THIS WEEK'S COOL RELEASES

#1 on my list: the Into The Wild soundtrack, which is essentially an Eddie Vedder solo album. The film, directed by Sean Penn, is (I think) based on a true story about a guy who left life behind to live in the wilderness. It would be worth seeing without the music, but Eddie's music makes it an "event" movie (at least according to my definition of the term). I heard a rumor that the other Pearl Jam guys were pissed that Eddie did a solo record, but I doubt that that rumor is true: Pearl Jam has been kept vital thanks to the fact that all the other guys have had solo projects. I've always been a huge fan of the band and of Eddie, although he seems a bit obsessed with being accepted by indie-rock fans, which is a bit silly because (a) most of them aren't going to like him/Pearl Jam based on critieria that has nothing to do with music and (b) most of the big indie rock bands of the moment (and few of them last more than a few moments) are lame. Yes, Fugazi were an indie band - but they put an incredible amount of effort into their music: most indie bands sound like they can't be bothered. Anyway, I'm really excited to hear this album.

There's a DVD coming out featuring segments from Johnny Cash's TV show from the '70s, including performances by Louis Armstrong, Neil Young and Ray Charles. That will be worth whatever they charge for it.

There's an(other) Emmylou Harris box set coming out. I remember one came out over ten years ago: but this one is more about rarities, with some of her album tracks thrown in. I became a huge fan with her 1995 classic, Wrecking Ball, she is truly one of the greats. I'll probably have to splurge on this one.

There's an(other) Nuggets box set coming out. The first one, of course, was an expanded version of the 1972 compilation, that collected out-of-print garage rock songs from the '60s. The box set re-release came out in 1998 - Rhino Records did an amazing job with this, giving lots of people (myself included) a great education in garage rock. They soon followed with Nuggets II - the first one was all American bands, II was all non-American bands (mainly from the U.K.) and that was an awesome collection as well. Two years ago they put out Children Of Nuggets, which was basically garage rock from the '80s. I still haven't gotten that one: box sets cost way too much. It's on the top of my list. This week, they're releasing San Francisco Nuggets, which seems more hippie music than garage rock, so I don't think I'll pick that one up.

Here's one not to miss: Mary Gauthier's new album. Her last album, Mercy Now, was extremely powerful. The woman knows the blues. Actually, I'm looking forward to her album as much as I am Eddie Vedder's. She's not well known, but rest assured, based on her last album, she belongs in No Expiration.

Oh yeah, and a new album of songs from The Simpsons. It always amazes me that they come up with such catchy songs for the show. But then again, it is like, the best comedy of all time.