GET WELL SOON LEROI

Last week, sax player LeRoi Moore of The Dave Matthews Band was hurt in an ATV accident. But the band's web site says that he's recovering well and his conditions has been upgraded from serious to fair. It also provides links to email messages to him. I know the band is continuing on their summer tour, but here's hoping that he recovers and rejoins the band soon. 

INSERT BEARD JOKE HERE: RICK RUBIN SIGNS ZZ TOP

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Rick Rubin.

I love the way he takes bands in their prime and helps them to make definitive albums (as he did with The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tom Petty) or helping an artist to make a comeback (as he did so successfully with Johnny Cash). 

He's often talked about his love for ZZ Top, so it's no surprise that he's signed them and will be producing their next album. Although ZZ has occasionally updated their sound (notably in the '80s with Eliminator), I've never felt like they've sold out their core values: they've always been a no-BS blues/rock band. Rick's worked with a band like this before - AC/DC - and it didn't work out so well (allegedly, the band didn't like Rick even though they are his favorite band), but I think ZZ Top will be more amicable to the partnership. 

"YOUR NEW INFLUENCES"

I just happened upon a blog called Fluxblog that has a new feature called "Your New Influences" that I thought was pretty funny and well-thought out. I'm not totally sure that it isn't done sarcastically. It's seems to be by a indie-rock fan who is totally bored with indie rock (which I can understand). So the writer suggests new influences to make indie bands less boring: the first is Janet Jackson's song, "Miss You Much." I look forward to reading his other suggestions. 

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN TO RELEASE LIVE EP

Personally, I wish Bruce Springsteen would release a live album from every tour. I really wish he put out something from The Rising tour (although there was a pretty cool DVD) and especially from his Devils & Dust tour (the VH1 Storytellers DVD was great, but too short). 

The Magic Tour Highlights EP will be available digitally on July 15 and will feature four tracks: "Turn! Turn! Turn!" with Roger McGuinn, "Always A Friend" with Alejandro Escovedo (that song is the first single from Alejandro's just-released album, Real Animal; he's also managed by Bruce's manager Jon Landau), "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" with Tom Morello, and, movingly, from Danny Federici 's last appearance with Bruce and The E Street Band (from March 20) "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." I wish more artists would release their one-off on-stage collabs digitally. Of course, what I and many other Springsteen fans really wish is that he would release live albums from all of his shows a la Pearl Jam. 

LIVE R.E.M. EP

So, I've already raved about how great R.E.M.'s live show was. Now you can hear it for yourself, sort of: they've released a live EP recorded at the Apple store in London. Not your usual concert venue, and not a full set, but it is pretty rocking. It contains a bunch of songs from their awesome new album Accelerate, some hits and two rare tracks: "Auctioneer" and "West Of The Fields." Totally worth checking out. 

This is their second live release in less than a year, which is a bit odd, since they've never released live albums before. Last year, they released Live, which features some of their most recent material, and in many cases, the live versions of the songs improve on the studio versions. But of course none of their recent albums compare to Accelerate. 

THE RUSH/FOO FIGHTERS JAM

OK, this will be my last Rush post for a while, at least until I go to their concert. I don't know how I missed this, but back in March, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson joined The Foo Fighters on stage at their show in Toronto. Actually, they just joined Foo drummer Taylor Hawkins during his drum solo, and they rocked out on Rush's instrumental classic "YYZ." I found out about it a great fansite, Rush Is A Band. 

One of the interesting parts of the recent Rolling Stone feature on Rush was one part where Neal Peart describes seeing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video on MuchMusic, he got in touch with the band's management to offer them an opening slot on their tour. The band's management said no, because Nirvana were "alternative." Funny that all these years later, Geddy and Alex jammed on Dave Grohl's stage, albeit without Dave himself.  

It's been a pretty good year for the Foos. They recently jammed with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl recently sat in with Paul McCartney, and they are going to play at VH1's Who tribute concert. 

In other Foo Fighters news, they've just released an iTunes EP, including their cover of Arcade Fire's "Keep The Car Running." 

RUSH IN THE NEW ROLLING STONE

It's a little hard to explain just why it's such a big deal that Rush is in the new issue of Rolling Stone. Sure, Rolling Stone has covered a lot of lame artists, made a big deal about lots of artists who aren't

worth the hype, and of course they ignored bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath in favor of The Mamas & The Papas, The Eagles and The Dire Straits. 

Still, when an artist like Rush has been totally ignored by the corporate rock media for so long, it feels nice, as a fan, to see them acknowledged by Rolling Stone. I was a bit worried to read the feature, but I have to say that the writer did a great job of treating Rush with the respect they deserve, while poking fun of things about the band that are, admittedly, funny. The air drumming fans, the Tolkien-inspired lyrics, and some funny parts of the plot of "2112."  

In citing the band's "uncoolness." the writer quotes a lyric from a Pavement that poked fun at Geddy Lee. That's one thing I never got: I understand Rush fans being called "nerdy." But how Pavement are considered cool, that's what I don't get. I mean, have you ever seen an indie rocker? I felt like Pavement making fun of Rush was like the head of the high school yearbook making fun of the head of the Dungeons & Dragons club. The difference is that the yearbook guy has an editorial opinion that other people read. I know this runs contrary to popular opinion, but I've always seen Rush as "outsider music," and Pavement as corporate rock: although they recorded for an indie label (who I think had major distribution), every corporate rock magazine fell over themselves covering them. 

Anyway, after reading the article, I decided I have to get tickets for Rush's upcoming show in New Jersey. It's nice that the mainstream recognized Geddy, Alex and Neil, and fans should read the article without worrying about cringing.