VIDEO: FISTFUL OF MERCY "THINGS GO 'ROUND"

Yesterday was Record Store Day, and hopefully some of you went to record stores, and bought some cool exclusive Record Store Day stuff, as well as some albums that you've been wanting to get for a while.

Fistful Of Mercy put out a 7" single with their cover of The Velvet Underground's "Pale Blue Eyes." The B-side was "Things Go 'Round," recorded live at the SiriusXM studios.  I actually was one of the camera people on that shoot, so I thought I'd share the video.  It was a huge thrill to be in the studio for this. Ya'll know what a huge Ben Harper fan I am: this was the first time I ever saw him play bass.

I'd love to see the band release some of their other covers: when I saw them at the Apollo Theater, they also did Bob Dylan's "Buckets of Rain" and, in one of the highlights of the night, PJ Harvey's "To Bring You My Love." Ben has a new album coming out next month, but I look forward to seeing him with Dhani Harrison, Joseph Arthur and Jessy Greene (she should be a full-fledged member! - I think she will, once again, tour with the Foo Fighters when they hit the road) in the future.

HOLY S*&^! THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TO REUNITE (SORT OF)

I have no idea how this happened, but former Velvet Underground members Lou Reed, Mo Tucker and, surprisingly, Doug Yule, are "reuniting" on stage... at the New York Public Library for a conversation hosted by Rolling Stone's David Fricke. Already sold out!

I'm surprised about Yule - he replaced the much more "avant-garde" violinist/pianist John Cale in the band. More to the point, he continued on as "The Velvet Underground" after Lou, Mo and guitarist Sterling Morrison left the band. I think he actually recorded a VU album where he played all the instruments, but with future Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice. He didn't participate in the Underground's reunion tour in the '90s, and wasn't inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the band either. I hope a video or transcript of this event becomes available somewhere.

BECK.COM: WHERE IT'S AT!

So many artists use their website as a perfunctory

marketing tool. Beck is actually making pretty creative use of Beck.com, though. I already told you about his "Record Club," where he and his friends cover an entire album in a day (some of his versions of songs from The Velvet Underground & Nico are already posted to the site), but he's also adding his DJ sets and also a feature called "Irrelevant Topics," where he interviews another artist. When he does this for a magazine, there's usually an editor to mediate and keep them away from "irrelevant topics," but that won't be the case at beck.com! The first artist he is interviewing is Tom Waits. Should be interesting!

BECK'S RECORD CLUB

Beck is starting a record club via his website. He and his 

various friends are going to be doing occasional one-day unrehearsed sessions where they cover a classic album in its entirety. The first one they're doing is The Velvet Underground & Nico, which is a great choice. They almost did Digital Underground's Sex Packets. He worked on this first edition with producer Nigel Godrich, his brother-in-law Gionvanni Ribsi, and Chris Holmes (I hope it is Chris Holmes of W.A.S.P.).