GREAT BAND, GOOD DOC: PEARL JAM 20

My wife and I had a little Pearl Jam film festival this weekend, watching Eddie Vedder's Water On The Road concert film, and also Pearl Jam 20, the documentary about the band by Cameron Crowe. I thought Cameron, a long time fan of the band, did a good job. It was really interesting to see Eddie, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready talking about their entire history. Well, almost.

I kept getting hung up on the fact that none of the band's ex-drummers were mentioned until well after an hour into the film. First, Mike mentioned "Jack," referring to Jack Irons, and a few minutes later, Mike went into an explanation of the former drummers (Irons, Dave Krusen, Dave Abbruzzese and even interim drummer Matt Chamberlin). It really bothered me that none of them were interviewed for the doc.  In contrast, in the recent Foo Fighters doc, the former members got to have their say, I felt that it hurt PJ20 that the drummers were almost an afterthought to the film (ironically, as Eddie Vedder at one point says that a drummer is a band's heart). Also, longtime keyboardist Boom Gaspar was the subject of a 5 minute extra, but there was no real explanation of why Vedder thought he should be in the band, or what the band thought of him joining.   I was also interested in hearing more about the conflict in the band, when Eddie was touring in a van trying to be a "D.I.Y." as possible while the rest of the band traveled together in a bus. Mike McCready asks "Was he embarrassed by us?"  I would have liked to have heard Eddie address that. There was definitely a time where he seemed to be chasing some weird indie-rock credibility that is kind of impossible for a band whose debut album sold ten million copies. It was obvious that it was creating tension with the rest of the band: especially as Jeff and Stone had been though so much with their former bands, Green River and Mother Love Bone.

At the core of the film is Stone's desire to run the band, and Eddie's increasing influence.  McCready insinuated that Stone wasn't totally into having Jeff in Pearl Jam, Stone admitted to thinking of it as his band until Eddie Vedder took over.  I imagine Stone calls the shots in Brad, but even in Brad, the singer Shawn Smith is kind of the main guy in the group. Stone has done a solo album - which was kind of ignored. I wonder how Stone made peace with the fact that he's better in a band, and a band needs a good frontman. Meanwhile, I would have liked to have heard more from Eddie about the importance of the other guys in the band, and how he interprets his influence in the group.

I realize that the band's manager Kelly Curtis was a co-producer, and the the goal of the film was to celebrate the band as it currently exists, not necessarily to be a comprehensive documentary, and Cameron Crowe is close with the band.  Maybe a documentary like Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster went a bit too deep and provided too much information, but I feel like PJ20 didn't go far enough.

I did enjoy the doc. I loved seeing Jeff at home in Montana, and Eddie's story about meeting Jack Irons for the first time:  Jack was playing in Joe Strummer's band, Eddie worked at the venue for a show where they met, Jack later introduced Eddie to Stone and Jeff.  While telling the story, Eddie is looking a picture of he and Strummer from that show, and he muses, "It all really comes down to this picture." Of course I loved where the band talked about Neil Young's influence on them, not just musically, but career wise.

I remember in the early days of the band, I found myself annoyed at Eddie Vedder for his indie obsession, which I felt came from (among other things) Kurt Cobain slamming the band in the press.  And while I've always loved Nirvana, Cobain's comments made me lose a bit of respect for him. It was fascinating to me that Stone admitted that Eddie's decisions sometimes didn't make sense to him at the time, and sometimes took a decade to make sense, but they were the right decisions.  And also that Cobain's comments kept the band on their "best behavior" and keeps doing so to this day.  I never thought of it that way.  Those were great moments the really added weight to the doc.

I really enjoyed that Stone talked about the fans' belief in the band keeping the band alive even when they weren't sure about themselves.  I never "moved on" from the band: I've been down since almost day one (I bought Ten the day it came out, because I loved the Temple Of The Dog album, which I bought because I was a Soundgarden fan, and to a lesser extent, Mother Love Bone). If my cheers, concert attendance, purchasing of their albums on release day, was a small part of the larger group of fans that never lost faith, I'm glad. I'm also glad that the band remain a relevant force to me to this day.  I can't wait for the next album, and yes, I'm willing to forgive the flaws in this documentary.

EDDIE VEDDER - WATER ON THE ROAD

I just watched the live concert film from Eddie Vedder's first big solo tour, Water On The Road. I caught this tour, and it was amazing.  This film is a great snapshot of the tour, but it's more: there's great extra footage - backstage, at Eddie's home in Hawaii, scenes with fans - beautifully shot by directors Christoph Green and Brendan Canty. You might recognize Canty's name - he played drums in Fugazi. And he gets out from behind the camera to provide the most exciting part of the film: he gets on drums to back Eddie for a cover of "All Along The Watchtower" (it's actually in the bonus features).

But the entire film was great.  I think Eddie put a lot of thought into the presentation of the show, and it paid off.  Everything from the song selection to the stage set worked.  The setlist drew from the Into The Wild soundtrack, with Pearl Jam  tunes and Bob Dylan covers ("Watchtower," "Girl From The North Country," "Forever Young").  The set itself had a pretty cool look, with a sky blue background, a pair of wings, and towards the end of the show, Eddie and his guests Liam Finn and Sleater-Kinney alumni Corin Tucker are wearing lab coats and playing in dried ice during "Hard Sun."

My highlights included Eddie and Tucker, backstage, recording a cover of X's "Golden State," all the Into The Wild songs, Eddie at home doing Pearl Jam's new classic "Unthought Known" and the Dylan covers. I hope that Pearl Jam keep rocking for a long time, but I'm glad Eddie now has a parallel career that acknowledges PJ's legacy but isn't dependent on it. I feel that this film makes a good argument for that (and by the way, so did his last tour for Ukulele Songs, which I saw earlier this year).

PEARL JAM 20: THE SOUNDTRACK

I can't wait to see the Cameron Crowe-directed Pearl Jam documentary, Pearl Jam 20. But until it comes out on DVD, I'm digging the soundtrack, which was complied by Mr. Crowe, who also wrote the liner notes.

This is really a collection for the hardcore fans, it's not for beginners (although the film may turn on some new people, from what I've heard about it).

It's mostly a collection of live performances and demos.  And considering that the band has released a live recording of every concert for the second half of their career, and released exhaustive extended editions of their first three albums, there's not a ton of stuff left that we haven't heard.  BUT!

There's still a lot of great stuff here.  Probably the highlight is their version of Mother Love Bone's "Crown Of Thorns" from their tenth anniversary show (which I have on the Pearl Jam's live recording of that concert). "Alive" from the Moore Theater in Seattle from 1990 isn't great quality sound, but it's one of their first shows, and it is worth listening to. "Black" from their legendary MTV Unplugged show is amazing (they need to release that as a CD already, although many fans - myself included - have that on an unauthorized bootleg, and the DVD came with the Ten Super Deluxe reissue). Their recent performance of "Just Breathe," accompanied by a string section, on Saturday Night Live was great (although it is very similar to the single version recorded at Austin City Limits that they've released).

My favorite parts included Temple Of The Dog's "Say Hello 2 Heaven" demo, the instrumental "Times Of Trouble" demo,  Jeff Ament's acoustic demo of "Nothing As It Seems," Matt Cameron's demo "Need To Know" (which later became "The Fixer") and most of all, their performance of Neil Young's "Walk With Me" (from Le Noise) from last year's Bridge School Benefit Concert, with Neil on guitar and vocals.

What I'm really looking forward to from Pearl Jam are their live bootlegs from their recent 20th anniversary festival.  And, of course, their next album. I'd say 20 years marks the halfway point for Pearl Jam, and there aren't many bands you can say that about.

EDDIE VEDDER - UKULELE SONGS

I've had some time to digest Eddie Vedder's latest solo album, Ukulele Songs. I really dig it.  Is it a classic?  I don't know - I need some more time on that one.  But I have to say, I didn't know if his first record, the Into The Wild soundtrack was a classic when it first came out. When he played those songs in concert, though, some of them held up to some of the Pearl Jam classics that he performed.

Of course, the singer of an incredibly successful rock band doing an album of songs written and performed on the uke could be seen as a bit indulgent.  I get that, but Eddie has earned the right to do whatever he wants.  For me, the real deal is, are the songs good?  They are.  And does it seem different from his day job?  Definitely. I think it's a really good album that makes a great argument that Eddie Vedder has a legitimate solo career that can run parallel to Pearl Jam (and long may they run).

EDDIE VEDDER IN CONNECTICUT: AMAZING

Tonight, I saw the third show of Eddie Vedder's solo tour at The Mortensen Hall in Connecticut.  He's touring for his second solo album, Ukelele Songs.  This show made a great argument for the man having parallel careers: one with Pearl Jam and one on his own.  The show was divided fairly evenly between his first solo album Into The Wild, Ukelele Songs and Pearl Jam stuff. Ed did spend a lot of time on the uke, but also played acoustic and electric guitar and even a bit of mandolin.

He kicked off with a bunch of cuts from Ukelele Songs, including his uke-d up version of Pearl Jam's "Can't Keep."  I will review that album in a later post, but I will say that I happen to like it a lot. The title is not false advertising: the album is mostly Ed on uke, and it's  lovely.  Most of the songs are less than three minutes, some less than two, but the songs are solid. 

But back to the show itself: predictably, the Pearl Jam songs got a huge reaction: once he played "Sometimes," people were going crazy.  I think their latest album, Backspacer, has aged really well, and he did great versions of some of the songs, including "Just Breathe," "Speed Of Sound" and "Unthought Known ." One of his most emotional performances was "Better Man."  He mentioned performing that song onstage with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, and instead of a guitar solo, Clarence Clemons played a sax solo. (I was at that show, it was at the end of the Vote For Change tour).  Eddie didn't know, however, that Clarence had died earlier that evening, until his tech came out and told him.  When he went into the song (a much different version that Pearl Jam's), it was pretty heavy. He didn't play any Bruce songs though. It would have been cathartic if he did: and he actually covered two the other night ("Dead Man Walking" and "Open All Night.") But still, it was a great show. 

Speaking of aging well, his first solo album, 2007's Into The Wild soundtrack, gets a great reaction and the songs hold up to Pearl Jam's.  He played most of the record, and some of those songs, like "Hard Sun," "Far Behind" and "Guaranteed" are classics. 

I always get nervous when a singer from a band that I like starts to do solo stuff, but in Eddie's case, I think doing the solo acoustic (and ukelele) stuff probably recharges his batteries to go back to playing with the band, and I know they're doing a short tour later this summer, including a 2 day festival celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band. But taken on its own merits, his solo career is developing into it's own thing. Hopefully he will do both for a long time. 

Glen Hansard opened: he's from the band The Frames, also The Swell Season and he starred in the film Once. He was really good, and he joined Eddie for a few songs: you can tell that they have a cool bond (as Eddie did with his opener on his last tour, Liam Finn). 

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.

REVIEW: PEARL JAM AT MSG 5/20 AND 5/21

People can be cynical about arena concerts, and I can understand that sentiment. Yes, there can be a big disconnect between the artist and audience, and oftentimes the thousands of fans at a large arena get herded like livestock. I get it.

But.

Some artists just figure that it's part of the deal to go along with it. You get big enough to play arenas, the lack of connection is part of what comes with the deal. But what if you got to that point because your fans felt some kind of real connection with the band (as opposed to just liking some of the band's songs). Arguably, no one has handled the problem as well as Pearl Jam (maybe Bruce Springsteen). I've seen Pearl Jam probably about 20 times since 1992 (at the Limelight!) and I've always appreciated the way they respect the fact that there are people paying to hear them perform. For a few years, they seemed to struggle with the conundrum and Eddie Vedder didn't always seem happy on stage.  I'm happy to say that it seems like he's gotten over this in the past few years.

Anyway, I was fortunate enough to see the band three times this week: once in Newark, and twice at Madison Square Garden. At one of the MSG shows, Eddie had a beam of light reflecting from his guitar into the audience. He slowly moved the guitar so that that beam of light touched every seat in the audience. It's more than just a cool looking effect, it's him acknowledging every single person in the crowd. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but it's a cool gesture.

A few numbers: they played 76 songs over three nights, with only six songs being played all three nights: "Alive," "Do The Evolution," "Lukin" (although the last night featured a very different, slower verison), "The Fixer," "Unthought Known" and "Just Breathe." Quite a few rare tracks over the past two nights, including "Sweet Lew" (Jeff Ament on lead vocals!) and "Black Red Yellow" (which I'd never heard them play before), "Hunger Strike" (with Band Of Horses' Ben Bridwell on guest vocals), and lots of cool covers: The Who's "Love Reign O'er Me" and "The Real Me," The Ramones' "I Believe In Mircales" and The MC5's "Kick Out The Jams."

But really, what it was about was this: they emptied the tank every night. They played great songs, and made it worth everyone's while (and money) to come more than once (which I'm sure many people did). They played the songs that hooked us in the first place, but their latest songs from last year's Backspacer showed that the band is as vital as ever ("The Fixer" isn't just one of my favorite songs, it's becomming my mantra!). I'm always amazed by how great they are. Yes, Eddie Vedder is one of the best frontmen in music. Mike McCready is one of the rock's great underrated lead guitarists, and his heroics prevent the band from descending into boring indie rock pretension (he happily runs around the stage, striking excellent poses with classic rock guitars: Fender Strats, Les Pauls, a flying V and even a double neck Gibson like what Jimmy Page used to use).  But the other guys hold it down.  Stone Gossard, as I mentioned, is a guy you would want in your band.  He plays every instrument, but is rarely flashy, is a riff playing monster, and really holds everything together. Jeff is a great bassist, he can play in any style. And PJ fans can thank god for Matt Cameron, the perfect drummer for the band. He also adds the occasional great song (like "You Are") and great backing vocals too.  I can't wait to see him back in Soundgarden later this year, but I hope he never leaves PJ. And of course touring Hammond player Boom Gaspar is a great part of the band also, giving them an even more timeless sound.

Night 2 at MSG was the last night of the US tour. Then, they have some European dates and then Matt is doing the Soundgarden tour. I think Stone is doing another Brad tour and album, and I guess Eddie will do solo shows.  But when Pearl Jam tours again, I'll be there. I want my moment in the spotlight again!

REVIEW: PEARL JAM 05/18/10 NEWARK

Last night I saw Pearl Jam for the first time in... well, in about a half year. What can I say, I love the band!

Pearl Jam have hit a stride in their career where they are a weird cross between The Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen.  Like The Dead, they can tour when they want to, with or without a new album, play any song from their catalog and have radically different shows every night. And like Bruce, they are at a point where they are so finely tuned that they empty the tank every show, are able to be spontaneous, and on any given night might be the best band in the world.

While this show wasn't as epic at the Halloween show in Philly, it was pretty awesome.  (To be fair, that show was, as mentioned, on Halloween, it was the final event at The Spectrum before it was to be torn down, and right across the parking lot was the final game of the World Series, between The New York Yankees and The Philadelphia Phillies. It really felt like the center of the earth that night).

The biggest surprise was a cover of "Jersey Girl" - that was when I took the above photo... you'll notice Stone Gossard is not playing guitar - instead he's rockin' the tambourine. I've seen Stone play bass and even drums (with Brad) but this was the first time I've seen him tap the tambourine. But there were other great moments with rare tracks: "Footsteps" was my highlight, but it was also great to hear "Alone" and "Brother." Also great (and kind of rare): "In Hiding" and "Whipping."

I was fortunate enough to have gotten fan club tickets for the show - which placed my wife and I in the eighth row, center, on the floor, the best tickets I have ever had for Pearl Jam, and some of my best tickets ever. I have tickets for two other PJ shows this week, at both shows we will be in the upper upper upper level. It was great to watch the band that way. Eddie Vedder has become a great band leader, when you're close, you can really see it.  I think that at one point, Stone resisted that, but now he seems OK with it.  I think that Stone is such a generous musician and a real team player.  I mean, playing tambourine on "Jersey Girl!" He kind of does what the song requires, even if it is just strumming an acoustic.  He lets Mike McCready take all the solos, but he and Jeff Ament are kind of the glue that holds the whole thing together. Of course I gotta mention Matt Cameron.  I look forward to seeing him later this year with Soundgarden, his style with Pearl Jam is so different.

If you've never seen Pearl Jam, you should make it your business to see a show. If you've never seen a rock and roll show (although if you haven't, you probably wouldn't be reading this blog), you should go see Pearl Jam. They really are as life-affirming as a rock and roll band could be.

I should mention the opening band, Band Of Horses. Their song "No One's Gonna Love You" was my second favorite song of 2008 (after only Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler"). They were really good, they remind me of The Band, and not just because of their colonial beards. And also My Morning Jacket. What is it with the beards! I don't know that I would pay to see Band Of Horses on their own, but they were a good opening act. Eddie joined them for a song, and frontman Ben Bridwell returned the favor by joining Pearl Jam for "All Along The Watchtower" (but he sort of was out of his weight class trying to rock out).

WATCH: JOHN MELLENCAMP COVERS "BORN IN THE U.S.A."

Here's the video of John Mellencamp covering the Bruce Springsteen classic "Born In The U.S.A." from the Kennedy Center Honors from a few months ago. I wish he would release this on iTunes, as Ben Harper and Eddie Vedder 's performances are now available (both raise funds towards rebuilding Haiti).

BEN HARPER "MY FATHER'S HOUSE" NOW AVAILABLE AT ITUNES

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Eddie Vedder's great version of Bruce Springsteen's "My City Of Ruins" from the Kennedy Center Honors was posted on iTunes to raise money for Artists for Peace and Justice's for Haiti relief efforts. Now, Ben Harper has posted his version of "My Father's House" from the same ceremony for the same cause.  Ben had previously recorded the song for Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, a great tribute album. The new version is even more sparse. Here's hoping they release Sting's cover of "The Rising" or John Mellencamp's "Born In The U.S.A." or even Jon Stewart's speech about Bruce.

DOWNLOAD TO DONATE FOR HAITI

By now, everyone knows that you can download all the performances from Friday night's Hope For Haiti telethon on iTunes. There were truly great performances by Bruce Springsteen ("We Shall Overcome" with members of The Sessions Band, all of whom were on the last E Street Band tour as well), Stevie Wonder ("A Time To Love" which went inot Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Sting (The Police's "Driven To Tears"), Justin Timberlake (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah") and Dave Matthews and Neil Young (Hank Williams' "Alone and Foresaken"). But the two best performances of the night were by Mary J. Blige ("Hard Times") and Jennifer Hudson ("Let It Be"). It also includes the collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and The Edge ("Stranded") written just for the occasion.

I've also mentioned that you can get Eddie Vedder's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "My City Of Ruins" from The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on iTunes which also raises money for Haiti. Rihanna performed "Redemption Song" on Oprah this week, that's also at iTunes.

There's also this online album, Download To Donate For Haiti. It features songs by Peter Gabriel (his cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" from his upcoming album Scratch My Back), a song by Slash with Beth Hart (she had a hit in 2000 with "L.A. Song," she still does her thing and has also toured as Jeff Beck's singer), The Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morissette, as well as Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects and a few others. Find out more at Music For Relief. And you can donate more here.

EDDIE VEDDER "MY CITY OF RUINS" FOR HAITI

I haven't read a lot about the fact that you can buy a recording of Eddie Vedder's rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "My City Of Ruins," recorded at the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.  It's just 99 cents  at iTunes and the money goes to Artists For Peace And Justice for Haiti Relief Efforts.

Obviously, give all you can to whatever organization you think will be the most effective one. But this is a nice effort.  And Eddie's version of one of Bruce's greatest songs is really, really great.

BEST OF THE 00s: PEARL JAM

Pearl Jam was one of the dominant band, if not the dominant band, of the '90s. It was their awkward childhood and adolescence as a band. And they probably produced their best music during that era: Ten, Vs.,Vitalogy and No Code. (I felt that Yield was a great album, but it saw them slipping.)

But in the '00s, they've put out a lot of great music which doesn't get its due. 2000's Binaural, produced by Tchad Blake, is probably their most underrated album. The single, "Nothing As It Seems," is a really cool song, but a willfully uncommercial pick for first single. There were some great garage rock gems there: "Breakerfall," "God's Dice" and "Evacuation." "Thin Air" is one of their sweetest songs (and was included on our wedding compilation) - I always felt that Al Green or Solomon Burke or even Willie Nelson could do a great cover. 

2002's Riot Act was kind of their mid-life crisis. Musically, it had a bit too much of an obsession (I felt) with indie rock. It was like a guy who works hard to stay in shape, but he starts slouching to appeal to indie rock fans.  It's not convincing and also unecessary.  It's interesting to me that they get so much respect from the indie rock world these days. Anyway, the album is, in my opinion, their weakest, but features two of their best songs, "I Am Mine" and "Love Boat Captain."

In 2003, they released a lovely song, "Man Of The Hour," for an equally lovely film, Tim Burton's Big Fish. That year also saw the release of Lost Dogs, a 2 CD set of non-album tracks.  The following year, they put out rearviewmirror, a 2 CD set of "greatest hits" (I had the privlege to write the record label's bio for that album). And, with that, they moved into the world of being actually independent.

On 2006's Pearl Jam, I felt that they wanted to be a "big" band again. Riot Act had a song called "Bu$hleaguer" - but it was so boring, that it didn't make much of a protest song. Even people who wanted to get behind it, couldn't.  I think they started taking cues from (maybe) The Clash and Bruce Springsteen - artists who had big messages, and wrote music appropriately so that it would reach big audiences. It was a great album, with "Life Wasted," "World Wide Suicide," "Unemployable," "Severed Hand" giving them some new anthems.  "Come Back" is maybe their sweetest song ever, if I produced Solomon Burke, I would suggest that he cover this one. I feel like that song could be a huge hit in the right hands.

Last year's Backspacer is a great album, it saw them reunite with Vs. and Vitalogy producer Brendan O'Brien.  The first single, "The Fixer," provided me with a mantra of sorts, and could be the unofficial slogan of No Expiration: "If something's old, I wanna put a little shine on it. When something's gone, I wanna fight to get it back again." "Gonna See My Friend" and "Supersonic" are great rockers as well, and "Just Breathe" is another wonderful ballad.

I also have to mention Eddie Vedder's work outside of the band: his solo debut, 2007's Into The Wild soundtrack, is classic. He's also collaborated with the Supersuckers, Neil Finn, Cat Power and former Pearl Jam drummer Jack Irons. He is creating his own solo repertoire, and hopefully he feels comfortable balancing his own career with the band. Stone Gossard has done some solo stuff and some guest appearances outside of the band.  His other group, Brad, released one album - I wish they were more active. Jeff Ament released his first solo album, and reuinted with his pre-Green River hardcore band, Derranged Diction (and Stone and Jeff did a few Green River reunion things). Mike McCready did a few things with his other band The Rockfords and did some guest appearances.  Matt Cameron meanwhile did a few albums with his garage rock band Wellwater Conspiracy, an album with his jazz band Harrybu McCage and a few other things. He really did come into his own as Pearl Jam's drummer in the '00s.

But the real reason that I am including Pearl Jam in my Best of the '00s is because they really created their own path during the '00s.  Not worrying about having huge hit records (but, finally, not shying away from the possibility of doing so), and taking advantage of their position: they don't need to deal with record labels anymore. They've always been a really popular touring act, and the group they get compared to often is The Grateful Dead. (Not musicially, just the fact that they can play huge venues without radio or press).  Since 2000, they've been releasing live albums ("bootlegs") of every concert that they play (for the most part) and they offer them at fair prices. Speaking of their live shows, they are always mind-blowingly great. They have also just started to dip into their archives: in 2006, they released New Year's Eve 1992, a concert recorded while they were just blowing up at New York's Academy (they were actually opening for Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, my wife was at that show). And last year they put out a pretty amazing super-deluxe reissue of Ten (in a number of different versions, I got the big kahuna).

I think that, like The Dead, Pearl Jam will be a huge touring act for decades to come. But unlike The Dead, I bet they will still be making vital relevant music.

PUNCHING A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH: EDDIE VEDDER SUED

The New York Post reports that Gordon Peterson of the band Indio is suing Eddie Vedder for (slightly) changing (some of) the lyrics in the song "Hard Sun" that Eddie covered on his Golden Globe winning Into The Wild soundtrack. The song, which also featured Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney, was introduced to Eddie by the film's director, Sean Penn. Not only did the song probably earn the guy some royalties, but it also arguably led to the reissue of Indio's only album, 1989's Big Harvest. C'mon, son.

THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS ON CBS

(photo from Backstreets)  I'm not a huge fan of award shows (and firmly believe that there are way too many of them) but I am also a sucker for a well done tribute. So I can't believe that I've never watched The Kennedy Center Honors before tonight. Many of my favorite artists (musical and otherwise) have been honored, including The Who, Morgan Freeman, Martin Scorsese, Smokey Robinson, Elton John, James Brown, Loretta Lynn, Chuck Berry, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, Paul Newman and Ray Charles, among others.

This year's event, honoring Robert DeNiro, Mel Brooks, jazz musican Dave Brubeck, opera singer Grace Bumbry and, of course, Bruce Springsteen, took place a few weeks ago, but aired tonight on CBS. The tributes were sincere, geniune, classy but not too stiff and deserved. Watching a montage of DeNiro's films was incredible, it really reminded you how great he is. I'm not as familiar with Mel Brooks' work, but I think I gotta rent some movies!  (I did love Young Frankenstein.) I also wasn't super familiar with Dave Brubeck, I gotta check him out also. And I'm not an opera fan at all, but I was blown away by Grace Bumbry's story: an African-American opera singer in the 1960s. Wow.

But the reason why I made sure I was parked in front of the screen tonight was Bruce. What a tribute: a hilarious and moving speech from Jon Stewart, and great performances by John Mellencamp, Ben Harper and Jennifer Nettles (from Sugarland), Melissa Etheridge and especially Eddie Vedder and also Sting. You can read a rundown of the show at Backstreets, as well as the essay that the great writer, E Street Radio host Dave Marsh wrote for the event program.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AT KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

(images taken from Backstreets.com)

Last night, Bruce Springsteen was one of the artists who was honored at the annual Kennedy Center Honors ceremony in Washington, DC. I'm glad that he got it this year - it was nice for him to receive the medal from Barack Obama. I mean, what would George W. have had to say about Bruce? The President's speech was predictably great, and you can read it on the White House blog. Jon Stewart also paid tribute, but the real tributes were in the performances: John Mellencamp performed "Born In The U.S.A.," Ben Harper did "My Father's House" (which he first covered for a tribute to Bruce's Nebraska that came out a few years back on Sub Pop), Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland did "Glory Days," Ben and Jennifer did "I'm On Fire," Melissa Etheridge did "Born To Run," Eddie Vedder and a gospel choir did "My City Of Ruins" and Sting with a bigger gospel choir did "The Rising." I can't wait to see this on CBS when it airs on December 29.

WHO WERE DEAD MOON?

You may not have heard of Dead Moon, but if you've seen Pearl Jam in concert, you know one of their songs, "It's OK." Often during "Daughter," Eddie Vedder goes into that song. Last weekend when I saw Pearl Jam, I saw someone with a sign saying "It's OK," and I wondered about Dead Moon. I'd heard of Dead Moon, but I never actually listened to them. I decided to check them out tonight - I looked for them on iTunes, and all there was, was a live album from 2004, Live At The Casbah. It's pretty loud, rocking garage punk. I may have to find some of their stuff from the late '80s/early '90s.

Oddly enough, today I read on Vice that two of Dead Moon's former members, singer/guitarist Fred Cole, and bassist Toddy Cole (they are married) have a new band (basically Dead Moon with a different drummer) called Pierced Arrows. That seems like a good choice for an opening act for Pearl Jam in 2010.

EDDIE VEDDER GUESTS ON JACK JOHNSON'S LIVE ALBUM

There are a lot of hardcore Jack Johnson fans out there. Then, on the other side, a lot of people just hate him. I think he's talented, although I'm not a huge fan. I've seen him perform at the Austin City Limits Festival, and opening for Ben Harper (who helped put him on the map). Jack has a new live album, En Concert, recorded at different dates all over the place, but Pearl Jam fans will want to know that it includes a duet with Eddie Vedder, "Constellations." You can buy the song a la carte at iTunes. If you're a hardcore Jack fan, there are lots of different versions of the album, check them out at Jack's site.

PEARL JAM CLOSES THE SPECTRUM

People overuse the word "epic," but last night's Pearl Jam Halloween/last-concert-at-the-Philly-Spectrum truly was one for the ages. The above clip (not my video, I wasn't sitting that close to the stage) was from the first encore, when the band came out dressed as Devo and covered "Whip It." It was pretty classic. (Devo apparently approved: a video with a different angle from the above one, is posted at their website. On another note, this gave me a great idea for my halloween costume for next year: Devo actually sell these outfits).

I'd have to check on this, but I think it may have been their longest show ever. It was certainly one of them - I'm sure the live album will be three CDs. (all of Pearl Jam's concerts are available as live downloads or CDs through the band's website) Like Bruce Springseen 's recent concert closing down Giants Stadium, there were crazy rumors of who would show up... and like that show, there were no guests. Which is fine: they played over three hours, that's more than enough, who cares about guests (although Eddie Vedder did sing a song with opening band, Bad Religion, who were great). Eddie addressed this towards the beginning of the show, mentioning that he had heard rumors that Bruce, Neil Young, Billy Joel, Dave Matthews and Jon Bon Jovi were going to be there, and he said that, in fact, there would be no guests.

Instead, we got performances of some songs that had never, or rarely ever, been performed by the band. That included "Pilate," from Yield, "Out Of My Mind," which was the b-side of "Not For You" and which wasn't even included on the b-sides collection, Lost Dogs. Eddie explained that a fan offered a large sum of money to a worthy cause if they played it - it was only the third time they ever performed it.

Eddie strapped on a button accordion for the first ever performance of Vitalogy's "Bugs," which was better than the studio version. There was also the first ever performance of "Sweet Lew," featuring Jeff Ament on lead vocals, Eddie on backing vocals and dribbling a basketball, and Stone Gossard on bass. Stone also played bass on one of my favorites, "Smile," which featured Jeff on lead guitar. Plus there were some other rarely played songs that I love, such as "I Got ID" and the Mother Love Bone song "Crown Of Thorns."

But the show wasn't just for aficionados: they also played some of their biggest songs, including "Evenflow," "Alive," "Yellow Ledbetter," "Better Man" and "Daughter." As well as a bunch of songs from their very solid new album, including one of my favorites, "The Fixer," along with "Just Breathe" (which featured a string section) and "Got Some." I've been seeing the band for seventeen years, I've very rarely been disappointed, but this was one of the best shows I've ever seen by them. They seem like they are at the top of their game, and I hope they tour some more in 2010, I'll definitely go to see them again.

THE FAB TWO

Last weekend, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr shared the stage for the first time since the George Harrison tribute concert, and for the first time in America since The Beatles last performed here (actually, I seem to remember Ringo joining Paul onstage in the early '90s, but I could be wrong). Supposedly a mind-blowing show. Paul also performed a super-rare song that he's never even properly released.  Plus, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow and the rest of the performers were great. Everyone from Howard Stern to Papa Bear Bill O'Reilly enjoyed it. A friend of mine was there and said that they shot everything, so here's hoping it will be out on DVD so it can raise more funds for David Lynch 's foundation.