THE NIGHTWATCHMAN VISITS E STREET

(This picture taken from Backstreets.com) Tom Morello is a big Bruce Springsteen fan. Both guys have long been voices for those left behind by society and the government, so despite the fact that Bruce's music may not have much in common with Rage Against The Machine or Audioslave (except producer Brendan O'Brien), it's no surprise that the two have a lot of respect for each other.

A few years ago, Rage re-imagined Bruce's new-at-the-time song "The Ghost Of Tom Joad" at a time when it wasn't quite as hip as it is now to cite Bruce as an influence (not that Tom would ever care about that). Last night, Tom joined Bruce onstage in California for a duet version of the song, which also (of course) featured a face-melting guitar solo from Mr. Nightwatchman. Hopefully, Tom will add it to his solo set lists during the Justice tour, which I now have a ticket for. Who knows, maybe if Bruce has the night off, he'll show up and jam with Tom, Perry Farrell and Slash.

DYLAN WINS A PULITZER

Yep, Bob Dylan, winner of Grammys, an Oscar, a Golden Globe, The Polar Music Prize, and a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, one-time member of The Traveling Wilburys and radio DJ can now add Pulitzer Prize to his resume.

Congrats Bob. Now how about a new album? (Or at least allow your record label to put out some another volume of The Bootleg Series). Personally, I saw a lot of incredible shows in the '90s, I vote for one (or more) of those for future release.

YO! TURNS 20

The late, great MTV show Yo! MTV Raps turns 20 this year. I wrote about it on my other blog, Leaving 30s. Check it out here. 

When I covered the first VH1 Hip-Hop Honors awards, I interviewed former Yo! hosts Ed Lover and Dr. Dre. They were both wearing their old Yo! jackets.  It was a cool moment. It was a great night. I remember interviewing Wyclef Jean and Foxy Brown, and Wyclef and myself started talking about some old school stuff, and Foxy said, "I'm learning a lot tonight." It's sad that lots of hip-hop artists don't know much about the artists that predated them, especially now that hip-hop has been around for nearly 30 years. I've heard that a hip-hop museum, like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is in the works. I hope so. Hip-hop will always be music for young people, but what a shame it would be if hip-hop fans didn't know about Grandmaster Flash, Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy, etc. 

THAT LOVELY LINDA

I don't want to comment much about Paul McCartney's recent problems. All the money in the world can't fix a broken heart, and I bet he's been suffering from that, non-stop, for a decade now.

From what I've read, Paul and Linda McCartney hardly spent any nights apart during the entire time that they were married (I think they were all while he was in jail in Japan, after he got busted for drugs or something). Anyway, I always respected that they were always together, a tight family unit, as un-rock and roll as that may have seemed. I'm sure he took a lot of crap for putting her in his bands, and maybe she was more of a photographer than a keyboardist/singer, but I think there's something sweet about him wanting her in the band.

They were also both vegetarians way before it was trendy, and I can only imagine the crap they took about that. Those were the thoughts that went through my head as I read an essay that Paul wrote about Linda in England's Sunday Times. Check it out here.

COOL NEW MUSIC

Other than getting R.E.M.'s new album, and live albums by The Rolling Stones and Muse last week, there were some other stray tracks that I picked up.

First off is Norah Jones' "The Story," off of the soundtrack to My Blueberry Nights, which she also stars in. A lot of people hate on Norah, but I am a fan. I think that if she recorded on a rickety sounding piano and recorded everything lo-fi, she'd somehow be more "credible." But she had the "misfortune" to have the late, great arranger Arif Mardin work with her on her debut, so that was out of the question. I like that she seems to make the music she wants to make, and doesn't pander. Anyway, I liked "The Story," and I look forward to seeing the film, although I am often skeptical about musicians all of the sudden becoming actors. Props to the film for making the song available as a single on iTunes.


I got a few tracks from Van Morrison's new one, Keep It Simple. I'm not a hardcore Van fan, but I do have most of his albums, and I think his last few all have a handful of good songs. So I figured I couldn't miss by getting a couple from his latest. You know the way sometimes people will say that a particular singer "is so good, (s)he could sing the phone book and it would sound good"? Van pretty much pulls this off on "Behind The Ritual." The chorus goes like this: "Blah blah blah blah blah..." etc. I'm not joking. Van somehow pulls this off.

I also got a few tracks from Moby's latest, Last Night. Like a few million other people, my favorite Moby album is Play. I like things that he's done before and since, but that was my favorite. This one kind of goes back to his disco roots, but isn't as frantic as some of his earlier dance stuff. The first song I bought, "I Love To Move In Here," featured Grandmaster Caz from The Cold Crush Brothers. I once had an interview experience with him which I'll have to write about another time. Anyway, I like both that song and "Ooh Yeah." But editing has never been Moby's strong suit (in my mind), so I think I'm good with just two songs.

BOOK REPORT: "BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME"

The most ludicrious job I've ever had was writing for Jancee Dunn.

I've long been a music magazine junkie: to this day, I read Rolling Stone pretty much cover to cover, as well as a number of other music magazines (notably the UK publications Mojo and Uncut) and even some non-music (!) mags as well.

I never really got so involved with the magazines themselves; in other words, I didn't really know the names of the writers, with a few exceptions. One was Anthony DeCurtis - who I was lucky enough to interview a few times (pretty much I came up with excuses to pick his brain and call it an "interview"). I also liked David Fricke. The other one was Jancee Dunn. I didn't know a thing about her, but her writing seemed to have a wide-eyed "wow" to it that I could identify with. She was really smart and a good interviewer who I felt was not really jaded, but also didn't do puff pieces.

When I was hired as a writer for MTV2, which at the time just played videos, my job was to write scripts for the VJs: a radio DJ named Chris Booker and Jancee Dunn. I'm writing for Rolling Stone writer Jancee Dunn? I figured: better start looking for the next job now. One guy talks about music on the radio, and she is an amazing writer. Should I write a script with some idle chatter for Kevin Smith too?

Anyway, Jancee was gracious when I met her at work, and was also gracious about ever reading anything I wrote. I'm sure she could have improvised every single time (which she did sometimes).

She always struck me as a very "together" person, unaffected by her "star" status as a VJ/writer. While I read the book, I was surprised to learn that she "stressed out" before interviews. I didn't know that her suburban roots were similar to mine, and she went through a similar crash course when she first got to NYC (in her case, her perm and makeup weren't working. In my case, I knew anything mullet-like had to go). Her book gives great insight into doing interviews with superstars (a situation very few people will find themselves in) but is also a moving story of her interesting path her life has taken.

In her book, she mentions being a fan of Kim Deal of The Breeders and The Pixies, who always seems to be having a great time on stage. I remember watching Jancee on MTV2 and thinking the same about her, and she even conveys that "good time" in her writing, but she has poignant moments too - whether it was when she was writing about Melissa Etheridge's children in Rolling Stone or about her sisters in her own book. If she can combine that sense of fun with that sense of sweetness, who knows, maybe the beaches this summer will have lots of Dunn books being passed around. Her debut novel, Don't You Forget About Me, is due in stores on July 29.

OH, OK, CALL IT A COMEBACK: R.E.M.'s "ACCELERATE"

Besides being one of the best albums of the year so far, R.E.M.'s Accelerate has the distinction of having the most apt title. It's lean and mean, doesn't drag on too long, doesn't seem like it's trying to impress Phillip Glass, and it has drums (albeit not drums played by Bill Berry, but still).

They sound like a band again, and they have confidence and swagger. I don't think people will nod off, or fight to be polite when they play these songs live.

I compare it to U2's All That You Can't Leave Behind, or Bruce Springsteen's The Rising, or maybe even Bob Dylan's Oh Mercy. It's a tighter, more focued album after a few that suffered from going overboard trying to be experimental, or just a lack of focus.

I don't need to go through the thing song by song, every single magazine is gushing about it anyway (as well they should). But some of the songs really resonate with me: I love the single "Supernatural Superserious." I love how it starts out: "Everybody here, comes from somewhere/that they would just as soon forget/and disguise." It's like putting a friendly arm around the shoulders of, well, lots of people. I also love "Accelerate": "Where is the rip-chord, the trapdoor, the key?/Where is the cartoon escape hatch for me? No time to question the choices I've made/I've got to follow another direction/Accelerate." Probably inspirational words for people in their 30s, 40s 50s. I've always loved Michael Stipe's but I think these are the most approachable.

I actually love every song on the album except one ("Hollow Man," which a friend of mine compared to Counting Crows) and that's something I haven't been able to say since New Adventures In Hi-Fi. That was in 1996 when Bill Berry was still in the band. Michael Stipe famously compared the band to a three-legged dog after Bill left, and said "A three legged dog is still a dog." Congratulations, boys, you've taught your three-legged dog to run again.