggae, and he's been doing it for years without too much commercial success - but the band gets lots of respect in the jam band community. All of the sudden, last year, they had a hit with the very poppy "Say Hey (I Love You)," which is a classic hit single. A wonderful song. Franti's new Spearhead album, The Sound Of Sunshine, comes out September 21, and it sounds like it has a simlilar vibe to "Say Hey."

A couple of other things I'll be bringing: new songs by Cee-Lo Green (his viral hit "F*** You," and another new song "Georgia"), some Robert Randolph & The Family Band (featuring Ben Harper) and a preview of the John Legend/Roots album.

TOM MORELLO'S TOP 13 METAL ALBUMS

I'm still working on my response to Rolling Stone's "40 Reasons To Be Excited About Music." I'm ok with a lot of them!

But to hold you over, here's another cool list: Tom Morello offers his 13 favorite metal albums of all time at Music Radar. I've always thought that Tom had (and has) great taste in music, and while I don't agree with all of his choices, I am down with most of them.  Actually, even the ones I would not have choosen, by Dio and Motley Crue... I have to admit they are good albums ( but not better than albums by Motorhead, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, Pantera, etc.)  But that's why lists are so much fun!

ROBBIE ROBERTSON: NEW ALBUM?

I write a lot about Levon Helm, the drummer and singer from The Band. But I'm also a big fan of guitarist/songwriter/producer Robbie Robertson's post-Band career, although he hasn't done much lately. In an interview with Mojo to promote the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island (which he produced), Robbie mentioned that he's working on a solo album that will be the guitar heaviest thing he's done since he toured with Bob Dylan back in the '70s. Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Tom Morello and Robert Randolph guest on the album with him. That's pretty cool! His last album was 1998's Contact From The Underworld Of Redboy (which I loved, but I know a lot of people dismissed it).

TOM MORELLO SCORING IRON MAN 2

Tom Morello tweeted that he is doing the score for Iron Man 2. As I've mentioned, AC/DC are providing the soundtrack (via previously released material). No big surprise, Tom is friends with director Jon Favreau: he added some guitar to the soundtrack of the first Iron Man (and had a cameo as a guard), and he also cameoed in Made which Favreau directed, wrote and co-starred in.

CYPRESS HILL ALBUM FEATURES TOM MORELLO, DARON MALAKIAN AND MARC ANTHONY

I used to think of Cypress Hill as the AC/DC or Ramones of hip-hop, but that comparassion doesn't exactly work.  Both of those bands are great at one thing, and Cypress Hill does two: menacing sounding hip-hop and rock/hip-hop hybrids. So, it is no surprise that their next album, Rise Up, features Tom Morello, as well as System Of A Down leader Daron Malakian, as well as some dude from Linkin Park. They have also always been proud of their Latino roots, and they nod to that with some other guests: Mr. J-Lo Marc Anthony and Cheech & Chong even make an appearance. The album also features Everlast and Pete Rock. It's their first record for Priority Records: they were (allegedly) signed  by Snoop Dogg, who now is the public face of the label. Rise Up comes out April 6.

BEST OF THE 00's: RICK RUBIN

I have often expressed admiration of Rick Rubin 's production skills. If I were a producer, I'd like to be like him: hip-hop, metal, funk, punk, country, singer-songwriters, nothing is off limits, and he proved that again in the '00s.

He remained close collaborator of Johnny Cash, producing American III: Solitary Man and American IV: The Man Comes Around in the early years of the decade. I would argue that Cash's American series of albums are nearly as good as anything he'd ever done, obviously American IV's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" was one of the greatest moments of an incredible career. Rick also curated the incredible Unearthed box set, allowing fans to hear some of the incredible things that didn't make the American albums. He's also been the keeper of the Cash flame, releasing American V: A Hundred Highways, which featured "God's Gonna Cut You Down" (and now there's word that 2010 will see the final album from the American sessions, American VI: Ain't No Grave.

Rick started working with Tom Morello, who certainly was paying attention to Rubin's rap/rock/metal hybrids in the '80s. Rubin produced Rage Against The Machine's final album, the all-covers Renegades, as well as their posthumously released live album, Live At The Grand Olympic Auditorium (which turned out to be the band's final shows before reuniting years later). Rubin hooked Morello and Rage mates Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk up with ex-Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell and produced the first Audioslave album.

One of Rick's supposed talents is to discover new talent, and I don't know how much he's done that in the past decade, but one band he did work with early on is System Of A Down, who are one of the best metal bands around (even though they seem to be on hiatus at the moment). Rick signed them to his American Recordings, and has produced their albums, including (this decade) Toxicity (which, bizarely, hit #1 on 9/11), Steal This Album! and Hypnotize and Mesmerize.  Another younger band in the heavy guitar category he worked with The Mars Volta on their De-Loused In The Comatorium album.

He remained the go-to guy for The Red Hot Chili Peppers (having worked with them ever since 1991's BloodSugarSexMagik), producing the excellent By The Way and the maybe-too-long double album Stadium Arcadium. I really hope they work with him on the next one, which will be their first since guitarist John Frusciante quit (again).

He briefly returned to hip-hop, producing a cover of Ice-T's "99 Problems" for Jay-Z's "final" record, The Black Album. It may be Jay's finest moment. Less successful was his "Better Than I Ever Been" track that he produced for Nike, featuring Kanye West, Nas and KRS-One (DJ Premier later did a better remix which also featured Rakim).

Rubin also veered closer to the mainstream, producing Shakria's Oral Fixation albums, which included her huge hit collaboration with Wyclef Jean, "Hips Don't Lie." There was also The Dixie Chicks' album Taking The Long Way featuring the classic "Not Ready To Make Nice." And he tried to give Neil Diamond a new credibility by doing some American Recordings type stripped down albums with him. He also worked with Weezer, Wallflowers frontman Jakob Dylan on his first solo album, a new-ish Americana-type band called The Avett Brothers who I need to write more about, and The Gossip. And of course, Metallica's triumphant comeback album, Death Magnetic. He also produced some tracks with U2, but the full album he worked on with them remains in the vaults.  And he is apparently working with Crosby Stills & Nash and ZZ Top at the moment. Will he discover more LL Cool J's, Run-D.M.C.s, Public Enemys, Slayers and System of a Downs in the '00s? That's what will be interesting to see.

STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB - HOW IS IT?

The other day, I was working out to the Street Sweeper Social Club album, and realized that I hadn't really written about it much yet. For those who don't know, it is a new band featuring guitarist Tom Morello (Rage Against The Machine, Audioslave) aka The Nightwatchman, and a great MC, Boots Riley of The Coup.

I know that Boots has tweeted that they are not the "new Rage Against The Machine, we're the new Sly & The Family Stone. With a plan." I don't know that they're quite Sly & The Family Stone, but they are more funky than Rage, and a bit more fun. They're just as "politcal," but Rage's Zach de la Rocha just never lightens up, and Boots clearly enjoys the fact that he is a great frontman. He knows you can dance to revolutionary music, and idea that Zach probably isn't super into. I think half the album is great, the other half is good, and I am definitely looking forward to their next album. I don't know if Tom is going to do another Nightwatchman album and if Boots will work with The Coup before doing another Street Sweeper record.

TOM MORELLO: EXOTIC DANCER?

Tom Morello has done a lot in his career: he is a member of Street Sweeper Social Club, a sometimes member of Rage Against The Machine, and a former member of Audioslave and Lock Up. He records solo albums as The Nightwatchman, and has collaborated with Primus, Maynard James Keenan, Layne Staley, The Crystal Method, Johnny Cash, The Prodigy, Anti-Flag and Macy Gray, and he's jammed with Chuck D and Bruce Springsteen. As an actor, he's appeared in Star Trek: Voyager and Iron Man. He's an activist, a Harvard graduate and he used to work for California Senator Alan Cranston. But did you know he had a stint as an exotic dancer? It's true: he talks about it in an article he wrote for the NME, "What Rock and Roll Taught Me." After graduating Harvard, he moved to L.A. to pursue rock stardom, and was a dancer to make ends meet. He says that he worked at a few bachelorette parties, and is grateful that YouTube wasn't around back then! Read the whole thing here.

STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB IN CONCERT

For those who don't know, Street Sweeper Social Club is a new band that features Tom Morello, aka The Nightwatchman (member of Rage Against The Machine and formerly of Audioslave) and Boots Riley of hip-hop group The Coup. Their self-titled debut came out today, and I got to go to their record release party at NYC's Grammercy Theater.

It was actually my third time seeing them: I saw them do a brief set at the Road Recovery benefit, and then again with Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails two weeks ago.

It's weird seeing a band before you know their music - and in Tom and Boots' case, there's definitely expectations for this band. Especially for Morello: doing a political band with a MC instead of a singer makes comparisons with Rage irresistible.

SSSC is a lot more loose and more fun than Rage, and Boots Riley has a much better time onstage than RATM's Zach de la Rocha, who never lightens up. I daresay Zach could learn a thing or two from Boots, who has fun with being a frontman. There were a lot of great songs, although I don't know if their debut is a classic. It was a really tight show, I give it a B, I'm definitely going to pick up their album, and I'd definitely be into seeing them again.

SEEGER'S 90TH

The show (not where this picture was taken, obviously) was great. We got there a bit late and missed some performances, but it was pretty awesome. For me, the highlights were: Roger McGuinn with the guys from Band Of Horses doing "Turn! Turn! Turn!," Ben Harper with his mom, his aunt and Tom Morello doing his own "Gather 'Round The Stone" and Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello doing "The Ghost Of Tom Joad." There were other great performances by Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Warren Haynes... everyone was pretty great, actually. Pete's grandson Tao Rodridguez-Seeger was inspiring, and I think he will carry on his grandfather's music and message in the decades to come. Shout out to Oscar The Grouch who duetted with Tom Chapin on a song called "Garbage" (what else?). It was amazing to see MSG standing ovations to the likes of Joan Baez and Ritchie Havens.

And every time Pete Seeger was on stage was a highlight, to say the least. He is an amazing figure. It was odd to see him feted at a venue like Madison Square Garden in such a slick (but not cold) production. With him, it's not really about being a star, although he's certainly used his power to draw people. But it's about getting people to sing... more than it is about singing to them. That's a powerful thing.

The picture I've posted here (for the second time) was taken probably 35 years ago (thanks to Richard for hooking me up with it). I'm the kid in the Spider-Man shirt by the tree. I showed it to my dad, and he told me that it kind of embodies Pete Seeger. We were at some park, and Pete had a gig scheduled somewhere in the park. So he was walking to the gig, saw some kids, and grabbed his banjo and sang a bunch of songs before going on his way. None of the kids probably had much of an idea who he was.

But that's who he is. Not every artist can be like Pete, or should be like Pete. There are rare cases of artists who seem immune to temptation: Ani DiFranco is one, Ian McKaye another. If you're an artist, you don't have to try to be like that. But you should keep artists like that towards the front of your mind -- I think they act as the sort of angel on your shoulder, your conscious, to keep you from losing yourself into the "bubble" (as Tina Fey puts it) of stardom. There's being famous... and then there's being taken seriously. And if you do the latter, who knows the former may happen along the way.

OK, time for me to check in. God bless Pete Seeger.

ROAD RECOVERY: MAYBE MORE FUN FROM THE STAGE

Last night I went to the Road Recovery benefit concert honoring Wayne Kramer of The MC5 at the Nokia Theater in NYC. It is a great organization "dedicated to helping young people battle addiction and other adversities." It's a great organization, check them out. The lineup was pretty great: Perry Farrell (and his wife, Etty Farrell), Iggy Pop, Tom Morello, Jerry Cantrell and Brother Wayne Kramer, along with Don Was and Billy Bragg, plus a few too many opening acts. It may have been more fun if you were involved in the all-star jams. There were some great moments, and others that weren't as great.

I won't put anyone down. I missed Joan as Police Woman, I wanted to see her. I kind of liked this two man group Middle Class Rut. All the bands played two songs, with emcee Matt Pinfield in between. There was really no momentum, and it's a lot to ask of people to sit through all this stuff at a benefit, when you are selling tickets based on much bigger stars.

Making the night seem a bit surreal was the fact that earlier in the day, Pinfield put out a press release saying that he would be taking a break from his morning DJ job to check into rehab on Monday. Good for him.

In the midst of all of these bands, Billy Bragg came out and did a very NPR-ish two song solo acoustic set, he did a cover of The Verve's "The Drugs Don't Work" and his own "I Keep Faith." So much of the show had the feel of a jam session crumbling under it's own weight, Bragg's solo set seemed more powerful than most of the other stuff I saw. Tom Morello's Street Sweeper Social Club were great, and I look forward to seeing them play a longer set on the NINJA tour. Jerry Cantrell played "Wish You Were Here" with former Guns N Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and a guitarist named Carl Restivo who was all over the stage all night (he is a former member of Perry Farrell's Satellite Party and is now part of Street Sweeper).

Then, the show really kicked off, but not with a bang. Perry, Etty and Carl did Perry's solo song from the Twilight soundtrack, and it was just corny. Then, Morello, Cantrell, Kramer et al came on stage and it was on. They did two Jane's songs ("Mountain Song" and "Ain't No Right") that seemed to crumble under the weight of everyone on stage. Jerry sang Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak" which was pretty cool (Evan Seinfeld of Biohazard played bass on that), Perry, Evan and Gilby did The Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again" which was OK. "Special guest" Juliette Lewis did AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" which was OK. Dictators frontman and Underground Garage DJ Handsome Dick Manitoba hit the stage to do The MC5's "Animal," which was a highlight. Then Iggy showed everyone who's boss: he did two songs I didn't know, "Five Foot One" and I forgot the other one. It was great, he runs on stage and starts yelling at the drummer. After the first song he turns around and looks at the drummer and says "Cocksucker! Play it right!" The night ended, appropriately, with "Kick Out The Jams," Kramer taking one verse, Handsome Dick taking one, and Iggy finishing - Iggy came out and tipped his imaginary cap to Dick, which was great. And Little Steven was on stage for that one also (he tweeted the show throughout the night).

All in all: $25 was worth it for the good moments. I'd say to the organizers, if you want to keep doing these and make money for your organization (the show was not sold out) you have to (a) tighten it up - less of the opening bands that most people aren't familar with and (b) more rehearsal time if possible/smaller combos for the all star stuff to make it tighter. Then you can sell recordings of it too. Good luck Matt Pinfield.

STREET SWEEPER HITS JUNE 16

Tom Morello's Street Sweeper with Boots Riley of The Coup will release their self titled debut on June 16. Hear some more of their new songs on their MySpace page.

MIND-BLOWING SHOW ALERT (or, "these guys must have had some interesting conversations about Chris Cornell")

Before taking his new band Street Sweeper on the Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction tour, Tom Morello is leading another of his Justice tours.  Last night, it hit Seattle in style.  Tad Doyle, formerly of Tad, performed with Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron, doing three Soundgarden songs, with Tom Morello sitting on on "Spoonman" (which he knew, because Audioslave used to perform it). Also on the bill: Steve Earle and Wayne Kramer of The MC5.  Read about it at The Seattle Weekly. The Justice tour is coming to New York, with Perry Farrell and Jerry Cantrell on the bill.  I missed that tour last time, I gotta catch it this time. 

But I wonder if "Tadgarden" will play again.  Cameron is a member of Pearl Jam, and that seems to be going really well for him, he's been in PJ longer than he was in Soundgarden. But in a recent interview, Chris Cornell said that there really wouldn't be a downside to reuniting with Soundgarden, so who knows, maybe this will prompt him to leave his more pop-oriented solo work the same way Keith Richards' rocking solo stuff lured Mick Jagger away from his more pop solo material. Although I don't know if Soundgarden can reunite without the involvement of their former manager, who is also Cornell's ex-wife. Time will tell! 

GET A FREE NIN/JANE'S/STREET SWEEPER EP

Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction and Tom Morello's new band Street Sweeper are offering a free mp3 EP of unreleased tracks (easy in Street Sweeper's case, since they haven't actually released anything yet). All you have to do is give your email address. Get it at NINJA2009. 

BEN HARPER, TOM MORELLO, WARREN HAYNES SIGN ON TO PETE SEEGER'S 90TH BIRTHDAY CONCERT

A lot more artists have signed on for Pete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration: joining the aforementioned Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and John Mellencamp: Ben Harper, Warren Haynes, Tom Morello, Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, Kris Kristofferson, Michael Franti of Spearhead, Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers, Del McCoury, Richie Havens, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Taj Majal among others. See the whole lineup here. There's an American Express pre-sale, which I find shocking, but they are probably donating money to The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, which is close to Pete's heart.

DOUBLE AWESOME NEWS: TOM MORELLO HAS A NEW GROUP (and they're gonna open for NIN and Jane's)

First off: Tom Morello has a new band, Street Sweeper,
featuring Boots Riley of The Coup. It's more Rage Against The Machine than Nightwatchman. Check them out here.

And secondly, Street Sweeper is making the best tour of the year, Nine Inch Nails with Jane's Addiction, even better. Trent Reznor just tweeted that they are the opening act on the tour. Man, if that show wasn't already mind-blowing.